(Pickering, Dresden, Campbellford, and other places in Ontario, Canada)

While my last post focused on Cambridge, Ontario, this one covers a whole bunch of non-traditional Ontario destinations. Once again, the unifying theme is “places I went for lawn bowling competitions”! And, of course, food plays a role.

In late June, I had a qualifying tournament in Pickering, Ontario. We had a strong first day of competition, so our team decided to celebrate at dinner that evening. We settled on Cielito Lindo, which looked like a family-run Mexican restaurant. And it was! I went for the pollo con mole (pictured above), and the sauce was excellent. Just the right amount of chocolate and heat.

Suburban communities like Pickering are sometimes overrun by chain restaurants, serving a very corporate kind of “McFood”. While there are exceptions (The Owl of Minerva – a Korean restaurant – being one of those exceptions), I really try to seek out independent alternatives whenever possible. Often, restaurants are the only truly “local” experience we have when I play in particularly intense tournaments. Such was the case in Pickering – there was no time to explore hidden nooks and crannies during that visit.

As the qualifying event in Pickering went well, two weeks later we headed much farther west for the Provincial event in…Dresden, Ontario. Dresden is a very small community (less than 3000 people), but it happens to have a good bowling facility. Before my first practice session, we stopped in the nearby town of Ridgetown for lunch. Ridgetown is only slightly larger than Dresden, and is clearly an important agricultural centre.

I figured that Yeck’s Smokehouse Grill would be a solid choice. We did indeed enjoy our “homestyle” lunches – my grilled Reuben sandwich was particularly well done and the fries met our exacting standards. The restaurant was very popular with Ridgetown residents…we had to wait a little while for a table.

After the competition in Dresden was over, I had an intense craving for Thai food. Alas, Dresden had little to offer in that regard. We returned instead to the nearby city of Chatham and the sensibly named “Thai Kitchen & Bar”. The menu was extensive, with a lot of unfamiliar options, so it was very difficult to decide on what to have. I settled on the not-at-all-unknown cashew chicken, but would have loved to try some other dishes too.

I have the feeling that the Thai Kitchen & Bar’s facility used to be a very different type of restaurant…probably something Mediterranean. No matter – we were happy with the food and will undoubtedly return there someday. Chatham is a very long way from home, but we have been on the road again several times since. There was another trip to Pickering, and of course the “Preston” trip from my previous blog entry.

On the way back from Preston, we took a break in Whitby to stock up on Dutch delicacies at the Village Bakeshop. Regular blog readers know that I am a big fan of Gouda cheese. So I decided to buy a couple of less common varieties. First up was goat milk Gouda – almost pure white in colour. And I also picked up a piece of lavender Gouda! Yes, it is very purple (see picture). To complement the lavender, the cheese also contains rosemary and thyme.

Lastly, we went to Campbellford for another provincial qualifier. On the way back home, we stopped in Stirling for ice cream at a candy store and a brief walk along the main street (see photo at the top of this post). We returned to Kingston along a lot of back roads, passing through many small villages such as Moira, Roslin, Croydon, Centreville (pictured) and Camden East. It was a nice way to unwind after a day of competition.

Stay tuned for more non-traditional Ontario destinations…and an intriguing international tournament!