Hip + Urban Girl Guide's Cookies & Champagne Party 2011 (GIVEAWAY)

It's that time of year again, ladies! HUG's Second Annual Cookies & Champagne Party ^_^

Not sure what this party is all about? Read my blog post from last year's Cookies & Champagne party where I baked my favourite chocolate chip cookies! I had such a great time and I can't wait to attend this year =)

HUG describes their Cookies & Champagne party as: 

"a champagne-infused all-girl networking sesh + modern cookie swap"

Interested in going? 

I'm giving away ONE ticket to this awesome party. 

Your ticket includes:

♥ A complimentary glass of Barefoot sparkling wine

♥ Access to the cookie exchange, networking party and mini Christmas market

♥ Delectable sandwiches & refreshment from Yes to Fresh and FIJI Water

♥ Interactive Photo Booth & Red Carpet Arrivals from Olympus Canada

♥ With more SURPRISES to come

To enter, simply leave a comment below, telling me what your favourite cookie is and I will randomly draw a winner on Friday, November 18th (Hip + Urban Girls ONLY please).

GOOD LUCK! 

Click here for more information on HUG's Cookies & Champagne party. 

Click here to purchase tickets to the HUG's Cookies & Champagne party.

Acadia (Part II)

The Acadia (Part I) post yesterday detailed my dinner at Acadia around a month ago. I ordered off their menu and everything was fantastic. It was after that dinner that I declared Acadia as my favourite restaurant in Toronto ^_*

Little did I know, I was in for even more great food. This post, Acadia (Part II), summarizes in pictures the tasting menu I had when I went back to Acadia with my best friend, Ray, a week ago. Below are all the dishes we had that night and thanks to Chef Matt Blondin, he gave us a few extra dishes too =) We were both blown away with everything that came out of the kitchen! If these pictures don't entice you enough to go to Acadia, then there's something terribly wrong with you.

Okay enough of me rambling. It's Friday and it's time for some food p0rn =D Enjoy!

Pickles

Acadia's Cornbread - maple / pumpkin butter

Northumberland Strait Scallops - chicken crackling, parmesan crisp, watermelon rind, basil

Halibut Cheeks - blue cornmeal, pickled prawn, sugarcane chow chow, mirlitons, buttermilk

Salted char - plums, laurel leaf, apples and beet

Shrimp Grits - Anson Mills Antebellum Grits, oyster mushroom, pimento cheese, ham hock consomme

Yarmouth Albacore - blackened spices, celery maque-choux, brown butter hollandaise, tarragon

Yellow Snapper - chanterelle mushroom, double smoked bacon, Sea Island red peas, winter savory

Coffee Braised Short Rib - sorghum grain, savory cush cush, red eye sauce, tobacco leeks

Collard Greens - pancetta, licorice cream

Poached Bartlett Pear - condensed milk cake, pumpernickle, malt syrup

Sweet Potato Custard - molasses cookie, raisins, graham cracker ice cream

Ray is now completely sold on Acadia; he says he will be taking his wifey there soon too (Rian, you can use this post as proof if he ever denies that lol). 

Acadia (Part I)

Acadia (Twitter: @AcadiaToronto, Facebook: Acadia Restaurant & Bar), located on Clinton just north of College, is probably one of the hottest, most-talked about restaurant in Toronto right now and I gotta be honest, it really lives up to the hype- Acadia is currently my favourite restaurant in Toronto (I've been there 3 times already =P) and even though it may sound a bit excessive, I am sure I will be going back very soon (as I heard that new dishes are in the works!) I think Acadia is really an exciting and much-needed addition not only to Little Italy, but to the city as well.


The ambiance and decor at Acadia is pretty casual; there's nothing pretentious about it and that's exactly why I love it there. However, the food at Acadia is anything but casual...I will get into that later ^_^  

Acadia is separated into two dining areas: the main room (which I find can get a bit noisy) and another room which has the bar and open kitchen. 

Because of my love for seeing all the action in the kitchen, I reserved a table right next to it =D That's Acadia's Chef de cuisine, Matt Blondin (his back to us) and the sous chefs in the kitchen. 

My cocktail in a tiki glass~ 

I had dinner with the lovely couple Richard (@mrsharpphoto) and Robin (@sharp_photo) that night. Please visit Robin's food blog If Looks Could Fill for her thoughts on our dinner at Acadia.


Acadia's Cornbread with sweet potato butter - on the house and one of my favourites at Acadia. Served hot, the cornbread is soft and spongy. 

The maple / pumpkin butter in a cute bottle for you to squeeze some on the cornbread. Tasty...

APPETIZERS

Boudin Stuffed Quail - cane syrup glaze, Orleans mustard, collard greens, benne seed brittle ($13)

Halibut Cheeks - blue cornmeal, pickled prawn, sugarcane chow chow, mirlitons, buttermilk ($12)

The Winner of the $50 Gift Card to F'Amelia is....

@MarkChuraman

Congratulations! =D Please email me at foodjunkiechronicles@gmail.com with your mailing address. I will then forward your info to F'Amelia (they will be mailing you the gift card). Congrats again and I hope you will enjoy your gift card at F'Amelia!

I also want to say a big THANKS to the 86 contestants who participated in the giveaway! 

To ensure my followers that I am 100% honest when I say the winner is picked RANDOMLY, I will always show you guys how I went about tracking each contest. Even though my contests in the future may not be exactly the same as this one, be rest assured that I will go through the same process with due diligence ^_^


Here's a snapshot of the Excel spreadsheet where I tracked the #FameliaGC stream from day one of the contest. The tracking was done using chronological order, as in, #1 was the first person who entered right the contest. To enter, the person has to tweet "I want to win a $50 gift certificate to @FAmeliaRisto! http://bit.ly/vAnbfm #FameliaGC". Once the contest was over and everybody's entries were accounted for in my spreadsheet, I went to check if they actually followed me on Twitter (I also sent the below list of contestants to F'Amelia for them to look over).

After weeding out the people that did not follow both F'Amelia and I on Twitter, I was left with 64 contestants. I went to "True Random Number Generator" from random.org to randomly pick a winner for me from 1 to 64.

Contests are always fun, yes? Next giveaway coming verrrrrry soon! ^_^

Kenzo Japanese Noodles House (The Annex)

Toronto has a lack of ramen places. This is not a secret and everybody knows this. I don't really know the reason(s) behind it as Toronto is such a big city.  It's kinda like how izakaya only caught on big in Toronto with the opening of Guu Izakaya a year and a half ago when really, izakaya has been around for a long time.


Besides Kenzo and Ajisen being the two more well known ramen places in downtown Toronto, are there anymore? Please let me know because I do not like Ajisen at all (and I'm glad I can resort to Kenzo now). I haven't been to the Ajisen's chinatown location but I have zero desire to as I was not impressed with both their Markham and North York locations.


I went to Kenzo this past Tuesday with 8 other people. It was a late night and we were all starving!

"Kirin Good Fortune Cat" behind me.

Matcha Smoothie - Mack (@MackChiu) loves matcha so he wanted to try this. He said it wasn't much of a smoothie as it wasn't "smooth" at all - the ice wasn't blended enough.

Between the 9 of us we were given two tiny bowls of these wasabi beans to share. Not complaining since it is free. Okay maybe 1-2 extra bowls would be nice =P

Gyoza - Japanese pan fried dumplings ($8.95)

Everybody loved these gyozas. I usually don't expect much when I order gyozas at restaurants but these were genuinely very delicious. It had a lot of both vegetables and meat. They were also nicely pan-fried and not oily.

Bar Vespa

Bar Vespa (@BarVespa) is one of two new restaurants that opened up in Liberty Village recently (the other restaurant being Williams Landing). I hope this trend continues and more and more restaurants open up in the area! Anyway, as Bar Vespa says on their website, Bar Vespa is 


"...a casual Italian tavern where people gather to enjoy antipasti with wine, a plate of pasta or Italian feast, all served with the warmth and hospitality of family. Located in Liberty Village, this rustic, casual Italian bar brings with it a philosophy of fresh ingredients and friendly staff..." 


I went there for lunch one day with my friend, Manley (@manleyh) and her two friends. Too bad it was already getting too cold for the patio. 

The black and red gives off a very modern and sleek feel to the restaurant...so I wouldn't say it's "rustic".

Even though not rustic, I still like the decor at Bar Vespa. I'm a sucker for brick walls (not sure why). I especially like the high ceiling and the bar area.

Various fixtures that caught my eye at Bar Vespa ♥

Italian Sidecar - Limoncello, Cointreau, Prosecco Serinissimo ($12) - Last time at Williams Landing I only had water; I wanted to be a responsible and sober employee after lunch. I don't know what happened at Bar Vespa but all that went out the window.

Fishbar

Fishbar (@_fishbar) on Ossington is a tapas style wine bar dedicated to oysters and seafood. The Ossington strip is home to some of my favourite restaurants in Toronto such as Pizzeria Libretto, Foxley, and Golden Turtle. It's definitely a very happening neighbourhood in terms of food.


I went with a group of seven friends to Fishbar several weeks ago. We wanted to try it out because Fishbar is very active on Twitter, constantly tempting their followers with pictures of ceviche and oysters haha. Most of the seafood offered at Fishbar is also sourced locally and is Ocean Wise Sustainable Seafood.


The sign outside Fishbar (left) and a list of oysters available that day written on the mirror near the entrance inside the restaurant (right).

Oysters on the bar.

Our table was at the back of Fishbar. As you can see, the restaurant is very long and narrow.

My view...

A cool set of mirrors above me. However, my friend Diana (@pronosher) didn't like it after awhile as she was getting a bit dizzy from looking at it (especially because the ceiling fan was on). 

Octopussy Martini - Vodka, fresh oyster (2 oz, $11) - I had to get this because it is Fishbar's signature cocktail. I didn't like it though; I found it really salty. Others took a sip and thought it was ok...maybe I just don't like martinis.

Shrimp Caesar Cocktail - Fresh horseradish, vodka, wild caught shimp (2oz, $11) - Went back to my favourite cocktail, the Caesar (I couldn't finish the Octopussy Martini). This is not just any normal Caesar but a SHRIMP Caesar with a ball of horseradish on it! Ohhh this was so good and tasty =) I could drink probably 3 to 4 of these.