Pizzeria Libretto x Porchetta & Co Collaboration

I rush to Pizzeria Libretto (@PizzaLibretto) back in October after seeing their tweets about a Porchetta & Co (@PorchettaAndCo) Pizza... what better than a collaboration between two of my favorite place (^_^).

I loved it and have been wishing that it would be permanently on their menu but it was only a 3 day special.... but little would I know that this will earn Chef Rocco (@ChefRoccoTO) the title of Canadian Pizza maker of the year .... I rush over when it made a special come back for the weekend 2 weeks ago while they are headed to Las Vegas for the International Pizza Expo competition where Chef Rocco takes 2nd place in the world finals! Congrats!!!

Pizzeria Libretto x Porchetta & Co Pizza

~ porchetta, fior di latte, cream, truffle oil, rapini, chillies, cracklings

This is the best collab ever, everything was so perfect here, perfect porchetta as always, perfect flavors, perfect texture, perfect colors, perfect everything....

Cafe Green Tea (J-Town)

I have been here many time given that I use to work nearby a few years ago which means I end up having lunch here quite a bit... Cafe Green Tea is located inside Heisei Mart, the J-Town Supermarket, so it great to shop while waiting for food ;)  

I find myself coming back again and again for one thing and one thing only...

Katsu-Don $7.98

It's a bowl of rice topped w/ deep-fried pork cutlet, egg and fill with a yummy onion sauce/broth. This is my favorite katsu-don in Toronto and the kind of comfort food, perfect when served piping hot in the winter.

 Love how the rice are immerse in the sauce, there's more of everything then rice.... It's such a heart-warming dish.

Macaron Day Toronto 2013 [EVENT]

As I have announce here, I am one of the ambassador helping to promote Macaron Day Toronto  (@MacaronTO) this year so I took a day off for my macaron crawl on March 20th. Why not Free macaron but also for a great cause (25% of all additional macaron sales on this day will got to a local charity call Red Door Family Shelter). I think I did pretty well, we went to 6 patisseries out of the 18 participating patisseries thanks to a TTC day pass.  And I am also so happy to see how many people are doing the crawl just like us and actually buying boxes of this goodies, did you see all the tweets and pretty Instagram with hashtag #MacaronDayTO (^_^)

1st Stop : La Bamboche (@labambocheTO)

I started my day meeting up friends at La Bamboche which is not only the organizer of this event but also my favorite Macaron place in Toronto (see my post here).

Feature Macaron : Raspberry Chocolate
Love the tart raspberry pair w/the thick indulgent chocolate and it match the logo ;)
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2nd Stop : Ruelo Patisserie

 You get to choose among 10 flavors and we settle on the Passionfruit & Cassis

I find the filling a tag too cold and hard.... and did I mention I am a bit scared of eating macaron in such bright color?!

3rd Stop : Butter Avenue (@ButterAvenue)

This is my 2nd favorite macaron place in Toronto but they have tiny ones :(

Love how many flavors they had especially for this special day, 21 to be exact.

Feature Macaron : Salted Caramel

Also bought: Black Truffle, Hot Tamale (♥it), popcorn, earl grey, sesame & cream cheese passionfruit

They also have the curtest packaging (they should consider packing the black truffle separately since the flavor was so strong that the others sort of catch the flavor)

Aubergine Asymmetrical [OOTD]

Does anyone have problem matching a coat with the asymmetrical skirt/dress?!?

I do, got this dress a few months ago but couldn't find a winter jacket to match with that hemline.

It was finally warm enough 2 weeks ago to wear my leather jacket, what do you think?

Outfit Details: 

  Faux Leather Jacket- ZARA; Fur collar sweater & Sunglasses - H&M; Dress - inlovewithfashion;  

Belt - ASOS; High-top wedge sneaker - ShoeDazzle

Lipstick - MAC Veronica's Lipstick in Boyfriend Stealer

A-OK Foods

A-Ok Foods (@aokfoods) is bought to you by the same people of Yours Truly (see old post here) and I have been meaning to give it a try ever since. Finally made our way there on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. I just need to know if making their noodle in house with their imported Korean noodle machine do make a difference?!

Large window where you get to see where the noodles are made... would love to see it in action ;)

 Love the bright cafeteria benches.

It seems using those Chinese plastic bowls and plates is the thing right now
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Shoyu Ramen $10.5

Unlike the other ramen places, A-OK uses a chicken-based shoyu broth which is served with a sous vide pork belly, soft-boiled egg & sesame nori. I have to say that I am very bias here since I like my milky pork bone broth (like the one here) since the chicken broth here somehow lack the complexity of flavors. The noodle had a rather dull color compare to the brighter yellow one we are use to seeing and it is due to the three day aging process which gave it a chewier texture that we really liked. And you can definitely taste the difference cooking the pork belly sous vide made, it was so moist, soft and packed with flavor

Hoof Café (Pt 2)

After our brunch here at Hoof Café (@TheBlackHoof), we went back 2 weeks ago for more.

I am always so impress when a restaurant have a smaller kitchen then most people home and how could 3 men move without bumping into each other.

Octo & Grits $16

The grits was way too smooth, not as coarse as grits should be while the batter that coated the octopus was quick thick and not crispy.... but love the presentation and the dots of hot sauce.

 Fuit N' Nut Challah Toast $10 + Foie $15

Ok, anything taste better with foie gras but I have to say that I wish a softer or airier bread was use instead. Love the fluffy whipped cream and fruits on the side which goes perfectly with the foie and toast.

Side of Hash Browns $4

Not sure what's added to it but it had a slightly chewy texture to this which I love (rice flour?!?) and love how it's fried to such a beautiful golden brown color.

Electric Mud BBQ

Colin Tooke and Ian McGrenaghan, the duo behind Grand Electric (@grandelectricTO) (post here) open up a sister restaurant called Electric Mud BBQ (@ElectricMudBBQ) which open up rather quietly/ without much hyped less than 2 weeks ago.

 Ben and I decided to venture there this past Friday and we got there at around 8:00pm and waited for around 45 minutes for a table... It wasn't that bad since they take down your number and call you when the table is ready (we went nest door to Kanji for some sake). We were seated right next to the door which was freezing cold since the door keep opening and they don't even have a curtain or double door to break up the breeze. This deducted major points for us since not only we were cold but the food gets cold withing seconds (>~<)

The tacos have been replaced with Southern inspired BBQ but with some not so traditional dishes like pig ears and pig tails

 They offer a few cocktails selection which are mostly bourbon base and also beer on tap or by the bottle/can. Ben tried the Agua Loca Lager $6 and I went with one of my fave Montreal beer,

 Corne du Diable $8

Be careful of how many dishes you order since everything tends to come at once and given where our table was, a lot of dishes we tried was cold by the time we ate it.

 

 Pork Rinds $3.50

 This was served warm with seasoning sprinkled on top which was spicy which I love... 

♥love it so much that I order a 2nd to finish up my glass of beer.

Glory Hole Doughnuts

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Minnie + Fluffy + Bling [OOTD]

 I tend to but Mickey t-shirt each time I see one but this is probably the fist Minnie Mouse t-shirt that I got and decided to pair it with a girlie-r circle skirt plus a casual fluffy carpet-like jacket.

And another H&M Statement Necklace to my collection, love how it adds to a casual outfit ;)

Outfit Details: 

Skirt & Necklace - H&M (@hmcanada); Shirt -Disney Store;
Jacket - UO (@UrbanOutfitters); High-top wedge sneaker - ShoeDazzle;
Bag - Marc by Marc Jacob (Holt Renfrew)

Macaron Day TO

Mark your calender for Macaron Day (Twitter: @MacaronTO) hapening on March 20th and I am hoping everyone can participate since it's for a great cause.

Macaron Day / Jour du Macaron have been taking place in Paris, NYC and other international cities, this is the second year that we are celebrating in Toronto. This special day was created by the owner of my fave macaron shop La Bamboche (see my post here), not only to celebrate these delicate confections but also to support a local charity.

Participating patisseries across Toronto will be offering a complimentary macaron to each customer and 25% of all additional macaron sales on this day will got to a local charity call Red Door Family Shelter.

Please see the list of participating patisseries here and please help spread the words.

#MacaronDayTO

I was rather sad that I miss Macaron Day last year since I had to work but this year, as their Ambassadors this year I have taken the day off and will be tweeting and instagraming all the goodies throuhout the day.

Please say hi if we do bump into each other (^_^)

Treadwell Farm to Table Cuisine (St Catharines)

After lunch here and more wine tasting/buying in Beamsville and NOTL (Niagara on the Lake) at some of my fave wineries like the one here & here), we drove for around 20 minutes to St Catharines' Treadwell Farm to Table Cuisine (Twitter: @treadwellresto).

Fell in love with their pizza back at Southbrook Vineyard where had the tour and lunch pairing (post here) and found out that they actually had a restaurant, so I just had to go try and also because I'm a great fan of farm to table cuisine... afterall, everything taste better fresh (^_^)

Chef and owner Stephen Treadwell was former Chef de Cuisine at O&B's Auberge du Pommier which get me excited since it's sort of a quality promise.

Really nothing much about the place, pretty old school but it was right by the lake and heard the open up their patio during summer which must be very scenic and relaxing and we were already planning our trip back in the summer as we were eating
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The lighting was really dim and yellow, so forgive me if the pictures are not that great since I didn't want to use flash.

Ben went ahead with the Prix Fixe that they had while to choose from the regular menu.

While the offer wine pairing for all of their dishes, we opted in a glass each since we already drank so much throughout the day
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Roasted Butternut Squash Gnocchi

~ w/ Crumbled Ermite Blue & Toasted Almond Ground Butter

The gnocchi was so fluffy and was surprise at how well the sweet squash goes with the blue cheese.

Chambray + Lace + Bling [OOTD]

 These was taken back in November but never came to post these since it was slightly blurry (>_<)

Thought this would be a great repeat for the coming Spring weather... I am not a lace girly girl, when I wear top to bottom lace I just don't feel like myself; so I thought I would add some edge to it with the more casual chambray shirt and a leather jacket.

What do you think? How do you dress up or down your lace pieces?!?

The Good Earth Bistro (Beamsville)

Back in November we headed to wine country once again but this time to Beamsville instead of our usual NOTL (Niagara on the Lake) area (outfit post here). Beamsville host one of my fave winery, Megalomaniac (post here) which was unfortunately close that day. I felt deeper in love of this area since the All-Stars in the Vineyard event at Rosewood Estate Winery (@Rosewoodwine) here.

Spring is coming, so I thought I would share these places with everyone for a relaxing yummy weekend getaway.

After dropping by a few wineries, we got a few recommendation for lunch and decided to give  

Good Earth Bistro a try.

Half store selling wines and things like homemade preserve.

the other half was the bistro which look incredible homey.... as we were eating, the place filled up pretty fast given that it was a Thursday
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