Ginza Sushi

Ginza Sushi
1255 Bay Street
Toronto, ON
http://www.ginzasushiandthai.com

Amy took me to Ginza for a long over due get together! I've never been to this location but I have been to the one on Young St. This location is pretty small, probably seats about 50 people and it's super modern and minimalistic.

Also super cute because of the pink!

We all know how much I love Japanese food and sushi in particular! We order pretty much everything we wanted cause Amy had this dealfind coupon for $60.

We started off with miso soup and seaweed salad. The miso soup was surprisingly really yummy, not too salty and it also had a hint of sweetness (no picture). How can you ever go wrong with seaweed salad? A must try, I love it!


Then we had shrimp and vegetable tempera. The tempera was average but the tempera sauce was really good, as weird as it sounds I could taste and smell the bonito flakes (linked it for you!) they used in the sauce.


Sashimi platter, super fresh fish!


How could you eat sushi without ordering some rolls?! (Spider roll, Spicy tuna roll & BBQ eel roll)

A;; the rolls were superb! The soft shell crab was well deep-fried and meaty. Usually when I order spicy tuna or salmon roll, they give you all the fish trimmings and chop it all up with the spicy sauce but Ginza gives you a giant piece of tuna with the spicy sauce hidden inside the roll, not too overwhelmingly spicy and very flavourful.
Honestly I'm not a big fan of eel but I gobbled the BBQ eel roll up! DEE-LISH!

After packing all that into my 5'1 frame, we ordered some green tea ice cream to finish off the meal! Amy said it wasn't good but I couldn't tell the difference!

Ginza has multiple locations so give it a try, well priced sushi that taste amazing!

Ham and Cheddar Quiche

This past Monday I decided to cook my two favourite boys to lunch! I had some left over whipped cream and really wanted to use it before it went bad so I decided to make a quiche! Something super yummy and super easy.


Served with potato & onion hash! YUMM!

Ingredients:
2 Frozen pie shells
8 eggs
2 cups Ham
2 cups Cheddar cheese
1 cup Whip cream
1 cup Skim milk
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Salt & pepper

1. Take your frozen pie shells and par-bake the shells @ 400F for 8 minutes. While that is happening, chop up the ham and shred the cheese.

2. In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk & cream with the paprika, parsley and salt & pepper.

3. When the shells are ready, divide your ham and cheddar evenly into the two shells and then pour half the egg mix into each. Bake @ 400F for about 15- 20 minutes or until set.




PRE-BAKED QUICHE!

Salad King

340 Yonge Street (2nd Floor)
Toronto, ON
http://www.saladking.com/

Last Saturday Cherry, Kevin, Jon and I went all the way downtown to eat dinner (it's a long story but I'm glad we did!). Last time I was at there, one side of the building's wall crumbled and fell right off...needless to say, I got free lunch that day! I haven't been back to Salad King since then (more then a year ago) and now they have a new location right across the street from the old location! We we trying to look for it and we walked right by it; maybe it's cause it's located on the 2nd floor and you don't really notice the door or maybe we just didn't really have directions. The new decorations are really gorgeous and instead of just having cafeteria style seating, they now have booths which I think is a super smart decisions considering now you can bring your little ones or at least get some more privacy.

Cherry had the phud thai (pad thai), I only had a bite and it was good! She ate the whole bowl and I didn't hear any complaints (about her food...) from her!


I had the Seafood fried rice which was packed full of flavour and seafood (shrimp, squid, mussel, shallot, egg, crab sauce)! I think I always order this when I visit...not sure why though cause they have AMAZING curry too!


Jon had hot chicken with cashew, I didn't have any but he ate it all...he either liked it or he was really hungry! Kevin had the Seafood Soup, I'm not sure if he liked it or not cause he didn't really say anything about it.

I really like Salad King and definitely would recommend coming here for a cheap fast meal!

Herb Rubbed Pork Chops

I've been dying to use the herbs & chillies in my backyard (cause the parsley has been growing crazy fast!) and I had some frozen pork chops in the freezer (duh).


I GREW ALL THIS IN MY BACK YARD! I am so proud of myself! :) When I have my own place I will definitely have a herb and vegetable garden!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup parsley
3 tablespoons chives
1 small chili
3 garlic cloves
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
3/4 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

1. Roughly chop your garlic and throw it in mortar (if you don't have one you can just chop everything up or use a food processor) and mash with some salt using the pestle. When your garlic is paste like, add the chili and repeat.

2. Roughly chop the herbs and repeat the mashing process.

3. Add mustard, olive oil and pepper until incorporated.

4. Rub on pork and marinate for at least 30 minutes & grill. (I broiled mine but I would have grilled it if it wasn't raining!)


Everything mashed together!


Eaten with quinoa.
Enjoy!

Bluberry Nectarine Crumble

A few weeks ago I was at Longo's and they had super cheap blueberries, 2lb for $4.99! I couldn't resist the deal. After having them sit in my fridge for a few days and not knowing what to do with them, I just froze the whole box.
I went to Fresh Co. today after reading the weekly flyer and saw that nectarine were on sale and had a brilliant idea of making a crumble!



Ingredients:
Filling:
5 cups pitted, 1/4 diced nectarines (I used 5 small ones)
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (I used my frozen blueberries)
3 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon grated zest
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup granulated sugar

1. Combine everything together to everything is evenly distributed.
2. Divide evenly in ramekins or you could make one giant one.



Topping:
6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1. Combine everything together and mush the butter with the dry ingredients until the butter is pea-sized.
2. Evenly spread over the fruit.

Bake for about 35 minutes at 375F.



It was my first time making this and I would for sure make it again!

Roasted Salmon Dinner

This is what I made last week for dinner! We have quinoa with veg, roasted salmon with bruschetta topping & sauteed zucchini with mushrooms.

I broiled the salmon with just salt and pepper at a really high temperature, 450F, for about 12 minutes to get it super crispy without using loads of oil. I love guilt-free crispy things!

For the quinoa I just diced some zucchini, dried apricots, dried cranberries and sun-dried tomatoes and threw everything into the rice cooker, I also used half water and half OJ too! (same way you would cook white rice)

I would post the recipes but I'm too lazy! Just ask if you want them!

My Mama's BBQ chicken

I love when my mom makes BBQ chicken! I usually don't watch her cook but when she said she was making BBQ chicken I wanted to know what she put in it. I asked her what the ingredients were in the sauce and she just looked at me, chuckled and said "I don't know". -____-" But as she was making it, she literally put EVERYTHING that was in the cupboard in it...and I'll try to remember.


Haha, looks like such lonely plate.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
Honey
Oil
1 cup of your favourite BBQ sauce (she used Diane's)
Salt & pepper to taste

I sat here for 45 minutes trying to remember but I just can't!
Sorry!

Wanda's Pie in the Sky

Wanda's Pie in the Sky
287 Augusta Avenue
Toronto, ON
M5T 2M2
http://www.wandaspieinthesky.com

I know I haven't blogged in a long time but honestly I haven't had any interesting food adventures...UNTIL NOW! I went on a little downtown adventure with Matt, Kevin and Katie today. We ventured around Queen Street and Kensington Market to try do some vintage shopping, we clearly failed in that department but we did find this cute little joint! I've only heard about this place once from my boss when a customer asked if we made more pies.



Even before walking into Wanda's you get slapped in the face by a waft of "hipsterness". What can I say we were in Kensington, hipsterville. I thought it was super cute though! Not only does Wanda's serve pies but they have lunches, cupcakes, cookies, rugelachs, etc. and also an espresso bar where they do latte art! Impressed!
As soon as I walked in I knew I had to get a slice of pie but knowing me I wouldn't be able to finish it so I hesitated until Matt offered to share a slice with me! YAY FOR MATT!
We got the strawberry rhubarb pie, I never had rhubarb until two weeks ago when my boss made me try it. OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS SOUR!

The best thing I liked about the pie was the crust! I though the pie was a little too sour and I didn't even see or taste any strawberries but Matt liked it and he finished it.

If I were to visit Wanda's again I would try the lemon meringue pie!

Unionville Festival

Main Street
Unionville, On
June 3-5
http://www.unionvillefestival.com

Unionville Main Street has a festival every year and I try to make timehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif every year to go at least once! Usually I go for the fireworks but this year I went with my mom, sister and Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif to check out the food vendors during the day! It's was such a gorgeous day and bonus I got my tan on (we all know how pale I am...). Loads of families and couples every where!
Live bands, farmer's market, food vendors, and the shops have side walk sales!
*Apologizes for the crappy photos again!

I LOVE farmer's market and I tend to always get something when I visit one!

LOOK HOW BIG AND RED THOSE TOMATOES ARE!
I got some tomatoes, beets, honey and this Greek pizza thing stuffed with cheese and spinach!
(I'll upload a picture when I get home later!)


These guys were so amazing and they looked like they were having so much fun while playing!

Everything-in-my-fridge Cauliflower Soup

Basically I had a lot of vegetables in the fridge that were going to go bad soon so I decided to boil everything together, blend it and call it a soup!
Super simple, super delicious! I didn't really have a recipe to follow, just kind of made it up as I went and I'm sure you can throw in whatever other vegetables you had in the fridge and it would still taste good!




Ingredients:

1/2 a head of cabbage
1 cauliflower head
4 shallots
5 garlic cloves
3 celery stalks
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Chop all your ingredients, it doesn't matter how finely or rough you chop them cause you're just going to puree the soup after.

2. Saute shallots & celery till soft. Add all your other ingredients & oregano and saute for another 5-10 minutes.

3. Add your chicken stock & water, bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes-1 hour.

4. Puree everything till smooth & season to your liking.

I toasted a piece of bread with some blue cheese to garnish. See that parsley leaf? It's from my garden!! Yup, I'm so proud of it!

Caplansky's Delicatessen

356 College Street
Toronto, ON
http://www.caplanskys.com

I came here for dinner with my sister and mom after having my sister rave about it! She said they have the BEST smoked meat, even better than Montreal! So knowing me, I HAD to come and try it for myself!
Sorry for the crappy pictures, I didn't bring my camera out with me today!



(sorry for this stalker photo, I didn't want to get up to take a picture of the restaurant) It's really a cute joint, they have indoor and patio seating. They have a bar type area where they have some cakes on display (but they didn't look too appetizing..) and the cash register. They have the sandwich station at the back right before the kitchen and the place is super bright cause there's windows all along the two sides of the walls.
It's a really relaxed atmosphere, very casual no uniforms and you can basically sit anywhere you life. Having that said, if you are super hungry I don't recommend you coming here. The service is slow and it kind of takes a long time for the kitchen to make a sandwich, I mean it's just two slices of bread and some meat...


Deep-fried pickles with dill sauce. As soon as I saw these on the menu, I HAD to try them. I've heard so much about (mainly from Snooki...) these deep-fried pickles but never got to try them so I figured this was my chance! Okay. So my thoughts on these pickles, the crust and sauce were super good! I think it was a cornmeal crust and it was crispy and not greasy at all! The sauce was creamy and has a delicate dill flavour! But over all I don't think I would be ordering them again anytime soon, something I just don't think I would crave.


My mom and I had the smoked meat sandwich combo which includes coleslaw, a pickle, soup or salad. My mom had the salad and I had the soup. You could choose from the soups they have on the menu or the daily special soup which is what I had. Today's special was cold carrot & fennel soup. I thought it was okay, nothing special.


My sister had the Maple dipped fried chicken with mashed potato & veggies. She really liked it and she LOVED the mashed potatoes, I had a bite and the chicken's skin was crispy and not greasy, sweet and salty! yummy! The potatoes were more like smashed potatoes cause the skins we're still on them and still kind of chunky, it was buttery and creamy.

FINALLY! BET YOU WERE WAITING FOR THIS PICTURE!

Yumm, it was packed full of meat and not too salty. You can choose from lean, medium or fatty, I got medium and I thought it was TOOO fatty for my liking; I would definitely get lean next time I visit! Probably the best smoked meat in T.O, not too sure if it's better than Montreal's smoked meat though!

Apple Pie

I got this recipe off of a cooking show but I honestly don't remember which one since it's been so long!

I'm kind of too lazy to go get the recipe right now...but I will tomorrow!! PROMISE!
CRUST!
I use a cheese grate to grate the super cold butter so it's easier to combine with the flour. I don't chill the shortening cause honestly there's no point since it's the same texture as it is warm.
I use my hands to mush everything together so the butter is pea-sized or a little bigger.
Add the cold milk and combine and knead until the ball of dough comes together (make sure not to over work it!) and chill in the fridge for 30minutes-1 hour.

FINAL PRODUCT! (sorry I forgot to take a picture before everyone devoured it)

Tea Party Bridal Shower

As promised, here's another post!
Last week was my sister's bridal shower and guess who had to make all the food; THIS GIRL RIGHT HERE! Boy was it tough, Baking all day at work then coming home to bake some more!

Here are just a few pictures of the bridal shower! Oh yea, it was a BIG hit and 95% of the food was gone! (boy do girls eat a lot!)



L-R: Raspberry thumbprints, Walnut shortbread, Cowboy cookies, Green tea almond meringues & purple meringues.

OMG! LOOK AT THIS! ISN'T IT THE CUTEST?!? I begged my dad to buy me this pan a few years ago but didn't use it till now! I LOVE how the cakes turned out!
Brownies, Vanilla bean cupcakes with purple butter cream, Chocolate chip cookies & Tea sandwiches (Smoked salmon w/ herb cream cheese, tuna fish salad & egg salad)
One of the games we played, making a wedding dress out of toilet paper!
Me (oh my gosh, I look so pale..), the bride to be (my sister) and my momma!

Hiatus

I promise I WILL update tomorrow!