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On Wednesday I slept-in, it was a late-start morning (11am is still morning) and before I had gotten out of bed I was terrified to go outside. Scrolling through the facebook and twitter feeds on my phone before peeking out of my duvet, the truth had reared its frostbitten head – winter had returned again. We had awakened from the balmy dream of light-winter-jackets and thin gloves of last winter and found ourselves smack-dab in the middle of a -21 degrees Celsius reality freeze. I groaned. It was time to bust out the down-filled sleeping bag of a coat, I crawled out of bed and ripped it from the back of my closet.

 

Knowing very well I’d have to brace the cold to make my class at 1pm, I decided there must be some way to rectify this tortuous ordeal. Solution? Reasonable, delicious, trendy brunch at Auntie’s and Uncles on Lippincott St (Bathurst and College). You see, on weekends, this place is next to impossible to secure a table with less than an hour wait (no really, I went once at 9:30am on a Saturday and there was already a line forming). This late-start weekday was the perfect opportunity to indulge without the arduous hunger pains of the breakfast line-up. I wrapped myself in the sleeping-bag-coat and braced the cold.

Auntie’s and Uncles is like walking into a curio-shoppe (lots of knick-knacks and vintagey things), except it serves good food too. Everything on the menu is under $9, and I’ve yet to be disappointed. On this particular visit I opted for the Breakfast Pocket ($8.75) which includes eggs, peameal, caramelized onions cheese and tomato – served on a delicious focaccia (the sandwich is so large it could be split between two people). My dining partner had the Breakfast Tacos ($8.75) stuffed with chorizo, egg, cheese, pinto beans and topped with cilantro-sour cream.  Tack-on some re-fillable coffee for 2 bucks and I was stuffed and caffeinated enough to head to class in the blistery weather.

I was feeling pretty good about my bravery until I found out that Toronto hadn’t been this cold since – January 2011. Yes folks, the sad truth is that this weather is pretty standard, and we just got lucky last year. In fact, us Torontonians don’t have much to complain about, it was -55 with wind chill in Northern Saskatchewan on the same day. But needless to say, it’s still a good excuse to line those bones with some delicious, filling, not-entirely-greasy brunch.