one sweet day

To celebrate Lillian's birthday, we kidnapped her and brought her to chocolate paradise: Dunk 'n Dip (241 Lakeshore Road East, Mississauga, ON L5G 1G8). We ordered the waffles, pancakes, and turkey waffle club. With the except of the sandwich, everything was drizzled in chocolate (you got to choose between white, milk and dark chocolate). I think the waffle club would've been a lot better if they used the same waffles as their dessert waffles. Other than that, the service was great and we were stuffed and full of sugar by the end of the afternoon!

I also tried Kombucha tea for the very first time. I figured I needed it after all the junk I ate. It was actually pretty tasty and reminded me a bit of grapefruit. The tea was served in a giant mug that was as big as a bowl and came with 3 mini cookies on a skewer. 

The next time I visit, I am definitely going to go for their fondue. And maybe some of their cupcakes and macarons. And gelato.

♥ j

/end hiatus

Today marked Toronto's 180th birthday and to celebrate, Nathan took me out for a maple macchiato while I enjoyed some maple leaf chocolates he got me from the Old Firehall Confectionery. I guess this is more Canadian than Torontonian, but it's really hard to find blue desserts aside from blue jello and gummies. I also thought today was a good day to start back up my blog. It's been a whirlwind of a year, so to recap in a few words:

weddings

babies (not mine)
chopped hair

powerlifting

promotions

food food food

and of course,

tea

Life has been quite dandy if I do say so myself.

♥ j

tea, truffles, macarons and a jamie

I was spoiled rotten by one of my closest friends for my birthday. She whisked me away to high tea at Windsor Arms, then surprised me with a shopping spree at MoRoCo!

picture doesn't do the macarons justice - they melted a little on the way home

on the macaron menu

marshmallow

pistachio

coconut

lavender

salted caramel

truffles are a little dewy looking because I put them in the fridge before inhaling them

on the truffle menu

curry in a hurry

geisha (matcha)

think pink (champagne)

uppercut hazelnut

hint of mint

manisha (chai)

The macarons were amazing! By far the best (and biggest) macarons I've had in Toronto so far. Although they were all scrumptious, the salted caramel was the one that left me wanting a million more. It was creamy and smooth with just the right amount of saltiness.

As for their truffles, I wasn't a huge fan of their exotic line (except for the matcha truffle which actually tasted like green tea ice cream). I was also a little disappointed with the mint truffle - I was expecting a flavour similar to After Eights, but this one reminded me of toothpaste. I think I will try out their caramel truffles next time along with their nutty truffles - the hazelnut truffle was amazing! I do have to give MoRoCo points for being daring with their flavours.

Must revisit to try out all their macaron and truffle flavours in the future!

two eight on twenty

1 invitation to dîner en blanc

2 kidnapped to a market

3 surprise dinner number one at diana's oyster bar & grill

4 surprise lunch at goody's diner

5-8 surprise picnic dinner and shakespeare in high park

9 picnic & paint party with my signature lychee raspberry lemonade

10 homemade paint

11 painting competition

12 drying canvases

13 one happy birthday girl

My birthday weekend was a whirlwind of surprises, painting, and picnics. It was a roll-out-of-bed-no-make-up-don't-brush-your-hair-and-wear-comfy-clothes kind of weekend and I must say, I loved every moment of it! I have the most fantastic friends in the world who are always willing to embrace and participate in all my silly ideas - even if it involves using jelly paint under the hot sun. I don't think there could've been a better way to celebrate adding another tally to my age :)

p.s I am definitely going to blog about number 3 and 4, but have way too many restaurants on my to-blog list dating back to January. Where does the time go?

♪ :: simple plan featuring sean paul :: summer paradise

he asked for the moon

I asked Nathan what he wanted for his birthday this year and he said that the only thing he wanted was to have his name engraved on the moon with a laser. I had to improvise a little, but I think he was quite pleased with the paper moon card + all his other goodies!

happy belated birthday post

 Cake, bears, stars and toes with those who matter :)

Karen also brought me to the Royal York Hotel for a secret date. Pictures for that will be posted at a later date. Just doing a quick post tonight in the middle of my procrastination. I find it hard to stay focused on studying for more than 1.5 days straight. I think that's my studying threshold.

How to Train Your Dragon under the stars

bento love

birthday mango bear with ginger ice-cream

giving our toes some loving

one year older

picnic under yellow umbrellas

 

Celebrating Michele's birthday by the water with all the ladies. Although times like these are far and few between, we always manage to pick up where we left off seamlessly. If all evenings could be this relaxing I would never grow another wrinkle again...

...are wrinkles even grown?

food trucks and popsicles

Several weekends ago, I decided to drag Nathan and the boys down to the Distillery District so that we can bake under the hot sun while we all lined up for hours, separately, to eat pork belly buns and catfish tacos.

Okay, so that wasn't the initial plan, but that's what ended up happening. This was Toronto's (actually, Ontario's) first Food Truck Festival and it was hosted by a food writer named Suresh Doss. Since this was sort of a pilot event, I was more forgiving of the long lines. I can even forgive them for running out of Korean chicken wings 1 hour into our wait...

Despite the crazy lines and no shade from the hot sun, it was definitely an event worth checking out. I ended up tasting a pulled pork sandwich, 3 homemade popsicles (grapefruit & ginger, watermelon, and piña colada), a catfish taco, a spicy pork belly bun, a lobster slider, a mystery spicy dish,  and the most delicious grilled cheese I've ever tasted thus far in my life - no exaggeration.

I believe another Food Truck Festival is scheduled to happen closer to September. This time, I hope they extend the hours and make it an entire weekend event. 11am - 3pm on one day is definitely not enough time for foodies to try out all the trucks and vendors. This small window of time also makes the venue jam packed since all of Toronto is trying to squish in all at once. Continuing with the theme of the weekend, I also went to the Scarborough Ribfest at L'amoreaux Community Centre. I am happiest when I am surrounded by friends playing mom to a food baby.

+1 year

To celebrate my 27th birthday, yesterday Nathan brought me to Octagon for a seafood platter. At first, I was a bit disappointed that it didn't come in a giant tower, like the one we had last year at Zee Grill:

However, once I saw the fist-sized jumbo shrimp and the gigantic Alaskan king crab legs, I was in heaven. The service was excellent at the restaurant, although, the next time I eat a seafood platter (or tower!) I think I would like for it to be at a place that isn't so formal - it was just the wrong environment for eating a messy meal. The room was also so dark that I couldn't see if I picked out all my lobster and crab meat. For those who know me, that is the part I enjoy the most when eating seafood! The dim lighting also didn't help me and my messy eating habits (I had garlic butter stains on my shirt that I didn't see until we left the restaurant). Next time, I think I would like to go to a place that provides plastic bibs for their seafood lovers. It would probably be cheaper too...

I apologize for the dark and blurry pictures, it was the best I could do without using flash

I swear the shrimp looks bigger in person

As for my gift, Nathan spent 2 days slaving away at a frame that he made for me. The theme of the gift was our first date where he had taken me to watch a French film called "Paris je t'aime". Originally he had planned to take me to an Italian restaurant, but somehow we ended up at Saigon Star for some Vietnamese food. (which  explains the chopsticks and the little rice paddy hat in the frame). I choose thoughtful gifts over expensive gifts any day :)

 spot the cheese! :)

I always get myself a present for my birthday. So this year, as a present for my body, I hauled myself to a yoga class. I haven't been to one in over a year and boy am I feeling it today...