(Smiths Falls, Burlington, Kitchener, and Windsor, Ontario, Canada)

This isn’t the post I planned to write, but it does follow well from my previous one about Caribbean cuisine in Pickering!

Today’s pictures are from four Ontario communities which I’ve already visited this summer in connection with lawn bowling tournaments. Most recently, I was in Windsor again for another event. I wrote about the World Marathon Ethiopian restaurant in a 2023 post, but didn’t have any photographs from it.

Well, I had a chance to go back in 2026, and here (finally) are some pictures…including the photo at the top of this post. Windsor‘s downtown is showing some evidence of trouble, but we still enjoyed our visit to World Marathon. I tried a single dish this time (Doro Wat), and enjoyed the taste, but I think I will return to getting a “sampler” of different dishes the next time.

My wife opted for a vegetarian sampler, served on rice instead of on injera bread. This is eaten with a knife and fork, rather than scooping the food in the injera with one’s hands. I prefer the earthiness of not using utensils, but the main thing is enjoying some different flavours.

Revisiting past haunts is the theme of today’s post. On the way to Windsor, we once again stayed in the Kitchener area for a night so that the drive from Kingston wouldn’t be quite so long. Right next door was an Indian grocery store, where I found this most unusual bag of Lay’s chips. Yes, Lay’s is a brand we have here…but this one was made in India and was called “Chile Limón”. I haven’t seen this flavour before, and I quite enjoyed it.

About a month ago, I had a tournament in Burlington. It has a lot of good dining options, such as a Persian restaurant, so it sometimes can be hard to choose. This time, we went to another favourite: Thai Coconut. We have never been disappointed there: this time was no exception.

Back in May, I had a tournament in Nepean. Yes, we have a favourite Thai restaurant there too! But this time, it was just a bit too early for dinner when the tournament ended. So, I drove partway home to Smiths Falls, and stopped in at yet another favourite: a restaurant called “My Place.”

I normally shy away from meat-laden platters. But when one is in a Czech restaurant, it’s hard to avoid. And so I went for the platter (I won’t use the full name) featuring a schnitzel, smoked sausage, and chicken in a red pepper sauce. Plus enough whipped potatoes and sauerkraut to conclusively terminate any hunger. It took a while to finish, and I didn’t need breakfast the next day.

While the big around-the-world trip is getting closer and closer, I still have some more local content to share in the interim. Watch this space!