Vacation Snapshots

Hey lovelies! I'm back from an incredible week in the Turks and Caicos with my love! I don't have to head back to work until tomorrow so today is all about grey gloomy skies, coffee and donuts, unpacking and sharing a couple of vacation snaps with you. And maybe enjoying a little more Bambarra rum later on...

Below: loading up on libations at The Wine Cellar, what deep-fried dreams are made of at Da Conch Shack, stunning Grace Bay beach, conch ceviche under the palms at Coco Bistro, exploring Middle Caicos in my poor, beat-up chapeau at Daniel's Cafe and Dragon's Cay, a little buddy and the breakfast burrito of champions at Somewhere... On The Beach, and one last look... sigh...

 

Latest Yums

Happy Sunday! I'm just about to curl up with my love and the first season of Lost, but first I thought I'd share a few recent culinary concoctions of mine... Every now and then the motivation to get cooking strikes, here's hoping the habit sticks this time!

Whole grain penne with mascarpone, lemon, spinach and walnuts. Adapted from this recipe. I made it again tonight with rapini instead of spinach and it was fantastic.

Rapini and cherry tomatoes sauteed in garlic

Harissa-spiced shrimp with quinoa in a lemon tahini dressing with diced yellow bell pepper and avocado (it's like a deconstructed salad thang).

What got me through the winter (and this unseasonable frigid April): Organic Detox tea from David's Tea.
I looooove this stuff.

All dressed up with no place to go... and loving it!

Still in too much of a food coma/hangover state to compile your own list of non-judgemental, non-self-deprecating New Year's resolutions? Then just steal these via Apartment Therapy

First off (if you're still here after my prolonged absence), Happy New Year!! May this year be better than the last and worse than the next (and hopefully apocalypse-free)! I hope you all had wonderful holidays surrounded by loved ones and guilt-free gluttony! My holidays were low-key and exactly what I needed. I spent time with beloved family and friends, gorged myself on wonderful food and played way, way too many wii and Kinect dance games... a sobering reminder of just how out of shape I am. Oh well, that's what resolutions are for, isn't it?

A blonder 2012. It remains to be seen how much of 2012 will be spent with the tree still up.
I really like my tree.

All dressed up with no place to go by idlefascination featuring glass rings

New Years Eve the boyfriend and I ended up staying in. But that's no excuse not to get all dolled up anyway, is it? Unfortunately for my poor little blog we were too busy having an awesome time throwing back the pink bubbly stuff and whipping up this sumptuous mushroom bourguinon to do the outfit photo thing. Taking more time to do that definitely warrants a spot on the ever-growing resolution list. So the only photo I have is of the cheesy self-portrait variety but it allows me to show you my new slightly blonder do. And I had to Polyvore my outfit due to lack of photographic evidence (only the shoes are different, but a reasonable facsimilie scored at last years' post-Christmas sale at Browns). And I've been trying to avoid this years post-Christmas sales like the plague. Money is tight and temptation is everywhere! I did cave when I found the black J Brand velvet skinnies above for 99$. I'm only human! So let's tack "spend less" onto the now scroll-like resolution list, shall we?

How were your New Years' celebrations? Are you the resolution-making type?

Brunch Success/Blogging Fail

Above image of spinach and cheese strata via Smitten Kitchen, as the one whipped up by me was simply too delectable to allow even a spare moment to capture photographically. Seriously. Make this. It is soooo good.

So I know I promised you all photos of my holiday brunch last weekend. But despite my doing most of the prep work the day before, I ended up being so busy that I didn't take one photo, and it didn't even occur to me to hand the camera over to anyone else to capture the magic. Poo. Although I suppose that means I was simply enjoying myself too much being completely present in the moment to care... which is good for me as a human being, but not so good as a blogger. Oh well.

So that means no photos of the mimosas galore, the mountain of Fairmount bagels and buttery croissants from Mamie Clafoutis, or my friend Eric's fluffy, decadent homemade eggnog that managed to convert even me despite my three decades as a staunch anti-eggnogger, no evidence of my ill-timed duck fat potatoes which failed to crisp up as intended, no sign of the to-die-for spinach and cheese strata that turned out as scrumptious as I'd hoped, and no pics of my gorgeous friends who managed to look stunning even on a Sunday morning or of my Mom joining in the fun. And no shots of my make-out session with the dishwasher post-party. Whatever would I do without it? The good news is, I'm dying to do it all over again. Maybe next time I'll even delegate the documentation duties.

Holidazed

Sorry for the absence, work has been insane lately. On a happier note I'm in full-on pre-holiday mode (complete with never ending cold I've been trying to fight with sheer denial). I spent yesterday evening baking up a storm with my mamma. We made the most incredible cookies: Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies. Whaaaat? Smitten Kitchen, what would I do without you? Tomorrow I'll be hosting a brunch for my closest friends, I've been prepping all day, I absolutely can't wait. I'll share all the goodies with you next week... but for now, here's a little sneak preview: a peek at my white tree and oh, those cookies, it took every ounce of willpower I had to keep the lid on that cookie tin all day. Okay, I snuck one.

Have a wonderful weekend!xx

Friday Night's Alright for Eating...

Save the fighting for Saturday nights... I found these two incredibly tempting recipes during my daily lap around the blogosphere and I absolutely had to share them:

Orecchiette with orange-spiced lamb meatballs via Design Sponge

and...

OMG. Nutella pudding. Images via Minimally Invasive, recipe via Food 52

Hell to the yes. Have a wonderful weekend, lovely lovelies, and Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!xx

Scenes from a Carbicide

Had a little impromptu date night with my favorite rock chick Mel last night. With a couple of bottles of rosé in hand we hit up Mozza in the Gay Village.

 Zara blazer,scarf,top, Gap pants, Marc by Marc jacobs earrings, F21 cuff, Rebecca Minkoff bag

Foxy Mel and her foxy foxtail

When your bestie describes the cuisine as "porn food" you're walking in with high expectations. Bonus awesomeness points right off the bat for being a BYOW, having a disco party bathroom and the adorable waiter asking if we'd like our dishes with extra love. Aaaawwww.... Everything on the menu is offered as a table d'hôte so you better believe you're rolling out of there at the end of the night. It was actually my second time at Mozza, the first time around a certain dish caught my eye but I ended up going in another direction. This time, however, I was tackling the linguine with oka and dark chocolate. Also joining the chocolatey cheese party were jumbo shrimps, cherry tomatoes, walnuts and brandy.

The result: evil genius.

Edible evil genius.

Mel and her linguine with green apple and brie share a moment...

Four courses, two bottles of wine and nearly four hours of increasingly incoherent babbling later we eventually stumbled out of there, too full to breathe and too happy to care...

I finally managed to snap some decent pics of a lovely installation I've been walking by forever. Essentially the last line of the Village Manifesto, it loosely translates as "There will be a place for each of the liberties you want to allow yourself."

Restaurant Mozza Pâtes & Passions

1326, rue Ste-Catherine est





Coup d'Coeur

I don't work in the best neighborhood. Truth be told I've had to side-step syringes littering the street on more than one occasion. That's what makes finding an oasis like De farine et d'eau fraîche so incredibly wonderful. If I walk up Amherst street about a block or so, there nestled among the vintage furniture shops (also definitely worth a look) is the most adorable little jewel of a bakery that feels like my own personal little slice of heaven whenever I go there. (And nary a crackhead to be found).

Lunch! Half a grilled cheese sandwich and broccoli soup.

Topped off with a delicious organic latte for the road.

I've tried most of the sandwiches: the grilled steak, pear and gorgonzola panini is also a must try.

The homemade caramels are absolutely delicious, my favorites so far are

the fleur de sel and chocolate chipotle.

The gorgeous little cakes start at 60$ a pop but one look at how exquisitely crafted they are almost makes it seem like a bargain. I don't know if I'd have the heart to slice into one though.

I am head over heels in love with the fresh, whimsical design of this enchanting little bakery.

The design was done by Montreal-based Surface 3.

Next stop: Wonderland.

De farine et d'eau fraîche

1701 rue Amherst

Glorious Gluttony!

Just a couple of shots from Christmas morning: the smoky, spicy vegetarian chili (recipe below) I whipped up to bring to my sister's and my boyfriend's gooey, crazy breakast creation, "The Heartstopper".

"The Heartstopper" features two fried eggs, a melted Kraft single, mayo, and a couple of smushed reheated arancini that I made for Christmas Eve, all packed into a delicious Montreal bagel. The arancini are basically deep-fried risotto balls, mine were wild mushroom with parmesan and caciocavallo cheese. I chose to enjoy my Heartstopper lite, sans mayo or arancini. Still delicious. Hhhmm... maybe I'll have one now...

Aahhhh... my first-ever chili. Actually the arancini were a first too, and hopefully there'll be more yummy kitchen experiments to come in 2011!

Now, I never post recipes because, well, I never really follow them in their entirety, I just combine bits from 3 or 4 different recipes based on what I have available and the techniques I'd rather use. All measurements are very, very approximate, just taste as you go and adjust it to your liking. I liked making chili because it gave me the time to wander away from the stove, eat breakfast, do my make-up, fix my hair, efficient and delicious!

Smoky Spicy Vegetarian Chili

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp red pepper flakes

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar

1 can black beans

1 can red kidney beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can diced tomatoes

3 chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

3 squares dark chocolate (I used 70% cacao)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large pot saute onion in oil until soft and translucent, add garlic, cook 1-2 minutes until golden, add spices and stir. Stir in beans, diced tomatoes and chipotle peppers. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until desired consistency is achieved, mine was probably going for about 30-40 minutes, along the way I added some balsamic and may have added more spices. Who remembers? Near the end stir in the chocolate. Add 2 squares first, stir until melted and taste, it may be enough for you. I added another for extra chocolateyness.

Serve with sour cream, shredded cheese, guacamole, tortilla chips, whatever you like! You can also add corn, or sweet bell peppers to the recipe, it's open to all kinds of interpretation!

I have no idea how many it serves, but it makes a big-ass bowl!

And I'm thrilled to say there are leftovers! Aaaaawww yeah!

The One with the Money Diet

Sorry I've been so lazy with the posting lately, I've been dealing with some issues (such as my finances, my job and my education) that I'll elaborate on soon. Short version is that as of yesterday, I am on a money diet. No new clothes, shoes, accessories, make-up, magazines, bought lunches (this is my major crime) or anything I deem superfluous at least for the next month, preferably through the holidays (obviously, Christmas gifts for those I love are not superfluous). I had a little bit of a financial wake-up call this week when an unexpected expense made me completely panic, it was an awful feeling and I was furious at myself for all my thoughtless spending.

And so, I vowed to start bringing my lunches to work (I've vowed this many times and relapsed every time). The hard part is bothering to prepare them, the easy part is eating them as they're generally way better than anything I could have bought on the go. Case in point: today's lunch is last night's leftovers, and one of my all-time favorite dishes in my cooking repertoire: Spinach and Chickpeas via Smitten Kitchen. This recipe is too good not to share, I was making borderline obscene yummy noises at my desk.

Make this. Seriously.

I only make minor alternations to this one, but I do find that it's a very flexible recipe if, like me, you're not big on following recipes. Instead of cooking the spinach beforehand, I simply add organic baby spinach to the pot (or at our house a gargantuan 13" All Clad skillet I use for everything ever) at the end and stir until wilted and nicely seasoned. Also, I substitute the red wine vinegar for balsamic, up the garlic and add a hell of a lot more red pepper flakes and smoked paprika (a revelation) than the recipe calls for. Welcome to flavour country!

Happy weekend everybody! I've been corralled into an evening of murder tomorrow night, more on that if I survive!xx

images via studded hearts and smitten kitchen

Martinis x Cheesecake = Bliss

So last night I had the immense pleasure of attending a martini & cheesecake birthday party (the more festive counterpart to the ubiquitous wine and cheese gathering). The guest of honor was none other than the incredibly sweet and lovely Solmaz, bargain hunter extraordinaire as evidenced by her blog Sweet Deals!

Sol had quite the spread going on... boozage and mixers as far as the eye could see and these phenomenal little cheesecake cupcakes from Broadway Cheesecake Co. that changed my life.

Sonia the Mixmaster

*sigh* I love that watch...

The stunning guest of honor!

Fresh off her juice-fast (check out her hilarious blog Me and My Snuggy),

I've never seen someone so happy to see a cheesecake...

Me and my lychee...

Thanks Sol for an awesome night, Happy Birthday, love!! xx

Live in Dreams,Sunday Girl...

Zara blazer, Dynamite t-shirt, Le Chateau scarf, Gap jeans, Aldo shoes, Michael Kors bag, Burberry sunglasses

Me doing an outfit post may be one of the signs of the apocalypse but I just treated myself to a new camera, the Nikon D3000, and I thought why not? Please forgive my supremely disheveled and volumeless hair. We swung by Jean Talon Market this morning, playing with the camera and, after being tempted by absolutely everything, we picked up some interesting cheeses and crazy-looking mushrooms. So we'll be having wine and cheese and a baguette for supper tonight (while watching My Bloody Valentine -the original of course- cause we're a little odd like that).

After some market research (ugh, sorry) we explored some forgotten corners of our neighborhood, following random paths around run-down buildings. You always find interesting things that way. In the interest of full disclosure I did wear leopard flats to the market!

Are you hungry yet?