I’m Craving a Large Poutine and a Pack of Timbits and Other Canadian Thoughts
The very Canadian/Erie County crossover of thoughts
Close to Ontario
Erie, Pennsylvania is in a very interesting location. It is the gateway to the Northeast from the Midwest. It’s also just across the lake from Ontario, Canada. If there was a bridge that went directly over Lake Erie, you would be in Ontario in less than an hour. Niagara Falls is only about 2 hours away from here and one of my favorite cities in all of North America, Toronto, is only a little more than 3, almost 4 hours away by car.
They play Canadian hockey here and Canadians like to visit
In fact, Erie is in the Ontario Hockey League when it comes to professional sports. Canadians regularly visit Erie County to come and purchase clothes because there is no sales tax in the entire state of Pennsylvania on such a purchase. That definitely sounds like an appealing shopping adventure for the highly taxed Canadians.
A taste of Canadian food and culture
One thing I appreciate the Canadians bringing down here to Erie is their culture and food. Food is one of my biggest pleasures when it comes to traveling. Even though I’m not a big fan of the city I’m currently residing in, there is at least one restaurant here in the city that will serve me a delicious and decently large portion of poutine.
If you haven’t had poutine before, it’s french fries with cheese curds on top of it and then topped with gravy. That combination is so delicious that I would go back for seconds. That recipe I just mentioned is just the basic poutine. There are also many variations. The restaurant I’m thinking of in Downtown Erie also serves a traditional Quebec poutine with scallions that I’d like to try sometime.
Those irresistible Timbits
Tim Horton’s is also a brand from Canada that the Northeastern United States gets to experience. I can think of at least 4 different locations off of the top of my head in the Erie area alone. I checked online and there are in fact eight total locations in the county so I underestimated it a bit. Tim Horton’s is basically the Starbucks of Canada but with a wider selection of food and cheaper coffee. A mocha iced coffee at Tim Horton’s in Erie is $2.75. I absolutely love their coffee.
It’s weird that a lot of people I encounter tell me that Tim Horton’s is inferior to Starbucks. It seems to me that Starbucks has a strange aftertaste and is about twice as expensive for no good reason. The highlight of Tim Horton’s is those delicious donut holes that the company calls Timbits. My favorite pack to get is the blueberry ones. They come in packs of 10, 20, and 40. 40 donut holes are only $8.99. That is by far the best value you can get for donuts in the area. Krispy Kreme, by comparison, is $6.49 for only 24 glazed donut holes and almost $14.00 for a full dozen of regular size donuts.
Canadian money and gas prices
The Canadian crossover continues in Erie as many places in the city accept Canadough AKA Canadian dollars. Canadians bring a lot of money into the area and it is definitely a boost to the local tourism here. It’s great to be in an area so closely related to one of my favorite countries in the world. I meet Canadians nearly every day being in the Erie area.
When I lived in California, it was way less common. The only thing I hope that the Canadians don’t export our way is their gas prices. If people in the United States think that gas is expensive here right now, Canada charges by the liter and it’s more expensive there. I did the math by going on Gas Buddy and finding the cheapest gas in Toronto and then multiplying the number of liters in a gallon and then using the conversion rate for the currency and even the cheapest gas in the city is over $5 a gallon. Californians would kill for those sorts of prices. Anyway, I digress.
Staying close to the border and finding a path to becoming citizens eventually
If I can’t fulfill my dream of living in Canada at the moment, living in this area is the next best thing just to have a little taste of Canada around me at all times. Honestly, our plan was to go back to Chicago recently which we still might do in the next year even though our plans seem to be constantly changing now. I just want to stay close to at least some taste of Canada. We’re looking at Ohio as a short-term solution, at least for now.
If we had already had our passports, we’d probably be in Toronto as I’m writing this. Not having a passport is the only thing keeping me from being fully immersed in Canadian excellence. I know things aren’t perfect up there either but at this point, I’d take Canada’s flaws over the flaws I’ve been experiencing and seeing in the United States. I’ve already looked into finding a path to citizenship when I get up there eventually and have already figured out every possible angle when it comes to traveling and immigrating to Canada. Having the taste of Canada right in my backyard has been very nice for me and even though the place I’m in now is otherwise pretty bad outside of the good things I mentioned, it comforts me to have these things around.
