Wednesday 27 March 2013

Homemade Osso Bucco

I normally don't cook a TON of meat, but I decided I wanted to challenge myself and cook something meaty and delicious. I made Osso Bucco, and it turned out REALLY yummy. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
4 -6 veal shanks (wrapped with kitchen twine) 
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 onion
1/2 can of tomato paste
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 and half cup of white wine
teaspoon of tyme 
teaspoon of rosemary
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil 
2 cloves chopped garlic
handful of chopped parsely
zest of 1 lemon
bowl of flour
Season the shanks with salt and pepper, and then dredge each one in a little flour.

Add olive oil a large pot and let it heat on high. Add the shanks. You want to sear them for about 3 minutes on each side to get a nice brown colour.
Remove the shanks from the pot, and add in the onions, celery and carrots. Let this cook for a couple minutes until the veggies are softened. Stir in the tomato paste and white wine and cook for a couple more minutes
Add the crushed tomato and then add the veal shanks back to the pot. Bring to a boil for a couple minutes, then cover and cook on low for 2 hours (or until the veal shanks are tender and fall off the bone)
For the top of the shanks, I mixed the chopped garlic, lemon zest and parsley.  I served the Osso Bucco on top of mashed potatoes.

I actually impressed myself with this recipe! It was really delicious. Give it a try!

Happy Eating!

Saturday 23 March 2013

Gurts Yogurt and Bakery

Gurts, in Roncensville, is a quaint little bakery that serves up sweets, smoothies, tea and coffee. I stumbled in the other day craving a smoothie. 
I tried the strawberry banana smoothie. It was refreshing. I will be back to try their sweets selection soon.
Happy Eating!

Sunday 17 March 2013

Chantecler

Chantelcer is a newer restaurant in Parkdale. It is literally down the street from my place, and after hearing many good things, I have been eager to try it out. The restaurant is a small space, but has a very welcoming vibe. There is an open area for guests to watch the chefs do their thing. It was packed when I came the other night (always a good sign of a good restaurant). The menu is rather small, only about 10 things offered, but they do them right. Here's how my food experience went down:
Started with drinks. A bellwood brewery beer. 
Gin and grapefruit tonic. I loved every sip of this. I ordered a couple of these throughout the dinner.
Spicy Shrimp. This shrimp was cooked perfectly, and had a nice kick of spicy flavour. 
Beef Tartare. This came with a side of nori to use as a wrap for the tartare. This was quite delicious. There was a bold punch of wasabi in every bite. I didn't think I would love this as much as I did.
Calamari in a peanut and tamarind sauce. The calamari was perfectly tender and the sauce was SO flavourful. This is some of the most memorable calamari I have had.  
Lettuce Meal. This comes with slow braised beef, pork shoulder, pickled vegetables, korean sauces, rice and a variety of lettuce to use as wraps. 
This whole style was very Korean inspired. The meat was unreal. I apologize I didn't get a better snap of just the meat, but it was fall apart, melt in your mouth good. Everything put together in a lettuce wrap worked in perfect harmony. 

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Chantecler. The food was unique, drinks were on point (our server gave us some complimentary brandi shots at the end of our meal), the staff was friendly and the energy in the restaurant was great. I will definitely be back to try more from Chantecler's menu. You should check it out! 

Happy Eating! 
Chantecler on Urbanspoon

Saturday 9 March 2013

Epic Meal Time = just ridiculous!

Epic Meal Time videos are ...hmm how do I put this? ... fatty food adventure outrageousness ...YET weirdly entertaining. I thought I'd share this food vid with you! Warning: it gets a little disgusting. Enjoy! 
Happy Eating!

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Go Lounge

Go Lounge is a somewhat recently opened game café in Parkdale. After a couple failed attempts to get a table at Snakes and Lattes, my friend and I were on a mission to find another place we could play games all day, yet eat and drink if we desired.  We were thrilled  to discover Go lounge (which is very close to where I live).
This place has your typical café menu items (coffees, sweets etc), as well as plenty of other food options to nibble on while you play games. It also has a full liscenced bar, so if you are craving a stiff drink over a latte you are in luck!
Here’s what we had when here:
Olive Bowl
Jasmine Tea with honey
Turkey Sandwich, with tomato and mashed avocado served with a side salad
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
Guess Who, anyone?

All the food was yummy. I really enjoyed my time at Go Lounge. The owner was very interactive with us, making sure we were satisfied with food and even explained how to play some new games. The overall vibe of this place is welcoming and chill. I'm not even joking my friend and I were here for hours, and the time just flew by playing all these board games and eating! This is definitely a fun place to check out....so do it; go check it out! 

Happy Eating! 
Go Lounge on Urbanspoon

Friday 1 March 2013

Evergreen Thai Restaurant

Evergreen is a thai restaurant located at Dundas and Chestnut street. My sister and I were walking by, and craving thai food so we decided to give it a try. 
The special was salad, soup, spring roll and pad thai for 10 bucks. Pretty good deal if ya ask me! 
Green Salad
Soup (similar to a hot and sour soup) 
Spring Rolls
Beef Pad Thai 

The food at Evergreen wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad either. I enjoyed my meal. I think its definitely worth the value; you get a lot of food for cheap. Overall, it was descent. Simple as that. 

Happy Eating!  Evergreen Thai Restaurant on Urbanspoon