I also eat elsewhere: In Niagara Falls it's practically impossible to avoid chain eateries. The night before, for dinner, we walked all over the city trying to find something independent, but found only tattoo parlours and seedy bars. Fun, yes, but not what we were after. We fared a little better at breakfast, and decided to eat at Niagara Falls' famous German restaurant, The Happy Wanderer (6405 Stanley Ave). The restaurant is small, and packed with German folkart, including incredible wooden chandaliers dangling from the ceilings. Jungle-like growth creeps across the walls at the entrance. The waitresses all wear traditional German dress. Awesome. So far it seemed promising. I ordered apple cinnamon pancakes, and they were ok, just a little blah, with big slices of apples cooked in. The biggest disapointment were the potato pancakes which, in print, seemed heavenly. In practice they were greasy and had the oddest consistency: they looked crispy, but were chewy, gelatinous - as if the potatoes had been soaked in water too long before frying. We should've just ordered the $3.99 breakfast special.

This past weekend, I was in Montreal where I had two satisfying egg breakfasts, first at The Toasteur (1310, avenue Laurier Est) and then at Shed Cafe (3515 St Laurent). Shed Cafe has a bit of an edge because I got poached eggs with ham and this interesting maple sauce instead of hollandaise, and I ordered a special blueberry/rasberry juice to wash it down. While I stuck to eggs, Caro had pancakes. At Le Toasteur, nutella and bananas, and at Shed Cafe they came with a generous portion of pecans. And the portion was huge. I am getting excited at the thought of trying out more Montreal breakfast places.

Saving Grace (907 Dundas Street West ): I had high expectations for this place, so it pains me to admit that Andrew and I left feeling unsatisfied. Our first attempt to dine here was thwarted by their February renovation, but it recently opened for business again. The room is tiny and bright, all hardwood floors and white walls. We luckily snagged a table immediately. The menu looked promising. I had strawberry and banana waffles, and Andrew had spinach and smoked salmon scrambled eggs. My waffles were good, and the pink heart-shaped pat of butter it came with was adorable, but I'm glad I got a side of bacon or else I would've still been hungry. Andrew's eggs were a little off - the salmon was too fishy, and the eggs were spiced with too much dill. We were both still hungry when we left, and really, I hate leaving brunch not feeling full. Brunch is a time for gluttony!

More breakfast places revisited: Although ideally I would like to try out new restaurants as often as possible, realistically I have my favourites that I will visit again and again. This past weekend I had Pam from Ottawa and Carly from Calgary staying with me, and we needed serious brunches to give us the energy for our jam-packed weekend. First up was the ever reliable, always delicious Maggie's. The food was perfect as usual. A tip: despite the amazingness of the stuffed French toast, the portion can sometimes be a bit much. You can get side order portions of the toast instead, which will allow you to either eat a reasonably sized meal, or get a nice, big order of garlic fries on the side with it. Next was Mitzi's. We held out for a table at Mitzi's Cafe and it was worth the half hour wait - the room is just so adorable and sunny. What I like about Mitzi's is that the menu essentially changes every day, and throughout the day based on the ingredients they have in the kitchen. Carly had chocolate eclair French toast made up of thick slices of bread topped with vanilla custard, a generous drizzle of melted dark chocolate, served with roast potatoes. I had an omelette folded with pieces of melty brie, ham and - so interesting - an orange and cranberry chutney. We washed it all down with rasberry-apple juice. How perfect.