[ Scaddabush, Mississauga ]

During rainy weekends, is it not the best possible time to eat fresh Italian food? 

Scaddabush, Mississauga

Formally the location of Alive Fazooli's, Scaddabush opened a few months ago and serves fresh, house made Italian dishes by the nicest waiters and waitresses imaginable. Seriously, they're all super knowledgeable about the menu so it makes it fun to just chat with them. They're also very patient and check on us just enough without seeming over bearing.

On their pasta menu, they have the option for either whole wheat or white and even gluten free, free of charge! 

To start, we ordered Chairty Bread ($2) which is simply a garlic loaf, but the proceeds of this item all go towards charity. They serve it as fresh as can be out of the oven and you can either cut it apart or just pull it apart like the savages I know you are. 

My mother and I ordered the Baked Carbonara (small: $9.93). They serve both a small and large size at about three dollars difference. From what I saw at the other tables, the large was truly LARGE. 

Here's a shot of our table. Across you can see my dad ordered Classic Meatballs on a Bun ($14. 32). These are made fresh in house with fresh Italian bread to boot. I'm determined to try their sandwiches next time I visit. His order also came with a side salad. 

Take note on how cute and homey the table set up is! There's a paper in the middle where you can doodle with your friends while waiting for the order (of course I drew my rabbit) and every table has a little stack of dishes for sharing appetizers. I really enjoyed the whole ambiance of the restaurant; this would be a great place to bring friends for casual events. 

C'est fini! (I don't know any Italian). 

Chocolate chip cookies + Pistachios

Cookies are great to make because you can make a whole bunch in one sitting and enjoy them throughout the week. And these cookies were especially great because it's really simple, but are so delicious. Seriously; they taste and smell like roasted marshmallow cookies. I'm making them again as soon as I can. 

I had pistachios leftover from my chocolate pistachio biscotti so I substituted the macadamia nuts in the recipe for pistachios. I really liked the colour is gave too.

Supreme Softness: Chocolate Chip Cookies (Low Fat)

The softest cookies I've made at located in this post. It never hurts that they're low in fat as well. I found the recipe for an ice cream sandiwch recipe, but just skipped on the ice cream.

Serious Burgers [ Bugernator, Toronto ]

Burgernator has been open for quite some time, bringing the gourmet burger frenzy to the Kensington Market neighborhood. 

Two friends and I took a trip downtown on a day we didn't have class. The weather was awesome that day, and perfect for all the walking we did (by fault of my directional disability) but oh we were so ready to eat a monster of a burger. The restaurant layout is very modern and comforting. Mission statements surround you on the walls and there's just something about hard-wood furniture that makes a good place to eat burgers.

Cover it with Chococlate [ Dunk n Dip, Mississauga ]

Way back in October (oh how time flies) my family and I visited Dunk n Dip; Port Credit's new chocolate lounge after a long day of hiking. They only opened in July so it was fairly new. Since we didn't have any special Thanksgiving dinner plans (we heated up leftovers) we decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to splurge on dessert for once. Plus they were one of the few places actually open on Thanksgiving evening. 

Au Pain Gamin Remix ( Chocolate+Pistachio Biscotti )

The first time I encountered the Chocolate+Pistachio biscitti was Au Pain Gamin in Rivière du Loup, Québec. They weren't as crunchy as typical biscotti were, but the addition of butter made them softer and really highlighted its richness. 

post slack.

Apologies for the lack of post today! I didn't realize my scheduled posts had ran out until 11 pm EST.

Please have patience as there plenty of new posts on the way.

Celebrating Food Trucks ( Celebration Square, Mississauga )

These photos are from May/June when there was a food truck event held at the city center in Mississauga. A whole bunch of food trucks gathered on this beaauuutiful sunny day so we definitely had to give some a shot. We don't see food trucks too often in our neck of the woods so we embraced this chance to try as many as financially possible. 

Ramen time [ Santouka, Toronto ]

So hard to miss; only a block from Ryerson university and Dundas Square, Santouka Ramen is an awesome place for a cold Toronto day.

Apple Chips

Every time I make these, crack cocaine seems to slip into them because they're so addicting. I usually eat half the batch in one sitting easily.

During the autumn, we go through an insane number of apples. This year in particular, my friend's apple tree was quite prosperous and I came home to a bag of apples on my door step one day. These may take a while to bake, but you spend about fifteen to twenty minutes prepping the apples, then leave them to bake for a few hours. If you're anything like me, three hours between social media, Youtube, and "homework" can pass by very quickly. It only takes about six episodes of an anime you need to catch up on.

Travel Throwback: Sainte-Fabien ( Parc National du Bic )

An hour from RDL... Parc National du Bic ( Bic National Park ) sits quietly in it's humble, picturesque hideaway of valleys, mountains, beaches, forests, and a lot of uphill. I'd like to share a few snap shots of that beautiful day. I plan on remembering this for a long time.

This excision was easily one of my favourite memories of my five weeks in Québec. Let the adventure begin!

Crustless Quiches

Happy hump day!

I am definitely an egg enthusiast, but weekdays make it hard for me to eat as much egg as I want for breakfast. (that doesn't stop me from making eggs and toast when I get home from school though). 

This recipe is extremely versatile, so you can really add whatever your heart desires! For these photos, I layered steamed broccoli, green onions and ham with Parmesan cheese. 

RDL Grill Fest [ Korean Grill House, Toronto ]

Nothing defines friendship more than grilled meat in the big city.

The GTA-RDL (Greater Toronto Area- Rivière du Loup) gang met up for a Thursday night on the town of grilled meat. 

On Queen St. W and University Ave and a short walk from Osgoode subway station, is Korean Grill House for those who enjoy the explicitly obvious names of restaurants. Dinner was about $15 on weekdays and it's about $20 for dinner on weekends I believe. 

Horray for food! Check out the website for the menu and prices and hours and locations. 

With Familiar Australians [ Peter's on Eglinton, Mississauga ]

Back in May/June, some family came by to visit, using our house as home base. During that time, I coloured a lot and taught my cousin Abi how to make paper owls. She's honestly too cute for words. She loves animals and pretending she's a cat. So we're pretty much the same person.

Colouring like a few badasses.

Travel Throwback: Riviére du Loup ( Au Pain Gamin )

Au Pain Gamin is THE bakery of Rivière du Loup. I would not leave that town without trying some freshly baked sweets so after classes and workshops one fine Tuesday, Rebecca, Erika and I ventured towards the smell of fresh baguettes, croissants, and chocolate/pistachio biscotti.

Healthy Brownies Without the Healthy Taste: Black Bean Brownies

This awesome recipe is something definitely quirky and interesting I've never tried before. I shared these with my family members and friends who explicitly avoid healthy foods by all means possible. Who liked it, you may ask? The real question is who didn't like them. 

If you couldn't tell, brownies are definitely my favourite baked good in existence. But the struggle is so  real when you can't normally eat five in one sitting. 

These were a great hit, although I would love to own a nicer food processes to truly conceal the presence of the beans. Even with the one I have, no one was any wiser. I also found that they were so moist, I almost didn't even need to add chocolate chips. But who am I to deny extra chocolate? 

The texture is a little different since you have the bean skins throughout the batter, but the taste is definitely ALL brownie. (This is definitely preventable with any food processor better than mine) 

                                        

Thanks Chocolate Covered Katie for sharing such a wonderful recipe!

Be Kind [ KIND Exchange, Toronto ]

This is a cute second hand clothing store on Queen Street West in Toronto. It's a bit higher end than your standard Goodwill or Value Village. 

Here are some interesting finds that caught my interest:

Travel Throwback: Quebec City, QC ( Glaces maison Erico )

For a weekend during my stay in RDL, we spent two days and one night in beautiful Quebec City. We stayed at Léval residence and were free to roam the town, where we spent most of our time. After visiting les chutes de Montromancy, Rebecca (who runs an awesome food blog!) and I enjoyed a number of different, delicious establishments along Rue Saint-Jean.

Whole wheat Peach-Berry Muffins

On Sunday's I like to spend my evenings baking something to eat for breakfast for the week. This also motivates me to finish any work before Sunday evening.

Travel Throwback: Québec City ( Brulerie de St-Jean )

Did you think I was kidding when I said we ate a lot in Québec City? I spent half our trip (one day) with one of the foodiest people I met, so obviously we had to have a grand ol time with trying new things. It just happened to work out that we were both dutiful chocoholics. There really isn't anything quite like saturday night chocolate cake.

Travel Throwback: Québec City ( Bistro Trois Garçons )

On our second day in Quebec City, we picked this chic burger bistro on Rue Sainte-Jean. This place is quite tourist friendly as they offer the menu in both English and French and the majority of their servers are bilingual. If a particularly French servers is taking your order and doesn't understand, they instantly grab for the next English speaking server that comes by.

This place is quite loud and since we went on an early Sunday afternoon. I don't know about you, but Québec seems to just shut down after about 3 pm. 

[ Cha Time, Toronto ]

This is a pretty popular bubble tea place located in Toronto. Since I'm not an avid fan of bubble tea, maybe I'm not just seeing it, but I feel like this whole place is hype. The price is quite steep for bubble tea and I find the selection is about the same.

[ Kinton Ramen, Toronto ]

During this Toronto adventure, our goal was to try one of the Big Three ramen places in Toronto. Since Kinton was at a location somewhat familiar to us, we decided on it being our first true Toronto ramen experience.

Lakeshore Boulevard

Photo diary from a particularly sunny day spent biking by the lake.

Travel Throwback: Rivière du Loup ( Bon Voyage Pizza )

This adorable stand-alone pizza place on rue Lafontaine seriously has the best pizza in ever-charming Rivière du Loup.

Eating through CNE

Canadian National Exhibition is the annual carnival/festival/ full-out party that I attend with my brother. This was the first place we went together at night without my parents some years ago. I remember that year it was to see Lights in concert, but pre-show I remember totally blown away by The Food Building.

Bacon Pancakes !

The Breakfast Club (can we be called the Breakfast Club?) unites again.

This time, not over any particular sadness, but after being gone for five weeks, this was simply necessary.

 

Since we had extra batter leftover at the end, we sliced up some bananas and threw on some chocolate chips for chocolate/banana pancakes as well. We also cooked the bacon pancakes with a dash of brown sugar. You would be surprised how well that combination works! 

Adventure Time (almost) tells no lies.

Travel Throwback: Québec City ( Point d'Exclamation )

Amongst all the eating we did in Quebec City, sometimes you need to take a break to immerse yourself into the cutest, pastel-est boutiques you've ever seen. If soft pink, mint green, baby blue, and all things cute are your kind of scene, Point d'Exclamation is definitely for you.

Macaron attempt 01

Oh what a tragic tale this is.

We started with so many cookies; everything was going well and it was all so exciting to try to make french macarons for the first time. Where I went wrong was setting the temperature too high. The cookies baked too quickly which either burned the cookies all together or created air bubbles inside the shells. Super bummer. I'm really glad they at least developed nice macaron feet. Plus they don't look half bad in the photos. The ones that made it out alive didn't taste half bad either! I think I'll wait another four years until attempting this again though.

Halloween prep !

Today I took the time to do the usual; run some errands, tidy up the house, work on some assignments, conjure up some fake blood........

This got me so excited for Halloween this year! I'm really glad this fake blood recipe I picked works so well. It's simply a teaspoon each of honey and cocoa powder (this blood is delicious) and as much red food colouring as it takes.

I also tried creating fake wounds/peeled skin with liquid glue since I don't want to buy liquid latex. Once it dried, I just stretched my face around until the edges of the glue came loose and applied fake blood underneath. The darkest parts are simply rough sketches using black eyeliner. I'm not too sure if I'll have a specific outfit with this (it would work just fine with my uniform) but it's a lot of fun to scare my brother with this.

What are your Halloween plans for 2013?

[ Liberty Noodle, Toronto ]

Eaton Centre's food court has undergone quite the transformation. Gone are the sketch, low quality fast food joints and in with the great variety of food from all over. My weakness; noodle soup. 

During our first rdl-reunion, we stopped in the food court for a quick dinner before leaving. Liberty Noodle is focused in noodles of all kind with no msg added which is a plus. 

My order resulted in a giant bowl of spicy beef soup with us on noodles. I thought it was cool that you could customize your order the way you want. Options include the noodles; ramen or udon,  pork, chicken or beef, different levels of spiciness in the soup, but no matter what you get, there is no MSG added. I think one of my selling points was the passive pile of bean sprouts, cilantro and green onions they put on top. Compared to the new noodle place in Square One, Liberty Noodle takes the metaphorical cake. 

I'll be arranging another RDL meet up at Eaton's so I can enjoy this beast of a bowl again. The price tag was just a bit over nine dollars which is reasonable especially for the size you get.

When Pies Fly [ Wanda's Pie in the Sky, Toronto ]

Located at 287 Augusta Avenue, in the ever-charming Kensington Market Toronto, Wanda's is an adorable corner store filled to with brim with pies, muffins, pastries, brownies, cakes, and cookies.

On the little trip I made with Daniel, a couple years ago on a trip with our art class, we stopped by; unable to resist  the unique setting of this whimsical pie shop.

Strawberry rhubarb pie was the obvious first choice! Super delicious crust and flavorful filling.

Nom.

Sticking to my chocoholic roots, I got the brownie that came with pieces of nouget on top and caramel.

End of meal means end of post. If you're ever in Kensington, Wanda's Pie in the Sky is pretty hard to miss.

Where ice cream rules [ Dairy King, Mississauga ]

On relatively cooler, summer days, my friend and I enjoy biking down to Lakeshore Boulevard to check out the cute shops and places to eat. Since Dairy Cream was a bit far off for a bike (plus we were so tired) we decided to check out Dairy King instead.

Travel Throwback: Rivière du Loup, QC ( Mini-putt )

"Casse croute" roughly translate to fast food or snack bar, which is something Québec does not take lightly. There's something about calling a fast food establishment "casse croute" that suddenly makes it cooler. More Québec.

And when in Québec, are you truly in Québec until you've tried the poutine? Non. 

Bienvenue au Mini-putt!

Summer daze

Just a few more photos from this summer! I spent a day with very nice weather, a good friend, a patch of grass, and the great view of a Wal-Mart loading zone.

This was when I returned from Quebec for about a week (after my post-rdl depression). Since I wasn't in town during my birthday, I was not able to redeem my free-Panera-pastry. Naturally, this was one of the first things I did when I was ready to leave my house again.

This is also what you would call, "The Enlightenment of Peach Muffins"