Ciao Amigo's!

It was a fun week, but Geoff and Kevin have gone back to Saskatoon. Thanks for coming to visit guys, hope you had a fun week kickin' around TO! We had fun, but are definitely ready to eat at home again. I think I've filled my yearly quota for eating out.

This weekend I broke away from the guys for a bit and met up with Kendra for lunch. We went to Epicure down Queen W and wow, this food was more than satisfying. I ordered the rosemary chicken wrap with half salad and half fries (homemade shoestrings mmmm!). After that we wandered around Queen and popped into some great little shops.

That night Kendra came over to the apartment for some tiramisu and then took me to the Dance Cave! It was a pretty interesting club with a strange range of people - made for some excellent people watching!

Sunday, Andrew and I went to Casa Loma while the boys went shopping. We had a lot of fun running through the castle.

Enjoying our time at Casa Loma

Who is this foxy lady?!

Horsing around in the stables! (omg my jokes are as lame as mom's)

The Week We Ate Toronto

This past week has been filled to the brim with some of the finest TO fare, some great home eats, and lots of fruit smoothies a la the new Magic Bullet. Andrew's friends are visiting this week too so the apartment is nice and cozy, giving us a lot of motivation to go out and about. Here are some pics...

 

Toronto at night...

 

Dundas Square...

 

A darling sidewalk chalk-job on Queen!

 

Pho at Pho Hung's! (Not as good as Andrew's but close)

We wanted to take Geoff for some dim sum at the infamous Bright Pearl, but then noticed a busy Vietnamese restaurant across the street and quickly changed our tune to pho! The restaurant is called Pho Hung's and it is my new favorite. Aside from Anh's cooking, Andrew's mom, this is the greatest Vietnamese I've ever had. The boys enjoyed their soup, and I had one of my fav's...bun (vermicelli noodle bowl).

 

A visit from Geoff!

Geoff brought gifts from Saskatoon. Namely 4 kilo's of special sticky rice from Anh! It was funny listening to his agonizing stories of transporting the rice...but we didn't really feel bad because it is so good. Here's me preparing some:

 

Cutting the sticky rice with string. 

 

The inside is filled with pork and other fillings, and it is all wrapped in banana leaves. The outside ends up tasting like fragrant tea soaked rice. That doesn't sound as good as it tastes. 

Keng Hei Fat Choi! Happy New Year!

Last night we had to celebrate Chinese New Year, and Valentine's Day early since we had company coming Sunday night. So we woke up, had breakfast and headed straight for the St Lawrence Market. Last time we went on a Sunday - the one day the market is closed - so we had to make the trek again! Once there we found some great organic groceries, and tonnes of fish, meat, cheese, and pasta's. Downstairs the market has some great cafe's, patisseries, and health vendors. We had a really great time!

 

Building with cool artwork on the side, look closely!

 

Fresh bagels!!! 

....Maybe too much fun because we were too lazy to make dinner. Instead we went out for lobster at a Chinese restaurant on Baldwin Avenue (a little street filled with all the authentic cuisines). Finally we chose

  

This picture does not do the size of the dish justice. We literally had a mound of lobster! 

Sunday morning we went out for a walk and a coffee. We ended up getting some Chinese baked goods to munch on too. While in Chinatown we got to see some New Years celebrations (lion dancing, offerings, and firecrackers!). 

 Andrew in front of Ontario College of Art and Design right outside the apartment. 

 

Couldn't quite get it for my shot! Haha

 

In Chinatown at a money tree!

 My cute friend =)

 

Woohoo, firecrackers and lions!

 

We picked up some fancy decor for the apartment too, hahaha

Sushi-Me!!

The past week entailed a lot of indoors for me. By Friday I needed to get out for a bit so we went to Aji Sai for a sushi date. I got a bento box, it was gigantic, Andrew had to help me finish!

My order.....

 

Andrew's sushi!

Bundles of Joy

I picked up some ground beef at The Healthy Butcher and made some meatballs. They were really great, Andrew liked them even though he questioned one of the ingredient..which turned out to be the greatest addition to these lovely little balls! I didn't measure anything so these are all approximate but here you go:

Oat-meat Balls!

1lb              lean ground beef

1                egg

1/2 tsp       cinnamon

2                cloves of garlic

                  salt and pepper

1/4 C         chopped onion

1/4 C         oatmeal....yes oatmeal! 

I added the oatmeal because I only used 1/2 lb of meat and with the whole egg it was too wet. I used the oatmeal to absorb some moisture, but it ended up adding to the texture and flavour. I will always use oatmeal in my meatballs from now on.

They aren't photogenic...but they are Deeelisssh!

I used fresh basil and oregano for a classic contrast with the cinnamon, but another great idea would be a citrus one with some lemon, crushed fennel, and more pepper. Mmmm....those will be my next meatballs!

What's Pho Lunch?!

Ok, I think I've nearly worn my 'Pho' statements thin. That will be my last...I....promise.

So today I am staying in and doing some assignments for school. Which means I will take extra time to make a good lunch! I wanted to use up some leftovers (namely the chicken failure from the other night that mocks me every time I open the fridge), and I remembered we had some pho broth leftover from when Andy made it last week. Perfect!

I de-boned the chicken breast - but kept the bone for the broth! - shredded some cabbage, and started boiling Andrew's pho broth (water, chinese 5 spice, pho broth paste, salt or soy sauce). Then I cooked the noodles. After the cabbage was cooked in the broth I strained the noodles, and added everything into my bowl. 

 

Mmmm mmmm goooood!

Try some next time you want to get rid of those mean, mocking, leftovers. I'm not going to lie, I took pleasure in throwing that chicken into a boiling pot of broth!

Adevntures in Gardening!

Today we picked up an herb garden!! It came with terracotta pots, peat pellets, and Sage, Thyme, and Dill seeds. Can't wait until they are ready to use. We have been dreaming of all the great chicken and fish we will brew up once these babies are out to seed!

 

Andrew starting to plant!

Me too!

And now we wait...

Cakes and Cookies!

Wow what a great Saturday! Even though my stomach has been lashing out at me all day (possibly because of all of the red bull I was force fed last night) I still made sure to try some treats today.

I met up with Andrew's friend from work Amelie, and we walked far west on Queen St until we reached Dufflet - a little gourmet cakery. Amelie said it was the real life equivalent to the cheesecake that Monica and Rachel receive by mail in that one Friends ep. The second you walk in your taste buds just know they've hit the jackpot. I was trying my best not to drool and stare. Failed.

I had the daily special Banana Cream Cake. It was a four layer cake of banana bread and butter cream frosting with candied banana chips on top and roasted shaved coconut down the side. Really great, but really huge! Even their cheesecake portions are large, and for a decent price too. Let me just say I'm glad it's a half hour walk from me because a little activity is definitely necessary after a visit!

I've been worse than Jana for taking photo's though so I have no evidence of my taste of heaven. Sorry. I guess that means I will have to have a redo? Ok. If you insist.

After I got home, it was time to start making dinner. Andrew made pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup)! It was so great - I think he is the best pho chef ever. Pho real.

Then Andrew asked me to bake some oatmeal cookies. With our half-stocked kitchen I decided to do some recipe research for oatmeal cookies that don't require brown sugar, butter, or shortening. It was no easy feat but finally came across a conversion from a traditional recipe to a vegan recipe...but as I can't follow a recipe to save my life...I adjusted it for our needs. Then as I was baking them...further adjusted it. They turned out phenomenal - Andrew has had thirds which is rare for him. I took that as a compliment. =P Here is my new recipe:

Our Butter-Free Oatmeal Cookies
2 C        Rolled oats
1 C        Flour
1tsp       Baking powder
1/2 tsp   Salt
1-2 tsp  Cinnamon (we like a lot of cinn)
1/4 C     Sugar
1/3 C    Canola oil
1 tbs     Runny honey
2           Eggs
1/2 C    Raisins (or more)

• To start off combine the canola oil and eggs in a small bowl. Once emulsified, add the raisins and let soak. If you have vanilla add it to this mixture. If not, don't worry ours tasted vanilla-y anyway!
• Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well for the egg and raisin soak. Add the honey to the well too!
• Mix together - add more oil if necessary , but the batter should be more of a rough dough than a traditional oatmeal cookie batter. (See pic)
• Bake @ 350 degrees C for 10 minutes. 

 

This should be the consistency of the batter

Impatiently waiting!!

Our little nuggets of cinnamon raisin goodness!

I hope those work for you. I like cooking with canola oil rather than butter and margarine because then I don't have to have the trans vs saturated fat's debate. Canola oil is the right kind of fat, and tastes great (in my opinion!). Bon apetit mes amies!!

Oh Organic Food. How I Love Thee.

So after two weeks of shopping within about a 2km radius of Andrew's apartment, I had almost given up on the dream of buying organic groceries. Although I found a small selection of local organic veg, dairy, and eggs at The Healthy Butcher, only their meat is affordable. Although I only want to eat local and organic...my wallet said a firm NO to their $5.00 + asking price for 4 eggs.

It seemed that the cheap, but questionable quality of Lucky Moose in Chinatown was about to win me over; but then something miraculous happened! Did I mention that Andrew and I went for dim sum this passed Sunday? Well afterward we decided to cross the street and venture into the Kensington Market area....where I found Essence of Life Organics!!! Not only is it a fully stocked organic grocer, but it is cheap! I bought a full load of groceries (for two people) for just over $40.00. And it only takes about fifteen minutes walking. Needless to say, I am extremely thrilled with this find as it allows me to satisfy my hunger and my morals.

 

Local organic top sirloin steaks with tomato and avocado salad,  sweet potato champ, 

and grilled onion and mushrooms

 

Standing in front of the Winter City fire art

Andrew pressing the buttons that make the flames flare!

Ramsay Would Swear at Me.

Today was another day of job shopping. I applied to a lot of cafe's so hopefully I can hear back by the end of this week!

Supper was basic, since I had cooked so many beans yesterday I thought we could make some chilli. I picked up some local organic ground beef at  The Healthy Butcher and used up the corn, carrots, onion and tomatoes hiding in the fridge. We're a bit lacking (again) in the seasonings depo so I just used Chinese chili paste, cinnamon, 5 spice, and buffalo chicken powder that Andrew had haha!

I grabbed some bone-in, skin-on chicken breast at The Healthy Butcher tonight too, so maybe we have some soup coming up this week....unless Ramsay (Gordon Ramsay) has a better idea for me? I'll check out his recipes in "Fast Food".

....Here is what became of the chicken... I used Ramsay's recipe called "Stickly Lemon Chicken". I did fine until I waited too long for the sauce to reduce, and in a matter or miliseconds it was charred chicken. What a disaster. I was so horrified to see what became of the beautiful chicken I splurged on, but that's the way she blows.

 

When things were still sunshine and lollipops

Chicken with some sprigs of thyme. 

I won't post pics of the final product because it is so disturbing nobody should have to see it. 

Sigh....I'm sorry Ramsay.

Toronto Times

I have officially been in Toronto for one week and one day...and one second. It has been a good week overall, filled to the brim with exciting experiences as well as some fish out of water moments - namely when I spotted an actress from my favorite TV series Being Erica. I never thought I was the type to get in a knot over a celebrity...

Over the past week I have probably walked 100 kilometers. I may be exaggerating a teensy bit - give or take 1 or 2 k. But seriously...a lot of walking. It feels great to be able to walk anywhere in the middle of winter. Definitely not a common Saskatchewan winter activity. I feel like I've learned a lot about our surrounding area (primarily Queen St) but the next few weeks I'm going to try to explore more of the city.

Thus far we have only eaten out 4 times: We have made a stop at an all you can eat sushi bar after a quick trip to the Eaton's Centre; went over to our neighbour's for my birthday dinner - by neighbour I mean Ematei an authentic Japanese restaurant; to Mildrid's Temple Kitchen in the Liberty Village area for brunch on Saturday; and finally, for dim sum at Rols Sun in Chinatown on Sunday. Now that I write it all down I can see that we've done pretty well at getting a good variety of foods into our diet!

Andrew and I watch loads of the Food Network (I can hear my dad groaning painfully at this) and have wanted to take up cooking classes for quite a while. Saturday, while we walked home from Liberty Village to burn off the those tasty calories that the French food so generously gifted us, and came across a kitchen ware store that also holds cooking classes. We really want to take some lessons but the cost of them has turned cooking suddenly from a chore into a luxury. Until I find a job, Andrew has suggested that I try teaching myself how to cook. I think this is a good way for me to keep my A.D.D. under wraps while he is at work, and while I am getting familiarized with Toronto and it's classified ad's.

Tonight I'm going to start simple with some homemade tortillas.
I have found read around, and this is how I will alter the staple tortilla recipe:
1 1/2 C  Flour
1/2 C     Ground flax meal
1/2 tsp   Salt
1 tsp      Baking powder
1 tbsp    Butter (or in our case Andrew's new BFF I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!)
3/4 C     Warm water


I'll post pics tonight!

Ok so here is what became of my "tortillas" - Since we are rolling pin free here, they turned into tostadas.

 We topped them with grilled pork strips, re-fried beans, grilled corn and onions, tomato, lettuce and plain yogurt. Paired with wild and jasmine rice, it was a decent impromptu Mexican night in!