Here’s a quick round of up things that I’ve been thinking about this week:

1. I can’t stop thinking of the winter wonderland that I experienced last weekend at my boyfriends’ cottage. It was truly a beautiful time of year to be up north.

2. I had a wonderful meal this week at Linda Modern Thai with great service and flavourful authentic Thai food. I really need to eat Thai food more often, that’s for sure.

3. I also went to the AGO (327 Dundas St. W)  to visit the David Bowie exhibit. I not only need to visit the musem more often but the gift shop captured my attention too. See the item on the bottom left – well guess who bought it? ME. It was my Chanuka gift to myself. If you are looking for unique gifts – this gift shop is the place to be.

4. My week also included celebrating Chanuka..which is one of my favorite Jewish Holidays. For the first time in a long time – I’m using a white table cloth. Let’s see how long it stays white.

7. I actually bought something online on Black Friday. This is a first for me!!

8. I am still loving my Blendtec and made apple sauce in a nano second.

I also had the chance to attend a media dinner at The Guild restaurant (1442 Dundas St. W) to try some contemporary  Canadian food. They have recently introduced some a few new menu items which I inhaled….for example…Aged Balsamic Marinated Tomato Salad, Curvy Rigatoni, Seard Omega Pork Belly and more!!

I had a pretty productive week. Next week is going to rock too!

Have a wonderful weekend.

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Chanuka has arrived very early this year (Nov 27-Dec 4) but I’m not complaining. It just means that I’m able to eat my favourite foods a little earlier. p.s. I’m referring to potato latkes and sufganyiot.

This year I decided to do a sufganiyot crawl. But before I began, here’s the definition of soufganiot (according to Wikipedia)

A sufganiyah (Hebrew: סופגנייה‎ or סופגניה; plural, sufganiyot: סופגניות) is a round jelly doughnut eaten in Israel on theJewish festival of Hanukkah. The doughnut is deep-fried, filled with jelly or custard, and then topped with powdered sugar.^[1] At Hanukkah, Jews observe the custom of eating fried foods in commemoration of the miracle associated with the Temple oil.

Here’s a photo of a pretty nice lookin’ sufganiyah.

My crawl led me to five places in my neighborhood: Dr. Laffa, What a Bagel, Richmond Bakery, Tastes Like More, and Kosher City Plus.

Three of us, sat down and sampled each and every one of the above sufganiyot. It was a tough job but someone had to do it!!

We discussed:

• The Jelly: was it sweet? too sweet? was there enough jelly?
• The dough: was it tangy? fresh? yeasty?
• The appearance: too much icing sugar? not enough icing sugar

All of them were devoured within 5 minutes which meant that we loved each and every one of them!

I had so much fun doing the “research” for this blog post that next year I’m going to do a potato latke crawl.

Happy Chanuka – to all my Jewish readers.

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A while ago, (Oct 24th to be exact)  I received an invite to attend an event called the Strut Tour.  Here’s what the invite said.

Join us at the inaugural STRUT TOUR driven by BUICK; a unique professional event for leading influencers.

This interactive holiday extravaganza will hit the streets of Toronto on:

Tuesday, November 26th from 1:30pm-5pm

At each stop we promise you access to industry experts and leading brands in the social space.

Cocktail reception, 5-7pm

I checked my schedule and RSVP’ed right away.

Several weeks later I received another email with more details about the event. I was even more excited. Here’s a recap of the Strut Tour.

At 130 pm: I checked in and was super impressed that all sorts of info was on the back my name tag! I was also pretty happy that I was going to be driven around in a RED Buick with 5 other bloggers!!

The first workshop was held at the Jazz Cellar and the topic was: How Well Do You Know Your Brand. The panel included:

Duri Alajrami – VP Social Strategy North America, BlastRadius Andrea Dart – VP Weber Shandwick / GoldinHarris, Rachael Faucett – Founder, Handmade Charlotte Michele Bosc, Director of Marketing, Chateau des Charmes, Jennifer Cruxton – Manager, Business Development, Media Relations Rating Point (MRP)

Sadly we arrived late and missed most of the discussion however I did enjoy 2 glasses of amazing wine!

Workshop #2. Was held on the set of the Marilyn Dennis show. The topic was:

Think you’ve got what it takes to pitch a leading producer or be a spokesperson? 

The panel included Michelle Crespi – Executive Producer, The Social & Marilyn Denis Show , Lis Travers – Executive Producer, Canada AM. Mary Ann Zoellner – Producer, TODAY Show, Alicia Ybaro – Producer, TODAY Show,Sandra Martin – Editor-in-Chief, Walmart Live Better Magazine

P.S. I was pretty proud of myself and pitched a story. Stay tuned. LOL.

Workshop #3: We proceeded to HomeSense for yet one last interesting panel discussion. The topic: How Creative is Your Content. The panel of experts included –

Jen Reynolds – Canadian Living Editor-in-Chief  Nadine Silverthorne – Today’s Parent Managing Editor Tamara Robbins – PR Manager, HomeSense

I had to dash at 5 pm and missed the cocktail reception, but I know I would have enjoyed it! Nothing beats chatting one on one with other bloggers and brand representatives.

Many thanks to ImpressionsPR and WeeWelcome for the invitation!! It was a wonderful day that included a lot of learning and networking. Looking forward to Strut 2014.

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Thought I would write a blog post called Saturday Stuff that would be short and sweet.

Here we go:

1. This week, I organized my first Media Dinner for 12 Food Bloggers at Pukka Restaurant. It was definitely a highlight of my week.

2. I also went to a fun event sponsored by the French Chamber of Commerce, called Le Beaujolais Nouveau. Similar events take place all over the world on the third Thursday of November….every year. It was a great opportunity to try Four new Beaujolais Nouveau wines and chat with some pretty interesting people.

3. I went to Sam James Coffee Bar in the PATH for my first time but it won’t be my last time.

4. I FINALLY (yes – FINALLY) became a an AIRMILES cardholder. What took me so long? Many thanks to the people who invited me to this AirMiles Event. You picked the right person.

5. I had my hair straightened at Evoke Salon for the first time in MONTHS.  I love having my hair straightened however I wasn’t able to got to Goodlife to work out  for 2 days. Sniff.

6. Enjoyed an amazing meal at my boyfriends house on Friday night.  Seriously, I think this is the first time I ever eaten crab legs outside of a restaurant.

Have a wonderful weekend!! I’m off to the cottage which means that I will be enjoying a lot of bacon. Lucky me.!!

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While visiting the Toronto Garlic Festival back in the fall, I had the opportunity to sample a Seafood Chowder from a vendor that was simply outstanding. That vendor was Smoked & Cracked, who also happens to own a restaurant at  516 Mt Pleasant Rd. (just north of Davisville).

Last week I went to visit their restaurant and it was so good that I returned a week later. I simply had to try more items on their menu and share this “find” with more friends.

The restaurant has a lovely “East Coast” feel without being too kitchy. (you know what I mean). There’s small touches that I really think are cute: i.e small jade plants can be found on each table that are planted in empty tomato cans.

The menu is on a chalkboard. Simple but effective.

This is what I’ve tried so far.

–Lobster Bisque

–Manhattan Seafood Chowder: This soup had  a beautiful broth with massive chunks of perfect scallops, shrimp, and mussels in it. I think this was my favourite soups out of the two that I tried.

–Lobster Mac and Cheese

Comfort food at it’s best

–a WARM lobster roll (that was the best lobster roll ever)

What really impressed me was that every vegetable was perfectly diced. Plus the shrimp, scallops and lobster that were in my soup were cooked to perfection.  Bonus that the owners are super friendly and know the industry inside and out!

This is what I want to try on my next visit (which there will be…trust me).

Either the lobster omelette or the lobster scramble gratinee…which is served on Sundays only.

Who wants to join me?

For Further Info:

Smoked & Cracked  516 Mount Pleasant, Toronto ON 647 748 5722

Twitter: @smoked_cracked

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SmokedandCracked

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I always look forward to receiving the  Milk calendar. As much as I love my iphone calendar, I still keep a calendar in my kitchen. I was delighted to received the Milk Calendar in my Toronto Star last week and while flipping thru it, this recipe caught my attention. I always make the same french toast recipe so it was nice to kick things up a notch.

NOTE: you need to prepare this dish 6 hours before you want to serve it. I learned the hard way. I went to make it on Sunday morning only to read the instructions: “cover and refrigerate for 6 hours”. I still made it – but we enjoyed it on Monday morning.!! (which was a pleasant way to start the week off).

Here’s what you need. (ps I cut the recipe is half as I was only making it for two people)

BAKED NUTTY BERRY FRENCH TOAST

6 thick slices (preferably whole wheat). *I was lucky and received a delicious loaf from LaBamboche  (1712 Avenue Road)

4 eggs

3/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg AND cinnamon

2 cups of milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pacans

1/4 cup melted butter

4 cups mixed berries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Butter a 13 x9 glass baking dish. Arrange bread in a single layer

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, 1/2 cup of the sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon until blended. Whisk in milk and vanilla

3. Pour evenly over the bread.

4. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

6. In a small bowl, mix remaining 1/4 brown sugar, pecans and melted butter.

7. Spread  berries over the bread mixture. Followed by the pecan mixture (I only sprinkled the pecan mixture as I wanted the berries to be fresh and not cooked)

7. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until bread is puffed in the centre and fruit is bubbling.

FINAL PRODUCT

Can’t wait to try more recipes that are in the Milk Calendar. 

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Recently, I made a new friend on Twitter. When I saw that she had a blog called Fables and Focaccia,  I knew that she would be the perfect person to invite over to help me use my Kitchen Aid Pasta Attachment. Sadly the Pasta Attachment had been sitting in a box for MONTHS. I was all too thrilled that Jenny agreed to come over and share her expertise with me.

The evening started off with wine. (of course).

Then Jenny started to mix a few ingredients together and do her magic.  As for me….I was too busy taking photos and drinking wine to actually participate.!

Before you knew it – we had an amazing meal of pasta in browned butter with fresh sage. Even though I’m on a carb free diet, I couldn’t resist and dug into this bowl of fresh pasta.

Jenny was even kind of enough to share her recipe with me:

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE FRESH PASTA (we doubled this recipe)

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Just came back from a quick quick visit to Ottawa. This visit was special as I discovered something NEW plus I went to visit a museum that I use to enjoy when I was a kid. (keep reading).

Let’s talk about the NEW discovery first.

As you know I spend a lot of time on twitter. Here’s a classic example of a finding out about something via twitter. One day I was on twitter and I noticed  @LiftRestaurant had sent me a tweet . I checked out their profile and noticed that they were a restaurant in the Delta Ottawa City Centre – exactly a block away from where I stay in Ottawa!! We started to chat on twitter and I mentioned that I would drop by on my next week. So I did.

When we arrived  at Lift Restaurant, the first thing that impressed me was the contemporary, bright, space. After chatting with our super friendly waitress, we ordered the Lift Chowder (Bay Ccallops, Shrimp, Atlantic Salmon, Surf Clams and a Charcuterie Board to share. We scored with our order. The soup was probably the best chowder I’ve ever had and there’s a reason for that. IT’S  MADE FRESH WHEN YOU ORDER IT.

I was also given a quick tour of some of the suites and LOVED the fact that the CLEAN DESKS had all sorts of  computer plugs in it. This certainly appeals to people like me, who travel with no fewer than four cords on each trip!!

I can’t wait to return for more Chowder and have even posted the menu in my parents nearby condo so that this restaurant is on their radar too!!

Now for the part of my trip that brought me down memory lane.

We went to visit The Canada Science and Technology Museum. This museum was my favorite museum as a kid because they had an exhibit called the KRAZY KITCHEN. Forty years later – it’s still there.

I swear I was smiling throughout my visit.

I love visiting Ottawa! Period.

For more information:

Delta Ottawa City Centre 101 Lyon St. N, Ottawa,  613 237 3600

Lift Restaurant  101 Lyon St. N, Ottawa 613 688 6802

Canada Science and Technology Museum1867 St. Laurent Blvd, Ottawa 613 991 3044

Ottawa Tourism

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I was on Twitter a few weeks ago and noticed that a new ramen restaurant was opening in Toronto. I was so excited seeing as I’m a  huge Ramen fan. I clicked the “follow button” and asked if they would  keep me in the loop when they were opening.

Shortly after, I received an email asking if I would like to attend their opening. I quickly said “YES…COUNT ME IN”.

They opened today for a media preview and I was one of the lucky people invited into their restaurant, which only has 36 seats!! Touhenboku Ramen is located at 261 Queen W. and in my opinion this is a great spot for a ramen restaurant.

Touhenboku Ramen features ramen soup that is made from chicken broth. It can be ordered be with your choice of lean pork, rich pork or chicken chasu. Plus you can choose between thick or thin noodles, which are made from their own blend of flour.

I tried the Garlicky Touhenboku Ramen and was surprised that the broth was so thick but it was indeed one huge bowl of flavorful ramen. I’m sure by the time winter is over I will have tried their other options, which are: Original, Spicy, and Light.

Sadly I didn’t have a chance to try their Chiffon Cake but it looks great, doesn’t it?

Thannks @ortdavid for the photo #iPhoneproblems

For more information:

Touhenboku Ramen: 261 Queen St. West, Toronto 416 596 8080

Twitter: @TouhenbokuRamen

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I did it. I purchased a Blentec and I totally blame Costco for this. I kept passing that demo lady and just couldn’t resist.

My life for the last 3 days hasn’t been the same. I’m too excited for words that I’m now a proud owner of a Blendtec. I’m enjoying a lot of smoothies at the moment but my intention is to be making soups with it.

Blueberry Smoothie

Kale/Spinach/Avocado Smoothie

Things I’m loving about the Blendtec:

-I love the timer feature as I no longer  need to guess what 90 seconds is.

-I love the easy to clean wide pitcher

-I love that it pulverizes everything

Things I’m not enjoying:

-it sounds like a 747 airplane

-I still have to cook my soup. I thought I cook just add raw vegetables and some stock and make a quick soup – WRONG. You really need to brown the onions.

-my freezer has no space as I bought these huge bags of frozen fruit from Costco.

It was an investment to purchase this Blendtec but I think it was a wise one.

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