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The Mad Italian

It's no secret I love gelato. Can't seem to get enough of it. Especially when the weather is as hot as it has been lately. I enjoy trying gelato all over the city, so I decided to check out The Mad Italian recently in Little Italy. 

I had 3 scoops: Lemon (of course), Cherry and Blood Orange.  It was definitely decent gelato. I wasn't a huge fan of the blood orange, but the other two hit the spot!   

My friend ordered Blue Angel, Blood Orange and Pineapple. I really loved the flavour of the pineapple.

The Mad Italian does a good gelato. They also offer a complete menu of hot food items if your not craving something sweet. 

Check this place out!

http://maditalian.ca/

Happy Eating!

Appetizer Party

My friend and I decided to host an appetizer party this past weekend. We are both lovers of food (obviously) and wanted to share this love with our friends. We made a bunch of different tasty finger foods for everyone to enjoy! The party was a hit! The appetizers were delish, tummy's were filled and laughs were had by all!  
I would love to share with you the food we made. Everything was pretty easy to execute and had good flavour. So here they are:

Cucumber Cups filled with whipped cream cheese, topped with smoked salmon and a caper. 

Goat cheese and roasted red pepper tortilla pinwheels. (This is stupidly easy but always yummy)

Devilled Eggs. Can't mess with a classic dish. 

Honey Dew melon, with a whiskey/maple glaze filled with prosciutto. This was the biggest crowd pleaser of the night!

Can't have a summer party without Sangria! 

Guacamole. (Again, this is so simple, but it's light a refreshing option for any appetizer party) 

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms. (Stuffing: crab, cream cheese, red peppers, celery and onion) So tasty!

Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts. With a soy sauce glaze. mmm mmm good.

Overall the appetizer party = SUCCESS 


Happy Eating!

The Grand Electric

I have been dying to go to this restaurant for the past while, and am so happy to say I finally dined at The Grand Electric!!  This restaurant is the new buzzin’ dinner spot in Toronto. We arrived a half an hour before the restaurant even opened, and there was already a long line up. It is most definitely worth the wait…sooo worth it. From start to finish, this meal was refreshing and well balanced in flavors.

Lets start with the drinks.

We ordered the Grand Electric Sour and a Bourbonade (bourbon lemonade). These were tasty and refreshing.

Empanada – the outer crust is perfectly crispy. The filling paired with the sauce that comes along side is very good.

Tuna Ceviche  - “WOW”  was all I could say while eating this dish. The tuna is perfect. It is velvety and light yet still has a depth of flavour.

Spicy Squid – This dish was the showstopper for me. The sauce is packed with flavor . The squid is cooked perfectly. If you have tried Guu Izakaya's squid, this one is very similar in taste.

 

Tacos, Tacos and more Tacos!. We had the beef cheek (which was my favourite), Baja Fish, Spicy Chicken, and Pork Belly. All of these tacos were tasty. They each had their own distinct flavor. The beef cheek was by far the best in my opinion.

Key Lime Dessert – We ended the meal by sharing this dessert. It was the perfect way to finish a great dinner. It was sweet, with a little tartness. I loved it!

To be honest, writing this post and thinking about the meal is making my mouth water. I will definitely be dining at The Grand Electric many more times in the future! I highly recommend you check it out for yourself!

Happy Eating!

One of A Kind Dinner - Round 2

I have previously blogged about the fantastic ‘One of a Kind Dinner’ event held by Clint Rampold and Lisa Chessari. Today I will blog about it again. Why? Because I attended another one of these dinners and because it is a truly fantastic dining experience.

The theme for the most recent One of A Kind Dinner was ‘The Red Violin’ and the dress code: RED!! Again, it was such an enjoyable evening. The food was incredible (as always), the atmosphere was welcoming, and the company was social and fun. 

We started the dinner with an Amuse Bouche of goat cheese stuffed peripherals, with bacon crumble and smoked dulce. This was packed with delicious flavour.

The first Appi was a  pulled pork and beef terrine with a consommé gelatin.  Along side sits a Green Salad with blue cheese, walnuts and cranberries. Delish! 

The second appetizer was a rice paper pouch, stuffed with fennel rice and shrimp. Along side of this were calamari, shrimp, fiddleheads and a lobster cream. The lobster cream was mouthwatering and added a creamy, delicate flavor to each bite.

Our main was beef tenderloin, butternut squash puree, stuffed potato dumplings and vegetables (asparagus, kale and pearl onions). Everything on this plate was done perfectly. I can’t even begin to explain how UNBELIEVABLE the potato dumplings were. Those dumplings were my favorite things of the entire evening. 

(All Photos From oneofakinddinner.com) 

We finished the meal with a white chocolate cake with mango and blackberry mousse. Drizzled with Milk Chocolate Caramel sauce. It was stunning. It was the perfect sweetness to end an exquisite meal.

I will say for the second time, this once a month dinner event completely lives up to its name.  For more information on 'One of A Kind Dinner',check out this website: oneofakinddinner.com

Happy Eating!

Dolce Gelato

THE PERFECT SUMMER TREAT = GELATO!!

Dolce Gelato in Little Italy is my FAVOURITE place to have gelato! They offer a large selection of flavours, and the gelato is always on point. It is light, velvety in texture, and always packed with flavor. I usually like to take my gelato and walk around little Italy on a nice summer day, but if you’re not into that, you can sit, relax and enjoy your tasty treat on Dolce's outdoor patio. If you haven’t tried the gelato from here….then you are missing out.  From the rich chocolate based flavours, to the fruity scoops of goodness, all the gelato at Dolce is done right.

On this trip I had a scoop of lemon (I never go to a gelato restaurant without getting at least one scoop of it) and a scoop of pink grapefruit.  Talk about refreshing!

Go check this place out, I hope you enjoy the gelato from Dolce as much as I do!

http://dolcegelato.net/

Happy Eating!

Banjara

I have walked, driven and biked by Banjara restaurant many many times. The big orange/yellow sign out front would always catch my attention. I used to frequently remind myself that this is a restaurant I need to try. Well...last week, the time finally came; I ate at Banjara. The verdict: Delish! 
The restaurant was very busy, filled with lots of people coming and going. The servers were friendly and the food was really really tasty. 

We started with Onion Baji. They were good. The two sauces (I'm not sure exactly what they were called) added to the flavour of the baji.

The Garlic Naan had a lot of flavour. However I found it to be a twee too greasy. Next time I would order just the regular naan bread. 

This is the Daal with Lentils and Spinach. It had a very earthy taste. It was hearty and quite good.

The Lamb Masala was by far the best thing on the table. We devoured it. The lamb was perfectly tender and full of flavour. Mmmmm...I wish I had more... right now!

Sitting outside on Banjara's Patio, feeling the warm breeze of spring, sipping wine and consuming food with depths of flavour, was an excellent experience. I would definitely recommend eating at this restaurant! 

http://torontobanjara.com/home.php


Happy Eating!

Homemade Curry and Roti

My sister and I spent our evening making a spinach curry with roti. It was what we were craving, and so we decided to take our own spin on it. We added what we thought would taste good. Here is the recipe if you are feelin' like whipping up a curry from scratch! (I have estimated the ingredient measurements as we eyeballed everything while cooking).
Curry Ingredients:
1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
6 cups of spinach
4 cups of kale
1 chopped tomato
1 can of chickpeas
2 cups of okra
3 tbsp of curry powder
2 tbsp of masala powder
2 tbsp of turmeric
3 bay leaves
salt&pepper to taste


Start by adding butter, onion and garlic to the pot. Let this cook for a couple minutes

Add the spinach, kale and tomatoes to the pot. Let this cook and wilt for a few minutes.

Transfer the content in the pot to a food processor or blender. Blend this all together until it is a smooth consistency.

 Add the blended vegetables back to the pot. Throw in all of the spices (curry, masala, bay leaves, turmeric, salt and pepper) as well as the chickpeas and okra. Let this cook for about an hour.

Roti Ingredients:

1 cup of water

1 cup of spelt Flour

Salt to taste

The Finished Product:

Now I know this dish may not LOOK the most appetizing. But I promise you it TASTES great! The curry was thick, saucy and full of flavour. I hope you give it a try! 

Happy Eating

Hot Dog, Getcha Hot Dog Here!

I enjoy the Montreal Steamies from The Little Dog. They are extremely cheap (1.99) and hit the spot that a hot dog should. The Little Dog is located at College and Palmerston and has a pretty tiny menu that consists of a variety of different style hot dogs, fries and poutines. They offer a generous amount of complimentary topping choices to accentuate the flavour of your hot dog! 

My friend topped her dog with sauerkraut, hot peppers, and dijon mustard.

I chose coleslaw, hot peppers, ketchup, mustard and relish. mm mm good! 

Cheap prices and good flavours...you can't really go wrong here!
You should check this place out.


Happy Eating!

Moonbean Coffee

I stumbled upon a new cafe in Kensington Market over the weekend. I noticed the busy lineups, and packed outdoor patio at Moonbean Coffee and decided to give it a try. I ordered a Peachy Cream Smoothie (peaches, kiwi, strawberry and yogurt) and a Feta/Olive Boureka. 

The smoothie was O.K. A little underwhelming, and too thick for my liking. But I did enjoy how it wasn't overly sweet.

The boureka, on the other hand, was very tasty. This was my first experience trying a boureka, and at first glance, I thought it would be similar to a bagel. I was wrong. Very wrong. This savoury snack was flaky, light and filled with a good amount of feta cheese and green olives. The texture of a boureka is similar to a croissant or puff pastry. It was quite enjoyable! 

Moonbean Coffee has a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. They have a great selection of fair-trade coffee's and lots of tasty treats. They also have a front patio, as well as an even larger patio in the back. Don't let the small exterior at the front fool you, this place has plenty of dining/chill'n/drink'n areas for all!

http://moonbeancoffee.com

Happy Eating!

Delicious Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cake

Found this recipe online and tried it out! It turned out to be delish!
Here are some pics of the process and final product!

Here is the link for the exact recipe and baking instructions!

http://m.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Cake-with-Cream-Cheese-and-Butterfinger-Frosting-231746

This cake is scrumptious! If you are a fan of the Chocolate-Peanut Butter combo, you will love this dessert!  

Happy Eating!