As a Canadian, I am embarrassed to say that my first pecan pie was from a cheese store at 29
This weekend Angelo and I had the awesome opportunity to take two friends with us on our second Guess Where Trip (first experience posted here).
Both of our friends had only recently arrived in Canada from the Philippines — one on a work visa and another on a student visa. Neither of them had ever experienced the fall season. Naturally, we were ultra excited to share the beauty of Fall that Ontario was known for.
As luck would have it though, the leaves hadn’t completely changed yet. We were several days too early to see the full effects. But no matter! Our second Guess Where Trip took us to several hiking areas, waterfalls, and pretty towns where we could see the annual salmon run, so overall I think everyone still had a great time!
We even ordered food from a food truck, ate on the side of the curb of a quiet town, and visited an award-winning cheese shop! I’d like to think we did a great job showing our friends the quieter side of Ontario.
The cheese shop ended up carrying a lot more products than cheese, including snacks like Nanaimo bars, pecan pies, specialty jams, and specialty hot sauces.
We ended up walking out Empire Cheese with several more items than just cheese!
Our souvenirs after spending a day exploring the towns East of Toronto included:
- many videos of salmon swimming upstream
- a block of award-winning medium cheddar cheese
- several mini pecan pies
- 8 caramel chocolate chip cookies from a famous local cookie shop
- fond memories of eating poutines and hamburgers on the side of a road
It wasn’t until the next day when Angelo decided to have a pecan pie for dessert did I realize that I don’t ever remember trying one my entire life.
Isn’t that crazy? Pecan pies are basically a fall staple at grocery stores and once September rolls around, you can find them at every Farmer’s Market too. It’s almost next to impossible to avoid seeing a pecan pie unless you don’t go grocery shopping!
Yet somehow, in my entire 29 years living here in Canada, I never bothered to pick one up and try it myself. So quite literally, my first ever bite of pecan pie was taken just a couple of nights ago when Angelo kindly offered half of his after dinner.
Verdict? It was okay. Maybe it's because we bought the pecan pie at a specialty cheese shop, but I thought the pecan pie was just okay. Despite the buttery pie crust, a semi-sweet sticky centre, and soft pecans on top I didn’t find my first bite of pecan pie particularly exciting.
However, since I’ve promised myself to give everything a taste at least 3 times before deciding whether I like the item or not, I’m certainly open to trying it again.
If you’ve got any pecan pie recommendations, let me know! I’m now in the market for my second and third taste test!
