I’ve been patiently waiting for the Istanbul Cafe and Espresso Bar to open for almost a year. This new coffee shop is located at 175 Eglinton Ave East between Mount Pleasant and Yonge St.

Recently I noticed via Twitter that it opened and I quickly grabbed a friend to check it out. Yes..that’s the way I roll.

Upon entering we were ooohing and ahhing over the attention to detail. Everything from the lights to the fireplace is STUNNING.

Take a peek at how they serve Turkish coffee. I’m a sucker for presentation so I ordered it!!

This new coffee shop has already had a warm welcome from the neighbourhood and I’m sure it will get even more popular when their liquor licence kicks in.

On a side note: they do serve sandwiches, mediterranean treats and muffins that you would see in typical coffee shops.  However, I really hope that they serve more mediterranean food in the future.

For more information:

Istanbul Cafe and Espresso Bar: 174 Eglinton Ave East, Toronto 416 480 0303

Hours: Weekdays 7 am to 10 pm, Saturday 8 am to 10 pm, Sunday 9 am to 10 pm

PS Liquor licence  is pending….stay tuned for (much) longer hours

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I seriously don’t know why it took me so long to have a cheese fondue party! I guess it’s because I didn’t own a fondue pot till recently. I actually picked it up at Real Canadian Superstore for $5. What a score!!

Then I discovered this product (PC Swiss Fondue) which makes throwing a Cheese Fondue Party even easier. Oh how I love PC Products!

Other items I served included:

-fresh fruit (raspberries, blackberries, and grapes)

-fresh vegetables (cauliflower and carrots)

-phyllo cups with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and roasted garlic…drizzled with a balsamic reduction

-a variety of olives

-nuts that I picked up  on my last trip to Ottawa (lemon almonds, smoked almonds and cinnamon walnuts)

-a cheese tray with Beemster and Empire Cheddar with Mustard Seeds that I picked up at the Delicious Show).

–PC Holiday Treats such as The Decadent Chocolate Cake and Candy Cane Chocolate Squares.

–Smoked Parmesan Inferno Dip Mix. #YUM

-wine (white and red) and of course I showed off my new Soda Stream too!

The table looked like this!

I can guarantee you that I will be hosting another Cheese Fondue Party over the holidays. It’s a great way to entertain!

Disclosure: Several items that I served were provided to me, however all my opinions are my own.

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According to my blog, I haven’t attended the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo since 2010. Here’s the blog post! So I’ve decided it’s about time I return. I’m really looking forward to eating and drinking (my fav combo) and helping them celebrate their 20th Anniversary. This year’s expo offers more than 1500 wines, beers, sprits and gourmet foods to choose from. I took a peek at the exhibitor list and quickly came to the realization that I won’t be leaving the expo hungry or thirsty!

Here’s the details about the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo:

Website: http://www.foodandwineexpo.ca/ ( a great place to buy tickets in advance – HINT)

Hours: 

Friday, November 21, 2014,       2pm-10pm
Saturday, November 22, 2014,  12pm-10pm
Sunday, November 23, 2014,    12pm-6pm

Location: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Building

Hope to see you there. Cheers!!

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For some reason I don’t go out for brunch a lot, however lately I’m been working on that!! Here’s a few restaurants that I’ve visited for brunch over the last few months.

DIM SUM KING

I was introduced to this restaurant when I attended a book launch for Corey Mintz. So last week when I went to the AGO to see the Alex Corville Exhibit, I knew that this would be the perfect place to satisfy my dim sum craving! The restaurant is huge, there’s linens on the tables and they have carts too! As for my dim sum – thumbs up!

Take a peek at their menu (and their awesome prices too). Click here!

Dim Sum King 421 Dundas St W, Toronto, 416 551 3366

LINDA MODERN THAI

This stunning restaurant has recently introduced a brunch menu and I was lucky enough to get invited to try it out. Items such as Thai Banana Egg Pancakes and Eggs Benedict Thai Style are popular items so that’s what we ordered. This restaurant should be on your radar if you are looking for a unique brunch in a beautiful setting with attentive service!  For a complete brunch menu please click here.

Linda Modern Thai: 11 Karl Fraser Rd (Shops at Don Mills) Toronto,  416 642 3866

BOOM BREAKFAST

This popular restaurant has 5 locations and has an item on the menu called the Threesome (pancakes, sausage and eggs). Apparently it’s the most popular item on the menu!!  Their acronym TGIM (Thank God It’s Morning) always puts a smile on my face too. Oh how I love creative marketing.

Hopefully I will continue to explore brunch options more regularly on the weekends. Do you have a favourite place I should check out? do share….

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I’ve been eating Pasta with Burnt Butter and Mizithra Cheese at the Old Spaghetti Factory for almost four decades (see blog post here). I’ve never made it before it as Mizithra cheese is an ingredient that I don’t often come across. But when I saw it at the Global Cheese Shop in Kensington Market (78 Augusta), I knew I had to buy it so I could make this recipe:

RECIPE FOR PASTA WITH BURNT BUTTER AND MIZITHRA CHEESE …adapted from www.cdkitchen.com

Ingredients:

Pasta

Butter

Mizithra Cheese

Instructions: 

To make the brown butter: Cut the butter into tablespoon sized pieces and place in a 2 quart sauce pan and put on a medium heat. Bring butter to a slow boil (about 5 minutes)/

Once the butter begins to boil, stir constantly to prevent residue from sticking to the bottom of the pan. As the butter cooks, it will start to foam and rise. Continue stirring..otherwise the butter foam could overflow and catch fire!

Turn off the heat and remove pan from the burner. Let the sediment settle to the bottom of the pan for a few minutes. Then pour the brown butter thru a strainer and into a small bowl. (this is an important step)

The butter will look like this!

Boil the pasta of your choice.

Spread the cheese over the pasta and top with hot brown butter.

CAN YOU SAY – “COMFORT FOOD”?

Happy Cooking!

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I grew up on something called Gribenes.  Here’s the definition of Gribenes according to Wikipedia:

Gribenes or grieven (Yiddish: גריבענעס, [ˈɡrɪbənəs], “scraps”) are crisp chicken or goose skin cracklings with fried onions, a kosher food somewhat similar to pork rinds. Gribenes are a byproduct of schmaltz preparation.

I remember my grandmother serving it on Friday nights and holidays but haven’t had it in decades. (I’m not joking). Needless to say I knew when I saw it on the the menu at Essen that I would be ordering their gribenes.

What I didn’t know is that I could order buckets of the stuff! Essen makes a gribenes that is PERFECT. I’m still talking about it even a week after visiting their restaurant!!

Now Essen serves up other dishes that resonate with me seeing as I grew up with this type of food. For example: Their chopped liver is also outstanding.

I also enjoyed their Jewish Ramen which is described as egg noodles, matza balls, soft egg, brisket kreplach and veggies. I would order this dish again in a nano second.

My tummy was also introduced to their braised brisket, duck fat fries, roasted cauliflower and their unique caesar salad.

I should also mention that Essen serves some wicked cocktails that are beyond creative!

Hope you get a chance to visit this restaurant soon. You won’t be disappointed and I promise you will leave FULL Very. Full. I know that I will be taking my mom here on her next visit to Toronto.

For more information:

Essen, 1282 Dundas St. W, phone:  (416) 534 0407

Twitter: @essen_toronto

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

Disclosure: My meal was complimentary however all opinions are my own.

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There’s certainly no shortage of new restaurants in Toronto. This means that my tummy is very happy and very busy too!

Here’s a few that I’ve checked out lately:

a) The Kathi Roll Express: They just opened up their second location at 1753 Avenue Road which is great news as it’s about 2 km’s away from where I live! They offer take out and seating for about 6 people. What did I order? A Kathi Roll,  Chaat Papri, Mango Lassi and More!! ps I’m in love with the Chaat Papri. Please (oh please) order this dish!

b) Schmaltz Appetizing: Have you heard of Fat Pasha? Rose & Sons? Well Smaltz Herring is brought to you by the same guy – Anthony Rose. I adored the name and when I heard they had a “GefilteWich” Sandwich – well I HAD to go. (that’s just the way I roll). I also bought the chopped liver to take home and it got the thumbs up. ps not a restaurant – more of a take out counter.

 c) Loaded Pierogi – once again I love the name and the concept. Talk about COMFORT food at it’s best. This restaurant opens today (Nov 5th) and I have no doubt that they are going to be busy! Bye bye Poutine – Hello Pierogi.

 d) St. Andrew Poultry: This business has been around for decades but recently re-branded and now offer catering, a snack bar, take out and more. I’ve already blogged about it but wanted to blog about it again…that’s how much I love this place. As you can see from the photos, they offer more than just chicken!!

For More Information:

Kathi Roll Express …692 Yonge St or 1753 Avenue Road, Toronto – Twitter: @TKREToronto

Shmaltz Herring…414 Dupont, Toronto – Twitter: @ShmaltzHerring

Loaded Pierogi …9 1/2 Church St, Toronto – Twitter: @LoadedPierogi

St. Andrew Poultry…17 St. Andrew, Toronto – Twitter: @StAndrewPoultry

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Here’s the ingredients for hosting a pickle party. I have to admit I’ve never thrown a pickle party before but this party was so successful that I’m thinking of hosting another one!!

a) Select a few brands of pickles. For this particular pickle party, I included: Nathan’s Famous Kosher Pickles, Marty’s, and Putters.

b) Invite some pickle enthusiasts! Of course this meant I included some blogger friends (http://safaffect.wordpress.com/ and http://theyumyumfactor.blogspot.ca/) and some friends who weren’t bloggers! It was a great mix.

c) Put together a menu. This wasn’t so easy seeing as my kitchen is dairy. However I put together a menu that included….party sandwiches, cheese and crackers, roasted tomatoes on toasted baguette slices, and nachos and salsa! My table included green flowers and green/white napkins. Yes – I’m normal. LOL

d) Serve Vodka. Naturally we had to compare two brands so we compared Absolut to Skyy Vodka! Pickles and Vodka are a natural combination. LOL

e) Include a new food product to share with your friends! Please welcome www.mexicoboulevard.com! I sincerely want to thank www.brightideascanada.com for introducing me to these products.

Seriously it was a ton of fun to host this party.

PS the full sours were a hit but in all honesty all of the pickles were a hit with my guests. There wasn’t a pickle left!!

Disclosure: Many thanks to Marty’s Pickles and Nathan’s for supplying me with pickles!

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Last week, I woke up on Saturday and decided it would be a great day to head to Buffalo. Just like that. I swear I crossed the border around noon and was home by 6 pm!! You see….I only visit two stores: Target and Wegmans.

Here’s what I bought at Wegmans.

a)  Blue Hill Beet Yogurt! I probably should have bought all three flavours (sweet potato and carrot) but it was kind of pricey so I only bought one.

When I got home I tried it and decided that it would be great it if I paired it with something. So I took out a piece of salmon and bingo – I had myself a pretty beautiful lookin’ dinner.

b) CHIA POD: Again….I only bought one and now Im kicking myself. I picked up the banana flavour and it is BEYOND DELICIOUS. The banana flavour is INTENSE. I also noticed that ingredients: chia, coconut milk and banana.   Talk about a pure product.

c) BOILED PEANUTS: I brought back these peanuts from a trip to Detroit a few years ago and was thrilled to see that Wegmans was carrying them in Buffalo. Sadly I keep serving them to guests and no one else likes it besides me!!

I bought a few more goodies (naturally) but only wanted to share a few items with you!

On a different note: I want to give a shout out to the store manager, Jim. He approached my friend and I to let us know that there was a “suspicious” person following us in the store. JIm assured us that the security staff were on alert and just wanted to give us a heads up and make sure that our purses were secure etc. When we ready to head to the car in the parking lot, we had TWO escorts with us. Thank you Jim and his amazing security staff for ensuring that my friend and I had a safe shopping experience.

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I’ve been a fan of Aroma Espresso Bar, since they opened their first Canadian location in 2007. They now have 25 locations in Toronto and 150 locations world wide!

I must admit I keep returning to Aroma for these two reasons: I love the mug that my coffee is served in, and I love the piece of chocolate that comes with my coffee. I know it sounds shallow but it’s the truth!

I’m also fond of the food that they serve. I probably like this dish the best. It’s called Shakshuka. Described as: Two sunny-side up eggs, on top of a rich warm tomato and pepper sauce. Served with Tahini and your choice of freshly baked bread. Can you say “YUM”? 

Their sandwiches are ALL  divine. In my humble opinion, their sandwiches are all fabulous due to the BREAD. There is something about their bread that sets it apart from others!

When I’m not inhaling shakshuka or a sandwich..I’ve been known to order a salad too. Always fresh and always tasty!

Now that the cooler temperatures have arrived, I know I will be enjoying Aromas’ satisfying soups as well.

It’s interesting to note, that everyone time I give a friend an option to meet at Aroma or another coffee shop, they always choose Aroma as they want to eat. I never disagree.

It’s also interesting to note that Aroma was one of the first restaurants who were “twitter” friendly back in 2010. #impressed.

For more information:

Website: www.aroma.ca

Twitter: @aromaespressobar

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

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