Ottawa Street Food Showcase 2015

On a cool sunny day, the crowds were genuinely excited for the street food season to begin in Ottawa. It kicked off yesterday with many vendors setting up shop at the Marion Dewar Plaza, in front of City Hall. The Street Food Showcase donated a portion of the proceeds to the Ottawa Food Bank. It was a win-win situation, really. Not only did the crowds have a chance to check out all the options, but they were supporting a great cause.

I invite you all to use the SFAOtt (aka Street Food Adventures in Ottawa) hashtag on Instagram and Twitter.



Andrew and I went there earlier than the official start time of noon to beat the crowds.

German Town Deli: Sandwiches and Chili

I can't even count how many times that I've passed the German Town Deli on the bus. It was time for a visit.

Street Food Ottawa Adventures: Streat Gourmet and Bap by Raon Kitchen

Ottawa's food truck/stand scene is still young and blossoming. There were 17 food trucks and cart permits that were given out by the city last year. Unfortunately, I've personally only tried a few of them. I've checked out the Street Food App before and seen the options out there, I just need to start planning some outings. I'm hoping to give more of them a try and thought that it would be great if I create a new label for the series. We'll call it the Street Food Adventures in Ottawa (or SFAOtt for short). There will also be a new "street food" label too. I invite you all to use the SFAOtt hashtag on Instagram and Twitter.


Where do I begin? Andrew, our youngest brother, and I planned to go downtown to meet up with Lucy for lunch. Richard was invited by declined to complete our sibling quartet. We arrived early to ensure that we'd have a choice of everything available at the food trucks and stands. We got their a little too early and got hungry, so we tucked into the Olly Fresco's Market inside L'Esplanade for a little appetizer.

Holy! It took every ounce of self discipline not to splurge and buy and eat everything in sight. There were pierogies with sautéed onions and bacon in their buffet pans, a few kinds of soups, lots of sandwiches, and sweets. Everything looked so good. I walked around and took it all in -- the sights I mean. I'll be returning for lunch in the future. Walking around that beautiful place while hungry was a bad mistake. In the end, Andrew and I shared a pastrami sandwich on a toasted sesame seed bagel.




There were a few spots that were burned, but other than that, it was a great snack. It made us feel less antsy. I picked up a few desserts for later too. There's a date square, a red berries square (I say it's raspberry, someone else said it was strawberry rhubarb, so we'll just generalize and call it red berries), and a piece of carrot cake.


After our snack, I went to get some cash on Sparks Street, while Andrew went to pick up some dolla drinks at McD. I had planned to grab some lobster mac and cheese from the Ad Mare food truck, but by the time I returned from the bank, they were sold out. My fault. Andrew and I met back up at the Streat Gourmet food truck on O'Connor and Albert.

Based on what I've read and seen first hand, Streat Gourmet's menu changes daily. The chef, Ben Baird, is constantly tweaking and experimenting to cater to more people. I admire him for that. It takes guts but he clearly knows what he's doing. Despite not having a regular dish on the menu, he's always keeping it interesting. Some of the main offerings in the past have included things like peameal bacon sandwiches, tacos, tandoori salmon burgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and soups. Dessert options he's offered has been things like butterscotch pudding with bananas, graham crumbs, Streat cinnamon buns, cookies, donuts, and rhubarb upside down cake with whipped cream. Lots of variety.


When we arrived, they had the roast beef with potato roesti, horseradish gravy, with a salad of spinach and carrot ribbons. Andrew wanted to grab something else, so we continued to walk.


We met up with Lucy at the Bap by Raon Kitchen stand on Bank Street (between Albert and Slater). As their name suggests, they serve a Korean mixed rice (could be a mix with other grains too) dish called bibimbap.


For the protein choices, they offer tofu, beef bulgogi, spicy pork or spicy chicken. You choose to have all the toppings like egg, veggies and kimchi, or you can adjust it to your taste by telling them to leave stuff out.


Once they finish making your bibimbap, you can personalize your bowl furthermore by adding some toasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce, and gochujang (aka Korean red pepper paste or Korean spicy sauce, as it says on the label). I'm not sure if other people like having to dress their meals themselves, but we love it because then we can adjust it to our taste.

If you aren't familiar with seasoning your bibimbap, I recommend using only a few drops of sesame oil, a few swirls of the gochujang, and a few shakes of sesame seeds. Soy sauce isn't necessary, in my opinion.


There was a bit of a line but it was moving steadily. Lucy went with the tofu bibimbap, while Andrew took the beef bulgogi route. We took our lunches and retreated indoors to a nearby food court to enjoy.

My lunch from the Streat Gourmet food truck was still warm when we began to eat. The tender slices of roast beef sat on top of the potato roesti, which was a potato pancake, was quite enjoyable. As a gravy snob who loves gravy made with pan drippings and fond (the sticky caramelized stuff left on a tray after baking), I was disappointed with the gravy. I couldn't taste the horseradish at all. The gravy, which was packed in a small cup, also had a slight sweetness. I kept going back to it throughout the lunch because I tried to like it. In the end, I left the rest of the gravy alone. The final element of the lunch was the spinach and carrot ribbon salad. The salad was crunchy and the simple vinaigrette cut through the heavy flavours really well. Despite the gravy letdown, lunch was great. Other than the gravy, I finished everything -- before Lucy and Andrew even finished eating -- which is unheard of! (I'm the slowest eater of the family.)

Andrew dressed his bibimbap with all the toppings. Once he mixed everything and tucked into his lunch, he mentioned that he would've loved to add less soy sauce and more gochujang if he could redo it. Lucy used everything but the soy sauce and happily devoured her bowl of bibimbap, with the help of the Streat salad.

It's only the second season for a lot of the food trucks/stands, so they're still working out the kinks. Even if there are bumps along the way, I'll try to support them. You should too. Go Ottawa!

~*~

Addresses:

Olly Fresco's (Located inside L'Esplanade Laurier Building)
181 Bank Street
613-596-3860

Sunday Picnic Lunch at Trinity Bellwoods Park

Today was a much-needed sunny and warm day. Although I was in Toronto for the past week, I had to get out and do something earlier today. I needed to keep busy.

Lunch was found at Clafouti Patisserie et Café. We: DG, VN, and myself, picked up some things at Clafouti and crossed the street to the busy Trinity Bellwoods Park. I really enjoyed the atmosphere there. The sakura trees still had some flowers, birds were singing away, dogs were having a blast, and people were just relaxing at the park -- it was a great atmosphere.

We found a spot in the park and ate lunch. I went with the Lana Del Rey panini. It was really exciting. There were so many flavours that complimented one another with every bite; the creaminess of the garlic lemon aioli, the burst of fried onion flavour, thinly sliced pork, and sweet bun. It was so good that I wanted another one after I devoured it. VN had a nice pulled pork panini (sans the cheese). DG had a surprisingly tasty grilled veg croissantwhich. The only complaint was that we didn't want the sandwiches to finish.


We also picked up a butter croissant and almond croissant from Clafouti. We liked that the croissants were sturdier and flakier than Le Moulin de Provence's rendition.


DG said that we had to get macarons from Nadège Patisserie since we were in the area. That was perfectly fine with me.

Side notes: We heard so many comments like, "these macaroons look amazing,"and "they have the best macaroons here!" Please. They're called macarons. Macaroons are the coconut things.

Also, why is it that everyone seems to know how to make macarons? The trend bugs me. Partially cause I can't make them.

These are my trio: mint chocolate chip (in the red), pistachio, and matcha macaron. I enjoyed the latter two. DG and VN both went with the salted caramel. Wise choices. I'll be getting the salted caramel next time. We happily soaked in the warm sun before I had to catch the train back home. Thanks for the lunch date ladies! It really meant a lot to me.

~*~

Appreciation Lunch

Since our company was swamped leading up to Christmas and following the holidays, we didn't have any parties or lunches until quite late. The management organized a lunch for us earlier this month. Most of it was purchased from Costco.




There were plates of cold cuts, cheese, sandwiches, veggie platters, crackers, bread, fruits, drinks, and cake.


One of our assistant managers even made a mean vegetarian tortilla soup.


V and I ended up making ourselves simple prosciutto sandwiches. The apples made a great palate cleaner. But as I'm writing about this now, it reminds me of a prosciutto, goat cheese, pesto, apple panini I had years ago in Toronto. Ah that was one mighty fine sandwich.


Strawberry shortcake and chocolate layered cakes for dessert.

Anyway, most of us were exhausted both physically and mentally from the crazy holiday crowds. The appreciation lunch came at the perfect time.

Leftover Prime Rib: Tacos

With the leftover prime rib meat that we had for dinner a few weeks ago, I shredded some for an open-faced hot beef sandwich. It's just too easy. That was my quick lunch. We still had quite a bit of meat left. I thought of turning it into tacos. Actually, I was first tempted to chop it up and turn it into some kind of dip but thought otherwise.


Tacos. We didn't have any tortillas. Using Taste of Home's homemade tortillas recipe as a guide, I made some homemade tortillas. I didn't use as much olive oil and it still turned out soft. We rolled them out instead of pressing them.


While cooking up the tortillas on the griddle, we decided to make some cheesy quesadillas by stuffing them with mozzarella prior to cooking. They were tasty dipped with salsa.

The tortillas themselves were tender and looked good. Richard and I didn't like the taste of cheap olive oil that I used in the tortillas though. I'll try using vegetable oil instead olive oil.


For the star of the dish, the prime rib was chopped up, mixed with caramelized onions, a sauce that I made, and then reheated in the toaster oven before eating.

In the words of Richard: "Who eats prime rib tacos? We do."


What would've you done with the leftover prime rib meat?

After Work Dinner at Kelsey's

It just so happened that Andrew and I finished work at the same time. Feeling lazy, we decided to grab food before going home.







We were going to head over to Wendy's but ultimately went to Kelsey's instead. We both loved the light humour in their menu. Take a look at their "Chips & Dip"on their Starter menu. They crossed out "Koritos" because apparently their "... legal team said that was too much like that familiar cheesy tortilla chip." Beauty.


Andrew and I were both hungry but couldn't decide what to order. We munched on some spinach dip with baked pita bread as we talked about what we should get.


By the time we ordered our mains, we had almost finished the spinach dip. The Messy Fish Sandwich, made with two beer-battered haddock fish fillets, was crisp and actually wasn't that messy. Andrew said that some of the over-seasoned chips he had were stale though. Those that weren't soggy tasted great with the tartar sauce. He found the chips were too salty by themselves. The kitchen must've mixed in a new batch with the old one.




I went with the chicken fajitas. I received the tortillas along with the fixings first. Unfortunately the tortillas weren't very hot. In fact, it was still cold in the middle. The sizzling plate arrived with peppers, seasoned rice, and the chicken soon after. Instead of asking for a new batch of warm tortillas, I just heated each one on top of the sizzling platter before I ate each one.

Our dinner wasn't anything mind-blowing. We knew we'd get subpar food. The execution of the dishes were suspect, but it was still a good time.

~*~

Open-Faced Sandwiches & Macarons

One weekend, Steph and I went down to the Byward Market and picked up some stuff for lunch. We dropped by La Bottega first. I found out that although Steph was in Ottawa the whole summer, she had never had any of their sandwiches. Sad, isn't it? We picked up some smoked gouda, prosciutto, and house-made porchetta.

I've always wanted to try some of the breads at Le Moulin de Provence. This was a perfect opportunity, so we made our way down the street for some fresh bread. We didn't know what to get, I chose something that resembled a baguette - but wasn't. It was a loaf of batard. It looked great. We brought everything to Lucy and Jimmy's apartment for lunch.

(Side story: I forgot what the bread was called. "Fatarg" kept popping in my head. Google didn't help. It turned it into 'fat arg' so it gave me links with titles like "Why do I feel fat? arg!" Fail. Thanks for remembering the correct name of the bread Lucy!)

Brunch at Stone Face Dolly's

VN, KN, and I got together at Stone Face Dolly's for brunch earlier this month. We had heard good things and always wanted to try it.

Unfortunately, the waiting list got jumbled up and we ended up getting lost in the queue. We waited for almost an hour and saw other groups of people get seated before us. Some groups had the same number of people and arrived later than us. The last straw was when a large group was seated ahead of us -- they, too, arrived after us. Not cool. There was a mix up between the owner and one of the staff at the front. One explanation we got was that the other people arrived ahead of us, which wasn't true. It was a bad idea to go for brunch during a holiday weekend.

We weren't happy once we were finally seated -- hungrier than angry, but still upset. We promptly gave the waitress our order, cause we knew the kitchen was swamped as well.


VN had the banana bread french toast.


KN had one of their specials; an omelette with a loaded hash, salad, and molasses bread.




My eggs Natasha (poached eggs, English muffin, smoked salmon, spinach, and lemon diablo sauce) looked great! I was disappointed with the overdone eggs though.

Wait, upon further review...


Nope. Overdone. The egg yolk was still soft enough to mash into a jam though. I really liked the kick their lemon diablo sauce. It crept up and tickled the back of my throat. The small bottle of hot sauce on the table was great too.

Although I'd prefer going out for dim sum, I wouldn't mind going back to Stone Face Dolly's for brunch. Not only are their portions generous, but I enjoy the vibe of the restaurant.

Final Day of Training + Porter Lounge

Morning call was for 7am. My coworker, Glenn Coco aka GC, and I had no idea there was one set. I woke up so confused. I definitely got up and then crawled back into my pillow fort. We eventually got up and ready. We checked out of the hotel and then went back to headquarters for breakfast and our last day of training. You can read about the first day of training here.

There was a platter of pastries (cinnamon rolls, bear paws, and a variety of scones), bagels, muffins, yogurt, and fruits.

The chocolate croissants were a popular item the previous day, so I checked it out for myself. It was dense in the middle and wasn't light and messy -- which is what makes a great croissant.

Toronto Weekend July 2013: Part 1

We did a road trip to Toronto for our cousin's wedding last weekend. I'll break it up into two parts. Here's 1 of 2.

I tend to get car sick on road trips because three main reasons: empty stomach, being too warm, riding with a heavy-footed driver. Sometimes it's a combination of the three. The latter didn't apply during the trip. To prevent the first two, I made sure to have a snack before we hit the road and have a bottle of water to keep me cool during the trip.

Canada Day 2013

This post is dedicated to all my friends and family who spent Canada Day overseas.

Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend 2013

During the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend, I covered the 10k, half and full marathon - mainly from the trunk of the lead cars.

I arrived downtown a few minutes before the first 5k started. The second 5k group left the start line as I made my way to the media room in City Hall. 

After I picked up my credentials, I had a snack (catered by Thyme & Again) of red grapes, cheddar cheese, and what seemed like a grilled chicken club sandwich. Once I was finished, I then headed outside to find the race vehicles. 

There, I met Gord and Scott, from the Ottawa Citizen, and Javier who were riding the mens 10k lead car as well.

Here are some of my favourite photos from Saturday. You can view more of the photos I took that day here [link].

Some young kids getting ready to cheer on the 10k runners.

The lead pack running down Elgin Street.

Leah Larocque, Myriam Grenon, and Liz Maguire run together during the 10k event.

The lead pack run along a bend of the road. El Hassan El Abbassi, the eventual winner of the 10k event can be seen behind last year's winner, Geoffrey Mutai, who finished third this year.

I found myself laughing when I took this photo. It looks like Natasha Fraser is running comfortably while the elite mens' lead pack struggles to keep up with her.