yummie ice cream waffle

We went to Pacific Mall in Markham (Steeles and Kennedy) to pick up some DVDs, but while we were there we couldn`t resist stopping for a snack. We were really tempted by the bubble tea that everyone was drinking, but decided to get a ice cream waffle instead.

Yummie is located upstairs and is a bulk food store. In addition to selling bulk candies and food, they also sell egg waffles and these ice cream waffles. It`s a brick of the most amazing ice cream (we chose Mango) wrapped in a thin waffle shell for only $3.00! It only took us a couple of minutes to scarf down this treat, but it really hit the spot.

restaurant review: milestones restaurant

Restaurant: Milestones Restaurant
Location: 17-3401 Dufferin St., Toronto, Ontario
Telephone: 416-789-9940
Website: milestonesrestaurants.com

Meal type: Brunch

Average price per person: $11-$25

What I ordered:
- Eggs Milestones (pictured below)

Ratings:

Comments:
We recently discovered that Milestones now serves brunch. I`ve been there before and was really impressed by my dish - the prime rib hash (pictured at the beginning of the post), so I was excited to go back and try another dish. This time I opted for the eggs Milestones and it was delicious. I love hollaindaise sauce! I definitely want to learn to make it at home.

Unfortunately our waitress was horrible. She only had a handful of tables to serv eand spent most of her time at the largest table and almost completely ignored the rest of her customers. And the Yorkville Milestones is definitely dated in it`s decor. You can tell it`s 1 of the older locations.

tim hortons

I love Tim Hortons and I don't even think 1 post is enough to capture everything I want to say about Tim's. I think my obsession started when I was living and working in Hamilton, Ontario (where the first Tim Hortons was opened). Actually, the first store located on Ottawa Street in the east end of Hamilton was close to where I worked and I would swing by there to get donuts once in a while. We even brewed it at home!

I know lots of coffee connoisseurs turn their noses up at Tim's coffee, but I don't care. I still love it - and it's affordable too! Although I guess now Starbucks has lowered their prices to stay competitive.

Some of the things I love about Tim Hortons:

- iced cappacuino (with chocolate milk)

- honey cruellers & honey crueller timbits

- roll up the rim time

- hot smoothies with a hazelnut flavor shot

wilton cake decorating classes

I get bored very easily, as most of my friends know, so every now and then I'll take a general interest course to keep me occupied and quench my thirst for something fun and crafty.

A while back I took a Wilton Cake decorating class at Michaels (The Arts & Crats Store). I never even knew they offered these kinds of classes in-store, but they do! It was lots of fun and not very expensive at all!

For more details check out a Michaels near you or visit: michaels.com

restaurant review: canyon chophouse ($25 set course meal)

Restaurant: Canyon Creek Chophouse
Location: 430 Progress Ave., Scarborough, Ontario
Telephone: 416-296-1400
Website: canyoncreekchophouse.com

Meal type: Dinner

Average price per person: $26-$60

What I ordered:
- Ceasar salad starter
- Chicago-cut striploin (with a side of mashed potatoes and grilled vegatables)
- Lidnt chocolate cheesecake
- side of sweet potato fries
- coke to drink (free refills)

Ratings:











Comments:
I know I already reviewed the Canyon Creek Chophouse in Burlington, but I had to write about the dinner we had at the Scarborough location. We were trying to decide where to eat, when we drove by the Canyon Creek and saw a banner advertising a special $25 3-course dinner menu. Similar to Summerlicious where you have 2-3 options for a starter, main course and dessert to choose from.

It's a pretty sweet deal considering the chicago-cut sirloin entree alone is usually $29 alone. Granted the portions are smaller, but I was still totally unable to finish all my food.

Unfortunately I wasn't impressed with the mashed potatoes or grilled vegatbles. Similarly to last time my grilled vegetables were very measly (would it kill them to give more than 1 piece of red pepper? or more than 2 pieces of asparagus?) and my mashed potatoes were cold and un-appetizing. But the rest of the food was great.

The service and atmosphere were very good. I really love their patios. They did a really good job creating an inviting, but chic outdoor place to eat.

Sorry - no pictures! My camera is still on the fritz.

ottawa chronicles: top 5 picks

I'm sure as I try more & more restaurants in Ottawa this list will change, but for now...in no particular order:

Restaurant: The Standard Tavern
Location: 360 Elgin Street
Website: thestandardtavern.com

Restaurant: Social
Location: 537 Sussex Drive
Website: social.ca

Restaurant: Eggspectation
Location: 171 Bank Street
Website: eggspectations.com

Restaurant: Sushi Kanata
Location: 655 Kanata Avenue
Website: sushikanata.com

Restaurant: Green Tea Sushi
Location: 280 Elgin Street

gathering 'round the table

Back in university me and my housemates had a weekend ritual where we would make a huge breakfast on the weekend and enjoy it all together. We were never able to do this on weekdays (because we had classes), but on weekends when there was no rush we would indulge our appetites.

Our breakfast feasts comprised of goodies such as: freshly brewed Tim Horton's coffee, bacon, sausages, pancakes, eggs, hash browns, toast, fresh fruit, etc.

I miss those amazing breakfasts and the great company that came with it. Nowadays when I want to indulge my breakfast appetite I head to a diner or a place like Cora's. I never expected I'd be lazier to make food when I was done school.

way to a man's heart

I made these chocolate-chip pancakes many years ago for my sweetie-pie for valentine's day.

They were actually a lot harder to make than I had imagined. I had a pancake form to shape them while on the griddle, but that meant making 1 pancake at a time and being very careful that the pancake mix didn't escape from the form.

Next time I make these I think I'll cheat & just cookie-cutter the pancakes afterwards. =P

restaurant review: tea shop 168

Restaurant: Tea Shop 168
Location: 5661 Steeles Ave. East, T&T Supermarket Unit #12
Website: teashop168.ca

Meal type: Drinks (bubble tea)

Average price per person: $0-$10

What I ordered: Traditional Bubble Tea with Tapioca

Ratings:





Comments:
Okay, so it's not exactly a "restaurant", but I couldn't resist reviewing it anyways.

I love the sealed bubble tea cups - they're really convenient expecially if you're holding a bunch of other things and trying to juggle a drink at the same time. Also, it made shaking the tea so easy & non-messy to distribute the cold of the ice around. My only complaint is that the tapioca balls were not sweetened so it was more bland than I'm used to & than I like.

Their special price for the plain bubble tea ($1.99 + tax) is great though, especially since that is what I always get anyways, so I'll overlook it.

taiwanese shaved ice dessert

Not too long ago I tried this dessert for the first time while having dinner with my family at Great Khan Mongolian Grill.

According to my search results on wikipedia it's called "tsua bing" in Taiwanese.

It's made up of: ice shavings, toppings, and finished off with condensed milk.

The toppings can include: fresh fruit, red bean, fruit jellies, or all of the mentioned. My favorite topping is the mango jellies. Nice a simple and really lets the mango flavour stand out. It's a very light and refreshing dessert. It would be awesome to be able to make this at home!

Time to dust off my snow-cone maker!

new york chronicles: coming in september

We're planning out trip to New York city in September! I can't wait! Besides all the glorious shopping I'm anticipating all the glorious food we'll be eating! Since we'll be travelling on a budget this will most likely mean dining on a budget. But I've heard great things about New York city street-vendors and all the amazing variety they have, so that should be easy. If you have any recommendations - please let me know!

restaurant review: babur

Restaurant: Babur
Location: 273 Queen St. West, Toronto, Ontario M5V 1Z9
Telephone: 416-599-7720
Website: babur.ca

Meal type: Dinner

Average price per person: $26-$60

What I ordered (shared between 2 people):
- Vegetable Samosas (crisp patties stuffed with peas and potatoes
- Butter Chicken (boneless chicken marinated in yogurt and spices barbequed in Tandoor and cooked in cream sauce)
- Mutton saagwala (lamb marinated in yogurt and spices, stir fried and cooked with spinach and sauce)

Ratings:










Comments:
We were walking along Queen Street looking for a place to eat, when we came along Babur. There is so much to choose from on Queen St. when it comes to restaurants, but having customers inside is always a good indication of a decent restaurant. And there was a constant flow of satisfied looking diners the whole time we were at Babur (including us).

The restaurant is clean and simple (although I’d get rid of the plaid tablecloths) and the service was very fast and attentive.

The samosas were amazing and the perfect appetizers. Our dinner was good (not the absolute best we've had, but definitely a close second I think). We weren't sure if we had ordered enough, but we were stuffed and didn't even have room for dessert! I'm glad we've found another great Indian restaurant to frequent!

jam

Before I stopped off at Brus' I bought the cheapest jar of jam from the grocery store to spread on bread for breakfast at work. It was disgusting and I couldn't even finish the 1st piece of toast. That's how bad it was!

So during a recent excursion I picked up a jar of home-made jam from Brus' Orchids & Winery located in Tillsonburg, Ontario to see if there was a drastic difference.

Brus' carries: apples, cider, honey, berries, sweet corn, goat cheese, eggs, and various other products produced on site. They also sell jars of bee pollen. Cinnamon Kitten mentioned that she had read that bee pollen was actually very good for us. But since i'm allergic to bee pollen I decided to do a bit more investigating before buying some to try.

I'll stick with jam for now...

Aunt Lena's Preserves
Cran-Rasberry Jam
Cost: $3.25 per 250mL jar

I've been eating this jam on english muffins for the past week and it is so good! It's sweet and flavorful, but not tart at all! The taste is strong, but lovely. Definitely loving this new jam. Hail the homemade jams!

For more information about Brus': brusorchards.com

korean bar-b-q

Korean BBQ is essentially pieces of meat (all kinds) marinated in a Korean sauce and prepared on a little grill. We were contemplating whether to go for Korean BBQ the other night & I was reminded about that time back in university my fiance sent me a link to this really funny and addictive game all based on korean bar-b-q and not burning your meat. Unfortunately the link doesn't work anymore, but it was great while it lasted....ah the memories.

the diner's companion

Okay, so this post technically has nothing to do with eating or drinking, but it has to do with dining, so I couldn't resist posting about it.

While dining in Ottawa last month a woman at the table next to us was using a purse hook to hang her purse. This was the first time I had ever seen a purse hook and I was mesmerized. How genius!

For all of you that have also never seen or heard of a purse hook, it’s simply a hook that allows a person to hook their purse/bag to the side of a table. So instead of putting your favorite bag on the dirty floor, or have it take up valuable chair space, or hang it on the back of your chair where you can’t keep an eye on it – it’s hooked under your table where you can easily keep an eye on it and rest assured that it’s not picking up any floor germs.

I did some searching on the internet and found lots of different types of purse hooks. But I wanted to find the one the woman next to us was using, because it was so simple and chic looking. I finally found it at: luxelink.com. Unfortunately it's a little pricey for something I technically don't need. But still a very cool thing to have.

Image from: luxelink.com

restaurant review: katsu sushi

Restaurant: Katsu Sushi
Location: 572 Danforth Ave., Toronto, Ontario M4K 1R1
Telephone: 416-466-3388
Website: hrg88.com

Meal type: Lunch

Average price per person: $0-$10

What I ordered:
Toronto Roll (Eel, avocado, salmon skin, tobiko with sweet sauce) & green tea

Ratings:

Comments:

I had high hopes for Katsu, because it is actually affiliated with 1 of our favorite sushi restaurants, Masa Sushi. Right away we could see that the service and atmosphere were definitely different from Masa. Katsu is definitely more "homey" and casual.

My fiance had 1 of the lunch specials and at first appearances we were impressed. It seemed like a lot of food for a very good price, but we soon came to the conclusion that Katsu can offer these prices because most of their rolls are based on items that don't have to be fresh (i.e. non-raw-fish items).

Overall, the food was very sloppy and I didn't enjoy the combinations of taste at all. And there was either too much going on, or not enough. We were actually a little turned off of sushi afterwards, which I never thought possible! So, we were pretty disappointed - it's definitely cheap, but I guess you get what you pay for.

restaurant review: canyon creek chophouse

Restaurant: Canyon Creek Chophouse
Location: 2429 Fairview Street, Burlington, Ontario
Telephone: 905-333-3339
Website: canyoncreekchophouse.com

Meal type: Dinner

Average price per person: $26-$60

What I ordered:
Premium Top Sirloin Steak (with sweet potato fries and grilled vegetables)

Ratings:











Comments:
This was my first visit to a Canyon Creek, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Since the weather was nice we chose to sit on the patio, which had a very nice outdoor grillhouse/bar decor to it. It's unfortunate that the patio doesn't sit more tables - I can see it filling up FAST on a weekend. The service was pretty standard for a place like this - friendly and fast.

I haven't had steak in a while, so I was pretty excited waiting for my dinner. I find a lot of restaurants North of the border overcook my steak, but I wasn't disappointed this time. My steak was cooked rare (the way I liked it) & was not overcooked at all. I could actually see the difference between my rare steak & my friend's medium rare steak which was a first for me. My sweet potato fries were great, although I wish they came at no extra cost and were accompanied with a good sauce. And my grilled vegetables were very tastey too.

I think the one thing that impressed me was the portion size. I'm usually leaving leftovers, but I almost completely finished my entree which means that the portion size was perfect! I will definitely be visitng Canyon Creek again. Although it's a bit pricier than the other chain restaurants around it's worth it for the higher quality steak.

Sorry - no pictures! My camera is on the fritz AGAIN, so I'm cameraless at least for the next little while.

taste of the danforth

We stopped by Taste of the Danforth on Saturday.  It was unfortunate that it rained on and off all day, but it wasn't too bad in the early afternoon, so I guess we were sorta lucky.

We nibbled on porkchops, quail (pictured), and Kourambiethes (greek cookies that are covered in powdered sugar).  So yummy!

Hope you all had a chance to check it out, or have a chance tomorrow!

beerlicious

What:
A celebration of Canada's rich brewing history, hosted by experts of the brewing craft from around the country. Featuring more than 200 brands of beer on-site, this is Canada's premier celebration of the golden beverage.

When: Thursday August 7 to Sunday August 10
Where: Historic Fort York, 100 Garrison Rd., Toronto

Beerlicious is sold out this year already! If you missed your chance to go, remember to check it out next year!

For more event details: beerfestival.ca

taste of the danforth

Just a quick reminder - Taste of the Danforth starts today! Keep your fingers crossed for decent weather!

When: Friday August 8 to Sunday August 10
Where: Danforth Avenue (Between Broadview Ave. and Jones Ave.)

For more event details check out: tasteofthedanforth.com

bubble tea

While blogging about dinner at go for tea, I was reminded that I haven't yet blogged about bubble tea. After some quick searching on wiki I've discovered that it originated in Taiwan in the 80's before making its debut in Canada. It's pretty main-stream now and can even be found in specialty cafes, many Asian restaurants, and even shopping mall food courts (think Bubble Tease). For those of you not familiar with bubble tea, it is a sweetened tea based drink most commonly with black tapioca balls in it.

I have to admit I thought it looked gross when I first saw it. And it took me a couple of times to get used to the sensation of those large tapioca balls in my mouth, but after a while I was hooked.

There are so many choices to make when it comes to bubble tea: size, black tea or green tea, milk or no milk, tapioca balls or fruit jellies, slush or cold or hot, etc. Ordering one is just as confusing as ordering a drink at Starbucks!

For those of you wondering, you can make bubble tea at home - they even sell bubble tea making kits! We tried it a couple of times, way back when, with some mixed results. Next time its attempted you'll sure to see the process and result details. But for now I'll let the professionals handle it.

My personal favorite is the traditional milk black tea with tapioca.

an ode to bacon

I love bacon. And there's nothing (absolutely nothing) that makes a camping trip oh-so-awesome quite like a breakfast with fresh bacon.

s'mores

I hope all our Canadian readers out there are had an awesome long weekend!

One of my favorite long weekend past-times is going camping! And one of my favorite things about camping is being around the campfire. And what is a must when you’re around the campfire? Making the classic camp goodies - s’mores!

For anyone who doesn’t know what a s’more is – it’s basically a piece of chocolate and toasted marshmallow sandwich between graham crackers (it's tastier than the picture alludes to). I’m not usually a marshmallow fan, but the smell and crispy shell of a toasted marshmallow makes me salivate. They're definitely not the healthiest of snack choices, but everything in moderation is okay, right?. =)

It’s usually a 2+ person operation to assemble quickly and efficiently so you can bite into it while it's still warm and gooey, and it’s super messy to eat, but they’re so good.

Nowadays they have those individually packaged s’more snacks, but they're totally not the same.

Image from: wikipedia.org

restaurant review: go for tea

Restaurant: Go For Tea
Location: 230 Commerce Valley Dr. East, Thornhill, Ontario L3T 7Y3
Telephone: 905-886-0221
Website: gofortea.ca

Meal type: Dinner

Average price per person: $11-$25

What I ordered (shared between 2 people):
- Satay Beef with Fried Udon
- Shrimp with Rice Cake in Taiwanese Sauce,
- Chicken with Basil, Ginver & Garlic
- Bubble Black Tea with tapioca

Ratings:














Comments:
I ordered the udon dish for myself. My fiance ordered the main dish combo - choice of 2 dishes for $14.99 that came with soup & rice for both of us. The result? way too much food. We ended up bringing my whole udon dish home. I'm not complaining, but next time we're definitely not going to order so much food.

I wasn't too fond of the chicken with basil dish, but then again I didn't order it for myself. I did REALLY like the shrimp with rice cake dish though. It was breaded shrimp on top of puffed rice cakes with a sweet & spicy sauce drizzled on top. It was a really different dish and I like all aspects of it. And the bubble tea was very good. Unfortunately we didn't have room for dessert though, because their dessert menu had a lot of great things to choose from. Next time we go it'll just be for dessert! They even have crushed ice with fresh mango and condensed milk (tastes so much better than it sounds) and condensed milk toast (a.k.a brick toast).

The service was sort of sketchy, but that seems to be a common trend with a lot of Chinese places I go to. The waitresses were a bit spacey, and seemed to be unconfident or not sure if they were supposed to be there to waitress. Very odd, but for sure we'll be going there again. The food is consistantly acceptable and there is a lot to choose from, and the prices are really good.

honeycomb heaven

Yes, ANOTHER bee-related post from Cinnamon Kitten (hey, I love my honey, ok?)

I've never had honeycomb before and had never even considered it something to purchase and consume. Only after reading Robbing the Bees did I think to myself, "hmmm, wouldn't it be fun to buy some honeycomb and try it?"

I didn't really go out intending to buy honeycomb, but I was in a specialty food store purchasing peppercorns and came across some honeycomb. Pure Canadian honeycomb. Which was different from the Billy Bee mix of Canadian and Argentinian honey that I'm used to. It was only $5.99 for a huge slab so I grabbed one to bring home with me.


Now the next issue was how to eat honeycomb? I figured that the best way to get the real experience was to have it pure. So I cut off a small piece and popped it into my mouth.

Some really crazy textures exploded in my mouth at the same time. There was the ooze of the honey out of the comb as I pressed my mouth closed. The waxy comb and the liquid honey intermingled. After I had deftly separated the honey from the comb and swallowed the honey, I was left with a small ball of beeswax in my mouth. I chewed on that for awhile (tasteless) and then spit it out.

I must say that the honey that came from the comb was the sweetest, most "fresh" tasting honey I've EVER had. I can't describe it any other way. It was pure, the "real thing" and it was really delicious. The wax was something I couldn't really get used to, but it wasn't really an issue if it meant I could have such yummy honey.


I've started looking into other ways to eat honeycomb besides straight from the box, and I've read some suggestions about spreading the entire comb onto toast - the heat apparently melts the wax so that you can swallow the entire thing and not end up with a wax ball in your mouth, so I may give that a try next!

felt food

I have a confession to make: I like food so much, I even like fake food.

Ever since I was a child I’ve enjoyed fake food. (I guess I should have know I would be a foodie when I grew up). Be it the plastic fake food my parents bought me to play with, or those restaurants in Hong Kong that always had the faux-food to show you what you were going to be eating - I loved it.

So I was immediately drawn to this store on the Etsy network: gobuggy.etsy.com when I came across it. Felt food? This is the first time I've ever seen anything like this and I think it's absoultely too cute. What a great idea for children’s toys! (as long as the child is old enough to know not to eat it). I especially enjoy the gyozas (dumplings) and the grilled tofu. When I finally get my own place I'm totally going to fill it with felt food.

The above picture is of gobuggy's gyoza dinner, complete with snow peas, carrots and mushrooms. Check out more inspired items at: gobuggy.etsy.com