Cinnamon Scones

After an early routine ultrasound at the Civic Hospital, I needed breakfast or at least a snack. I wandered over to the cafeteria and was immediately drawn to the cookies, muffins, and scones. Unsure of what to get, I grabbed a cup of coffee first and then returned. Staring at all the options for a bit, I picked the cinnamon scone because it stood out. Remembering the scones I had in Toronto, I excitedly paid for my breakfast and tried to find a clean table that was well lit -- for the photos, of course.


I took a bite and began to chew. Not too dry, not too sweet. Woah! I bit into something sweet and slightly crunchy. Cinnamon bark? No, it's soft and sweet. And that's when I realized that there were cinnamon sugar pearls in it. I thought I had picked up a cinnamon raisin scone. This was so much better than that!


On my way home, I tried to remember if I ever made a tasty scone. There was this one time when I attempted to make buttery biscuits. They ended up turning into scones because of over mixing. Other than that, I couldn't recall making scones.


Then one rainy day, I woke up with the urge to eat cinnamon scones again. With a few quick searches, I realized that I actually had to buy the cinnamon sugar pearls. I'm sure I could've made something like it, but it would probably take too long. Instead, I thought about using Skor toffee pieces to make *drumroll* cinnamon toffee scones. Doooone!




I found a recipe, added more cinnamon into the dough, replaced the cinnamon sugar pearls with toffee bits. I made both regular-sized scones and mini-scones. When these were in the oven, the house was filled with the perfume of cinnamon and sugar.



Boom. They turned out d-e-ricious! I'll definitely be making more scones from now on.

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.

~*~

Updated: Breakfasts at A&W

Our family has never been big fans of breakfast. Brunch or dim sum? That's another story. But when I have to open at work, I need to eat or else I'd be a sluggish zombie. I'm usually still waking up by the time I leave the house, so making breakfast is just not ideal -- whether it's the that morning or even the previous night. The sun is usually still waking up too.




And that's where A&W comes to the rescue. For a few months working at the Costco location in Merivale, I'd go to Tim Hortons for some morning coffee or tea. Some time at the end of summer, some one told me that A&W was open for breakfast. I was so excited! The last time I had breakfast at A&W was over 6 years ago in Kingston. Lucy and I loved their breakfast sandwiches made with hamburger buns. I knew what I'd order first.


Here's the breakfast sausage sandwich combo with a hamburger bun instead of an english muffin. The sweet fluffy bun provided a nice contrast to the salty sausage patties. The hash brown that was included was super hot and crisp. They were much better than the soggy thin hash browns at Timmy's.


One morning, I ran some errands before I went to work and so I was super early -- almost 2 hours early. So I tried out their classic breakfast and received a tray with my breakfast and a mug of coffee. The tray added something special. It was a nice touch. I got comfortable and enjoyed my classic breakfast while surfing the web on their free wifi.


I've since learned that their orange pekoe tea is a better option than their coffee.

Here's some bad news though. Earlier this past weekend, I planned to grab some breakfast at A&W before work but their signs were gone. I didn't walk up to the door. It looked closed so I walked across the street for some Timmy's.

There is good news! Their voicemail says that they've closed down their store temporarily from Nov. 11th to about Dec. 9th for renovations. Huzzah! I'm eagerly waiting until they're open for business again.

*Update on December 14th: I've heard that A&W has been reopened for a few days now. I can't wait to grab some breakfast soon.

~*~

Canadian Thanksgiving 2013

Happy belated Thanksgiving to our Canadian readers! And happy early Thanksgiving to our American readers!

Unlike past years, we just had a small family dinner with our immediate family earlier this week on Monday, October 14th. On the menu: smoked salmon cream cheese appetizers, prime rib roast, pan-dripping gravy, sweet potato mash, buttered carrots and corn, and dinner rolls. We were going to have three kinds of homemade desserts: apple pie, apple crumble, and cookies.


The day started off slowly. I didn't end up going downstairs until 11:30am. It was nice to sleep in after a hectic week at work. My brief morning began with open-faced peanut butter banana sandwiches and a cup of coffee.


We began our prep work by making pies and cookies once everyone had a bite to eat in the morning. The apples actually came from our Golden Delicious apple tree, which Dad planted about 10 years ago. Mom made the pie pastry out of Tenderflake and some butter. The apples were peeled, cored, sliced, and seasoned with brown sugar, cinnamon, and a bit of salt. Then some oatmeal crumble was made for apple crumble. There was a little confusion in the kitchen and we ended up making apple pies, apple crumble, and even an apple crumble pie. I'll touch more on that in another post. (Update: Apple Crumble Pie post is up.)


I also worked on these DoubleTree chocolate walnut cookie dough too. Once the cookie dough was done, I put the bowl into the fridge to firm up.

I've been thinking about making these beauties for a while now, well, since I stayed at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton. They gave us warm cookies when we checked in. So amazing!


Around that time, Lucy arrived and we began to snack some more. She put together a Ritz cracker with smoked salmon cream cheese, half an olive, and some dry dill. Looks good, doesn't it? Lucy even took this, and a few other, photos with my dSLR.

Costco had one of their smoked salmons on sale the during the week. Cream cheese was also on sale a week prior. So we stocked up on both of them. Dad chopped up some smoked salmon and mixed it with the cream cheese for a nice kitchen hack. The real smoked salmon pieces were so wonderful!

I was planning to make either a spinach dip or caramelized onion dip, but we loved the smoked salmon cream cheese so much that we didn't need anything else. True story.


For the sweet potato mash, the sweet potatoes were peeled and boiled. They were mashed with half and half cream, cinnamon, powdered ginger, salt, butter, and freshly cracked black pepper. There was a carrot left behind.




Once the mashed sweet potatoes were seasoned, they were spread into a baking pan and then topped off with marshmallows.

I'd use less ground ginger and add more black pepper next time. Maybe I'd bake the mashed sweet potatoes for a bit before topping with marshmallows next time. That way the mash would be hotter.


This is the prime rib roast out of the oven. The burned parts is just the cap of fat. The prime rib was baked to rare and then we had to pop it in the oven for more time. By the time it was taken out, the prime rib was medium-well.


I grabbed my camera and went back to the table but Lucy blocked me off from taking the photo. She wanted the first shot. Alrighty then. After she took the picture, I swooped in to take one on my camera.


That's most of our spread. The dinner rolls, ginger ale, and red wine are missing.


Having prime rib was a nice change to turkey. Maybe we'll try making lamb next year.

Jimmy really enjoyed the prime rib. "How do you make something like this?"

"First, you need to buy a high quality of prime ribs -- high quality. Then you just season it however way you like it; like with steak spice or salt and pepper." Lucy chimed in.

As for the desserts, I'll be writing about the apple crumble, apple pie, and apple crumble pie separately. Here are the DoubleTree chocolate walnut cookies. I based these cookies off Food Geek's recipe.

The cookies taste the best when enjoyed just like the hotel serves their cookies: warm. That way the chocolate chunks are still gooey. The proportions of walnuts and chocolate chunks to cookie dough was a bit off. I remember the cookie was chunkier. I'll have to try the recipe out again. Until then, I'll hold off on sharing it.

Cooking and baking with the family does get noisy, but that's because we all have our different ways of doing things. Things get done however elaborate the meal is. And that's because we all know how to cook and, to some extent, bake. The underlying lesson is to learn to cook and bake for yourself and others. It's a life lesson.

Birthday Brunch at Art Is In

We were going to head over to Benny's Bistro for brunch last Sunday. There were six of us though. KG suggested that we head over to Art Is In as a Plan B. At first, I thought we might be able to wait to get a table together and if we weren't able to get one, then we'd just walk to Le Moulin de Provence or something. But after a couple of busy days at work, I just wanted to keep things simple so I changed the plans the night before. Sorry guys!

We arrived around quarter after ten. The outdoor tables were full and there weren't many tables available inside. I was unfamiliar with how it worked. It looked like people at their tables had numbers, so I assumed we had to order and pay up at the front and then find a table. There was quite a bit of a line but the line kept moving. We didn't have much time to look at the brunch menu.




I was thinking of either the french toast stack or the benny.

Luckily, the people at the table by the open garage door looked like they were just finishing. They were very friendly and had a random conversation. Apparently it was national coffee day. Good thing I had ordered a cappuccino.

While waiting, I scanned the tables to see what everyone else was eating. I had actually forgot what I had ordered once I sat down. A small table, off in the two o'clock direction, had ordered the french toast stack and I thought to myself, "Oh that looks good. Why didn't I order that?"


The egg wobbled when the plate was placed on the table. Awesome. So I had ordered the french toast stack after all! It was gorgeous to look at and was very tasty. In hindsight, I could've just opened up my wallet and checked my receipt.


VN asked for their Crispy Winniped Style Cinnamon Apple Jack. It was described to her, by the cashier, that it was a crêpe with apples. That's one hefty crêpe. 

I didn't get a decent photo of KG's pancakes or J's sandwich. VN and KG both had maple butter and loved it. They were surprised how good it tasted. It definitely was not healthy. Maybe that's why it was so addictive.


G and JL both ordered the eggs benny with bacon.


Silly me. I got an almond croissant to share with VN. We didn't have any space in our stomachs to eat this during brunch.

We learned a very important lesson during our brunch. Maple butter is godly!

~*~

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.

Blendtec Training in the GTA

This past weekend, twenty seven people across Ontario and myself were sent to Mississauga to be trained on a new demo. I currently work for Professional Warehouse Demonstrations (aka PWD). We, PWD, do most of the food demos found at Costco Canada-wide. While some companies do send their own people sometimes, we do everything else. Still aren't sure who we are? We're the people behind those red tables giving out free samples of various of products.


My coworker, Glenn Coco aka GC (her alias), flew to the the Greater Area of Toronto (GTA) on Portei Airlines -- I mean Porter Airlines. We had never flown on Porter so we were both excited. Our flight left Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, we didn't get to check out Porter's lounge at the Ottawa airport.

Singapore-Inspired Kaya Toast

I've always been interested in the cuisines found in Southeast Asia. Take kaya toast for example. I have not been to Singapore but after watching numerous Youtube videos, I felt like I could recreate this dish.


Originally, I was going to attempt to make the custard from scratch using frozen pandan leaves, coconut milk, eggs, and sugar. But then I found this jar at a grocery store in Chinatown.

After doing some research online (aka watching more videos), I thought I'd just poach the eggs and then add some Golden Mountain soy sauce before dipping the kaya toast into the eggs. When Andrew and I poached the eggs, the consistency wasn't the same as the eggs I saw on all the videos. In fact, I thought the eggs that they make in Singapore were underdone. Sadly, the eggs that we poached were a tad overdone.


The sweetness from the kaya sandwich was a real nice compliment to the seasoned eggs. The kaya jam tasted predominantly of pandan, whereas, the coconut played a supporting roll. I'm a fan of sweet and savoury things like the deep-fried mochi dumplings with ground pork, Chicago Mix (caramel corn & cheddar cheese popcorn in the same bag), and Swedish meatballs with lingonberry jam. Now you can have something that's sweet and savoury for breakfast.

Do you have a favourite sweet and savoury dish?