St. Jacob's Farmers' Market

Firstly, I would like to apologize for not posting any deliciousness in a few weeks: I have been away travelling.. but that will be a whole new post coming up! 

 One of my favourite things to do around this time of year ( Late summer/early fall) is visit local farms and markets. The fresh, organic and locally grown ingredients really make a difference in any meal. My family has always been very aware of this and we've always grown vegetables in our garden in the summer and enjoyed home made jams and other preserves in the winter. But, for those of you less garden savvy cooks, there's always the farmers market!
The largest market in the GTA, and all-year round, is the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market which is located around the city of Waterloo.

They are open 3 days a week in the summer: 

Thursday and Saturday 7 am - 3:30 pm all year
Tuesdays 8 am- 3 pm for the summer only

Here is a snapshot of some of the yummy items I picked up on my last trip: 
Mini sweet red peppers, baby potatoes, fresh cucumbers, eggplants, pell peppers, pork and beef summer sausage, strawberries and my all time favourites: cinammon and hazlenut butters. I LOVE these home made butters on french toast and crepes! So delicious...

The indoor market space is two storeys high: the upstairs shops mainly sell clothes, gifts and other crafts and antiques and the lower level sells specialty foods, meats, baked goods and have a couple of cafes and food kiosks. 

Outside you will find a picnic area with tables and chairs for those having lunch from one of the kiosks. May I suggest Apple fritters?












Around the main building you will also find all the produce vendors selling fresh fruits and veggies straight from the farm.  If you go towards the end of the day (2pm-3pm) you will notice that the vendors start to lower their prices to sell off the remaining goods. 


Of course, that's when I stock up on everything! although, you have to be quick. 
I managed to grab 6 boxes of strawberries for $5 and a bushel of peppers for $3. 

After you grabbed some lunch and had enough bargaining for the day- you can visit the petting zoo on site or take a tour of the nearby Mennonite Farm by horse and carriage. It's a fully narrated hour-long tour and is very informative.

For those of you who don't know this, most of the surrounding farmers and vendors in the St. Jacob's county are Old Order Mennonites. There is a community of about 4,000 of them and the above mentioned tour is a great way to learn more about their way of life, their beliefs and just ask any questions you may have. 

Toronto's Best Hot Chocolate

I don't usually crave sweets and chocolate, but when I do... I go to SOMA- an artisan chocolate-maker located in Toronto's Distillery District. 

One rainy winter day all I wanted was a cup of hot chocolate, so I Googled "Best Hot Chocolate in Toronto" and this is where it took me. I keep going back for more and more.

They make everything: from truffles to chocolate drinks to plain chocolate bars and even chocolate covered fruits.

 During my last visit, I tried their Mayan Spicy Hot Chocolate and fell in love.. it was smooth and velvety, had a nice spice without burning your throat and making you drink 5 glasses of water after. They make it three ways: a concentrated shot, the conventional way with milk, and I think the other way is with water. They also top it off with this amazing cream that's really thick and balances out the bitter spicy taste of the drink. 

A regular hot chocolate, a spicy mayan hot chocolate and more chocolate... that was quite a breakfast.

As I was sipping on my drink, a group of 20 or so German tourists showed up and bought heaps of chocolate.. that should tell you something, since German chocolate is probably one of the best in the world. 

Learn more about SOMA here.

You can see behind me there is a micro factory going on. Guests can sit in the shop and watch the whole process of chocolate making. Wish I could drink that big bowl of chocolate mixing in the background.

If you have never been to the Distillery Dirtrict, you're missing out! It's probably one of my favourite spots to spend a Sunday afternoon. There are lots of different shops, restaurants, oyster bars, and Mill St. Brewery is located there as well. 

Reggae Reggae Jerk Chicken

So, if you've never heard of this Reggae Reggae sauce before..I don't blame you! I didn't either, until visiting a friend in London, UK who happened to have a bottle in the fridge. Let's just say that I couldn't help myself from smuggling about 6 bottles back to Canada. Click here to read about the history of this yummy sauce..which is quite interesting as it is a product of Dragon's Den! 

So far I've used in in stir fries, rice dishes, salmon, salads, bbq, and my favourite: CHICKEN! 

So here is a super simple recipe for which you will need: 

Approx. 6 pcs chicken drumsticks/wings/breast

Half a jar of Reggae Reggae Sauce

3-4 cloves of garlic

Side: Veggies

Bok Choy

Red/Yellow Peppers

Fresh Figs

Start by tossing the chicken in the sauce. For more intense flavours, you can marinate it for a few hours. This sauce is pretty spicy, so I just do it this way and then add more if I want more spice. 

Continue by browning the chicken on medium-high heat. Be careful not to burn it but I like it crispy so it might look a bit overdone in the photos. 

Once they are all browned, throw them on an baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or a rack lined pan like I did, and bake in the oven for 30-40 mins on 400F. 

Then quickly sautee the veggies with some olive oil and 3-4 tbsp or Reggae Reggae sauce. 

Enjoy!!

Gusto 101

Situated at 101 Portland St. just off King West, Gusto 101 is definitely my new favorite spot in the area. I was planning where to go out for drinks and dinner before heading for a night out with friends, and stumbled on a tweet about this newly opened restaurant. I decided to search for it on Google street view and this is what I found: an old garage for sale. I did not give up however.

I called to make reservations ahead as it was Sunday night, and Monday was a holiday, but they do not take reservations.

We headed over around 9 pm and the restaurant was completely full, with a 15 minute wait for a table of 4. I heard great things about their Vini di Gusto (Malbec and a Sauvignon Blanc) which are made on site in their basement winery, so I headed over to the bar right away. Unfortunately they sold out of it just a week after their opening, so we opted for a bottle of Megalomaniac’s 2009 Narcissist Riesling which is always a great choice!

The décor is very rustic with gorgeous brick and wood accents contrasted by more modern light fixtures and furniture. My favourite was the open concept kitchen with a huge Tuscan wood-fire grill.

I was eager to try everything on the menu, but we decided to just share 3 different dishes followed by dessert and another bottle of wine.

I had the Moroccan “brick chicken,” which is cooked sous-vide then finished on the grill and served with Swiss chard and garlic smashed potatoes ($17)

. My friends shared the Beef tartare, topped with figs, ricotta, arugula and truffle oil ($14.50 )

and Mozzarelola di Bufala- roasted tomatoes, basil oil, parmigiano crisp, smoked paprika ($15)

which were all amazing dishes!

The portions aren’t very big so don’t count on a big filling dinner, but I personally prefer tapas bars so these portions were perfect for sharing along with some drinks.

The service was fantastic and despite the crowded restaurant and Gusto being open for only 2 weeks, the server was very attentive, knowledgeable and friendly. He recommended we try the dessert trio and I am glad we did!

Desserts come in mini-portions and include mascarpone tiramisu, dark chocolate mousse with caramel, olive oil and sea salt, and wild lemon air, which was my personal favourite: aerated limoncello with fizzy candy, candied celery and a sprinkle of ground coffee ($3 each or $8.50 for a combo of all three).

We also got a little home made biscotti to go with it

There is nothing negative that I could say about Gusto 101, the staff are friendly and attentive, food was amazing, wine selection was great and the atmosphere is very warm and inviting. Will definitely come back to try that malbec!

Simple lunch

Just a couple healthy lunch ideas.

1. Poached salmon with a garden salad in raspberry vinaigrette.

2. Baked prosciutto-wrapped asparagus with grated Parmesan.

Filling and delicious!
Bon appetit!

Easy Guacomole

Here's a fact for you: over 45 million pounds of avocado will be consumed on Super Bowl Sunday this year!

Guacomole competes with wings and pizza as a Super Bowl food thanks to numerous marketing campaigns by avocado growers over that past 2 decades....

But rather than serving store bought guac, why not just make it yourself?

All you will need is:

4(or more) ripe avocados

2 likes

2 tomatoes

Half a Spanish onion

Cilantro

Salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste

Halve the avocados and scoop out the inside into a medium bowl. Keep one of the bones in the bowl and squeeze both limes into the mixture to prevent browning.

Dice the tomato and onion and add to the bowl along with finely chopped cilantro.

Mix everything with your hands or a wooden spoon, adding more lime juice and the spices to taste.

Enjoy!!

Breakfast in colour

Who said breakfast is boring? Well,I always did because my breakfast used to consist of a coffee and whatever else I could grab on my way to work. Now I try to come up with nutritious and easy dishes to make in the morning. Here is one of them:

Fried egg in a red pepper ring and some bread and hummus on the side. Yum!

Baked Salmon with Grated Carrots

This is another salmon favourite of mine.

In addition to this being healthy and delicious, it is also easy to make. The hardest part is peeling and shredding all 5 carrots!

For this recipe I used about 8 portions of salmon but same recipe applies to any amount:

- 8 salmon fillets

- 6 shredded carrots

-4 onions (chopped)

- salt and pepper to taste

-a handful of flour (all purpose)

- 3 tbsp mayonnaise

- 3 tbsp sour cream

Season the salmon with salt and pepper on both sides, then dredge with flour lightly and shake off any excess flour

Heat up a large frying pan with some oil and sear the salmon on both sides about 1 minute on each side.

Set the salmon into an oven proof dish and season with more salt and pepper.

Sautee the onions on the same pan until golden brown and then add the carrots and cook for 5 more minutes.

Pile on the carrots and onion

Mix the mayonnaise and sour cream and spread over the salmon and cook in the oven for 50 minutes on 440 degrees

You can eat this dish hot or cold, and can add a side of rice to it as well.