Happy 2011! Sorry I haven’t posted since Christmas – I have been at my parents’ house in Michigan doing a lot of eating, a lot of shopping and even a little swimming. One of my new year’s resolutions is to lose 25 pounds so I have been getting a jump-start on exercise this week. My parents belong to really nice gym near their house, so I have been hitting the treadmill, the rowing machine and the lap pool. I managed to swim 2000 meters earlier this week, but it wasn’t exactly fast. And today my mom and I walked outside for an hour because it was “really nice” (about 45 degrees and only a few cloud).

Toby and I also took a quick little trip up to Toronto to visit one of my BFFs, Melissa. While we were there we ate some very Canadian foods and a few American ones that show why I need to go on a diet.

First we went to a restaurant called Counter. They serve diner-type food, but fancy. We started with a Canadian dish called poutine, which is french fries with gravy and cheese curds. I thought it sounded disgusting, but I tried it and it was OK.

I had a “threesome cheese melt,” a.k.a. grilled cheese, with a side of macaroni and cheese with truffle oil. Toby had a hamburger with Canadian bacon and crispy onion rings, and Melissa had the dinner portion of mac&cheese, which came with a small piece of pancetta on top. Mmmm. Oh, and I had a strawberry milkshake because I was too lame to try the Guinness one.

We also went to a bar called Biermarkt, where I had pink strawberry beer. It smelled and tasted lovely.

Then, in true Canadian fashion, we went to Tim Horton’s for breakfast. Unfortunately their iced cappuccino machine wasn’t working so I had a gross iced coffee. And this donut isn’t nearly as good as Krispy Kreme. But we tried.

After breakfast we went shopping and I found a coat with Paddington Bear toggles at a super cute store I haven’t heard of before, Aritzia, and some dresses at Zara. Definitely a fabulous trip!

I am still trying to determine whether I am going to go on some kind of established diet or just figure something out for myself. Either way I will post the recipes I use. If you’d rather find something for yourself, Epicurious has a few ideas and Bon Appetit has a “food lover’s cleanse” that sounds interesting. And let me know what your resolutions are!