Category Archives: Eat & Drink

15

Aug. ’10

I is for Inspired

Julia Roberts having a relationship with her pizza in “Eat, Pray, Love”

A couple of days ago my oldest sister called and said, “Let me take you out to lunch for your birthday.  I know this great pizza place on Ossington.”  “Sure!”  I said.  I didn’t tell her my birthday was in May, I just figured she was confusing me with our other sister whose birthday is in August and I am not one to say no to a free lunch.  I brought my daughter, Evangeline, as a diversionary tactic so we could forget whose birthday is whose and the more the merrier.  We met at Pizzeria Libretto, 221 Ossington Avenue, just south of Dundas St West.  Ossington is a happening street, Evangeline and I had been there the week before to check out the Top Shop in Jonathan and Olivia just down the street from Libretto’s.  Oh how we love Top Shop in London where you can shop, eat, and get your nails done, why bother seeing Buckingham Palace?  Anyway, Libretto’s pizza is just like the pizza in Naples.  The crust is thin and soft, and cooked for 90 seconds in a super-duper hot oven.  I ordered sausage with chili oil and upon my first bite, I thought I was eating Indian foode, because the dough was similar to naan bread and then there was the mixture of flavour of fennel and chili.  It was a marriage made in heaven, and y’all know how I love Indian foode.  The others had the classic margherita pizza with an arugula salad and chocolate gelato for dessert.  I am dying to go back now!   That’s the thing about great pizza, more is better.  Then afterwards, Evangeline and I went to see Eat, Pray, Love.  Say nothing, I’m blocking my ears, I don’t want to hear your mocking taunts.  A couple of years ago, when I was part of a book club, one of the books we had to read was EPL and I loved it.  For one, it was easy to read because it was like a magazine article.  Also I had admiration for someone who could leave their life and go travel for a year.  “She’s so self-indulgent!” one of the ladies said.  In case you’ve been on another planet, this book (and now movie) is about a woman, Elizabeth Gilbert, from New York who dumps her husband, screws an actor, then decides to go on a trip for a year:  first to Italy to stuff her face and enjoy eating without having to worry about a muffin top, then to India to pray and find focus and coming to realize that ADD is part of God’s plan, and then to Indonesia to learn to love without losing herself in a man and then ending up in a book club.  And Javier Bardem is hot, hot, hot, hot, hot:

And why do I keep forgetting this?  Oh yes, because he is married to Sea Biscuit.  Meow.  Anyway, I loved the movie.  And Libretto’s.  And so maybe I won’t be going to Italy, India, and Indonesia for an entire year but in a single day I can eat pizza, take a yoga class, and troll the internet on ChatRoulette.  Life is good wherever you are.

Posted by . Categories: Eat & Drink, Field Trip, go girl. Tags: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

08

Aug. ’10

Eat, Walk, Pray You Don’t Spill

Pilaros Taste of The Danforth Festival

The annual Greektown festival of street meat and frivolity on Danforth between Broadview and Jones is on in full force this weekend.  You know how I love a road closure and a self contained food item that can be eaten while in motion.  The other day, I was driving along Queen east of Parliament when I saw the Road Closed sign, I got excited and said; “Look it’s a festival!”  My daughter replied:  “It’s construction, Mother.”  No pulled pork or iced cold lemonade at that road block…..or was there?  Anyway, last month we had Little India and The Beaches Jazz Festival and now the biggest and grandest of them all, Pilaros Taste of the Danforth.  I had the first pork souvlaki on a pita near the Jones entrance, a beautifully folded over sandwich with tzatziki, sliced tomatoes, and some onions.   Yes the onions spilled out but most important, the tzatziki stayed put and the kebab meat slid out of the stick easily.  And as a side, I had a fantastic spanakopita, the Greek spinach pie in pastry.  I could have eaten more but I didn’t want to push my luck.  Here are some pics of the festival:

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02

Aug. ’10

Loca Goes Loco

Chino Locos tasty good burritos

Sometimes I feel like I’m the female version of that gobbling, carnivorous maniac, Guy from my fave show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network.  I love a hole in the wall!  And I love a meal all neatly wrapped up in an edible form, ie. falafels, rotis, and dosas, cutlery optional.  But you know, I’m not really a foode blogger per se, more a blogging diarist, so I will tell you what led up to my delightful first time visit at Chino Locos-tasty good burritos.

Freddy:  What’s for dinner?

Me:  I don’t know, I don’t have anything planned.  Do you have any ideas of what you want?

No answer.

Me:  Tell me what you want.

No answer.

Evangeline pipes in:  Not burgers!  I’m sick of burgers!  We need to eat healthy, blah blah blah….

Me:  Get in the car.

Chino Locos at 4 Greenwood Avenue off Queen St. East is a hole in the wall with a colourful sign that I have been passing by for months, intrigued. “I must try this place some day,”  I say to myself  and then promptly forget.  If Diners Drive Ins and Dives didn’t feature a Mexican sandwich the other day, I wouldn’t have thought of it.  Today was the day, by the way.  It’s a cute little place, not so much eat-in but you could if you want, with an open kitchen and a friendly staff of two.  It’s called “Chino” because the burritos have an Asian influence:  edamame beans and black beans and if you like, noodles instead of rice.  The owner/chef Minh La was there, and yes, he is loco crazy but also super friendly, check out their website here, call ahead to order and pick up or have them cater an event.  We ordered chicken burritos all around and they are delicious, filling, and healthy!  And they are mighty big burritos, I’m saving my other half for *brunch* tomorrow (and finishing off that bottle of tequila).

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25

Jul. ’10

One is the Only Number

The Only Cafe, Danforth at Donlands

Last week, one of my friends’ Facebook status read:  “I’m off the Island, it was a rough dive but an easy swim. ”  It’s Toronto in July, everyone and his FB buddy is at some cottage somewhere fighting mosquitoes so I took her message literally.  But then yesterday she IM facebooked me:  “I’m single now, have great stories, let’s go for brunch!”  Yay!  Brunch, I’m in!  You know, I used to hate that word “brunch”, just pick a meal and call it breakfast or lunch, why don’t you?  And then I realized “brunch” is just an polite Anglo Saxon term for drinking booze at breakfast.  Most ladies who brunch in the East End go to Joy Bistro and order a mimosa with Norwegian Eggs Florentine so I suggested going there but my FB buddy, Dolores (not her real name) ixnayed it.  “Let’s get dirty,” she said.  So off we went to The Only Cafe for eggs, sausages, and pints of Wellington.  The Only Cafe is that beacon of colour in that otherwise dreary section of The Danforth near Donlands.  It’s graffiti art on the outside and a mish mash of decor on the inside with an impressive selection of beer on tap.  There’s a patio in the front and a quiet one in the back where you can languish all afternoon and chat away without judgment.  Newly single Dolores talked about her breakup (very exciting except that it turned out that “diving off the island” was just a metaphor) and we also discussed the ramifications of Facebook.  She defriended him but he kept her friends as his friends and since they broke up he makes sure he writes witty comments on their statuses so that she can see them and that way she won’t forget him.  There’s a smart man.   She did keep his relatives as her FB friends because the actual process of defriending someone is a political statement that requires quite a bit of emotional energy.  I hate it when people defriend me (I notice!) but then I’m sure my Farmville activity last spring was unbearable when they were reading their updates, so I try not to take things too personally.  And I have always found it strange that Facebook suggests putting a  relationship status in your profile section.  How bad would you feel if your beloved chose the “it’s complicated” as an option?  If you’re a man, let’s face it,  the only reason you choose “in a relationship” or “married” is because a certain someone p-whipped you into it.  If you’re a woman and you choose the “single” option then people think you have cats.   And some folks get all paranoid about Facebook;  “I’m being stalked!”  Nobody is stalking you, honey, unless they are sitting in a tree looking in your bathroom window, don’t flatter yourself.  If they’re looking at your profile, consider yourself lucky that someone cares.  My motto:  Just keep it light and happy and pretend Facebook is like being out in a public cafe where you conduct yourself in a civilized manner.  And you can play that mutated form of Scrabble called Lexulous!  And post blog entries!

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24

Jul. ’10

They Come In Droves

This weekend is the Beaches Jazz Festival and for absolute sure, the highlight of every East Ender’s calendar year.  I know it is mine.  It is part music, part freak show, and a fine excuse to eat pulled pork which hardly ever happens for me.  They close off the streets, so again you get to walk in the middle of the road!  This has been going on for some twenty odd years and every year it gets better and better.  Our friend, Lido, does the most amazing job putting this on so don’t miss it, and you can park in my back yard!  Here are some pics (worth a thousand words):

Beaches Jazz Festival Balloon Man, look for his profile on Plenty Of Fish

Two wolf moon

every girl’s best friend, the oyster shucker shucking an oyster

the pulled pork parfait

I need to pause at this one.  Definitely one of the highlights at the festival is the pulled pork stand featuring Hank Daddy’s Barbecue, click here and check out their website.  This would be the place to call if you had an event that needed catering.  The smartest street foode ever:  the pulled pork parfait:  layer of mash potato, pulled pork and gravy, another layer of mashed potato with pulled pork, then topped with beans!  In a plastic parfait glass!  You know, the sky is the limit with this one, I may eliminate all my plates at home and serve everything like this then we can always eat dinner in front of the tv.  Dirty secret:  my house rule is that anything that can be served in a bowl, ie. chili, stew, can be eaten on the couch while watching Family Guy.  Anyway, here’s more of the Jazz Festival:

the bands are set up all along Queen Street

more foode!

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21

Jul. ’10

Blood, Sweat, and Crabgrass

crabgrass, in case you were wondering

Last night my neighbours, The Chore Family, came back from a 10 day holiday.  Yes, I watered their plants on the front porch but I also watched their lawn go from perfectly evened shards of straight up grass (with a ratio of 5 to 1 clover) to something chaotic as though their lawn developed tumours with cowlicks on them.  “Sorry, sorry,” I said, ” I don’t know what happened!”  

“No worries, Peterson,”  they replied, “That’s crabgrass.  Thanks for watering our plants,  here’s a bottle of Tequila!”  And by the next morning, when I got up to walk  Betty, the “crap grass”  was already pulled up and a new day had begun.  I started pulling up some of it  in my garden but I had no gloves and the roots are so deep.  Maybe with the right tools?  Still, Chore Family seems to use their hands.  Or maybe weeding and whatnot is just not the nitpicking habit I have.  So far this summer, I have irrigated my ears twice, all that pool swimming causes blockage.  Also I booked an appointment to donate blood.  I like to do this regularly because it’s refreshing, I think it gets the system in gear, and therefore the mojo rumbling.  Although the last couple of times I was refused because hemoglobin levels were low which says a lot about my dating life.  Yes, it’s *iron* I am lacking.  Anyway, the Manulife Centre is where I went, thay have a permanent clinic and will validate your parking for two hours.  And!  Starbucks donates their apres-bleeding treats which, along with the usual Peakfreens biscuits, is worth the trip if you are a foode whore.  You know, it took less than half an hour, in and out, so there’s no excuse not to give, go here and find out how.

Posted by . Categories: Eat & Drink, Field Trip, Get out of your comfort zone. Tags: . 3 Comments

19

Jul. ’10

Gidget Goes To Mumbai

Rogers at the Gerrard Street Festival

Yes, Rogers, I don`t hate you anymore.  I am still wary of your monopolizing ways, but you have me at  ON DEMAND.  In an effort to pinch some pennies, latte factor-style, I decided to give in to that bundle that Rogers offers where your phone, cable, and internet are at a supposed discount.  It turned out I would still be saving money if I gave in and got one of those boxes that I have been resisting for years because it’s just one more gizmo I have to break in.  Not knowing how to use something causes too much anxiety which is why I didn’t answer my i-Phone for a month when I first got it and why I took the TTC when I got a car with manual transmission.  It turns out I was afraid of nothing.  The box is as easy to use as my own, just press the buttons.  So for the past week I have been holed up in my darkened ashram watching tv.  I have seen Gidget twice because I can!  I can watch my beloved Dr. Oz whenever I want!  I’m able to order things, this is where the latte factor may not work out, except whenever I go to Blockbuster to rent something, I end up with candy and something from the previewed bin that I probably have seen before and will watch again when it aired on tv organically, which is why I have seen Bridget Jones Diary so many times that I should be embarrassed. None of it makes sense, latte-wise.  So anyway, yesterday, I decided it was time to turn off the tv (by the way, ROD has A Single Man this month, it’s fantastic, watched it three times!) and I headed up the street to the Gerrard Street Festival.  I love when they close the streets to traffic, it feels like you’re breaking the law walking in the middle of the road but you’re not because the cops are smiling at you:

Also I love eating while walking.  I had naan bread and tikka chicken from one of the vendors.  I’m going back for more today, and the Dosa eating contest in on today at 4pm!  The Calcutta-like heat wave is perfect for walking around the festival.  The foode is delish and the colours are spectacular!

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10

Jul. ’10

One For My Baby (And One More For The Road)

Tomorrow the boy goes off to camp for two weeks for the fifth year.  I always think before he goes:  He’s a tiny baby, how will he survive in the wild?  Actually, now I’m thinking how will the wild survive with Bigfoot in their midst?  He’s all spindly arms and giant veins with huge and hands and GI-NORMOUS feet that shuffle through the city streets looking for food.  Burgers, of course:  The Burgers Priest, Great Burger Kitchen, The Burger Shoppe have fed the Freddy.  And every Friday, Pizzaiolo brings him his large pepperoni with a Brio.  This Friday though, I thought I’d do something special and take him to the new pizza joint, Viccino Pizzeria, at 1923 Queen Street East, just east of Woodbine.  Before going in, I was kind of hoping it would be kind of like that pizza place in Do The Right Thing, which is one of my favourite summer movies and so influential that I still pronounce “mozzarella” like “mooza-f**king-rella” when I’m ordering it at a cheese counter, I just can’t help it.  Here we’ve been having a hot spell and I love when movies depict heatwaves as backdrops for crazy volatile behaviour like in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Dog Day Afternoon, good sweaty fun!  Anyway, I was half expecting one of those pizza places with checkered table cloths, Chianti bottles for candle holders and signed Hollywood photographs of the owner with Italian-American celebrities like Danny Aiello and John Tarturro.  Inside was quite fancy in that haute urban pizza parlour way, with the exposed kitchen in the back, featuring the soon-to-be-famous wooden pizza oven.  I found out this thing was a work of art, specially custom crafted and unlike any oven anywhere else.  It’s a family run business and our waiter (nephew of the owner) was really friendly.  There are several pizzas to choose from, as well as build your own, I ordered a chicken gorgonzola with caramelized onions….Freddy ordered ****pepperoni****am rolling my eyes, Jughead needs to step up his game.  The personal size is a medium, and they are quite big but!  Holy Heaven was in that crust!  Apparently there is something magic about the oven that makes it so fantastic.  Both Freddy and I tend to leave crust-bones behind for Betty the dog but this time, we inhaled them ourselves.  They did play Frank Sinatra which made the experience authentic and also helped us helped keep the pace.  Freddy ate the whole thing, nice and easy does it, and I saved a piece for Evangeline which I ate on the way home, call me irresponsible!

Viccino Pizzeria, 1923 Queen St East 416-693-1010, eat-in, takeout, or deliver!

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27

Jun. ’10

Me So Hungry

I’m tired of  figuring out what to eat and when to eat it.  I’m also tired of this daily yoga crap.  Today is Day 26 of the 30 Day Beaches Bikram Yoga Challenge and guess what I did?  I skipped it!  So send me to the bowels of Hell,  I will double up on Tuesday and go at 6am and then at 5:30pm, just  watch, I’ll do it.  The thing that makes me crazy is scheduling feeding times.  An empty stomach and yoga are best friends, once you have something in there, even a fig newton, things go awry.  Today I just want to stay home and not move.  The G-20 has all Torontonians in a state of submission.  And who doesn’t love a diversion?  A medium-sized earthquake, a gathering of world leaders blocking off the downtown core, and a new burger joint in the hood and I’m a happy camper.  The latest hamburger stand in question is called The Burger’s Priest and it is causing much controversy around these parts, ie. my house.  It’s a tiny place with a few stools located east of Coxwell on Queen.  Like Burger Shoppe and  Great Burger Kitchen, the priest burger uses organic meat (ground an hour ago!), but unlike the other two, The Burger’s Priest doesn’t have a whole lot of excess theme toppings other than onions and ketchup.  The default burger is a cheese burger and there is a thing called The Option.  You can put The Option on your burger or you can have The Option if you are a *vegetarian*.  I want to keep The Option a secret so you can be as surprised as I was.  Spoiler Alert:  It’s a Portobello mushroom stuffed with cheese and deep-fried in batter.  When I first found out, I had a culinary boner.  I know from past experience, cheese and mushrooms are visually foode porn.  And I also know anything can be deep fried.  But when I actually ate it, I was spooked…maybe these two should hang out elsewhere.  The Olive Garden, perhaps. The burgers are delish, absolutely, but they are petite.  In their petiteness, they are probably the correct portion which is the size of a deck of cards or the palm of your hand…NOT giant Tarot Cards, or Godzilla’s mitts.  Get used to it, Fatty.  My Jugheaded son, Freddy, will have to order two or three to be satiated but it is the perfect size for my daughter, Evangeline, who is waffling on being a *vegetarian.*    And when I frame a word with **, I am curling my hair and brushing my teeth.  Me, I am happy eating anything with fries, ie. the devil’s starchy fingers.  These ones are the skinny delicate “frites”, the kind that come without guilt because you barely need to chew them.  Also, you can park at the Liquor Store, pick up some Devil’s Pale Ale to wash it down and go to *Confession* the next day.

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18

Jun. ’10

Every Dog Has Her Day

I’m on Day 18 of the 30 Day Bikram Challenge!  I`m over the hump and feelin`good, I could go on forever but I won`t, don`t worry.  This yoga fog can`t last.  I`m neglecting my posts and my personal grooming.  I think all that heat is breaking capillaries on my face at an accelerated rate and I can`t be bothered to put the slap on to cover them up.  Also I am pretty much wearing the same thing everyday:  England World Cup tshirt and I don`t even care if they win or lose.  One thing I have been doing is redecorating my living room and if I do say so myself:  It is kick-ass.    Except for one thing.  I need to hang the curtain brackets which means I need a man with a drill to help me.  I have let my needs be known and yet no one has risen to the task.  What happened to the benevolent universe granting wishes to people who bought the DVD of  The Secret?   Does the universe even know I exist?  At least the universe knows my dog, Betty, exists.  Yesterday she got a bone and then some.

Betty meeting Rocco at the off leash dog park

The other day I was watching, captivated, a show on TLC called Extreme Poodles which is a whole other topic of conversation but made me look over at Betty and say, “Betty, when was the last time we updated your profile on Facebook?”  So we logged on and lo and behold there was a message from the Toronto Beaches Dog Association (no I am not making it up, it exists, click here and check their website and you can `like`them on Facebook too).  The Nutromax Dog Food Company are donating a couple of benches to the off leash dog park in Kew Gardens, the one at the beach by the Leuty Lifeguard Station.  They were also giving out free samples AND the chance to win free dog food for a year!  Talk about benevolence, match that *Universe*!  So off we went yesterday morning to beach to get some Nutro action and a little excercise.  One thing about Betty is that she is mostly a leash dog.  Her legs are about as long as my thumb so she is always at a fast trot even when I am at a slow stroll.  But an off leash park is a pretty fine thing.  Did you know that the city of Toronto plants spies in bushes and unmarked cars to ticket dog owners who let their dogs off leash in undesignated areas? 250 smackaroos for the offending canine.  Back  before Betty, when I had those two wanderlusting Shiba Inus, I would had to pay a few hundred million dollars in fines.  Penny and Cruise, they were fine dogs but with feral spirits.  And not so fun hunting them down in the middle of winter pushing a double stroller.  If the off leash park existed back then, they for sure would have found their way out.  They are probably bolting around Heaven now, chasing squirrels and rolling in dead fish, bless their little hearts. Here are the currently alive dogs on their turf:

Betty off to get her free samples

We had a fun morning.  Betty made a few new friends and got some dog food sample (venison!) and a faux-bone she can chew that cleans her teeth.  I’d like one of those, please.  And!  She won the grand prize:  free dog food for a year!  Thank you, Nutromax!

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