Beerfest ~ Spring Session 2014 [EVENT]

The Toronto Festival of Beer's (@TOBeerFestival) Spring Session kicks off at Evergreen Brick Works; it's a smaller spring version of the yearly summer version at the Exhibition Place  (see my previous post here and here). With the Saturday event selling out, the organizers quickly decided to add a Friday evening schedule.

Being one of my favorite event space, love how they undersold capacity with plenty of space to move around but not too empty that you felt you were the only one there. It's mostly local craft beer with only one or two International booths. I have been amazed year after year by our local craft beer and this time wasn't any exception, I found myself some new favorite.

  Mad & Noisy Brewing ~ Creemore Springs (@creemoresprings)

First of all, don't you think that tap is super cute given that I don't think it does anything other than making it look like some crazy science experiment. 

Hops & Bolts India Pale Lager

~ After looking on their website, Creemore Springs introduce Mad & Noisy as their Craft Beer Exploration Series and this was their first release. It's a combination of a lager and an ale which has a bitter, malty sweet flavor with a hint of nuts.

 Flying Monkey (@Flyingmonkeys)

I just love their moto "Normal is Weird", we end up trying 3 of their beer that we haven't try before. I am always impress at how many new brew they can come up with each year. That day alone, there was more than 10 types to choose from with some rotating flavors.

Shoulders of Giants (Imperial IPA 10%)

~ this is a limited edition beer and it has a very strong hop flavor, roughly filtered with some caramel sweetness to it and strong at 10%

The Italian Job (Pale Ale 5%)

~ found it clean tasting but no prominent flavor

Crazy Berry (Lager 4%)

~ a sweet berry syrup beer with a touch of tartness with higher carbonation, could think of so many girlfriends that would love this

Fall Off the Shoulder [OOTD]

Outfit Details:

Top, Skirt & Boots - H&M;Bag - Kate Spade;

Please don't call the fashion police but I did happen to wear the same brand from head to toe which is a big no no for many fashionista out there.

 

Love that the fall off the solders top is back, still remember I had them back when I was in high-school and that's pretty long ago. Love this loose version but really how do people keep the elastic top of rising... maybe not move your arms at all?!

Rose City Kitchen [Mediterranean]

Rose City Kitchen (@RoseCityKitchen) is the newly opened Middle Eastern snack bar on Queen West with the menu design by Shontelle Pinch from Gourmet Bitches. 

It's a cute 15 seats intimate snack bar style space, perfect location and space to drop by for lunch, a snack or even a light dinner. Love the eye catching red tile wood oven where pita are baked fresh.

Ordering was easy, picked a region then the protein and love how they even suggest how many you should order : 1 for a snack, 2 for a meal and 3 if you're starving.

Humus $2.00 + Pita $1.00

The pita was just so moist and pillowy soft, love love love it. The humus was just I like it with the perfect balance of lemon, sesame and garlic.

RCK Hot Sauce

Made with real roses, it was not very spicy but on the sweet side and slightly acidic with a delicate floral notes.

 RCK Original w/Falafel $3.50

~ humus, tabouleh, home, fries, carrots, lettuce, garlic oil, cherry harissa dressing

One of the best falafel I have ever had, full of aromatic herbs and with crunchy outside and a moist meaty feel to the inside. No wonder they put their name on this one, perfect balance of flavors and texture. I Always choose falafel over the other meat and I love this one.

Moroccan w/ Chicken $4.00

~ harissa dressing, couscous, lettuce, red onions, tomatoes, almonds, apricots, parsley, chickpeas

 This was my favorite, this one had a slight kick to it which is balance with the sweet apricot. With the chickpeas in this one, I think it'll be better with meat than the falafel.

Southern Feast - The County General x The Tempered Chef Collab [Event]

Another amazing collaboration from Bertrand Alépée aka The Tempered Chef (@TheTemperedChef) and it's with The County General (@CountyGeneral) this time. Still remember his last collab here?!

The Southern Feast was served family style and they didn't skim on the size at all for only $40pp. 

You can see my previous post of The County General here.

The Luberjack Sour $12

~ Wild Turkey Bourbon, Fresh Lemon Juice, Egg Whites, Bacon infused Maple Syrup

Seeing the word bacon, we all wanted to try and 3 of us ordered it out of a table of 5. As always, the cocktail at The County General never disappoint and it's even better when topped with a super yummy candied bacon.

Blackened Chicken Livers

~ Jalapeno & Cheddar Cornbread, Lime Crema

The 5 of us somehow got 4 pieces so it was somehow difficult to split it evenly but the portions were big enough to share between us. The liver was perfectly cooked and so flavorful plus the cornbread was so good.The "blackened" layered were amazing which prevent the liver to get mushy while giving it a slightly crisp layer.

Pink Heart [OOTD]

Outfit Details:

Tee - Gap; Skirt - F21; Coat - Uniqlo; Necklace - J Crew; Bag - Kate Spade; Sunnies - ASOS;

Shoes - Nike from Little Burgundy
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This outfit mainly consist pieces I got from my New York trip, the shopaholic me almost got over  our custom limit (^_^) Got this super cute Kate Spade bag at Woodbury Outlet in New York for only US$89.55 which is more than 50% off and the J Crew Statement Necklace for less than $35 each (bought 4 in total). And bought this super soft comfy light parka jacket from Uniqlo, so glad that they will be opening in Toronto soon.

Love to pair my girly skirt and necklace with a more sporty boyish tee and sneakers. So glad that the sun is finally out and not all my outfit consist of my thick ugly parka.

Macaron Day Toronto 2014 [Event]

I took the day off once again for Macaron Day Toronto (@MacaronTO) this year, the perfect excuse not to go to work for a good cause (see last year post here). For the 2nd year in a row I took the role as one of the ambassador to help promote this amazing event, it's definitely for a great cause with 25% of the day's sales going to  a local charity call Red Door Family Shelter. 

I got a friend to spend the day with me, she missed out last year and loves Macaron. You may have seen all these yummy goodness if you followed my adventures on twitter/intagram/facebook #MacaronDayTO

 La Bamboche (@labambocheTO)

 Just as last year, it's our first stop since they open the earliest and we decided to start out slow with some coffee and pastries.

Macaron of the day was Wasabi flovor, isn't that belt of nori just too cute.
Wish they had that for sale as well so I could have bought an extra one for Ben but La Bamboche still being my fave Macaron place in Toronto, I still couldn't resit and bought 1/2 a dozen. They just have the perfect size and soft creamy smooth center/filling that's not overly sweet like most other places.

That being say, I wish they would improve on their packaging since a few of them got crushed while the ones I bought at the other store was perfect. They use just a small white box which wasn't specifically tailored for their macaron. Wish they had kept the transparent box that they use to use which fit so perfectly (see what I mean here).
 

Black & White Graphic [OOTD]

Outfit Details:

Tee - H&M; Skirt - Peter Polotto for Target; Coat - Uniqlo; Bracelet - F21; 

Bag - Rebecca Minkoff; Lipstick - Clarins Rouge Eclat #09 Juicy Clementine
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Was rather tired last weekend and wore this relaxed loose tee with my Peter Pilotto for Target skirt. I bought total of 4 pieces from that collection; this skirt, a clutch and 2 dresses that I still need to find an occasion to wear since it's definitely not your everyday dress. Bought the bag in during our New York trip, what you think?! This should be a versatile bag for Spring/Summer.

How I style the skirt previously to the Sarah Stevenson for Target preview here, wore it with a black tee and a statement necklace

What I bought from the Peter Pilotto for Target collection, love the 2 other dresses but where can I wear them?!