December 2021

Business Travel, Fitness and Health, Holiday Events

Safer Holiday Gathering Tips for the Season

December 21, 2021

Safer holiday photo by Maxime on Unsplash

With omicron variant cases rising, safer holiday gathering plans are on everyone’s mind. How can we spend warm, nourishing time with our loved ones—and not pass COVID on as well?

As we head into the holiday season, here are a few tips on how to adjust our plans to stay safe.

Keep it smaller

Canada’s public health officials are asking us to keep our holiday celebrations smaller and more intimate this year.

The recommendations for the most people you should have at an indoor gathering are different in every region. And after two years of COVID waves, it’s not easy to decide we’re not going to see someone this year. But taking a moment to think about what the most sensible number of guests might be—not so small as to leave you missing loved ones, but not so large as to risk them—is definitely worthwhile.

Think about your guests’ real needs

As public health officials have been saying, there’s “no magic number of people that makes a gathering safe.” Instead, think about the real people you’re gathering with this holiday season—and plan around their real needs.

If your friends or loved ones are older, immunocompromised, pregnant, or higher-risk, it’s worth planning your gathering around their safety threshold, rather than yours. Even if there’s a level of safety you’re personally comfortable with—an indoor dinner instead of an outdoor meetup, or mixing vaccinated and unvaccinated guests—it’s just good hosting to talk with the most at-risk person on your list first, and find out what makes them comfortable.

The greatest gift we can give this year is the chance to be with loved ones without fear of COVID exposure—or arguments about it. With a little footwork, everyone will be safer—and happier.

Book your vaccines

Toronto’s shown a great commitment to getting our vaccines. But now that they’ve been approved for kids and higher-risk adults are getting booster shots, it’s important to keep on top of our shots.

The more people who are vaccinated, the less chance we have of getting sick—and making others sick.

Wear a good mask

While omicron may be daunting, the difference between this year’s holidays and last year is our tools. We have much more effective tools against COVID this time around—and one of them is a good-quality, good-fitting medical-grade mask.

High-quality masks have never been easier to get. They’re available from office supply stores, pharmacies, and even vending machines at Toronto Pearson Airport, Union Station, and major Toronto subway stations.

If you’re visiting Toronto for longer, you can plan ahead and have your mask supply waiting. Ontario mask manufacturers Canadian Shield offer express shipping on masks, face shields, respirators, and rapid tests. Order a few days before your travel date, and you can have a Health Canada-certified mask supply waiting for you when you arrive—enough for you and your guests.

Use rapid tests to make sure you’re safe

Rapid tests are a part of the COVID safety puzzle that’s never quite clicked in Ontario—but they can be vital in keeping your holiday gathering safe.

Rapid tests are available from some pharmacies and online suppliers: either over the counter or shipped to your door. They’re easy, convenient COVID tests you can do at home, giving you a result in 15 minutes. Get a negative, and you’re likely safe; get a positive, and it’s time to confirm that with a formal PCR test.

Having your guests each test themselves before your holiday gathering is a great way to make sure nobody’s carrying an asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic case of COVID. And it means you’ll be able to relax into spending time with loved ones, instead of worrying about the air you breathe.

Have a backup plan

Our situation’s changing fast, and it’s smart to have a backup plan, whether big or small.

On the simple end, a holiday backup plan can mean sending invites for a virtual Zoom holiday party in case gathering recommendations change—and your guest list ends up being too large.

If you have to travel across borders, knowing where to get a PCR test so you can make your flight home on time can save you trouble later. In the most serious scenario, it might be worthwhile to line up somewhere to stay in case borders close entirely.

Safer holiday gatherings are the holiday spirit

Either way, be prepared to be flexible as the situation develops: and get your friends and family to help out. Planning a group gathering that keeps everyone safe is much easier when we’re all on board—or when we divide tasks like testing and planning equally to make it easy on the host.

Even though COVID’s affecting our holiday plans, the holiday spirit’s unchanged: that we’ll always do better when we lean on each other, talk with each other, and work together.

Happy holidays!

Food & Recipes, Toronto Condos, toronto toursim

Eat the City: Toronto’s Best Specialty Grocery Options

December 15, 2021

Specialty grocery photo by Angele J from Pexels.

A huge fridge, a pristine stove, and a month or two in a new city—of course you want to do some absolutely amazing cooking.

Whether you’re recovering from a medical visit, sticking to a specific diet, or just absolutely on the go during your workday, there are plenty of reasons to check out Toronto’s grocery delivery options while staying in a fully-furnished DelSuites condominium. But for every Instacart buggy or supermarket-run service, there are a few delivery plans just off the beaten track: offering specialty grocery services, international products, or vegetables grown lovingly close to home.

We’re happy to profile a few of Toronto’s best specialty grocery delivery services—and help you make the most of that big, shiny, alluring kitchen.

Foodshare Toronto

Foodshare Toronto’s Good Food Box can hardly be called offbeat. It’s been delivering fresh, healthy, affordable fruit and vegetables across the city for over 30 years—and rolling the profits into community gardens, school programs, and incubators that nurture new Toronto food businesses.

But the box itself—a favourite among budget-conscious Torontonians—is infinitely adjustable: orders can be sized up or down, requested pre-cut for disabilities, and customized to arrive at your lobby weekly, biweekly, or monthly. You can also support racialized farmers with the Dismantling White Supremacy box, taste more diverse options, and support local agriculture.

The Good Food Box also offers add-on options like pasture-raised meat, bread, crackers, local honey, and coffee from fair trade Toronto roaster Alternative Grounds.

Iqbal Halal Foods

Locally-owned Iqbal Halal Foods, one of Toronto’s biggest halal markets, is enough of a neighbourhood hub that it hosted Thorncliffe Park’s pop-up vaccine clinics. But for shoppers outside Toronto’s Midtown, this halal superstore also delivers: not just their own meat and produce, but a huge swath of South Asian and Middle Eastern brands, from Pakistan’s Shangrila to Vimto.

Next-day delivery is free over a $129 order, and they’ll deliver up to 150km from their flagship store inside a week: everywhere in the Greater Toronto Area and throughout Southern Ontario.

Kosher City Plus

From North York to Midtown, Kosher City Plus delivers everything you need to set up a kosher household for a month—or a whole year. With an in-house bakery and deli including freshly baked challah, a line of kosher gluten-free products, and Cholov Yisroel and Passover brands, they cover the whole calendar. And it’s not limited to food: Kosher City Plus also brings affordable seasonal holiday supplies and Hebrew-language magazines and newspapers to your door.

With deliveries from Monday to Thursday—and no fee after a $100 minimum order—they’re the easiest way to set up your temporary kosher kitchen.

T&T Supermarket

It’s not exactly offbeat, but British Columbia-based East Asian grocery chain T&T Supermarket is a classic.

Since COVID-19 hit, T&T offers next-day delivery—and same-day pickup!—on everything from produce, meat, seafood and premade meals to the pantry staples you need to fully stock an Asian kitchen. If you’re outside their delivery zone? They’ll pop non-perishables in the mail to almost any postal code in Canada—which means there’s no reason to go without oyster sauce or gojuchang ever again.

Delivery is $7.99 for orders over $100, and a wide range of payment options including Wechat Pay and AliPay are accepted.

Dufferin Grove Farmers’ Market

One of west Toronto’s most enduring—and celebrated—farmers’ markets took things online when COVID-19 closed in, and they’re still bringing the farm directly to our doorsteps.

The Dufferin Grove Farmers’ Market webstore shows what its dozens of farmers, food producers, and diverse local brands are harvesting this week, and delivers your picks on market day.

As well as the usual seasonal produce, the market features sustainably-raised meat, fair trade chocolate, water buffalo and sheep cheese, Inuit-sourced fish, wild-foraged preserves, Tibetan, Mexican and Indian premade meals, and more.

Orders go in from 12pm Saturday to 12pm Tuesday every week, and Thursday afternoon deliveries—by cargo bike when possible!—cover most of downtown and Midtown, up to Lawrence Avenue.

100km Foods

Sometimes you’ve just got to pull out all the stops, and if you’re the kind of diner who likes to know exactly where your beets came from, 100km Foods has you covered: a wholesale local food distributor that turned to home delivery when COVID shut its high-end restaurant clients down.

100km’s organized produce, meat, and dairy boxes offer a rotating weekly sample of its farm-fresh products. But there’s also a regular selection of seasonal produce, meat, seafood, cheese, charcuterie, snacks, and pantry goods, as well as chef-made meals from some of the fine dining restaurants they supply.

With their products mostly grown in Niagara and Prince Edward County—and overwhelmingly organic and ecologically-conscious—it’s a true taste of Ontario regional foods.

Deliveries go out Wednesday to Saturday in most Toronto neighbourhoods, with a $6 delivery fee; free if your order’s over $100.

Fresh City Farms

Fresh City Farms started as an urban farm on decommissioned military land by Toronto’s Downsview Airport, and a veggie stand. Inside a dozen years, it’s bloomed into a homegrown grocery chain with multiple downtown locations, a dizzying selection of organic, local-grown, and small artisan-brand products, and an unswerving commitment to showcasing sustainable, healthy food. And that includes a bottle shop that focuses on Ontario wine, beer, and cider.

With most of its products labeled local, sustainable, and certified organic, you know exactly what you’re getting on Fresh City’s online shop—which is a real help if you eat gluten-free, keto, vegan, or dairy-free. And they still offer the organic produce boxes that transitioned them from farmstand to supermarket, weekly, biweekly, or on demand.

Deliveries go out seven days a week: $4.99 for a specific timeslot or $2.99 if you’re not choosy.

Roll your sleeves up in the kitchen

With full kitchens, full-sized fridges, and friendly concierges, a DelSuites furnished apartment rental makes trying Toronto’s best flavours easy. Contact us at DelSuites by phone at (647) 370-3504 or email info@delsuites.com to book your food-friendly accommodations.

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Travelling Green With DelSuites

December 1, 2021

With the climate heating up and wild weather our new normal, we’re all looking for greener ways to travel—whether it’s as elaborate as buying carbon offsets or simple as a reusable coffee cup. But it’s easier to be eco-friendly on the road when you’ve got a helping hand.

Here’s how staying with DelSuites helps you travel green—and enjoy comfortable Toronto luxury without taking it out on our planet.

DelSuites units are built green

DelSuites sources our furnished short-term rentals exclusively in Tridel buildings—and Tridel is Canada’s recognized leader in sustainable design. With the most LEED-certified buildings in the country and 11 BILD Green Builder of the Year Awards, Tridel has led the way in innovating new ways to combine comfortable luxury housing with good ecological practices.

That means staying in a DelSuites furnished apartment is a chance to sample buildings constructed and designed from the ground up for clean air, energy efficiency, and water-saving. Tridel buildings, on average, use 34% less electricity, 57% less natural gas and 43% less potable water than your standard modern high-rise—and automatically cut down on the climate impact of your travel.

A DelSuites stay also gives you the chance to enjoy innovative new sustainable technologies. Tridel’s one of the co-founders of research laboratory Tower Labs—a space devoted to making high-rise living cleaner, greener, and more sustainable, including Canada’s first Net Zero condominium home. And DelSuites furnished apartments are located in the buildings where those innovations are rolled out first.

Booking your stay at Element means not just accessible downtown luxury, but enjoying the first condominium in Canada built with Enwave’s revolutionary Deep Lake Water Cooling System. It’s an innovation that reuses waste heat from a nearby heating plant to keep your suite warm in winter—and almost eliminate the environmental impact of heating and cooling the building.

With a DelSuites booking, you’re already ahead in making your trip an eco-friendly one.

Furnished short-term rentals let you travel green

The hospitality industry has come a long way in reducing, reusing, and recycling everywhere, from flexible housekeeping policies to changing the waste footprint of toiletries. But for the eco-focused traveler, a furnished rental is the greenest solution—because it’s designed for daily life.

All of our units have fully equipped kitchens, complete with dishes, glassware, kitchen tools, and all the major appliances you need to whip up your favourite meal. Whether you’re a home gourmet or want to sample Toronto’s world-class international restaurants, you can ditch the takeout plastic cutlery, disposable coffee cups, and coffee pods to eat a little greener.

Our kitchens’ stock of reusable storage containers also let you use Toronto’s multiple waste-free and co-op grocery stores, and cut out the waste plastic altogether. Or you can take advantage of a residential address—and the services of our friendly concierges—to have fresh, local fruits and vegetables brought to your door with Toronto’s leading-edge social enterprise produce box program, Foodshare.

When something does have to go into the trash, you’ll have the chance to choose a greener option. All our buildings participate in the City of Toronto’s Blue Bin and Green Bin programs, which divert recyclables and organic waste out of landfills.

Our suites’ full, no-fee laundry facilities are equipped with modern washing machines and dryers: built to balance energy and water use. With the chance to run laundry whenever you need, you can take advantage of off-peak electricity hours and cut out dry cleaners’ or launderers’ plastic packaging. And more importantly, you’ll have the chance to pack lighter, save luggage weight—and luggage fees—and reduce your carbon footprint while you travel.

Our locations open Toronto’s eco-friendly options to you

Toronto has a strong commitment to living green, and when you’re part of the neighbourhood—whether it’s for two weeks or half a year—it’s that much easier to take part.

Our suites are located in high Walk Score neighbourhoods, putting you just steps away from major business destinations, hospitals, theatres, parks, sports, restaurants, and green, clean public transit—and making it easier for you to get your daily steps in!

If you want to go a little faster and amp up the cardio, Bike Share Toronto stations are never more than a few blocks away, and their easy-to-use network lets you check in and check out bicycles across the city.

You’re also never far from supplies for eco-friendly living, from high-end to grassroots, or the city’s diverse farmer’s markets. Both seasonal and year-round markets make it easy for you to eat not just diverse and healthy, but local—and cut down on the kilometres your food has had to travel.

The future is green travel

We’re all changing the way we live, work, and travel as the world changes around us—and DelSuites makes it easy to embrace green living without sacrificing any of the perks that make great vacation memories.

Contact us at DelSuites by phone at (647) 370-3504 or email info@delsuites.com to ask about our green travel solutions and book today.