Week One!

OK, I didn't make three :( But I did make two - crammed into the same day! Sunday was a cooking day for me, and I loved it. 

I made Portuguese Green Soup (p86) - also known as Caldo Verde. I liked it - I thought it was simple and delicious. I would suggest that you not add spicy chorizo and chili flakes unless you REALLY like it hot - mine might be unbearable for many but I like it. Being me, I can't leave well enough alone - I used kale instead of collards and added some spinach when it wasn't quite green enough for me... 

But it was good, and that is what counts! I'd make it again. Recipe at the end of the post, btw

I also made a mushroom risotto with some mushrooms I got at the Brickworks on the weekend - morels. So delicious. I ate it all. What can I say? I'm a goner for shrooms. 

I was going to make stuffed chicken breasts as well, but I felt more like Grilled chicken with salsa verde - sort of a green theme! You can find it on p253, for those so inclined. 

It was good - and yes, I did use the anchovies! Very simple and easy; grill, slather in sauce, devour. I can handle that. 

Bought a ton of ingredients for more recipes this week - I'll let you know! Oaxacan chicken mole, pork tenderloin something or other and some more soup :) I love soup, especially this time of year! 

OK, here's the recipes - enjoy! 

Grilled Chicken w/ Salsa Verde

(makes 4 servings)

1 1/2 cups italian parsley

2 green onions, sliced

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

2 garlic cloves

1 anchovy filet

1/2 tbsp capers

1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp finely grated lemon peel

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

4 boneless chicken breasts

1. Get that grill nice and hot! 

2. Combine the first 8 ingredients with 1/4 cup oil, process until coarse paste forms. season to taste with salt and pepper. 

3. Brush the chicken breasts lightly with oil, season with salt and pepper. grill until cooked through about 7 minutes/side). 

4. Plate it up, and slather in sauce. Devour. 

 Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup)

(makes 4 entree servings)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped finely

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch collard greens, cut away ribs and chiffonade

1 lb cooked chorizo (sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds)

5 3/4 cups chicken stock

1 3/4 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced

1/2 tsp crushed chili peppers

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot, add onion and garlic and saute until the onion is getting golden. 

2. Add the greens, saute until wilted. Add chorizo and saute for another 5 minutes. 

3. Add the potatoes and the broth. Simmer uncovered until the potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes)

4. Transfer about half of the soup to a blender (remove the chorizo chunks) and blend until smooth. Return to pot and simmer. 

5. Add chilis, season to taste and serve! 

News!

All right, I've been slacking. You're right to chastise me. Mea culpa! 

But I'll reform, and here's how. 

I've got a new cookbook. Well, a couple of them, really. No big shocker there. But the one I meant is called Fast, Easy, Fresh. Now you all know I'm a food porn ho, I've never tried to dodge that. When I get the latest issue of Bon Appetit or Saveur I hide away with a coffee and devour it cover to cover. You like that, devour it? Heh heh heh. One of my favourite parts in B.A is the section on making healthy (or very nearly so) meals quickly - quick and tasty. Since one of my regular excuses for NOT cooking during the week is lack of time and irregular hours, I get some great ideas from it and actually eat better! 

So I bought the book. And I love it. At least on paper. So we'll see how this love affair turns out when we move it into reality. 

I'm going to make 3 of the recipes a week for one month, and blog about them. At the end of the month I'll let you know what I think of the book. And throughout the blogging I'll let you know what I think of the recipes. 

Maybe I'll even use my new KitchenAid stand mixer. It's big and shiny. 

More as it happens, I'll be buying ingredients today - off to a group DimSum and then to Kensington for the last Pedestrian Sunday in 2008! 

NYC Part II

OK, so here we go, we're in the home stretch now!

Woke up to another bootiful sunny morning and grabbed Ed for a walkabout, aiming in the general direction of some more recommendations from friends. Took a subway down to the East Village (OK, let me say something here. I love NY subways. I do. Despite them being hotter than freaking Hell down there. And even despite a 45 minute trapped in a car ride up to Park Avenue early in our trip.) 

I know, this isn't anywhere NEAR the East Village, but we liked it. So there. 

Because none of us can function without the Elixir of the Gods, we hit Joe: The Art of Coffee on Waverly. Recommendations from one of P's contacts as well as a Food and Wine Mag write-up prompted us to try it.

It was good. Not steal coins from under your neighbour's sofa great, but good. I liked it better than Starbucks, that's for sure. Apparently Amy Sedaris (who we love and adore) occasionally sells cupcakes there, but we didn't see any. I want one of her cheeseballs, btw. And from there to find Patisserie Claude (187 W.4th St), rumoured home of kickass croissants and grumpy Claudes. Can't comment on the grumpfactor, but I got some croissants and a brioche (I lurv brioche, bigtime). Delicious. Let's face it, most bread products make me inordinately happy. And buttery ones move to the top of the list. And buttery sweet ones? Well, they're like little happy clouds angels sit on and chat.

From there through to Gay St and Stonewall, and then off to Ground Zero, aka Near Century 21.

Yes Virginia, there IS a bear uniform. 

Couldn't see even a dirt clod of the WTC site, all boarded up. The church across the way was lovely though.

And then the shopping began. Let me begin by saying this blog is mainly about the food and friends, and shopping usually won't get much space. Contrary to popular belief, I don't much like it. I like SPENDING, and there's a difference, people. But I do like pretty new shiny things. P is not a big shopper either, nor is Edward. I think they might hate it more than I. Which makes it especially funny that I barely got a thing in marathon of shopping that followed. Others were luckier than I ;)

Those are some damn happy post-shopping faces, I tell you what! 

Shopping makes one hungry, so we had crappy sushi and udon at a Bento nearby. Bleah. Life is short, folks - avoid it. And the loos were horrid. Tons of stairs, through a broom closet and a drippy basement and voila! Stink!

From there it was off to the Staten Island Ferry for the CheapBastard's view of the Statue of Liberty. Long waits for the ferry (thank goodness for good company) and then a nice sunny view. 

I think next time I go I'll do a boat tour around the island. Funny local moment when a mendicant was asking tourists for change - she went right up to a guy on a bench (who was completely ignoring her despite her smelly proximity) and said "You're a hairy motherfucker aren't you". Just about PISSED. Off the ferry, run to the next loading bay for more waiting and then back to Manhattan. Then we headed to Wall St.

I made him do that. 

And the Stock Exchange 

and then it was time for the big guns. The Bridge. 

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge as the sun set. I liked it. I'd do it again. Although maybe NOT while dragging the 400 shopping bags with us. There's a video on the bottom of the blog for those who like that kinda thing. 

We were aiming for Grimaldi's pizza on the Brooklyn side, under the bridge. STARVING. TIRED. NEEDING ZA. And instead of a charming little boite with pizza pies, we found this...

That's right, that's the line up. 

Needless to say, we piled our sweaty famished asses back on the subway, headed uptown to a Mexican spot Ed knew called El Centro.

If you know me, you know how much I love Mexico. The food, the weather, the people, the language. The whole thing. And I liked this place a lot. Go there, give them your business. Drink their caipirinhas. We ordered so many things here it was like tapas galore, and we ate it all. It got some booze in us and helped get our blood sugar up to a healthy level, and that's a good thing.

From there we headed home, got changed, hit a bar for a drink and then walked around a little. We wanted to go to Papaya King to check it out (another reco) but it sadly it was closed so all you get is the URL. So we went to bed.

On our last full day, we rose chipper as chipmunks and hungry AGAIN! But on our way to breakfast, we hit the Barney's Warehouse Sale. Once again, I found nothing and P lucked out. Not bad for someone who hates to shop! So we hit a Starbucks again and walked a little bit to find a place that we'd heard of (I can't recall how, actually) called the Cookshop on 10th. We liked it - I had the rancheros and was stuffed. Coffee was good, company was good once the caffeine hit ;) and reasonable prices. And good bread. The loos were nice here, I recommend them.

And then off to the MoMA. Which. I. Loved. 

Although we were too late for gelato in the garden from Laboratorio del Gelato, which was on our list to try :( 

Then more walking around, back to the Strand (I love it) for more books, a bit of walking and talking and generally having fun, ending up in Chinatown/Little Italy at the (wait for it, Ron!) NONYA! 

This place came highly highly highly recommended by some good friends, so I was pretty excited! The ice tea was perfect, but the rest of the meal wasn't 5 star for me. It was good - I love Malay food, it just wasn't excellent. But I'd check it out again, no question. Ed joined us for dinner and then a gelato, 

then P and I walked around Canal St a bit (by the way, it's pronounced Cah-NAL street, not the other way), then back up to Chelsea and our comfy bed. Well, Ed's comfy bed to tell the truth. On the way home we passed the gryphon that lives under the stairs.

 

That's it for New York - the next morning saw us slam a yoghurt back and head for Penn Stn., then off to Newark to fly home. No biscotti on this side, just Sausage McMuffins and more Starbucks.

All in all a delicious trip.

New York, Part I

Ok, it's time for an update!

Went to NY with the beau, stayed with a good friend in Chelsea and basically walked/ate our way around Manhattan! No complaints though - it was a great trip and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. The only drawback was a hernia the whole time (still have it!), but despite the pain we had some good eats.

And some not so good eats...

Here's the low down!

Started on the Friday afternoon with a stop at Pommes Frites, as recommended by our friends R & J. For those who don't know French, the name means Fried Potatoes and gives away the entire menu. What it DOESN'T say is that the good stuff is the five bazillion sauces that you can dip the fries in. I went for Mexican Ketchup, chipotle and a rosemary parmesan - I can't recall what Ed and P. ate but we agreed across the board - delicious but way way too much. No one needs that many fries!

And a note to you, gentle reader - you should have more edibles going in ya than just a few biscotti from Porter (although they ARE freakin good biscotti) and some fries for a whole day of walking. Learn from my errors, grasshopper.

Anyhoo, we walked all over - Union Square, went to Strand bookstore (first of many visits there), walked more, bought some pants and generally sightseed. Sightsaw. Sightsawed. Dinner resos for Park Avenue Summer. I did feel a little bad here - it's a terrific looking place with a top notch serving staff, so when the waiter asked if I wanted a cocktail and said they had everything, I didn't expect him to be floored when I asked for a caipirinha. Oh well. I ended up with a mojito. Ordered the Dr. Pepper baby back ribs. Delicious sauce, but not hot from the oven/grill. I wish they were :( I recommend the loos here, just fantastic.

Walked around a while on the way home and passed the busiest freakin hot dog stand I've ever seen, made only stranger by the nearly empty stand less than 40 metres away. No insight for you there, gentle readers, other than people know what they like. And people will stand in line for anything.

We ended up at ColdStone for ice cream, and sadly I could not finish my delicious Peanut Butter Concoction.

Morning saw us at a place around the corner from Ed's - Cafeteria. A spot made famous by Sex in the City. Now I'm not a huge fan of the show and basically don't know it from Adam, but it was another nice looking spot with great matchboxes and crappy coffee. Adequate service and a good green eggs and ham, although I did have Plate Envy over P's meal of huevos rancheros. Avoid the loos here.

From there, we hit Central Park. LOVE LOVE LOVE that place.

We walked, did the carousel,

Which apparently is scarier for some than others! ;) Although there WERE a lot of scary clown faces all around it. We walked plenty and generally took all of the same photos. All that Ansel Adamsing made us hungry so we hit Bouchon Bakery.

A bit of a wait for a table but it was made ok by the best hostess in scads. She was terrific. Both the beau and I had very high hopes for Bouchon, and we weren't disappointed. I had a turkey sandwich. Sounds plebian but it wasn't. P had a lobster roll. Also delicious. And we couldn't resist dessert - I had a raspberry meringue thingy and P had a chocolate profiterole thingy. The names escape me (I know, I should write them down!) but the tastes linger on in happy memory... Suffice it to say that I recommend it . The loos here were ok, but far from the tables.

This is what you look like after you lick your plate clean of lobster.

Mine!

The Schmear is supposed to be there.

Sitting in a lake of chocolate. Yes, please.

After P got some treats for the hounds back home (who were in J & J's capable hands) as well as some treats for later from the bakery, we started wandering again. Hit the Apple store. FAO Schwartz. Walked Broadway and Times Square. Meandered. And found ourselves in the Meat Packing District for our next dinner reso - at Son Cubano.

Son Cubano was a reco from one of P's colleagues at work and we didn't really know what to expect. But it turned out to be a highlight. We got a table inside, ordered some drinks and a round of tapas. Albondigas, yuca, pasteles, chorizo and croquetas.

Scrumptious. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. And good drinks. And a fine, fine cup of cafe cubano to close it down.

Didn't check the loos here, so can't report.

Ok, off to bed now, but I'll fill in Part II tomorrow! Have a great night, and dream big.

OK, I'm in love

Julia Child - could I love her more?

It's Catch-Up time!

Ok, it's been busy!

I've got houseguests - family, in fact. My mom and my cousin Deborah are in for two weeks :) It's a good thing, I've been having a great time and am so glad they're here! And of course, as you know, family means food...

August started slowly enough - quiet shopping for furniture (driving P crazy...) and looking for an iPal. We were doing REALLY well with eating sensibly, so we know we can do it. Salads with all kinds of things on top. I've kind of fallen off of the wagon again with the family visit, but at least I know I can do it... BBQ at my cousin Dars' place - as always a terrific spread and tons of fun. A friend of hers had made these little phylo thingies with stuff in them (I'm kidding, it was sundried tomatoes, leeks, etc. Delicious!) that went really well with our family shooter... Some folks have tartans, family crests or islands - we have shooters.

The main course was a kick ass salmon on the grill with a maple glaze. I'm not a maple fan, but this was incredible.

A great dinner, followed by some chocolate covered baklava from Select Bakery on Donlands. Love that place.

A nice day in the market on the Sunday, the guy and I went to the Hair Place (which shall remain nameless) for a sandwich - it was all right but the company was great :)

And an impromptu picnic in Kew Gardens with some friends and the dogs! Sake in the park,

with psycho lawn bowlers trying to take us out. When you're fabulous, sometimes people get weird around you. There were banh mi,

timbits

some vegetarian spreads, and of course - great people.

The next weekend, my guests arrived! Deb knows her wines, and both she and Mom brought some great vintages from BC to try - it's really hard to get good BC wines by the bottle here in Ontario because of the LCBO, you have to order by the case and for most people it's just crazy to do so. Some great grape on my back deck.

The weather SUCKS, but we haven't let that stop us. Brickworks farmers market in the morning for some organic greens and those amazing burritos

Taste of the Danforth in the rain where I introduced everyone to the wonder that is a Melona bar, then a family BBQ here - made 11 billion kinds of sausages and we ate like kings. Trixie grabbed them right off of the plate. Anyone want a dog? Anyhoo... Celebrating Sandy and Deb's birthday, so of course there was a cake.

Dars is an amazing baker, so needless to say (but I will) it was scrumptious.

A trip to Kensington Market meant coffee and cookies at Wanda's Pie in the Sky, and then home for buffalo burgers and salad,

more wine, courvoisier and coconut cake (somehow it all worked!) The cookies were chocolate almond, and really soft and rich - I loved them.

And a day on Centre Island,

walking around and enjoying the sunshine. A great lunch at the Rectory Cafe,

where we tried to share desserts :)

We'd run into a new Ethiopian restaurant near my place so we tried it and I'm happy to report GOODNESS! Go there and order. It was really tasty, and very reasonable. When I say reasonable, I mean cheap in a good way. The Flamingo, it's called.

And yesterday was another visit to Kensington to check out Sandy's studio. We wound up having amazing gelato on College St. at Dolce. Well worth a trip, that's for sure.

The Pistachio Siliciano is great, and the maracuya and pink grapefruit makes me swoon. Then home, where Mom cooked a great Thai green curry with prawns!

Today is the ROM, tonight is Avenue Q, and we're off to the old Movenpick Marche (now Richtree) first. Tomorrow is the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art and the Textile Museum with assorted eating - more as it happens!

Waaaay overdue!

Fret not, dear reader - I'll be back! Out of town guests have driven me from the computer screen. But the good news (or the bad news) is that I've been eating a lot and want to tell you about it :) 

Talk to you soon, promise! 

The Rain in Toronto falls mainly on my laundry...

What a great weekend. All around.

The last of the summerliciousness happened Friday - met Patrick and three of his bosom buddies (Mary, Tim & Jay) for Mexican goodness at Milagro. I must admit, I wasn't expecting much (of the dinner, his friends are terrific) - when it comes to Mexican in Toronto I really haven't been impressed at all. You're welcome to refer a great place if you like, in fact I wish you would! Or better still, take me there and let's eat! But back to the subject at hand...
Not only Mexican in Toronto, but just south of the theatre district in TO - usually restaurants there are expensive with a focus on getting you in and out fast, not on the quality of either the service or the food. The location was good, the decor nice overall - what can I say? I like Mexican wrestling. The prix fixe menu covered the country from Yucatan to Puebla, and coast to coast. I like that. The drinks were pricey - I don't like having to pay 13$ for a marg, esp when I've got primo tequila at home. It was scrumptious, though.

Had the Sopa de tortilla azteca (pasilla infused tomato broth), then the cochinita pibil (pulled pork yucateco style) with refritos and tortillas and then a rice pudding (mexican style) for dessert. We also opted for extra appys, ordering some guacamole with tortillas and some ceviche (P LOVES ceviche. If you want to bribe him, that's your ticket!). A Mojito Macho (with jalapeno pepper!), a guanabana boozy drink and a bigass marg were ordered as well.

Bad photo technique, good food... The soup rocked. I loved it. The cochinita (above)? Excellent, although some sauces to make the tortillas a little more exciting would have been good. The rice pudding? Plebian and a bit runny, but a nice flavour. Overall a good value for the $$. The marg? I can't argue with tequila, I just can't. But I think it was too frakken expensive.

I'm not sure of the advisability of muddling a jalapeno IN a mojito, however, but each to his own.

About Summerlicious - I think I came out ahead this year, first time in ages - I didn't feel rooked by any of the places, and I'd go back to each of them. In fact, I'm still craving Czehoski.

Saturday morning was an early rise to meet Sarah for a trip to the Brickworks market. Caught the shuttlebus from Broadwat at 7:45 and headed down - scouted out the market and decided what we'd be canning. Ended up with some beautiful plums and sour cherries :) Met Liz there for a coffee and a breakfast enchilada, then home to start the preserving!
Gentle readers, we're now the proud owners of some of the most gorgeous fruit you've ever seen. I want to open it now and eat it all. And we learned a little, too. You can get more in those damn jars than you might think, and when it's canned it all floats up to the top 2/3 of the friggin jar.

Inhale butterflies, exhale bees.

Then I went downtown to meet P, we wandered and laughed for a while, came home for a pizza and relaxed. Ran into a neighbour the next morning on the way to the Diner and ended up laughing our way through breakfast!

 A great way to spend part of the morning. I'm on the lookout now for ricotta salata, if you know where some is let me know!

Home after a walk in the rain, movies, made some cookies (peanut butter chocolate volcanos!) and thai food for dinner. Just a perfect day. All it needed was chips, and I was just too lazy to get up and get some Old Dutch. Must buy some and store them for emergencies.

Hope you had a great one as well, amigos - ttys!

Wait for the pics!