It is official, I have lost another friend to another country; an occurrence that has happened to me more than once in the last year; Maddy has jumped coasts.  Accompanying any ticking timeline marking ones last days in a city, Maddy and I compiled a bucket list of things to do before her east coast days came to an end.  On the top of this list was the PHEROTI.

What’s a Pheroti you ask? Well…let me tell you.  One day when deciding which of our fave go-to foods to have for dinner, Maddy jokingly suggested we eat all 3 -[1]phở [2]perogies [3]roti.  The more we thought about it, the more we decided it was an amazing idea.  Why choose 1 when you can have all 3; gluttony at its best!  Thus born the Pheroti [PHở +pEROgy + roTI] -a multi course culinary adventure made up of all our fave foods…

april 26, 2014 – the day when all I did was eat…and when the Pheroti came to life.

Pre Pheroti, Mike and I went for ramen.  I made the executive decision to not eat my bowl clean.  Mike, however, did not and this decision would later come back to haunt him.  After ramen, we only had a couple hours to digest and to mentally + physically prep before Maddy + Mike + and I set out for our ultimate food adventure.

Though there are no rules to this challenge, here are some nuggets of wisdom that we learned along the way which led to our success:

[1] do your research ahead of time – know the hours of operation of each restaurant so that you can plan your Pheroti route accordingly.
[2] don’t do it on an empty stomach – i suggest eating a late breakfast/early lunch before
[3] walk from restaurant to restaurant – it helped to break up the meals and mentally made us feel like we were digesting + making more room
[4] 3 is the magic number – the rotis split 3 ways was the perfect amount
[5] know your limits – though the event is more fun with an alcoholic bev with each course keep in mind that these liquids take up precious belly space

The foods may not have been the most photogenic, but each course was delicious!

stop #1: phở – a Vietnamese noodle soup of broth + rice noodles + meat + veg
location: Golden Turtle [125 Ossinton ave.]

stop #2: roti – East Indian style [channa -chick pea + saag paneer -spinach and Indian cheese]
location: Mother India [Parkdale – 1456 Queen St. West]
*note: our usual Roti stop, Gandhi’s Indian Cuisine [554 Queen St. West], was closed this day

stop #3: perogies -a polish dumpling [mushroom/sauerkraut + potato/cheese]
location: Café Polonez [195 Roncesvalles Ave.]

At the end of it all, 1hr later, Maddy and I were oddly hungry.  Mike was stuffed and struggling.   But..WE DID IT! Woooo!

I double dare you all to take on the Pheroti.  It will change your life! -actually, the next day I achieved a goal of mine and ran my fastest 5k!

As I celebrate our success in completion I bid bon voyage to my bestie as she lands in San Fran. Bonded forever by the Pheroti.  Mike and I will miss you [and Charlie].

-Yay! We did it!