Say goodbye to high stress lives and hello romanticization of rural life! I promise that adopting a few small town rules will make all the difference when it comes to dealing with big city pressures.

No joke.

Step 1. Get to Know Your Home Town! In small towns, like Summerside, PEI, the vast majority of residents know the city's rich shipbuilding history. Wandering the town you'll see community supported efforts to restore the city's traditional Victorian architecture and social customs. This makes for great affordable outings, summer or winter!

Toronto's history runs deep, and there are a number of great city run museums and parks. Knowing your town, I find, helps to create a sense of belonging AND helps to avoid weekend apathy.

Step 2. Learn to Make Bread. This has to be one of the only skills I think everyone should learn before they depart. Baking bread is an amazing experience that really awakens every sense! From the physical kneading bread to the sense of warmth you feel when the smell of fresh bread fills your home, bread makes you feel good!

What better way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning than making a simple, delicious, aromatic white bread? But, I mean make it from hand, my mother makes a million loaves a week so she turned to a chrome plated industrial looking bread machine. The first thing my friend, Cathy said when she walked in "Your house!? It doesn't smell like bread anymore!? What happened?" She was a little crushed.

Step 3. Fish is Awesome! Don't believe me, then hook up with a Maritimer and watch them cook! We (Maritimers) move from the city and refuse to buy fish from the grocery store. No way, no how, that fish is days old. Even when you purchase fish from the Superstore in in the Maritimes, it's a day or two old.

How do you avoid this?

You:
a) ask a friend to ask their cousin, who happens to be a fisherman, to supply us with fresh fish.
b) you go to a fish market/fish monger
c) you befriend a Native Canadian with off season fishing rights.
d) you hit the internet
e) any of the above as long as it results in fresh fish.

If you answered "e" you are absolutely correct-a-mundo!

So how do you suss it out in the T dot? I've used Internet, the fish monger across parking lot of the Summerhill LCBO and gone first thing in the morning to Saint Lawrence Market. All of which yielded gorgeous, fresh fish!

Did it break my bank? No. Here's the key: When buying shellfish like lobster over the internet from an Island supplier, it is possible to get a bulk discount. So tell everyone, your coworkers, your friends, anyone who might be interested!
Next, you need to line up a courier to do a direct delivery of your live frieght if you can't go and pick it up yourself. Make sure, you have someone home to receive the lobsters, because it's likely they will arrive early in the day.

Keep them fresh with cold damp newspaper while you prepare your cooking stations and that's pretty much it.

Now, here's the reality check: Cost in Toronto to purchase a single 1.5 lb lobster = Approx. $30 unless you buy them old then they may sell them for less.
Cost to ship up 1.5 lbs lobster from PEI, including Courier costs = $11/lobster. Now, we purchased about 40lbs worth of lobster amonst me and my friends! But, here's the kicker, this lobster was fished and delivered within 24 hours.

Only a few hints, but, they really will help you out. I'll add up a few more tips and tricks as I go along!