Dinner at Frida

999 Eglinton Avenue West
416-787-2221
website

I’d heard nothing but positive things about the food at Frida. I’d also heard mixed reviews about their service. Last Saturday a couple of friends and I found ourselves there for a late (after 10pm) dinner. One of them doesn’t eat shellfish, the other doesn’t consume diary and is also celiac (gluten free). Under the right circumstances I’ll eat anything for the experience (I’m still not eating meat at home but occasionally – and too often recently – I’m eating it while out but less so with poultry).

When we arrived there were maybe 4 or 5 tables occupied: People lingering, taking advantage of having a babysitter at home on a Saturday night, stretching out their adult time over wine. A couple that looked Mexican and were regulars and/or knew the waitress.  Small groups of friends.

We were greeted and seated, with the manager* coming over to introduce the menu after initial questions were asked. Upon hearing a question about “wheat”, her answer was something similar to “Oh, are you celiac? Well…” Always a good start when staff is knowledgeable in such things or knows, confidently, who is.

As I’ve mentioned, it was a week ago and the visit wasn’t planned. I generally don’t take notes when I go for dinner because restaurant reviews aren’t specifically my thing (“What do you blog about?” “food.” “What about food?” “Just food.” “Restaurant reviews? Recipes?” “No, just. Food. In general.”). I didn’t have a notebook on me (I usually do) so I didn’t really take notes. I typed my favourite dish into my iPod Touch and forgot about it.

I also don’t have a great memory for what I ate or for specific details about dishes and a meal itself. These are things that I’ve generally forgotten by the the next meal (what I’ve eaten) or end of the meal (flavours, textures etc).

However, certain experiences stick out and if a place makes an impression on me good or bad I’ll want to blog (/Tweet/change my Facebook status message) about it. I often have my camera with me for food and non-food photo ops (lacking a smart phone, it’s my Panasonic Lumix).

Without looking at photos or their menu, I can tell you – one week later – that we started out with a refreshing horchata colada, the duck carnitas were a hit with all three of us (iPod Touch says “duck carnitas=fave” and auto correct feature kept wanting to change that to “carnot”), that the grilled vegetable salad was our least favourite, and that by the time the half chicken came we were full. Determined to extend the experience a little more, two of us shared the churros and weren’t disappointed.

In between the duck, the chicken and the churros (and here I consult with the menu and photos) we shared a number of other dishes including some of the “small plates”, comparable to tapas.

The “small plate of the day” was three pieces of tostada, each with its own topping. Lack of note taking means that I couldn’t tell you what each was but I recall that two came with melted cheese with a cheese-less version for my dairy-avoiding friend.

A photo of a nearly empty plate reveals mushrooms, corn and what I think are roasted red peppers, with a side of crumbled… cotija? I think it was the Tostada de Salicon; Shredded flank steak, habanera salad and cojita cheese. The cheese was served on the side.

The Volcán de Cabrito (braised goat in salsa verde, on a corn crisp with Oazaca cheese and baby coriander) feels like a necessary addition to the duck, steak and chicken dishes. It’s nice to have a variety.

The duck carnitas were a favourite because of the moist, meatiness of the duck (I know, the term “meatiness” would never be acceptable if someone were paying me to write a restaurant review), the creaminess of the guacamole, the crunch of the onions, the texture of the tomatoes…. the flavours and textures were harmonious. I don’t remember details (no notes, poor memory, remember?) but I remember the wow. In the end that’s all that really matters both to personal experience and when writing about food. (Who cares about the nuances? Sometimes those descriptions sound pretentious anyhow – not that I’m saying that reviews should be vague.)

I’m generally biased towards duck. When I was otherwise avoiding meat, duck was my kryptonite. (I know exactly who to blame thank for that too, Ezra Title.)

I’m not a big fan of chicken anymore so if I eat it it’s more of a nibble. We were all slowing down by the time the chicken arrived but we picked at it here and there. Between the three of us we were able to put a good dent in it.

Finally, the one thing that only two of us could share: Churros. These come recommended by people I’ve encountered. You know how there are certain foods and ingredients that make you swoon and not hesitate to order? The churros had me when I read the words “goat milk caramel”. Synonyms with the same result: “Caramel”, “salted caramel”, “dulche de leche”, “cajeta”. I didn’t even need to read “blueberry coulis”.

So-

As I later told a friend on Facebook, “Fantastic Food, attentive service”.

Here’s Twitter conversation I had with whomever maintains Frida’s Twitter account:

Me via my other Twitter account:

Late dinner at @fridarestaurant. 1st time. Fantastic food, attentive service, and my friend w/ Celiac was easily accommodated.
12:30am, Aug 29 from HootSuite

FridaRestaurant: [@me]

This is so nice to read- thanks for sharing!
10:57pm, Aug 31 from Web

[me - in attempt to offer positive reinforcement about service because when I later spoke of my experience to a friend she told me that she'd heard about terrible service at a Tweetup there]:

@FridaRestaurant You’re welcome. I’ve heard both rave reviews and less flattering ones (re service), so keep up the good work!
8:45am, Sep 01 from HootSuite

FridaRestaurant: [@me]

We really like the team we’ve got here now. Hopefully re: service, all has been ironed out (well. at least most!)

…Glad they correctly interpreted my intent.

It’s not far from where I live, but it is kind of pricey in relation to my own means so I’m not likely to make it a regular dining spot. With taxes, tip + we each paid around $50, if memory serves. The chicken itself was $24. I do highly recommend it, and I’ll return on occasion.  Sheryl from TasteTO wrote a very positive review of their brunch earlier this summer (Brunch for two with all taxes, tip and coffee: $50) and I’ve been wanting to try it ever since.

One last thing worth noting: Two days later the restaurant was one of the two runners up at the Guacamole Smackdown at the Drake Hotel. Indeed, keep up the good work.

Eat well, be well.

*At the time I’d thought owner, but two days later someone tried to explain who’s who at Frida without having them there to be pointed to.

First Bite – what’s cooking?

I recently received the current issue of  What’s Cooking, a magazine created by Kraft Foods Canada that showcases their products and is filled with recipes, and tips for eating, cooking and food preparation. Basically it’s an advertorial crossed with a cookbook. The magazine often angers me. I’m not a fan of processed food, especially when it’s being marketed as “healthy”.  For months I’ve had a draft blog entry that rants about a two-page “healthy eating”/”summer weight loss” article that advocates for processed foods containing ingredients not found in nature. I refer to the article as “paying lip service” to weight loss and then segue into another rant about “Kraft Dinner Smart” macaroni and cheese that contains “1/2 a serving of vegetables in every helping”. And the ingredients they use in their jello!  Read about tartrazine if you’re so inclined.

That mini-tirade of an intro is just to tell you that the current issue does not anger me. I’m almost disappointed about that. I even found a couple of pieces useful: “Easy how to: slicing and coring a pear” and a recipe for “mix-in-the pan chocolate chip cake”. No doubt that Kraft will keep pissing me off for as long as they make “food” and beverage that contains such ingredients as trisodium phosphate, which Wikipedia says can act as a cleaning agent, food additive, stain remover and degreaser. How about we eat whole foods, cook quick foods such as quinoa that don’t come partly cooked and in a package, and drink water flavoured with herbal tea and/or lemon and/or essential oils?

Second Bite – holy guacamole, score another one for the Italian team

Last Monday I attended Ivy Knight’s Guacamole Smackdown at the Drake Hotel. Winner: Enotecha Sociale. Runner’s up: Frida Restaurant and C5.  I overheard Enoteca chef Rocco Agostino say something like, “I’m Italian, what do I know about guacamole?” I wonder if, when asked to participate, Chef Rocco feared that he was stuck between a guac and a hard place.

What else can I say? There were lots of guacamoles and chips, an Italian won, and the patio was packed with restaurant workers and food bloggers. I do enjoy when the two groups (with some overlap) come together and am content hanging out with chefs and other restaurant industry types.

Guac and roll, people.

(I’ll stop now.)

Third Bite – when life gives you overactive air conditioning, buy donuts

Usually Blog Bites are a collection of musing that are too long to tweet but to short for their own posts The following I did tweet:

“Swapped the Arctic chill of the office for the tropical heat outdoors & walked to Little Nicky’s Coffee for iced Americano & 1/2 doz donuts.”

“Donuts are made to order. I didn’t eat all 6. I offered them around the office before I was down to 2. Hoping caffeine doesn’t ruin me.”

“Addendum to my previous two tweets: http://www.blogto.com/cafes/little-nickys-coffee-toronto”

Then a couple hours later,

“Occurs to me that earlier I didn’t mention that the 1/2 dozen donuts I bought & ate 3 of were MINI. (Makes more sense & less horrifying.)”

Also, I also drank a smoothie for breakfast and had a salad for lunch before going to Little Nicky’s. Sometimes I seem to crave junk food because of eating salad.

I’m going back there, next time for a dozen so that my other colleagues can share in the hot, fluffy cinnamon sugar goodness.

Fourth Bite – free doesn’t make it taste better

Occasionally companies send bloggers product hoping for free publicity and/or a review. I think they’re aware that bloggers are likely to accept free sh*t and then, being bloggers (I’m talking personal blogs, not group blogs or ones that are essentially online magazines), have no obligation to actually post. Many of us take the “if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it at all” approach. Sheryl Kirby briefly addressed this recently in a blog post about using social media to sell products, inspired by a Globe and Mail article about using Twitter contests as marketing tools.

When Mardi of Live.Eat.Travel.Write blogged about receiving samples of Hall’s Kitchen products I recalled the last time I received samples for review. I didn’t blog about it because it was negative, seemed redundant and I didn’t feel that it would make a good post. As my response to Mardi was essentially a mini blog post in someone else’s blog, I share it here:

I like Hall’s Kitchen. They use good ingredients and no preservatives. I was recently sent samples of dip and a noodle salad from another company to blog about. I already knew that I wasn’t crazy about their dips. I was prepared to do a full on taste test at work, which I did, but I haven’t blogged about my experience because it comes down to “Dip #1: Dominant flavour is potassium sorbate. Dip #2: See dip #1.” and so forth. Potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate taste like acid to me. Sodium benzoate is the sodium salt of benzoic acid and can be produced by reacting sodium hydroxide with benzoic acid. In my opinion, it should be banned from food.

Hall’s doesn’t do that….The only positive thing I got from the aforementioned samples was a bunch of ice packs and a Styrofoam cooler. The cooler probably would have tasted better than the dips.

I should mention that I have a dislike of both the taste and the idea of most preservatives. My favourite company for dips, soups and pestos, Sunflower Kitchen, doesn’t use processed mineral preservatives. Citric acid is their preservative of choice. Relatively new locally, Hall’s Kitchen is a close second for the reasons stated above although I’ve only tasted a couple of their products. Sunflower Kitchen has been around longer and hence earned my affection first.

The company from which I got free ice packs and a nice Styrofoam cooler: Summer Fresh. The fact that their website lacks ingredient lists was a red flag for me before the product even shipped (I do my research when contacted) and one of the samples was missing an ingredient label. Thanks for the service, though. The company rep was pleasant and the samples were delivered by messenger on schedule and with the aforementioned packaging in case I wasn’t around to receive it. I appreciate that.

Fifth Bite – pump up the jam a little more

Friend and food writer Sarah Hood is writing a book about home canning that’s scheduled to be published in the fall of 2011. About once a month I get together with a group of friends that includes Sarah to try a restaurant that’s new to us.  Our most recent dinner – a visit to Stockyards when our original destination had closed early in a rain storm – was after the photo shoot for the book. Many jars of jams, jelly, marmalade and preserves were opened for that photo shoot and so Jen, Evelyn and I were the recipients of some of Sarah’s delicious research and development. I chose strawberry lemon marmalade and VQA Chardonnay jelly. There was another one that I really liked but Jen wrestled it from my hands in the name of being fair (isn’t all fair in love and jam?). What Jen, Evelyn and I didn’t take went to Joel of Community Foodist and others who, coincidentally, arrived as we were about to leave. Right place, right time. Here’s a sneak peak of her book.

Final Bite – get ‘em before they’re gone

My first taste of Chinese moon cakes, procured by a Chinese colleague from his favourite Chinese bakery. Just saying. Look for a blog post on that one too. I’ll draft it today or tomorrow and post it on Monday.

I set out to blog this afternoon and I did: 2 blog posts, 3 hours, and I didn’t even talk about this morning’s trip to the Evergreen Brick Works farmer’s market. That’s two more blog posts to work on in my head. I think I need a nap.

Eat well, be well.

Image via Wikipedia

• My first experience with veggie dogs were Yves brand “hot dogs” that my mom bought. They reminded me of saw dust and pencil erasers. It was so long ago that I was still living with them. Grist did a blind taste test. My own conclusions: I’ll skip on the fake hot dogs. I’m not a big fan of fake meat to begin with.

• Green beans are in season? Wondering what to do with them? Here are 21 ideas from Cliqueclack Food.

• Ever wonder how Jelly Belly invents flavours?

• Top 10 Tips For Better Cupcakes. If you’re into cupcakes and don’t launch into rants about them like a friend of mine does.

• One of my favourite flavour combinations, 5 ways to combine chocolate and coffee

• Beer Linked to Psoriasis in Women

• Ice cream sandwiches get the chef treatment and I discover a connection to one of my favourite chefs.

• One of Huffington Posts many slideshows: Menu fail

• Coming soon to a dairy case near you? Camel Milk

• Oh Denny’s, I can feel my arteries clog as I read this. I occasionally eat junk but this is so bad it looks like a parody of junk. Denny’s New Fried Cheese Melt

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles from Post Punk Kitchen. PPK is behind such cookbooks as Veganomicon (which I bought in part for the name, and I rarely buy cookbooks² ), Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, Vegan Brunch and Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. Yes, my snickerdoodles were vegan. Shhhh.

What’s a “snickerdoodle”? I had to look it up because as far as I knew, a snickerdoodle is a cookie, so why not just call it a cookie?

Says Wikipedia:

A snickerdoodle is a type of sugar cookie made with cream of tartar and rolled in cinnamon sugar. It is characterized by a cracked surface and can be crisp or soft depending on preference. In modern recipes, the leavening agent is usually baking powder.

If you’re a knowledge nerd like me, and like to know about the origins of a word, here’s what Wikipedia says about the etymology of the word:

The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means “snail noodles.” A different author suggests that the word “snicker” comes from the Dutch word snekrad, or the German word Schnecke, which both describe a snail-like shape. Yet another hypothesis suggests that the name has no particular meaning or purpose and is simply a whimsically named cookie that originated from a New England tradition of fanciful cookie names. There is also a series of tall tales about a hero named “Snickerdoodle” from the early 1900s which may be related to the name of the cookie.

Mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodles are so called because of chocolate (obviously), cinnamon and cayenne. That half teaspoon of cayenne packs a punch, and I think that I’ve been using the same cayenne powder for years.

People on Twitter were curious about my cookies. They were a HIT at the party. People at work liked them.  The recipe was requested by a number of people.

I mostly stuck to the recipe with only two modifications. I already know what the mods are for the next round.

Enough of my babbling. You want the recipe, don’t you? (This is a call and response blog, didn’t you know?) Here it is:

Makes 2 dozen (I made some smaller to maximize the number)

For the topping:
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the cookies:
1/2 cup canola oil (I used 1/4 cup sunflower oil and 1/4 melted coconut oil, would have used all coconut but didn’t want to use up the jar)
1 cup sugar (I used raw cane sugar)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons almond milk (Or your preferred non-dairy milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon chocolate extract (or more vanilla extract if you have no chocolate)
1 2/3 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Mix the topping ingredients together on a flat plate. Set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl, use a fork to vigorously mix together oil, sugar, syrup, and milk. Mix in extracts.

Sift in remaining ingredients, stirring as you add them. Once all ingredients are added mix until you’ve got a pliable dough.

Roll dough into walnut sized balls. Pat into the sugar topping to flatten into roughly 2 inch discs. Transfer to baking sheet, sugar side up, at least 2 inches apart (they do spread). This should be easy as the the bottom of the cookies should just stick to your fingers so you can just flip them over onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, they should be a bit spread and crackly on top. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

**

See PPK for a video of Isa Moskowitz making them as well as Isa’s own intro. If anyone can make these gluten free, try it and send me the recipe. I’ve been meaning to buy the ingredients to make my own gluten free flour blend. The next time I make these I want to dial down the cayenne, as that was the dominating flavour for me, and add some ginger.

There you have it.

Footnotes:

¹ As I’ve said before, my “recipe file” is Google Bookmarks. A couple of years ago I did away with a huge, heavy binder of recipes, a combination of old newspaper photocopies, magazine clippings and website print outs. Despite the occasional purge it was unwieldy, arranged with dividers by topic, but no recipe index, and no way to have recipes included in multiple sections or pages with multiple recipes to span multiple sections without printing out more than one copy. It was an inefficient mess. By the time I got rid of this recipe collection method I had a second binder just for desserts, beverages and holiday recipes. The multi-month project involved seeking out recipes that I’d printed out and bookmarking them. It was worth the time and effort. Folksonomy is important when it comes to finding what you’re looking for and the ability to attach multiple tags/labels and easily search makes it a great recipe filing tool.
² See footnote 1.

Eat well, be well.

Image via Wikipedia

• Cantaloupe
• Salad greens
• Spinach
• Concord grapes
• Jalepeno peppers
• Kale
• Cilantro and basil. (Herbs are free.

I’ve so far used some of everything except the peppers and cilantro.

Enter a Carrot Fest Contest, take a hands-on workshop, and more!

Here’s the latest on what’s coming up at Everdale!

Cob Construction Workshop

Date: Saturday, August 21^st
Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: $92 Click here to Register
Location: Everdale Farm, Click here for directions

Cob and various mud-straw building techniques is a free form technique that can create beautiful organic shapes and lines, which has been used for thousands of years. This introduction will start you on your journey to building undulating benches, flowing walls, sculptures, load bearing walls and other features for your home and garden with all natural materials. We will cover how to test your soil, how to mix cob, how to stack it into load bearing monolithic structures and various cob building techniques to turn a pile of mud into a thing of beauty.  This is a very hands on workshop so be prepared to get muddy!

Build your own Cold Frame Workshop

Date: Saturday, August 28^th
Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. OR 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $125 Pre-registration required:
Register for the morning session or Register for the afternoon session
Location: Everdale Farm, click here for directions

Extend your garden growing season with a modular cold frame built by you to take home at the end of the workshop. Join Kyla Dixon-Muir, an experienced four-season gardener, and learn how to get your garden growing anew for the fall and be ready to harvest greens from October, through winter, and into spring. This workshop is hands-on: if you can handle a screwdriver, staple gun, and drill, you can do it! All plans, materials, hardware, tools, and safety gear will be provided. See www.riverdalemeadow.ca for examples of Kyla’s easy cold frame systems in action.

Carrot Fest!

Date: Saturday, September 18^th, 2010
Time: 12 pm to 5 pm
Admission: $5 for adults, kids are FREE!
Location: Everdale Farm, click here for directions

Carrot Fest is Everdale’s fall harvest celebration and bales of farm fun that showcases the rich diversity of the local community. This year we have lots of entertainment and activities planned, including two great contests you can enter!

Crazy Cooky Carrot Contest

Do you grow carrots on your farm or in your garden? Be sure to keep hold of those wonky looking carrots and enter them for your chance to win!

Farmers and home gardeners alike are encouraged to enter by bringing their carrots with them to the event. All carrots will be judged by our panel and the one deemed most bizarre in shape and appearance will win!

Culinary Creation Carrot Contest

Do you enjoy cooking or baking?

Show off you culinary skills by entering a carrot dish into this contest. The only criterion is that carrots must be a main ingredient in the dish. Desserts, side dishes, snacks, entrees, anything qualifies!

Bring your prepared dish to the event, which will be judged on site by our panel, and the winner will be announced during the afternoon.

More Information

Our website is being updated often as Carrot Fest details are confirmed. For more information and the latest news about the event Click Here and check back regularly

Volunteering

We are looking for volunteers to lend a hand at Carrot Fest. There are lots of different roles, from welcoming visitors to running harvest games and everything in between! If you are interested in volunteering or would like more information, please contact Jennifer Lennie at jennifer@everdale.org or 519-855-4859 x101.

Eat well, be well.

• I don’t know why it never occurred to me to make tomato juice in a blender. Maybe because I’m not a big fan of tomato juice. Perhaps I should be.

• Farmer Daniel was featured in the Toronto Star last week.

• Interesting: Foods That Hurt Your Iron Levels

• Jelloware: The glass you can eat

• Mark Bittman found plastic in his soup and was disappointment by the lack of action taken to remedy the situation. It reminds me of the Sesame Street sketch with Waiter Grover when Mr. Johnson finds a fly in his soup (video below). Here’s Bittman’s followup.

• And is it possible to look at a Sesame Street birthday cake without smiling?

• David Lebovitz has been blogging from New York this week and I’m following along, noting food place for my next visit. The Doughnut Plant is on my list now. RUB Barbeque reminds me of The Stockyards but bigger, the way New York is bigger than Toronto. Toronto is like New York, but without all the stuff.

• Poor New Brunswickians being without ice cream during the summer. There’s a shortage because of the the Farmers Dairy strike in Nova Scotia.

• Be careful the next time you’re craving falafel. Falafel pita (from Tov-Li) has more calories, sodium than Big Mac.

• It was ballsy, but Serious Eats’ The Nasty Bits column covered yak testicles

• Remember my friend David from my blog post two weeks ago? He wrote a guest post for Fiesta Farms about being a first time gardener.

Hope you’re all enjoying the summer.

Eat well, be well.

A celebration of local food and sustainability, the Conscious Food Festival is the first-ever Canadian collaborative event to help promote the growing sustainable food movement while introducing thousands of people to food that it local, natural, healthy and delicious.

Graze guilt-free on sustainable, Ontario-grown produce and treats from local chefs while enjoying everything from live music or cooking demos to debates and seminars on this growing movement.

Highlights:

• Meet & mingle with the farmers who feed our city, and some of Ontario’s top chefs
• Taste local sustainable wines and beers and chat with the producers
• Learn about the merits of grassfed beef and how innovative cattle ranchers can reduce their environmental impact
• Challenge yourself to taste the difference between local sustainable ice cream made with real ingredients, and a name brand ice cream made with modified milk ingredients, oils, stabilizers, and preservatives
• Listen to leading speakers on sustainable food
• Enjoy an authentic curry from the war of 1812 cooked over an open flame with vegetables from Evergreen and Fort York’s onsite garden while you explore the Fort
• Live Music, a Kidzone featuring recycled craft making and Fruit & Vegetable based paints

Saturday and Sunday 11am-7pm. Fort York.
Tickets: $18 in advance online, or $23 at the gate (cash only). Admission price includes 5 food/drink sample tickets.

Harbourfront Centre’s Hot and Spicy Food Festival

The Hot & Spicy Food Festival brings sizzling culinary, music, film and dance offerings on the lakefront at Harbourfront Centre.

Culinary events kick off with the return of the International Iron Chef Competition, where gourmet chefs from around the world show off their skills with secret ingredients and top culinary creativity. This year’s competitors include Chef Kevin Zink from New Mexico, Toronto Chef Joshna Maharaj (Winner of the Longo’s Canadian Iron Chef Competition) and Chef Jorika Mhende from Turks & Caicos.

I wish I could spend all weekend there but I’m not even sure if I’ll have a chance to go.

Evergreen Brick Works Wild Blueberry Festival

Sponsored by the Wild Blueberry Association of North America. Featuring our favourite bright blue berry, the Wild Blueberry Festival will be packed with cool events all day long.

Highlights include:

• Blueberry tasting
• Blueberry pie Bake-Off with celebrity judges and fabulous prizes
• Tasty treats at the Slow Food bake sale
• Blueberry pizzas
• Ontario-grown Blueberries for sale by the farmers
• Chefs in attendance include: Chris McDonald (Cava, XOCOCAVA), Brad Long (Food Network’s Restaurant Makeover, Veritas restaurant, My Place Pub), Anthony Rose (The Drake Hotel), Martin Kouprie (Pangaea), Buddha Dog and others!
• Delicious fruit wines by Southbrook Wines.
• Live music.

Sunday from 11am-4pm. Find out more!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Eat well, be well.

Breakfast and lunch are easy because many days I eat raw until dinner anyway and not because I’m trying to eat that way. I drink a smoothie for breakfast (if you look at my Twitter feed to the right you’ll see my “smoothie of the day”) and often a salad for lunch. Salads are the easiest meal to make: Throw a bunch of ingredients into a bowl or container. Toss or shake. Drizzle with vinaigrette, seasoning or dressing of choice, in my case often olive or walnut oil with a squeeze of lemon. (My mom takes nothing but lemon on her salad.)

Even when I don’t bring my own salad I have two salad places within walking distance of work: A Freshii – with whom I have issues but I eat there anyway – and “Sushi and salad”, a place with a salad bar and, you guessed it (I hope), sushi.

Raw vegan chocolate banana pudding topped with a banana slice, a date & pink Himalayan sea salt

Last night’s dinner presented a minor challenge: My friend Tema of Post-Challahism (she promises her first blog post will go up soon) picked up my CSA items on Tuesday and we haven’t been able to coordinate transfer. Because I was waiting on it I hadn’t gone shopping. What to do? See what vegetables I do have and pull out my spiral slicer! After attempting eggplant (FAIL) and cucumber (semi-fail) I sliced a sweet potato and topped the potato and cucumber “noodles” with garlic scape pesto that I’d made earlier in the week. Then there was dessert: Raw chocolate banana pudding. I don’t usually eat dessert but I craved something. It was so rich that I could only eat a couple of spoonfuls (okay, so I licked the remains out of the blender first – well, not directly).

Today’s breakfast was a minor challenge. I was completely out of greens this morning, and I’m trying to go raw this weekend. Trader Joe’s Super Green Drink subbed in a pinch. Though powder, it’s full of great ingredients, all organic. It was added to 1 peach, 1/2 banana, walnuts, cacao nibs and maple syrup. Lunch? I didn’t really have a lunch. I had a couple bites of a Lara bar when I got hungry while waiting to go into an appointment.  When I arrived home a couple hours later I ate some watermelon that I bought at The Healthy Butcher this afternoon.* Tasty and hydrating and tastes like summer.

Image via Wikipedia

Dinner was a little easier to plan: After buying to kinds of kale this morning at the farmer’s market, the decision was made to make kale salad, and soon.  What I made was variation of this recipe.  See kale’s health benefits.

Kale salad

• 1/4 cup wakame (I had no arame. I don’t know if wakame has a similar nutritional profile as arame but they’re both sea vegetables.
• A bunch of curly and dinosaur kale. Not an official measure “bunch”, and not the equivalent to the amount that was contained in the twist tie, but a quantity that filled a large colander.
• Sweet potato and cucumber (see notes above)
• 2 carrots, spiral sliced
• 1/2 avocado
• Hemp seeds sprinkled over top

Dressing (below is basically the recipe I used but adjusted the measurements. See the original recipe for specifics):

• 2/3 cup olive oil (I used 1/3 cup)
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar (I probably used close to that much because I always forget that it pours fast)
• 1 T soy sauce (I didn’t measure)
• 1 T grainy mustard (I didn’t measure this either)
• 2 cloves garlic (used 1 clove)
• 1/4 cup cilantro  (I used a few bits that I had left, barely a tablespoon)
• 1/4 cup green onions
• salt/black pepper to taste (I only used salt)
• toasted sesame seeds (I didn’t measure)

I also added

• 1 garlic scape
• A small bit (a couple of teaspoons?) of sesame oil
• a small handful of goji berries

Directions

See the original recipe.

I followed pretty closely. For the dressing I added the mustard last and blended at the blender’s lowest setting. It seemed like a waste of grainy mustard to pulverize it. As for steaming the kale, I gave it a very light steaming. Yes, that’s not raw, and yes I contemplated that, but I have trouble chewing raw kale.  Adding dressing to the wakame actually had a nice effect, and I tossed the salad with my hands as I sometimes do to incorporate the dressing more thoroughly. I like prepping food with my hands. It adds to the sensory experience of cooking. As I tweeted, my kale salad kicked other salads’ butts.

I only made enough for one serving but the ingredients for the next time are pretty much prepped. Kale is washed and torn and wakame soaked. I’m thinking Monday lunch.

*By the way, at the Healthy Butcher, I bought nothing that required butchering. The store is so much more than meat and fish.

Eat well, be well.

• Fake Japanese Food iPhone Covers

• The relationship between cancer cells and fructose.

• An ode to the potato: A Potato Unlike Any Other.

• Shooting food: Bullets through food (and other items).

• Contesting Vitaminwater’s “benefits” in court.  Huffington Post offers good commentary: “…does it mean that it’s okay for a corporation to lie about its products, as long as they can then turn around and claim that no one actually believes their lies?” and “… it’s probably not the best idea to rely on a soft drink company for your vitamins and other essential nutrients. A plant-strong diet with lots of vegetables and fruits will provide you with what you need far more reliably, far more consistently — and far more honestly.”  Ya think??

• Meanwhile, a Minneapolis-based legal firm is attempting to drum up support for a class action suit against a vitamin-fortified Kraft water called Crystal Light Immunity. I’ve got a radical idea: Instead of drinking crappy “health drinks” how about we drink plain water, from a tap, with a squeeze of citrus or citrus oil for flavour? You can filter it if you’d like. It’s essentially free (you don’t pay per serving) and it’s not full of sugar and other crap. We can’t stop companies from making this crap but we can avoid buying it.

• And from supplemented water to other beverages that are completely unnecessary: Energy drink makers must do more to protect children

• Writing for The Atlantic, Sarah Elton finds that it’s hard to find local food on vacation abroad

• Interesting read, about a great topic: A Glossary of Chocolate Terms

• Erin Meister at Serious Eats wants to know why restaurant coffee is so bad.

• What America Eats, visualized. The graphic shows how much Americans are eating, in pounds.

• David Lebovitz discovers flagels in New York. Reading about it makes me crave salt.