the toast & the flip and toast.

With gadgets like the SureShot (which still cracks me up every time) you've already done most of the idiot-proofing, Tim Hortons. Yet, there is still room for error and general frustration-provoking encounters. Now of course, this may not be the case in all of your locations, but certainly my last 2 incidences with you have been less than satisfactory.

Location: basement of the SSC.

Incident 1: I was too hungry and cold to wait until going home for food and figured a bowl of mediocre soup would somewhat solve the problem. The accompanying piece of bread is of course, nowhere near the boy's home baked goods, but it'll do. Especially if toasted. Putting on my biggest grin, I asked the lady pleasantly if she would please slice it open to toast for me. "I don't toast! This is small piece of baguette!" Yes, I was aware that it was a mini baguette. Again, I patiently expressed that I wanted it toasted. "No toast! It burn!". Um, actually - it's about same thickness as your mediocre bagels, which never thoroughly toast on one pass (and thus never burn). I ask her again - third time's the charm? "Not my fault if burnt bagel." Yeah, okay. She grudgingly toasts it, cranking the speed on the toaster up to further prevent it from "burning". The result? A pretty unscathed and surprise! not toasted piece of bread. Oh well, it was at least warm. Ish.

Incident 2: I was too hungry to wait until going home for food (again. I should start stocking provisions at the lab - I cringe every time I have to spend money on campus food). The lineup in the basement of the UCC was a tad less crazy than the one upstairs, so off I go again. Mission: cream cheese bagel, twice toasted. I double checked with the cashier - it'll be flipped, then toasted again? Of course, it wasn't she who served me (that would've been too efficient). It was someone who was trying to juggle my bagel and the turkey sandwich order behind me. I eyed her stacking the sandwich hesitantly and messily (did you not see the cheat sheet, noob?). When she took my bagel out and proceeded with cream cheese-ing it, I gently reminded her that I wanted it toasted again. "Oh! It written here already on order!" Then why did I have to remind you? Then, the fatal mistake: she toasted it on the same bloody side. I walked away dissatisfied with blackened innards and untoasted externals.

soggy shawarma

I miss Montreal.

Including greasy Lebanese fast food - Boustan is absolutely unbeatable. My brief Montreal visit last weekend (new blog post come!) to traipse across the stage in a ceremony of funny hats didn't include garlic potatoes; I figured I'd make up for it today at the food court. As much as I dislike shopping for the sake of shopping, I desperately needed a pair of everyday winter boots to combat slush and cold - it's finally that time of year where my "nice" leather boots stay hidden in the closet until roads have been cleared of snow and salt.

I grabbed a best-of-both-words beef-and-chicken sandwich, all dressed of course. Pickled turnips! Garlic sauce! Mint! But the excitement ended after a few bites. The almost 6$ shawarma from Madina was texturally way off - the garlic sauce was goopy and not smooth, the pickled turnips were soggy, and the beef was... also soggy? I think "mushy" would be the best way to describe it. I'm not sure I want to know how a spit roast would turn mushy...

I'm packing a lunch next time I go shopping.

pasta puttanesca

Watching Iron Chef has become more than just an after dinner sport - in fact, it's been an inspiration for dinner. Take the episode featuring sturgeon: the boy has a "oh-I'm-so-going-to-make-that" moment as Iron Chef Symon whips out a sturgeon puttanesca (or, if you would prefer - the wikipedia article mentions it being the only thing that could be whipped up by a whore between turning tricks). The lovely photo below is from the boy's version 2 rendition, served when his mum was up visiting. Relatives with a cars mean having a chance to explore places that we would've unfortunately missed otherwise (not exactly bike-able or bus-able to beyond the corners of London) : one stop at the Arva flour mill in Arva, and one to White's Cider Mill in Lambeth. Too bad we didn't have a chance to meet Mike at the flour mill - the owner is a friend of the chefs at The Only. Oh well, perhaps we'll meet him at one of his frequent trips to the restaurant and chat bread. Purchases his store included a 10kg bag of flour, some semolina, local eggs and the most wonderful caramels. At the apple cider mill: pressed apples for drinking and cider making, cherry juice, and goodies to ferment cider.

With a lack of capers in our kitchen (something I've yet to learn to appreciate), the puttanesca tomato sauce featured olives, anchovies and chilli flakes, with catfish (yum!) thrown in at the end. The semolina was smooth and elastic, much easier to work with than all purpose flour and resulting in thinner hand-rolled sheets (our next kitchen purchase, after a sharpening stone, may be a hand operated pasta machine). Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious.