Stratford Get Away

This year's trip to Stratford was so enjoyable! Perfect weather for walking through the park and to the theatre.

A great stay at Edison's boutique hotel, comfortable quarters, great service, and a wonderful river view from the Swan Suite.

Restaurants we tried this year did not disappoint. A very generous and tasty breakfast Reuben at Whatever 75 + new flavours and great cocktails at the South African resto Braii House.

And of course, the plays!

• Something Rotten, first appeared 2015 on Broadway
• La Cage Aux Folles, first appeared 1983 on Broadway
• Salesman in China (September) Stratford, World Premiere - my favourite of the three!
  

  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Make this at Home

When I go out for a 'fancy' meal I'll order something I wouldn't make for myself at home, but I will take bits of inspiration back to my home kitchen. A plating technique, an ingredient, or an idea. 

That was the theme of a recent get-together I hosted at my place with Laura and Kaarina, in honour of the recent 2022 Toronto Michelin guide. We made reservations at Grey Gardens – a Bib Gourmand restaurant, looking for some inspiration for a meal we would prepare together at my house the next afternoon.

But cocktails first! Bar Chef was booked for a private event, so we ended up at Misty Restaurant and Bar. I ordered a Smoked Old Fashioned, a delicious concoction that came to the table covered by a wooden disc that when lifted, freed the smoke to billow from the glass. Cool effect, but it also left great aromas to nose. So great I ordered another and went to watch how it was made. A smoker was placed over the cocktail glass and wood chips went into it to be set on fire vertically with a torch; then after 5-10 seconds the fire gets covered up with the disc to capture the smoke in the glass. Drama! Using brown sugar to make the simple syrup deepened the flavours. Lesson learned: order a cocktail smoker kit to indulge myself at home.

One of the inspirations from Grey Gardens turned out to be a wonderful drink called Bitter. The next day Kaarina brought some sherry and cava so we could experiment with the cinar in my cupboard, and our re-creation came close. 1/2 oz. each of Amontillado sherry + cinar, with 2 oz. of cava, garnished with a slice of cucumber. This makes for a very refreshing, effervescent drink with the perfume of cucumber. Lesson learned: How to pronounce cinar - I'd been saying 'ch' and it should be more like 's.' 

At Grey Gardens, cooked chanterelles topped pork with green beans and green peppercorn. There was also venison carpaccio topped with raw portobello. So our second inspiration was the ingredient - mushrooms - which, truthfully, we had already selected to feature on our lunch menu the next day. 

*FoodWise Prix Fixe Menu

Aperitif: Bitter Cocktail

Crepe Vonnassienne and scallop with saffron foam paired with Chardonnay 

Salad: Frisse with cooked and raw mushroom, garnished with Bleu d'Élizabeth

Dessert: Vanilla Pot de Creme

Modernist cocktail with lemon foam to finish

In fact Kaarina had already suggested the menu for our lunch: Crepe Vonnassienne. Georges Blanc, the French chef and restaurateur with three Michelin stars to his name, serves them as a stand-alone starter with caviar and also as a side with Poularde de Bresse. 

In advance of the day, I'd purchased a whipping siphon, anticipating some culinary foam might be in my future. I went down quite a rabbit hole on You Tube, watching different videos and learning the siphon could also be used to pickle, infuse, and even make mashed potatoes. For our lunch I decided on some saffron foam.

As there would be egg yolks left over from the crepe, and there was a vanilla bean in my cupboard, Pot de creme featured on the dessert menu.

We shopped for the ingredients the next morning at McEwan's. Even at this luxury grocery, the cost was a fraction of the previous evening's festivities. Of course, we would not be waited on hand and foot and we would be the cooks in the kitchen.

Well, I didn't win any Michelin stars but I did learn a few things:

Like jazz or comedy improv, even when you improvise it's good to start with some kind of framework. The George Blanc recipe for Crepe Vonnassienne was a nice blank canvas to riff. Kaarina shared the recipe and it turns out, Lesson learned: Instagram has #MichelinGuideathome and offers homemade recipes from favourite chefs.

I have been preoccupied lately with reducing food waste. Making the best use of the ingredients at hand seems like a no-brainer. The Pot de Creme was a delicious way to end the meal and an efficient way to use up those leftover raw egg yolks. The vanilla bean had been in my pantry for quite awhile, I wasn't quite sure how to make the best use of it. After the beans were scraped out, Laura suggested we put the pod in a jar with some sugar to create a vanilla scented treat.  Lesson learned: Make use of your leftovers and what's in the pantry.

With the whipping siphon, the saffron foam was a huge challenge to get looking decent. It was spraying everywhere! Thank goodness I was among friends. I ended up wanting to discharge the siphon of the saffron foam to try lemon foam, so emptied the contents into a mason jar... this turned out to be the perfect vehicle to spoon the foam from (discovered AFTER this photo was taken). With the lemon foam, I was using gelatine and went beyond the hour recommended in the recipe - so it ended up being solid instead of liquid, and to make a long story short, this didn't turn out as envisioned either. Timing is important. My whipping siphon adventures will continue, though, and I'm going to try a few more recipes and techniques. Lesson learned: experiment and have fun!

Lots of fun, and as always, lessons learned. 

*FoodWise is the working title of our new culinary trio.

George Blanc recipe for Crepe Vonnassienne

michelinguide

Verified

#MICHELINGUIDEATHOME presents homemade recipes, straight from your favorite chefs to your kitchen.

The venerable Chef @georges_blanc_officiel, of Restaurant Georges Blanc— three stars in the MICHELIN Guide France 2020 — shares his recipe for Vonnassiennes crepes: French specialty potato crepes.

Amaro and Bar Revel

On a recent trip to Bar Ravel, Cynar and Grapefruit were listed as a Highball combination. 

Curious, I asked about it and the bartender mentioned it was distilled with artichokes. Really?? I also wanted something that didn't have as high an alcohol content as the cocktail I'd just finished. 16.5% alcohol? Sold.

 I ordered that, and Rob had a Compari and soda. Both were so refreshing!

The bartender remarked both were amaros. I made a note so I could look it up later.

Amaro is a herbal liqueur whose name in Italian means 'bitter.' According to A Bar Above, it is made from infusing a base alcohol (grape brandy, neutral spirits, or wine) with a proprietary blend of herbs, roots, flowers, and spices. The concoction is aged in casks or bottles for various amounts of time, and the finished product can be anywhere from 16-40% alcohol by volume. Its origins reach back to ancient Rome, where food and nobles would imbibe herb-infused wine for its restorative properties. In the middle ages, monks swapped wine for alcohol; by the 1800s, amaro was being sold in pharmacies and hawked by peddlers as a health tonic across Italy.

Reading up on amari/amaros in The Drunken Botanist, I learned there is a particular gene allele that makes some people highly sensitive to bitter tastes, while others can't even detect it unless it's at high concentrations. This might explain why some people love Italian bitters and others can't stand them. Actually, I'm not sure whether I love the taste, or just the idea of Italian bitters... recipes guarded by families for centuries, herbal concoctions, lower concentrations of alcohol, cool labels and posters. 

I recently picked up Fernet-Branca as an ingredient for making the Toronto cocktail, intrigued by the description of 27 herbs, roots and spices; with licorice a predominant note. Definitely a distinctive taste.

So I have a collection of amari now on the shelf, ready for a tasting: Fernet Branca (licorice); Cynar (artichoke); Compari (oranges, rhubarb, ginseng); Aperol (rhubarb, bitter orange).

To try: a negroni with cynar used instead of compari.

****

Bar Revel was quite the field trip!

I started with a Norman Foster (Bowmore and Ballantyne scotch, Raval Amaro, garnished with banana); Rob had a Magic City (Manzanillo Sherry, Wray and Nephew Rum, raspberry, lemon and absinthe).

The drinks menu provided plenty of inspiration for future Friday night cocktails to try at home. While it was quite the treat to watch a pro at work behind the bar, with all the special syrups and taps, it's a little too expensive to partake on a regular basis. Our 35th anniversary was the perfect excuse!

Festive garnishes and fancy treats like freshly toasted Marcona Almonds, marinated olives and Jamon Serrano helped make the experience memorable. Maybe something to add to the Friday night ritual?

Norman Foster

Magic City

A taste of travel

Stuck at home for over a year now, I have missed heading out to a restaurant for a nice meal. 

Food for me is a way to travel and explore other cultures without heading too far from home. We have such great menus here in Toronto, and we're able to sample cuisines from all over the world in restaurants all over the city. But Covid has hit the industry hard and many have closed their doors permanently.

Lake Inez, a local restaurant, is one of the establishments that is hanging in and getting creative.  

Takeout is offered once a week through pre-orders and curb side pick up on Saturday night. The menu changes each week and typically offers five courses, complete with preparation instructions, a playlist to complement the menu, an original love letter, and "seven years good luck." 

I couldn't resist, especially when I checked out the menu and it was Tex-Mex themed. Rob and I hadn't properly celebrated our anniversary earlier in the month, and this was perfect, as a nod to our wedding in Mexico (37 years ago!).

The playlist included artists who were born in Texas, died in Texas, or who reminded the chef of Texas... It was a great mix of tunes and created ambience for the meal; another layer of enjoyment. "We made a playlist so you don't have to have that same domestic quibble about choosing the music and settling for the same fucking album you always settle for and no, it doesn't mean things are getting stale you've just shifted your energy to more important stuff..."

The love letter was an original short story, shared with the request not to reprint it for reasons of copyright. It was long enough to entertain Rob and I as we read it aloud through three courses.

A taste of travel to Texas in the menu, music, and story. 

Saved the wine that came with the meal for another occasion, and sipped a Cabo Reposado along with the courses.

I realized that I will often be inspired by restaurant meals to try something similar at home... this experience made doing that easy.

Such a great break from the routine. A bit of a twist on going out, by staying in.

//// six courses /////

{{1st course}} jalapeño poppers w pimento cheese, bacon bitz (or tempeh bitz for veggies) , cilantro, texas toast crumb
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{{2nd course}} tortilla wedge salad - gem, iceberg, red cabbage & radish w queso fresco, creamy lime ranch dress, pumpkin seed and avocado
.
{{3rd course}} bbq chicken guajillo rojo soup w ancho and chipotle pepper, burnt orange, wild garlic, hominy, mexican oregano, crema, lime, red onion (or bbq corn w cob n husk broth for veggies)
.
{{4th course}} mixed grill enchilada verde w flour tortillas, refried beans, tomatillo and serrano sauce, monterrey jack and white cheddar, pickled onions and festive rice (mixed grilled mushrooms for veggies)
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{{bonus 5th course}} alphonso mango (the toast of our neighbourhood, the toast of spring) bites w sweet & spicy bbq rub sprinkle, guajillo pepper, tajin and brown sugar
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{{6th course}} rhubarb, guava and hibiscus cobbler w ice cold dulce de leche

J'ai trop mangé

Wow! voyage fantastique!

My friends the epi-tourists planned a trip to Montreal and I managed to finagle my way along. At first it sounded too extravagant, so I dithered. Fortunately Kaarina, Laura, and Caroline are an understanding bunch so welcomed my change of mind. Also luckily, the Via ticket agent found me a seat with them, so we were able to enjoy a picnique enroute.

Being in Montreal felt like being in Europe. Mon français est pauvre so it was wonderful to have the fully bilingual Caroline there to help us navigate and translate.

We stayed at a great Air B&B in the Montreal Plateau neighbourhood, and managed to fit side trips in to Notre Dame, the Jardin, the Marche, and even get some fashion shopping in... however the real purpose of the trip was to eat and enjoy. Which we did. J'ai trop mangé.

Breakfasts were at the Air B&B. One morning fresh eggs that Caroline had brought from her "girls," another morning St - Viateur bagels with salmon carpaccio fresh from the market.

Otherwise we were checking out the local restaurants. This trip brought lots of new experiences and tastes on the menus. I am not an epicurean, just epicurious. I am no restaurant critic but I do love food, and trying new tastes, and seeing what tastes go together well - all the better with friends. I dine at fine establishments probably one or two times a year, favouring bacchanals with foodie friends to dinners out. Mainly I object to paying too much for the alcohol.

The WoW factor for restaurants starts with great-tasting and great looking food, but it is of course, so much more. Years ago I had a friend in the restaurant business and she said when you opened an establishment, you needed to concentrate on two of three things... it was impossible to have all three of these: ambience, service, and price (or value for money). That was back in the eighties, though, and when I asked Chef Laura whether she had heard the maxim she said no. I think times have changed, and people want and expect all three.

True nourishment feeds you on many levels, so I also have another requirement - how I feel after the meal. Within the hour, and the next day.

These are my ratings, 5 stars for my experiences, based on the criteria above: food; ambience; service; value; after-effects.

Restaurants

Iberica ****

Loved these little tapas! Especially the oxtail croquette served on an actual oxtail. The waitress was patient with our questions and attentive; the ambience was ok but a tv was on, which although in Spanish totally detracted from the experience.  Lots of choice and a good wine selection. We enjoyed our morsels with cava.

Joe Beef *****
Number 3 on Canada's Best. Only 30 seats in this establishment! I counted myself lucky to get a reservation for a late Thursday evening, 6 weeks in advance. Definitely my favourite meal of the trip. Great vibe and a wonderful experience - the best service of any of the spots we visited, with Andie taking her time to speak to the details on the chalkboard and answer questions about preparation. The chef briefs front of house every day about ingredients and dishes which is why they are so well informed. Gorgeous plating and perfection in the preparation. I regret not having room for dessert.  We didn't go for the Lobster pasta or Beef, but throughly enjoyed the appetizers (mushrooms and pomp blanc gres champ au champions + quail besesier brelots and sauce rouge) and main (lamb brisquet). I have no idea how such a small restaurant manages to have such a huge choice of offerings, it is a magic trick! One of the best value meals, too, as Laura and I shared our plates. I will definitely return and might even be able to talk Rob into accompanying me.

Maison Christian Faure ***
We had lunch at this patisserie - of course it was the dessert we came for! The server brought a plate over for us to choose what we wanted. Talk about a tough choice! We lingered over tea before heading back out in the rain. Really delicious, great service, but a bit pricey. I also found all the hard gleaming surfaces to lack a certain welcoming.

Restaraunt L'Original  ****
Loved the ambience - very early Canadian and woodsy, complete with a canoe used for the bar. Quirky embellishments in the decor. Excellent food and fine service. My favourite thing about this meal was the original preparation of bone marrow. A bone, sliced open, with pickled sashimi and red wine sauce. Deeply satisfying. If I ever return I would skip the wine and substitute a cocktail. Aside from this, no regrets.

Caribou Gourmand ** .5
Where else could you find caribou and seal tartare on offer? Who wouldn't be curious? It was an experience however I wouldn't say the flavour was exceptional and the texture was like liver. Having satisfied this curiosity I wouldn't likely order it again. I ordered the wild boar chop with polenta as my main - it was delicious at the start, but before I had even finished the meal I was feeling over-stuffed and a bit queasy. I took my leftovers to go and was astounded by how heavy the little package was. Extremely tasty however lost marks for the after-effects (just how much butter was there??) and remarkably poor service. They also didn't have the wine on their own list, or the dessert that was on the menu (although we were on the first seating). Highly disappointing, however this was one of the most anticipated meals so perhaps I'm being a bit too harsh that it didn't live up to expectations.


Jardin Botani Restaurant ****
The lunch counter at the botanical gardens was one of my favourite restaurant experiences of the trip. The counter service was quite friendly. Not only were we able to eat outside in a beautiful setting in the sun, the salad and sandwiches were colourful, nourishing, tasty, great value, and left me feeling entirely sated. Just dizzy from a fine spring day.

Cocktail Bars
Cocktail bars do not have entirely the same criteria for me as restaurants. I don't expect great value - I want a bit of theatre + great service + great vibes/fun + lots of choice So maximum four stars.

Flyjin ***
I thought this was Flying Gin when the epi-tourists were saying the name and so was a tad disappointed it wasn't all about gin cocktails, being such a devoted fan. The Queen Bee concoction, my second drink, was the best - but that is likely because as Kaarina says, anything with Veuve Clicquot has to be good. We sat right at the bar and chatted up the bartender, who was entirely entertaining.

La Distillerie ****
Best drink menu ever! Lots to choose from: A Yoda cocktail that looked just like the master, limes placed for ears; a phenomenal Caesar. A server that suggested they leave out the sugar for someone and add it in later if required. Fantastic bartender, dressed up geisha style and rocking the cocktail shakers.  Good thing we had reservations elsewhere otherwise I could easily have overstayed my welcome.

Yorkville Eats

Yorkville has a lot of great restaurants, and heading to the Heliconian Literary Lecture series this past season put me in the neighbourhood at least once a month.  Usually I don’t go out to fine restaurants, preferring gatherings with fellow foodies at home. Extravagant meals, cocktails, and fine wines are more affordable when you prepare them yourself. But a  rave review about a tiny Yorkville bistro with big flavours and a huge heart really enticed me.

I made reservations at Chabrol for Kaarina and I before the next Heliconian lecture, and ordered the lentils alongside artisanal cheeses. Since we didn’t finish with enough time to savour dessert, we made reservations to return just a few hours later to try the tarte aux pommes, made to order with Calvados sabayon, with ultralight layers of pastry that “turn glossy and buttery-golden and the apple slices darken to tart, caramel bliss.” It lived up to its reputation!

... best seats in the house at Buca

I also wanted to try Buca, which had long been on my list, and we visited the next time we were in the neighbourhood. When the maître d’ greeted us I explained we were only there for cocktails and small plates, and he seated us with the best view in the house – perched on stools peering over a marble counter and into the working kitchen. Lots of staff dressed in gleaming white, glinting stainless surfaces, and exotic ingredients being prepped and plated. What a mouth-watering experience!  I also sampled cured fish and gnocco fritto, which I’d never tasted before. The cured fish was a trio of colours, textures and tastes to be enjoyed mindfully. The gnocco fritto is Italian street food, tasty buns coloured with squid ink that turned our smiles black.

Gnocco Fritto

Next time it  was Mark McKewan’s ONE Restaurant in Hazelton Hotel. Fantastic ambience and great service. After that, the patio at the yoo-who café Sassafraz to people-watch with Kaarina and Shelley while we shared grilled cheese and charcuterie. 

By ordering appetizers and small plates, we were able to experience some great restaurants without breaking the bank. Scheduling the visits before the lectures was also good, because we had to head out at a certain time so couldn’t linger in the restaurants. Although I admit, I did top up the meals with Heliconian cheese and crackers.

I might not attempt making calvados sabayon or gnocco fritto at home, but I did leave with some take-aways:

• I don't need to wait for company to plate 3 or 4 small 1 oz. portions of artisanal cheeses for an evening treat (Chabrol)
• Pizza Burrata: thinly rolled pizza dough, preserved tomato, burrata cheese, basil, and fine olive oil (Buca)
• Grill mushrooms by getting cast iron as hot as possible, then finish with either balsamic or good quality olive oil (ONE)
• Gin cocktail with rhubarb club (Sassafras)

Art Brewing

Collective Arts Brewing is a craft brewery located in nearby Hamilton.  Tasty beer, yes, but what is even more interesting to me is that they support and promote a variety of artists, musicians and filmmakers on their labels.  Every bottle has a different work of art. Downloading the free Blippar app enables you to point your camera phone at the label (or coaster) to learn more about the artist, hear a song, or see a short film. Great use of social media and a fabulous conversation starter. Artists submit their works through the website and are paid if the company uses their work, and at the same time keep their original copyright.

I was introduced to the brewery through Frank at the AGO, when they featured a beer tasting and pairing with English food in honour of the Turner exhibit. Each course incorporated the beer in the food preparation, so the pairings really couldn't miss. The Porter was delicious, but so were the Blonde, Pale Ale and IPA. The small sample glasses offered the perfect volume, because the beer itself was quite filling. Smallish portions, but by the end of the meal we were quite satisfied. The LCBO stocks the different ales in 6-packs at select locations.

MENU

FIRST

Shanty

cornish pastrie minis and piccallilli

SECOND

(tasted citrusy with hints of lichee)

Saint of Circumstance "Anytime Blonde" Blonde Ale 4.7%

pilot coffee duck confit, scotch egg, pickled current, smoked tomato

THIRD

Rhyme and Reason Pale Ale 5.7% 

(Rate Beer gave this a 97; Beer Advocate an 88)

wild mushroom, carrot gastrique, roasted chestnuts, butter lettuce and rocket

FOURTH

Stranger than Fiction Porter 5.5%

(notes of coffee & chocolate)

bavette, brussels sprouts, truffled turnip puree

DESSERT

State of Mind Session IPA 4.4%

IPA mulled autumn fruit, mascarpone ice cream, paine d'epices, cinnamon IPA crema

Happy New Year!

Gong Xi Fatt Chai.

Wendy hosted an afternoon at the Crown Prince in honour of Chinese New Year, and we enjoyed some the best dim sum I ever tasted.

I even tried steamed chicken feet, which is supposed to be incredibly nourishing for your joints. Our champagne glasses always seemed to magically refill before they were even half-empty.  Delicious samplings included suckling pig, steamed pork buns, shrimp dumplings, deep fried sesame/sweet potato, sticky rice in lotus leaf. Even though the morsels were bite-sized, the feast was filling.


Our hostess also brought our horoscopes. 2015 is a fulfilling year for oxes such as me. "Your tenacity and doggedness to get things done will work in your favour. Business will prosper. The Year of the Green Wood Sheep will be excellent in terms of money. Relationships for the Ox zodiac sign will flourish. Sex will be more important than real love. Travel for fun and work is in the cards this year. You might be affected by stress and mental ailments. Be sure to take precautions. 2015 foretells that you will be the go-between for all conflicts between family members."

Joons

We took Alex and Penny out to celebrate his birthday, offering to treat at the restaurant of their choice. That's how Rob and I ended up at Joons in Koreatown.

I've sat at cooking tables before, but this is the first time I've tried Dak Galbi, a tasty marinated chicken dish that is prepared by the waitstaff at your table. A pungent mix of salty, spicy, sweet, cooked and fresh, crunchy and soft, hot and cold. Surprisingly for an Asian dish, mozarella cheese is added just before you dip your chopsticks in. Tasty!

Penny ordered the vegetarian bimimbap, which arrived in a very warm bowl that continued to cook ingredients once it was at the table. Very colourful.

The restaurant has mixed reviews on yelp, but our experience was great! Most of the other diners were Korean, and the meal was definitely value-priced.

Helen Lawrence

Helen Lawrence was a multimedia film noir theatre production. Very unique!

Set in Vancouver just after World War 2, it layered live action filming with computer-generated simulations to create a full cinematic experience.  I felt as though I were watching a film, but the action was unfolding real time.

Three to four cameras were positioned on the stage to catch the actors' performances, which were then projected onto a full-size movie screen. Visually, the audience saw the cameras and operators' silhouettes, the actors on the lower frame spotlit, and the full screen.  Full backgrounds were layered in to complete the staging and final image. While I could choose to look at one or two elements, the projected image was the one that drew the eye. The Big Screen, both real and unreal.

Very captivating, and I didn't really tire of the effect. Conceptually fantastic!

The performances were strong, costumes great.

The stage play embodied film noir perfectly. Some classics include Mildred Pierce, A Touch of Evil, Double Indemnity, and The Postman Always Rings Twice.

The femme fatale, bleak subject matter, inky shadows, sexual motivations, dark undercurrents. Scholars argue about the exact period of classic American film noir, but generally place it 1945-1958.  Then came the  homages and neo-noirs, so the genre has never really disappeared. Before the performance began we sat in a brief talk given by a professor from the Cinema Studies Institute at U of T about the qualities of film noir. I'd never really thought before about how the femme fatale in these films coincided with the rise of Post War feminism, but several dissertations have been written on the subject. 

Rob and I saw this Friday night with Kaarina and Mike. After a long week, I found myself actually nodding off during the play, adding even more to the dreamlike quality of the theatre production but making the complex storyline even more difficult to follow.  Preceding the show with a visit to  Pravda Vodka House at Happy Hour (and a couple of martinis) certainly contributed to my drowsiness. Delicious nibbles included smoked salmon canapes (complementary), charcuterie, mushrooms, blini-like-crepes, Russian meatballs... tasty indeed!

Celebrating Chinese New Year

As soon as Wendy and Raymond invited us to celebrate Chinese New Year with a visit to Asian Legend, my mouth started to water.

A huge thanks for a memorable meal to what I hope is the start of an auspicious year.

Our noisy group of ten soon grew quiet when the food was served.

Sensational! And I mean that literally it was pleasing to all the senses...  Not just the flavours but the balance of contrasts, temperatures and tastes made for an absolute feast. Incredibly satisfying.

So I know what to order on my next visit:

• Steamed Soup Filled Dumplings with Crab Meat and Pork: soft and silken noodle purses that, when you bite into them, explode with flavour and warmth (I like these so much I looked up their Chinese name, Xiaolongbao)
• Drunken Chicken Soaked in Liquor: thin slices of chicken served chilled (these arrived with the warm soup dumplings to make a wonderful course)
• Taiwanese Street Style Deep Fried Tofu with Garlic Sauce: crispy fired outside, smooth inside, with a spicy bite
• Peking Duck: first serving is the duck's crispy skin that you wrap in a thin pancake with cool cucumber and hoison sauce; second serving is the duck, cubed and mixed with tofu, that you spoon into a leaf of lettuce and drizzle with hoison
• Kung Pau Shrimp: spicy hot and crunchy, a known favourite
• Sauteed Beef Sirloin with Satay Sauce on Sizzling Hot Plate: melt-in-your-mouth beef served with crunchy veggies
• Sauteed Green Beans with Dried Shrimp: spicy, salty, crunchy and so fun to slurp into your mouth
• Red Bean Pancakes: a savoury dessert, deceptively plain and strangely satisfying
• Banana in Hot Toffee: tasty treats that caramelize in front of your eyes when dipped into the ice water bath at your table

We went to the Ravel Road location at Finch and Leslie

Full Vegas Moon - March

The moon has some competition here on the Vegas Strip. Rob and I stayed at New York, New York, heard people shriek as the hotel roller coaster sped past. Our room overlooked the Excalibur, MGM Grand, the New York New York sign and the Luxor pyramid. Very sparkly indeed!

One of my favourite moments today was when we happened by an unscheduled  'maintenance run' of the Bellagio fountains dancing  to "Fly Me to the Moon." Serendipity.

Las Vegas is where we are beginning our holday. We landed late Wednesday and spent Thursday walking the strip. Traveled to Venice, Paris, Ancient Rome and Medieval Times to name just a few.  Must have walked close to eight miles!

We ate an amazing dinner at the Eiffel Tower. We both indulged in souffle - I had a blue cheese souffle with toasted walnuts as an appetizer and Rob had one with Grand Marnier for dessert. My Muscovy duck was perfectly prepared. A very rich meal. We were seated with a perfect view of the Bellagio Fountains, and after dinner walked over to watch the water show choreographed to a few more tunes.

Full Worm Moon – March As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon of winter. Farmers Almanac

Niagara On the Lake

I was dreading being stuck 'on the Wall',
but it was a great view.   

Just back from a four day foray to Niagara on the Lake. I was wondering why I've never been, given its vineyards, gardens, restaurants and theaters. We usually sail East, and this is definitely the furthest West I've been via the boat. To be frank, I was expecting rough water, lots of crowds competing for slips and boats rafted four deep on the dock at Niagara on the Lake Sailing Club.   Instead, it was pretty calm - nothing like two weeks ago when Rob went with friends and returned to the boat to find one of the fenders exploded into tiny bits, with dishes strewn along the floor of the inside cabin.  We laced our lines with some snubbers, so maybe that helped to cut back on the bouncing. Finding a slip on a finger dock was no problem, but then again, it was after Labour Day.

We drove our bikes every day, rain or shine, to admire the scenery.  There was lots to see, with historical forts, gorgeous front yard gardens, and the charming Old Towne all within a relatively short pedal.  No shortage of shops and galleries if you are looking for places to spend money.

And of course, what is a trip to Niagara on the Lake without visits to wineries and taking in a few plays?  I have plans to blog in more detail on these subjects so I won't say much more, except that I can't believe I put off visiting Niagara on the Lake for so many years!

warm enough to grow Monkey Trees at Niagara on the Lake!

Eating Out?

We ate at four different restaurants over our four day stay.  

The absolute worst meal was breakfast at Stage Coach Family Restaurant: mushy sausage, over-cooked egg, underdone hash browns and to add insult to injury, the service was poor and the meal was over-priced. My experience is the exact opposite of most of the entries on Trip Advisor, so maybe it was the cook's day off and they hiked the menu prices as a prank.  

Yummiest lunch out was the ice wine pulled pork at Peller Estates, credited to chef Jason Parsons of City Line fame.  Here, they serve a seven course meal paired with the winery's vintages. I was tempted by the Chef's Table, but you need to book ahead, so maybe another time.  

Best breakfast and dinner that we tried, hands down, were served at North America's oldest Golf Course:  a stunning view, great food, and friendly service. At dinner I had the tasty Prix Fixe, 3 course meal for $35.  I thought it was a nice touch that the plates with a bunch of locally grown, in season Coronation grapes. 

Kale

This week, when "Yoga in the Heart of the City" broke for lunch, I headed to the vegan and macrobiotic eatery Kale for nourishment.  One of my favourite items on the menu was the spicy tofu burger, topped with avocado.  Delicious!

360 Degrees

Alex' graduation from university - cum laude yet!  Convocation is still a few weeks away, but why wait to celebrate?

So.

Up the CN Tower to the rotating restaurant, 360 degrees.  We went last Monday.

The view was truly spectacular.  We timed our visit in the early evening, knowing the light would change on the scenery from daylight to twilight to sunset to evening.  Watching the ferries and water traffic, seeing the planes take off from the Island Airport, the downtown all a-glitter.

We stuffed ourselves with three courses and paid the extra bucks for the touristy group shot, but really...

The world at his feet, that is what I really wish I could give him. Isn't that every mother's dream?

Family Day

What better way to spend Family Day than with your family?

Rob, Alex and I set off gargoyle hunting with the book 'Faces on Places' as our field guide, starting with the Claridge apartments, built in the late 1920s.  The architecture is described as being built in a 'Venetian Gothic' style.

The angels that buttressed the exterior walls were graceful, but it was the interior lobby that was  absolutely stunning, with the ceiling embellished by none other than JEH MacDonald and his son Thoreau. The interior feels Spanish-American. 24 karat gold leaf was not used sparingly in the zodiac illustrations that glowed warmly on the ceiling.  Rob recalled some of the illustrations in books from his childhood, not realizing Thoreau was the offspring of one of the Group of Seven.


How could we not choose to eat our Family Day lunch at a place in Chinatown called Mother's Dumplings?  Alex vouched for the place, saying it was a favourite of his and Penny's. We waited in line a good twenty minutes for our table, watching the cooks in the open kitchen preparing the handmade dumplings. The wait only made lunch seem all the more delicious.

Toronto's founding fathers photo credit

After eating we popped into Gwartzmans across the street for some art supplies...  some brightly coloured baking clay for future rainy day fun.

City Hall gargoyle photo credit

Then off to see more grotesques, driving past City Hall and through the Financial District, looking high up into the buildings and trying to spot fantastic creatures as we passed.

We finished our daytrip at Cherry Beach, watching the shadows grow long in the late afternoon sun.