Home >>
Posts Tagged "foodie"
I had the opportunity this week to stay at Toronto’s Drake Hotel and we had a fantastic time. I had never heard of the Drake Hotel although it has the sort of name that sounds familiar to me. I found it on Trip Advisor and every other hotel in Toronto was full. I never did figure out why everything was booked, but the Drake Hotel seemed like a good fit for us. I picked up my chef daughter from her job in Muskoka and we spent 2 nights and 3 days together in Toronto. We checked in on Sunday afternoon. The hotel is small, charming, and has multiple restaurants and bars full of trendy, interesting people. We were given a room on the 3rd floor. We were surprised to find out there is no elevator so we trekked up the stairs and found a lovely but small, very cool guest room. We were greeted with complimentary sparkling wine on ice and the room was full of interesting items for purchase as well as a fun “mini-bar” area full of tasty beverages and snacks. The design concept really stood out and we felt like we were not quite cool enough for our hip accommodations. That said, Jonathan the manager greeted us warmly every time he saw us and made us feel incredibly welcome. He hugged us when we left–we felt loved and cared for in this fun hipster hotel. I am not sure we were cool enough for our surroundings, but we felt welcome and enjoyed its charm. We ate breakfast twice in their cafe and the food was fantastic. I only wish we had the energy to explore more of what was going on. There is a roof-top bar that looked very fun. We heard happy people partying late into the night. This didn’t bother us, it was kind of fun–like falling asleep on the couch during a really great party. During our stay, there was an open mike and a pickle contest...
read more
I have eaten out frequently my whole life and some meals are better than others. Every now and then, I have a spectacular meal either by attending a super nice restaurant or, just by accident, everything collides and a meal unexpectedly astounds me. I thought it would be interesting to try to make a list of my top 10 most memorable restaurant meals. I have placed them in chronological order. Some of these meals we have talked about for years or I have enjoyed the sweet aftertaste of the memory of them over time. For each, I can still remember how the flavors hit my tongue. The impermanence of art as food intrigues me. Sometimes everything just comes together as food and theater – something special happens with raw ingredients being transformed into a completely unique and dramatic experience. These are my top 10 most memorable restaurant meals. 1. The Tower Restaurant, London circa 1984. They served me the best scallops I have ever had–still, to this day. I was 16 years old and with my parents, and this was one of my first experiences with fine dining in a top-notch restaurant. I just couldn’t believe how good the food was. We had grilled scallops and I have been searching ever since for a scallop that comes close to how good they were. 2. Sadie’s Restaurant, Albuquerque, NM, circa 1987 when the restaurant was still in the bowling alley. The margaritas were psychedelic and the food was sublime. After 2.5 hours waiting for a table, I still remember how spectacular the flavors of the food were with the deep dark red chile and the papas (fried cubed potatoes). Sadie’s still has good food but the bowling alley days offered an unparalleled experience. 3. Sushi with Rich, 1992, Evergreen, Colorado. I had never really figured out how to “do sushi.” I was from New Mexico and although I had eaten Japanese food, sushi seemed too foreign and I didn’t really know how to order...
read more
Last night we had a meal that made my top 10 list. It was a meal like nothing I have experienced. Alexandre Gauthier came to the Stratford Chefs School bringing his front of house manager and his pastry chef. Gauthier is a Michelin Star chef with a restaurant called La Grenouillère. Sela was lucky enough to be the student chef during the dinner we attended last night. It was a snowy night but thanks to some great driving by our friend, we made it. There were 7 of us who added to the festivities, and the meal was a tasting menu that knocked our socks off. I can’t tell you how many courses there were. I can never figure out how to count the amuse-bouche at the beginning and the petit fours at the end. There were 12 distinct dishes that we ate plus delicious dark bread. There wasn’t a menu, just a list of ingredients and we continually got the unexpected. What we had: there was a corn tart, a veal and sardine tartar with cauliflower, scallop and avocado roll, a souffle with crab, beet ravioli with eel, a lobster salad, lamb with broccoli puree and wheat berries, an apple curl with celery cream, butternut squash ice cream with meringue, a strawberry gelée, and a truffle that exploded in my mouth. The pace was faster than any meal I have ever enjoyed and the drama of each course kept me on the edge of my seat. I felt excited each time a new course came out. I couldn’t wait for the description of what each dish contained and had to hold myself back. The colors and textures were striking and the uniqueness of each dish was remarkable. Several of the dishes were a little intimidating–it was a little scary to take the first bite of the blood red eel ravioli. But the flavors in each dish were so deep, rich, balanced and satisfying that the food provided a thrill and a world class...
read more
I have seen some pretty scary obesity studies this week and I have always thought that sugar was the devil. Since my children were born, I have tried to limit it, replace it, negotiate around it, and keep it away from them as much as possible in their lives. But this summer, I changed my mind just a little bit. We were in Europe for 5 weeks this summer and we wanted the boys to enjoy the local foods. For 8-year-old boys, “food” translates into dessert and treats. And we wanted them to eat croissants and tarts and all the delicious things in France and the amazing wienerbrød in Denmark. Food was part of experiencing the culture of each country with all of their senses. I also realized that Orangina is available almost everywhere in Europe and it has long been on my list for acceptable kid beverages (It is essentially just juice and bubbling water, no added sugar). So we allowed them to have a treat and an Orangina every day. For the treat, candy would have been off-limits, but they never asked about that. My boys are thin and extremely active and tall for their age. They both do sports for extracurricular activities and they also run, jump, play hard, and are generally very active people who burn lots and lots of calories. They eat very few carbs–that is bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. They get most of their carbs from fruit. Still with the daily treat, they gained a little weight. But it seemed to be good for them. One of them has always been very thin. He filled out a little. And he seemed less slight and more grounded in his body. The other added a little weight to his body but has gotten leaner now that he is back to the twice a week swim team routine. It has made me rethink my “sugar is the devil” mantra. Could it be that moderation in the sugar department might actually be good...
read more
These DIY “sun”dried tomatoes were easier than I expected and more delicious! My “sun” dried tomatoes are made in the oven. Since they take such a long time in the oven, I recommend you fill the oven with as many cookie sheets full of them as possible. My oven has 3 racks, so I do 3 sheets at a time. I tried both the convection oven and the regular oven as well as a dehydrator. I preferred the convection oven over both the regular oven and the dehydrator but use what you have, they will still be great. I tried this with both beefsteak and roma tomatoes. The roma tomatoes were substantially better than the beefsteak tomatoes from a cooking perspective and were what I was expecting to like best. The beefsteak tomatoes had an unexpected sweetness and could almost be eaten as dried fruit. I am looking forward to using them for some creative cooking! They are delicious. From a time perspective the beefsteak tomatoes take hours more. When I removed the roma tomatoes from the oven, I put the beefsteak tomatoes in the dehydrator for another 16 hours. 20 Roma Tomatoes per cookie sheet or jelly roll pan Parchment Slice the tomatoes longways and place cut-side up on parchment on a cookie sheet. Cook on your oven’s lowest temperature overnight. I removed the stems from the tomatoes but didn’t cut out the stem core. Cooking time at 170 degrees was about 16 hours on the oven setting. About 14 hours on the convection setting. After cooling, I used ziplock bags to store them. I cut the used parchment to create layers of them so I can grab a couple of tomatoes at a time from the...
read more
