I scored…I went to two fabulous festivals in one day. I started off at the Wild Blueberry Festival at Evergreen Brickworks and then proceeded to the Coconut Festival at Wychwood Barns!

Here’s more about my experience at both Festivals.

WILD BLUEBERRY FESTIVAL

I’ve been to this festival before as I’m a huge fan of Wild Blueberries. Did you know…that they have 2x the antioxidants of regular blueberries and have a more intense blueberry flavour?

The festival had a variety of vendors who had incorporated wild blueberries into their products and I was all too pleased to have a sample or two!  I even met a new vendor..Celia the Celiac and bumped into a vendor I hadn’t seen in a long time (Augies Gourmet Ice Pops)

Congratulations to the festival organizers for putting on another well organized festival.

THE COCONUT FESTIVAL

I discovered this festival on my facebook page as I follow Ely Products  and he posted that was going to be one of the vendors. The whole concept of a coconut festival intrigued me and naturally I thought it would be fun to “festival hop’.

It was their first year putting on this festival and it won’t be their last year. The festival was a huge success with over 100 vendors. It was quite amazing to see all the different applications of coconut!

It was fun to bump into Marni Wasserman (who has a studio that I’ve been meaning to visit for a class) and to discover a great new non dairy gelato product from Grinning Face (540 Parliament) that just opened in June!  I also enjoyed yummy samosas with coconut and raisins from @andriabarrett.

Once again, congratulations to the organizers of the Coconut Festival. ..what a truly unique concept.

 

I recently visited Montreal from Aug 3 to Aug 10. What a treat for both my tummy and my eyes! I’m actually going to dedicate TWO blog posts to the “food” part of my trip. Does that give you an indication of how much food I ate? LOL

Here’s a list  of restaurants that I tried.  Sadly I didn’t make it to Joe Beef as they were closed. Sniff.

Garde Manger:  What did we order? The lobster poutine, Foie Gras with brioche and a blueberry sauce, and the Walleye. We sat at the bar in the back and loved both our food and the cool yet casual vibe of this restaurant. PS almost went back another night for the Foie Gras dish – it was that good.

Au Pied Du Cochon; This is my 3rd time to this restaurant in the past 7 years and I keep ordering the same thing! Foie Gras Poutine and Cromesquis Foie Gras (basically deep fried squares and when you pop them into your mouth – foie gros oozes into your mouth). This visit I felt like I need to add some vegetables to balance the meal and it didn’t disappoint.

L’Gros Luxe: Noticed that they had a poutine sandwich on the menu AND deep fried avocado. Didn’t take me long to add L’Gros Luxe  to the list of restaurants I wanted to check out. There’s a reason why they just opened their second location…great food, great prices and friendly staff.

Olive & Gourmando: This restaurant seems to be packed ALL the time. I went an hour before closing and it was still full of customers (minus the line ups). It was a good strategy not to go for breakfast or lunch seeing as I’m not fond of line ups. The waitress told me that #24 on the menu is a popular salad so I ordered it. It was SO pretty and SO tasty. Just what I needed. I can see why this is a popular spot for tourists and for locals.

Brit & Chips; One night I was looking for a casual restaurant that wasn’t far from Old Montreal and this restaurant fit the bill. Just perfect.

Ceviches: Oh what a treat to discover this restaurant. Love. Love. Love this restaurant. Again – another casual restaurant and exactly what I was looking for. I wish there was a restaurant like this in Toronto!

 

Just so you know – I followed three blogs that were instrumental in helping me decide which restaurants to go to!

1. www.mtlblog.com

2.www.willtravelforfood.com

3. www.shutupandeat.ca

For more information:

Garde Manger 408 Rue St. Francois Xavier, Montreal (514) 678 5044

Au Pied Du Cochon 36 Avenue Duluth Est, Montréal  (514) 281-1114

L’Gros Luxe  3807 St-André  514-447-2227 OR 150 Bernard Ouest  Mile End 514-507-8883

Olive & Gourmando 351 Rue Saint Paul Ouest (514) 350-1083

Ceviches 152 Rue Napoléon, Montréal (514) 419-6391

Brit & Chips 433 Rue McGill (514) 840 1001 or 5536 Cote-des-Neiges, Montreal (514) 737-9555

 

 

The other night I was on twitter (for a change) and I noticed a lot of buzz about @Poutineville. Naturally I wanted to check it out seeing as I just returned from Montreal and wanted to continue my “Poutine Crawl”!!

I had no idea that Poutineville has 3 locations in Montreal, cause I would have visited them on my recent visit!! However I’m thrilled to announce that they just opened in the Annex and will soon be opening a location in Quebec City too!

The space is super cool and much larger than I thought! It really is a full service sit down restaurant with 130 seats (including the terrace) and a full menu

As for the menu – you get to choose the the potato (4 varieties), cheese (10 varieties), vegetable (13 varieties) meat (14 varieties), and your sauce (6 varieties)! EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY!! There’s even an option to select ” all-you-can-eat”.

And if you are looking for a salad – they have a few varieties on the menu as well. Trust me – there’s something for everyone!

I am well aware that poutine is not the prettiest dish to photograph so please excuse the less-than-glamourous-photos. But trust me they all tasted fantastic…each and every combo!

Wishing Costa (on the left) and his staff all the very best in Toronto!

PS I have a friend visiting from California next week and think this would be a fun place to visit with an out of towner! Oh how I love introducing friends to the novel restaurants here in Toronto!

For more information:

Poutineville 296 Brunswick (647) 349 2345

Twitter:  @poutineville

Instagram: @poutineville

Disclosure: I was compensated for my meal however all my opinions are my own.

I love the CNE. What’s not to like? There’s plenty of entertainment, rides, the Canadian International Air Show and FOOD. For me…it’s all about the food and this year my taste buds were introduced to the following.

1. Chocolate Fried Chicken with Chocolate Ketchup. This is NOT to be missed and can be found Coco’s Fried Chicken

2.The Chunky Elvis…  A Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Cheddar Cheese, Peanut Butter, Sliced Bananas and bacon. Again – NOT to me missed. Brought to you by: Chunky Cheese Cafe and Espresso Bar

3. The Thanksgiving Waffle. Sadly I didn’t get a chance to sample it but I will be returning the CNE and #itsonmylist. Brought to you by: Fran’s Restaurant. 

4. Bao with Nutella, Graham Crumbs, Marshmallow whip and Condensed Milk. If you like something sweet – this is for you! What a combo! Brought to you by: Far East Taco

5. The Crow Bar….A croissant with a chocolate bar inside. What will they think of next? Brought to you by: Hula Girl Espresso

Clearly I didn’t need lunch after this media preview!

This year the CNE runs from Aug 15 to Sept 1st at the Toronto Exhibition Place.

Twitter: @LetsGoTotheEx

Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/theEx

Instagram: LetsGoToTheEx

Dear Readers…

I hope this blog post finds you well and enjoying your summer. I’ve had a SUPER busy sumer. In fact it’s been so busy that I haven’t blogged for an entire month. This is the first time I’ve taken a “blogging break” since 2009….when I first started to blog.

Heres’3 reasons why I took a “Blog Break”:

a) I went to my boyfriends’ cottage from July 12 to July 27 and for some reason Rogers (my internet provider) doesn’t work up there. A neighbour suggested that I buy a Bell  pay-as-you-go-package and indeed it worked. YAY. I used it to work and occasionally update facebook and to reply to emails. However I have to admit – I just wanted to sit on the dock and do NOTHING (which is what I did).

b) I’m moving which means I’m drowning in boxes. It’s insane…. I have-so-much-stuff. I’m moving to a rental condo that is several hundred dollars cheaper and has 8 amenities. At the moment I live in an apartment with ZERO amenities and when my rent went up – I decided it was time to move. Despite the fact that I’m stressed with the move, I’m thrilled that I get to redecorate using CIL Paints. (stay tuned for a blog post)

c) I went to a family reunion in Ottawa from Aug 1-3. This meant I had ZERO time to blog. All we did was TALK and EAT. Repeat.

d) I also went to Montreal from Aug 3 to 13. See what I mean? I’ve been BUSY. I’ve never spent so much time in Montreal and can’t stop snapping photos ..this city is SO beautiful. (stay tuned for several blog posts..LOL).

I look forward to sharing lots of summer adventures with you – starting NOW. It feels good to be back on track blogging again.

Cheers,

Vicky