The Finale

Saturday morning we were greeted by an abnormally warm breeze. Ahh that freak heat wave had rolled over the northeast. Sweaters were quickly replaced by short sleeves and sunscreen… Damn! -- forgot the sunscreen. But hey we’re in Canada – how hot would it get when spring had barely sprung? No need to think of that as we had coffee/breakfast/more coffee on our minds.

Our destination was a little neighborhood breakfast joint called Yasi’s Place in West Toronto/High Park. I don’t know whether it’s just because we’ve had shiteous breakfasts galore for the last 7 months, but damn Yasi’s was amazing! And of course Matt and I loved the funky, eco-friendly vibe of the place. Yes, it’s arty and v. crunchy in case you’re wondering. First up was a much needed coffee – the best mug o’ joe I’ve had at a restaurant thanks to the folks at I Deal Coffee and their fair-trade, organic beans. Seriously this drip coffee was as tasty as our Jasper coffees made in the Bodum. And even better, we got a free refill!

Matt looked at the menu for a whole 5 seconds before deciding on Benny’s Cousin, Yasi’s version of eggs benedict consisting of 2 poached eggs served with peameal bacon on an organic English muffin with a dill hollandaise. I chose the scramble of the day with portobello mushrooms, spinach, and caramelized onions and a side of homemade tempeh sausage. Both dishes were served with a salad of greens, sprouts, and seeds in a lemony vinaigrette and their signature curried home fries. My scramble also came with a piece of dense, chewy multigrain bread from ACE bakery. You could seriously taste the love and care in every bite of this breakfast. (Yasi’s was so good we actually went back the next day for the Auntie Rosa before heading back to Florida.) Do not miss this place if you’re in Toronto!!!

Our afternoon was spent exploring downtown Toronto starting with Harbourfront. I don’t know whether I was tired or just hot and bothered, but the city just didn’t do it for me. Granted we were very impressed by the St. Lawrence Market. One of my biggest regrets of the day was not buying some gorgeous roasted artichoke hearts to munch on…. But 85 F and humidity were taking a toll on both my patience and the street cars. So Matt and I limped our way down Queen St West before heading back to the inn. But first we decided on a cold one (or two) at Loon’s pub where I discovered 1) the fruity yet spicy yumminess of Rickard’s White and 2) my lobster-red chest…. Bloody heat wave!

Fast forward an hour or two. Matt and I scrubbed up nicely for the highlight of this particular trip to Toronto – seeing the great Great Lake Swimmers at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. So off we went for a quick bite to eat in Chinatown before the show. The sky was looking very ominous at this stage so we picked up the pace as the winds started to blow. About 5 blocks from our destination, 60 mph winds blew up a dust storm over the city before the rain started to pelt down. So much for dolling up for the show! I looked like a dirty, drowned rat as we sought refuge at the New Ho King on Spadina. Over ridiculously large and mediocre plates of sizzling beef and bean curd with veggies, we watched massive lightning bolts illuminate the CN tower and rain coming down in horizontal sheets. By the time we were finished with our meal, the violent front had moved on leaving only a cold drizzle in its wake.

Like sheep we followed the masses (OK maybe not masses…) through the maze-like Exhibition complex until we finally found the QET. This was a seated venue, and we were lucky to be only 5 rows back from the stage behind the band’s families. After seeing the GLS in tiny, dive bars in both Atlanta and Asheville a few weeks earlier, we were thrilled to experience the band in a large theatre with plenty of home crowd support and love. Highlights included Bob Egan on pedal steel, opening with "I Saw You in the Wild", a haunting solo performance of “Merge, A Vessel, A Harbour” and Basia Bulat’s guest appearance. What a magical end to our 3-day introduction to Canada!

Epilogue
As previously mentioned, we sneaked in a second Yasi’s breakfast before putting the pedal to the metal and thundering down the QEW at a whopping 50mph towards Buffalo. With the tin can (sorry rental car) due back at 1pm, we had little time to explore Niagara. But never fear, we did manage to get lost for 20 painful minutes in the tackiest downtown strip in Canada before illegally parking to take a quick picture of Horseshoe Falls and finally crossing the border back into the US.

Day 2 - the world's tallest self-supporting tower

So a certain sharp-tongued blogger beat me to the punch in wrapping up our Toronto adventures! Since he painstakingly recounted our trip with utmost accuracy and a pinch of humor (was he spying on us?), I’ll simply summarize the highlights of days 2 and 3 or will I?

After 6 strange and strained months in Jacksonville, we were seriously craving stimulation from a world-class city. So for this short trip, we chose to skip museums, galleries and your typical tourist sites. Now I know that most people cannot go to Toronto without visiting the tallest free-standing structure in the Americas, but that simply didn’t interest us. And just because we chose not to go to the top of the CN Tower doesn’t mean that we didn’t experience its significant presence in the skyline and in song (thanks to the Great Lake Swimmers’ “Concrete Heart”). It’s pretty hard to miss. Instead we totally immersed ourselves in funky, walkable neighborhoods, music, and the thriving foodie scene of the city, which is worlds away from the abysmal food “culture” of Jacksonville.

Day 2 started with coffees and pastries in Little Italy followed by an amazing shiatsu treatment at the Shiatsu College of Canada. With both mind and body balanced for the first time in months, we headed off to the second largest Chinatown in North America. It should be noted that Toronto has the largest Chinese population in North America, and this historic Chinatown is actually one of 6 in the city! Our destination on this day was Bright Pearl for a classic yum cha/dim sum. We didn’t find it exceptional, but it definitely satisfied our cravings for good steamed dumplings, chicken feet, stuffed bean curd, and baked pork buns all washed down with a pot of jasmine tea. Bellies not quite full, we continued our tour of Chinatown popping in numerous herb shops, markets and bakeries. The Kim Moon Bakery on Dundas St West had some of the most delicious char siu bao we’ve had and an incredibly nice owner to boot! Definitely not to be missed when in town.

After Chinatown we headed over to the Kensington Market neighborhood with its narrow streets filled with butchers, produce stands, cheese shops, coffee shops, various ethnic restaurants, as well as vintage clothing and furniture shops. ‘Tis a pity we were so full from yum cha because the empanada restaurant smelled divine! The best coffee we had in Toronto – I Deal Coffee – also calls Kensington Market home.

By mid-afternoon our feet were throbbing, bruised and bloody. (Remember we are way out of practice walking because in JAX it’s ALL about the car.) So we decided to head back to the Inn to relax for bit before dinner. Of course that idea didn’t last long as we decided to stop in High Park for yet more walking. High Park is almost 400 acres of natural and manicured park land with trails and paths. If you refer to my previous post, you’ll realize that we were rather bummed that we missed out on the blooming cherry blossoms. Despite our disappointment, we hobbled around a significant portion of this beautiful park before the storm clouds rolled in and cut out tour short, but not before we finished walking our spiritual journey in the labyrinth…. (Yes at this stage we really needed to chill for a bit.)

Around 6:30 pm we hopped on a street car and headed towards Little Italy for dinner. Based on numerous reviews, we decided on Pizzeria Libretto. All I can say is “wow”! Libretto serves the only real Neapolitan pizza in Toronto using the guidelines set out by Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana and the Italian Government. I kid you not. There are apparently 13 of these “commandments”, which include dough being kneaded with fingertips only, crust rising no higher than 2 centimeters, pizza being 35 cm wide with the center only 0.3 cm thick! The pizzas are then baked quickly for 90 seconds in a 900 degree wood-burning oven that was handmade in Naples by a 3rd generation pizza builder, and they are phenomenal. (Yes – I know I'm both a food snob and nerd.)

We started our meal with a fresh green salad with shaved fennel in a chardonnay peach vinaigrette. For our entrees, Matt had the duck confit pizza with bosc pear, panna and fiore di latte mozzarella. He raved about this pizza and savored every single bite. On this particular night, he found it to be the best pizza he's ever tasted, which is quite the compliment from my husband! I had the wild mushroom pizza with taleggio, basil, parsley and fiore di latte mozzarella – so wonderfully earthy and tangy. The meal was paired well with a 2005 Rosso di Montalcino. It was a simple but elegant night out that made us (later) bemoan the fact that even Jacksonville’s nicest restaurant doesn’t hold a candle to Pizzeria Libretto in terms of style and food quality….

To be continued....

First 8 hours

I’m feeling really rundown from what will be known as April Madness 09 and don’t have the energy at the moment to write an entry on our entire trip to the Great White North. It also doesn’t help that I’m detoxing from my evil coffee addiction as well. (Will be v. happy when I start to reap the benefits of the lemon cleanse.) So consider this installment number 1 – Day 1: the first 8 hours.

Flights up to Buffalo were all easy with no delays. The only bad transport issue was our crappy tin can of a rental car. At 100 km/hr – it would start to rattle and shake rather ominously. Yes it was an American car – a compact Chevy no less. Unlike the poncy Youth Group boys, we were met with neither tea nor scones at the border crossing. But pockets filled with loonies and toonies, we continued puttering around Lake Ontario towards Toronto in v. high spirits.

We stayed in a nice inn in High Park, a neighborhood 6.5 kms west of the city. It’s a 2 minute walk from the Keele subway station and 3 minutes from High Park – 500 acres of gorgeousness that got far more gorgeous when the cherry blossoms finally bloomed 2 days after we left town. (Bah!) The Inn was owned by an artistic Polish couple probably in their early 40s. The wife was pleasant enough but very condescending in that annoying Teutonic way.* The mattress in our room also reflected the comfort of the former eastern bloc but little did it matter as we were only there to sleep, shower and doctor sore, battered feet.

By the time we got settled, it was around 4pm so we decided to start our tour of Toronto by hitting the Roncesvalles Village – a lovely 2.2 km stroll from the Inn. Roncesvalles used to be the old Polish part of the city, and the Eastern European imprint is still felt. Polish drug stores, butchers and bars are interspersed amongst the hip coffee shops, cafes, book stores and corner grocers. We took advantage of this atmosphere by visiting the Inter Steer (or Romantic Place) for an introduction to polish beer. Dark and narrow, this quaint bar hit the spot. Refueled and invigorated by this fun and funky neighborhood, Matt and I decided to venture into the city for dinner and to catch a band or two.

Walk. Hop on a train. Walk some more.

Once in the city or more accurately near Toronto University, we explored Bloor and Bathurst Streets before deciding on North Indian/Nepalese for dinner. Thursday was still a bit nippy so a hearty curry sounded delicious. Lucky for us Mt Everest restaurant didn’t disappoint. Matt had the lamb vindaloo and absolutely perfect garlic naan, and I had the best palak paneer I’ve ever had.

With nice full bellies, we headed over to Lee’s Palace to see the Bellewoods and Youth Group, one of my old favs from Australia. This was my 8th or 9th time seeing them over the last 6 years, but I was excited nonetheless. It felt like being back in Melbourne for a couple of hours…. The venue was great with nice bar staff, good beer and great acoustics. The only odd bit was no light in the toilets, but that was eventually remedied much to my bladder’s delight…

I’m not sure whether there wasn’t much promotion for this show or what, but it was dead. Lee’s Palace probably holds around 500 people, but on this night there were maybe 50 people at best. This pitiful crowd didn’t seem to make the Bellewoods any happier about performing, which was unfortunate. They’re a good Toronto band who seem to be friends with almost every person we met during our 3 day stay, and Erik Arnesen of the Great Lake Swimmers usually plays banjo for them. (I love banjos and the GLS!)

Next up Youth Group. Oh mother of god! Why did Toby Martin change from his normal street clothes (minus the brown man purse) into the ratty wife beater, holey blue shirt and ridiculously short, tight jeans that revealed an unsightly plumber’s crack every time he bent down (which was often)!!?? That “costume” was horrifyingly bad in Australia 11 months ago so why on earth bring it across the globe for a world tour? These were my first thoughts. And then came the exaggerated “I’m-a-rock-god” moves that had me laughing out loud. Half way through their set, I was actually waiting for Toby to start humping the mic stand, and no – that’s not a suggestion. I’m guessing this is not exactly the reaction Youth Group hoped for in North America. ‘Tis a pity because they’re a great live band when they aren’t being so incredibly “douchey”, and I personally think they’d get a far better reception if they just played their music and cut the attitude. What a disappointment.

With eyes barely open we walk. Catch train. Shuffle home. Fall into bed. Zzzzzz.

* Excerpts from my last conversation with said inn keeper 30 minutes after arriving in town:
me: So are the trams and trains in this neighborhood safe late at night?
Inn keeper: Yes of course it’s safe. But we do not have trains. We have the subway -- like the London Underground.
me: Ok. Thanks. (To myself – What do you think a subway is, lady? It’s an underground TRAIN!)
Of course in the “subway” stations, every sign gave directions to the “trains”. Grrrr. Sometimes I loathe people.

So Frenchy So Chic

In Jacksonville, we’ve been entrenched in spring for a while now and signs of summer are fast approaching. The magnolia trees are in bloom and the daily temperature is now reaching 80 F or above. At the local farmers market, plump, delicious tomatoes are also coming into season. This means several months of relishing in juicy tomato sandwiches. Yum! The only thing that makes this simple pleasure even more enticing is a good sprinkle of herbes de Provence – my favorite spring/summer seasoning.

Herbes de Provence is a traditional blend of aromatic herbs that flourish in the hills of southern France. Rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, fennel, chervil, oregano, summer savory, tarragon, mint and marjoram are some of the herbs found in the mix. Every cook may create a slightly different blend, but the rosemary, thyme and bay are found in every recipe. A more recent and less traditional addition is lavender, a slightly citrus flavored aromatic herb belonging to the mint family that was supposedly added to remind tourists of the vast, fragrant lavender fields of Provence. Personally I adore lavender in the blend as it adds an elegant floral flavor and pairs beautifully with poultry, spring and summer vegetables, goat cheeses and mustard vinaigrettes.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an episode of 30-Minute Meals in which Rachel Ray was preparing a chicken burger with herbes de Provence. I’m not a meat burger kind of gal as I usually find them too heavy, greasy and “meaty”, but this recipe piqued my interest with its perfect combination of spring/summer ingredients and incredibly lean chicken breast. H and I made them one Saturday for lunch and absolutely loved them after making a few tweaks to the original recipe.

Instead of adding olives and anchovy paste to the onions, we simply caramelized them -- wanting a simpler, sweeter flavor that would allow the herbes de Provence and lemon in the chicken to shine through. Then we substituted peppery baby arugula for lettuce and added Dijon mustard, which complimented the seasoned chicken nicely. These burgers were huge (1/2 lb each)! So next time we make them, we’ll halve the size. The ground chicken breast has very little fat to render so the burgers don’t really reduce in size once cooked. A “quarter pounder” is definitely an ample portion once a bun and side are included. Steamed or grilled asparagus with lemon is the perfect accompaniment to this gourmet spring burger as is a glass of crisp pinot gris. Our modified recipe is as follows:

Spring Chicken Burgers

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 tablespoon butter
2 large onions, very thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground chicken breast (1.5 lbs would be best)
1 tablespoon dried herbes de Provence
1 teaspoon fennel seed
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
4 slices Swiss cheese
4 crusty rolls, split and lightly toasted
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1-2 cups of baby arugula
Grilled/steamed asparagus, for serving

METHOD
Combine 1 tablespoon olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook 15-20 minutes to caramelize. Remove from stove.

While the onions cook, combine chicken with herbes de Provence, fennel seed, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Form 4 patties and cook 6 minutes on each side. Melt the Swiss cheese on each burger the last minute of cook time. Serve the burgers on buns topped with Dijon mustard, arugula and caramelized onions. Serve asparagus alongside.

Serves 4

If you can't find herbes de Provence in your local market, here is a basic recipe to make your own and a nice way to use some of the dry herbs that may have been in the spice rack for a while.

Herbes de Provence

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon chervil
1 tablespoon rosemary
1 tablespoon summer savory
1 teaspoon lavender
1 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed
1 teaspoon of dried orange or lemon peel (optional)
1 teaspoon tarragon
1 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon mint
2 bay leaves crushed

METHOD
Mix together and allow to sit for 2 days in a covered container in a cool, dark place. This will allow the flavors to blend and mellow out. Enjoy throughout spring and summer!

On Food and Cooking - Spring

From reading my previous posts, you will no doubt realize that I am passionate about food and cooking. So when thinking about the recent arrival of spring, I decided to revamp this blog with seasonal cooking tips and recipes that will support the body throughout the year.

During my time studying Chinese nutrition and dietetics, I came to view food very differently. Food must be examined based on flavors, thermal qualities, the seasons as well as the environment in which we eat. Ideally, we should be cooking with the freshest, local foods that are in season and that complement our individual constitutions. This may seem overly complicated so I’m going to simplify these concepts with real examples. And we’ll see how we go!

Spring is characterized by growth, green, warmth and expansion. Despite all its glory though, spring can be horribly temperamental with sudden temperature changes, high winds and sneaky showers. Mirroring this strange season, we seem energized and gloriously happy one minute only to find ourselves highly irritable or miserable with allergies or a late season cold the next.

The flavors associated with spring are slightly pungent, sour and sweet. Pungent flavors warm us and help rid us of unwanted pathogens. Sour makes us happy-ish by easing emotional stress and anger. And sweet, young greens and sprouts cooked quickly or eaten raw (in moderation) give us energy and can improve the liver’s overall function.

Perfect for colds and seasonal allergies, here’s a recipe for an Asian-inspired chicken noodle soup that combines all the flavors of spring.

Chicken Noodle Soup – Asian Style

INGREDIENTS
1 chicken breast
1 litre chicken stock
4 thick slices of fresh ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp cracked black pepper
2 cups chopped, washed cilantro
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 packet rice vermicelli noodles
1 cup bean sprouts (optional)
2 green onions, sliced
1 Thai red chili, sliced

METHOD
Poach chicken in stock with sliced ginger.

While chicken is cooking, process/whiz garlic, salt, pepper, cilantro and lemon juice to form a paste.

Once chicken is cooked through, remove from stock and slice or shred. Then strain cooking liquid– discarding ginger. Stir in paste and turn off heat.

Cook noodles as directed and place in the bottom of two bowls. Top with shredded chicken.

Ladle broth into bowls and garnish with sprouts, onion and chili.

Serves 2

Bon appétit!

Tis the season for ubas

Things have been very quiet in blogville due to what some refer to as "life events". Anyhoo, life events were pushed aside on the weekend so that H and I could fill ourselves with holiday cheer. And nothing sounded merrier than the 14th Annual Tuba Christmas (or should that be the Uba Xma)!

It was advertised as an event with over 100 tuba players playing a collection of holiday chestnuts. We discovered upon arrival that this year broke a record with 118 tubas! (woohoo) And they were decorated.

Is that Santa with a tuba?

Anyway, for an event where tuba players of all skill levels were welcome, it was a jolly old time.

Happy holidays!

“Spare-ohs”

Last week I went to see the local acupuncturist/herbalist for my recent fatigue. She diagnosed me with blood deficiency (anemia), qi stagnation (standard issue for uptight people like me) and weak wei qi (immune system). After 30 minutes of needles and a bag of ground herbs, I’m now on the mend. I should mention here – there are few things as unpleasant as decoctions. They smell bad and taste worse. My herbalist grinds the herbs so you can steep individual cups rather than boiling up 2 days worth, which takes a couple of hours and “scents” the home. You should use a sieve to remove all the grounds, but because ours is in transit, I’m sipping around them. Only three cups of this granular, brown liquid a day for 10 days….

So with renewed energy this weekend, H and I continued our quest for a decent coffee and brunch here in Jacksonville. The Cool Moose Coffee Company looked and sounded perfect – cool, old building in Riverside, hipster wait staff and excellent food served with organic coffee. Well the space and staff were great and laid back, and that’s where the positives end. I wanted to order the Reuben sandwich but was told that they only serve breakfast/brunch on Sundays. OK -- then the salmon bagel will do. H ordered a latte and the Eggs Benedict. Good lord – they should have paid us to eat his meal or allowed him to cook his own! Was there even a cook in the kitchen?

The latte was just warm coffee-scented milk served in a paper cup. Seriously people – if you can’t make proper espresso drinks, just stick to drip coffee! Note to selves: perhaps we should just order drip coffees since 99% of Jacksonville establishments can’t make proper espresso drinks….*

Anyhoo, the “Eggs Benedict” consisted of 2 poached eggs on a muffin with more-processed-than-usual ham all topped with… (wait for it)… a mound of butter??! This “sauce” didn’t come close to hollandaise – there was no tang of lemon nor was it smooth or creamy. Obviously the ingredients weren’t measured or emulsified properly, and the VERY well-buttered egg yolks coagulated from excessive heat. And the folks at Cool Moose served it this way with no hesitation. My smoked salmon bagel was fine despite the fact that it was only served with cream cheese, tomato and a smidgen of salmon – no red onion or capers.

Numerous reviews state that the Cool Moose serves a consistently good brunch; it’s even where you head if you’ve had a disastrous/disgusting attempt at brunch. If our experience is anything to go by, the “bad brunches” in this town must be downright lethal.

While walking off our meals, we met a nice chap from Sydney. His advice was to give JAX 4 years as that’s the amount of time we need to adjust to it. His tip on coffee was to buy our own espresso maker. And when it comes to restaurants – he said all but 3 or 4 were shit. So save money and eat at home. The money we save from not eating out should go towards travelling up to NY (or any other big, progressive city) about once a month, which is what he does. That way we’ll keep our edge and our sanity. And then in about 4 years, we’ll actually feel at home here and be able to laugh at it all.

Is this advice really meant to make us feel better? If it is, it ain’t working.

* The coffee problem here cannot be explained away by the fact that Jacksonville is small or southern. While in Augusta, we actually had lattes that were comparable to the ones in Melbourne.