Strawberry Fields Forever
The Beatles song says, 'Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about' - I think the strawberry juice in this bottle was real and it was nothing to get hung about indeed - unless you wanted the biggest sugar high in your life.

Omylordly! It was super, super sweet and almost like eating strawberry jam out of the jar - there was nothing to protect you from the extreme sugar taste. I can't remember the ingredients but I think it was pure strawberries with lots of sugar mixed in (Ranoush can you verify?).

Ranoush buys this juice for one of the students she tutors but my advice would be to give it to him after his lesson, so his parents have to deal with him climbing the walls. Below, I know it's not food related but I had to post a picture of Jumeirah beach, a reminder of the holiday which feels oh so long ago...

Pig 'N Pancake
It is the long weekend and will try and beat the exodus of traffic to cottage country so will write a short post before I set off . No doubt, the weekend will be filled with bbqs and big breakfasts, the usual cottage fare with lots of fresh local Ontario produce too. The last time I entered the beach supermarket, local strawberries were at the entrance and I was treated to a delightful smell of fresh non-gm strawberries. The Body Shop should bottle that smell!

Big breakfasts reminded me of a lovely couple we met in Fiji. Michael and Grace from Oregon (he is originally from Vancouver) were on holiday with their two children and had owned a franchise of the Pig 'N Pancake in Oregon for the last several years (how many Grace?)

During our long food discussions at Otto and Fanny's we had great breakfasts but the pancakes were not up to scratch. M & G said that they have the best pancakes at the Pig 'N Pancake and named off the eight or 9 varieties but said the plain buttermilk ones were the best. It is making me hungry looking at the website's menu.

It would've been nice if Grace and Michael got into the kitchen to make us some of the famous pancakes like they made at the restaurant but apparently the franchise has a secret recipe that even they do not have access too.

Here is a basic pancake recipe for your breakfast this weekend. Remember to put some Canadian maple syrup and fresh fruit on top!

* 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
* 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 egg, slightly beaten
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 2 tablespoons melted butter


Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine egg and milk; add to flour mixture, stirring only until smooth. Blend in melted butter. Cook on a hot, greased griddle, using about 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake. Cook until brown on one side and around edge; turn and brown the other side. Serves 4.

Or just buy a box of Aunt Jemima which is also a quick alternative to making your own. Aunt Jemima knows her stuff too!

To the Canadian readers - have a great long weekend.

Great but...fruit not so fress
Sunday brunch is always a favorite and for this weekend's adventure we went to the vegan restaurant Fressen on Queen West.

It was Pride Toronto weekend and the city was alive with various characters coming out to celebrate the week long festival culminating in the notoriously loud, proud and colorful parade. With the window seats at the restaurant we had a prime viewing platform for people heading to the day's festivities.

Our favorite was the tall, goth, long haired, mesh stocking, batman wannabe. His sunglasses were the best part as they covered his entire face with a big plastic bat. Actually his facial expression was better than his sunglasses as it was this mysterious, angry, indignant, look at me - but how dare you look at me, look. Sooo good to people watch!

A few comments about Fressen, the brunch menu is not as extensive as expected it only had waffles and French toast which, in my opinion, were truly brunch-y. Then there were lots of salads and stews which were more lunch-y. I guess if you cannot serve eggs and bacon then the brunch menu immediately is cut down in scope.

We almost all unanimously ordered the French toast which was divine. It was served with a fruit compote, maple syrup and the toast was coated in oats/granola (not exactly sure) which gave it a lovely texture. The one disappointing thing about the dish was that is was served with fruit that was off. It was well presented with garnish of icing sugar and fresh mint but when eating the watermelon and cantaloupe they were not hard and sweet, just soft and lacking in flavour, like they were sitting in the fridge too long/past their freshness date.

When this happens at home you eat it yourself and kick yourself for not peeling it and eating it sooner, you do not serve it to guests or to restaurant patrons, non?

Other than the non-fresh fruit, all else was great, service, staff, drinks and atmosphere.

AK ordered the corn fritters (2nd pic) and Jill ordered th waffles and all were satisfied! Their drink of the day was spectacular and so simple. It was a strawberry lemonade made with fresh strawberries, water, lemon juice, cane sugar, fresh mint and pineapple chunks and juice.

Try making it at home as it is a truly refreshing summery drink!