OK so anyone who has been to Canada with me, or is a celebrity from Canada, or is just around me when the term “Canada” comes up knows that I have this odd obsession with the country up north (where everyone is excessively nice and says ‘eh’ after every sentence.)
I’ve brought this up with Sarah Chalke (aka Elliot from Scrubs), Jason Jones (The Daily Show), another Canadian celeb who does not need to be mentioned because he’s been pseudo-cut from my life minus birthdays and congratulatory messages, and most recently, TV personality Jillian Barberie Reynolds (of Good Day LA/FOX NFL Sunday/NutriSystem fame.)
I went to Jillian’s house in the valley to check out her shoe collection (which is massive btw), and well, naturally, her homeland came up (okay, even if it didn’t come up naturally…steering convo that way was a great ice-breaker.)
I’m really into regional gimmicks. Example: WhataBurger in Texas, Steak N Shake in the South/Mid-West, Sunoco gas stations on the East Coast… basically, anything that I can’t find in California, I’ll buy into and indulge.
Canada’s regional gimmick? Tim Horton’s (which is apparently also available in places like Detroit and New York City, but we will disregard that information for the sake of this blog post.
Tim Horton’s is…heaven (ok no, it’s a coffee/donut/cookie shop whose ice cap is comparable to a Starbucks frappuccino, but cheaper.) It all started in Dec 2007 when I was roadtripping from Massachusetts to California, and I wanted to make my national roadtrip… INTERnational (so via Detroit, I crossed the border into Canada for an hour, and discovered TH.) When I was in Canada for a month for Samsung at the 2010 Winter Olympics, I indulged myself even more.
TH, therefore, is the natural conversation piece when meeting a Canadian.
I tell Jillian of my obsession, and being the giver of information and news that she is, informs me that Tim Horton was an actual person! Yes, Tim Horton was a hockey player (another thing Canada is obsessed with) who apparently died at a relatively young age.
So in addition to Jillian providing me with my weather every morning on Good Day LA and info on her daily outfits via twitter, she has also enlightened me with info on my new favorite Canadian….Mr. Horton.
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Tim Horton’s is just the surface. What about Swiss Chalet? As mentioned in the song “One Week”. Also all the chocolate bars, the vending machine cakes, the beer store and LCBO. CN Tower, younge street, wonderland. Canadian tire store, who give out their own currency… come on… I think more Americans should discover Canada. It’s like the U.S. but different…check out the band called “Spoons” with hits like nov hart…. I could go on.
Exactly. The Swish is the great social equalizer in Canada … everyone, prince or pauper, has eaten a Sunday lunch with their granny at Swiss Chalet. The sauce is disgusting but legendary. And Jillian loves it!