Taste- Tomatoes!!!

Hey kids we are heading out to Niagara on Sunday for Tree and Twigs heirloom tomato seedling sale. Anyone want to join? I know Andrea might be interested....

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Mom and Aunt Jill went last year and said it was a mad rush! Apparently they have a white tomato! What the what! Have you ever seen one of those?

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I am seriously after a yellow/orange one called Big Rainbow. And Vince is requesting tiny sweet cherry ones. What about you? what are your favourites?

Holy man Pinterest watch out, major heirloom tomato recipes Pins coming up! ;)

Love and Hugs

Taste- A Birthday dinner

March 5th is coming up fast and that means I will be 33 years old! Holy crapoly how did that happen? Anyways. I get to pick a dinner spot and I have my eye on two possible restaurants.

1. The Hogtown Vegan is a kickass vegan place in the west end of town that serves comfort food such as unchicken and waffles and seitan rubens. They are hip, tasty and no animals were harmed, what more could you ask for.

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2. Campagnolo also does comfort food but in my other favourite manner which is southern Italian!  (just kicking myself here that it's not Burrata season). I've always loved modern/bistrot/minimalist Italian food and these guys apparently are awesome at it having just won a spot in the top ten list of enRoute's best new restaurants 2011.

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So what do you think, The Hog or The Italian? I am waiting for your informed opinions! 

Is there any other place in Toronto you have in mind? 

Love and Hugs 

Taste- what we've been making

Living with Ryan and Britt is awesome! We are always trying new things out in the kitchen. It's pretty great to have a whole second set of recipe books to browse through and get inspired by. I wanted to share a few things we tried last week that I'm in love with.

Sarah's Red lentil coconut soup.

Holy macaroni is right! It's really easy and so delicious! The only tweak I would say is it could use a little more coconut milk. But you try it out and let me know what you think. Sarah at A House in the Hills has a crazy amount of yummy things to cook, go over and check it out!


             
              Next was these Crispy Smashed Potatoes I found on Pinterest via Caramel Potatoes

What a great idea eh? When I was making them all that was going through my head was "Why didn't I think of this!" And then I burned them a little. Whoops. But seriously it's such an easy idea and great change from your regular potato side dish, just make sure your rack isn't too low in the oven. ;)

What's been going on in your kitchen the last little while? Any great recipes to share?

Love and Hugs

Taste- Winterlicious

2012 is here and along with it comes the tenth year of Toronto's annual food festival Winterlicious. Torontonians love to complain and this is no exception but personally I think it's great! It runs over Mom's b-day (Feb 7th) and you can get a prix-fixe menu for 25 bucks. What can be bad about that?

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This year Mom picked a locavore bistrot in Bloor West Village called Earth. Unfortunately the service has less than stellar reviews and we're hoping that was then and this year all the kinks will have been worked out. Either way the food sounds delicious and that's what it's all about. Check out the menu.

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$25 Dinner plus taxes and gratuity

Butternut Squash Consommé
Kohlrabi, sherry oil, fine herbs (vegetarian/local)
or
Romaine Hearts
Local Pecorino aioli, red fife smoked bacon crumb (vegetarian/local)
or
Ontario Game Country Pâté
Cranberry shallot chutney, baby lettuce, crostini (local)
or
Smoked Haddock Tart
Northern Orchards apple, grated hens egg, cornichon emulsion (local)


Wuxi Braised Wellington County Rib
Chili green bean salad, crispy sweet potato (local)
or
Seared Rainbow Trout
Braised chard, black cardamom carrots, Rosehall Run gastrique (local)
or
Spinach Maflada Pasta
Vidalia onion ragout, ricotta salata smoked cherry tomato oil (vegetarian/local)
or
Chicken Fried Mennonite Chicken
Maple yam purée, collard greens, buttermilk gravy (local)


Chocolate Flourless Torte
Cranberry peppercorn coulis (vegetarian)
or
Niagara Apple Crisp
Allspice infused cream (vegetarian/local)
or
Maple Walnut Tart
Smoked sultanas (vegetarian/local)
 

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I'll tell you I'm all over that vidalia onion/ricotta salata pasta and chocolate flourless torte! I mean Come ON!

Can't wait for you birthday Mom!

Do you guys have any foodie events in your town? Anything that gets you through the long dark weeks of Winter?


Love and Hugs

Taste- Praises a Plenty

This Christmas Ryan and Britt got me a beautiful veggie cook book called Plenty. Have you heard of it? The author is a meat eating chef in London named Yotam Ottolenghi and I love him! His recipes are easy and so friggin flavorful.

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I couldn't resist trying the cover recipe of eggplant with buttermilk sauce and zatar. It was a hit! I would deffinitely use this one again for entertaining. It was so easy and would really make people think you tried extra hard.

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Next up is this mushroom polenta. Can you just taste it now?! The mushrooms at the grocery store are gorgeous right now and I can't wait to get my hands on them.

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Yotam's first cookbook was also a success simply named Ottolenghi- The Cookbook. And well my birthday is coming up so you know......just sayin'. ;)

What cookbooks or recipes are you loving right now?

Love and Hugs

Taste- Meyer Lemons

The key limes and meyer lemons are in at my corner grocery store and I couldn't resist buying a few bags full. I came home straight away to look for something other than pie to make with them.

And violà! Thanks to Amy from Minimally Invasive I found this gorgeous Meyer Lemony pasta recipe!

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Is your mouth watering or what? I know I know I should be posting my first Taste Tuesday of January 2012 with some kind of cleansing smoothie or something but how can lemons, argula, creme fraiche and pasta be bad for you?! 

I would even dare to say its a lot better for your soul than that carrot/daikon/plum lukewarm water drink I know I should be drinking right now.

Are you with me?!

Love and Hugs

Taste- A festive brownie

I love strawberries, my brother loves brownies, we just moved in together and it's Christmas! What does this call for?

Santa Hat Brownies of course!

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Aren't they the sweetest things you've ever seen? Aunt Ann's Christmas party is on Friday and this recipe is at the top of my list of things to bring. Now all I have to do is figure out how not to eat them all.

 Is there anything extra special you plan on making this season?

Thanks to Daisy for the awesome idea!

Love and Hugs

Taste- What we ate: a week in food photos

This is the last installment of 'A week in food photos' for the year and boy was it a yummy one!

Wednesday was bean and barley stew with thyme, tomatoes and sweet potatoes oh my!

This is so funny, I can't get this photo to rotate correctly! It appears in the right angle on the upload but when added to blogger turns the other way. So weird. Anyways Thursday delicious! Roasted chickpeas, onions, herbs, brussel sprouts on radicchio and escarole.

Friday is usually a cheat kind of night and since Vince wanted meat I cooked him a steak and had a seitan one for me. And what steak or faux steak would be complete with out gorganzola and toasted hazelnuts? Exactly!

I just love puting shit on a base of lettuce. I love veggies, there I said it! Whew! Add some roasted beets, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, sundried tomatoes and I'm in heaven. Don't forget about the hunk of cheese though. ;)

Sunday was comfort food all the way. Vince usually cooks on Sundays and always makes a risotto. And I am not complaning, especially when it turns out like this! Pumpkin and parmesan risotto to die for!

Monday is back to basics with soup. This time it was roasted onion and brown rice. Looks yummy right?

Now that I'm back in Toronto the daily dinner photo thing has fallen to the wayside a bit. I hope when Vince gets here and we are a little more settled in we can get back at this project cause it's fun!

So tell me what did you eat last week? Are you eating whatever's in the fridge? Are you getting to the market and buying in season stuff? Did you try any new recipes lately?


Love and Hugs

Taste- A Michelin starred restaurant

Have you ever been? I'm usually drawn to the cosy 10 table home style bistro to be honest. But when our 5 year anniversary rolled around in late September we decided to look for something a little more special and came up with the 1 star restaurant in Barbizon called Les Pléiades. 

We made the reservation 2 weeks in advance which is a little unheard of in France but we wanted to be sure. (Also asking the chef to throw together a completly vegetarian menu for me)

The restaurant is located in a gorgeous art hotel of the same name in Barbizon which is about a ten minute drive from our place in Fontainebleau.

Everything was spectacular. The service, the menus, the table setting and the music. But especially the wine. It was Château Haut Maurac Bellecour, Cru Bourgeois 1996. Both Vince and I can say we have never tasted a better bottle which is no small feat!

The cuisine is molecular. So everything we tasted was made to challenge the eye and tongue. The picture below is one of the many amuse-bouches that looked like a small shot class of beer and an egg yolk. Not so, it was ginger vodka cider and the 'yolk' was pineapple that was meant to be burst on your tongue at the same time as comsumming the cider.

Vince ordered his favourite, the Pigeon which was delivered to our table in a courier envelope of it's own!

The cheeses were hand selected from a fromagerie in Fontainebleau and you know we tried every one of those babies!

We had no room whatsoever for dessert but when the coffee came it was accompanied by home made marshmallows, pate de fruits, caramels and a few extra little sweet amause bouches to send us on our way.

We stayed for 3 hours. It was heavenly and unforgettable. I can't say we will be dining like this every day but if the occasion arrises well, why not!

Are you curtious about the Michelin star system? Have you ever been to a restaurant like this? Do you know if there are any in Toronto or Canada for that matter?



Love and Hugs

Taste- What we ate: a week in food photos

Last week was seriously busy with Mom and Dad in town from Toronto and moving back to Canada and all making this one week late! Sorry guys but I hope you aren't mad and still find a little inspiration here?

Thursday was lentil and sweet potato stew. So comforting and yummy. Lentils like beans get a bad rap but they are so good, come on give them a chance!

Friday lunch was a salad with those hot italian pickled peppers I love and can only find at the Friday market. I also put some avocado, red onion and sundreied tomatoes on there. Fastest and easiest lunch ever!

Saturday was Mushroom Bourguignon and gougère from the November edition of Vegetarian Living UK. Needless to say this was pretty amazing!

Sunday was roasted cauliflower soup with hazelnuts and bread loosley based on my hands down favourite food blogger Sara's recipe from Sprouted Kitchen.

Monday was more lentils! And a veggie bake inspired by Samantha at The Frog and a Princess. I used a beet, slices of pumpkin, green tomato and polenta.

And Tuesday sadly was my first soup fail. I don't know what I did wrong but this one just didn't turn out that well. :( It was supposed to be fennel, potato and celeri. But it kinda was blah and green? Oh well back to the drawing board!

So there you have it! Another week another plate full of mostly goodness! So please tell what did you have last week? Anything worth sharing? You know I love a good recipe!


Love and Hugs

Taste- Dorie Greenspan's pumpkin packed with cheese and bread

Okay I know you guys have been waiting for this for a long time right? I have! All I want to do is make it again! I first heard about Dorie on twitter and then there was a feed on what to make with pumpkins which I had to read of course and Voilà! my pumpkin stuffed with cheese and bread was born!



Can you hear my mouth literally watering at the end when I'm slicing that puppy open? Kinda gross I know. Sorry about that.

Now tell me what did you do with your pumpkins this year? Just carve em? Or venture to the unknown and cook with them?


Love and Hugs

Taste- What we ate: a week in food photos

Did I tell you guys that I'm on a diet?! I have been trying to lose weight for a little over three years now. So far so good, I've lost 44 pounds and have roughly another 35 -30 to go. Slow and steady with lots of healthy soups and OA support from my Mom. And that's my plan. I also might have forgot to add I'm a vegetarian too? So if you not discouraged and feeling curious I'd like to show you a glimpse of what's on my plate through an average week:

Thursday was veggie chili. I heart beans in a major way. I don't know why I ever thought they were gross? They are little pockets of miracles as far as I'm concerned.

Friday was fresh pasta with roasted and sundried tomatoes, crunchy basil and that unbelievable burrata mozza from our favourite cheese people down the street.

Saturday morning Vince has been making pancakes and coffee in bed for me. Love him!

 

Sunday was my first attempt at a pumpkin stuffed with cheese and bread. HELLO!! I made a video about it, that's how great it is. Stay tuned.

 

Monday was back to soup business with miso, tofu, soba noodles, ginger, cilantro and wakame!

Tuesday was soup continued with roasted cauliflower and swiss chard! So filling and yummy!

And there you have it folks. Add a little meditation and exercise in there and you're all set! 

What about you? What's been on your table this week? Any recipes to share?

Love and Hugs

Taste- What's in my kitchen?

Hi guys I made a pretty bad video yesterday about nosing around my kitchen. Do you want to see? Actually you can't really see much! I was holding my Mac but need to find a new way of filming. Any suggestions?




Okay now I'm serious, what did you think? What's in your kitchen? Is it different than mine? If you don't share I'm just gonna come over to your house and snoop anyways! No no no sorry just joking I would never invade your private space.

Off to get some tea and clear this brain before I start knocking on random people's kitchen doors. ;)

Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- Quiche Lorraine by a real mec from Lorraine!

This weekend we've been in Metz with Vince's family. Metz is a gorgeous town in the northeast region of France called Lorraine. That's right folks where Quiche Lorraine comes from, and José, Vince's Dad makes the best version. He was so kind to share with you his technique here on the Sentimental Suitcase. Would you like to see?




I must tell you that José also makes the crust from scratch the day before. He also adds 1 or 2 onions which is not the norm but tastes great!

Many many thanks to José and Léo and Lise for all their help! We hope you liked it!

So tell me will you be making this for yourself? Do you like quiche? Did you know what a vrai Quiche Lorraine looked like?

Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- What's on your breakfast plate?

I'm in an oatmeal rut. I have oatmeal with walnuts, cinamon, maple syrup and fruit every single morning. Yes Yes I know it's good for me. It has awesome amounts of fiber, those good carbs that release slowly and keep you energized , and even reduces your cholesterol. But I need a change and I'm hoping you can help me!

Here's what my morning currently looks like:

Warm lemon water, green earl grey tea and oatmeal

Have you ever seem breakfast superstar Jennifer Causey's website called Simply Breakfast?  These are a few of the gorgeous breakfast inspirations you can find there:

Toasted bagle with avocado, crushed red pepper, black pepper, olive oil and salt.

 Plain yogurt with sauteed peaches, honey, almonds, and pumpkin seeds.

Buckwheat griddle cakes from Buckshot Sonnys.

Quinoa with almond milk and prunes

English muffin with natural peanut butter and honey 

So what do you eat in the morning anyways? Are you a coffee addict? Do you juice? or do you skip it all together? And what do you think I should eat tomorrow for breakfast?

Love and Hugs

Taste Tuesday- What we ate: a week in food photos

So I guess you've noticed it's Fall?;) I think in Canada and France we are both experiencing the smells and chills of the season and for me there's nothing like cooking when it gets cold out. Don't you agree? You feel like getting cozy and the food at the market is the type that brings comfort and needs to be roasted, I love it!
Here's a few pictures of the things we cooked up last week:

Wednesday was roasted butternut squash and adzuki bean soup.

Thursday was Sara's Sweet potatoes with chili beans, creme fraiche and guacamole

Friday welcomed fresh pasta with chantrells, roasted garlic, thyme and a knob of chevre

Saturday challenged us with aloe vera, apple and green tomato kebabs at Voy Alimento

Sunday brought cheese of course! We had Montbriac, Gloriotte and a seriously old Cantal

Back to healthy living Monday was barley, black radish, tomato and chard soup

This next week has pumpkin, potato, more swiss chard and apple and pear written all over it.

Anybody have suggestions or recipes?

And what did you eat all week my friends? I'd love to hear!


Love and Hugs