20150712 Toronto Trip: Messini & Chatime

We had brunch earlier at Pho Dau Bo. Andrew and I had a free day, so we called our cousin, JT, and met her at Vaughan Mills. We browsed through a few stores and then made our way to Chatime.


There are so many choices! I went with the usual grass jelly roasted milk tea. Andrew wanted to try something new. Hilarity ensues.

20150710 Toronto Trip: Chinatown

Our cousin, JS, got married back in July, so our family planned a trip to Toronto for a few days and then we were going to make our way up to Algonqiun Park for another few days. While in Toronto, we'd have some free time so we wanted to enjoy it.

My personal favourite Chinese restaurant in Toronto's Chinatown is still the House of Gourmet. It has become a family favourite too. When we made the trip down to Toronto, we had a chance to dine at House of Gourmet for our first meal: lunch. I wanted to check out the murals on the side of the restaurant before going in. I wonder what the person in the yellow was talking about.

Cozmos Souvlaki

Our family really likes Cozmos Souvlaki. We get cravings for Greek now and then. Andrew wanted Greek for his early birthday lunch last month, so we got the Family Platter with 4 lamb and 4 chicken souvlaki skewers and a gyro meat platter to feed 6 adults.





The only thing that was left after lunch was the salad and happy faces. Wait. I recall my grandpa wasn't too pleased, as he's not a fan of anything that isn't Chinese food.

~*~
Cozmos Souvlaki
196 Greenbank Rd
613-596-4040

The Hintonburg Public House, Gelatini Gelato and Claustrophobia

To celebrate Andrew's birthday, we went to Claustrophobia yesterday. The idea behind the different game rooms is that you are "locked in" a room and have to find clues to unlock keys, which would hopefully unlock the final door within the time limit. Lucy, Jimmy, Richard, Andrew, and myself, did the Hostel-themed room. Lucy was the only one who had an idea of what to do. We were all lost and just spent the first few minutes looking for clues and writing them down. The ball got rolling once Andrew found a big clue. We solved the code and opened the first safe, which contained a key to unlock more clues. Without giving anything away, we got out in 35 minutes which was the May record for the Hostel. It really was thrilling as every combination was unlocked and it satisfying when we finally got out of the final door.




We walked down the block to The Hintonburg Public House for an early dinner. We were a bit disappointed how small the Ploughman's Plate was, but the flavours and textures were good. We really enjoyed their crunchy fries with their house ketchup and Beau's Beer Battered Fish & Chips with House Tartar Sauce. We were pleasantly surprised to find crunchy nubbins underneath the pile of fries. Our favourite! Lucy's Pink Fuzz from Beyond the Pale Brewing Co.
was bright. Jimmy inhaled his juicy medium-well cheeseburger.


Looking to satisfy our sweet tooth, we drove down to Preston Street and went to Gelatini Gelato, which is located beside the soon-to-be-opened Roberto Pizzeria. The pistachio was extremely creamy and nutty. The other flavours were refreshing. It was wonderful.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

~*~

Claustrophobia
984 Wellington Street West
Ottawa, ON
613-899-5170

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.

Sens House

It was Saturday, April 11th, 2015. The Sens were playing their last game in the regular season against the Flyers and only needed one point to clinch a playoffs spot. The same Sens were 14 points back of the last wild card spot back in February and quickly picked up steam to become the NHL's hottest team. Richard and I made plans to head downtown and watch the game with friends. There was some nervousness leading up to the game, but once it was game day, nervousness turned into excitement.


Are you a hockey fan? Do you have a team you cheer for? Where will you be watching the playoffs this year?

The Usual at Kim's Restaurant + Aladdin

Earlier last week, I found myself around Carling Avenue when running some errands. There are two restaurants that I like around there, Rice Pea and Kim's Restaurant.




On this adventure, I was craving the smoky stir-fried rice noodles with chicken (FN-04) at Kim's Restaurant. When I asked for the bean sprouts to be substituted with chinese greens (gai lan or choy sum), the owner told me that the dish didn't have bean sprouts. It was great news to me.

These were just as smoky as I remembered. The chef, who looks like the character on the menu, seasoned it perfectly. It was a solid dish which reminded me of House of Gourmet.


The order of deep-fried shrimp balls (A-11) came with only 3 shrimp balls instead of the usual 4. I've tried some of their other appetizers and some of their dim sum, but I always come back to these.


I was super full after lunch, but I couldn't help grabbing a few meat pies for the family. Aladdin Convenience & Bakery is located across the street of Kim's Restaurant. A quick run across the street and BOOM -- a bag of spicy meat pies.

~*~

Addresses:

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.

Edamame Bruschetta

While going back through my Instagram wall, I noticed that I had forgotten to write about this beauty. Back before Christmas, Vanna found a recipe for edamame bruschetta that she wanted to try out for her Xmas party. The recipe that we skimmed through was Honest Vanilla's rendition. Since we didn't closely follow the recipe, I recommend that you head over there to see the accurate measurements.

Here's the gist of the ingredients we used: frozen shelled edamame (that happened to be on sale -- bonus!), a whole whack of mint leaves, some garlic cloves, olive oil, chili flakes, salt, and black pepper. To make it fancy, we added so me oven-roasted cherry tomatoes and some charred green onions.


We started off by getting the edamame boiled. While that was doing it's thing, chopped mint was added to some chili flakes, olive oil, and minced garlic.


We also popped in some cherry tomatoes that were tossed in olive oil, and a bit of salt and black pepper. I also threw in a few cloves of garlic to make things interesting. Once the edamame was soft enough, we blended it until it had some texture and then seasoned it lightly with S&P. The final touch was charring some green onions in a bit of olive oil.

I'll be the first admit: me and vegetables don't get along very well. Despite our relationship, I loved these bruschetta! First off, you get the charred green onion character and then the sweetness of the tomatoes jumps in. Then the not-entirely-smooth edamame mix joins the party with the mint, followed by a hint of garlic and then the french bread. It was harmonious. This edamame bruschetta will definitely be making more appearances in the future. And whether you blend the edamame into a smoother mix or leave it with a bit of texture, I'm sure you'll enjoy this appetizer for lunch or even dinner. Hell, you could even turn this into a breakfast sandwich with some eggs!

Sfiha: Another Spin on Meat Pie

These were the finished product of my version of the Lebanese meat pies. We didn't have all of the ingredients in some of the recipes I found -- shocking, I know -- and so I just relied on the smell and the taste of the meat topping. This was the first time I made it, so I was a little worried about the final product.




Before I mixed the meat, I whipped up a double-batch of a yeast dough recipe I found. It almost had a 1:1 ratio of water to oil. The dough was wrapped up and allowed to rise. Then I focused my attention to the meat.

These were some of the ingredients in there: ground beef, ketchup, salt, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, and diced tomatoes. Legit, I know.


Once the dough was allowed to rise after a few hours, the dough was divided into portions, rolled out, and topped with the meat mixture. We don't have a pizza stone or anything, so I turned one of our oven pans upside down and used that as a cook top in the oven. We didn't have a pizza peel either, so I looked around the house and just used a long piece of cardboard from our Mama Instant Noodles. The cardboard was then wrapped with tin foil. Although it looked funny, it worked.




They didn't take longer than 10 minutes each. Once out of the oven, they were allowed to cool before being devoured. We probably ate half of what we made. The sfiha actually tasted similar to the real stuff at the Aladdin Bakery. The dough turned out like a crispy crumb crust, which reminded me of Joe's Pizza's aromatic crumbly dough. They were so addictive!

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.

Revisiting Buster's

Last week, I brought Mom to watch the hockey game. Since the food at the Canadian Tire Center is crappy and overpriced, we went over to Buster's Bar & Grill. With the purchase of a meal or drink the ride on their shuttle bus to the game was free.


Mom settled for the special of the night: Buster's Burger with fried mushrooms added.

I already knew I was going to get wings after my second visit to Buster's. Were they going to be crisp and juicy again? Or was that a fluke?


The 1lb medium wings were remarkably spot on!


We quickly ate what we could, put away the leftovers, and then hopped on the school bus to watch the game. The Sens ended up winning 5-4 in a shootout.

~

On another visit, Andrew and I headed over to Buster's after a long day of work. The bus ruined our original plans to go for some chicken at Zaki. The main reason I suggested Buster's was because it was near the Lincoln Fields bus station. It would be much easier to bus home after we ate.

I was craving something comforting. Their special of the day was lasagna and a salad for $6.99. Tempting. But I find lasagna only tastes good when we make it at home with our simple meat sauce.


Hot turkey sandwich is a special dish that's close to my heart. I knew that the gravy would probably be from a can or made from powder. I was hoping that I was wrong. But if I was right, I was crossing my fingers that the gravy wouldn't be offensive.

The dish didn't live up to the name of hot turkey sandwich. It was warm at best. After a two bites, I sent the plate with the waitress to get it heated up a little more. Once it returned, it was easier to eat even though it was only a tad warmer than when I originally started to eat. The gravy was probably from a can. It was on the sweeter side which was a bit odd. I still found it comforting though.


Andrew didn't know what to get. He was either going to go for the fish and chips, cacciatore chicken parmesan, or breaded chicken parmesan. The random number generator decided that the cacciatore was the one tonight.


There were peppers, mushrooms, and onions underneath that blanket of cheese. He inhaled his ginger ale and dinner, although he argues that the pace was his normal speed. He's probably right. I'm a terribly slow eater.


I tried some of Andrew's dish. Then with the small piece of cheese left I made a little poutine.

The unassuming bar and grill inside the Lincoln Fields Mall has now been added to my rotation of restaurants. Perhaps it has become a pre-Sens-game meal.

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?

Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops

Around 2am in the morning, I was in the middle of watching an Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations marathon when the scene in Naples (season 7, episode 11) transitioned from a marching band to the sound of "... slow simmering of meat in red sauce." It was like music to my ears. I wanted to eat some of the pasta tossed with the ragù and braised meats.

The next day, I found a package of lamb shoulder chops in the fridge. Mom told me that I was making dinner that night. After researching on Google for ideas, I began to get frustrated because nothing appealed to me. My mind kept wandering back to the clip of the ragù though. Done. That's what I'll try to make. I knew I wanted to slow cook the lamb and serve it separately from the pasta.


I began with dicing up onions, carrots, and garlic for the sauce. Then the lamb chops were seared with a little flour and vegetable oil. They were set aside while the sauce/braising liquid was made. Onions, and carrots were sautéed first, then the garlic was added in with some broth. A can of plain tomato sauce was poured into the pan. The sauce simmered on the stove top for a few minutes. Then the sauce and seared lamb chops were layered in a baking pan. It was put into the toaster oven at about 360F for about 3½ hours.


Richard had actually made a loaf of bread in the new bread maker. Not sure what happened with the giant air bubble at the top.




The bread was airy and moist. A little too moist though. But that didn't stop all of us from eating half of the loaf of bread before starting dinner. I guess it was the complimentary bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar you get at some restaurants.


I asked Richard to make a bean salad. Unfortunately the yellow beans, despite being rinsed a few times,  still tasted strongly of the can. It ruined the, otherwise good, bean salad.




Just like they did in the Naples episode, the pieces of braised meat was plated up and set aside. Most of the oil floating on top of the sauce was scooped out. The penne pasta finished cooking in the remaining sauce. At this point, I was getting excited at how dinner turned out.


Here was Mom's dinner plate with cognac to drink.


The lamb meat was really tender. Some of the cartilage was still a bit crunchy though. I really should've baked the lamb longer. The pasta tasted great in the sauce. It tasted even better the next day when I took it to work for lunch.


One plate of food was good for dinner. I needed a bonus round though. Just a couple extra bites.

The braised lamb shoulder chops turned out quite well. If there are tough cuts of meat on sale at the grocery stores, whether it's more lamb shoulder or even beef, I'll try to make this again cause it was a big hit with the family.


Future Tweaks:

• Cook the lamb shoulder chops for longer (over 5 hours)
• Add more tomato sauce
• Carefully go through the sauce to get rid of shards of bones
• Season the pasta more aggressively once the sauce is mixed in
• Make more bread
• Make a double batch for more leftovers