As Joanne Kates’ exits the food critic world…she leaves us with some food for thought…
Get to the ROM on Friday nights everyone! 
Fun after work events for a few more weeks to come! http://www.rom.on.ca/fridays/
Thanks to everyone who has ever taken a peak at what I post! I have no idea if 10,000 views in 9 months is any big deal in the blogging world but in my world it seems kinda neat!
Happy Friday…reviews on Campagnolo and The Stockyards Smokehouse & Larder coming soon…
This past long weekend (aka the best weather weekend in Canada E-V-E-R) I spent the weekend in cottage country, baking breads and pastry, with some success, and also some failures…you win some, you loose some! Another day of culinary adventures in the life of Kate! Nonetheless, good times and it made the following day of sun bathing lakeside, all the more delightful!
All the bread recipes were taken from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook just like my other bread making days! The Cranberry, Pecan, Rye loaves were by far the winner but the Cheddar Jalapeno Biscuits were also a hit! Our pastry (used for hors d’oeuvres) was very good too but we didn’t roll it thin enough and it made our appetizer very filling – an easy mistake to correct next time! A good pastry recipe to try for pie! I’ll be trying that this summer! The filling was something we whipped up with fresh sausage meat from Morley Stephens Butcher in Port Carling (http://www.stephensbutchershop.ca/), and mushrooms and mixed herbs we picked from the garden! The filling was fantastic.
Despite it sometimes being dangerous to have both me and my Mother in the kitchen with knives… 
, I had a lovely day with my Mom at home, prepping and cooking dinner and a nice stroll on Yonge St. for Mother’s Day! Happy Mother’s Day Mama! Love you.
To all my girlfriends who are now Mommies…you ladies are amazing and are doing such a good job raising your little ones! I’m so lucky to be Auntie to each and every one of them! I hope you enjoyed your special day! xoxo
On the menu today:
Marinated flank steak (2 day marinade to die for – a must try for red meat lovers)
Grilled and marinaded mixed vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms)
Creamy potato salad
Mixed greens salad
Homemade pie from Apsley! Cottage season has arrived!
Flank Steak: yield 8 ppl
1.5 cups maple syrup
4 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
4 cloves garlic
4 lbs flank steak (2-3 slabs)
Combine all marinade ingredients 48hrs prior to grilling time and submerge meat in liquid marinade. I like to use a plastic bag but Tupperware or a foil pan can do the trick as well! Flip ever 12 hours or so. If you can’t do 2 day marinade, do at least 24 hours.
At grilling time, remove meat from marinade and grilled to desired doneness (I like medium rare). When cooked, cut meat (against the grain) and serve as slices (see photo). Always a crowd pleaser!
Potato Salad: 8 ppl
12 medium red potato’s (I used baking potato’s because that’s what we had – red looks prettier)
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2 cups mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream (I used plain yogurt)
4 tbsp sugar
4-5 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tsp mustard
2 tsp dried minced onion
2 tsp celery seed
salt and pepper to taste
In salted water, boil large chopped potato’s until a fork can be inserted easily. Potato’s should still be firm, not falling apart. Strain, rinse with cold water and let cool completely. Combine all the ingredients from mayonnaise – salt/pepper and once hard boiled eggs (cooled and chopped) and potato’s are ready, mix the dressing and potato’s/eggs together. (Can be made the day ahead and left in fridge until ready to serve).
For my grilled and marinaded vegetables recipe, see the link which I have previously posted:
http://kulinarykate.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/marinaded-grilled-vegetables-takes-1-hour-to-prepare-and-you-can-have-a-weeks-worth-of-veggies-in-your-fridge-ready-to-eat-perfect/
I went out on my lunch break and bought about $300 dollars worth of cheese, meat and produce from the St. Lawrence Market today. All I could think all day was “I can’t wait to cook tonight, it’s been soooooo long! I’ll make all this beautiful food and blog about it! It’s been a while since I’ve posted about my cooking.”
And what did I do? Came home starving and whipped together a beautiful shitake/cremini/truffle rigatoni, grilled a mix of sausages from The Sausage King (Olliffe) – Chorizo, Lamb and Pork with Herbs de Provence, PEI Rib Eye Steaks & Pork Rib Chops…assembled 4 different cheeses with crackers and preserves, some duck liver pate…AND DIDN’T TAKE 1 SINGLE PHOTO! Urrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!! When I’m hungry I can’t see past the finish line of getting the food on the table!
On a happier note, I guess since I wasn’t snapping pictures, I was able to hang out and play with my Godson, beautiful Leo. He was my dinner guest tonight. I guess not such a bad night after all…
I’m such a spazz when I am HANGRY. Geez. Sorry folks…not photos of dinner tonight! But do go to the St. Lawrence Market and chat with the vendors and let them inspire you to prepare a beautiful meal! The Cheese Monger sold me 4 interesting cheeses (I asked him to pick for me) and then led me to the butcher, who then led me to which meat to try, etc. Excellent choices all around, a fantastic dinner at home tonight. With no photos to show for it! Another meal where I forgot to breathe…lol. Oh well…
Goodnight.
Is it just me…or is it hard to find a new restaurant in Toronto that actually TAKES RESERVATIONS!!! I don’t get it! Why not take reservations!!!
Aside from this issue of mine, GUSTO 101 was fantastic on all levels (I’ll even bend here – the 1 hour wait probably ended up adding to the night…got me amped for the good food and company on a Friday night). I think I’m still jaded from Grand Electric’s 3.5 hour wait. Sorry G 101 for taking it out on you!
The food, wine, ambiance, buzz, waiter…all was perfect! A perfect venue for our fairwell to Switz evening! Congratulation Natasha and Pete on your upcoming nuptuals and Switz, for making the time to see your FAM and reminisce once again about one of the most fun weeks of my life…oh Miami, you’ve been very good to me…Love you Switz, Morgs and Skels.
Happy Eating…B.S.D.
P.S. the lamb rigatoni and mushroom fettucine are flavor to die for! Gusto 101, please don’t ever take these items off your menu. Devine.
After hearing much buzz and reading about the recent opening of F’Amelia in Cabbagetown (Amelia St.), I finally made my way to try this pizzeria style, family appropriate restaurant. The menu is interesting with lots of options for those looking for more than a Caprese salad or Pasta Bolognese. I had the risotto with asparagus and local Ontario grown ramp and it was fantastic. The dishes tasted “earthy”, if you can understand. Reminded me more of dining on Michael Stadtlander’s farm rather than someone’s kitchen in Italy – I don’t mean that with any negativity – food is great and I will be back soon to give their pizza a go! It looked yummy! Very cute Cabbagetown cottage style restaurant…
http://www.famelia.com/main.php
You can’t read a Toronto restaurant review publication these days without catching praise for newly opened Grand Electric (Mexican cuisine). They don’t take reservations and there is not a time you can go where the wait wil be less than an hour but trust me, if you like Mexican food YOU MUST TRY THIS! There are plenty of bars in the area to kill some time (makes for a fun night to start drinking at 6pm, ). It’s a small restaurant with a cool vibe and outstanding eats! A back yard patio opens for the summer – with the crazy long waits for a table, I’ll be waiting until then to go back again! But I’ll be dreaming of beef cheek taco’s in the mean time…YUM! Greasing the door man will not work. Thought crossed our minds…
http://www.grandelectricbar.com/
Free ice cream sandwich’s a Saks inspired me! Peanut Butter cookies (follow recipe of Kraft peanut butter jar but flatten cookies to make large round flat shaped cookie) and best quality peanut butter ice cream of gelato that you can get your hands on! Can’t wait for hot weather so I can make this!
Does that not look close to perfect?
Bye bye Florida...it was a blast!
