My weekend in Ottawa consisted of the following elements: seeing family, eating great food, and  Winterlude! I couldn’t have picked a better weekend to visit. Seriously.

On Friday night – we checked out Confederation Square to see the ice sculptures. It was so impressive and so so pretty.

Here’s a breakdown of our day on Saturday:

10:00 am.  We went directly to Art Is In Bakery to eat a Cronut and their potato buttermilk donut with a maple glaze and maple bacon crumbs. There’s only one word to describe both of these items: WOW. I would not have discovered this treat had I not been following @AMWATERS on Twitter as I read a tweet that she had enjoyed  a Cronut the other day. (well, her 25 gram portion of the cronut!!)

12:00 pm We went to Flapjack’s  Pancake Shack which is located right behind Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s in the Glebe. We ordered the JimBerrr! Watson – Double Smoked Bacon, Gouda & Egg between two original buttermilk pancakes. There is clearly a reason why Ottawa has embraced this new food truck!!

5:30 pm. For dinner, we checked out Prime Burger Bar. We inhaled our deep fried calamari, steak poutine and the Chipolte Burger  (double jack cheese, double smoked bacon, avocado and chipotle mayo). Not to mention we ended our meal with DEEP FRIED OREOS.  This restaurant opened in October and as always I discovered them on twitter. The owner took the time to chat with us and in that short chat, we could tell how he really does care about every aspect of his restaurant. I later asked my cousins if they had been to this restaurant and they also had a a great story to share about the owners amazing customer service!

Our day on Sunday continued with more yumminess!!

10:00 am – Black Pepper Biscotti and a Nutella Cannoli from Simply Biscotti.  Note: We were celebrating World Nutella Day early!! (it’s officially on Feb 5th)

11;00 am – Maple Syrup Taffy on a stick – which I enjoyed while skating on the Rideau Canal. Oh how I love this childhood treat and of course skating on the canal was a treat too!

12:00 pm – A veggie Zatar from Aladdin Bakery

1:00 pm – Eggrolls from Golden Palace.

As always, Ottawa is an amazing place to visit. I can’t wait to visit again in March!! In the meantime, I’m heading to Goodlife Fitness to hit the treadmill and burn off a few calorie..

For more information:

Winterlude – Jan 31 to Feb. 17, 2014

Art Is In Bakery 250 City Centre (613) 695 1226

Flapjack’s Pancakes Shack, 809 Bank St, (613) 355 2927

Prime Burger 780 Baseline Road, (613) 680 2051

Simply Biscotti 354 Preston St. (613) 234 5336

Aladdin Bakery 1801 Carling Ave. (613) 728 5331

Golden Palace 2195 Carling Ave. (613) 820 8444

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Had another quick visit to Ottawa so I could celebrate Father’s Day with my amazing Dad. I arrived on Friday at 6:30 pm and left on Sunday at noon. However this still gave me enough time to devour these goodies!

a) CHOCO FRITO Doughnuts from SuzyQ Doughnuts (991 Wellington St. W). There are no words to describe these doughnuts. They are THAT good. Just imagine the salty, crunchy, pieces of Frito Lay with just the right amount of chocolate, on top of a yeasty delicious doughnut.  It’s a FREAKIN’ AWESOME combo. PERIOD.

b) Golden Palace Eggrolls (2195 Carling Aveune). These eggrolls are unique to Ottawa – they have burnt ends and full of pork and cabbage (not bean sprouts). I love dipping them into the hot mustard and the plum sauce. The restaurant itself is totally out of a time warp but the eggrolls are simply epic.  PS many people I know take these eggrolls back to Toronto and freeze them.

c) Candied Ginger from Michaels Dolce; (Ottawa Farmers Market). This ginger was so good that I noshed on half the packet on my way back to Toronto. I can’t stop thinking how I would like to make an apple crisp and cut these strips into smaller pieces so I could incorporate it into the recipe. I will bringing back 3 of these packets next time. One packet is NOT enough.  P.S. his jams rock as well. I encourage you to check out his website to learn more about Michaels Dolce products and where you can buy them.

d) Maple Syrup Cones (Byward Market). I did not buy one of these .75 cones on this particular trip..but I really did want to!! I have such fond memories of these cones from my childhood. Have you ever had one? On this particular occasion my tummy was not happy but my eyes were!!

e) Deep Fried Pickles and Beer from the Big Rig Brewery and Restaurant (2750 Inis St.). I’ve always wanted to try this restaurant and finally I got there!! YAY. The beer scene in Ottawa has really exploded so   I was all too happy to check out these deep friend pickles and a flight of beer, on a gorgeous Saturday evening.

When I returned from Toronto, I made a huge Kale Salad. I try to lead a balanced life. Can you tell?

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There’s lots of different ways to celebrate Mother’s Day!  As a foodie – the best way for me to spend Mother’s Day is to be surrounded by food!!! This year, I will be in Ottawa for Mother’s Day so I can celebrate this special day with my mom. She’s bit of a foodie herself  – lucky me – so this schedule will be ideal for both of us.

The day will go something like this:

9:00 am – pick up a few donuts from SuzQ Doughnuts

9:30 am — enjoy a cappucino from Illume Espresso

10:00 am – head over to Simply Biscotti for some black pepper  biscottis (not just buying one anymore)

10:00 am -11:00 am Quick visit to the Ottawa Farmer’s Market!

11:30 -12:30 Enjoy a visit with my Dad.  He’s a foodie too so we will be sharing our “goodies” with him

1:00 – visit Golden Palace for some epic eggrolls.

1:30 pm  -2:30 pm – Visit the Tulip Festival at Dows Lake

2:30 pm – hit the hightway

6:30 pm arrive in Toronto

7 pm head to Lotus Pond Chinese Vegetarian (3838 Midland Ave, Scarborough) to celebrate Mother’s Day with my daughter. For dessert we will be enjoying a Cold Stone Signature Ice Cream cake. I’ve always loved  ice cream cake and this will be the perfect way to end my day. We usually go to the Cold Stone that is located at 2005 Avenue Road  as I use to have a store at 1648 Avenue Road. To this day, I still visit Avenue Road on a regular basis even though I haven’t had the store for 10 years.

Can’t decide between the 6 inch $23.99 or the 8 inch cake ($33.99)!

I’m SO excited to be celebrating Mother’s Day in Ottawa that I’m going to be giving away a 6 inch Cold Stone Ice Cream Cake to one lucky reader. All you have to do is answer this question. Visit the Cold Stone website and leave a comment below, which flavour ice cream cake you would like to win.

The contest will run from May 7 to May 12th. The winner will be selected using random.org. The winner will have 7 days to contact me, otherwise another winner will be selected.

Happy Mother’s Day.

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