Some Healthy Urban Livin'

I took a 5 hour bike ride with Jon and his Uncle Loren all over Toronto over Easter Weekend. It was 'It's The Small World After All' Village in real life. Somebody was like 'this culture seems like it has nothing to do with this culture - let's put them side by side.' It was really fascinating and something I can't seem to get over, despite living here for years.

We started off along the Belt Line, which was a long shaded dirt path along Elginton and Lawrence. We were poster children for Healthy Urban Living with our bikes under the brilliant weather whizzing past joggers and strollers. The path also started off downhill, setting an excellent place which really makes you feel good about yourself. The day did end with a bucket of fried chicken and cigarettes but we did our best.*

The three of us saw the Evergreen Brick Works peak out through the trees, and forced Jon to pose in the valley for the sake of creating art! Yah the photo looks totally forced, but uh, it's part of the art.

We were in luck because we coincidentally ran into a make your own pizza work shop.

Even though it was probably just for kids (hence Jen's shocked look), I paid $2 for buffalo cheese (delicious) on whole grain crust (like spelt and corn and other good stuff), baked in an outdoor kiln.

With free baked sweet potatoes.

Next to a teepee.

Next to this cool clay-like hut.

Which pretty much sums up fantasy summer camp living.

And here are some other cool aspects of the Evergreen Brick Works, like ponds and valleys:

Wow, I can't wait to see what it looks like in full summer greenery.

After our pit stop here, we biked through Middle Eastern neighborhoods, Rosedale, cemeteries, Yonge+St. Clair, and more. I can't wait to explore the city this summer.

It was one of those days that makes you feel lucky. There's so much.

Jen.

*No, it didn't really lol

treats from alimento on king west

Ish and I, and a few of our friends went to Alimento on King Street for treats, but also to rekindle our love for Europe. It reminds me of my trip to France where pastries were literally everywhere, flavorful and delicious - which is an incredible departure from our often dry, crusty biscotti cousins in Canada. For Ish, the rest of the store had amazing Italian food, like canned salmon, pesto, and a selection over 100 cheeses. A worthwhile trip to treat yourself to a bit of luxury. And last but not least, you can sample almost anything in the bakery section. All of the cookies and biscottis. Amazing.

I brought some dark chocolate, pistachio biscotti (dairy free too) home. 

Let's take a closer look. Yes, affirmed - it is amazing.

It's great with coffee or tea (tea and pot from David's Tea. Finally, a pot that won't drip tea along its spout.)

And I also picked up a second batch! Lemony biscotti. Like, delicious almond lemony - not artificial sour lemony.

Yup, amazing.

Cheers, 

Jen.

little nickie's cafe: nutella hot chocolate

Even though Toronto won't experience a white Christmas, hot chocolate is still so delicious on a cold day.

The long-story short: Nutella flavored hot chocolate - damn it's good.

The long story: Nutella flavored hot chocolate is a delicious holiday drink perfect after you freeze your toes off skating at Nathan Philips Square.

(from Little Nicke's cafe at Queen Street West. Awesome for a coffee break while shopping.)

 

 

leona's birthday dinner in chinatown

I had a lot of trouble thinking up a title for this post. I originally thought the whole night could be summed up with the phrase: 'a birthday dinner - can we say 'fried rice?'' But that would be offensive because we also had crepes! Ish, Leona and I met up for an intimate birthday dinner in Chinatown. Leona's awesome because she's the one we turn to for a sane opinion when things take a weird turn (ie. Kate, another friend, and I have colorful discourse on a variety of topics (boyfriends, work, health benefits of lard, etc). And we'd always be like "Okay! This has gone too far. ... Leona?"

While waiting for our food, we got her a pearly hoop earrings.

 

 

Ish introduced us to this delicious chicken-sweet corn soup (who would've thought.) (Also, don't you like her new hair cut?)

This is the fried rice I was referring to earlier:

 To top off the night, we shared nutella crepes with strawberries and ice cream. Yes, it is as good as it tastes.

Overall - awesomeness. 

Cakes Galore -The Delicious Food Show Part II

Alright, so now it's time to talk about all the eye candy.
St. Philips made increddddible wedding cakes. I was so blown away.

My favorite - a stunning flowers and macaron cake by Ruelo Patisserie

 

Chocolate sculpture by ChocoStyle

I can't remember the vendor (if anyone knows please message) but it's wonderfully retro:

And something kind of cute to go with the cakes from DomiStyle.com:

Yes, awesome, no?

Yum.

Jen.

The Delicious Food Show!

I received a free latte sample* at the Delicious Food Show before I even went inside. It was a great start to what turned out to be my favorite food festival of the year. Three words: Best Samples Ever. 

Bistro Ceylon Tea is a new way to brew tea where the loose tea leaves are in the tea package/stir stick. So no more messy bags, or extra wooden sticks. The green tea ginger (I believe) was awesome. Not a bad Christmas gift for the tea obsessed.

 

Chocostyle was a distributor from Montreal, who was sampling chocolate covered marshmellows in dark and milk chocolate with one of my favorite things: sprinkles. 

 They were also selling these chocolate stilettos, which for some people is just two things they love most in one box:

 This picture doesn't do the tiramisu mousse cake justice, but do trust that it was heavenly. By St. Phillips in uptown Toronto. 

This is just a sneak peak of the samples because I got honestly got too caught up eating. It was like, I was thinking about photographing what I was eating, and by the time I was done deciding, it was already gone. My favorite booth was St. Philips by far where they just kept pumping out sandwiches on soft-as-air flat breads. There were other booths offering cured meats (like 4 long tables full of cured meats and cold cuts = some men's dreams), jams, cookies, and other things. Yummm. 

AND there were delicious theatrical huge cakes that will be featured in part 2 of the Delicious Food Show.



Note from Jen:
*latte sample was from the Nescafe Dolce Gusto Machines. Two thumbs up for taste. 
**So the picture above in the header is Cupcake Diner, which is a food truck from Hamilton. No samples from this place, but awesome presentation, no?
***There was a $20 entrance fee - a bit pricy - but as someone who likes to snack on a bunch of different things at the same time, I say "YES!"   

my favorite fall (tea) latte

I went to Moonbean early in the morning as the owner was unloading sacks of fresh coffee beans from a truck. On the way there, I passed tons of coffee drink advertisements that featured caramel-this and pumpkin-that. (I've tried six of them so far, so the ads are probably working.. Curses.) My drink at Moonbean, an unpretentious cafe in Kensington, has been the best drink of the fall season. It had a subtle flavor, and the sweet steamed milk warmed me right up.

It's one of those things you just have to go and try. 

I walked past the patio in the front of Moonbean. There were some birds being birds - picking at muffin crumbs.

I took a seat, and one bird initiated a stare down for my delicious treat: 

 

But I was all like, back off - get your own "rugelach" (aka mini croissant)

 

Finally, I enjoyed the delicious chai caramel tea latte:

Yum, 

Jen