We don’t get out to eat and try new restaurants as much as we used to and for the times that we do, we’re looking for more kid friendly, noisy places where we can afford to have the children make a mess. We recently tried two places that fit the bill and were reasonably priced with good food.
I was walking around the city one day and came across this restaurant called Smoked and Cracked. It didn’t look fancy at all, almost like a take out joint with a few tables to eat in. What caught my attention were the lobster traps in the window and the chalkboard menu stationed outside on the street with “lobster” written all over it. They seemed to specialize in all things lobster. The menu had lobster mac and cheese, steamed or boiled lobster, lobster chowder and lobster rolls. It was just after noon when I passed by so I was thinking lunch. …
After swimming class, we usually race home to have a quick lunch before nap time. On rare occasions where we’re lazy to cook lunch (or don’t have left overs at home), we may stop by a quick bite at a restaurant on the way home. These quick stops are not that good, glorified fast food joints. Several weekends ago, we had a bit more time and out of the blue, my wife asked me to where I would like to go for lunch as a treat. We’re always go go go so this was a real surprise. Anyways, I always…
Ever since we got our dog Brooster over three years ago, we rarely have the opportunity to go out to eat. Frankly, its my own hang up of not wanting to leave him at home on weeknights or weekend since the poor guys on his own during the work week. It doesn’t help that he’s fully aware of my conscience and milks it. That bugger somehow knows it’s a weekend or weeknight and he’ll start wimpering and crying the minute we show signs of leaving him alone. The crazy thing is that he also knows when it’s a weekday and…
Haven’t posted in a while as we’ve been very busy, frantically getting ready to move. I never realized the amount of crap I’ve accumulated over the years (I’ll share more of that in another blog). This experience has me seriously reconsidering buying more junk in the future. Okay, this post has nothing to do with the move, just something I look back on with fond memories (pre-moving days) hoping they’ll be back soon. I’m a regular reader of Giant Robot magazine and in each issue, there’s a section called “My Perfect Day” that I always enjoy reading. For me, my perfect day,…
We were lucky to have lunch at my folks’ house. My mom is a fantastic cook and every time we stop by, she tries a new recipe or whips up something extraordinary. Today we were treated by these two home baked savory pastries. One was baked with asparagus, button mushrooms, tarragon and a bechamel sauce (this was the one that was open) and the other was with a curried ground beef and sauteed onion filling. This is what they looked like fresh out of the oven: And on the plate! They were so good.
This is late, but a while ago for my birthday, my folks came over and my mom cooked up one of my favorite meals. I’m usually a homebody and don’t like leaving the Beast alone, so a home cooked meal with family is the perfect gift for me. Here’s what she fired up. Jumbo shrimps (my favourite)! Here’s the plate of shrimps, fresh pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and mixed mushrooms and cauliflower. Recently, I’ve been looking for a backpack and my wife picked up on this and the family got me this set of bags from Herschel Supply Co. Good quality, simply designed bags…
In Toronto, it’s not hard to find fantastic, authentic Chinese food. You can find high end expensive places, hole in the wall treasures, Hong Kong style restaurants, strip mall takeout spots, westernized joints and the typical health code violation, ridiculously cheap, 24 hour spots. Historically, Toronto’s China town was in the downtown core, but in the past decade or so, it’s migrated North to the suburbs. A little while ago, four of us headed up to Richmond Hill to very reasonable, but great quality seafood restaurant my mom found. Not having eaten this stuff for a while, it was awesome….
We were treated to some baby-sitting from my folks the other day and took the opportunity to go out for a nice lunch. We headed out to a Toronto restaurant, Celestin, we used to frequent a while ago but haven’t been to for a while. They started a new prix fix lunch menu at about $18.95 where you get to chose an appetizer, main and dessert. The food looked fantastic and tasted pretty good. You can get better meals elsewhere (I give the food here a 6-7 out of 10) but if you factor the price, the menu, and excellent…
It’s always nice to go back to visit my parents at the house I grew up in. We try and go back once or twice a month and when we do, my mother usually cooks up a feast. She’s a fantastic cook and really spoils us rotten. This time we spent the night and had a good old family brunch the next morning. It’s not always this elaborate, but it’s always top notch (when your mom makes it, even the simplest of meals taste special). Here’s the spread: Piping hot homemade scones, homemade tomato jam and fresh cream (not shown…
The original intent of this blog was to focus on all things toys, particularly my figure creation, “Boutiqueoeuff”. As I started updating, I found that I was writing about all sorts of shit and anything that I found interesting or significant in my personal life made it in the blog. Anyways, food is and has always been a big source of enjoyment for me. I love to eat and given the right meal, I can devour obscene amounts and it can make or break a day. As a result, I’ve been blogging a lot about food lately; from recent restaurant…
In Toronto, we’re fortunate to have a very diverse, multicultural, melting pot of a community. With that comes many great , authentic ethnic foods. Recently, my wife’s been sampling macarons at the many French patisserie’s in our area. This weekend, she took me to La Bamboche. This place is known for their macarons and is the top on her list. They cost the most at $2.60 per macaron, but they are about 1/3 bigger than the competition. Their flavours are very natural with no artificial coloring, concentrated and intense and you can taste the high quality ingredients. La Bamboche’s…
My wife’s been going through some interesting food phases over the past few months. First there was an obsession with Chinese food, then the cravings moved to curries and then Korean. Most recently its been red meat. This has been a great opportunity for me since she’s not typically a big fan of the stuff. In the last week alone, we’ve had two dinners out at some local steak houses. Yesterday, she was up for it again so despite the sub zero weather, I fired up the grill and this is what we cooked up! On a somewhat related note,…
A few nights ago, we were invited to our good friend’s house for a late night snack. We were privileged to sample (actually to witness) the results of their dedicated efforts of creating the perfect souffle. Inspired by their recent souffle experiences (ie. Ici Bistro), they set out on a quest to master this dessert: determining the perfect custard mix (when we arrived, the custard was sitting outside to cool to the perfect temperature); the ideal baking time (and temperature); consistency; texture and taste. After sampling this masterpiece, I think they succeeded. The Citrus Grand Marnier Souffle slowly rising in…
This past weekend, we decided to take a local getaway for a few days. We drove for about an hour south west of Toronto to Niagara. Niagara is probably best known for the Falls, but its also well known its farms and wineries. With all this fresh produce, there’s also an abundance of great restaurants in the area. On our way, we stopped by this great spot for lunch in the town of Jordan called “In on the Twenty”. The atmosphere of the restaurant and town was very relaxing, comfortable and charming. The tomato, fennel and parsnip puree soup. I…
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