11-13/365 days of gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for...

Sunday brunch

hot lemon water

this weirdo for taking care of me while I've been sick.

Which is why I'm lumping days 11-13 together! Despite feeling under the weather, I managed to make it out to Sunday brunch at TOCA with some friends at the Ritz-Carlton. Didn't want to miss out on ayce lobster tails and crab claws - not to mention the all you can drink mimosas! Mmm... 

9/365 days of gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for a tradition that 4 ROMers started a decade+ ago.

Despite our increasingly busy lives, we still manage to meet (for the most part) once a month to venture off to an all you can eat restaurant and stuff ourselves until we are physically ill. Over the years, our stomach capacity has definitely dwindled, but to be honest, the food has always been secondary; it's the company that keeps this little tradition of ours alive. 

8/365 days of gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for this giant grape that is as large as a small plum.

I think I might be slightly obsessed with larger than normal food...

♥ j

7/365 days of gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for the evolution of my taste buds.

Although I still crave a good greasy fry up, I'm happy that my taste buds have settled down over the years to enjoy healthier options. Back in high school, when I thought of breakfast, I would immediately think of a sausage McGriddle - not a bowl of oatmeal with fruit. As I slowly got rid of the junk, I think my body adapted and stopped wanting the junk (most of the time). Who knows what my taste buds will crave in another ten years!

♥ j

5/365 days of gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for this monster of a honey crisp apple that fueled me through the afternoon at work.

(Just keeping with the theme of the gigantic foods that I consume)

♥ j

4/365 days of gratitude

Today, I'm grateful for this giant Korean sticky rice donut.

For someone who has random cravings, I love how diverse (and accessible) our cuisine is in the city. Although, I'll admit I can probably have one of these giant donuts every day...

♥ j

cinco de mayo

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

♥ j

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

another new year to celebrate (Songkran edition)

An amazing day was had with friends, good food, good music and water guns as we celebrated the Thai new year. Since we couldn't travel all the way to Thailand, we joined in on the party on this side of the pond with the help of Khao San Road (still one of my favourite Thai restaurants). I was pleasantly surprised with the food that was available at the festival. Junk served up some fantastic pork belly skewers - $6 for 3 which is a steal when it comes to food festivals! It was also quite an experience drinking milk tea from a clear plastic bag (a first for me).

Aside from the food, the actual water fight was a blast! At first I had my reservations about squirting random strangers with a water gun, but once I got into it, I didn't really think about it anymore. I just had one goal and that was to run around and get everyone wet! This is definitely a festival that I will revisit next year and hopefully I will win the Super Soaker raffle next time around...

♥ 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

best medicine in the world

I've been running non-stop like the energizer bunny for the last several weeks. As a result, my body finally said enough is enough and decided to protest with a sore throat, hot flashes, and general unpleasantness on the absolute worst day possible - Halloween. With most of my time spent working 12 hour days, last minute dress fittings and wedding shenanigans, I didn't even get to celebrate this year. Luckily! I am surrounded by the one thing that always seems to perk my spirits (aside from Nathan and his get-well packages of course): cioccolato, choklad, chocolat...chocolate. There is just something so irresistible about a smooth melty piece of chocolate that literally makes all my troubles melt away even if only for a moment.

note to self: stock up on discounted halloween chocolates some time this week...

tea time

Nothing like a hot cup of tea to slow the world down for a minute.

(at the cottage September 2012)

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

burgers: classic. comforting. tasty.

Although I'm not one to eat burgers often, I do have cravings for them every once in a while. Picking up on my craving, Nathan brought me to Goody's Diner hidden away in the middle of an industrial area near Eglington and Warden. I was quite surprised to find the Toronto East Detention Centre just down the road from this little 50's themed diner. But I figured if a detained person were to escape, they would probably try to get as far away from the detention centre as possible - so we were safe.

Anyway, back to the burger. 

on the menu

highway man with sweet potato fries

rhinelander with salad

a glass bottle of coke

My burger was a massive piece of work: cheddar and swiss cheese, a sunny side up egg, triple stacked onion rings stuffed with pastrami with Jack Daniel's barbecue sauce on top of a beef patty. My burger definitely had the wow factor, but Nathan's burger choice was actually the tastier one with caramelized onions, peameal bacon, havarti, and pommery beer mustard served on a pretzel bun. I haven't been to many gourmet burger places, but I think my taste buds know a good burger when it tastes one.

The specialty burgers were $14 a piece and came with fries or a side salad. Although some may consider this to be a bit pricey for a burger, I think it was definitely worth the money seeing as how a chain restaurant will sell their burgers anywhere from $10 - $15. What made Goody's stand out wasn't their creative burgers, their weekly special, or the quaint decor. It was the way they treated every customer who came into the little diner. Fantastic little local business that I will definitely be revisiting in the future!

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

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

restaurantacular

 

Lately, I've been feeling like I'm missing out on all the events in the city - Taste of Little Italy, Taste of Asia, Rib Fest to name a few. So today, Nathan whisked me away after work to Restaurantacular! It took place midtown with many of the local restaurants offering $2, $4, and $6 nibbles and samplers.

on our menu

$6 halibut & chips @ penrose fish and chips

$4 mango salad @ the friendly thai

$12 assorted tapas, a chipotle pulled pork sandwich & a goji berry green tea (very refreshing) @ pimenton

$2 salad @ culinarium

$5 fruit tart & a slice of apple blueberry pie @ the flaky tart

I am absolutely in love with the pie and tart crust from the flaky tart. I wish they made a pie filled with just crumble crumbs. Culinarium, an interesting little shop that supports local, organic and sustainable products, also stood out during our food adventure so I will definitely revisit this one in the future. And although I'm no fish & chips connoisseuse, I really enjoyed the halibut & chips at penrose...though I might have been more smitten by the look and feel of the shop than the food itself (it gives me an excuse to visit this place again).

Since I was caught off guard with this mini date, I didn't have my camera so my pictures are a bit grainy - I'm just happy I was able to capture the evening at all!

I ate entirely too much, but am feeling over the moon!

♪ :: ingrid michaelson :: you and i