Where I Go On Sunday Afternoon

Toronto is full of great cafes and restaurants. I have observed that Toronto locals find where they like to go and usually stick to them. People like to stay in their neighborhoods. For a big city where the world is your oyster (yes, a popular cliche) Torontonians like to stay near their homes. Since I am new in town and am trying to "go native" I have been drinking many cups of coffee in many different cafes. I love coffee because it loves me back. I drink it and in turn it makes me happy. We have a great relationship. In short, here is one of my favorite places to go on a Sunday. I have been several times...

Tango Palace Coffee Company

The place is warm friendly and the barista knows most of the locals by name. Since I am not originally from Toronto it has taken me some time to find a place to go for a morning brew. I felt very comfortable here right from the first meeting. It reminded me of a cafe back home.

Tango Palace picks and chooses from several bakeries across Toronto so everything you order is delicious. I often have the dilemma of only choosing one treat. I often forget that I have the power of ordering what I want without someone telling me I can only have one.

If you are looking for a nice place to sit, read/do work (why do work on a sunday?!), and have a cup of coffee. I would consider Tango Palace.

Tango Palace is open from 7am to 11pm. Plenty of time to stop by for a treat. Look at those people in the photo, all relaxed, drinking their coffee. I know you want to be doing the same. I often walk home from here because I love stopping by all the great vintage shops.

No website for this place but join the facebook group.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&viewas=0&gid=2385040993

I am coming off my coffee high... worst part of my relationship with coffee.

Roasted Butternut Squash Apple Soup

I love this soup. It is always great to serve as a started at a dinner party. For guests I swirl in some heavy cream. You can not go wrong with this soup!

side note- The receptionist at my office kept a delivery I was expecting hostage for 2 weeks. I ended up just having a bowl of soup and forgetting all about it. But if she does it again... oh... oh... I might bribe her with cookies!

My favorite pureed soup. MMmmmmm rich and smooth...even a little spicy.

Chopped up butternut squash ready to go into the oven... they look so happy!

My horrible knife... that does the trick. I dream of the day that I get beautiful knives....

( I think I need a minute... I am thinking about sexy knives and a bright red le creuset)

The apples give it an extra luxury.

This is before the soup meets the blender

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

1 (1 ½ pound) butternut squash, peeled seeded and rough chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup Italian sausage, removed from the casing

1 cup small dice onion

1 peeled, cored and cubed Apple

½ cup small dice carrot

½ cup small dice leeks

2 tablespoons minced shallots

1 tablespoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 ½ quarts chicken stock

2 teaspoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon fresh chopped sage leaves

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the chopped squash in a medium-size mixing bowl. Drizzle the squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with ¼ teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Line a shell pan with partchment paper or aluminum foil and place the squash on top of the sheet pan. Set the sheet pan into the oven and roast for 30 minutes, or until the squash is lightly caramelized and tender.

Remove the squash from the oven and set aside. Place a 1-gallon saucepan over medium high heat and add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and render the Italian sausage. Cook, stirring often until the meat is caramelized and has released most of its fat, about 3 minutes. Add the onions, carrots, celery,apple and leeks in the pan and sweat, stirring often for 5 to 7 minutes. Andd the shallots and garlic to the pan and sweat for 1 minute stirring continuously. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar and add the chicken stock to the pan. Place the squash in the pan with the maple syrup and sage.

Bring the pan to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Continue to cook the soup for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are all tender. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup to a smooth consistency and velvety texture. Alternately, you can puree the soup in batches using a blender. Taste the soup and re-season if necessary with ½ teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper. Keep warm until serving. About 6 servings.

Enjoy! I always do.

Tim Hortons

FREE HASHBROWNS tomorrow!

I love free! Free food! Free! Free!

So I am grabbing a Tim Hortons coffee and hashbrown tomorrow, March 3, 2010. To top it off it is roll up the rim time. I am aiming for a car or a doughnut. I will be glad to get either one.

http://www.timhortons.com

Speaking of Free.. McDonalds has free coffee till March 14. I could get half my breakfast for free.

wow.

http://www.mcdonalds.ca

Okay this is a short useless post but I am very excited about the free stuff that is being given away.

going to bed!

Editorial Doodling-ROM Toronto

DAN PERJOVSCHI EXHIBIT AT THE ROM: He filled the walls of the roloff beny gallery with his editorial drawings. yes, he was allowed to draw on the walls of the museum. what about all the signs that say "please do not touch"?. then this guy comes in and draws all over the walls. i wish i was overly creative with a beard and spoke romanian.

My thoughts:

I had the perfect saturday that started with a Starbucks non-fat caramel macchiato and then took a visit to the Royal Ontario Museum. I generally love museums because I am a bit nerdy and always find one area of the place where I could spend hours.

The exhibit, that I stumbled upon, didn't really plan on seeing, mainly because I didn't google the museums exhibits before I left the apartment, is interesting, refreshing and a little too heavy for the family crowd that was ever so prominent in the Discovery gallery.

I LOVED IT! At first it was annoying to find the actual exhibit since it is hidden on the 4th floor in the north east corner. Once I got there I found the artist himself there with many Eastern European Canadians looking up towards the cartoons.

Here are some of my favorites:

It might be too soon for this one. But I think McQueen himself would have thought it was funny.

This was walking into the gallery

I love to eat but this is how I really feel:

This of course didn't stop me from eating a street meat hot dog after being at the museum for a couple hours:

To end this post off I will say this, Go to the exhibit! Not that anyone besides my sexy guitar playing, law school going, procrastinator, fiance is reading this. I loved this exhibit! It was captivating. The artist was there creating his images right infront of you. I felt like I was part of the process instead of looking at some modern art that I would forget about after eating my hot dog. I will be picking up this artist book and looking for future exhibits. I wonder if he does weddings?

See Perjovschi at work in the gallery February 15 to 21, 2010. His wall drawings will remain on view until the summer of 2010.

Study Snack

Peanut Brownie Bites

Here is the best recipe for brownies. I usually hate using boxed pre-made cakes. But it made these so easy to make. My fiance (this is new...I feel like screaming with joy every time I think about it) loved them. I think he ate 90% of them. Originally I made them so he could have something with his tea I didn't expect them to be eaten in one night.

Peanut Brownie Bites

1 package Duncan Hines Chocolate Lovers Double Fudge Brownie Mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
30 mini Reeses cups unwrapped
1 Box Reynolds 2-inch aluminum foil mini cups for muffins

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Place 30 foil liners on baking sheet
3. Combine brownie mix, contents from fudge packet in mix, eggs, water and oil.
4. Stir with spoon until well blended. (about 50 strokes)
5. Fill each liner with 2 tablespoons of batter
6. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and remove from oven
7. Push 1 Reeses in center of each “brownie cupcake” until even with surface of the batter.
8. Bake 5-7 minutes longer.
9. Cool 5-10 minutes in pan and then move to cooling rack to cool completely.

Note: I used noname peanut butter cups- Just as good. I also watched them like a hawk. I would only do 5 min before you push the cups into the brownie and 5 min after.

(http://www.bakerella.com)

Blueberry pancakes for dinner

When my father had to make dinner for us and my mother was out of town we always had something interesting. Since then my father has become the main chef in the house but at the time we never new what my father would make. So my mother was in Toronto for the weekend and my father had to make dinner. He only had a could recipes under his belt. Pancakes was one of the best thing my father made and well... that is what we had for dinner. Here is the best recipe for pancakes you will ever make.

Blueberry Pancakes

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

  3 tablespoons white sugar

  3 teaspoons baking powder

  1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

  3/4 teaspoon salt

  3 cups buttermilk

  1/2 cup milk

  3 eggs

  2 tbsp butter, melted

  1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together buttermilk, milk, eggs and melted butter. Keep mixtures separate until you are ready to cook.
  2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. You can flick water across the surface and if it beads up and sizzles, it's ready!
  3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or fork to blend. Stir until it's just blended together. Do not over stir! Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/2 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
  
  
  WARNING- This recipe makes many many pancakes. I always love leftovers but this makes a healthy batch.

Soup makes unemployment tasty.

Just got back from an interview and I am hoping this is the one. Although, I say that every time. The economy is killing me. Oy.

So instead of complaining... I cook. This is my sisters favorite soup. I made it when she came to visit me and it was all gone 2 days later. Here it is...

Minestrone Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 cup celery

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small zuchinni, sliced

1/2 cup beans

4 carrots, chopped

3 1/2 cups cold water

1 bouillion cube

1 can tomatoes ( or 6/7 fresh tomatoes)

2 large spoon fulls of tomato past

1 tsp salt

1 healthy bunch of fresh basil

1 tbsp oregano

3/4 cup favorite pasta (I like the little wheels)

In deep pot on medium, heat oil Saute onion, garlic, carrots, celery until everything is tender. Add water, tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, herbs and slowly bring to a boil.Add bouillon cube. Stir constantly. Lower heat and let simmer for approximately 20 min. Add zucchini and beans simmer for another 20 min and then add favorite pasta and simmer for another 10 min. I like to serve the soup with grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy.