Stratford Culinary Tour: Monforte Dairy

On Saturday, May 29th, I had the utmost opportunity to join some local foodies and food bloggers on a culinary trip to Stratford, Ontario, in Perth County. I just want to say "thanks" to Suresh Doss, publisher of Spotlight Toronto, for inviting me to this event. I truly feel really lucky to be invited since I've only started this food blog about a month and a half ago, and already I am given a chance to go on a culinary tour with food bloggers that write for the FoodNetwork.ca, National Post, blogTO, Toronto Life (just to name a few)! There was really no way that I was going to pass up this opportunity. The Stratford culinary tour turned out to be just as wonderful as I thought it would be; it was educational, fulfilling, fun, and exhilarating. The day was jam-packed with activities and it flew by so quickly.

To be honest, I haven't been to Stratford since high school for English classes, and up until I was invited to Stratford a month ago, I really had no idea that Stratford has become such a culinary haven full of rich farming region, which was cultivated since the early 19th century. Stratford is also well known for its Stratford Chefs School, which has been training chefs for 26 years and its alumni includes some of Canada's top chefs. For more information about Stratford, and its "Savour Stratford Perth County Culinary Week" from September 18-26 (which I will definitely try to attend), visit Savour Stratford. Savour Stratford is part of Savour Ontario, a program designed to campaign and promote more consumers in choosing the fresh, locally grown foods of Ontario.

My First Lunch Post - Ki Modern Japanese + Bar

I'm usually pretty low-key when it comes to lunch. Monday to Friday when I'm at work I usually just get a soup from Tim Hortons or a small salad at a café nearby. Nothing fancy. Two reasons really. One being that I can't afford to eat out everyday for lunch in downtown Toronto where stuff from the food court can cost you around $8. Second, if I eat as much at lunch as I do for dinner (which is a lot, a fact that my friends can confirm), I'm afraid I may reach 200 pounds in a month's time.


Well, two Fridays ago was an exception. It was 1) the Friday before the May 2-4 long weekend, 2) one of my boss' birthday, and 3) it was my 2 years at the firm (gahhhhh time flies!). So to celebrate, we went to Ki for lunch, which ended up to be a 3 hr lunch. Needless to say we weren't very productive afterwards.


Since it was such a nice day, we sat outside on the patio. It is a pretty enclosed space, fenced in and everything. But I'm thankful for that given the location of Ki - it's at a pretty busy intersection.

Extremely Easy Mushroom Pork Chops

My boyfriend likes pork chops, while I'm pretty much indifferent about them. I much prefer beef or chicken. This is probably due to the fact that I had many bad experiences with dry and tough pan-fried pork chops (which I would like to avoid for the rest of my life if possible). I honestly don't know many other ways of cooking pork chops. So one day, I went to allrecipes.com and found this great and easy recipe that would satisfy my boyfriend's love (well more so "like") for pork chops and my dislike for "pan-fried" pork chops. 


I made these pork chops twice now, the first time the chops were cut more thick, so they came out a lot more tender. The second time, the pork chops were cut thinner so not as good. So if you want to make this, remember to tell the guy (or girl) behind the meat counter to cut the chops thick.

The Good and the Bad at Mela Indian Cuisine

I am on Menupalace's mailing list, and once in awhile, I get emails about restaurant promotions. The ones I particularly love are the 50% off nights - where everything on a restaurant's menu is 50% off (excluding alcohol). It is usually offered only on a weeknight (scheduled a few weeks from the day you receive your email), at two seatings (usually 6pm or 8pm), and is recommended that you call in advance for reservations. Mela Indian Cuisine was the participating restaurant several weeks ago, so I dragged my friend Ed to go with me after work.


Before making a reservation, I usually check the restaurant's menu online to see if the place looks decent or if it's even worth going (50% off doesn't necessarily mean I will go for sure). Mela had an extensive menu, and it has been ages since I've had Indian food. PERFECT!


We went for the 6pm seating so the sun was still out. As you can see there's a patio option outside but the weather wasn't warm enough yet at the time.

The "reviews and menu" display. Not too shabby! You can also find them online here.

Apple Crumble Pie

I love apple pie, especially when it's served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top - it's really the ultimate comfort food/dessert. To be honest, I don't know anyone that doesn't like apple pie.


Anyway, I found this simple apple pie recipe from allrecipes.com. It has gotten 561 reviews, with an average of 4.5 stars out of 5. I browsed through some of the comments and made some changes to the recipe on my own. I liked the pie a lot, especially when it was fresh out of the oven. However, after a couple of days, I found that the apples slices got all mushed up and gooey - it was no longer individual apple slices. Oh well, I guess like other baked goods, it is always best to finish it ASAP.


Apple Crumble Pie
(adapted from allrecipes)


Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust
• 5 cups apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened

I bought 6 Granny Smith apples and ended up using only 5 (1 apple = 1 cup)

Coco Lezzone

For my friend, Ray's birthday, him and I went to Coco Lezzone for dinner. I've been there once eons ago, while Ray has been there a couple of times. 


Ray is my best friend and my original food buddy. Back in our university days, I would tempt Ray to skip lectures so we can go for out lunch instead.  We would also venture off to different restaurants around town after class and eat ourselves silly. After university, we discovered fine dining and would go through Winterlicious / Summerlicious meals like they were free. He is now in a different stage in life, and off to bigger and better things, which leaves me, poor me, in a constant search for foodie friends to fill the void he left behind. Anyway, he was able to spare some time out of his hectic schedule a couple of weeks ago so I can treat him for dinner =P


Coco Lezzone is located in the heart of Little Italy on College St. It is a pretty casual Italian restaurant with a patio out front. It also has sliding glass doors that can open all the way to the side for the summer.

The Wagyu Beef Brisket Burger at Nota Bene

After hearing from a friend that Nota Bene is featuring the Wagyu Brisket Burger for the month of May, I knew I had to go try. The problem is finding people go with me! You're probably wondering why that is a problem. Well the problem is that this succulent Wagyu burger is priced at $42 (I emailed Nota Bene to find out the price since tactfully not indicated anywhere on the promo). Uh huh... *nods*...Yup... $42 for a burger...no doubt a gourmet burger at that. But let me tell you, it is really the best burger I've ever had in my whole life - the Wagyu simply renders me speechless after my first bite. And my friends, I'm not kidding.


Nota Bene, named Canada's Best New Restaurants in 2008 from both TORONTO LIFE and Air Canada's EN ROUTE Magazine, and voted as one of Canada's Top Ten New Restaurants by WHERE magazine, is already quite well known for their Stilton Beef Brisket Burger ($19) which is offered on their regular menu. After some research, it seems like even this Stilton Beef Brisket Burger was getting a ton of praises from several food forums. So having never been to Nota Bene, I knew this is the perfect chance to pay a visit to this renowned restaurant. And the Stilton Beef Brisket Burger can step aside, I knew I would have to go all out and get the Wagyu Beef Brisket Burger, once and for all.

Wedding Feast - Second of Six for 2010

Not sure if you noticed, but the number of weddings that I will be attending this year has jumped from four to six (my last post about weddings was a month ago, titled "Wedding Feast - First of Four for 2010"). Yeah, not sure how it happened, but it did! And it just so happens that they are spaced out with one every month till October - so one feast per month...I can certainly handle that! 

So two weeks ago, my friend had her wedding reception at Diamond Banquet Hall at First Markham Place. Diamond is also a Chinese restaurant that serves dim sum by day, and  Guangdong dishes by night. The banquet hall / restaurant can accommodate around 30 tables, which works out perfectly for her lovely evening reception.

Cute towel origami puppies~

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been a loooonnnggg time since I've blogged about  baking, that's because I simply haven't baked for a really long time! The reason behind this baking drought is due to the mere fact that I was sick of making muffins - I needed something more challenging (relatively speaking), a recipe where I would actually need my Mom's Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer (which I have now inherited and is at my boyfriend's house! YAY!). And to celebrate such joyous occasion, I made my favorite chocolate chip cookies.


Below are my two loves: my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and my stack of chocolate chip cookies =)

Sidecar Bar and Grill

Sidecar is located in the heart of Little Italy, and it is again another great restaurant suggestion from my friend Cindy. Honestly, she should really be the one blogging about food because she recommended close to 90% of the restaurants I blog about. Anyway, she told me about this great prix fixe menu that Sidecar regularly offers from Sundays-Wednesdays, which is a 3-course meal for $25. What a steal, right?


So after work on a Tuesday, we met up at Sidecar. We didn't make any reservations since we thought it's only Tuesday, so should be OK right? WRONG. Tables were all booked up, the only tables available were at the back patio. Thank goodness the weather was beautiful that day, so we had no problem sitting at the back courtyard.