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!

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!