Menchi's: Frozen Yogurt Mocha Strawberry Cake

Step 1: Get some mocha frozen yogurt from the machine. The phase 'make frozen yogurt' in the title was used rather loosely. It should be replaced with 'assemble' (like you would ikea furniture...)

And another picture for good measure. Yum.

Step 2: Scope out the toppings. So many to choose from.

Yes, walnuts. Yum.

 And then add some strawberries.

Step 3: Add even more toppings, like cheesecake pieces.

And cookie dough.

 Step 4: Voila! Enjoy my favorite combination: Mocha Strawberry Cake.

It was $4. Awesome.

I <3 Menchi's. Is it weird that it's usually just me, and a bunch of moms and little kids? If nothing else, the little kids are really creative - one added sour apple tart with gummy worms and mochi. I can't wait to try new combinations =)

Jen. 

Pre-show - Toronto International Burlesque Festival 2011

The Burlesque Festival was one of the most beautiful and eye opening shows I've ever seen. The pre-show right outside of the Mod Club had pretty good eye candy too:

Full of fascinators:

Vinita's cool accessories: Apparently, these shoes are super comfortable.

Shoes by Tippen

Chloe Comme Parais, a Toronto based jeweler

The Queen of Burlesque has arrived:

... all leading up to the spectacular show:

We'll be sharing the full show with you soon =).

Jen.

Adison and some cool bike tricks

I love Grange Park and Adison was practicing cool tricks on his bike there.

TnT Night Market downtown

I got in line to wait for the shuttle bus, and the first thing I heard was a person next to me exclaiming "You can download manga online! There is an app. Manga. Online. Dot. Net. It's the greatest thing ever!" and there was subsequent discussion about Harry Potter, and I thought, indeed I have arrived at an Asian night market.

The Asian food night market downtown went from Thursday to Friday. I was lucky enough to check it out when the crowds weren't too thick on Thursday. Someone yelled "OMG! I can walk around! And not rub against someone!" I think it was a young man experiencing some turbulent hormonal times.

The weather was boiling hot, so there were some great treats to cool off:

Fruit on a stick, yum.

It was $1 a drink. This is it.

Pineapple King by Marbolicious. Free refills all day for the first 100 pineapples purchased.

There was some awesome street food:

Half a boiled lobster for $10 as street food. =D

Mr. Nom Nom selling hurricane potatoes which are really tasty.

The vendor called it Tornado Dogs! And the red tinted balls are Lobster Balls.

Some shrimp fries I think. Check out the Star of David shape on the right.

And this is one of my personal favorites. It's highly polarizing: stinky tofu. So good.

 

And of course, some familiar merchandise:

It was a lot of fun. There were also some confusing moments. Like someone was selling roasted marshmellows, and when I asked them about smores, they looked at me like I was asking about crap-covered chocolate. I don't understand how you ignore the perfect marriage of flavors in a roasted marshmellow-chocolate-cookie threesome, but I hope they bring that next year.

It was really great to smell flavors of asian street food and see people enjoying their casual food. I'm glad I managed to catch a night market this year.

Jen

It's your life - jewellry

 

Necklace from It's Your Life

in Kensington Market

Love,

Jen.

Leah's Bakery

Public Service Announcement: Go drink something cold.

It's blistering hot outside. All the sweaty people are pressed closely together in the TTC (side note: they're releasing the new subway trains today!) and I'm pretty sure deodorant sales are experiencing an all time high. This is all the more reason to cool down. 

I went to Leah's bakery for a lemonade, and she actually offered to refill my cup with more ice as it melted. This is great customer service. She also had an fantastic selection of baked goods, and I especially loved her famous biscotti sold all around the city.

Double chocolate biscotti.

Leah, a lovely lady, also won blogto.com's best cheesecake. She mentioned she preferred to bake more traditional, 'Canadian' desserts, and indeed, she may have perfected this.

Take home, and bake it yourself for a delicious dessert.

And perhaps treats for the kids:

Leah's is pretty awesome. 

Leah's opened up in 2010. Even though it has a handful of seats, it's easily one of my favorite stop-overs as a quick in and out.

Jen.

Leah's Bakery
621 St. Clair Avenue
416.785.4711

Dufferin Grove's Farmer Market

I spent last Thursday at the Dufferin Grove Summer Farmer Market. This little market is so lively and happening its overwhelming! Every stall offers unique food like sheep's milk ice cream, fish burritos and exotic blends of leafy greens. Best of all, is the sheer amount of people hanging out and enjoying summer that makes this spot worthy of a visit.

A few things I enjoyed:

Forbes Wild Foods sells all kinds of edibles foraged from the forest, from wild blueberry jams to pickled milkweed pods.

I got to try some 'Sea Asparagus' , a salty and succulent seaweed that is brought in at low tide and is full of Vitamin A and C.

Of the Birds and Bees:

Lounging People:

I loved the music band, featured in the header above.

And lastly,

Remember to breath and thank the sunshine for coming your way!

Lots of light,

Ish