Purple clothes, drinks and more...

Sorry readers it has been a hectic week and not much time at home or near the computer to post, I actually have a job now?! It does truly interfere with my spare time though... :)

Worked on the Girls Aloud private gig at Sketch on Conduit Street last week (their website is quite cool). It was an event to launch the new purple Samsung F210 phone and it was purple power all night! The girls looked fab in their purple outfits and the venue was set up to be a mini concert venue - great job Olivia! There were purple cocktails and lovely canapes passed around but unfortunately the life of a PR gal is not to sip cocktails and eat the food but to work the event.

So will have to wait for pics of the food and get the recipes for some of the lovely purple signature cocktails that were created. Other food related bits about the day are during media interviews the girly group were housed at the Westbury Hotel in Mayfair and journalists awaited their turn to interview the girls in the hotel's lobby bar - The Polo Bar. I recall eating some lovely crisps -hand cooked sweet potato chips, small salty biscuits and other cocktail-y nibbles that were great. Again no time for pics but you can imagine what a swanky hotel bar would bring out. The Polo Bar's menu online also looks delicious - need to find an expense account to take me there for a grand lunch!

I did have dinner at Sketch a while back and can't remember what the food actually tasted like but the atmosphere is like no other, especially the toilets which remind you of Mork and Mindy's egg shaped space vehicle.

Will post more pics and some info on the purple themed cocktails if anyone of the team stopped and actually drank one! By the time I was ready for a glass of champers the bar was dry.

Dans le Noir?Eating in the dark with blind waiters serving you. Is that something you would enjoy? I think it may be quite an experience, although Rexi said she heard people come out of that place with food all down their top ;)

The restaurant Dans Le Noir (which means ‘in the dark’ for those non-frenchies) opened last year in London after their first restaurant has had a few successful years in Paris. Since you are in complete darkness your other senses are heightened. I am curious to see if you will enjoy this experience or find it frustrating as the first time you eat in total darkness am sure there is a lot of learning our brain needs to do in order to memorise where forks, knives and glasses are and also to get used to eating dinner but in total darkness. Some say that enjoyment of a meal is enhanced by the sight of it – the colors and presentation also prepare the brain for the meal. Am definitely intrigued…

Founded in 2004, Dans Le Noir started in Paris with the support of their leading institution for blind people – the Paul Guinot Foundation. Their website says that they are the largest institution creating awareness of disability in France (am not sure where that statement comes from or how it is quantified?) But I agree it does bring great awareness to every day folk.

Will check out Dans Le Noir soon and report back. May try and eat dinner tonight in the dark to give it a test run. Not sure my dinner guest will like it though.

Pineapple and zucchini cake
An odd combo when you think about it - but it works well. Will post the recipe when Susie sends it along. Thanks Susie for bringing it over - it was delicious and I could almost eat the whole loaf!

xo

Ahh Borough MarketThis was my lunch on Friday. The wrap came from Borough Market which is only open on Fridays and Saturdays. Located near London Bridge on the south bank, the market is a wonderful experience. You can get great fresh fruit and veg, fresh meats, fish, cheeses and chutneys along with other items like flowers, food related gifts and more...

I didn't get the name of the fish shop we went to but they had a queue out the door. The shop sells fresh fish at the front and on Friday's, in the back, they cook up and make two types of wraps for customers. The one above is a garlic prawn wrap (prawn=shrimps for the Canuckers) and the second one is a cajun white fish wrap. Mmmm. For £4 and £5 respectively you can get a decent serving of fish wrapped in salad with some fish sauce. It was divine and so fresh - I shall return next Friday for lunch again - this time stopping at Monmouth's coffee as per Diana's recommendation.

Our office smelled like garlic prawn as about four of us ordered the special - next week we will have more recruits as a few other staff were curious as to what smelled so good - am sure some were prob grossed out by the fish and garlic smell too ; )

This aint no brown turkey!
Pic of Zia Grazia's Butterball and hungry Steve. The brand Butterball has been around forever and I think they must soak their turkeys in water and butter as they always seem to be so juicy for such large birds. A regular turkey from the butcher shop is usually dry and needing lots of cranberry sauce and gravy but the Butterballs seem to need none of this.

Maybe their secret is this... they sell a 'special breed of broad-breasted white feather turkey.' (from their website) So our beloved Thanksgiving turkey is not really brown? But instead white like a swan? We draw, sketch and make them from crafty materials from kindergarten up and paint them brown our whole lives?! V.odd, non?. I want to see this white feathered turkey now.

You can subscribe to the turkey lovers e-newsletter from the site if you want to keep 'abreast' on turkey talk! :)

The Feeder This is the great British feeder. Marks and Sparks a.ka. Marks and Spencer feeds millions of people in the UK with their better than average food products. The chain used to be in Canada but closed down several years due to the fact that they only sold ugly granny sweaters, old lady chocolates and sensible shoes. In recent years there was a massive re-vamp and now the stores that were saved from the cull, sell food, cooler clothes, nicer shoes and great things for your home.

The prices at Marks (as ppl. call it for shortform) are a little higher than average but their selection and taste is better than some of the grocery stores. They have a great organics range and some great nibbles like hummus, olives and other tapas-style foods for when you are having a posh dinner party.
It is a popular place to get breakfast, lunch and dinner...and I have frequented the feeder a lot this week. Will need to do a proper grocery shop and start cooking.
Note to Alex - I will be cooking!

Served at the PalaceI was invited to watch the changing of the guard and have post event drinks at Buckingham Palace last week but unfortunately I could not attend (What would I have worn to that anyway?! All my hats are page boy caps). The report back was that it was a lovely day and the crew got to drink Moscow Mules afterwards with some of the officers. Don't ask how or why I refused an invite to the palace :)

The crew were served Moscow Mules in traditional copper mugs. The Moscow Mule is a highball drink - highball means that it is a drink with a base of alcohol and mixed with a larger percentage of a non-alcoholic beverage (coke, juice, tonic). The mule is made with vodka, ginger beer, lime and Angostura bitters (bitters are made with herbs and citrus dissolved in alcohol with a mix of spices blended -bitters are used for flavoring of cocktails)

Can you tell I am back in the UK-the alcohol posts will be flowing in!? Hopefully another invite to the palace will come along again. Thanks DJ for the info - next time take pics!



;)

Torta di mandorla
Do you like almonds...this it the type of cake you can get in Sicily. Torta di mandorla - almond cake - this was one of many cakes served at my cousin's wedding. I am going to try and dig up the recipe for you! Hope you all are full from your thanksgiving meals and remembered to be thankful for all the little things in life.

Gobble Gobble
It is Canadian thanksgiving tomorrow. You should always be thankful for all the goodness that you have but this weekend you can do that and eat turkey at the same time. We should always celebrate the abundance of food and good fortune that we have. Enjoy turkey weekend!


:)

Minestra Zucchina Siciliana - as everyone seems to be getting sick this week...

Ingredients:

• tenerome di zucchini-ends of zucchini plant (ask an Italian neighbour or go to an Italian grocery store as this may be hard to find)
  
• 1 onion
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 2 small potatoes
• 2-3 small tomatoes
• 1-2 small zucchini
• salt & pepper to taste
• ditali pasta - small, short-cut pasta tubes
  

How to prepare:
Wash, peel and chop all ingredients to soup size.

Boil all ingredients together in a large pot of water, once potatoes are soft add salt and pepper to taste.

Add pasta to existing water when potatoes are almost ready. Cook pasta in same pot to preference (al dente /well done) and serve. You can add chili pepper to give it a little kick.

So simple...

SOMA ice cream
The berriest ice cream you have ever had. It was almost too flavourful as it was soo potent. You are not used to eating pure crushed blueberries mixed with a little bit of water and sugar - blueberry ice cream is usually almost 90% artificial with blueberry flavour added.

When I tasted this ice cream it tasted nothing like the bluberry ice cream that I am used to. Instead it tasted strong and the blueberry flavour was almost over powering as it is so concentrated. I saw them make a huge batch of the puree and it was basically a 10kg bag of frozen blueberries poured into a large blender and pureed with ice.

Am sure the mango, strawberry and the pistachio were made the same way. Oddly enough, I didn't like the ice cream as it was too much, too strong and maybe the right balance of sugar and fruit was not made, the mango seemed too sweet while the blueberry seemed too sour.

Oh well - I will definitely keep taste testing!

Go to the Jane Corkin gallery and then SOMA, in the Distillery District, for art, chocolate and ice cream and let me know what you think.

Capocaccia
Good food from a family run restaurant. Capocaccia is located at Yonge & St. Clair.

E.T. - what did he eat?E.T. ate Reese's Pieces in the film.

Entitled Event Horizon, the pic above shows one of the exhibits from Nuit Blanche (one of the best). At Kings College Circle (U of T), the field was filled with the hustle and bustle of a live emergency scene complete with live TV crew interviewing live, emergency workers, police and military....inside the tents nearby you found out what happened and saw the victim. Little Yoda's aircraft must've crashed and E.T. was giving him a final magical touch from that lovely raptor-like, glowing finger before he went to Star Wars heaven. It was soo cute.

I think Daniel Borins and Jennifer Marman (the artists) should've put a pack of Reese's Pieces somewhere...the chocolate bar/candy was introduced to us in 1978 -isn't this post is full of interesting facts?! There needs to be a link to food in all my posts so there it is folks!
Googled it but couldn't find out what Yoda eats ;)

Congrats to the artists looking forward to next year's installation.

:)

Gotta love performance artists (performance artist Jesika Joy)
The city came alive last night with Nuit Blanche, TO turned into an all night art festival. There were thousands of people everywhere, art installations everywhere and the mood and atmosphere was fantastic. It was an excellent night and I recommend that anyone who didn't go last night gets out to it next year. This is just what Toronto needs to compete with fantastic cities like London and New York. The vibe and the feel of the night was incredible.

In Zone B -two blocks of Church Street were turned into a red light district with several dancers in windows mimicking the feel of Amsterdam with live sex shows (pretend - of course), can-can dancers, pole dancing in windows and more.

This artist Jeskia Joy (see pic) was drawing quite a crowd in this red light district; she was writhing and sliding across the floor dragging this dead goat or lamb in her arms & on her back - p.s. it stank! She was mumbling and singing to herself to the delight & shock of many onlookers (shock - for those who don't get performance art). Entertaining to say the least - some dum, dums beside me (after they screeched and eek-ed) thought it was a greyhound dog -umm...duh, I don't think a skinned greyhound dog is easy to find, but yes - a goat or lamb is easy to purchase in the city and haul over your shoulder as an artiste for 7hrs.

Some other art installations were more family friendly and easier to comprehend and also entertaining, check the newspapers and online for reviews and photographs. At University of Toronto we stopped at a few other exhibits and at the String of Diamonds piece we ate some cheese and crackers. That is all we had...everywhere else the queues for food and drink were enormous. We got some drinks and snacks at 7-Eleven and saw this yummy cheese under the nacho-cheese dispensing machine - it looks grosser in real life.My only question is when is the city going to allow street vendors to sell anything more than rubbery hot dogs?! Can we not get creative like other cities. How about a Choc-star van? A van in London sells all kinds of chocolate treats (cupcakes, brownies, fudge, cake, cookies and more..) ...well it was a great night - maybe I will enter Nuit Blanche next year with a Choc-star van as a 'chocolate installation'


:)

Siegfried's at George Brown College
George Brown students in the hospitality and tourism program work at Seigfried's one day a week to gain valuable, first hand knowledge and expertise of the restaurant industry.

Our little sister Kiki is a first year student of the program (she's all grown up now!) and works on Fridays at the restaurant serving up delectable dishes that the students in the culinary program make.

She made $11 in tips on her first day and I think has not spilled any food on any patrons or broken any dishes - yay!

l to r - Friend and Kiki
Anyone can go to the restaurant and eat and drink as long as reservations are made. We have a gift certificate and will try and get there before it expires on Oct.13. The food looks fab and the students are briefed each day with the menu's ingredients, dishes and pairings with wine. It is a great program and some of the city's top chef's have graduated from there. Yesterday the Prime Minister of Barbados was there dining along with Ontario's Tourism Minister - Jim Bradley - am sure we were showing off the restaurant to the lovely PM.

If only they would teach Kiki how to make rice in a pot without burning it. Too bad she is not on the chef side!
And yes, Kiki is our Japanese sister, she doesn't look Sicilian does she?

:)

Alphabet City - better than Korean BBQ!Not only is chef Anthony Rose cute he is a great cook too!
Get to an event at the Alphabet City Festival.

Korean bad-b-qIf this is what is plopped on your table at dinner would you feel hungrier or a little bit grossed out? Presentation is everything and with this put on our table I felt a little queasy as there was such an array of meat and fish in their various bloody juices, in these little trays - all mixed together it was a bit much - we declined on the ox-tongue and livers thankfully!

I knew when we got to Korean Grill House at 214 Queen Street West and walked through their dirty-ish entrance that it could go either way -we could either have a spectacular meal or it would be bad. Unfortunately the latter was true. The all-you can eat part of the menu should've triggered another signal but it didn't and instead we ordered it and waited for the main event to begin.

I actually suggested this restaurant so was very optimistic - I had guests in town and wanted to impress them with the culinary excellence this city has to offer, I guess I will have to try again as this place was nothing to write (or email) home about. The reason I wanted to go there was every time I drove by it looked busy and I could see people happily eating and bbq-ing at their little tables.

I guess if you look at the price for all-you-can eat meat and fish and it is only $12.95 then you should ask yourself what kind of meat and fish are they using? Obviously cheap cuts and bad quality.

The meats arrived in sliver thin slices which made bbqing them quite quick, but if you weren't quick enough they burned and then they left a layer of black burnt stuff on the bbq. After that everything tasted the same - burnt, which probably added some flavour as there was none to begin with. After having a sip of the milky looking miso soup -which was horrid - I gave it back to the waitress then decided to start on the meat fest. I ate a bit of the pork and white fish which was ok when doused in soy sauce ... I then tried the squid and chicken - which was totally flavourless.

I can't write any more as it will just be a rant on how every item of food looked and tasted awful it was just such an terrible experience. The only positives: the side salads were decent and the staff was friendly enough but again nothing to write home about. Am sure there are better quality Korean bbqs in town and will have to check them out...

If you click on their link to their website you will see how the food is supposed to look but then compare them with my pictures - not even close...this place should be in some back alley in Chinatown. I guess you get what you pay for!
first food on the bbq...
end of bbq fun.

Bellas & bellinis at Terroni
It was a mini reunion with mommies and the teacher, only the politician was missing. We headed to Terroni at Yonge & St. Clair for a good catch up and a great meal; we got both! It was good to see the two mommies all dressed up and looking fab (no milk stains on their clothes or in their Lululemon 'home' gear) They ordered Bellinis - which is new to the Terroni menu - and were great fun.

Bellinis on the menu is quite shocking as I don't think southern Italians drink them and Terroni prides itself on being super southern Italian (e.g. no cutting the pizza, no deviations to the toppings etc). Bellinis originated in Veneto which is in the north of Italy and most people know that northern Italians dislike southern Italians and sometimes give them the derogatory name of - Terrone/i (which is where Terroni's name comes from) It is a rude word that northerners call southerners which when translated means people of the terra (land-farmers). Ask an Italian about the love-hate relationship that northerners and southerners have with each other. The Bellinis were made with Prosecco and peach sugo di frutta (fruit nectar) which are both very popular in southern Italy (even though Prosecco also comes from Veneto?!).
Will have to investigate this more...

I ordered the black ink spaghetti which was great but not amazing like the one at Grano (Yonge & Eglinton). The reason for this was that the one at Grano is actual white spaghetti with the black squid ink - which makes your plate, teeth and lips completely black and disgusting while the one at Terroni is a black squid ink pasta which is very easy to eat, you stay clean all over and don't turn your pearly whites into vampire fangs. The only downside to keeping clean / the Terroni version is the taste is half as potent and delicious as the black ink sauce...try them both and you will see what I mean.

We ordered the mushroom appetizer and the ladies ordered the amazing pizzas. I had a lovely glass of red too....mmmm, like most Torontonians, I never get tired of eating at Terroni.

(I have more pics but my laptop is acting up - will post when I get through to the Mac helpdesk)

Where art meets food - Eat the Food!
At one of my favourite galleries in TO there is a food related exhibition that is on display from now until October 28, 2007. The exhibition called Eat the Food is on at the MOCCA - Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (Queen Street W.)

It is: A gastronomical journey through art, looking into the uses of food as a subject and metaphor in art in all its forms including different ways of eating, cooking and thinking about food. The exhibition features "Meatcandy" by Henrik Schrat, Greiz, Germany. A large mural divided into two spheres, people and food production machine, will be painted onto the gallery walls. Also featured are videos of slaughter houses, farm animals in people's living room more artsy takes on the way we look at food and food production...Eat the Food! interferes with many of our assumptions surrounding food, the food industry, its production, its distribution, and the very essence of the matter we call food.

You might even see Mike Meyers there as I have seen him a few times around town, the last one was noshing on some sushi at the Drake Hotel (their sushi is amazing)

There will also be food demonstrations by Susur Lee and they will be taking food donations at the gallery.

I wonder if there will be free food? Ask someone on a date and go there.

:)

A chip aboveUpon recommendations by many, we finally got to try out Chippy's on Queen St. West and I have to say I think the battered cod was the best I have ever had.

I always think I like fish and chips but then when I order it I remove all of the batter from it which I feel defeats the purpose, non? At Chippy's there was no such removals. The batter was so thin on the fish it was delicious and with each bite you could taste both fish and light batter, it was divine! I ate the whole thing quickly with no leftovers . The chips were also nice and fresh, you could see some poor girl pumping potatoes into a machine in the back - must be a hard job to do all day .

Get to Chippy's to taste some great fish and chips and see the boys in the shop moving like lightning to some great music while serving customers.