2/365 days of gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for spontaneous boba dates.

Especially when the person who's taking me out is lactose intolerant and can't even have the good stuff. Tea dates just make me feel warm and fuzzy (in both the figurative and literal sense). The free popcorn is just an added bonus.

♥ j

1/365 days of gratitude

One of the promises I made to myself for 2015 is to be grateful for even the smallest things in my life. Which is why I've decided to join in on the 365 days of gratitude band wagon. 

Today, I'm grateful for being able to capture this fuzzy photo of lights. 

It may just be some dangling Christmas lights, but for me, it is much more symbolic as this was the photo I took right before Nathan proposed. How appropriate that this would be my day 1 of many days of gratitude to come. Can't wait to see what 2015 has in store!

♥ j

cinco de mayo

Kidnapped to celebrate Cinco de Mayo at Planeta Mexico with some churros and ice cream. Mmm...

♥ j

a chilly picnic

One of my most favourite things to do in the spring (and all year round, actually) is go on picnics. Normally, Nathan would organize this and take me out, so I thought I'd surprise him this time around and pick up all his favourite picnic foods! Pictured above are his lactose-free cheddar, cured meates, pâté, jalapeño crackers, apple cider, mini focaccia, pickly beans and roasted red peppers. I brought him to our usual date night spot at Mainstreet Unionville, but had to take shelter under a small gazebo as it started to drizzle. 

Naturally, we finished everything.

♥ j

a tea pot and a boy

With all the craziness of holidays and birthdays and new jobs and work and work and work, Nathan and I haven't spent a whole lot of time with each other. Which is why our little tea date on the weekend was such a welcomed pause to our lives. We had Korean BBQ for dinner then spent the rest of the evening at Ten Ren's just talking. No plan. No agenda. No time constraints. It was quite reminiscent of our very first dates where we spent a lot of our time just talking about nothing, really. Sometimes it's just nice to slow things down a bit and enjoy each other's company - something that we were forgetting to do.

(fingers crossed these little dates will become a normal for us)

♥ 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

tealicious

When Nathan parked the car and said that he had a surprise mini date planned, I was worried that he was bringing me to this small convenience store ...

But it turns out, we were going for tea and pastries! We tried out some iced teas at tealish - an almond milk chai latte for him and a hibiscus and pear iced tea for me. Then we walked over to Nadege and ate, what I believe to be, the best chocolate pistachio pastry I've ever had. We also had a pistachio and salted caramel macaron, but the salted caramel just doesn't compare to Moroco's. It was tasty nonetheless!

i ♥ surprises

summertime and the living is easy

What marks summer for me isn't the hot weather or tanning on beaches or trying to cool off in front of the fan. Summer for me has always been about all the festivals going on in the city - especially the ones that involve food! I was feeling a tad blue on Sunday, so Nathan decided to bring me out to cheer me up. We ended up at the Taste of Lawrence Festival which spanned roughly 2 blocks along Lawrence avenue. Local shops and businesses had set up tents so Nathan and I took this opportunity to feed our bellies. 

on our menu

1 pineapple juice 

2 chicken murtabak

3 fried fish cake wrapped around a hot dog

4 taro, durian and vanilla flavoured coconut rolls

and my new favourite

5 cinnamon kurtos (a hungarian donut!)

It was cloudy for the most part, but the sun came out to say hello as we were heading back to the car.

(I kicked myself when I got home for forgetting to pick up business cards)

♪ :: one direction :: what makes you beautiful

sweet things at the park

Instead of fighting with the crowds down by the water where the fireworks were happening, Nathan and I opted to have a quiet chinese dessert date at a park to celebrate Victoria Day. 

on our menu

chrysanthemum tea jelly (with goji berries and longan)

mango sago

people watching

I never used to like chrysanthemum tea jelly when I was younger because of its mild flavour and it was never sweet enough for me to have as a dessert. It also didn't help that I used to associate this dessert with the elderly because my grandma loved it (and still does!). But now that my taste buds have matured, I'm really enjoying it! It's light, refreshing, and not to mention pretty healthy when it comes to treats.

Nathan and I are just two old souls...with elderly taste buds.

♪ :: maroon 5 featuring wiz khalifa :: payphone

little dates

Although it's fun to dress up once in awhile, in my books, simple dates that don't require nice hair and makeup are the best. Nathan has learned that the way to my heart is through my stomach which is why most, if not all, of our dates revolve around food and usually in casual little places. This time he took me to one of my go-to restaurants when I'm in the mood for something warm that does not require a lot of chewing: Sogong-Dong Tofu House. Since I've only ever had sundubu jjigae (or "soon tofu" as I like to call it) at this one place, I really don't know if what I'm eating is actually good. But my taste buds seem to like it so why mess with a good thing, right? Sometimes it's best to leave these kinds of things alone. Finding the best of something out there will just make everything else dull in comparison. It's just like how my taste buds for sushi evolved. Now I can't eat a.y.c.e sushi at my local Japanese dive without a bit of a snooty attitude. Although, sometimes I do appreciate the sub-standard sushi, for nostalgia's sake.

taste buds on fire

Nathan has trouble focusing with my camera 

Two years ago, my taste buds died at Anjappar Chettinad, an Indian restaurant, in my attempt to train them to withstand more heat. It was so spicy that it didn't just burn my entire mouth, but also my lips until they were slightly numb. Luckily all that pain was not for moot!  I noticed that after that night, I was able to eat spicy foods that I normally wouldn't be able to handle. Unfortunately, since then I haven't had a chance to regularly maintain my spice tolerance simply because I'm not normally drawn towards eating spicy things (I'm a bit of a bland girl).

For some reason though, I had a huge craving for Hakka food last week. I've never really had Hakka food before, but Nathan made it sound so tasty that eventually I started wanting it as well (Nathan always says that I am very easily influenced). We had a couple places that we wanted to try together: Frederic's and China Cottage. We ended up at China Cottage because it was a bit closer and there was word along the grapevine that this place might actually be better.

We ordered one non-spicy item (a vegetable fried rice) and one spicy item (manchurian beef). First off, the fried rice was enormous! It could have easily fed four adults or maybe 3 really hungry ones. I really liked the rice for two reasons: it didn't burn and it wasn't mushy. I've grown up to believe that fried rice should be made with day-old rice to make sure that the rice doesn't stick or clump together, but there seems to be a lot of heated discussions surrounding this! As for the beef, I didn't enjoy it because it was way too spicy and it wasn't the kind of flavourful spicy that I like to eat. According to Nathan's sister, we should've ordered the crispy beef instead. Gives us an excuse to go again! I think some of my friends who like the heat would love this place.

So I think Nathan and I are officially over our Japanese food craze...for now.

on a sushi roll

I just can't seem to get enough Japanese food these days. Our latest visit was to a small hidden Japanese restaurant on St. Patrick's street just off of Queen called Ema-tei. They are best known for their cooked food so Nathan and I shared a bento, skewers, and two rolls. I have this habit of taking photographs of my food everywhere I go so please don't mind the excessive food documentation. Sometimes, though, I get too excited and am half way through my meal before I remember to snap a photo. Luckily, this wasn't one of those times.

 nappa appetizer: mushy just the way I like it

left to right: chicken skin, chicken heart, chicken gizzard, chicken leg

the ema-tei bento: the bottom right corner was a little too deep fried for my liking

 spider roll: this was good, but ever since I had a spider roll at Zen, others just don't seem to measure up...

 I was really hungry so I inhaled everything

 but saved room for some anmitsu to end off the meal

 

Nathan has told me many times before that he will never be able to make me as happy as food can make me. I always deny it, but deep down, I think he might be right...

table for two, please

soya sauce photo shoot

Date nights with the boyfriend are always ones that are filled with food from both old and new places that we discover along the way. In our search for new places to eat, we've encountered our fair share of misses, but last Tuesday's pick was a definite hit. We decided to finally try out Sushi Couture on Bloor Street (near Bathurst) since Nathan had heard that the old chef from Japango runs this little establishment. I think what sealed the deal for me was Nathan's $13 chirashi (I was picking at it all night). Unlike your typical chirashi, it had seared fish on it with what appears to be some sort of garlic sauce drizzled on top. 

It. Was. Amazing.

  chirashi

wakame salad

dragon roll

After stuffing ourselves, we spent the rest of our evening walking around some sketchier parts of town to get back to our car. Along the way we discovered a vintage video game shop (that we need to revisit so that I can restock the old Nintendo that I found in this post). The fall weather makes it so easy to enjoy quiet walks down unfamiliar streets.

 
A girl can get used to more date nights like this.

sukiyaki adventure

 a little disappointed that the egg wasn't fried this time around

Last Christmas, the girls and I wandered into a little Japanese restaurant where I ordered (and demolished) a beef sukiyaki. I've been meaning to go back since, but for some reason I always end up at other Japanese restaurants. I suppose it's not surprising seeing as how we have quite a few to choose from in the GTA. Luckily, the chilly fall air reminded my stomach that some sukiyaki was needed and so started my adventure downtown with Nathan. I couldn't quite remember the name or the location of the restaurant so finding it was based solely on my gut feeling. Thankfully, I have a pretty good photographic memory and was able to navigate us towards the restaurant.

We order. We eat. We leave. I get food poisoning.

Maybe I shouldn't jump to conclusions about food poisoning, but it sure felt like it. Nathan ordered the Chirashi and was fine, so I am assuming that I either have a very weak stomach or there was something in my soup that wasn't quite right. I would like to blame my stomach so that I can convince myself to go back. Somehow, I feel like I won't be revisiting this particular restaurant any time soon.

I hope everyone has a delicious food-poisoning-free Thanksgiving!

more food in trucks

The day after finishing the last of my final exams, Nathan and I ventured out to another Food Truck Festival. The long lines and the burning sun from last time didn't deter us from going again! This time, however, we decided to get to the Distillery District before the festival started (we got there at around 10:30am - half an hour early). We were prepared to wait around until everything started, but were delighted to see that most of the food trucks were already serving food. Our first stop was at a sausage stand where we got ourselves the Currywurst. Next we had a smoked meat slider, a beef brisket taco, a crab cake of sorts, some iced tea, a peameal bacon sandwich, pork neck tacos, king fish ceviche and a mushroom tamale. 

 

an unamused stranger copying Nathan copying the Caplanky's truck

We. Were. Stuffed.

(like always)