Terra Burger

On 532 Eglinton Ave. West, just due east of Spadina Road, is a fantastic, new organic burger joint called Terra Burger.  Being "organic" and a new restaurant, I was a little skeptical today, as I went in with my 2 for 1 coupon I received in the mail a couple of weeks ago.  The menu is a bit dissected in that you choose your meat first, next is a white or wheat bun, then the condiments you want on it, and any additional extras like smoked bacon, cheese, etc.  With my coupon in hand, I ordered a hamburger on wheat with dijon mustard and the fixings of lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and added smoked bacon for my husband.  For myself, I ordered also a hamburger on wheat, but with mayo and ketchup as well as the dijon mustard sans bacon, and asked for the "terra sauce" on the side.  Terra sauce is sauteed onions that have been pureed into mayonnaise - it is deliciously earthy tasting.  I also ordered a large french fry to share and it was plenty for the both of us and some for our toddler, Giulia, as well.  In approximately 10 minutes, my order was complete and we took it home.  It was delicious.  I literally scarfed my burger down in a few minutes.  I couldn't even bare to savor it because it was so good, I just gobbled it up.  Thank God we love meat, because I'm definitely going back there whenever I have a burger craving.  It was a good sign when I walked in, that it was crowded with happy customers.  May this place become a local institution for hard core burger lovers like myself.  

Kultura Restaurant

On King East, just off of Jarvis by 1 block is a restaurant called Kultura.

They have a sister restaurant called Colborne Lane, located on Colborne Lane, a few blocks away.  For my girl Miah's birthday, a group of 8 of us went there for dinner and drinks.

None of us had ever been there before and it was Miah, myself and 6 burly men.  

Kultura considers themselves to be Asian-Fusion with a tapas style menu at very expen$ive price$.  It is a beautiful space, and I'm sure that's where most of our money is going towards.  The rent.  Lots of brick and lit pillared candles gave it a really romantic and cozy atmosphere.  Once we were seated, the waiter proceeded to tell us that for a group of 8, we should narrow down the menu to 5 different dishes and order 5 of each of them.  Glancing quickly at the cost of each entree, I nearly had a heart attack after doing the multiplication of 5.  Since I'm usually asked to take the reigns at a dinner party, I went down the list, picked the tastiest (keeping the price in mind) entrees and multiplied them by 3, not 5, to feed our stomachs, with the notion that if we were still hungry, we could always order more.  Makes sense, right?  Right...  So, what did we order and was it memorable?  We had chicken samosas, beef tartare that was wrapped in something crispy, spicy tuna roll (that had no rice or resemblance of sushi except for the fact that it was "rolled" up), mushroom orecchiette,  butternut risotto, and I feel like we had one more thing, but it escapes me right now...we also had dessert - a few orders of doughnut holes covered in vanilla sugar with caramel sauce and hot fudge to dip it in, a claufouti (that had eggplant tasting like apples) and some decadent chocolate dessert that had salted caramel in the center.  (On a totally random side note, I think salted caramel is super trendy right now and I'm really enjoying it!)  Out of the entrees, I enjoyed my pinot grigio by the glass that cost $12 whoppers.  Oh, woops, sorry, that's not food.  Ok, seriously, I really enjoyed the chicken samosas and the mushroom orecchiette.  The dessert disappointed me because as someone at the table put it - the doughnut holes just reminded them of Timmy's (aka: Tim Hortons).  The caramel sauce was not thick and dense.  It was as fluid as water and had no taste.  The fudge was good, but nothing special.  The chocolate cake with licorice ice cream was yummy.  And the claufouti was interesting, but again, to make eggplant taste like apple bits is no easy task, but it was still nothing to write home about.  For a party of 8 of us, for just the food, we spent $50 to $55 each.  Drinks were calculated individually.  I have to say, I loved the space, the atmosphere, but mainly the company I was with.  If you're wondering if I'd ever go back there for food again, I would, but only if I was on a diet and expected to not each much for a lot of money.  Fortunately, I don't diet.  

Sunday Brunch at The King Edward aka: King Eddy

One of my favorite past times, besides eating, is eating Sunday brunch.  And not just any brunch.  A buffet style brunch.  But do you know how hard it is to find a quality one?  It's not the quantity that matters - I'm always one for options, but for a buffet brunch, I'm all for quality over quantity any day.  The King Edward Sunday buffet brunch in their Victoria Restaurant is the best buffet brunch I've ever had.  The minute you get seated, you're offered a freshly squeezed juice of orange or grapefruit and it is outstanding.  There are white table cloths, high vaulted ceilings, big windows and a harpist gently playing during the meal.  For food, there a ton of items to choose from, and they are tasty and cooked to perfection.  There were tables on one side of the room with fruits, breads, pastries, cheeses, meats, grilled veggies, etc.  There were other tables with lots of seafood - cooked, steamed, raw oysters, crab claws filled with succulent meat, shrimp cocktail (one of my personal favorites at buffet brunch), smoked fishes, salmon, squid, etc.  There were even more tables for entrees like chicken, pasta, sides of potatoes and veggies, and another personal favorite, the carving station!  The King Eddy always has Beef Wellington, which is a lovely tenderloin of beef surrounded by puff pastry with the option of red wine jous on the side.  It is spectacular.  They also had a big lamb roast that was perfectly cooked.  And how can we forget the breakfast type foods like waffles, blintzes, sausages, bacon, eggs benny and the such.  And last but not least - dessert!  The best out of all the options for all of us today was the butter tart.  Amongst the desserts there were also tiramisu, chocolate cake with green tea icing, carrot cake, mousses (vanilla and chocolate), creme caramel aka: flan, apple galette with cinnamon whipped cream, chocolate cake, and the list goes on and on.  The King Edward Hotel is located on King Street, just east of Yonge Street.  For roughly $50/per person and that doesn't include tax or tip, it is a special treat but a tasty one at that.  

Lemon Yogurt Cake a la Barefoot Contessa, my Idol

This is a knock out.

I made it this afternoon after coming home from the ass-chapping cold outdoors, and it turned out beautifully!  Love that Ina Garten!  Here's the recipe from the Barefoot Contessa "At Home" cookbook with directions and my own modifications below:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (1 small container of organic yogurt does not make 1 full cup so buy a bigger tub, or 2 cups of plain yogurt and I don't think my yogurt was whole-milk)

1 1/3 cups sugar, divided

3 extra large eggs (I used 3 regular large omega-3 white eggs -- Ina uses extra large eggs b/c she thinks she gets better value for bigger eggs, but you don't really seem to need extra large eggs for this recipe)

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (off of 2 lemons - it looks like a lot after you zest them right into the bowl, so I extracted some, but now regret it, so use it all up)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil (didn't have veggie oil, so used canola instead)

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (after you zest the 2 lemons, squeeze them to make all the juice you need for this entire recipe including the glaze)

For the glaze:

1 cup of confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a standard sized loaf pan.

Butter the pan.

Line the bottom with parchment paper.

Butter the parchment paper.

Flour the entire pan.

Sift together ONLY flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl.

In a larger bowl, whisk the yogurt, ONLY 1 cup of the sugar, all 3 eggs, lemon zest and vanilla extract.  (DON'T MIX THE OIL IN YET!  Although I screwed up and mixed the oil in, too, and it still came out fine).

After you mix that up, slowly whisk in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  With a rubber spatula, fold in the veggie oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated.  Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a tooth pick place in the center comes out clean.  (My loaf took the 50 minutes in my oven).

Meanwhile...cook the 1/3 cup of remaining sugar plus the 1/3 cup of lemon juice (the juice from the 2 zested lemons), in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear.  Set aside.  (You could also make the glaze now and have it ready for the end now, as well).

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan (I used my toaster oven's rack and mini-sheet pan).  While the cake is still warm, pour the lemony-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in.  Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.  

This was so easy to make, it's unbelievable.  And it tastes SOOOO good.  You won't regret it.

Apple Cake

I've been drooling over this apple cake on the Smitten Kitchen's blog.  So, finally, I bit the bullet and made it the other day and it's just awesome.  It is so good.  So tasty.  So moist!  And as much as I love kitchen gadgets, I do not own a tube pan, so I used my trusty Pyrex 9 x 13 glass casserole dish and it worked out just fine.  I will post the ingredients and directions here now:

Ingredients:

6 apples, McIntosh

1 tablespoon of cinnamon (I think I'd use a touch less, personally, for next time).

5 tablespoons sugar

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil (I used canola b/c the store did not have veggie oil).

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 eggs

1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional - I did not use walnuts).

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a tube pan (or 9 x 13).  Peel, core and chop apples into chunks.  (This part nearly killed my right hand).  Toss with the cinnamon and sugar and set aside. 

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.  

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla extract.

Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time.

Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Spread half of the apple mixture over it.  Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top.  Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a tester comes out clean.  Buon Appetito!

Indoor Tennis in Toronto

So my latest obsession, (other than making pizza over and over again) has to do with finding some hobby that makes me active.  I'm not talking walking to the corner grocery store to buy food as active, but something that makes me sweat from running, chasing balls or people.  I have a passion for tennis and golf.  However, I live in the land of winter for 9 months, and construction for 3.  So, I have been looking for an indoor tennis club for this winter and have found a bunch but need to call.  That's the part I dread.  "Sorry ma'am, registration is closed."  "Sorry ma'am, club is not open for winter."  Or how about "Ma'am, to join our club, you have to sell the soul of your first born child and buy a fur coat from Holt's to prove you're worthy."  I'll let you know if I find something...and that's one big IF.  

Home Made Pizza

(sigh)

Another night, another try at making pizza using store bought dough.  Today's pizza didn't turn out the way I had hoped.  The dough I bought was frozen, and the owner of the little Italian deli nearby told me to keep the dough in a warm place to thaw it out in time to make it for dinner.  So, I stuck the dough on top of the fridge, where it gets awfully hot back there.  The dough...well...that's what makes pizza, pizza, right?  The dough.  The crunchy crust.  The toppings are more like an after thought.  In any case, it didn't turn out well at all.  I can't even begin to describe it...however, I will post a photo of my last pizza I made and it was not a huge success by any means, but now, pizza is becoming an obsession, and I will try it again soon.  I promise.