The Pie Commission, Etobicoke

When you run a blog called The Snack Department, you can bet that a visit to a place like The Pie Commission is pretty high on the priority list...

Minty Cookie-Butter Cookies

'Tis the season to indulge in cookies and what better way than to participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap for the very first time! 

Minty chocolate chips, creamy butter, fragrant cookie butter, and a hint of vanilla and maple syrup...these cookies pack a tasty wallop when it comes to spreading the holiday cheer! That's why I was super excited when my bestie suggested we use Justine and Zach's amazing recipe from their blog Cooking & Beer.

Saturday Sammie: Gluten-free BLT

Between the cold weather and two delicious holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), it can be hard to indulge in your favourite fall comfort foods without going totally overboard. That's why I recently gave one of my favourite sammies a healthier makeover; save on the bread and splurge on the bacon with this gluten-free BLT!

For my first foray into gluten-free bread, I used this paleo recipe from Elana's Pantry (spotted on goop.com), which swaps out regular white flour for protein-rich almond flour and golden flaxseed meal instead.

Simply pulse the nine ingredients needed in the food processor and then pour the batter into a greased loaf pan (coconut oil works great here too!)

Boston Eats: Chowda, Cannoli & that Elusive Donut...

Because every trip I take seems to turn into a foodie trip, I thought I'd share some of the delicious eats I encountered on a recent trip to the beautiful city of Boston!

Before arriving in Boston, I wasn't really sure what the largest city in New England had to offer up besides seafood. I mean Chicago has deep dish pizza, Philadelphia has cheesesteak, but what else did Boston own the bragging rights to?

After a little online digging and a lot of hitting the streets and taste testing, it turns out there are so many local gems that Boston can be proud of. Here are some of the ones I discovered and at the end of this list, some of the spots I missed but will need to save for my next trip!

I Survived The Grid T.O.'s Burger Week!

The Grid TO's 2nd annual Burger Week came to a close last night and I'm happy to report I successfully tripled my burger intake this year without dying. (Don't worry, I only tried one place last year so I haven't embarked on a second career as the successor to Man vs. Food - yet.)

Similar to Summerlicious, Burger Week is a great excuse to round up friends for burgers and pints at restaurants both old and new. Thanks to my burger buddies and inadvertently my parents ("oh are you going out to eat burgers again? Bring us back one!") who helped round up the troops and keep up morale.

Here are some snapshots of the places we visited:

Bring on the Burgers!

What news had me grinning from ear to ear this morning? The return of The Grid TO's second annual Burger Week of course!

From Wednesday, May 29 - Saturday, June 1, restaurants across Toronto will be offering a special $5 burger on their menu to whet your appetite. (And lest you think you'll get stuck with the same pub burger everywhere you go, samples from last year's event include Keriwa's bison burger with grilled wild-leek aioli and Saskatoon berry chutney on a red-fife bannock bun and The Beet's lamb burger with apricot chutney, Quebec mozzarella and pickled jalapeno, etc.)

If plotted and portioned correctly, the mid-week meat love-in should prepare you for the culminating Burger Day at the Artscape Wychwood Barns on Sunday, June 2 from 11:30 am - 7:00 pm. (Effectively answering the question: "What would be better than burgers? More burgers of course.")

Expect a beer garden, a street party, and approximately 40,000 sliders as the participating vendor count doubles at this year's event. A portion of proceeds goes to support The Stop Community Food Centre, Artscape, and the children's play centre at the Artscape Wychwood Barns so you can chow down guilt-free! Or on a financial level anyways...no guarantees for your arteries hehe.

Although this year's burger creations are yet to be revealed (update: menus now posted), I'm already super excited to see the following vendors on this year's list:

• Barque Smokehouse
• The Beet
• Fidel Gastro's
• Goods & Provisions
• Prohibition Gastropub
• Rock Lobster Food Co
• The Samuel J. Moore
• The Stockyards
• This End Up *

(* Personal favourite; already the winner of multiple "best burger" awards and the home of a to-die-for fried chicken thigh sandwich.)

I will keep you posted as I get more scoop!  In the meantime, make sure you mark off all of these dates on your smartphone and see you all at Burger Day on Sunday, June 2nd!

Happy Wednesday!

♥


(Photo by The Grid TO.)

The September Menu: Keriwa Cafe, Toronto

As the fashionistas pore over their fall bibles (also known as the September issue of every major fashion magazine), this foodie has decided to take on a different devout course of study: The September Menu!

Each week I'll be visiting a new restaurant that features a seasonal menu to showcase what's cooking on the streets of Toronto. Am I crazy? I prefer to just say that I'm hungry :) Let's begin! 

***

On Friday night, I was lucky enough to celebrate my belated birthday at Keriwa Cafe and the seasonal fresh food and unique flavour combinations did not disappoint!

The dining room is spacious yet cozy, with a long bar and banquette running along one end the room and a small grouping of tables laid out neatly on the other side.

The rustic food at Keriwa is not specifically First Nations, but rather it's inspired by local ingredients and Chef Aaron Joseph Bear Robe's experience growing up on a reserve and cooking in professional kitchens in Alberta and Ontario.

Nevertheless, aboriginal ingredients and heritage grains play a prominent part on the menu offering seasoned diners an opportunity to try something new.

Without further ado, here is what was on our plates that night!

For starters, we selected a butterleaf lettuce salad with red fife, cucumber ribbons, and eggplant and a cantaloupe gazpacho with yoghurt, jalapeno and pumpkin seeds. (The salad is usually served with crackling too, but we opted out since my dining partner had food restrictions.) 

Both dishes did an amazing job at balancing a myriad of different tastes and textures. The salad was refreshingly tangy with large sprigs of dill acting as robust counterpoint to the creaminess of the softboiled egg. 

Similarly, the cantaloupe gazpacho was not melon-sweet as expected, but instead provided a smooth base for the yoghurt, jalapeno, and pumpkin seeds to cool, heat, and crunch. 

Moving onto the mains, my friend chose the smoked chicken with corn, poblano, green beans, and lobster mushrooms...

...while I opted for a bison skirt steak, with bull berries, almonds, kale, and parsley, sitting atop a giant rich pemmican ravioli.

I only grabbed a couple of bites off my friend's dish, but everything was flavourful and working well both independently and in tandem.  

As for my entree, it was like each layer was more delicious than the last! Although most steak plates let a large hunk of meat steal the spotlight, my plate was piled high with healthy sauteed greens, crunchy nuts, and bright red berries.  

The bison came on the pinker side (which I love) and even though I realize an office-worker like myself has no reason to consume large portions of pemmican (historically reserved as a high-energy food for fur-traders and Arctic explorers), I really felt like I could eat that stuff for the rest of my life.  

If you're a meat lover like I am, I would highly recommend this entree for you as it was a true forest feast!

Drinks and desserts unfortunately didn't happen on this visit since we were stuffed by the end, but Keriwa did kindly sending diners into the night with a complimentary pair of mini cinnamon buns. (No photos taken since the buns were pretty standard but a very sweet gesture nonetheless.)

Appetizers on average ranged from $10-15 and mains from $25-30, so don't be afraid to save up and splurge for a special meal or occasion :)  Keriwa Cafe is located in Parkdale near the corner of Queen West and Ronscevalles. 

Happy Monday!

♥

PS - Keriwa's September menu is not currently posted online, but if you'd like to see a copy of it, please let me know and I would happy to send you a pic :)

(Photo 1: Keriwa Cafe, 2-5: Lai Mai Ng)

Printmaker's Picnic

If you've ever used a lino-cutter to carve your own stamps, you'll probably get a kick out of these cute wood-handled picnic tools from Opinel + Fricote!

Packaged in a classic red and white checkered towel and tucked into a funny fake sandwich box, the aptly titled "Kit Sandwich" would make a cheerful surprise for anyone who enjoys lunch en plein air :)

Retail locations listed here.

(Photos: Thierry Vallier)

Foodie Calendar: Toronto Food Fest

If you're in the east end of town today, you'll want to check out the inaugural Toronto Food Fest happening at the Chinese Cultural Centre from 1:00 - 6:00 pm! The festival boasts a curated collection of vendors who were invited based on their popularity in user-driven sites like BlogTO and larger media outlets like Toronto Life.

Some of the featured eats include:

- Rodney’s Oyster House: Voted #2 in GTA for their oysters - BlogTO

- Smoke's Poutinerie Truck: Voted #2 in GTA for their poutine - BlogTO

- Mary Macleod Shortbread: The best shortbread cookie in the GTA - TorontoLife

- Big Moe's Burgers: Top burger in Scarborough - BlogTO

- Patisserie Royale: #1 in GTA for their Middle Eastern pastries - BlogTO

- Casa Manila: #1 Filipino restaurant in GTA - BlogTO

- Marathon Donuts & Coffee Shop: Internationally famous Hong Kong milk tea - Toronto Star 

So whip out your appetites (and your cameras) and come out to support the newest arrival to our Toronto foodie scene :)

Happy Sunday!

♥

(Photo by Toronto Food Fest)

Snack at Home: Homemade Caramels

It started around midnight when the sugar craving kicked in, so we decided to give this creme fraiche caramel recipe its very first spin!

The rich golden colour and sweet pure flavour of Lyle's Golden Syrup. 

I swear this is only 1/2 a cup of butter in a very small pot, but butter always makes everything taste a little better! 

The sugar bubbling up nicely on the stove. 

The finished product lacked a creme fraiche flavour (note to self: be more heavy-handed with creme fraiche & fleur de sel in the next batch) but did have a delicious and clean-tasting sweetness that is far superior to anything store-bought. The recipe can also be easily adapted to include vanilla bean, sea salt, mint, and more! 

What are your favourite late-night recipes?  :)

Burger Week Toronto 2012

Carnivores unite! Today marks the official kick-off for The Grid's very first Burger Week in Toronto. From Wednesday, May 30 - Saturday, June 2, 2012, eighteen of the city's finest patty purveyors will be serving up a special $5 burger on their menu.

Here are three of my top picks from the impressive list of participating restaurants:

The Beet (The Junction, 2945 Dundas St. W)

• Organic lamb burger with apricot chutney, Quebec mozzarella, and pickled jalapeno

Keriwa Cafe (Parkdale, 1690 Queen St. W)

• Bison burger with Saskatoon berry chutney, wild leeks, aioli, and Thunder Oak gouda on a red fife bannock bun

The Stockyards (Wychwood, 699 St. Clair Ave. W)

• Beef burger with house-made smoked American-style cheese, pickled sweet onion, and brown butter cornichon aioli

For burger connoisseurs who prefer their charboiled classics with a gourmet twist, the event also features five Black-Tie Burgers ranging from $13 - $28. Incorporating ingredients like short rib, Stilton, ground pork belly, and wild leek aioli, $5 from the sale of each Black-Tie Burger will go to support The Stop Community Food Centre.

Can't make it out to to 20+ burger shops in four days? Don't fret! Burger Week culminates in a Burger Day at the Artscape Wychwood Barns on Sunday, June 3 from 11:30 am - 4:30 pm, complete with musicians, guest speakers, and of course, sliders ($3) and beer ($5).

So what are you waiting for? Cheers to the (early) weekend!

♥

(Image by The Grid TO)

Dîner en Blanc: Toronto 2012

Calling all foodies and social revellers!  The spontaneous spectacle of Dîner en Blanc returns to Toronto this summer on Thursday, August 9, 2012.

Not sure what the parade of diners dressed in white and dining al fresco is all about? Check out this excellent blog post about the first Dîner en Blanc in Toronto on The Hip & Urban Girl's Guide or watch this fun footage from last year's event in NYC!



Registration for Toronto's Dîner en Blanc is now open! Sign up quickly since space is limited and priority is given first to previous diners, second to their friends and family, and third to the general public who are participating in Dîner en Blanc for the first time.

Happy Monday!

♥

Snapshots from the Weekend

Mother's Day High Tea @ The Ritz Carlton (Toronto)

Top to bottom: 

Egg salad & cucumber sammies

Chocolate mousse / macaron / croquembouche / madeleine / red velvet cupcake

Plain & raisin scones / white chocolate 

Smoked salmon croissant sammies

Totoro modelling the DIY collar I'm making based on a tutorial by Honestly WTF

How was your weekend?


♥

Jets to Brazil

Photo Credit: Mark Goble

Sorry this post has nothing to do with the former American rock band fronted by Blake Schwarzenbach, but everything to do with the my recent love for all things Brazil.

From the easy elegance of bossa nova ballads to the upbeat dance numbers Brazil is known and loved for, online radio station Ambiance Brasil does a superb job of transporting us to the sunny beaches and vibrant nightlife of South America's largest country. I love listening to AB while I'm stuck in the concrete jungle studying or working, though I was surprised to learn the station is based out of France under a neat self-publishing agreement with Radionomy.

And because my heart never wanders far from food, I also have a mini blog crush on Dulce Delights, the brainchild of breezy Brazilian home cook Raiza who produces her very own home cooking show!

Quirky and colourful, Raiza's sunny personality and step-by-step instructions encourage even the most reluctant cook to give her mouth-watering recipes a try.

What city or country are you currently in love with?

♥

(Image: Mark Goble, Video: Dulce Delight)

Homework + Late Nights = Cupcake ATM

Sorry for the long absence from the blog! I recently started a copyediting course at George Brown College and it's been swallowing up a lot of my time, especially when you take into account minutes spent working and minutes spent procrastinating ;) One of the best things I found on one of my mini study breaks is this gorgeous cupcake ATM in Beverly Hills, California:

Serving up fresh Sprinkles Cupcakes 24/7, the address you need to punch into your smartphone right now (if you're lucky enough to live near Beverly Hills) is 9635 South Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills, California 90210 :)

But don't take my word for it, see the cupcake ATM in action for yourself!  

(My favourite part is when the pink door turns around Price is Right style to reveal your purchase!)

So let's brainstorm friends...how do we get Sprinkles to open a cupcake ATM in our neighbourhood??

♥

(Photo & video by Sprinkles Cupcakes)

YumTum Strategy Guide: March 2012

It's that time again...for the next edition of the Toronto Underground Market! With so many delicious things to eat, a tummy space strategy is an absolute must and I think I may have devised a suitable attack plan ;)

1) Bring lots of friends (or a very hungry friend) to share food with - For my first TUM, I partnered with a fellow foodie and together we were able to sample 8 different dishes by splitting everything in half. Great teamwork!

For my second TUM, I got greedy and didn't share anything so was only able to try 3 different items - an epic fail since I supposedly missed out on a very delicious pierogi poutine :(

2) Take advantage of the sneak peek album on Facebook and rely on your friendly neighbourhood blogger to unofficially scour the Internet for additional info on vendor menus - I can't guarantee this info will be 100% accurate upon arrival, but my efforts most definitely come from my tummy! Or err...my heart :)

Here are my top picks for Sunday!

ESE 

(L.A. style Mexican Food)

Torta Ahogada "Drowned Sandwich" 

(with honey chipotle glaze, Mexican pulled pork, spicy Latin slaw)

Photo Credit: ESE

Huitlacoche "Mexican Truffle" Taquito

(with yuca and queso, garnish of pickled onions, salsa de tomatillo con chile de arbol)

Photo Credit: ESE

Saffron Infused Horchata

(sweetened spiced rice milk)

Photo Credit: ESE

The Beech Tree

(English pub food)

Fish & Chips

(cod fish cakes, green pea pesto, handmade tartar sauce, hand-cut chips)

Photo Credit: The Beech Tree

Welsh Rarebit Fry-up

(hand-cut chips, flame scorched Collier's Welsh cheddar sauce garnished with sauteed leeks & double smoked bacon lardons)

Photo Credit: The Beech Tree

Victory Garden Croquettes

(panko-crusted zucchini fritters with horseradish & herb yogurt sauce garnished with radish remoulade)

 Photo Credit: The Beech Tree 

Comida del Pueblo

(Latin inspired street food)

Cornbread Grilled Cheese Sandwich

(refried beans, caramelized onions with chipotle, guacamole and sour cream)

Photo Credit: Comida del Pueblo

If you can't make it to YumTum tonight, I'll also be live tweeting the event over @laimai and @thesummersocial too!

xo.

Snapshots from the Weekend...

Queen West / Parkdale

The Drake's Chicken & Waffles

(A review in haiku: a touch too much jam, but the fried chicken was crisp, leggo my eggo.)

best. car. film. ever.

(and oh so much ryan gosling <3)

How was your weekend? 

xo.

(Images 1, 2: Lai Mai Ng, 3: FilmDistrict via Wikipedia)  

Best Foodie Hack of the Week

I was thrilled when my cousin got me this Babycakes Whoopie Pie Maker for Christmas:

But I think I nearly died when I found out that you could also make your own breakfast sandwiches in a few minutes flat!!

Brunch party at my house!  I'll cook  ;)

xo.

(Images by Babycakes)

Morning Glory

7 a.m. in St. John's, Newfoundland

7 a.m. in Frankfurt, Germany 

Love the food styling in this feature on breakfasts from around the world in November's enRoute magazine.  

For the breakfast in St. John's, the combination of checked napkins, simple blue-rimmed white plates, wood-handled utensils and fried breakfast foods served fresh from the skillet feels as cozy and comfortable as a campfire. 

The breakfast in Frankfurt on the other hand, steals my heart with its antique trays on the wall, a wraparound wood chair, a delectable assortment of savoury and sweet - deli meats, jam, cheese, honey, crusty bread - and even a stylish little egg wearing a pom pom toque! 

Which one is your favourite? 

♥

(Photos by Angus Fergusson for enRoute magazine) 

Sunday Comforts: Chicken Pot Pie

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm seriously craving these savoury mini chicken pot pies from Sunday Suppers... and how cute are those tiffany-blue ramekins?  I thought they were paper cups at first but it turns out they are much more practical :)

To bake up your own little cup of comfort - full of healthy root vegetables like parsnips and sweet potatoes - get the full recipe here.  

♥

(Photos by Karen Mordechai via Sunday Suppers)