Visiting a Trader Joe’s was on my bucket list for 2012 but I’m proud to say that as of last week, I can now tick it off. I finally went to a Trader Joe’s on my visit to Detroit last week.

I will repeat this story again because I think it’s the coolest story ever: When I was in Trader Joe’s, I approached a random sales person to guide me around the aisles and said: “Hi I’m a food blogger from Toronto” and he replied “Are you Mom Who Runs? we have been chatting on twitter”. Naturally we became fast friends, cameras were whipped out and photos were taken of me and @JoeFoodie.

Here’s what I bought:

Item #1:

Buy Me. I did.

This chocolate bar was 99 cents. Thats right..99 cents. I bought 4 of them and should have bought a dozen!

It was NUTS how good these taste!!

Items #2 and Item #3: Marcona Almonds with Rosemary and Rosemary Pecans and Cranberries, that are too good to describe, so I won’t.

More Goodness

More items: @JoeFoodie suggested I buy these Chocolate Vanilla Bean Cookies and he was bang on with this suggestion. Definitely not an Oreo. As for the Gorgonzola crackers…I bought them because one of my facebook friends told me to buy them. (I’m easily convinced…can you tell?)

chips and beer - the best combo

@JoeFoodie suggested I buy these quinoa and black bean tortilla chips plus these beers. Again – I’m kicking myself that I didn’t buy more.

This happens every time I shop in the States…I simply don’t buy enough!! Why can’t I get it right?

The good news: I will just have to return to Trader Joe’s. I hear they are opening up on in Rochester so perhaps it’s time to eat my way thru Rochester. Road trip anyone?

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Day two of our trip to Detroit was as successful as Day 1. We scored…. as we discovered some really cool “local” places that were definitly off the beaten track.

For example:

We went to a restaurant that served “Soul Food” called Connie and Barbara’s (13101 W. Mcnichols Road) Here’s proof that we were off the “beaten track”. You certainly don’t see signs like this in Toronto.

But let’s talk about the food!!. We were in heaven. Our lovely waitress Donna was even from Toronto and understood our needs to “sample” a little bit of everything and to try items that we couldn’t find in Toronto. We started off our meal with a Caribbean Kool Aid.

Gorgeous. A Bit Sweet...But Gorgeous

Then we ordered items like grits, cornbread, collards and pinto beans.

Goodness!!

It was truly an experience and I would certainly return.

Then we went to Dutch Girl Donuts (19000 Woodward Avenue) as I had read that this was an Detroit Institution. We sampled hot donuts that were SO fresh and SO perfect. I now understand why this place is a Detroit Institution. i.e it’s been around for 63 years.

Our next stop we discovered because of our fast friendship with our blogger friend, @JoeFoodie (who we had met at Trader Joe’s on Day 1).  He told us to drop by MOCAD for a pop up restaurant called Anthology Coffee. We would have never heard of this, if we hadn’t met Joe! We dropped by to check out the coffee and we weren’t disappointed.

For some reason, we also stumbled across Elmwood Market and even though it was a weekday, we still took a stroll around.

Then we went to the Heidelberg Project – which was NOT a food event. SHOCK. I know!! This was one cool public display of art and we absolutely loved every exhibit.

But then it was back to FOOD. LOL.

En route to Target, I noticed this DRIVE IN  called Sonic and HAD to stop. It was a blast from my past complete with waiters who brought your  food to your car on roller skates. Just look at my smile …I felt like I was 5 all-over-again.

Our last meal of the day was Traffic, Jam and Snug which is a 22,000 sqf restaurant that brews their own beer, makes their own ice cream and makes their own cheese. Talk about an achievement!! We invited @JoeFoodie to join us and he invited the owner to join us as well. What a treat!! We were given the royal treatment complete with a tour, a gazillion appetizers, beer samples, mains and desserts PLUS a gift bag to take home full of baked goodies. We were overwhelmed but at the same time, totally grateful for the hospitality we received. Here are three highlights.

I also fell in love with this most unique salad that featured “hot sauce jelly beans” which made a normal salad something very special.

A special salad!

However it was this dessert that really blew us away. It’s called Carlotta Chocolatta Ice Cream Cheesecake described in the menu as:  Double Chocolate Cheesecake wrapped in a coffee  ice cream, coated with bittersweet hot fudge and sprinkled with ground espresso.

Enough said – look at this photo (thanks to @JoeFoodie)

Life.Is.Good

Once again, we returned to the Hilton Garden Inn located in downtown Detroit, totally full and totally happy!!

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I’ve finally crossed another item off my Bucket list. This past week, I went to Detroit so I could finally visit a Trader Joes. That’s right – I had never been to a Trader Joe’s. I travelled to Detroit with my foodie friend @pronosher, who didn’t mind joining me so we could “eat our way thru Detroit”

Here’s a break down of Day 1 in Detroit.

9:00 a.m to 1:oo pm – travelled to Detroit. Quick check-in to the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Detroit.

1:30 -2:00 p.m. – visited “GreekTown” which was a lot smaller than what we expected. Sadly we didn’t discover anything particular unique.

2:30 – 3:30 pm. – dropped into Honey Bee Supermarket which is in Mexcian Town and not to far from downtown. I scored. I found spiced cajun boiled peanuts and scooped up a variety of other goodies as well. Thanks to @theChefUpstairs for recommending that we visit this unique supermarket.

Hard to find this..so I bought 6 cans

4:00 – 4:30 – a quick visit to Taqueria Mi Pueblo. We knew we scored when we discovered we were the only caucasians in the restaurant. Inhaled a taco and tried hard not to eat the complimentary nachos and salsa. Operative words: Tried Hard. By the way, we went to this restaurant as a result of talking to a random stranger at Honey Bee Supermarket.

perfect taco

5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – took advantage of happy hour  at Roast so I could sample a variety of local Michigan Beer and eat Brussel Sprouts (thanks to @clickflickca for this recommendation). I sampled the following beers: Great Lakes Burning River Pale Ale, Jolly Pumpkin Bam Beer, Founders Brewery Dirty Bastard, Shorts Brewery Co Uncle Steves Dry Stout. Sadly no room to try one of their desserts that really appealed to me. Think: Beer and Pretzels.

7:00 p.m – Trekked out to  Cadieux Cafe to take a peek at “feather bowling”. This establishment is the only one in NORTH AMERICA that has this sport. Pretty Cool. It was worth the trek.

7:30 – 8:30 p.m. This was the highlight of my day…..We went to Trader Joe‘s. But the visit got really interesting, when I introduced myself to a sales person. I said  – “Hi Im a food blogger from Toronto and I’m wondering if someone could take me around the store to show me interesting items”…he then replies “are you momwhoruns? we have been chatting on Twitter”. How totally cool is that? I mean..what are the chances!! We took photos and then @JoeFoodie walked thru the aisles suggesting items I should buy. (which I did…LOL). I will blog about my “Trader Joe’s” products in another blog post. Promise.

@momwhoruns with @joefoodie

9:00 p.m. Went to Slows as I had read that it was a really popular spot. It was true. We were pretty lucky to have found 2 spots at the bar otherwise it was going to be a 45 minute wait. I tried the split pea and okra fritters and loved the fact that you could see chunks of okra in this dish. Certainly not something I could find in Toronto.  I also shared a Rogue Chipolte Ale, which I’ve had before but hadn’t had it in years, so I was thrilled.

a unique dish.

10:00 p.m  We stumbled across Sugar House as we were walking back to the car. I was too full to consume one of their craft cocktails but @pronosher managed to drink a beautiful cocktail. This place reminded me of Bar Chef – great atmosphere and sophisticated unusual cocktails.

11:00 p.m – Finally back to the Hilton Garden Inn in Downtown Detroit so I could collapse into this ergonomical Mirra Chair designed by Herman Miller to write a blog post. I not only loved this chair but was delighted to stay in this hotel due to the great location and the amazing service. Plus there was a fridge in the room and not a mini bar – perfect for foodies.

Nothing beats a good chair at the end of the day!!

To Be Continued…..

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Usually I enjoy making soup, but with these types of temperatures…. soup is NOT on my mind. Instead, I was inspired to make frozen yogurt as a result of this tweet I saw on twitter:

@FamilyBites: I am totally making this tomorrow! RT @dinnerwithjulie: Liberté Lemon Fro-Yo y’all. http://t.co/4rqy1SSv

I clicked on the link and said to myself “I MUST TRY THIS. STAT”….so I did. (this doesnt suprise you does it?).

As you know, I bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker/frozen yogurt machine last year. It was in “hibernation mode” over the last 6 months so it was time to bring it out. Plus, I was having guests for dinner and thought this would make the perfect dessert.

I followed these smple instructions:

a) bought Liberte yoghurt  (that’s a step, right?)

Step One: Go to the Grocery Store!!

b) put the entire container into the Cuisinart ice cream/frozen yogurt machine.

Let the Frozen Yoghurt Machine do its magic!!

c) flicked the button on. (oh what effort) and waited 10 minutes while it did it’s magic

d) served it to my guests!!

How simple! How healthy! How Perfect.

Summer is going to be great AND summer is going to be TASTY too.

One final note: I am now very curious to compare different brands of yogurts and different flavors as well. Stay tuned for a report.

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The Perfect Sunday Breakfast

Temperatures have been skyrocketing and there is no better way to take advantage of these warm temperatures than to visit the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival. I have been going to a maple syrup festival since I was a kid and have continued the tradition. (I’m now just a big kid). This weekend, Toronto will see WARM temperatures once again…so why not take a drive out of the city.

I swear, in no time at all (i.e 20 minutes with no traffic) you can be at either Kortright Centre or Bruce’s Mills Conservation area to enjoy pancakes, a nature walk, bird watching, maple syrup, and wagon rides.

Things I have learned over the years:

a) go early to avoid line ups. Seriously.

b) wear rainboots. I can assure you that it will be muddy

c) visit with an empty stomach. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to eat pancakes at these festivals (see the photo of the pancakes on the top left? do I need to explain?)

d) take advantage of the wagon rides (like I said, I’m a big kid).

e) bring a camera and take pictures of the great outdoors.

What a great way to TAP into Spring !! (I stole this line from the Toronto Regional Conservation Authority – they should get the credit).

P.S the Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival takes place this year from March 3 to April 9th.

Bruce’s Mill Conservation Area, 3291 Stouffville Rd, Stouffville ON (3 kms east of Highway 404)

Kortright Centre for Conservation, 9550 Pine Valley Drive, Vaughan ON (south of Major Mackenzie Drive)

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I found two apps recently that I would like to share with you. One is a food app and the other is a booze app – not a bad combo.

Seriously, I think both these apps are genius. Which is why I am blogging about them.

The first app is called Get Cracking which is brought to you by the Egg Farmers of Canada. Here is what I love about this app:

-the design of the app is clean. Super clean. There is NOTHING complicated about this app.

-they have thought of everything..even an egg timer!!

-the color and the font are user friendly i.e yellow and white with an easy to read font

-its SIMPLE to use. Click on the video below and you will see what I mean.

The next app that I discovered is the LCBO app. Even though LCBO is not on twitter…I will forgive them as this app is super easy to use and makes my life that much easier when I’m trying to locate a new beer!! There has been times (in the past), where I had to go to three stores in order to find a particular bottle of beer.

I simply enter the product I’m looking for – let’s say Great Lakes Orange Peel Ale – enter my postal code – and poof – the app will tell me what LCBO in my neighborhood is carrying this product and HOW MUCH INVENTORY they have of that particular product.  How brilliant is that?

As for the design of this app: the team did a great job. It’s simple to navigate without a lot of copy. Perfect!!

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Many years ago, my friend use to invite guests over on a Sunday afternoon for “tea”. It was a nice way to end a Sunday afternoon, and we always met new people without the formality of a sit down dinner.

I decided after writing my blog post about my china collection, that it was time for me to host my own tea party and to actually use my china and not just stare at it in the cupboard!!

Here’s some tips how to host a tea party:

1. I invited 10 woman from 3-5 p.m.

2. I set the table with china cups and saucers. (my favorite part)

Love Setting a Table

3. I served: orange almond scones (recipe to follow in another blog), fruit, a cheese platter, party sandwiches, and of course tea!! It was just the right amount of food.

4. As for the tea: I was SO lucky to have met a tea sommelier a year ago at a food show and she graciously brought her collection of tea and actually educated my guests about tea. My guests enjoyed her line of Tea and All its Splendour plus Sloane tea as well!! I brought out the new Perk Tetley Tea (with added cafferine) as well but no one seemed to want to try it. (sniff)  No question, my guests did not leave thirsty and they left inspired too.

Raelene with her line of Tea and All its Splendour

5. Raelene (Tea and All Its Splendour) even brought the right tea kettle so that the water could be boiled at the correct temperature!! I was so impressed.

I’m not kidding, my tea party would not have been the same without her presence. Full Disclosure; I did not know how to make loose leaf tea till this tea party…she saved me!!

It was a great afternoon and I’m sure I will do it again…now that I know how to make tea!!

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Thanks to Pinterest (and not twitter for a change) I bought a Belkin iPad Kitchen Mount Holder. I saw a picture of it on Pinterest- clicked to find out more and then went on Amazon to buy it.

It was THAT simple.

Here’s what motivated me to buy it:

a) no assembly required. That’s right – no screws, no bolts…Nothing!!

b) this gadget will ensure that my iPad wont get filthy when I cook/bake as it’s suspended in the air and not sitting on the counter.

c) I will now be able read recipes on my iPad while I cook/bake and not have to bring  my MacBook into the kitchen.

d) I now have my playlist right at my fingertips in the kitchen. I believe music and cooking go hand and hand.

Seriously… this was a good investment.

I now have 3 Belkin products…a Belkin cover for my iPhone, a Belkin cover for my iPad and now a Belkin Kitchen Mount for my Ipad. I guess you could say I am brand loyal.

I am happy.

What tech gadget have you bought lately? Do share.

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