Recap of Nuit Blanche

We had a great time Saturday night at Nuit Blanche, walking about 5+km, stopping to see the great exhibits along the way. We headed out around 7:15 and ended up at La Société at 10; we had a light supper of French Onion Soup at 10:30 at their wonderful bar. This evening is such a massive undertaking that the city completely closes down some of the major streets for the installations to happen — you really need to plan your evening, so you’re not back tracking and you’re seeing the most you can see within the time you’ve allowed (this is our fourth year seeing it, so we’ve learned a few things along the way). I’ll just highlight the installations we enjoyed the most — we saw about 20 installations all together.

The first thing we saw was a memorial exhibit in the middle of Yonge Street the longest street in the world, called Memorias an exhibit which invites the audience to light a candle in commemoration of the lost lives of Ontario-based migrant workers (I didn’t even know we had migrant workers!).

About 10 metres by 54 metres on Bay Street

Sensational was the next thing we saw. This is a very large installation that occupied the park area between 4 major Bank Towers. What drew us to this (other than the planning) was that it was loud, and there were search lights beaming on the towers, and lasers. It was very compelling, in a happy kind of way — it actually made me smile. As I looked around, I noticed at the faces of the others, I noticed that they too were smiling.

Tie Break ESPN called it “the most riveting episode in the sport’s history.” (from Nuit Blanche website) the 1980 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Finals between Björn Borg and John McEnroe. The guys actually LOOKED like them, talk about flashback to the 80’s!! Here is one of our photos

Did guys really have hair like that? I know I did, but...

Infra a light show projected on a large building, controlled by the audience. It was very cool, but difficult to photograph.

A banquet of flavours for all of the senses

Through the Gorilla Glass was on the roof top garden of New City Hall. It was quite cool, impossible to photo. It’s a series of mechanical arms that move in sequence when disturbed (interactive) the arms have gorilla glass at each end that change colour depending on how they are disturbed.

Heart Machine is an installation we stumbled upon, but by far the coolest one we saw. Actual HUGE flames were initiated by audience interaction. We felt the heat while we were walking toward it about 50 metres away! It was a chilly night, so the heat was welcomed! We made a little movie of it, but I cannot figure out how to get it into a format for wordpress:-(

Coevality. This was interesting to watch. A video projected on a wall depicting two generations of three artists (you only see the brushes) changing up an existing piece of art of Victorian buildings. The transformations were fun to watch.

Slow Falls Rising. A video of Niagara Falls turned upside down. By this time we were a little tired, chilled and hungry, so the we didn’t hang around the exhibit long. It was interesting but not ‘wow’!

Dinner. We finally arrived on Bloor Street to one of our favourite French Restaurants, La Société at 10 pm (their kitchen is open until 2am, so we figured we were safe at 10pm). It was PACKED! We didn’t have reservations but fortunately they were able to squeeze us in at the Bar. We weren’t starving but needed a glass of wine and something warm: French Onion Soup. I must say, I have had many FOS but this one, by far, ROCKED. The stock had the most amazing flavour and NOT TOO SALTY either. I will give this dish 5/5! Please see my previous review of La Société.

We got home around midnight (this is when the Nuit Blanche is just starting to get crazy crowded, but I turn into a pumpkin at midnight, and with Thanksgiving next weekend, I was a little frightened someone might make a pie out of me! ;-).)

Another year done, and October is upon us. Soon the leaves will begin to change colour and fall to the ground, and then the snow will cover them for another 6 months! I have only one thing to say: “I’M NOT READY YET!”

PS. Sawsan, I’m on my second batch of croissants. The first turned out fine, but not leafy enough. I am going to persevere until I get it right!

Read Full Post »

Hungarian Korozot and Nuit Blanche in Toronto, October 1

October first was Nuit Blanche all over the world and we are very fortunate to participate every year in Toronto. It is a wonderful festival of all kinds of performance and installation arts all over the city. It starts at sundown (around 7pm-ish) and goes until the wee hours of the morning, should you choose. JT and I usually start our expedition in the south part of the city, near City Hall and walk a meandering path north exploring as many exhibits and installations along the way to Bloor Street. It was a chilly night in Toronto, around 7°C so we visit ed a few indoor exhibits along the way. We had a small snack before we started out, so we weren’t starving by the time we had dinner around 10pm. We always take the subway down so we don’t need to worry that we left the care a 45 minute walk away! I’ll took a few photos to blog about, but it’s usually very dark. Charles, I hope you had a chance to venture into Paris for this momentous event (it takes place in many major cities all over the world) — we’ve always found it such a blast in TO. Not sure if anyone reading lives in New York, but it’s happening there too! Toronto is expecting over a million people out in the streets tonight – it’s so cool walking around Toronto in the night with thousands of other people – it makes the city come alive with energy. Woo hoo! Let the festivities begin!

If you know me, you will know that I never serve alcoholic beverages without some type of food. I inherited this from my dear Mother, and I love it. I am always looking out for small nibbles that are tasty, not too filling (don’t want to spoil dinner, do we?) and easy to serve, with a martini or two! This is a dip that is commonly served in Hungarian households, I have modified it to my taste (and health…my Mom used to put softened butter in it!).

Korozot (Hungarian Fresh Cheese Dip)

Hungarian Korozot Dip

This is a modified recipe to suit my taste and to be a little healthier.

Ingredients:

• 4-6oz Goats Cheese (at room temperature) (the real recipe would use a soft unripened fresh cheese called Quark)
• No fat yogurt (for desired consistency)
• 2 tablespoons paprika puré (hot or sweet, your choice) (this is a Hungarian product that comes in a tube) OR tbsp paprika powder – try with smoked paprika for a totally different flavour
• 1 Shallot, very finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic (minced on a fine grater)
• bunch of chives, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Blend the goats cheese, shallot and garlic in a food processor until well mixed, adding the yogurt a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.
2. Remove from processor and fold in chives.
3. Serve at room temperature with crostinis. This is much better the next day when the flavours have had time to melt together.

Read Full Post »

Creative Chef; Tussle at the Temple

I was fortunate enough to be invited to an event Thursday night put on by Edward Pond http://www.edwardpond.com/, called Creative Chef, Tussle at the Temple http://www.creativechef.ca/ (Ed is a photographer we’ve worked with from time to time). It was held at Temple Kitchen in Liberty Village http://www.templekitchen.com/ (about a five minute walk from where I work!)
Ed put together a fund raising event for a local gallery; 12 ad exec’s cooking up a storm to be judged by real chefs, while we watched and cheered them on! The judges were celebs in their own right:
Anne Yarymowich, executive chef of FRANK, Art Gallery of Ontario, Zane Caplansky, executive chef and owner of Caplansky’s Delicatessen and Jason Bangerter, executive chef at Luma, Bell TIFF Lightbox.

The wine was flowing and tasty morsels were being passed around by helpful staff! It was a blast!
I got there a bit early, they had reconfigured the restaurant for the show-down!

Each contestant had to set their own table, on a meaningful way that represents their cuisine!

Read Full Post »

TIFF and a test Moroccan Dessert Sellou (Sfouf)

It’s a very happening week in Toronto because we have the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — the world’s largest film festival (according to Wiki, obviously a Torontonian wrote it!). We have been graced with some of the biggest stars, George Clooney (be still my heart), the BrAngelina’s, Madonna, Robert DeNiro to name a few. JT and I have been fortunate enough to score tickets from friends in the past, but unfortunately, not this year :-(, so to feel part of the action, we decided to get all dolled up [you know, just in case we bump into someone ;-)] and head downtown to the Ritz (we [I] heard Mr. Clooney was staying there). The Ritz is a brand new hotel in Toronto, opened in April, I think. We’ve been fortunate enough to have stayed in several Ritz Hotels in US and Canada and the one thing that is consistent is the quality of service — always exceptional. We had a glass of wine at TOCA and then we ventured to the back patio DEQ (say Deck) for another glass and some dinner.

At TOCA we were served a little plate of deep fried capers (not to my taste, capers were crunchy but the brininess was lost), crispy maple bacon (very weird taste, also not my cup-a-tea) and some roasted salted corn (very tasty). A pleasant surprise was that a very tasty Pinot was only $10 a glass. Last year we went down to the Four Seasons Hotel (another TIFF hangout, we actually saw Henry Winkler with his family) and the wine was $15 a glass, we had two each and paid about $80 with taxes — NO FOOD!! Dare I say, the Ritz is way classier!

Snacks at TOCA at the Ritz Carlton Toronto

TOCA Overall rating (in my opinion): Decor 4/5, service 4.5/5, food na/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 4/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).

After our glass of wine, we asked the manager to direct us to the other bar with the ‘great patio’ — he actually escorted us there. That’s service! I’m used to “see that sign at the far right, head that way and make a left, you can’t miss it!” type of service! He sat us at the patio bar as more than half the restaurant was closed for a private TIFF party. Later, we found out Mr. Clooney spent Friday and Saturday night at this bar [OMG, I may have been sitting on the exact same bar stool that HE sat on — damn, I was wearing white pants, not so easy to avoid washing ;-)]

We enjoyed DEQ’s specialty flat bread, which is kind of like a pizza, it had Chorizo and artichokes, quick roasted tomato goat cheese – it was delicious! JT was still hungry so we ordered Bruschetta, 6 pieces, also a signature dish (you order the amount you want, 1 each of three flavours or two each); the flavours were tomato-basil, Ingersoll burrata-pesto and speck asparagus with a poached quail egg. I was not that hungry but managed to scarf down the speck asparagus with the quail egg and the tomato-basil – both were delicious. The bartender was very nice, chatted us up for some of the time. We stayed until a little after 11 work beckoned; sadly the TIFF party that reserved the other half of the patio did not start before we left. Oh well, perhaps I’ll bump into Mr. Clooney some other time (in my dreams, perhaps)!

DEQ Overall rating (in my opinion): Decor 4.5/5, service 4.5/5, food 4/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 4/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).

Back to cooking! We are having good friends over for dinner on Saturday, and to help jump start our Moroccan adventure, we decided to have the theme as Moroccan food. I tested this recipe and it turned out pretty good. I am planning to have three little dessert samplers for Saturday night, Sellou is one of them.

“Sellou (or sfouf) is a unique unbaked Moroccan sweet made from toasted unhulled sesame seeds, fried almonds and flour that has been browned in the oven. Packed with calories and nutrients, it’s traditionally served during Ramadan and after childbirth, when there’s greater need to restore energy and maintain good health. It’s also served at Eid, weddings and other special occasions.” from About.com

Since I am not familiar with Moroccan cooking, I decided to not venture too far from to the recipe, which I picked up from Cooking with Alia. I did add a little lemon rind, you know how much I love almonds and lemon together. It is not as sweet as it sounds, and it’s got some very complex flavours going on. Although I restrained the amount of Cardamon I added, it was still very perfumey but it mellowed out on day two – I suspect by the weekend it will have rounded out beautifully. I also cut the recipe into 1/3, because I am serving three desserts I didn’t want too much of it. I suspect it will be very rich with all the nuts after a meat laden meal. The baked flour is a very strange thing indeed, and although it is rather stinky while baking, it really added some earthiness to the flavour. Not sure if I would add it again, trying to refrain from carbs, but it was interesting. The recipe below is pretty much verbatim from Alia, with the exception of the parts I’ve altered in brackets.

Sellou a traditional Moroccan Dessert

Ingredients:

• 200 grams of flour
• 125 grams of roasted almonds – you can also buy raw blanched almonds and roast them or fry them yourself
• 100 grams of sesame seeds (I used both black and white for interest)
• 125 grams of honey
• 75 grams of powdered sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon of anise powder
• 2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
• a pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon of ground mastic gum (I did not have this, so I omitted it)
• 113 grams of butter (1 stick)
• 1-2 tsp grated lemon rind (this was not part of the recipe)
• Secret Ingredient 1: 125 grams of roasted peanuts (I only had natural crunchy peanut butter, so that is what I added instead)
• Secret Ingredient 2: ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder (pinch or less)

Directions:

1. Browning the flour:
   1- preheat your oven to 350° F
   2- place the flour in a baking pan and spread it evenly
   3- cook the flour in the oven for about 30 minutes
   4- To avoid smoke in your house, and for the flour to cook evenly and not burn, you need to stir it every 5 minutes until it is done
   5- You will notice that the color of the flour will start changing and the flour is done when it has a deep golden brown color
   6- Sift the flour – use a spoon to break the flour lumps
   7- Let the flour cool down before using it.
2. Preparing the other ingredients:
3. 1- while the flour is cooking, you can actually start roasting the sesame seeds in a skillet on medium-low heat. Stir frequently so they do not burn.
   2- This will take about 20-30 minutes. remove the seeds from the heat when they darken and become fragrant – you can taste them, they should have a nutty flavor.
   3- Using a food processor, mix the roasted peanuts and the roasted almonds together.
   If you prefer sellou to have a fine texture, then mix the nuts until you get a powder.
   I personally prefer my sellou to be crunchy, so I only half mix the nuts to keep solid parts.
4. Mixing the dry ingredients:
   Now that we are ready, we are going to mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, spices, sesame seeds, almonds, and peanuts).
5. the last step then is to add the melted butter and honey. And at the very end, mix in the lemon rind.
   Mix well using a spatula until all the butter and honey are incorporated into the mixture.
   Now, if you want to preserve the moist sellou, just put it in an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 1 month. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving.
6. Serve the Sellou in little cups, or shape a dome out of it, cover it with powdered sugar and decorate roasted almonds.

Read Full Post »

TIFF and a test Moroccan Dessert Sellou (Sfouf)

It’s a very happening week in Toronto because we have the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — the world’s largest film festival (according to Wiki, obviously a Torontonian wrote it!). We have been graced with some of the biggest stars, George Clooney (be still my heart), the BrAngelina’s, Madonna, Robert DeNiro to name a few. JT and I have been fortunate enough to score tickets from friends in the past, but unfortunately, not this year :-(, so to feel part of the action, we decided to get all dolled up [you know, just in case we bump into someone ;-)] and head downtown to the Ritz (we [I] heard Mr. Clooney was staying there). The Ritz is a brand new hotel in Toronto, opened in April, I think. We’ve been fortunate enough to have stayed in several Ritz Hotels in US and Canada and the one thing that is consistent is the quality of service — always exceptional. We had a glass of wine at TOCA and then we ventured to the back patio DEQ (say Deck) for another glass and some dinner.

At TOCA we were served a little plate of deep fried capers (not to my taste, capers were crunchy but the brininess was lost), crispy maple bacon (very weird taste, also not my cup-a-tea) and some roasted salted corn (very tasty). A pleasant surprise was that a very tasty Pinot was only $10 a glass. Last year we went down to the Four Seasons Hotel (another TIFF hangout, we actually saw Henry Winkler with his family) and the wine was $15 a glass, we had two each and paid about $80 with taxes — NO FOOD!! Dare I say, the Ritz is way classier!

Snacks at TOCA at the Ritz Carlton Toronto

TOCA Overall rating (in my opinion): Decor 4/5, service 4.5/5, food na/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 4/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).

After our glass of wine, we asked the manager to direct us to the other bar with the ‘great patio’ — he actually escorted us there. That’s service! I’m used to “see that sign at the far right, head that way and make a left, you can’t miss it!” type of service! He sat us at the patio bar as more than half the restaurant was closed for a private TIFF party. Later, we found out Mr. Clooney spent Friday and Saturday night at this bar [OMG, I may have been sitting on the exact same bar stool that HE sat on — damn, I was wearing white pants, not so easy to avoid washing ;-)]

We enjoyed DEQ’s specialty flat bread, which is kind of like a pizza, it had Chorizo and artichokes, quick roasted tomato goat cheese – it was delicious! JT was still hungry so we ordered Bruschetta, 6 pieces, also a signature dish (you order the amount you want, 1 each of three flavours or two each); the flavours were tomato-basil, Ingersoll burrata-pesto and speck asparagus with a poached quail egg. I was not that hungry but managed to scarf down the speck asparagus with the quail egg and the tomato-basil – both were delicious. The bartender was very nice, chatted us up for some of the time. We stayed until a little after 11 work beckoned; sadly the TIFF party that reserved the other half of the patio did not start before we left. Oh well, perhaps I’ll bump into Mr. Clooney some other time (in my dreams, perhaps)!

DEQ Overall rating (in my opinion): Decor 4.5/5, service 4.5/5, food 4/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 4/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet).

Back to cooking! We are having good friends over for dinner on Saturday, and to help jump start our Moroccan adventure, we decided to have the theme as Moroccan food. I tested this recipe and it turned out pretty good. I am planning to have three little dessert samplers for Saturday night, Sellou is one of them.

“Sellou (or sfouf) is a unique unbaked Moroccan sweet made from toasted unhulled sesame seeds, fried almonds and flour that has been browned in the oven. Packed with calories and nutrients, it’s traditionally served during Ramadan and after childbirth, when there’s greater need to restore energy and maintain good health. It’s also served at Eid, weddings and other special occasions.” from About.com

Since I am not familiar with Moroccan cooking, I decided to not venture too far from to the recipe, which I picked up from Cooking with Alia. I did add a little lemon rind, you know how much I love almonds and lemon together. It is not as sweet as it sounds, and it’s got some very complex flavours going on. Although I restrained the amount of Cardamon I added, it was still very perfumey but it mellowed out on day two – I suspect by the weekend it will have rounded out beautifully. I also cut the recipe into 1/3, because I am serving three desserts I didn’t want too much of it. I suspect it will be very rich with all the nuts after a meat laden meal. The baked flour is a very strange thing indeed, and although it is rather stinky while baking, it really added some earthiness to the flavour. Not sure if I would add it again, trying to refrain from carbs, but it was interesting. The recipe below is pretty much verbatim from Alia, with the exception of the parts I’ve altered in brackets.

Sellou a traditional Moroccan Dessert

Ingredients:

• 200 grams of flour
• 125 grams of roasted almonds – you can also buy raw blanched almonds and roast them or fry them yourself
• 100 grams of sesame seeds (I used both black and white for interest)
• 125 grams of honey
• 75 grams of powdered sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon of anise powder
• 2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder
• a pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon of ground mastic gum (I did not have this, so I omitted it)
• 113 grams of butter (1 stick)
• 1-2 tsp grated lemon rind (this was not part of the recipe)
• Secret Ingredient 1: 125 grams of roasted peanuts (I only had natural crunchy peanut butter, so that is what I added instead)
• Secret Ingredient 2: ½ teaspoon of cardamom powder (pinch or less)

Directions:

1. Browning the flour:
   1- preheat your oven to 350° F
   2- place the flour in a baking pan and spread it evenly
   3- cook the flour in the oven for about 30 minutes
   4- To avoid smoke in your house, and for the flour to cook evenly and not burn, you need to stir it every 5 minutes until it is done
   5- You will notice that the color of the flour will start changing and the flour is done when it has a deep golden brown color
   6- Sift the flour – use a spoon to break the flour lumps
   7- Let the flour cool down before using it.
2. Preparing the other ingredients:
3. 1- while the flour is cooking, you can actually start roasting the sesame seeds in a skillet on medium-low heat. Stir frequently so they do not burn.
   2- This will take about 20-30 minutes. remove the seeds from the heat when they darken and become fragrant – you can taste them, they should have a nutty flavor.
   3- Using a food processor, mix the roasted peanuts and the roasted almonds together.
   If you prefer sellou to have a fine texture, then mix the nuts until you get a powder.
   I personally prefer my sellou to be crunchy, so I only half mix the nuts to keep solid parts.
4. Mixing the dry ingredients:
   Now that we are ready, we are going to mix all the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, spices, sesame seeds, almonds, and peanuts).
5. the last step then is to add the melted butter and honey. And at the very end, mix in the lemon rind.
   Mix well using a spatula until all the butter and honey are incorporated into the mixture.
   Now, if you want to preserve the moist sellou, just put it in an airtight container and place in the fridge for up to 1 month. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving.
6. Serve the Sellou in little cups, or shape a dome out of it, cover it with powdered sugar and decorate roasted almonds.

Read Full Post »

Farmers Feed Cities, Evergreen Brick Works

I was very generously invited to an event supporting ‘farmers feed cities’ at the Evergreen Brick Works by my new friend Brenda Morrison. Brenda writes for several publications, and is coined as “the queen of content”; she is often invited to events, and this time she asked ME! What’s even more flattering is that when I thanked her, she said: My pleasure. I wanted to take a fabulous foodie – you’re it! Thanks Brenda Bear!

http://www.farmersfeedcities.com/

The Toronto Brick Works is an historic property that Evergreen has painstakingly renovated, rejuvenated and reinvented totally environmentally! Evergreen is a non-profit organization that makes cities more livable. http://ebw.evergreen.ca/ this event was a wonderful combination of contemporary cuisine with farm freshness. Some tasty samplings were the Tillsonburg Beef Sliders, Brisket on a Biscuit, Tomato Confit Bruschetta, Ontario Peaches and Cream Corn (slathered with fresh butter or hot sauce), a fresh minted lentil salad, corn dogs, oatmeal ice cream cookie sandwich and local cheeses! Wine was from Southbrook Vineyards and Beer from Muskoka Brewery. Very nicely done!

Read Full Post »

Enoteca Sociale

Read Full Post »

La Société, Yorkville Toronto

I was fortunate enough to sample La Société during the launch of Delicious Food Show last Thursday…I knew I had to come back — I spec’d out the best table for my return. Gorgeous! Very French Bistro; similar look and feel to Balthasar’s in NYC
We made reservations for 8:15, but arrived at 8 (traffic was amazing, go figure) AND they had our table ready despite that the place was packed. We used Open Table to make reservations and noted that we wanted a particular table, and they TOOK NOTICE! We were seated right away and within minutes our waitress (very professional) brought us water, and someone else brought us bread and butter (did not look nearly as good as Le Select‘s bread, so I didn’t bother a taste).
It took a while to take our drink order, but we were not in a hurry. We had an amazing table on the patio, so we were able to enjoy the moment. Although the place was jumping with activity, we did not find it noisy.
Our dinner was nicely paced and our wine was refilled in a timely manor (we did not have to reach for the bottle ourselves at all!).
We both ordered the Bibb Salad, which was garnished with roasted walnuts and blue cheese; very tasty – lots of crumbled blue and chopped walnuts; my only comment would be that it was slightly underdressed. I ordered the steak tartar, which was presented with a little Bibb and crispy fried potato gratings. The potato gratings were a wonderful alternative to the frites that is usually served with this dish. It was garnished with a soft boiled quail’s egg — quite delicious indeed. My husband ordered the Braised Short Rib, and said it was as good, if not better than Le Select’s version. His only negative comment was that some of the vegetables were slightly over done (‘tasteless’ was what he said). We did not order dessert or coffee because we wanted to head up to the Park Hyatt Toronto Lounge to enjoy the natural light show of the pending electrical storm.
La Société is definitely a keeper for sure, and it’s very practical —just hop on the Bloor Subway and there you are.As the evening progressed and the natural lighting dimmed, wait-staff were around to place lit candles on each table. There was also some spot lighting on the surrounding greenery and some street lights below, but that’s all the lighting there is for the upstairs patio. Although very romantic, they could use a bit more.

La Société: Overall rating (in my opinion): Decor 4/5, service 4/5, food 4/5, Value 4/5, Noise: 4/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being very quiet) – A note about the noise: we sat outside on the top patio in a secluded corner with a lot of umbrellas up, so the noise level was managed very well. The main interior of the restaurant seemed a bit noisier than the patio, because there are few soft surfaces. The tables across from the bar were a bit more secluded and seemed quieter as the walls are lined with velvet or suede (we sat there during the Delicious Launch on Thursday).

Read Full Post »

A day at Toronto island

Last night we took our dear friend’s Dave and MiMi out to the Fifth Grill on Richmond as a thank you for a mortgage referral that just closed. Needless to say we had wine (ooops!) I am really hoping I didn’t jeopardize my success with one night. Tomorrow will tell. We are back right on track today!
To mitigate the damage, we planned an activity-filled day with a trip down to the Toronto Islands. We walked over 10km from one end of the island to the other. It was great. We even packed a picnic lunch as these places have few healthy choices. We ate our lunch at a lovely picnic table about 10 feet from the water and a great view or Toronto! We are bushed; we had planned to BBQ a whole chicken with herbes en Provence for dinner.
Strip the skin off the bird; sprinkle generously with herbes en Provence and garlic. I have a chicken BBQ stand with a reservoir but you can also roast in a pan or rotisserie. I put chicken stock in the reservoir with a clove or two of garlic (this evaporates into the bird – it’s all about flavour). BBQ for 2-3 hours on 350F (depending on the size of your bird).
The slaw: 3 cups finely grated red cabbage, 1 cup finely grated radishes, 1 cup finely grated fennel bulb, 1 cup finely grated cucumber, 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion, 1/2 cup finely chopped dill. Toss all in a large bowl until mixed well. Set in the fridge.
The dressing: 2tbsp low fat mayo, 2tbsp Dijon mustard, 1tbsp horseradish (not sauce) 1tsp splenda, 1/4-1/2cup lemon juice. Mix well. Toss slaw with dressing when you are ready to serve. This makes enough for four meals. We’ll have chicken leftovers!

Read Full Post »

October 2, 2010 Nuit Blanche Toronto

What a night! We took advantage of the TTC day pass so we didn’t have to worry about parking. Nuit Blanche had some definite winners for me and some, not so much. JT and I mapped our routes independently (coincidentally we chose the same one’s!) and began our journey arriving at 7pm to the new Oliver & Bonacini restaurant on Front Street (where Shopsie’s used to be). They sat us quickly (we had a reservation through Open Table). The décor is great, kind of contemporary and historic farm-housie at the same time; cool use of tin, gigantic upside-down tin bucket lights, and cool tables with cloth napkins but no table cloths. It made for very hard surfaces, which made it excessively noisy when we first arrived (it was packed!). As the evening progressed and people left around us, the noise became much more acceptable.
Service was exceptional without a doubt. We dropped a fork and it was immediately whisked away and replaced (I didn’t even notice!). Our waiter was friendly, attentive and available when needed. We ordered three small courses, all were very sharable and brought to our table at a reasonable rate without being rushed or having to wait. The portions are not huge, but do make good sharing plates. Our dinner was as follows: #1: grilled calamari in brown butter with anchovies, black olives and capers (no, not quite heathy but it sure was Yum!); #2: tuna lettuce wraps, a little round disk of iceberg lettuce with raw chunks of tuna, a dollop of creamy avocado, sesame oil, sesame seeds, a droplet of soy, a paper thin slice of radish and garnished with a single cilantro leaf and some very tasty taro threads. There were five on the plate. They were amazing! And last but not least, #3: Wellington County Beef Sliders, Monterrey Jack Cheese and Chipotle Mayo, Yum Yum Yum!
This place hit the spot for us both. Which was a pleasant surprise as I’ve been to the other O&Bs and they were not so hot! I would definitely reco this one, it was a great experience.
O&B Overall rating (in my opinion): decor 4/5, service 4.5/5, food 4.5/5, Value 3.5/5, Noise: 2/5 at the start and 3/5 at the end (1 being very noisy, and 5 being quiet.

Nuit Blanche. Our journey began down on Front Street and we selected venues we can drop by on our way north meandering a bit east and west until we reached Bloor street. We did not stand in line, nor did we select venues that were indoors, as they were far too crowded. There were three highlights for me: The Pine Cone Colony – giant metal pine cones placed unexpectedly around the grounds. A large pine cone was on fire. I absolutely loved these pine cones. At Yonge Dundas Square there was the Just because you can feel it doesn’t mean it’s there, which was cool because it was a rather large bonfire set in the middle of the city. Unexpected and welcome, because it was a might chilly. I also loved the exhibit up at Holt Renfrew, the Monument to Smile – this was a large scale projection on the façade of Holts of people smiling. It was truly heart warming. Honourable mentions should go to Autolamp, a lace inspired old van and Light up the Night, Swans’s Lake – this was a motorized wedge (group) of swans dancing to Tchaikovsky – it just made me smile. The Night Market was way too crowded, the Light bugs were disappointing (green lights going off and on in a very predictable way, not at all like light bugs).

It was a mildly chilly night, but not unbearable. We dressed for it, so we were reasonably comfortable (I even wore reasonable shoes, for me, that is). There are estimates flying the net that there were over a million people in the city to celebrate, which is significantly more than our first year in 2008. I don’t love crowds and some parts became very uncomfortable, even though the city closed down many streets (way cool to walk in the middle of Bloor street). We ended our evening around mid-night (we old geezers need our beauty sleep!) with a glass of vino and a chat about our adventure.

I am so grateful to live in such a vibrant and wonderful city. I can hardly wait for next year’s Nuit Blanche.

Read Full Post »

Jamie Kennedy’s Wine Bar

We went to Jamie Kennedy’s old place Jamie Kennedy’s Wine Bar, renamed Wine Bar owned and operated by executive chef Scott Vivian. The decor seemed familiar; we had been to Chef Kennedy’s restaurant a long time ago. The place is literally cut in half; they have more bar seating than tables. There are also a lot of really hard surfaces, which means noise! And LOTS of it. We had reservations so we were sat at a table; the tables are way too close together. Next time, if there is one, I would want to sit at the bar on the kitchen side, it looks more interesting!

It’s Tapas style, which we love. We started with Mini Burgers on mini English Muffins served with Cornichons, the burgers were very tasty and the mini English Muffins were adorable (I wondered how they would reconcile the mini burger to a life-size English Muffin! Have to file that in the ol’ memory bank).

Our next plate was the Organic Potato Gnocchi which was served in Northern Woods Mushroom ragu – it was amazing. The Gnocchi was the perfect texture of chewy and soft all at the same time and the mushroom ragu was so rich and earthy, yum yum yum! Unfortunately, they too (recall Nyood) brought the final plate of Roasted Lamb Sandwich with Blue Cheese, Caramelized Onions WITH the Gnocchi, which makes me feel very rushed. The lamb had virtually no flavour, overwhelmed by the Blue Cheese. This was my least favourite course and I absolutely hated it that they brought it WITH the Gnocci.

We were still a bit hungry so we ordered the Selection of Artisanal Canadian Cheeses and I had 1 oz. of the N.V. Caves Vale Do Rodo Port a 10 Year Old Tawny Port (it was their suggested paring with the cheese). The cheese selections were OK, most from Ontario and a couple from Québec, some pasteurized and some not. There was maybe an ounce of each of 5 cheeses; they were all very similar in style, texture and taste, very mild at best (both JT and I like sharp cheeses!). My biggest disappointment, however, was the Port, they brought the 1 oz of Port in a 7oz Wine Glass! What? Did you run out of your proper port glasses? It literally looked like the remains of someone’s red wine. I wish I had sent it back. The taste was OK, but it’s like drinking wine out of a Styrofoam cup, it just doesn’t do it for me!

Jamie Kennedy’s Wine Bar overall rating (in my opinion): decor 3/5, service 3/5, food 4/5, Value 3/5, Noise: 3/5 (1 being very noisy, and 5 being quiet)

Read Full Post »

Port Credit Blues and Jazz Festival 2009

JT and I rode our bikes (20km each way mostly along bike paths along the Lakeshore) over to the Port Credit Blues and Jazz Festival yesterday afternoon. WOW. By far, the best free outdoor event EVER. I cannot say enough about it. There was a band about every 100 feet or so, they alternated so bands played every two hundred feet at one time, and MAN they were good. I haven’t heard just good blues since our last time to the windy city! The weather was a amazing too. We’re going back today. I would highly recommend either today or next year.

The bike ride was 20km each way, and not too stressful (other than finding the paths/roads which were sometimes not marked well). But JT persevered and we didn’t falter once! Here are some photos of the event and our bike back.

Weather started off a bit on the chilly side, but with the hot sun and a nice breeze it was fantastic (similar weather to Saturday!!!)

Steve Strongman Band

Steve Strongman Band is the first band we stopped at.

The Nomads

The Nomads are the second band we stopped at, really really great!!!!

David Rotundo Band

Another great band, David Rotundo Band, really really bluesy. We stayed the longest here!

Dave Murphy Band

The Dave Murphy Band was at the end of where they shut Lakeshore down. It too was great, but we were already beat from being in the sun all day, so we decided to head home. 20km bike ride each way, 2.5 hours in the sun, and we were baked! Without a drop of booze!

Bridge One Eastward to Toronto

I decided to take some shots everytime we came upon a bridge, which was about 4 in our 20km journey!

Bridge Two Eastward Toronto

Bridge Three Eastward to Toronto

TO Skyline in between bridges

You can see how far away we are here.

Bridge Four Eastward to Toronto

We're almost home, on the suspension bridge by Palace Pier

Read Full Post »

Change of plans for our vacation

Our vacation to visit our good friends in Chicago was canceled due to illness. We were saddened not to be able to see our pals Paul and T. JT and I tried to book a last minute thing somewhere within driving distance for a night or two, but being the long weekend, and last minute, we were unable to find anything in our price range. So I decided to come back to work for Thursday and Friday. I know it sounds bad, but I like work and I’d rather not waste my vacation days watching TV. So here I am, obviously it’s not so busy 😉

On a positive note, we were able to catch one of our favourite Toronto-born entertainers, Matt Dusk who performed last night at the CNE (this is our exhibition which always signals the end of summer for all!). And what good fortune, the Ex has a special on Monday through Thursday after 5pm entry is five bucks. Matt Dusk was free!!

We got to the Ex around 5:15 and bummed around until 6:45 – we are not huge midway people, nor do we like midway food, so the Ex has never stirred the excitement for us as it does so many others. We found seats at the Band Shell (outdoors and the weather was lovely!). Matt Dusk and his band started on time (thank goodness, the benches were very uncomfortable!). The audience was 75% over 70 and the rest a mix of youngsters and very youngsters! It was good, no screamers and no standing (well, most of them couldn’t even if they wanted to!). As I sat waiting for the concert to begin, I noticed the line-up of walkers and scooters at the front, a contrast to the strollers lined up on Sunday morning at our local brunch place!

Check out a performance of his theme song from the second album on Youtube:

I was able to take a few shots with our crappy little camera…check them out on our photo site: Matt Dusk Live Toronto CNE September 3, 2009

Read Full Post »

Blackout Anniversary Street Party – Ossington Avenue, Toronto

Last night we ventured out to Ossington between Queen and Dundas for the Blackout Anniversary Street Party. This party is held every year in a different hood in Toronto. I guess we should have stayed later, because for us it was a bust. We had reservations at Delux at 7:30 and the party was to start at 8 – we were finished dinner around 8:30 and the street was deadskie. Nothing going on. We found a cute little bar that had a huge selection of Tequila so we had a drink (or two) and were done by 9:30 (the bar was sweltering because they turned off 95% electricity so no AC). Still nothing, so we went home. Note to self, next year, go much much later.

Delux

Very cute, minimalist decor approach, limited menu; not terribly expensive. The chef is Corinna Mozo and the style is Cuban/French. We had the curried mussels (about 25–35 already checked mussels (no dead one’s in this pile!). They serve it with what tastes like home made bread, kinda heavy but really good for slopping up the tasty Currie. Then we had the Cuban sandwich, which we mentioned we were sharing, so they actually split it onto two plates, which was lovely. The sandwich had a grainy mustard mayo, pickles, caramelized onions, Gruyere and pulled pork (I think) and it’s grilled until it’s hot and crispy – YUM! I had about 3 bites and handed it over to JT to finish, very filling. The fries were thicker than I prefer, but they came with a Chipotle mayo which as fantastic. I gave half my fries to JT.

Overall rating: Decor 3/5, service 4/5, food 4/5 and Value 4/5

Reposado

Definitely a place to bring our good friends Paul and T (they love Tequila, and I have to admit, if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have tried one!). They specialize in Tequila and cocktails made from Tequila. Being newbe’s we decided to try a couple straight up so we can really get the flavour.

JT had El Jimador (photos from Reposado website)

I had the Los Arango. I wasn’t totally in love with it but it was a nice treat. My favourite poison is still the Hungarian Palinka (which is kind of like the Swiss Kirschwasser).

(photos from Reposado website)

Overall rating: Decor too dark to tell, service 4/5, food n/a and Value 3/5 (not too expenisve).

Read Full Post »

The Birthday Dinner

The birthday month culminated at Forte Bistro and Lounge downtown in the financial sector. It is a lovely restaurant right across from the Canadian Opera Company. Parking is complimentary which is amazing in the Big Smoke, this could cost anywhere from $10-25 depending on what’s going on that night! The restaurant was beautiful, it reminded me somewhat of Susur’s place in New York.

After driving around once and unable to find the complimentary parking, I walked in and asked where it was. A gentleman sitting a one of the lounge tables jumped up and said he would look after it and walked out to greet JT who was waiting in the car (the gentleman turned out to be the owner). The place was unfortunately empty (8pm, which is dinner hour in TO), only one other couple at a table. Now normally that would frighten me, but we had read some excellent reviews and decided to try it out regardless. Service was excellent. Our server was around when needed but never just hanging around our table.

We sat in the lounge area, ordered our wine and reviewed the menu. Of course, I already knew what I was having because I’d seen the menu on line. After a while we went to our table. We asked that the meal be spaced out as we were not in a hurry. I ordered the dungeness crab and avocado salad (with ruby grapefruit, crispy sunchokes and a chilled tomato consomme) – it was exceptional, and a lot, it could have easily been my main course. JT ordered the french onion soup dumplings which were like mini onion soups all wrapped up in a dumpling. Very very tasty. 5/5 for both of them.

For our mains, I ordered bouillabaisse. Amazingly presented and so much food; the variety of fish was unbelievable (and only $25, this is a deal!) The broth was really tasty too. What was different than the bouillabaisse I had in Marseilles was that this one was more brothy than creamy and the chef added little four puff pastries disks drizzled with aioli – which gave it its authenticity for taste but without the heaviness. Wow, 5/5 for sure.

JT ordered the roast leg of lamb (Dijon mustard and garlic breadcrumb crust, mint couscous salad). This looked really tasty too, although I didn’t taste it as I don’t love lamb. I’m guessing JT would give it a 5/5 too!

We were just finishing our wine and the waitress mentioned that the owner would love to buy us dessert in celebration of my birthday, not being a dessert eater (and having just ate a massive quantity of food) we opted for a special coffee instead. It truly was lovely experience. I really hope they survive.

Overall rating: Decor 5/5, service 5/5, food 5/5 and Value 5/5.

Read Full Post »

The Pre Birthday Dinner

The festivities have been non-stop since my actual birthday last Wednesday. A friend from work took me for lunch on on Tuesday (day before my birthday), then my boss took me out on my actaul birthday and JT made a delicious Hawaiian pizza for dinner on Thursday night and Friday and Saturdays we went out for dinner. I haven’t been doing much cooking, so I thought I would blog about the two restaurants JT took me to.

Fressen Restaurant, Vegan Cuisin 478 Queen West, just west of Spadina. Surprisingly this was JT’s suggestion but his response was that he had been consuming a lot of meat so he wanted something else and it’s something new. It’s just west of the really cool strip on Queen West on the North side. It is a long narrow space with contemporary décor – much sleeker than what I might expect a vegan restaurant to be. Service was good and the food was great! We also got some excellent value in their wine selection. The only down side was how quickly the food came out. It’s mainly a sharing/tapas place and we ordered three items which all came out at the same time. It would have been a bit better to space it out more. The portions were perfect for sharing and three courses were plenty for dinner without making you feel stuffed. The presentation was also really good.

The pre-birthday dinner:

Shredded jicima & celery root – marinated in lime, chilies, herbs and hemp oil served on a bed of crispy watercress. This is a refreshing asian-like blend of fresh crisp jicama and celery root. It comes with 2 papadams which were also tasty. We gave this 5/5!

Warm avocado and corn – salsa sandwiched between fluffy spinach blinis accented with pepper purées. This dish was the weakest of the three, mainly due to our personal tastes. Blinis, I thought were small crepes, but in this case they were more like a very soft cookie which tasted very green. The corn and avocado were sweet and creamy but I am not a huge fan of warm avocado. The pepper purées were sweet which was a nice contrast to the spinach. The flavour was OK but it didn’t hit either of us. 3/5

And last but not least, we had Sliced shiitake and crimini mushrooms mixed with shredded spinach in cashew cream wrapped in a filo pastry puff. This was absolutely the best. The flavours were right on (almost like a butter chicken sauce) and the textures were great. JT could not stop eating the sauce. Another 5/5.

They’ve got a pretty limited wine list and what’s kind of odd is that they don’t list the brand, just the country and local area and the type of grape, for example, we ordered Niagara, Ontario unoaked chardonnay for $34. We were pleasantly surpriced when a bottle of Malavoir arrived at our table – this was surprising because restaurants generally tripple the LCBO price on their menus and this bottle is about $21. Now that was a deal. Great food, nice ambiance and great deal on wine. What more can you ask for?

Overall rating: Decor 4/5, service 4/5, food 4/5 and Value 4/5.

Read Full Post »

Toronto Yorkville Ice Fest

Friday night JT and I rode the Bullet (that’s our subway) to the Bloor-Yorkville Icefest. An easy 15 minute ride. We immerged at Cumberland and spent about 4 minutes looking at the sculptures. Now maybe there was more, but 4 mintues? They were indeed lovely, and apparently 25,000lbs of ice! That’s some ice. But 4 mintues? We had dinner at Asuka, one of our favourite sushi places a short walk from the festivities!

Here are the photos, enjoy in the warmth and comfort of your home.

Read Full Post »