Winterlicious 2013 – Part 2

The second restaurant we tried is Bangkok Garden. I have to apologize that I do not have pictures for all the dishes for two reasons, one is we were with another couple, and two, I totally forgot because we were continuously talking. Now the other couple had picked this restaurant, and I am glad they picked this since I never tried Thai food and I loved it. The other couple rating was 7/10 and we  rated this restaurant 8/10 and would love to come back and try again.

2. Bangkok Garden (Thai food)

(Located on: 18 Elm Street)

Menu is available at:

http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/se/restaurants.nsf/Winterlicious/93874AF6886C2A8F852574DC006FC558?OpenDocument

We picked the $25 dinner and the dishes are as follow:

Crab Bisque
Crab broth infused with lemongrass, wild ginger and lime leaves spices and a hint of red curry paste
Rating: 8/10 (too salty for me)
Partners Rating: 9/10 (too salty)

Yellow Curry with Vegetables (Gang Kari Pak) (vegan)
Yukon gold potatoes, fresh vegetables and tofu in a silky yellow curry, served with Thai jasmine rice
Rating: 9/10 (It was really good but the sauce did not have the kick to it)

Main Course

Thai Tea Crème Caramel
Rating: 8/10 (too sweet but delicious)
Partners Rating: 8/10 (too sweet)

Dessert

You could tell appetizers and dessert were same for both of us, but our main course was different, here is my partners main course:

Steamed Rainbow Trout with Coconut Lemon Sauce (Pla Nung Kati Ma Now)
Fish delicately steamed with fresh galangal, lime leaves and lemongrass, bathed in a mild coconut lemon sauce,
Served with Thai jasmine rice
Partners Rating: 8/10

Main Course

So if you guys got a chance to try a restaurant and would like to share, do let me know, thanks!

Winterlicious 2013 – Part 1

Hey Everyone,

Today I will be talking about Toronto’s Winterlicious. Winterlicious is one of the biggest culinary celebrations in Toronto where more than 100 restaurants participate. As you can tell by the name, it is held in winter; this year it was held from January 25^th to February 7^th, 2013, and then there is a similar summerlicious event held in summer.  They have a set menu for lunch and dinner, and the price varies from $20 and above. This time, I tried two restaurants and will provide reviews for them.

1. Far Niente (Continental and more)

(Located at 187 Bay Street, Toronto)

Menu is available at:

http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/se/restaurants.nsf/Winterlicious/66E4E1F796291F46852570BB007266B3?OpenDocument

My hubby and I picked the $35 Dinner (plus taxes and gratuity) and my dishes were as follows:

Roasted Cauliflower Soup (vegetarian)
Hazelnut Oil, Lovage Cream
Rating: 10/10

Appetizer

Foraged Mushroom Linguine (vegetarian)
Mushroom & Parmigiano Fonduta, Spinach & Leek Puree
Rating: 9/10 (-1 for too much salt)

Main Course

Banana & Nutella S’more
Graham Crackers, Caramelized Bananas, Nutella Mousse, Hazelnut Caramel
Rating: 8/10 (It could have been better, not what I had expected in mind)

Dessert

My partner’s dishes are as follows:

Many Beet Salad (vegetarian)
Goat Cheese & Poppy Vinaigrette, Spiced Pecans
Rating: 10/10 (dressing was amazing)

Appetizer

Pan Roasted Basa Filet
Beluga Lentils, Olives, Tomato Broth, Fried Capers
Rating: 8/10 (loved the sauce but the fish was not too great)

Main Course

Miniature Abbeys Butter Tart
Maple Gelato, Sage & Dried Cranberry Butter Crumble
Rating: 10/10

Dessert

Note: Always ask the waiter if you are unsure about a dish since they work there and they know what and how a certain dish is made. Specially when you are vegetarian, vegan or have other dietary restrictions. We both had amazing time there, they took our coats when we entered and we didn’t have to wait to get seated.  Overall, I would give Far Niente a 9 out of 10 (Including service and ambience). Keep up the good work!

Tiramisu Recipe

This recipe was given to me by my sister-in laws mother and I made it at least 3-4 times; it always finished the night I served it (which is usually a good sign).

 Ingredients

•  6 tablespoons of instant espresso powder OR strong coffee
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 pint heavy cream
• ½ to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ to 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tub mascarpone cheese
• 1 to 2 packages Italian lady fingers

 Method

1. Take 6 tablespoon espresso and 2 tablespoon cocoa powder in 2 cups of boiled water – whisk till it all dissolves – mix it well so you do not see any powder.
2. Separately, whip the heavy cream, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract and ¼ cup plus a little more sugar together until it gets thick.
3. If you have a beater, then beat the mascarpone cheese with a spatial until soft.
4. Combine the whipped cream and the mascarpone cheese together.
5. Soak some lady fingers in the espresso mixture and arranged in one layer at the bottom of a serving bowl.
6. Take one lady finger at a time and don’t dip it for too long or else they will break. You take one, dip it and place in the serving bowl.
7. Serving bowl should be rectangular and not too big. So put a layer of lady fingers, and then a layer of mascarpone mixture.
8. Repeat another layer of the lady fingers and then the cream.
9. When all complete, just dust the 2 tablespoon cocoa powder on the top and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
10. Don’t worry about perfecting the dusting, when you put it in the fridge for a while, it creates a tiramisu shape by itself so you don’t have to worry about that.

 Let me know how it goes for you all.

Guacamole is yummm

I learnt a new recipe last month, and my husband and I have been making it every weekend and eating it while watching movies. So here it is:

 Ingredients:
– 2 Avocados peeled (make sure it was in room temperature or else it wont blend well enough)

– 1 small tomato chopped (smaller the pieces, the better it blends)

– ½ onion chopped (smaller the pieces, the better it blends)

– 1 tsp salt

– 1 pinch of pepper

– 1 pinch of cumin powder or seeds

– ½ a lime squeezed, can go up to 1 full lime if you want

Mix it all well and ta-da its ready. Serve it with tortillas.

It is so easy to make and is really filling. Let me know how yours turn out!

Frozen Yogurt from Yogen Fruz

I am definitely not into frozen yogurt dessert at all. One day I was having a heart burn and I decided to go downstairs to see if I could grab milk or yogurt to calm it down. I saw this big add of frozen yogurt dessert in different flavor such as lychee, green tea, blueberry and it gave me goose bumps since those flavors’ are not one of my favorites. When I turned around I saw an advertisement of red velvet cake frozen yogurt, so I decided to get in a medium size (cost about 5 bucks), and it looked 80% like the advertisement lol. Please see the REAL pictures below.

How was it made? The lady put in a vanilla bar, chocolate bar and syrup, and after taking out from the machine, she put red velvet cake chunks around the yogurt, yummy… If you guys try it out let me know…

How was the taste? I loved it, it was the best frozen yogurt I ever had.

Rating: 9 out of 10, since it didn’t look exactly like the advertisement and I hate false advertisement.

Note: This post is purely my opinion.

Red Velvet close up

Red Velvet - Frozen Yogurt

Cheese Cake

I learnt how to make Cheese Cake three weekends ago and its one of the easiest thing to bake. If I can make it, so can you… It was sooo tasty that that i ended up making 2 cheese cakes…one rasberry and one strawberry…

I would like to share the recipe with you all, but remember, all the credit goes to my coworkers great great grandma who is from Poland…

Ingredients

– 2 Philadelphia cheese blocks
– 2 eggs
– 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
– 1 cup of sugar
– Pie crust
– Rasberry E.D. Smith Can
– Strawberry E.D. Smith Can

Method

1. Blend all the items below together in a mixing bowl til its smooth.
2 Philadelphia cheese blocks
2 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 cup of sugar

2. Keep in mind, there should be no little small blocks of cheese in the mixture, it has to be smooth, and you will get that after 5 to 6 minutes of blending…

3. Now, you can buy the crust from any grocery store in the baking section, and lay the mixture into the bowl of pie crust. Put in the Oven at 350 F for 40 minutes.

4. Toppings – its ready made in a tin, I bought E.D. Smith brand which was a bit pricey than others but had an original taste. So I ended up buying a Rasberry and Strawberry flavor.

5. Take out the cheese cake afer 40 mins, leave it to cool down for 5-7 minutes and then put the toppings, and back into the oven for 10 mins. Leave it out til its warm and then put it in the fridge til you serve yourself or the guests.

6. Please note, when slicing it, keep a cup with hot water and dip your knife everytime you make a slice, so it cuts out nicely.

Ta-da and you have your cheese cake…

Cost

Let’s do some calculations:
Cheese cake crust = 2.84 * 1
Philadelphia cheese = 3.17 * 2
Strawberry Can = 3.23

I had egg, sugar, and vanilla essence at home, so lets give that an amount of $2. So the cheese cake cost me = 14.41. At Costco, a cheese cake can costs 18-20 dollars, so I saved around 4-6 bucks, not bad eh…

Learning Cheese Cake – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED…

Pineapple Cake

So let me share my first recipe with you all. Its a Pineapple upside down cake. I have successfully baked it three times.

 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

 

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 can (20 oz) pineapple slices in juice, drained, juice reserved
1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow cake mix
Vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box

 

Method

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). In 13×9-inch pan, melt butter in oven. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over butter. Arrange pineapple slices on brown sugar, press gently into brown sugar.
2. Add enough water to reserved pineapple juice to measure 1 1/4 cups. Make cake batter as directed on box, substituting pineapple juice mixture for the water. Pour batter over pineapple. I would suggest to use about 1/4 pineapple juice since it gets too sweet if you use all of it.
3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes (42 to 48 minutes for dark or nonstick pan) or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately run knife around side of pan to loosen cake.

4. Place heatproof serving plate upside down onto pan; turn plate and pan over.

5. Leave pan over cake 5 minutes so brown sugar topping can drizzle over cake; remove pan. Cool 30 minutes.

6. Serve warm or cool. Store covered in refrigerator.

You do not need to refrigerate in winter, but summer you do. Always airtight after it cools down so it will taste fresh. Try it out and if you have questions, drop me a line.

Cooking – definitely my cup of tea

Since I am sick this weekend I have been resting and mostly sleeping. I didnt blog for two days therefore will be posting 3 blogs today.

Cooking is not my cup of tea – something i would have said two years ago. I started with baking cakes, muffins, brownies and then the meat… My mother is Indian so she always wanted me to learn to cook the Indian food. Therefore, I started with the ready-made spices called Shan Masala since it was quick and easy. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t remember the spice names and especially when they are in a different language. After a year of using Shan Masala, cooking was not a challenge anymore so I decided to cook from scratch this year. I was influenced by the movie “Julie and Juliet” which was about cooking recipes on a daily basis, that really inspired me, so I began.

I started by googling recipes but didnt make so great since I didn’t understand half the expressions it mentioned, so I found a group on facebook which posted recipes on a daily basis. I am trying out their recipes from there and posting so everyone (even ppl who dont have facebook) can see and enjoy the taste of foods from different culture. I will only be posting the ones I have tried and will be trying since I can vouch for them.

My mom always says, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach flunked geography. I am starting to believe that now…