Hello from Buffalo!
We had a long day of driving and shopping, but thanks to the nap I took in the car, I’m currently much more awake than my mom. We ended up having about an extra 2 hours or so added to the drive because we had to pick up my mom’s passport from Toronto, and we ran into bad traffic on the highway due to an accident. Luckily we stopped at a Starbucks before leaving town, because I was super thirsty.
Pumpkin spice is back! 
I was too thirsty to order something hot or creamy, so I asked for an iced black tea with a pump of pumpkin spice, and somehow along the line the order got turned into an iced black tea pumpkin spice latte… I think? I wasn’t really sure what it was, but I rolled with it and it was actually pretty good. More refreshing than a regular latte, but still spicy and pumpkin-y 
The drink held me over okay until we hit traffic, and by the time we made it to Toronto it was already late afternoon and I was starrrving! Luckily, the other day I spotted a Panera Bread in Mississauga, and when my mom said she was in the mood for sandwiches I was all over suggesting it. I’ve seen this place floating around in the blog world, and was just looking for an opportunity to try it.
I got a chicken salad sandwich on sesame bread, and managed to take a few pictures before I inhaled it.
The chicken salad was loaded with grapes and almonds – yum!
And there was a pickle! I really liked the sandwich from Panera, and I loved how their soft drink dispenser had free still + sparkling water with lemon wedges.
I also loved how you could choose an apple as your side, because I love apples! The only complaint was that I was really in the mood for a veggie sandwich, but the only one they had was a mediterranean veggie sandwich with roasted peppers (blech), and they didn’t have anything like chickpeas that could be subbed for meat in another sandwich. Other than that I really wish I had one of these closer to me, because I’d definitely be a frequent customer!
Lunch was followed by several hours of driving, which wasn’t too bad considering we barely had a wait at the border. I finally got the chance to use my Nexus card to cross at the Whirlpool Bridge, and it was AWESOME crossing in just a few minutes with almost zero wait time! We headed over to the Buffalo Outlets for my mom, and ended up leaving with some stylish clothes for her, and 10 bars of Lindt chocolate for me 
And we got free samples in the Lindt store. Free chocolate is the best kind! 
Afterwards we hit up Target, and headed over to Cheesecake Factory for dinner.
<3 oaty brown bread
Double <3 tropical iced tea!
It always seems like I alternate my menu choices at Cheesecake Factory – one time I’ll go for my trusty favourite, and the next I’ll try something completely new. Last time was my favourites, so this time I opted for something different.
To start, my mom and I shared the French Country Salad, which was mixed greens with goat cheese, beets, asparagus and candied pecans. We ordered the dressing on the side, and I was really glad that we did because the goat cheese was so creamy that I barely even needed the dressing.
For my entree, I ordered the Bistro Shrimp Pasta, which was spaghettini with breaded shrimp, mushrooms, tomato and arugula in a basil-garlic-lemon cream sauce. I ask to sub non-breaded shrimp for breaded, and the dish was perfect. I love cream sauces, and this one tasted nice and light.
Obviously we had to order cheesecake as well I was going to go with the chocolate Godiva cheesecake, but after looking at the menu I changed my mind last minute, for…
The Red Velvet Cheesecake! I’ve never actually had red velvet cake before (I think it’s more common in the US than in Canada), but I’ve been dying to try it. I was a little disappointed that it just tasted like regular cake and didn’t have any special flavour to it, but it looked really pretty and went well with the layers of cheesecake and cream cheese frosting. Plus, now I can say that I’ve tried it
Say “aaaaahhh” for cheesecake!
I was stuffed, and ended up taking home part of my dinner and dessert. I can’t wait to eat the leftovers!
After some more driving around for breakfast supplies for the morning, we checked into the hotel for some much-needed sleep.
I’m impressed by the sheer number of pillows on each bed – I have six just to myself! I might just spread them all out and roll around like a queen all night.
Right now I have a dress from the Urban Outfitters sale rack to mend, and then I’m going to check out the fitness room in the hotel so I can plan my morning for tomorrow. I’m hoping to get a workout in before we have to get going for the day, because I haven’t sweat since before I moved back for university (excluding the actual move itself, which was very sweaty).
Have a good night!
