how sweet it is...

I try to buy locally grown produce as much as possible. Sadly, our grocery stores are filled with imported produce even though our little patch of suburbia is surrounded by rich farm land. As I was on my way to drop the little dude off at my parents' place this morning so that I could go to a doctor's appointment, I noticed that the sign for Hutchinson Farm, located a mere 8 kilometers from my parents' house, was advertising that their raspberries were ready. I love all berries and raspberries may be my favourite fruit. So after my appointment I convinced my mom to accompany Alex and I to Hutchinson Farm.

In addition to these deliciously, sweet raspberries...


I picked up these lovely beets.


They also had some beautiful zucchini, both green & yellow, but I didn't buy any since I had some in the fridge at home. I see by their website that they also grow several varieties of tomatoes and peppers among other items. I was so impressed by the freshness and quality of what I bought today that I will definitely go back and check out these crops when they are ready.

Now I need to get a damp cloth to clean the raspberry stains off my laptop. :)

use it or lose it

Typically, when a couple gets married, they have a gift registry at a major department store, so that friends and relations can purchase something the couple needs/wants and avoid gift duplication. Steve and I have been married for almost 9 years. And up until recently, we owned items, received as wedding gifts, that we had rarely or never used. Not that these gifts were not appreciated. But there's some sort of bizarre social pressure to register for things that you have absolutely no use for. Kitchen appliances are the biggest culprit. And we have them all. Since I've been feeling the need to purge our house of unneeded stuff lately, I've been going at the kitchen, full force. I've filled a few boxes full of stuff that we don't use and/or won't miss. They will be donated to charity. In my cleaning frenzy, I was reminded that we actually owned a deep fryer. Seriously, who needs a deep fryer? My mother is now the proud owner of a used only once deep fryer. I don't imagine she will actually use it that much either but hey, it's not taking up space in my house anymore. Then I can across the ice cream maker. Hmm, what to do. I love ice cream and it is a semi-regular grocery purchase for us. Could I make better tasting, better for me ice cream at home? Or was it not worth the time or effort. Well...

I decided to start with a simple lime sorbet.


All you do is turn limes into lime juice and mix it with simple syrup, which is just equal parts sugar and water, boiled to melt the sugar.

Throw it in the ice cream maker...


...and watch the magic happen.


The whole process took about half an hour.


And the result...


...limey, tarty, frosty goodness.

We then made a lemon sorbet that was fantastic and a strawberry cantaloupe sorbet that worked out but didn't taste so great. Not to me anyway.

With a few simple sorbets under my belt, I moved on to ice cream.


The mint chocolate chip was a hit.



As was the strawberry.

The ice creams take a bit more work but is well worth the effort. It's nice to have ice cream in the freezer that is free of unpronounceable chemicals and preservatives and that tastes delicious. Of course, you can't keep it as long but since it's rare for a carton of ice cream to last more than a few days in our house, no big deal. With my love of ice cream, I can't believe that I actually waited this long to use the damn thing. So the ice cream maker is definitely a keeper.

This week is my dad's 70th birthday. Vanilla ice cream is his favourite. I'll let you know how it turns out.

the taste of delicious

So the healthy eating plan isn't going so well this week. I haven't been feeling well (fighting a cold) and the little dude is teething. My eating has been sporadic and not as well balanced as I would like. However, I have not gained any weight back so it's not too bad. I probably won't have lost any when this week is done. Rather than stress about it, I plan to get back on track tomorrow. So tonight, I enjoyed a fabulous dinner made by my awesome husband. I have likely mentioned before that Steve has the gift of being able to throw together a meal from whatever happens to be in the fridge. He attributes this to spending his youth watching cooking shows. Whatever the reason, I am very grateful for his cooking prowess.

So tonight, he made an incredible mushroom risotto. He claims that he really hasn't mastered the art of making risotto yet but I haven't sampled one that has sucked yet. But I do urge him to continue trying. :)


With the risotto, we enjoyed this excellent wine. I found the 2008 Cono Sur Cabernet Sauvignon/Carmenere in the Vintages section of the LCBO for only $13.95. This wine is produced from organically grown grapes and is fantastic. Deliciously fruity and smooth with a hint of vanilla.


Sometimes, there is just nothing better than a good meal with someone you love.

baby got back

It's no surprise that I'm carrying around a little extra weight post-pregnancy. Truth be told, I'm in the worst shape of my life. I am embarrassingly overweight and out of shape. And I've had enough of it. Beginning tomorrow I am taking steps to take off the excess weight and to get healthy. And for the first time in my life there will no fad dieting involved. I've tried it all: Weight Watchers, South Beach, no-carb, low-carb, no-fat, low-fat, you get the picture. These always work for the first little while. And then I fall off the wagon and the pounds pack on again. It's time for a lifestyle change.

It took a long time for me to gain the excess weight and I know it will take a while for it to come off. So I'm taking baby steps. Making small changes over time towards a healthier lifestyle. So here's the plan.

The Food Plan
1) Drink water: I used to be pretty good at this, especially when I was pregnant because I was constantly thirsty. But I just kind of stopped drinking water. So I just need to get back into the habit. It shouldn't be that difficult.
2) Cut out sugar: This one will be tough. Sugar is my downfall. I love chocolate. I love pop. I need to stop consuming both. I'll work chocolate back into my life once I'm at healthy weight but for now, the daily consumption of this delicious substance is over. As for pop, I would like to cut it out completely. Forever. The stuff is just nasty and has zero nutritional value. The only sugars I intend to eat are those that occur naturally, like in fruit.
3) More plants/less meat: It's not that I don't like fruits and vegetables, it's just that I really like meat. I could easily eat just a steak for dinner, with no veggies. From now on, meat will take up a much smaller place on my plate than veggies. I'm also going to try to eat more fish. I love fish, I just never know how to cook it. I'll just have to learn.
4) Less and healthier carbs: This one shouldn't be too tough either. I switched to eating just whole grains years ago. But while I was pregnant, I craved carbs like you wouldn't believe. So I got back in the habit of eating too much. I just need to cut back.
5) Less alcohol: I love wine. Love, love, love it! I would be miserable without it. So I'll still drink it, but only on weekends and not in excess. And no hard liquor. Not even gin. :(
6) No shit: No food substitutes allowed. No aspartame, margarine, etc. Nothing manufactured. Only real food. Stuff grown in the ground. Stuff that has to be harvested. Animals that were not fed chemicals. You know, the way food used to be before the 20th century hit.
7) Making allowances: There will be times when these rules will be broken. Parties, special occasions, bad days, etc. I will not beat myself up over these things. I will allow myself time to be human and overindulge once in a while. Then I will start over again with the next meal.

The Exercise Plan
I have never been fond of exercise. Gym was my worst subject in school. I am lazy. But soon, I will have to chase an active child as he discovers the world. I better be in shape for this.
1) Walking: Walking is easy. Put on running shoes, place baby in stroller and go. And now that the weather is warmer, there is no reason why I can't do this everyday, or maybe twice a day. And if it's pouring rain there is the treadmill that's gathering dust in the basement. Time to set it up again.
2) Wii Fit: We bought the Wii Fit while I was pregnant. I haven't tried it yet but am hoping it will be a good way to exercise. It certainly is convenient: something I can do while the little dude is sleeping. I'll let you know how this pans out. I can't wait to find out my Wii Fit Age. I'm predicting somewhere in senior citizen territory.
3) Yoga: I have wanted to do Yoga forever. A new yoga place opened up within walking distance from my house. And they have a mom and baby class. They also do hot yoga which I really want to try. I think I'll start with the walking and the Wii Fit first. Once I lose enough pounds to not be totally embarrassed wearing exercise clothing in public, I will try the yoga.
4) Running: I took a learn to run course a few years ago and love it. I don't know why I stopped running. I will start again.

So that's the plan. It's nice to have it all written out here. Kind of makes it real. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

lips like sugar...

Just a quick post tonight as I just got home and am completely wiped.

Went to a holiday baking demo tonight with a few of the girls. It was part of the McMaster University Alumni Event series. I've been to a few of these events now and they are quite good. Tonight's featured one of the best bakeries around, Weil's Bakery in the lovely Westdale neighbourhood of Hamilton. They taught us how to make a few yummy desserts (including creme brulee!) and treated us to samples of each of the desserts. And there were door prizes. And I won this very cool wall mounted scale/timer/clock thingy!


Now that my sugar high is wearing off, I'm going to bed. Nighty night folks.

watcha got cookin'...

I was lucky enough to marry a guy who loves to cook. If I was single, I would probably have take out for dinner every night. When Steve is away, I pretty much survive on a steady diet of Swiss
Chalet. It's not that I don't enjoy cooking, I'm just too lazy to cook for myself.

Steve loves to cook. And he's good at it. He has the ability to open the fridge, survey the supplies and whip up a magnificent meal from whatever he finds. Tonight, for example, we feasted on spaghetti with pesto and grilled vegetables. He credits this skill to countless hours watching cooking shows on television. Whatever the reason I am very thankful for it. Not to mention, full.

turning Japanese...

I enjoyed a decadent Monday night dinner with Elizabeth this evening. She spent the day hanging in Toronto with a friend and then met me at work. We headed to one of my favourite restaurants, Sushi Inn. Toronto is full of sushi restaurants and quite a lot of really good ones. This one is on the top of list because the food is damn fine and it's close to work. Plus, they will deliver to my office. And it's so close, that they send a guy on a bike! Awesome. While I cannot enjoy any raw fish at the moment (due to the pregnancy) they do make a wicked dragon roll with shrimp tempura and avocado. Delicious. So if you get the chance, check out Sushi Inn. You can tell them I sent you, but it won't get you anything but a confused look.

i've got a pocketful of dimes...

I've been following a bunch of gadget blogs lately and am blown away by some of the stuff that people are coming up with. Some of it is very exciting either due to practicality or coolness. Some of it, is just freakin' hysterical. I'm amazed at what companies will market and what people will actually buy. Case in point.


This is the 4-in-1 Hot Dog Maker. Perfect for when a pot of boiling water is just too complicated.

Thanks to the fine people at The Uber Review for bringing this one to my attention.

I love this bar...

Now this is my kind of restaurant!

In today's Globe and Mail Beppi Crosariol reported on a unique Vancouver restaurant. All they serve is wine, cheese and meat. No fancy kitchen or gourmet chef necessary. This is totally up my alley! One of my favourite dinners is what Steve and I call the snacky dinner. A couple of different cheeses, some nice cured meat, gourmet olives, a few crackers and a good bottle of red wine. Kind of a rustic European thing. In fact, the snacky dinner has kind of become our Christmas Eve tradition. We spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day with family so Christmas Eve is our time. We lay out a yummy spread and open the presents we bought for each other. Just the two of us. It's a nice tradition. But I digress.

I've included the article below even though I linked to it above. The Globe is one of those annoying newspapers that cuts off access to articles after a few days, unless you are an online subscriber.

Rise of the anti-restaurant
It's in a seedy alleyway, has no kitchen and never bothered to hire a chef. But Sean Heather's meat, cheese and wine bar is anything but a misstep - instead, it's turning the restaurant model on its ear

BEPPI CROSARIOL
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
September 26, 2007 at 10:22 AM EDT

VANCOUVER — Want to succeed in the restaurant business? Consider some tips from Sean Heather:

Find a rundown space in a seedy alleyway with no pedestrian traffic or other businesses; replace the existing wood flooring with bare concrete; set up a long, picnic-style, communal table and offer patrons paper napkins instead of linen. Oh, and don't bother with unnecessary details like hiring a chef or installing a stove; buy ready-made food and slice it up onto plates.

Welcome to Salt Tasting Room, a 14-month-old charcuterie restaurant and wine bar in Vancouver's Gastown that has not only played to positive reviews but also emerged as one of the most envied, and unlikely, successes in this city's hyperactive fine-dining scene.

From a culinary standpoint, Salt taps the growing appetite for raw-milk cheeses and locally cured meats with farmhouse provenance. There's ash-covered camembert from Moonstruck Organic Cheese Inc. on Salt Spring Island, for example, and wild-boar headcheese that Mr. Heather sourced from Oyama Sausage Co. on Granville Island.

There's also no denying the cheap-chic allure of the minimalist design, complete with a chalkboard that serves as the menu and a Ferrari-red, hand-cranked Italian meat slicer - the latter one of several ideas borrowed from New York superchef Mario Batali.

But it's the novel - at least for Canada - kitchenless fine-dining concept that has been turning professional heads and pulling in a steady stream of hungry and curious chefs in their off hours.

"It's genius, it really is," said Jeff Van Geest, chef-owner of 4-1/2-year-old Aurora Bistro. "I think every restaurateur in the city is saying the same thing: 'Why didn't I think of that?' "

Mr. Van Geest says he resists even categorizing Salt as a restaurant because Mr. Heather and his business partner, Scott Hawthorn, have brilliantly turned the traditional business model on its ear, avoiding the crippling costs that can ultimately capsize even the best cooking.

Call it the anti-restaurant.

"The staffing issues, the equipment, all the overhead things that make our [profit] margins so tight in restaurants and make us struggle for every cent - he's eliminated all of that, and he's full most of the time," Mr. Van Geest said.

Salt is also the model around which Mr. Heather, who owns several other local establishments including the Irish Heather gastropub and Salty Tongue deli, is building his expansion plans. Get ready for a bigger original Salt in Blood Alley, two more Salts in Vancouver, a "seasonal" Salt for summer wine tourists in the Okanagan Valley and, if Mr. Heather can find the right eastern partners, a Toronto Salt.

On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Heather, 41, who grew up and trained as a chef in Ireland before moving to Canada and eventually launching the Irish Heather 11 years ago, spoke candidly about Salt's economics.

"We didn't have a lot of business today, but I still made a hundred bucks," he said, sitting at a 6-metre-long communal table that runs along one side of the dimly lit, main dining area. "I don't need to do a lot of business to make money. My rent is not high. I'm in an alleyway. I have no chef - that would cost me 50 or 60 grand a year. There's no waste. There's no gas. There's no grease trap, there's no [ventilation] hood."

Another key to Salt's profitability is the autocratic menu. The minimum food order must consist of at least three items, whether meat or cheese, at a cost of $15. You can't just taste one for $5, an option that has scuttled many a wine-bar concept in the past. Add a glass of good wine and the typical order doesn't take long to exceed $30.

"We have an average spend of 35 bucks a head here, and that rivals most restaurants, but we're not cooking anything," Mr. Heather boasted in a cheerful tone that suggested gratitude for what he calls his "Irish luck" rather than any sort of arrogance.

Because of Salt's success, Mr. Heather has dropped long-standing plans to open a more expensive, hot-food restaurant that was to be called Pepper. Instead, he says, he is now expanding into an unused basement area with Salt Cellar, virtually doubling the 800-square-foot dining space and storage area he now has. Then, next year, he will expand the concept to a location on Main Street and one in Kitsilano.

Not that salami-slinging wine bars are new. Italy has countless. But as Mr. Heather and other restaurateurs note, the bare-bones concept is virtually unknown in Canada.

In fact, Mr. Heather had to lay some blarney on provincial liquor inspectors to get his alcohol licence. Aware that "liquor-primary" licences for bars are rarely issued any longer, he decided to ask for a "food-primary" licence for his wine bar concept. But his kitchenless blueprint perplexed the booze patrol.

"So, about two weeks into discussions with these guys, we stopped calling it a tasting bar and we started calling it a sushi bar," Mr. Heather recalled, referring to the Japanese raw fish delicacy.

"Once they heard 'sushi,' they said, 'Oh, yeah.' They had a reference point. It was only until about two weeks before we opened that, when the guys came to do actual inspections, they were like, 'Where's the sushi?' I said, 'It's kind of like sushi, but it's meat and cheese.' ... We were a sushi bar on the books for a long time."

The other virtue of not needing a chef is that Vancouver is currently facing a shortage of culinary talent following a flurry of fine-dining openings during the past 18 months. "We could open up 20 of these and not have to worry about that problem."

With Salt, Mr. Heather has also shrewdly sidestepped another of the big nuisances of running a restaurant: customer complaints. "You go to a restaurant and you want your steak done medium-rare and it comes back medium, 'Nah, nah, nah.' You come here, if you've got a problem, we can say, 'Talk to the cheese maker. We just cut the cheese.' "

As for the competition, Mr. Heather believes he's eluded that, as well. "As more and more restaurants open up, we become a place that you could come to before or after. We're not competing. We're complementing all these new restaurants."

If Salt does eventually expand to Toronto, it could face competition there, however. Terroni, the popular downtown chain of southern Italian-style trattorias, is expanding to a big new location in the historic courthouse building on Adelaide Street East, with plans for an adjacent, but separate, wine bar that will offer a bare-bones cured-meat-and-cheese menu and have a strict policy of not serving hot food from the Terroni kitchen.

"They can have a nice cutting board with specialized meats, prosciuttos and salami," said Cosimo Mammoliti, Terroni's owner. "But they cannot have food in the bar."

Mr. Mammoliti says he believes Toronto is ripe for an "authentic" Italian wine bar. "People need a place like that to go to - even if they're going to dinner somewhere else," he said. "It's hard to find that any place in the city."

pretty maids all in a row...

These days I am sucker for punishment. I skipped kick boxing and stayed late at work in an attempt to get caught up before the students come back next week. I was also hoping to miss the rush hour traffic on the Gardiner Expressway but no such luck. Since I didn't have the patience to sit on the highway I headed over to the Queen's Quay Loblaws to make one, very important purchase.


That's right boys and girls. I bought 6 bottles of steak seasoning! Not just any steak seasoning. Barberian's Steak House makes the BEST steak seasoning on the planet. This restaurant has been around since 1959 and is apparently amazing. We haven't had the pleasure of dining there yet but we started enjoying the spice when we came across it in a grocery store in Toronto. Problem is, you can't buy this stuff outside of Toronto. And since we no longer live in T.O., we don't buy our groceries there. So we've been out of the spice since early this summer when our last bulk purchase was depleted. And even though we both still work in Toronto, we don't often think about our grocery list at work, so we don't remember that we need to buy more until we get home. But my pantry is happy again. These 6 should get us through until the end of next summer.

So if you have the opportunity, try it! It's also fantastic on chicken and pork. You will not be disappointed. And if you go to the restaurant, let me know how it is. I hope to visit it soon.

EDIT: I must mention that I actually lined up to use the self checkout instead of going through the empty express lane at the grocery store in order to avoid strange looks from the cashier. After all, the only thing I was buying was 6 bottles of the identical steak seasoning.

who could ask for anything more...

Busy weekend! So much to blog about.

Steve and I went out for a fantastic meal on Friday night. We had a gift certificate for a free dinner for two (appetizer, entree & dessert) at Tundra Restaurant at the Hilton Toronto. Although the chef that made the restaurant famous was no longer there, we were treated to an exquisite meal. On top of that, our waiter was perhaps the best waiter I have ever encountered in Canada. I wish I remembered his name because I would totally call the restaurant manager to sing his praises! Most servers, if handed a coupon for a free meal wouldn't work so hard but this guy was incredibly attentive. He described the menu in great detail, making excellent recommendations and knew exactly when to check on us to make sure we had what we needed. Knowing that we were on a time line, he made sure that our meal arrived in good time, had us order our dessert before we finished our entrees and offered us coffee to go so that we would get to our concert on time. He definitely earned the tip we left.

So what did we eat? I started with the Caesar salad. The lettuce was crisp, the dressing not too heavy and the Parmesan shaved in large, thin pieces. Delicious! Steve had the crab cakes and they were fantastic! The just melted in your mouth with a delicate sweetness. We ordered the same entree, since we are both suckers for a good steak. The fillet Mignon was like butta! This may have been the best restaurant steak I have ever had. And the roasted root vegetables and fritters that accompanied it were fantastic. For desert, Steve had an incredible molten chocolate cake and I dove into a trio of creme brulee, cinnamon, chocolate and vanilla. Heavenly! I can't forget to mention the wine! The Fielding Estate Cabernet Franc was excellent! (unfortunately, I can't remember the year) If I remember correctly, Steve's first reaction was "well smack my mouth!" Yes it's a bold wine, with hints of leather, ripe berries and chocolate. We are definitely planning a trip to Fielding Estate to sample some more.

After dinner, we headed over to the University of Toronto Faculty of Music to hear a concert. Any concert at the Faculty is special for me because I work there. As difficult and as stressful as my job gets, seeing the students on stage performing is such a rush. This concert combined our three choirs, the MacMillan Singers, University Women's Chorus and Master Chorale with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra in a wonderful performance of Bruckner's Te Deum. I must admit, I got emotional even before the concert started. I know how hard these kids work. I know how stressful this point in the school year is for them. I know what it takes for them to get to the moment of performance. No matter what else is going on, they always rise to the occasion. They sang and played there hearts out and the audience gave them the love they deserved.

After the intermission, the orchestra tore into Mahler's Symphony No. 1. Once again, they did not disappoint! They played their best and the audience loved it. I grinned and applauded like a proud parent. That's always how I feel when I see them perform. It doesn't have to be perfect. They're students, they are still learning. But to see all of their handwork pay off is so incredibly rewarding. And it reminds me why I still work there.