Stratford meet Oklahoma!

G and I took last Sunday off. We just took the day completely off from our lives, and drove to Stratford and went to see Oklahoma! at the Stratford Festival.

We started the day busy planning our fall vacation (and if you read this blog and have any tips for places to go in Wales and Ireland, please let me know)...then G made us a fantastic breakfast of fried eggs, beans and toast.



That G. She wants us to start the day feeling full and happy. And so we did.

On the way to Stratford, we stopped at a farm stall in Shakespeare who had a sign indicating that they had fresh corn. Being a little too early in the season for corn in Ontario, we had to stop.

Turns out they had tons of corn!



So we asked the farmer why he had corn so early. He said that he used this growing plastic from France that basically sets over the corn as it grows outside and grows with it so that the corn grows naturally, but faster (which isn't really natural, but you get the drift).

We also bought some beautiful dirt covered potatoes that had been picked the night before. Here's G chatting it up with the farmers.


It was a really nice stand, and we've since had the food and it was all amazing...

From there we went into Stratford and stopped at this most amazing chocolate store where I had an absolutely AMAZING dark chocolate covered caramel. The store was amazing, you could see the people in the back making chocolates and the whole store smelled like delicious peppermint and chocolate.


It's on the main drag in Stratford and has a beautiful selection of chocolates. It's really good.

Then to the play. I have never been to the Stratford Festival before, and I had such an amazing time. They have cheaper tickets if you are between 30-35, so we were able to get a good deal and great seats. It was fantastic!

Following the play, we went to dinner and met some friends. Our friends are vegetarians, so we wanted to find a place where there would be lots of good stuff to choose from. Based on G's internet research, we chose Pazzo. Good choice! It's a pizzeria with amazing thin crust pizza.

G and I were starving having had almost nothing save for our beautiful eggs hours ago...we were starving. We started with caesar salad ($7.50, which seems a bit steep, but it was delish).


From there, I ordered the Quattro Formaggia pizza ($12.50). The crust was incredibly thin, the sauce was fresh and slightly spicy, and the cheese was just beautifully melted and savoury. They served the pizza with chili oil to drizzle on top... OH MY!


G ordered a calzone, and said that it was the absolute best one she'd ever had. It sure looked tasty! (Okay, she let me try it, and it was really tasty!)


The calzone was $14.00 AND it included its salad. Really nice, and a hum-dinger of a good deal.

We all really enjoyed the restaurant, and it was nice to catch up with our friends. D and I spent the entire meal discussing our Harry Potter theories, Dr. Who and Torchwood, and all that jazz. It was good times.

And speaking of which. Harry Potter is this weekend and I am so excited I can't hardly stand it. !!!!!!! I have ordered it for Saturday delivery, but there is still a part of me who really wants to go at midnight and buy a copy and start reading right away! I can't wait!!!

From there, we were all full and just jumped in the car and drove home, satisfied with a terrific day. It was really a great day and totally rejuvenated us for the week ahead. (Of which it is now Wednesday, and I can safely say is speeding by while waiting for the HP7.)

The Great (Garlic) Scape!

While purusing my local grocery store, I stumbled across something I have never seen before... garlic scape. So, like any adventurous young woman, I bought a few and came home and hit google.



So a quick search gave me some information. The garlic scape is cooked like green beans, or used like green onions, chopped up and sauteed or put in stir frys, and it the flowering part of the hardneck garlic variety.

From Mariquita's Farms, I discovered a recipe for chicken, capers and scape. I hope they don't mind that I am printing it below:

Chicken With Garlic Scapes & Capers

2 whole skinless boneless chicken breasts, halved
2 Tbsp. Unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
4 chopped garlic scapes
1 Tbsp. drained capers

Between sheets of plastic wrap slightly flatten chicken. In a large heavy skillet heat 1Tbsp. of butter and the oil over medium high heat. Saute until cooked through. Season with salt & pepper. Transfer chicken to a platter and keep warm. Pour off fat from skillet and add the remaining butter, the wine, lemon juice, scapes and bring mixture to a boil. Stir in capers and salt & pepper to taste. Spoon sauce over chicken. Serves 4.



So of course, we had to have it with my favorite of peas and potatoes. Oh yeah.

The garlic scapes were tougher than I expected, with a slight garlic taste, and a crunchy fresh taste. It was really delicious and I greatly enjoyed the flavour and the thrill of trying something new. I recommend the chicken dish, it's a quick week night dinner and the fresh taste was fantastic.

Indian Food!

My friend Rickie came to meet us the other morning for coffee, and showed up with a delightful bag of goodies that she had made the night before! It was an assortment of pork curry, goat curry with potato, Indian donuts and a huge bowl of rice! The food was amazing. The pork curry was dry (not saucy) pieces of pork that were so delicately spiced as to just quietly explode in your mouth...the goat curry (of which I am not a fan, but I had the potatoes and veg) was absolutely delicious, far better than Indian takeaway. G made some raita to accompany the curry's, and lunch was enjoyed by all...



You can see the little bits of everything. The pork, though, was just amazing. We don't have *any* pork in our house due to G's religious beliefs, and I must say that I do miss it. The pork nuggets really hit the spot... Here's a closer look...



Thanks Rickie!!!

Mistura!

Birthday's are a cause for celebration. And Summerlicious is a cause for celebration. Put those two together, and you have...um... two causes for celebration!

Yesterday was G's birthday, and I have to confess that she did receive the very foodie-ish gift from me of Peugeot salt and pepper grinders. She's been wanting them since we saw them for the first time in France last year. For dinner, we made Summerlicious reservations at Mistura. This has to be one of my favorite restaurants in Toronto. The food is consistent, the wait staff (though a few hiccups last night) is generally rock solid, and the food is really excellent. It's the place that started us on our quest of making beet risotto. Oh yeah, it's that good!

So for those of you not in Toronto, Summerlicious is basically this: nice restaurants offer a set three course menu for $25 or $35. Most of the restaurants do require reservations, and you can get some really great deals. Last night's dinner was one of the $35 ones, and it was well worth every single dime and bite. We started off with a nice prosecco, and the food started coming.

For starters, I had the risi e bisi and G had the pappa al pomodoro.



OOH... pea-y.


The bowls really got the white-out from the flash. I must have taken twenty pictures with and without the flash, trying to make it not so bright. Didn't work. One of the things I am learning as I go. The good thing was we had this crazy corner half table so no one could see me taking pictures so there was no embarrassment for my dining companion.

Anyway... main course. G ordered the arrosto di agnello which looked absolutely delicious. She does love lamb, and I am not so fond, so we don't have it very often at home. I was not in the mood for meat, so I had the maccheroni e peperoni, which was delicious and very unusual tasting. The pasta was very al dente, and the sauce was heavy but really full of interesting.





Really nice, really brave, as Jamie Oliver would say. G's was on rapini with chickpeas, and mine had whole cherry tomatoes, peppers and ricotta salata on top. Yum.

Dessert. There were sweets. BUT, there was also a cheese plate. G and I both took advantage of the cheese...




The little brown bits were very thin toasts... amazing. The cheeses were a manchego, always good, a blue in the back that I didn't like and don't remember the name of, and an amazing cheese in the middle which I also don't remember the name of. It was soft, almost ricotta like in texture, fluffy but slightly nutty and sweet. Really crisp. And the little pot in the middle. IT WAS HEAVEN! It was a chutney made with peaches, plums, ginger and wasabi! It has such an amazing kick, and it coupled with the soft cheese was truly inspired. Kudos for the amazing combo!

So if you are ever in Toronto and want to have a good dinner, give it a try. The food is amazing, it's always fresh, they having amazing wine (I had a fantastic Riesling last night!) and a really really nice atmosphere. :)

fresh cassoulet.

I have a crazy fondness for British food magazines. I can't explain it. I read as many as I can get my hands on... or at least, as many as my bank account will allow. I just bought the July issues of Olive, fresh, and BBC Goodfood, having gotten Waitrose Food Illustrated when it arrived at the magazine store a week ago... I love reading these magazines, and when we are planning our weeks meals, I often grab a few and flip through them for ideas.

This month's issues have some amazing recipes that will get tried in the next few days... but for today, we went with "Allegra McEvedy's Free-Range Chicken, Fairtrade Lemon & Courgette Cassoulet" from the July issues of 'fresh'. This was fantastic! It's not thick like a traditional cassoulet, but it's really light and fresh tasting for summer.



The main ingredients, as the name suggests, are lemons, chicken and zucchini. There are beans, there is a sprinkling of parmesano reggiano, and there is the singing of our hearts as we are this delicious lemony bowl of goodness.

The recipe is really easy. You basically marinate the chicken for some time. The recipe calls for chicken thighs, but I really don't like them, so we went for chicken breast instead. The marinade is lemon juice, garlic and thyme. You then fry the meat, add some white wine, let it reduce, then add cooked or canned beans, lemon juice, thyme, zucchini and chicken broth. You then bang it in the oven for 35 minutes. It was really such a lovely meal, I wish we had gotten a nice bread at the market this morning, but that's okay, we enjoyed it all the same.

The recipe:

450g Chicken thighs, cut into 2.5cm dice
2-3 lemons, zested and juiced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
60ml Olive Oil
10g chopped thyme
300g cooked cannellini beans
500ml good chicken stock
1/2 glass of white wine
2-3 courgettes depending on size, sliced lengthways and then into half-moons
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
parmesan, to serve

1. Marinate the chicken pieces in the juice of one of the lemons, the garlic and 3/4 of the olive oil and half the thyme. Leave for a few hours or overnight.
2. When the beans are cooked and drained, and the stock is ready, pre-heat the oven t0 200 degrees C.
3. In a heavy based oven proof pan, heat the oil and fry the chicken. After about 5 minutes, pour in wine, reduce by half.
4. Stir in lemon zest, remaining juice, thyme, beans and courgette slices.
5. Pour on heated stock (I didn't heat mine) and bay leaves, until covered and season.
6. Put on the lid and bake for 35 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving and add parmesan to top.

ENJOY!

Here's a pic of it straight from the oven...



Really fulfilling and summery. It's rewarding to make something new and delicious. It's rustic, as all cassoulet should be, but it's well worth the minimal effort!

Yan can cook and so can G!

G is a whiz when it comes to dinner. Me? I am tired after work and will almost always suggest quickly grabbing some thai food and being done with dinner. But not G. She hates spending money on eating out when there are things to be made at home, so I often just stop whining about not wanting to do dishes and let her cook. The result? With rare exception, delicious food.

I mentioned the leek risotto a few posts back. My brother liked it so much, he is planning on making one of Jamie Oliver's risotto recipes for my mom! G, she changes lives, I tell ya! So here it is...



It was really tasty. And I didn't even whine when I did the dishes. I soldiered on like the big girl I am.

G and I have different food tastes. I love pasta and she is lukewarm to it. I love alfredo, she could never have it ever in her entire life and be fine. But, as a treat, she made me a low-fat alfredo with garlicky mushrooms. Oh yeah. I don't know what was in it, I think she got the recipe from the internet (you should really look into that internet thing, it's gonna catch on!) and tweaked it a bit. She used this crazily wheat-y whole wheat spag, so it's all a bit of a weird colour, but the taste was out of this world...



And it is true, I do like food served in bowls. I don't know why, I don't think we ate many meals out of bowls when I was a junior, but for some reason, sitting down with a big bowl of something tasty just makes me happy.

For part three of the 'G rocks and she's all mine' posting... yesterday, I was plagued by a terrible migraine, and G made my favourite... albondigas with rice. Albondigas are a Sephardi recipe that G's family brought with them from Rhodes (via Africa) and I absolutely love them. Again, food in a bowl... I don't know...


Yummmmmmmmmmmmy. The meatballs are simmered in a tomato sauce with wine and love. G makes 'red' rice, meaning she puts a little spoonful of tomato paste in the water before putting in the rice. It gives the rice a little different flavour.

Anyway, yeah. That G. Tomorrow is G's birthday, so give it up for her! I am taking her out to Mistura, so if you are in the area, stop by and say HI!

The Simpsons...

Brunch at Cora's.

Last weekend, G and I went with some friends to Cora's for brunch. Cora's is a Montreal institution, and the one in downtown Toronto is pretty new. Our friend suggested it, and as they are wildly known for their crepes, G and I eagerly agreed!

The restaurant is in the part of downtown that is dead on the weekend, but there was still a line to get in. However, the line moved really quickly, and we managed to get a good table that comfortably fit all four of us. Now aside from the fact that they had two different breakfast selections that featured frankfurter, the menu was really tempting. Their placemat was cute, too, so of course, I took a picture...


I could not make it not glare-y, but I think you get the idea.

Anyway, breakfast was pretty darn good. I had the Bobby Button, which is a crepe 'sandwich' filled with egg, bacon, cheese and tomato, served with home fries and fruit.



It bothers me, because this doesn't look appetizing at all. And really, it could have been presented better. Like Pat's breakfast.... I mean, it was beautiful!



The breakfast doesn't look so good either, actually. But it was. It was french toast brioche (brioche french toasted?) with bacon and one poached egg and a massive amount of fruit. Lovely. He seemed to enjoy it, and how could you not!

G had a spinach, cheese and tomato crepe, which looked alot like the 'sandwich' but had no potato and a triangular slice of cheese on top...



Also, doesn't look good. Now my photography ain't all that, but I think Cora's new motto should be, 'tastes good, looks blah'.

Disappointing.

Ratatouille!

As fun foodies, G and I flocked opening weekend to see Ratatouille. Oh my goodness. What a bunch of cuteness. It's the story of a young rat who experiences food and loves it, gets the opportunity to live in Paris and start a new life in the food world as a sort of sous chef for a formerly great 5 star restaurant. He makes a friend, Linguine, who helps him out...


The movie was great. The animation is amazing, and crystal clear, with beautiful city shots of Paris. And the message is good, although I can honestly say that I don't want a meal cooked by rats, even though the may be genius rats. But the best thing was that the voices were totally not familiar. It was not like watching Shrek or Aladdin, where you are constantly aware of Eddie Murphy or Robin Williams, or whoever.

I highly recommend it. Even when it's boring, it's beautiful, and it's not ever so boring that you wish you weren't there. Everybody wins.

Fast Food.

I may have mentioned, I have been on Weight Watchers for about two months now. I've lost about ten pounds, slow and steady, and it's been really good. Lunch is a hard one for me, so I have had to really become diligent about bringing my lunch to work. On the days that I forget, I tend to go to Subway.

And let me start by saying that I really hate Subway. As G says, how do they make freshly baked bread smell gross?! But, it's really low points, and I found a sandwich that I don't hate. It's the Steak and Cheese, toasted, and it comes in at 7 points. Not too bad, especially since I rarely seem to eat breakfast! Here are the innards,



Now, you may notice that there is no lettuce on this sandwich. While I kind of like salad, I really hate lettuce on sandwiches or anything else that gets the lettuce hot. I can't stand the smell of hot lettuce! When I used to go to Sonic (a drive-in hamburger place in the South), I could smell the hot lettuce if they got my order wrong without even opening the packaging! So no lettuce. But otherwise, while it's not cheap, it's a thoroughly satisfying lunch.

My other fast food meal of champions... McD's breakfast. I used to love McDonald's, but have sort of given it the boot in my life. In fact, I have only had McD's lunch once this year! That's a record for me! But the other morning, while G and I were going to pick out tiles for our new kitchen (we're reno-ing!!!!), we stopped at McD's for breakfast.

On order? The egg, bacon and cheese bagel sandwich. (Don't even get me started on the points involved!) It was okay. When you don't eat McD's all the time, it really loses it's appeal. But I still remember my first McD's breakfast ever. My brother was in the All-City Spelling Bee. I was little, maybe 5 or 6. D spelled the word 'carrying' wrong, and was eliminated from the Bee. Dad took us to McD's right after. I had my first Egg McMuffin. It was like heaven had opened up and smiled upon me. It was absolutely delicious and started a love affair.

Anyway, the McD's bagel sandwich.


One thing I love about living in Canada is the bilingualism. Even McD's gets in on that action...


Gosh, I just realized... I AM loving it! Ba da ba ba baaaaa.....

World Cup U-20, Baby!

G and I went to the FIFA Under-20 World Cup on Monday. We saw the Mexico v. Gambia game, and it was amazing!!! We have been playing soccer for the past two summers (and I am crapola, but that's okay, it's fun!) and getting tickets to the World Cup was quite the coup! (Of course, as I type this, there is the Canada v. Austria game on live and there is almost no one in the stands... I thought this baby was sold out.)



ANYWAY! We took a pic, thought I would post it...



Good times. :)

Visitors from Afar.

My brother has been visiting, and has now returned to the grand ol' USofA. He's not a huge food adventurer, and as such, there's always an element of stress trying to figure out what to eat. But this visit, whoa ho! My bro was feeling adventuresome. And it was a good thing to see.

First, there was orange marmalade. He went to breakfast and there was no grape jelly. What to do?! He tried the orange marmalade and LOVED it! From there, oh my, on to the pico de gallo. Oh yeah, my brother who hates tomato LOVED it. YUM! From there, brace yourself, LEEK RISOTTO! Oh baby! Pics of this delicious meal prepared by G to follow. It didn't stop there, because the bro ate souvlaki on the Danforth and he loved it!!!

And all in all, it was all good. The great thing about Toronto is that there is every kind of food within a stone's throw, and it was great to see my brother try some different things. Between that and his going to see the Bernini exhibit at the AGO, I think he had a good little vacation in the T-Dot.

(This is all meant with the greatest amount of love and affection for my super cool bro.)

Il Fornello.

Not too terribly long ago, G and I had dinner at the Il Fornello in our neighborhood. I have to say, it's not the greatest, really, but when it's on, it's very on.

I ordered the lasagna. It was a huge portion, perfectly cooked with meat and cheese and a little bit of pesto oil on top. It was really good...



The tomato sauce tasted so fresh, and the pesto oil was really nice and it added such a nice touch to everything.

G had a calzone that also had the little bit of pesto/basil oil on top...



The thing about Il Fornello is that it's a nice restaurant, and the fact that it's in our neighborhood makes it an attractive option. BUT, it's always kind of empty and weird, and expensive. But it's a nice place to have dinner and such. Can you tell I have mixed feelings about it?

Our neighborhood has such an odd assortment of restaurants. There is a nicer pasta place a few doors south called Sambuca's, that's really nice but never has any people in it. So if you are in the 'hood, go there.

Day three and room service called my name.

One of the things that I find difficult when I travel is deciding what to eat. The one part of me wants to order pizza and french fries and read magazines and drink coke. The other part of me wants to order the nice things on the menu and give those a try. There was a battle over the pork tenderloin wrapped in apple smoked bacon with garlic mashed potatoes, veg and bread, and.... pizza hut pepperoni lovers pizza. (At least I was stuck in the same food group... pork!)

There's something really decadent about staying in a hotel alone that brings out my inner child (who lives so near the surface, I am convinced I actually have an inner adult). I only remember staying in one hotel as a child, and I think that's only because we have a picture of it. When I was a little bit older, maybe 7th grade, I traveled with a friend and her parents down to Corpus Christie, Texas, and we stayed at hotel's. My only memory of that? I had just had my hair permed when we went, and it was when the Oscars were still on Monday nights. I remember lying in bed falling asleep to the Oscars, and waking up in the morning thinking that my hair had straightened because it didn't "feel" curly when I touched it. Again, not really the hotel memories dreams are made of.

Then there were the traveling moments with my college sweetie. We traveled a fair bit, and always stayed at the Motel 6, because, let's face it, they leave the light on for ya. So it wasn't until I was working and I started traveling that I began to stay in nicer hotels. And even still, we aren't talking super fancy. But, my love affair with hotels has never swayed. (And when you use hotwire.com, you can good rates to great hotels. We got an amazing rate last year for a beautiful $200 a night hotel in Pittsburgh. I think we paid $80!)

So the adult in my won out (and not just because I am on Weight Watchers and the pizza would have pushed me even further over the edge than the Marriott Burger!), but because in the end, it just sounded better.

I ordered the pork, and it was nothing like I expected. The medallions were smokey, as was the bacon, and the sauce was sweet and savory at the same time. The pork was a little dry, but it was actually quite tasty. It also came with a cute little bucket of bread and butter. The greenbeans were divine, but the carrots (which are under the beans) were really not good at all.


The sauce was really rich and deep, with a smokey pork flavour. Bacon really adds so much flavor. When in France last year, you could taste the difference the lardons made in each meal. It just gives meats and sauces a really intense and interesting flavour. It was just great. I highly recommend it if you are staying at the Marriott in Orlando!

Conference = Room Service

What happens when you go to a conference with 1000 people you don't know? Order room service!

I went to the US for a legal conference on Thursday of last week until yesterday. It was in Orlando, Florida, and the conference hotel was the World Centre Marriott. The hotel was beautiful. The flight to Orlando was terrible. It was really bumpy and I got a little motion sick, so by the time I was late getting to the conference and stressed out about it, I needed food.

Now one of the things I have mentioned before is that Canada is great and all, and I love it here, but there are no hamburgers like US hamburgers. So with great excitement, I had plans to order a Marriott burger, a favourite from my travelling days. And I ordered some french onion soup because it just sounded good. Excessive, oh yeah. But good.

The french onion soup was really lovely. The soup was really cheesy with the perfect amount of meltiness. The soup wasn't overly salty and the onion was really soft and tasty.



And then the main event. The Marriott burger. It's really good. Really good. The Fries were not so tasty despite their good looks. The Marriott burger comes with cheese, bacon and a whole lotta love. I ordered it room service style, as I wanted to be able to sit on my balcony and look out on the beautiful Florida evening!



Sadly, this picture is all fries. But look at those cute but excessively wasteful little bottles of ketchup, mayo and mustard. And oh yes, there are few things that I love more than crispy fries with mayo and ketchup. So it is sufficient to say that although this is all I ate on Thursday, it was a lot.

I finished the day off by walking around the hotel and going to the opening night reception. There were people EVERYWHERE. It was totally crazy. There was lots of fried food and alcohol, and while I was full of Marriott Burger, it was difficult to not give in. But I resisted.

The view from my hotel room?



Ahhhhh. Peaceful. Actually, on the other side of the building where I stayed, there was a quiet pool by the Spa. And it was by far the best pool. You could take your lunch and sit quietly, going over conference notes and materials, and plan the next day. It was really beautiful, and the water was very warm. (Not that there's time for recreation when you are at a conference!)

Mildred Pierce -- at last, for the last

Yesterday marked the first (and possibly last) time that I have had the pleasure of brunch at Mildred Pierce. I have wanted to go there for ages, but for some reason have just failed to get it together to get it together there. So with friends visiting, it seemed like the perfect time. I don't think they were too keen to go, but they put on their game faces and away we went!

The brunch was amazing. Honestly, the restaurant was packed, but the wait wasn't horrendous, and the wait staff was really friendly and helpful. We managed to get a table inside (there wasn't a request for inside or patio, but inside is what we got!) and we have a great table with a little hidey hole looking into the kitchen! It was so cool...



My little view into the world of Mildred Pierce.

So anyway, back to brunch. Because this was likely the only time I will have the honour of eating there, and because I am just that way, we decided to order a brunch appetizer. We opted to get an order of scones, and they were wonderful! They came with a side of strawberry butter and ginger apple jam. See for yourself...




I didn't eat the butter, but the jam was really savoury and sweet.

We ordered some lovely mimosas and ate our delicious scones while waiting for our main brunch dishes. G and I ordered the same dish, the Huevos Monty. Oh my heavens. It was so lovely. Basically, the dish went like this ... two tortillas filled with black beans and cheese and onions, with two perfectly fried eggs on top with fresh salsa, sour cream and avocado creme fraiche. I had read raves of the home fries, so I had to get those, too. The eggs were the most perfect eggs ever, and the tortilla was lightly grilled, warm and the beans were just fantastic. The avocado creme fraiche was just terrific, such a nice cold accompaniment to the warm eggs.


Oh yeah, look at that! YUM!

M had his standard order of French Toast, which looked really really good.


M said it was very good, and the perfect size. It looks good, but not being a big fan of french toast, I will have to take his word for it. M reminisced about his childhood of having french toast made with Wonder bread. I didn't add this, but to me, the smell of french toast cooking smells like wet dog. It's a smell I've never been able to get past.

P had the Arctic Char Nicoise. P recalled her first experience with arctic char, which was at Rideau Hall in Ottawa, when she was at 'an event'. G had arctic char when she was in Nunavut. I have had arctic char never. But I have now sat at a table with it.


It looked really pretty.

The restaurant is closing down after many years of operations. The owner is moving on to other things, and closing her cookery school as well. I think they may be moving, and if so, it's a brunch destination I will definitely take my mother to when she comes to visit in the fall. It was so great. 6 more brunches (and Summerlicious) so give it a go. Before it's too late...

We do have two cats, Bello's just the nice one.

Sasha gets a bad rap. Granted, we've lived together (Sasha and I) for almost 4 years and I have pet her once. She growls and swats at me every time I pass by, and she stares at me with loathing.

But that's okay, I love her anyway.


Look at that belly. Look at that crazy stare.

Urban Beach.

This post is not food related (though it was the calm between the shopping for ingredients for dinner, and the making of the dinner)...

Yesterday, we decided to take in all the city of TO has to offer and go to Queen's Quay to check out the new $10 million dollar urban beach. It's really fantastic. It's right along Lake Ontario, set back directly from the water by a little boardwalk. There's a stretch of sandy beach that has installation yellow umbrellas for lounging under... Really really nice. And yesterday was such a glorious day, there was no better way to relax away part of the afternoon...



This is the view south, towards the island. It's a beautiful view, with the umbrella's offering shade, but letting enough light through to be able to read or still feel like you're outside... it was really spectacular, though not overwhelmingly large...


You could snag chairs, but we just parked it on the sand and went with it. I love sitting outside, and it wasn't hot, but the perfect temperature.

Dinner for 6.

As mentioned earlier, G and I had our friends, P & M over for a visit this weekend.

On Friday night, we had dinner at the Armenian Kitchen, which I did not take photos of because there have been photos of them here previously. So there's that. Not exciting, but quite tasty. We had shawarma and all the fixings. Really such a nice dinner.... We brought baklava home for dinner, but I didn't have any more room.

Anyway, so last night, we decided to make something for our friends from out of town, and to invite our friends from upstairs for dinner. We love to cook for people and do it so rarely that we were really keen to settle on a nice dinner plan. And when looking for a nice dinner, at the moment, I am looking no further than Jamie's Italy, by Jamie Oliver.

I knew we were going to the St. Lawrence Market, so I decided to make the Chicken Cacciatore. G felt like keeping the J. Oliver theme alive, and made a starter of her infamous (and his delish) potato and scarmoza ravioli with marjoram butter. This recipe is G's take on the meal that we had Fifteen last year. It works, it's so delicious. I will ask her to put it to paper so I can share it... Then our guest, P, decided to get in on the action, and offered to make a pear and walnut salad with rocket and watercress. We have a crazily small kitchen, but somehow, we made it work!

The salad was amazing... I am not a huge fan of fruit in food, but the pear and watercress was so refreshing, especially with the shaved parm and toasted walnuts.


It was so terrific, and P made each plate look absolutely lovely!

From there, we moved into G's ravioli. It's really terrific. We had some great fresh potatoes from our CSA box and we bought a little bob of scarmoza at the market, the flavours are dead simple, and since G uses wonton wrappers, it's even more of a snap. But it looks impressive, and tastes divine.



From there, we moved onto my Pollo ala Cacciatore, or whatever it's called. I made it with Donna Hay's recipe for polenta (from New Food Fast), and we used the last of our CSA asparagus. I took a picture of one of the plates...



Whoa. It was so lovely. the chicken had olives, anchovies, tomatoes and chianti in it, and cooked slowly at 350 for about an hour and a half. The sauce was so rich and lovely. The chicken fell off the bone, which is the only way I can stand to eat meat on the bone! It really had all the best parts of a good dinner. We had lots of wine and good conversation (oddly, a conversation about food miles v. organic v. processed food) and it was a really nice night.

We finished with a pistachio bundt cake (that I failed to take a picture of, I am sorry M!!!), that M purchased at the St. Lawrence Market. He also bought two big containers of strawberries, and we had a lovely light dessert after the very rich chicken dinner.

We cracked open a wine that G and I bought in the Loire Valley in France last year, from the Paul Buisse winery in Montrichard. It was really lovely, and took us back to the day that we travelled there, went to the winery for a visit, and met Mr. Paul Buisse and toured the caves and drank his favourite wines. It was really a brilliant outing, and getting the tour of the caves and listening to Paul Buisse talk about his family's history of wine making made it such a special experience. The Loire Valley is full of wineries, and really, this was one of the highlights of our trip. Sharing it with friends, as precious as this sounds, was really such a great way to enjoy it.

Bello's Not Amused.

He looks at us with such disdain. Sigh.

Byzantium!

G and I went out to dinner at Byzantium the other night, a celebratory "you didn't win any awards" dinner. (Long story. Short story: she didn't win any awards, so we had dinner.) Anyway, we decided to go to Byzantium because it's about as fancy at it gets in our neighborhood, and it was all good.

I had amazing beef tenderloin pasta. The sauce was creamy and a little spicy, but nothing too crazy. Good veg, and the pieces of meat were really tender and soft. Lovely!


G ordered lamb with minty couscous. The lamb was really nice, from the local butcher, and the veg were cooked perfectly. Here's the art shot...



It was really a nice dinner

G had a Rolotini, which is just delightful. And I had an amazing red wine, which I don't recall the name of, but trust me, it was lovely.

Good times a-coming!

Just a quick post to say that our good friends P and M are coming into town this weekend, so hopefully I can get some good pics to put up! Or at least some interesting food to talk about! If anyone has a fave restaurant that they think we should go to in the big T.O., let me know by email or comment!

Thanks for the comments and emails recently. I really enjoy hearing from you!

I have some pics to upload, wll do so later. Another late night tonight, and I am just crossed eyed with tiredness tonight, and a very upset stomach. Good times. No, not really.

Anyway, more to come.