We’ve got not just one but TWO great reasons to give a shout-out to our pals at Ottawa staple The King Eddy in advance of this lonnnnnnnnnng weekend:

1. It’s the last #footlongweekend of the summer; 2. It’s FRYDAY, which means we get to shovel some love towards their always fresh-cut and double-fried tater sticks (swipe left to see that glistening starchy good stuff).

However YOU’RE celebrating this precious last gasp of summer, make it count.

It’s become our mantra, our ‘moment of zen’ statement over the past six months (has it been that long?!) since we first began Breaking Bread with all of you.

Whether you’re a chef, barista, brewer, server, farmer, restaurateur, small business owner or simply a lover of all things local in your neck of the woods across Canada, a sincere thank you for coming along on this wild ride.

You’re making a difference. We raise a glass to all of you and pledge to you that we’ll be here to help get the good word out and share your stories as businesses continue to recover, rebuild and look to the future.

At LenJo Bakes in Kitchener, ON, you can find sweet treats galore and so much more courtesy of the creative mind of pastry chef and owner Lenore Johnson.

After earning her Baking and Pastry Arts Management diploma at the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Toronto’s George Brown College, she honed her craft in France, England and New Zealand. She returned to Canada to launch LenJo Bakes as a pop-up for 18 months before moving into a permanent home in midtown KW this past February.

Despite the pandemic, Lenore pivoted, found purpose in pickup-only service and, as the story goes, ‘nevertheless, she persisted’. The proof? Her little long-simmering labour of love was just nominated in the top-10 in five different categories (Best Bakery; Best Cafe/Bistro; Best Cakes/Cupcakes; Best Dessert; and Best New Restaurant) in the Waterloo Region Record’s Reader’s Choice Awards.