RECAP: Jenna Goes to Toronto

November 30, 2016 by Jenna | Event Recaps

I am fortunate enough to have a job (yes, a PhD is a full-time job!) that allows me to travel often and one of the biggest perks is being able to meet international bloggers and friends that I would never get the chance to meet otherwise. Last week, I flew to Toronto to see my two faves, Jesse @ Books at Dawn and Joey @ Thoughts and Afterthoughts. I was so excited to meet up with the rest of the JSquad, and here are some highlights from my trip!

Books!!!

Jesse took a few days off work and spent them all with me, for which I am so grateful and touched! We hit up a few bookstores and I came away with a pile of books. I’m quite proud of the restraint that I managed to exercise because I was in hardcover heaven! We only have paperbacks here in Australia, besides a handful of books that are mostly imported, so I was extremely keen to get my hands on ALL the hardcovers. Sadly, I had limited suitcase space so I was only able to pick up a few books.

We went to two different Indigo stores and I picked up the four books listed below. Jesse also very kindly bought me a Read the North tote bag and a copy of Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, which is his favourite book. In fact, he wanted me to have all four books in the series that have been released so far but my suitcases wouldn’t allow for it haha.

Joey also gave me some books to take home. He gave me an ARC of The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson and an ARC of Irena’s Children by Tilar J. Mazzeo. I’ve already read The Unexpected Everything (and own both the UK paperback and the US hardback) but I’m pretty excited to get into Irena’s Children. I love WWII history and even though this is non-fiction, I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy it!

joey-arcs

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

One thing that I was extremely disappointed about was the fact that the Fantastic Beasts movie came out when I was in Boston for my conference and I wasn’t able to see it straight away. But luckily Jesse and Joey were both keen to see it too and we had an awesome time! Jesse predicted who the villain was within 3 minutes of the movie but we still managed to enjoy the rest of it haha. I absolutely love Canadian movie theatres! They’re so much better than Events Cinemas here in Australia. They had properly buttered popcorn, seats that reclined, and ad/previews that didn’t go for 25 minutes… Also they have D-Box seats, which is some kind of motion simulation thing. Jesse got us seats in the row in front of these awesome D-Box seats so we got to feel the effects too!

I don’t think any of us had any expectations for the movie, and we all thought it was really good. We saw it in 3D and I’m really glad that we did because I don’t think I would have thought it was as good as it was if it had been 2D. I absolutely loved Newt Scamander (yes, I totally went and bought the collector’s edition pop funko) and I’m so excited to see where the story goes in the rest of the movies.

Delicious Food

It wouldn’t be a Happy Indulgence adventure if I didn’t eat a lot of amazing food. Jesse took me to lots of wonderful restaurants and we had an awesome time. Jesse’s favourite cuisine is Korean so we had this delicious soup in Koreatown twice during my stay in Toronto. It was the best kind of meal for a cold, Canadian day. We also had yummy ramen with Joey before the Fantastic Beasts movie, and it was extra good because of the cold weather. Jesse and I had amazing breakfasts/brunches together and he taught me all the Canadian ways, including dipping my bacon in maple syrup. SO GOOD. And, of course, there was dessert. These carrot cake and red velvet cupcakes were from Prairie Girl Bakery and the frosting was mindblowingly good. These are just some of the delicious foods that are pictured below but we had many more wonderful food adventures. Joey bought us bubble tea and I had this amazing experience where the cold, Canadian air actually chilled my drink and made it colder than it was when I first got it. Seriously mindblowing stuff! Jesse also took me to the dollar store on my first night in Toronto and we bought a whole bag of Canadian snacks. Guys, I’m addicted to ketchup chips!

   

   

Friends

It was just so amazing to see Jesse and Joey in their natural habitat HAHA. Jesse spent so much time with me and showed me all the Canadian things. I felt totally at home by the time I had to leave and it was a sad, sad day. We took the subway about 3 billion times and it honestly feels a bit strange getting the train to work in Sydney now. (Except I have to say that Sydney probably has better public transportation). Also, how am I going to live now without Jesse bringing me a Second Cup drink every morning? I barely survived this morning. Most of all, I’m thankful for all the stupid things that he did with me, including going to the Disney store and buying a crap-load of stickers and planner supplies from Michaels. He totally enjoyed it just as much as I did though 😀

  

Jenna-Sig

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Jenna is an Aussie blogger and reader who loves to indulge in great books and great food. She is a doctor (of philosophy) and can usually be found fangirling about something, devouring delicious food, or taking a nap. You can find her on Twitter @readwithjenna and on Instagram @readingwithjenna.

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37 responses to “RECAP: Jenna Goes to Toronto

  1. I'm super excited to read The Female of the Species. So many people have recommended it and it's also received really good ratings on GR that I've seen.

  2. Damn, you North Americans have such great movie theatres *crying right now*. HAHA. I had sooooo much fun with Jesse and Joey. They were super amazing and you should definitely reach out to them if you ever go to Canada! They can teach you the Canadian ways 😀

  3. IT LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD SO MUCH FUN <3 And omg, D-box 3-D movies is the way to go Jenna. Australians need to start investing in those. Also that was so sweet of Jesse to take work off for you! THOSE FOOD PICS KILL ME. I'm soooo happy you had a great time Jenna. Also high key jealous of all the traveling you get to do! 😀

    • Omg our regular seats are already too expensive. I can't even imagine how much more expensive it would be to get D-box. Toronto was literally my ideal holiday. Not too much sightseeing, lots of good food and lots of chill time. And books HAHA.

  4. Read Diverse Books

    This was such a sweet post, Jenna! I'm glad you had so much fun with Joey and Jesse in their natural habitat haha. If I ever visit Canada, I'll be sure to reach out to some book bloggers out there so we could hang out. I'm curious about the Canadian movie theaters now. lol But I think the U.S. has very similar ones. Thanks for sharing this wonderful experience with us.:)
    My recent post An Interview With Publisher Yali Books &amp; A Book Giveaway!

  5. Brooklynsippingtea

    Ugh, it sounds like you had so much fun. You can count me jealous. I must go to Canada one day! The cinema sounds great, typically I really dislike going to the cinema and limit my trips to things I really want to see such as Fantastic Beasts, but that actually sounds a lot more enjoyable than the cinemas wew have here.

    • Canada was so lovely. I really enjoyed being in Toronto (even though it was really cold). It had such a great vibe and I'm already thinking about my next visit there haha.

  6. Cyn @ Bookmunchies

    Travel perks definitely sound nice! So happy to hear you had an awesome time in Canada!! I'm from Canada but haven't even made it to Toronto yet, rep haha but the food looks delish! Glad you had a great time hanging with your friends! Thanks for sharing your adventures (:
    My recent post Review: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

    • I feel so lucky to be able to do so much travelling too! It's definitely one of the better aspects of my job HAHA. Jesse and Joey were so lovely and I'm so happy that I got to meet them and spend time with them. They're definitely as awesome in real life as they are on the internet!

  7. Somewhat Reserved

    Glad you had such a nice time! It's really sad that you couldn't get as many books as you want but at least you had fun. Jesse seems like a really fun guy. I've always wanted to eat Korean cuisine but never really tried to. I wanted to make bibimbap last month but… I was too lazy to.

    I'm glad Jesse and Joey both contributed to your lovely time in Toronto. It's so nice to have friends ^^

    • Jesse and Joey were so kind and they spent so much time with me. Especially Jesse! We had a blast together and it was just so great to be in the company of friends after spending some time on my own at my conference in Boston. Korean isn't really one of my favourite cuisines (I prefer Japanese) but Jesse loves all things Korean and he definitely knew all the great Korean restaurants!

  8. Transhaan

    Looks like you've had a blast! So cool that you got to meet these peepz! Travelling (or school) sure does have its perks! 😀

    – Lashaan

    • I'm so happy that I got to go to Toronto as well! It was definitely one of the best parts of my North America trip and I'm totally keen to go back one day.

  9. thebookprophet

    It sounds like you had a great time! I still haven't seen the Fantastic Beasts movie (but I can guess who the villain is going to be…) and I love Eddie Redmayne so I'm sure to love it. Gosh it must suck not to have hardcovers in Australia. I didn't know that you only had paperbacks.

    • Yeah it definitely does suck not having hardcovers. But at least I can order them online and buy them in store when I go to North America. I hope you get to see the Fantastic Beasts film soon because it was soooo good! I highly recommend seeing it in 3D! Eddie Redmayne was perfection in it.

    • You guys can totally be the N-squad! I really hope you guys can meet up one day. I've had so much fun hanging out with Jeann and Aila and meeting them is definitely one of my top experiences!

    • Thanks Marie! It's been a really busy few months so I'm really glad that I got to have a few days off to just have fun with friends. The food was soooo delicious.

  10. keionda

    AAWWWWWW! It looks like you had a blast! Every single picture of food you took has my mouth legit watering–especially the picture of Ramen (at least I think it was) it's not that cold here right now, but I could definitely go for a bowl! And..m CUPCAKES. Need I say more??

    • Yes omg the ramen was AMAZING. And it was a customisable one where you got to choose the flavour of the broth, the thickness of the noodles and many other things. Definitely a great experience! And the cupcakes were sooooo delicious. Definitely some of the best cupcake frosting I've ever had.

  11. Geraldine

    Aww, you guys look like you had a wonderful time! It's so great that you guys have such a great friendship, and that you guys got up to so much! I've now put Canada as a place to travel to sometime during the winter – I NEED to experience the feeling of having bubble tea get colder after purchasing it! 😀
    My recent post The Thanks U Give – Being Thankful: Bookish Edition

  12. Yessss I have been anticipating this post because I couldn't wait to see what you got up to! I'm so grateful for the food section, my favourite hahha. It sound like you had such a great time with Joey and Jesse, those cinemas sound amazing btw! Thanks for sharing Jenna!

    • I knew you would appreciate the food section, Jeann! It was one of my favourite parts. Jesse took me to so many wonderful cafes and restaurants and I was definitely well-fed for the four days I was there haha. I'm so excited that I might get the chance to work in Toronto for a while.

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