Yeah, the Colts won...blah, blah, blah

After the exciting game last week, the Patriots couldn't get it done. The game started out awesome with a flukey touchdown off a fumble, an easy running touchdown, and a wicked interception for a touchdown. They were up 21-3 and it looked so good that I think they relaxed and let the Colts come back -- just like the Patriots did with the Chargers last week. So, 38-34 for the Colts with the last play being a Tom Brady interception. Poo. This sucks. I feel gutted. And I ate too much party mix at Jeff and Trina's.

One bright point of the evening was that we ordered a really great pizza from Cosa Pizza on Roncesvalles. It was really floppy with a yummy tomatoey sauce that reminds me of the New York style pizza I had in Boston. It came with some forgettable bruschetta, so if you order from here, it would probably be best to decline the offer.

Well, Tony Dungy deserves to go to the Superbowl. And so does Peyton Manning. I don't really care one way or the other who wins. It's so boring to watch the Superbowl when your team isn't in it. At least I'll be more productive at work than I would have been if the Patriots were still in the running. Poo.

Pho at Golden Turtle Restaurant - meh

After 'mandatory fun' (office all hands meeting) at the Ontario Science Centre, Tanya and I went to Golden Turtle Restaurant at Ossington between Queen and Dundas to grab some Vietnamese pho. Tanya had read somewhere that Susur Lee enjoys this place, so we thought we'd give it a try.


I had worried that since this place had gotten good press, it would be fancy. But, it was actually just like any other pho place with all the standard dishes, condiments, and place settings, which was a relief to see. I ordered pho with well done beef and tripe (I love tripe, really) and Tanya had pho with tofu and vegetables. We also ordered the standard fried spring rolls (with meat) and shrimp fresh rolls (vermicelli, mint, julienned veggies, fresh shrimp served with peanuts sauce). Since Darcy and Vince weren't with us, we ordered some takeout for them (pho with rare beef for Darcy; pad thai with chicken, tofu and vegetables for Vince).

What I love about going for pho is that since the stock is already made and the noodle take next to no time to boil, your meal is ready in less than 7 minutes. It is great stuff to have if you're in a hurry. The stock was a little bland and had a fruity taste that I wasn't used to, but it tasted clean and light. The noodles were thin cooked to the right degree. The beef was kind of tough, but I really should have ordered the rare beef instead of well-done. Tanya's soup looked really healthy with lots of colourful vegetables (carrots, cabbage, etc.) and large chunks for fried tofu (yum). The fried spring rolls were excellent -- crispy, savoury, and tasty. The fresh rolls were great too with crisp ingredients and nice, creamy peanut sauce.

The bill for everything we had plus the takeout was $45, so it was an amazing deal like pho usually is. I have a feeling though that Susur goes to this place because it is relatively close to his restaurants; not because it's outstanding. It was definitely decent, but it's not better or different than any other pho I've had in Toronto or Montreal. Golden Turtle is ridiculously listed in this 'Top 10 Restaurants' article on toronto.com that includes Canoe and Bymark. I'm not saying that only expensive/pretentious restaurants belong in a Top 10. Golden Turtle shouldn't be on that list because it's not special. It's a standard operation that serves the exact same thing with the same quality that you could have at hundreds of Vietnamese restaurants in Toronto. They're just lucky enough to have an endorsement from a celebrity chef.

Quesada at lunch, Simon's Wok at dinner. Yes, the diet is going well.

This week I decided that enough was enough -- I had to take control, start working out and eating light again. The month in India was complete unbridled gluttony from start to finish and after recovering from the flu, I was well enough to indulge in two Christmas dinners plus all my home favourites. So, this week I reacquainted myself with my gym, brought my lunch, and ate sensible portions...until today.

Well, actually it wasn't that bad. My friend Darryl is having a frustrating time at work, so he needed to get out of the office and talk about it. We went to Quesada, which is a Mexican placethat specializes in burritos. It's very similar to Burrito Boyz, but the portions are more reasonably sized (smaller; well, some are) and it's a very bright, open, and pleasant space (it actually used to be a Country Style. They really cleaned it up).

For burritos, you have a choice of whole wheat or white tortilla stuffed with grilled chicken, steak, pork, veggies, or plain bean. Additional fillers include rice, beans (black or pinto), lettuce, tomato, jalapenos, red onions, cheese, guacamole (costs extra), cilantro, and three sauces of varying heat. All burritos come in either small, large, or 'big ass' size. The small was just fine for lunch. I opted for grilled chicken with rice, pinto beans, cheese, cilantro, lettuce, tomato and hot sauce. After they fill it up and fold it into a rectangular package, they grill it in a sort of flat panini press so it gets crispy and golden on the outside.

The hot sauce was just right: spicy, but not overwhelming. The heat came on like a latent realization instead of a punch in the face. The chicken was breast meat, which tends to be a little dry, but I'm sure it was healthy. Darryl got a steak burrito comboed with fresh salsa and chips. It's a very affordable lunch (about $7 each) and the seating area is comfortable.

I made plans ages ago to meet up with Jane who was in my food writing workshop that I had to bale out of because of the India trip. We only went to one class together, but we really had a lot in common so we emailed while I was in India and decided to get together once I was back to try a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant in the Gerrard-Broadview area called Simon's Wok Vegetarian Kitchen.

From the name and the fact that it is Buddhist, I know it sounds like a frou frou establishment, but actually it was a very down-to-earth Chinese restaurant. Because it is Buddhist, they do not cook with garlic, green onions, or onions. I looked up why on the Internet and the 'Faith and Food' Web site said that they are considered to increase one's sexual desire and anger. I'd never heard that before. To be perfectly honest, I didn't miss the garlic and onions at all, which says a lot about how good the food was.

We ordered Vegetarian Duck with Vegetables (see picture), King Mushrooms with Chinese Broccoli, Eggplant with Ginger, and Fried Rice with Olive Leaves. Everything was both delicious and generous. The 'Vegetarian Duck' was actually rolled yuba (Japanese word for it), which is a basically the skin that forms on top of soy milk when it boils. It can be peeled off, dried, and used as a wrapper. With the veggie duck, it was rolled into a log and cut crossways. The King mushrooms were large, meaty, and chopped into generous-sized pieces along with long stalks of Chinese broccoli. The eggplant with ginger was a mixture of long pieces of eggplant, large chunks of fried tofu, carrots, and green peppers. I love eggplant so much and usually when you order it, they give you only a little bit, but this dish had at least 6 in it, I think. The fried rice was probably the best I've ever had. It was clean-tasting, but savoury, and the olive leaves were just the right amount of salty.

The entire meal came to 36$ and they kept refilling our teapot as we lingered there for over 3 hours. It's a modest restaurant, but it's very popular in the neighbourhood, I think. At one point, every single table was full. I can't recommend this place enough. You have to go.

So, so much for eating light. I don't think it was particularly unhealthy though. It's Buddhist, so it has to be good for me. Tomorrow, I already have plans to try the pho at Golden Turtle. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow night.

I can't believe the Patriots won tonight

I'm totally in shock. Our dearest New England Patriots somehow managed to win tonight against an incredibly powerful San Diego team. Everyone, including us and all the guys on Countdown, thought San Diego would win and somehow the Patriots pulled it out. Tom Brady is the Platonic ideal of a quarterback.

I know that reading about football is really boring if you're not into it. I feel the same way about hockey (yup, I said it). Hearing someone talk about a sport you're not interested in is like hearing people recap a soap opera you don't watch. So, I'll keep it short, but let me tell you that I am the most surprised of anyone at my being a football fan. I didn't even know the rules 5 years ago. One day, we went over to our friends' to watch a game and they told me that all you need to know is that they get four chances (aka downs) to advance 10 yards. So, once I got attached to the New England Patriots (and no, we're not bandwagon jumpers because Darcy and Jeff have been fans ever since the Pats were the worst team in the league and nicknamed 'The Patsies'), I became so invested in football. It really means a lot to me. Leading up to the Superbowl in 2005, I couldn't concentrate on anything else and after they won, I kept replaying the game in my mind and missing my stop on the subway. It was like being in love.

I remember Noam Chomsky saying that organized sport is a way of distracting the masses with something of absolutely no importance. I thought that was hilarious because it's true. When you go to an NFL game you see how invested people are in it -- and I'm one of them! I don't know why, but I really enjoy it. I'm as surprised as you are.

We watched the game over at Jeff and Trina's in the Junction. The walk to their place was so much fun because the shortest route involved walking on a path through a field and cutting through a hole in a chainlink fence. I felt like a kid again. At the base of a pedestrian overpass that we had to take, there was some really cool graffiti.

Trina made some wonderful grainy bread that we ate with two different soups: beet-coconut and butternut squash-cumin. Who said you have to have junk food with football? All of it was so good and the recipes are in this book called 'Entertaining Vegetarians'. I brought some biscuits that I was testing out for the potluck at work on the 25th and let's just say that it's a good thing I tried them out first. They were kind of flat, salty, and dense. I'm going to try again next weekend with actual buttermilk instead of skim milk and half shortening instead of all butter. Darcy makes them so well, but he's busy the day of the potluck so he can't make them for me. Poo.

So, the AFC Championship Game is next Sunday, January 21st at 6:30PM. I'll bore you with the details then. :)

Japanese Curry, Football, Onion Rings, and Fries

I went running this morning for the first time since October and lasted for about 15 minutes. Darcy wants to do another half marathon (Mississauga Half Marathon) in May, so we're gearing up. I can't believe we're doing another one. Yikes.

Later in the day, I was looking at my Saveur magazine. January is a great time to buy this magazine because they have what they call the Saveur 100, which is the editorial staff's picks for their 100 favourite food finds of the past year. It's a really fun list with lots of great pictures and write-ups. One of the picks this year is Japanese curry. My mom used to make this for us when I was a kid with sauce from a package made by S&B. I love this kind of curry and I've made it myself a few times. The S&B sauce comes in kind of a plastic ice cube tray and you can take pieces of it, add it to water, and then add vegetables, chicken, etc. It's kind of like Japanese Hamburger Helper. In Saveur, they had a recipe to make the sauce from scratch. I didn't really believe that it could be done. I thought it was sort of like how you can make your own Mac and Cheese, but it will never taste like Kraft dinner because it's a completely different animal. But, I followed the recipe and it tasted EXACTLY the same. And it's probably miles healthier. I totally recommend it.

Tomorrow is our friend Jeff's birthday, so we went to a sports bar in the Junction called Shoxs to have some drinks and watch the late NFL divisional game (New Orleans Saints vs. Philadelphia Eagles). I gave Jeff one of the handpainted cards from India with the elephant (supposed to be good luck), so I figure our team (New England Patriots) should have a good game tomorrow (knock on wood, fingers crossed). Jeff ordered some fries and onion rings to go with our drinks and the waitress brought out an enormous basket of each. So much for trying to eat healthy in the new year. They were actually really good and cheap (fries $2.95; onion rings $3.95).

Jeff and Trina just recently bought a house in the Junction. On our way home, we walked across Dundas from Keele to Runnymede to catch the bus and saw some pretty funky shops on the way. I loved the upholstery store with chairs and tables piled in huge mountains against the windows with more than one sign saying, "Come In. We're Open", even though it was 12:30AM. A little further down was a used bookstore that said: 'Voted the messiest store for 6 straight years...and proud of it!!!!' and 'If you can't find what you're looking for inside...don't worry, neither can I!!!!". Across the street was Vesuvio, a great place to order pizza from if you live in the West end. And right at the corner of Runnymede and Dundas was a 7 Eleven with a huge sign saying they are serving Kona Blend Coffee, which we bought as souvenirs when we were in Hawaii in August. That coffee and has come a long way to get here.

At a bus shelter, we saw this sign for a Found Cat. We thought that was so sweet that someone had taken the trouble to both care for the cat and try to find its owners. The cat looks pretty relaxed in the photo though, so maybe he likes it better where he is? Anyways, spread the word if you know anyone who is missing a kitty.


We're going to try to run again tomorrow if I'm not completely incapacitated by stiff muscles, so I'd better get to bed. Everyone send some love and energy toward the Patriots tomorrow at 4:30PM. Hope everyone's having a good weekend.

Le Paradis: Is choucroute supposed to be salty?

Tonight a bunch of us got together for my friend Michael's birthday at Le Paradis, a French bistro in the Annex. Everything about the place (decor, atmosphere, waiters) felt like an authentic French restaurant -- casually fabulous. Even on a Wednesday night, the place was packed and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

I gave Michael one of those hand-painted cards I bought in India that has an elephant on it. The elephant is supposed to be good luck, so I also bought him a 6/49 ticket. The draw is tonight. I figure it's a lock.

Darryl always has such great taste in wine and booze, so I followed his lead (as usual) and ordered a Kir, which Wiki tells me is blackcurrant liquor topped with white wine. It was sweet and very easy to drink. Dangerous.

I started with a simple, fresh 'Salade Mimosa' that had lettuce, buttermilk dressing, and diced hardboiled eggs. It was delicious and unfussy. Michael and Diane had the 'Auvergnate' salad with arugula, endive, blue cheese, walnuts, and apples while Louis had a butternut squash soup and Darryl had grilled vegetables with melted cheese. Everything looked effortlessly and expertly prepared.

Because I was so hungry, I decided to take the plunge and order the Choucroute Garnie (which, by the way, Louis says is almost exactly like a Newfoundland dinner). It's a heavy braised mixture of sauerkraut, bacon, smoked pork loin, duck, and sausage. The portion was a reasonably modest size and all the meats were wonderfully tender, but the sauerkraut itself was so incredibly salty. Four of us had the same thing and I probably ate the most of anyone because I was starving, but it was difficult to eat. We were all so polite and no one complained, but is this the way choucroute is supposed to be? Michael and Louis probably had better choices (steak frites and lamb shank).

Even after the heavy entrees, three of us shared three desserts because they all sounded so good. When Marcelo and I were in India, we ate dessert (usually some kind of ice cream) with both lunch and dinner almost every day, so it's a habit I'm having a hard time breaking. We had Coupe Cote d'Ivoire (coconut ice cream, banana, and chocolate -- doesn't sound very French does it?), profiteroles, and the tarte of the day: prune and frangipani. The chocolate sauce on the ice cream and profiteroles was dark, slightly bitter, and very yummy. The tarte had a soft, buttery crust topped with sour prunes and sliced almonds -- this was the best of the three. Dennis had a creme caramel that he sweetly let us try and it was soft, cool, smooth, and to die for as well.

Even though our choucroute was salty, the rest of the food was excellent and the restaurant had a great atmosphere -- lively, but not loud. Diane and her husband Dennis are regulars there, so I think we just had a bit of bad luck. I would definitely go back but, after eating out daily in India for 4 weeks, I should really get back to the gym first.

Sorry the pictures are so dark. The lighting in the restaurant was very moody. With the flash, the pictures were too bright; without, too dark. I need to learn more about the settings on my camera.

Happy Birthday Michael!

Saturday morning at the ROM, brunch at the Free Times Cafe -- it's good to be home

This morning Darryl, Diane, and I took in the Italian Arts and Design: 20th Century exhibit at the ROM. The exhibit closes tomorrow, so I was glad that we were able to get tickets. There actually weren't that many people there considering it's a pretty popular subject.

I bought the tickets online (through Paciolan -- an AudienceView competitor) and the email receipt said that I could pick them up at the self-service kiosk. I tried to pick them up yesterday because I wasn't sure how crowded it was going to be and I wanted to get right in there and make the most of our time. However, the software only allows you to pick up tickets at the kiosk on the day of your admission. There was also an annoying girl stationed beside the kiosk telling you what to do. Is it a 'self-service' kiosk if you need a live person standing beside it barking orders?

Anyways, the exhibit was amazing. The majority of the items were everyday objects (chairs, tables, lamps, dishes, vases, radios), but there were a few dresses, scupltures, jewelry pieces, and paintings as well. There was one adorable Fiat, that looked a lot like a Mini, and a few bikes. In the rest of the museum, you are allowed to take non-flash photography, so I thought I could in this exhibit as well. I was gently told by a security guard to stop, so the only pictures I have are of a red typewriter and a Vespa. I suppose they want people to actually pay and come to the exhibit insteading of enjoying their friend's pictures of everything. There was a very beautiful and expensive catalogue available for sale at the gift shop that includes photos of all the pieces. I bought one for my mom.

Italian art and design in the 20th century looks like it's all about smooth shapes and colour instead of decoration. It's a complete 180 from Indian art and design, which was very ornate (bejeweled, embroidered). My favourite piece in this show was a Futurist bronze sculpture of a man running by Umberto Boccioni. He said about this type of work: " Sculpture should bring to life the object by making visible its prologation into space. The circumscribed lines of the enclosed statue should be abolished. The figure must be opened up and fused into space". If you read that on its own, it might sound farfetched. But when you look at this sculpture (see picture), doesn't it sound true? I thought it was great.

We spent about 1-1/2 hours carefully looking at all the exhibits. Afterwards, we were casually browsing the permanent collection and it turns out we were all starving and wanted to go to brunch, but no one wanted to say so. I took the plunge, and we all happily agreed to make our way to the Free Times Cafe.

None of us had ever been to this restaurant before, but it was recommended in a fabulous book called Cheap Thrills Toronto. This is by far the best guide for good, inexpensive eats in Toronto. I stumbled upon it in Chapters one day and I noticed that all the places I know for yummy, cheap food were in there. It's so reliable, so I literally keep it with me at all times. A new edition is coming out in May 2007 and I encourage everyone to get one.

Free Times Cafe was a lovely place. I was ravenous by that time, so I ordered the Deluxe Combo with lox, which included a bagel, cream cheese, smoked salmon, 4 latkes, 3 cheese blintzes, sour cream, applesauce, and a small mix of greens and onions. I loved the latkes; the blintzes were excellent even though they're not really my thing. The applesauce had cinnamon and cloves in it (I think) so when it was combined with the blintz, it tasted like apple pie (yum). The smoked salmon was decent although not nearly as nice as the stuff you can get at the Cheese Boutique. The whole plate was $11.95 though, so I can see why they couldn't afford to serve centre cut salmon. The greens and onions were dry/wilted, but that happens at a lot of places and the salad really wasn't the star of the show. Diane had just potato latkes (I could have done that too) and Darryl had the frittata of the day with roasted red peppers, spinach, and goat cheese. The service was friendly and attentive, and they let us sit there and gab long after our meals and drinks were finished. It's a great place for a relaxed Saturday brunch.

Darryl said that his friend Sue has made 'Food Goals for 2007', kind of like new year's resolutions but to do with restaurants and cooking. I think that's a great idea! I'm going to have to do the same. I'll need to think on it a bit. Any suggestions?

Winterlicious is starting up soon and I have some friends to catch up with, so I have plans in visit the following places within the next month: Le Paradis, Simon's Wok, Beerbistro, and Mildred Pierce. I'll tell you all about them. Happy weekend everyone.