Weekend Eating: 1000 Tastes of Toronto

Will wait for food

It's impossible not to put on a few kilos/pounds during summer in Greater Toronto Area. Just this past weekend the city played host to the Luminato festival's 1000 Tastes of Toronto, Taste of Italy and other food-laden events like Films that Move: Hungry for Change. Honestly, I'm not complaining. But for someone like myself who has always struggled with maintaining a healthy weight, it becomes harder to get to the gym and do a couple of extra minutes on the treadmill to burn off that extra serving of dessert or glass of wine.

In an attempt to savour what the city has to offer and stay within the boundaries of Sean's diet (and control my waistline, obviously), we decided to visit just one event this weekend. Last year, we missed out on 1000 Tastes and with the Twitter feed alight with pictures and swooning comments about what was on offer, it automatically became the even we wanted to visit. What we weren't prepared for were the line-ups that had gathered. Susur Lee's cheeseburger spring roll had lured a majority of the crowd, as had world champion oyster shucker Patrick McMurray's fresh oysters and freshly baked pies from Queen Margherita Pizza.

Milagro Restaurant preparing tacos; Shucker Paddy who unfortunately ran out of oysters. He shucked 1600 in three hours.

At $5 a ticket, it was a great way to sample a couple of restaurants across the city and enjoy the warm weather - something that we had all been waiting for. It introduced Sean and me to a several new restaurants, which we now have on our list to try out. I managed to get a run in earlier in the day so I felt more than justified eating my way through the stalls. I often say my motto is, I run so I can eat and it looks like I'm going to have to up the mileage over the next couple of months. Here's what else we chowed down on:

Cruda Cafe's mushroom nut burger. They specialise in raw food. It tasted a bit like an Indian hara bara kebab made with fresh herbs paneer and potato but it wasn't my fave.

Pork belly sausage and papaya salad from Khao San Road. Loved this! The first taste was a hit of kafir lime leaves and lemon grass. Wish they were selling these to take home.

They also had mango and sticky rice, which we stayed away from because we already had two sugar-laden treats:

Jedd's Frozen custard. We chose butterscotch with a sprinkling of chocolate chips. Creamy, rich and with a slight hint of caramel. Perfectly cooling on a hot day. I felt like a kid eating this.

Woodlot's madeleines - I fell in love with the lemon ones. Sean and I were fighting over them while waiting in line for Milagro's tacos.

How's that for a glimpse at yumminess? Milagro's amazing tinga tacos that really hit the spot. We got one each of the beef and pork and had wolfed them down in no time. I'm glad we live right near them.

Luma's lobster sliders. Tender lobster, rich brioche-like bun and marinated cucumber. This was the first thing we got and thought it was strictly okay. I preferred the bread to the lobster.

Plates to leave your mark

Cooking Begins: 101 Cookbook's Almond Soba Noodles

Fresh and feisty

We're pretty much settled in. I say 'pretty much' because we still have some boxes to unpack. But, for me the most important room is functional - the kitchen. It's been a slow start but I've finally started cooking again and enjoying working in the new kitchen. It's an open concept kitchen and a lot smaller than our apartment in Mississauga but it just made me realise that we don't need a lot of space. We had just taken up every cabinet and drawer at the old place because it was 'available'.

Now I've sung the praises about 101 Cookbook's, Heidi Swanson, on more than one occassion because her idea of food fits in perfectly with Sean's diet. So this past Thursday at work, I was adamant about making something nice for dinner as I had got tired of recycling whatever we had in the refrigerator. The hubby loves his eggs, but making them for dinner every other night was starting to get old, very very old. Since we don't have a supermarket near our home, I usually do the shopping at the supermarket near my office. I picked through a few recipes on Heidi's blog and knew I already had soba noodles and red curry paste at home, so I chose to make the almond soba noodles and quickly jotted down the extra frills I would need.

Order up!

Now say soba noodles and the smile pretty much disappears from Sean's face. However, I love them and couldn't think of a better pairing than almond butter and red curry paste as her recipe dictated. I often do a cold noodle salad with peanut butter so I could already taste the flavours as I read through the recipe, which included fresh basil and lemon juice as well. Most importantly, the recipe was simple, nutritious and quick - three things that are a must during the busy work week when whipping up a meal.  The only difference I made was using broccoli instead of pea shoots. And the best part? I had a lovely little lunch to feast on the next day at work.

To be honest, I don't think this recipe won Sean over although I was hoping that it would. He usually is the first one to comment if something turns out exceptionally well. However, there was silence on this. I admit, the noodles did get a bit clumpy, and I think I may have put in a little too much dressing or possibly had left the dressing way too thick. I will have to try it again to judge what went wrong. The one thing that I didn't predict was how great the fried tofu would taste. The matchsticks turned  out crisp and golden and I soon found myself eating them like fries, generously coated in rich red dressing prepared for the noodles. Well nothing lost and something learnt! I'm just glad to be back in the kitchen again.



Quickie Vacation: Seattle in Pictures

The iconic Space Needle

There's been a lot going on with Sean and I moving to Toronto and part of the chaos was caused by my quick vacation to Seattle. I surprised my parents for their birthdays and we ended up having a great time, thanks to six days of gorgeous sunshine. It was my first trip to the US and I fell in love with Seattle. I could not get over the abundant greenery and all the great options for food. We didn't eat out very often (who needs to when you have your mom cooking for you?) but we did manage to pack a few restaurant meals into the trip. Here are a couple of images of what we enjoyed:

There were cupcakes and cocktails...

visits to the market ...

we caught Spring in full bloom; ogled at the gorgeous seafood

And loaded up on local produce.

Then we indulged in goodies at Piroshky Piroshky in Pike's Place Market (Anthony Bourdain recommends it.)

And took home some eclairs from Le Panier, also at Pike Place.

Took time out for tacos at the Sammamish Farmer's Market

Enjoyed some bready goodness there as well

Took a trip to the ball game, which was not without...

Garlic-Parmesan fries and a pulled pork sandwich

Got some old school burgers as well

And enjoyed every moist morsel.