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.

I realise that I've been neglecting this blog, so I'll do my utmost to update more often. One of the failed mentions of about a month ago was this: the boy decided to make me dinner. Not that it's a rare thing that he does this, but this - this was fantastic. Braised chicken thighs atop a bed of watercress risotto (what a lovely colour!!), and garnished with freshly shaved parm. Can we say... YUM!

London (Ontario, that is).

We've landed ourselves in the little town of London, in a 825 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment that's costing us less than the 1bdrm Montreal pad.

Perhaps I should rephrase myself: we're now located in Canada's 10th largest city. Ahem. It takes a little getting used to when you've lived in Montreal for the past 5 years...

My biggest concern moving here was that there'd be a lack of food scene - but I've been proven wrong so far! After 8 weeks of London-ing, we've had beautiful food (outside of our own kitchen, of course) at Garlic's and The Only on King.

A couple of Sundays ago, the boy and I had garlic ice cream. Yes, true to the name of the restaurant, they tried to prominently feature garlic in all of their dishes, including dessert! Pleasantly surprised, it was pretty damn tasty: the spicy kick from the raw garlic balanced well with the vanilla in the ice cream. The waitress seemed to think we were "brave" to try the chocolate covered garlic garnish (that would've benefited from being slightly less sweet) - perhaps most of the patrons are less daring than us. Food was okay - satisfying, but not as creative or original flavours as I would've liked.

The pan fried northern Lake Erie yellow skinned wild pickerel was done perfectly - every time I order fish at a restaurant (which seems to be rare), I wonder why I don't order fish more often! It was served with a little too much remoulade, though (which went well with the potatoes, but overwhelmed the fish if you glopped it on). The boy had the the braised dorset lamb shank, accompanied by a jalapeno & mint jelly. It was nice. Satisfying.

Tonight, we dined at The Only on King - and even had a chance to meet the chefs Jason and Paul and sneak a peak at the kitchen! (drool... I want one of those). The boy's surprise tasting menu was of beautifully autumn, and started with a chestnut soup with apple crème fraîche. An heirloom beet salad with chèvre and smoked bacon on arugula, a gnocchi and perch dish, and cornish hen done just right. Dessert? A deliciously rich and smooth chocolate tart. His mum (who suggested the lovely restaurant after reading in En Route that it was on the top 10 list of new restaurants in Canada) had a fantastically balanced endive salad featuring a blue cheese dressing, apples, and pecans. And a main of perch and dessert of sticky toffee pudding (which came with a fantastic vanilla ice cream). My rillettes to start were accompanied by lovely olives and marinaded artichoke, and the rib eye with creamed spinach and chanterelles was fantastic. The meat was cooked perfectly - and thank goodness they didn't ask how one would like it done, because it precludes the possibility of morons ordering it medium well or well done! And I must confess (rather sheepishly) - this is the first time I've had chanterelles, and I've definitely fallen in love with them. Plating was a little less exciting, but the tastes more than made up for that component.

I'm looking forward to visiting The Only again, and seeing what Jason and Paul will whip up (their menu changes daily). Lovely atmosphere, and a cozy dining area that seats about 30. And part of their decor? They have a meat block and a duck press. How cool is that?

The Only on King
172 King Street; 519.936.2064
**** (of 5)

Garlic's of London
481 Richmond St; 519.432.4092
*** (of 5)

m for mediocre - m:brgr

Our lunch visit yesterday to the new burger bar m:brgr left much to be desired. The burgers were good, yes, but definitely overpriced for what they're worth. And it wasn't anything that couldn't have been made at home for tastier. The reasonable burger price of 8.75$ doesn't reflect your total bill (as expected - I'd already peeked at the menu on their website) since toppings add up. A few toppings later, and your burger ends up being closer to 18$. The portobello on the boy's burger were slightly lacking in flavour, and unable to hold up against the beef. My burger, topped with house-smoked bacon (which I will admit was quite tasty) and cheddar that was too mild for my liking (especially against the pickle). Moreover, our foodie companion's fried egg was overcooked (isn't the whole point to have the runny yolk meld with the sandwich?).

The one saving grace? Excellent coleslaw (also as expected - it's the same stuff served at Moishe's, and it's the stuff that turned me onto coleslaw in the first place). Okay, and their lightly battered sweet potato fries were pretty tasty as well. But aren't burger joints supposed to highlight burgers?

I'm glad I tried the restaurant, but the hype is overrated and my first visit was likely my last. Don't be fooled by their tagline "required eating".

2025 Drummond; 514-906-2747
Dinner for 2, before tax, tip and drinks: $45-$75

tasty olive oil and.... good customer service (?!!!)

We (the boy and I plus a friend) discovered a tasty olive oil from New Zealand whilst dining at Casa Tapas one day, and I've been on the prowl for the stuff since. Of course, leave it to trusty Vieille Europe to carry such things!

Anyway, the boy had baked fresh ciabatta for opening night of The Mikado yesterday, for which he had baked 6 loaves of ciabatta for patrons to munch upon. Sadly (well, not so sadly for us), one of the loaves was on the not-so-aesthetically-pleasing side of things, meaning attaching Nankipoo's name to it would've been a little bit of a silly idea. So, we ate the 1/2 that was a little flat.

To celebrate the grand occasion of tasty bread, we opened the bottle of stuff I had picked up from Vielle Europe not too long ago: The Village Press's Barnea Olive Oil. First taste = bitter, flat. Bitter and flat?! Definitely not the way I remembered it at the restaurant. A quick google search convinced us that yes, the oil had indeed turned rancid. Must have been the poor seal of its cap, which of course would've bled air into the bottle.

All of this left me, of course, a little bit sad. I'd been waiting to have my very own coveted bottle of this stuff to consume! Next course of action = email the folks over at the Village Press with a firm but pleasant tone, letting them know that I wouldn't accept anything other than a replacement bottle for this mishap - you know, the standard product complaint email, here's the UPC code, etc etc except that I tried to make it as friendly as possible.

I received a reply from them, one hour later!! I've never heard of such speedy customer service in my life, and was taken aback (pleasantly). Plus they were apologetic - in a rather sincere way (as sincere as one can be in that sector), unlike other customer service representatives I've dealt with in the same domain. And now, a bottle of this stuff is getting shipped here - shipped! I actually only expected to get a voucher for them instead, and I didn't think ask for me to "please send us your address ASAP!!" (!!'s placed by them, not me).

Anyway, I'm pleased. Quite so.

I haven't forsaken you, blog!

Yes, I'm guilty of having disappeared for the last few months.

It has been a indeed a lengthy while since I've updated here. In fact, there's a massive backlog of tasty photos on my laptop, with many side dishes of accompanying stories. I've been rather busy with the school thing - between working on my thesis and practicing French (yes, I'm taking a French class this semester!), I barely have time to host dinner parties!

And I'm hoping to make-over the blog sometime in the near future, but of course that's yet another form of procrastination. Quite unnecessary as my plate for these 2 weeks has been loaded with 2 presentations, a midterm, and the first half of my thesis due.

I'll be back soon, I promise.

s is for stemless.

You may have noticed the glassware in my last post about the boy's tasty concoctions (it was sadly hiding behind the soup bowls). Check them out in greater detail (and without wine):

I fell in love with Spiegelau's Authentis Casual stemless glassware about a year ago. Sadly, my inner klutz constantly reminded me that it was a Bad Idea to be purchasing Really Nice Glassware on a student budget if it meant constant replacements were to be bought. Having been on the lookout for more affordable stem(less) ware since then, I recently stumbled upon these lovlies. A set of 4, with carafe, only dented my wallet by 12$!

an at home dinner date

Ever since dining at Casa Tapas and Zumaia (which has sadly closed its doors recently), the boy has been itching to recreate some of the lovely food. Namely some sort of red-pepper-goat-cheese concoction, and a garlic-saffron-tomato soup. Last Thursday, I definitely wasn’t going to complain if he wanted to whip up a feast of sorts. Served with lovely grilled potatoes from the George Foreman and a small plateful of kalamata olives, we washed down the meal with some of the boy’s wine (he’ll need to do another order soon, that’s for sure).

Note the proud display on the recently acquired dining table. (mostly) Functional, though a little rickety, and not the most aesthetically pleasing thing. But (mostly) functional. Which is fantastic!

brunch at trattoria amore

This weekend landed me in Toronto, and happily reunited with a dear friend who's been missing in action for 5 months. Okay, not really MIA per sey, unless you count disappearing to Berlin for the summer as such. Sadly, our academic paths have led us to be in different cities, but alas! It gives me yet another excuse (beyond my mother's rendition of oh-so-good Chiu Chow styled duck) to come visit.

We caught up in the yuppy neighborhood of Yonge + Eglinton, where yummy mummies were plenty, dog-walking (and child-walking) on sidewalks. With Sunset Grill being packed (and neither one of us extremely craving the greasy spoon: to be honest, I'm still recoiling from the Quebec protein of August), we sauntered north along Yonge. A few restaurants seemed to serve brunch, but Amore caught our eye with its menu displayed prominently beside the door. C-Food, for example, had this silly little tv screen on the patio, that stayed too long on the '15$ prix fixe' screen, without divulging the details of this special. It wasn't that Amore had a spectacular menu, per sey, it just, well, had a menu.

Reasonably priced enough (brunch items seemed to mostly hover at 9$ or so), we took a seat on the 'patio' - a crammed 3 table space in front of the restaurant. Unfortunately, it proved not to be the best seat of the house, as the autumn winds and shade quickly cooled our ordered items. I suppose I'm still in denial that summer is quickly fleeting.

I was sorely disappointed with the overly lemony hollandaise sauce on my bennys. Which leaves me still on a quest to find the perfect rendition of this sauce. The last time I had eggs benedict, I was in North Bay where the joint served a way-too-thick version of the sauce (did they put cornstarch in it?!). And unfortunately, my dear friend was unimpressed with the undercooked potatoes that came with her spicy italian sausage frittata (the bread was a redeeming factor, however.) Coffee was standard, as far as coffee goes when it's served at 2.3$/mug.

Spending QT was more of a priority today, so I think I wasn't actually as frustrated (vocally, anyway) with the food as I would usually be. Sometimes, even good service can't make up for the food. When I'm in the area next, however, I'll probably be venturing elsewhere. Like Grazie Ristorante, for example (a fave of my dear friend's).

Amore Trattoria
2425 Yonge St.
* * (of 5)

fridge woes and tuna tales

We have a new apartment!

The boy and I moved into our new place at the beginning of September: same (sketchy) building, larger unit. What sold us? The really really large kitchen. Well, relatively so anyway, as far as apartment living goes. But, but, but... we had no fridge until a good week later. No joke: it was Sept 7th before we convinced them that doing groceries was integral to my well being. Eating instant noodles and pizza for a week had me wondering how people survive on these types of food for the entire academic year. Ewww.

The building management had promised us a new fridge (a few new ones were on order), and kept saying that they'd be here 'either today or tomorrow'. Definitely more than a few 'tomorrows' passed by, so we knocked on their office door. The solution to the not-yet-arrived fridges? Them pulling out a fridge from an empty unit. Meh, it'll do for now - not to mention that it's a better fridge than the one on the boy's old studio. Besides, it seems like they haven't forgotten about the new fridge, which means perhaps one of those by the end of the month? I've learned not to assume anything around here. I'm just crossing my fingers on one of those soon, so we'll have a functional freezer. Not that the one now isn't functional, but it's one of those ice-boxes-within-the-fridge type deals. Not very cold.

But!

We lucked out at the grocery store last week: tuna was mislabeled as shark! We couldn't believe our luck at finding this stuff for 11$/kg. It turned out to be okay, but not fabulous (unfortunately), in our rendition involving soy sauce, wasabi, and sesame seeds. I'm not sure I'll be using the george foreman again for tuna without modifications (it didn't grill... it steamed the fish - too much liquid!).

In other kitchen news, our oven has no temperature markings.
Any suggestions?