Pesto Season!!!

Have you harvested your basil yet? No worries if you haven't. I know my plants are way too small. I recommend you go to your local farmers market where they are still selling plants OR even easier, selling bunches of basil cheap, cheap, cheap!

These are definitely not the prettiest basil leaves I have
ever seen...in fact some of the leaves are almost too big.

For my pesto, I used Canadian Living's recipe over here. I do make a budget version however, replacing the parm with romano cheese and pine nuts with walnuts. FYI: you pretty much get the same result.

Another thing: this year I did not use my Magic Bullet, which really did not work effectively. I did jullienne my basil before placing it into my mini-processor, an attachment that came with my immersion blender.

The result was a far better pesto!

Making pesto gave me an excuse to use an itty-bitty Weck jar that I bought at Williams-Sonoma for $2.50 on sale. Totally impractical yet so cute!

Taste Test: Blueberry Soda from Maine Root

Okay, now for another soda taste test. Today, (from the wacky organic store with only American products) we are tasting Maine Root's Blueberry Soda!

I love me some blueberries!

Just in case you don't know: Maine loves its blueberries, just as much as it's seafood. While Machias, is home to the Machias Wild Blueberry Festival personally I have only been to the fabulous blueberry restaurants in Bar Harbour. There (and I am sorry I don't remember the restaurant) I had the best blueberry pancakes I have ever had with wild blueberries, not them big suckers, with wild blueberry syrup.  Damn it was amazing. I am surprised the locals are not blue.

So back to the soda.

Hand crafted....organic....cane sugar...and natch, blueberries!

And the colour is fabulous! Just like the blueberries. In fact, after I downed this glass, there were some berry skins in the bottom of the glass.

How does it taste?

Pretty good. Almost like a carbonated juice with a touch of something else you just can't put your finger on (maybe it is the cane sugar?) Now it is sweet, maybe even a little too sweet for my tastes, but remember I am not a pop drinker per se - I'm just testing these unusual soda's out.

I think kids would like it because of it's colour and taste. And I think I would buy a bottle again.

Wait a sec....dang...I've reviewed one of their soda's before! LOL! Oh well....the company has some great flavours....check out the Pumpkin one over here!

What is a French Butter Press?

I have wanted a French Butter Press for awhile but many people do not know what it is. And despite having attended lots of pottery and craft shows, I have only found about three or four or five.

Number One I bought for my Mom who refused to use it for about three years until I threatened to take it away from her. She now uses it and loves it!

Number Two was wonderful and colourful and I should have bought it then. Regrets...

Number Three through Five were made by a potter who had absolutely no idea how it functions and was simply weird.

Finally I have found one. It is boringly white. You probably don't know what it is - because they are not very popular. Let me tell you about it and you'll want one too!

This is a French Butter Press:

When you open it up it looks like this:

The inside should be round. Not a tube like the freaky one I saw at a market one time. The idea is to press your butter into the lid like so:

You smooth the butter so it looks nice:

In the lower portion of the bowl, you place cool water and invert your lid with it's butter into it. Based on the principal that water repels oil, the butter sits in it's lid, being cooled by the room temperature water.

TAH DAH! The water should be replaced every week. Another trick is to not get bread crumbs into the butter. Guess we will see how that works out. Oh, and it holds about 1/4 cup of butter, just incase you are wondering that too.

This little baby is replacing a rather ugly butter holder I throw in and out of the fridge now:

Foodie trips I would like to do in the GTA!

I hate summer. There, I said it. But the summer is a ripe time for traveling around and trying some new spots I have yet to venture to. Perhaps you may like to travel too! So here is my list:

1. Plaza Latina

This pick comes from the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance.
Who knew there was such a thing?
For their foodie trips click here.

I first heard of this place through a co-worker. Within the same week, Sara Elton reported about it on CBC radio (coincidence???). Apparently a visit is like visiting South America and Mexico, with locals saying it is a "taste of home," with traditional foods and spices you cannot find elsewhere in Toronto. Will take pics when I go! I promise!

2. The Farmer's Market at the Evergreen Brick Works

This former industrial site has many treasures,
and no I haven't experienced a single one! So it is
on my to-do list. Check 'em out here. 

The Evergreen Brickworks has long been rumoured to be one of the best farmer's markets in Toronto. A nice little write up in Toronto Life introduced me to this old brick factory. My parent's have visited the Garlic Festival (they say it is wonderful though pricey) and I have been told parking is a nightmare (so use the TTC).

Just visiting the website, I see they have a Wild Blueberry Festival in August. Hmmm!!! That sounds pretty awesome to me!

3. The Danish Pastry House (Mississauga)

This pic comes from Mimi's Cake Tour Blog here.
Her review is pretty darn stunning!

Looking out of the window on the GO Train, I spotted this little Danish flag out of the corner of my eye. Another day, another chance to look at what the place was. Lucky me - what I saw was a bakery! Danishes come from Denmark and according to my friend, they are experts in the art of pastry. And WOW the website looks wonderful. Drool on over here.

4. Dim Sum at the Mississauga Chinese Centre

Uh, one day I got lost in T.O. and was living on a rural Dundas Road near Burlington. I landed on Dundas and took the looooong way home. What the hell, right? Just happened that an emerald wall with dragons on it threw me for a loop. A strip mall with a really beautiful wall? Huh?

I guess I missed the decorative gate leading to the driveway of the plaza, I was just so struck by the pretty wall. Doing research, I missed the fact that the mall is a large(?) 100, 000 square feet (according to the website).

While it seemed tiny to me, I think I must pay a visit back. I have asked around to find out details of this mall and have found out it is a great place for Dim Sum. Wanna try? check out the website here.

Taste Test: Crazy Uncle Basil, Lime, and Honey Pre-Mixed Cocktail

Had to pick up some beer for a kind neighbour who lets us use his BBQ without accepting money for the propane. Good neighbours are the best! I saw this sitting on the shelf at the L.C.B.O. I love lime and Tom Collins are my drink of choice.

So I picked it up...

Love the Bottle!

Hmmm. I am not much of a drinker per-se. I could not taste the basil nor the honey and unfortunately, the lime was overpowered by the sweetness of SUGAR. Weeeeee it is sweeeeeeet! You'd think it is sweet mix!

To finish my glass I added some water to it and it drastically improved the flavour to the point that I would recommend Crazy Uncle. It's quite tasty and natch, I like the lime.

Then, ONLY THEN, did I read the label....

"Pour over ice straight or lightened with soda water"

Hmm. No kidding. Gonna buy that soda water!

Don't know if I like having to read the label before I drink my drink. Requires work. Humph )-:

BBQ Sauce Cupcakes (???)

It looked normal. From what I'd been told, someone accidently spilt BBQ sauce on the cupcakes. Didn't look that way to me.

When dessert time came, it was the dare everyone was expected to try a BBQ Sauce Cupcake.

Apparently everyone knew the recipe. I certainly didn't. It was one of those weird, send it to everyone recipes that ends up in your email box. You end up deleting it cause you would never actually make it. This time someone did.

FYI, I never got the email.

In fact, just to write this, I had to troll the net to try and find something that was at least similar to what I ate, for the cupcake I ate had BBQ sauce in the icing AND in the cake.

A slightly smooshed BBQ cupcake.

OKAY HOW WAS IT: at room-temperature it tastes too much of BBQ sauce. Definitely a no and you wouldn't want to eat more than one. Plus, once you get the idea of BBQ sauce in your cupcake, you can't really get past that.

I was the only one up to taking home the leftovers and was happy to find out that the BBQ sauce taste was much milder when cold. It was rather tasty but not something I would ever bake.

I get the idea. Like spicy, Mexican hot chocolate, I can see what the creator was aiming for. But the garlic and onion in BBQ sauce sort of kills the appreciation, ya know?

If you would like to try it, you can view an similar recipe here. But my cupcake definitely did not have honey BBQ sauce in it. More like a Kraft smokey something or other.

On a related note: if this is your thing, you may also like to try this toothpaste:

This Monkey brand toothpaste comes from India. It uses charcoal to get your teeth white! Oh and has some interesting flavours like, uh, garlic. You can view the fabulous taste test (!!!LOL!!!) or purchase it from Smallflower, an amazing health product store online here.

Asparagus Bacon Carbonara

Have you tried the asparagus this year? It is wonderful! Yum yum! Here is a super easy recipe using a wonderful double smoked bacon I get at my local farmer's market. While it has been a late growing season, and the produce is a bit sparse, I have been eating so much asparagus I am about to turn green.

Asparagus Bacon Carbonara

- One bunch of asparagus
- A chunk of double smoked bacon, or about 5-6 strips of streaky bacon
- Two eggs
- Pasta for 2-3 people; I use brown rice pasta
- Cracked black pepper, salt to taste

1.   Fry up your smoked bacon, cut into small bite-sized chunks while boiling your pasta water. Make it nice an crispy.

2. Chop up your asparagus, removing the woody ends.

3. Add your asparagus to the bacon once it gets crispy. Add your pasta to boiling water.

4. Crack two eggs into a mixing bowl and scramble. When your pasta is ready, drain. Place your pasta back into it's pot and pour your mixed eggs into the hot pasta. The heat will cook the eggs (don't worry). Mix your pasta with the eggs so the eggs are well distributed through the pasta.

5. Take your bacon and asparagus mixture and add it to the pasta, egg mixture. The bacon fat is like the sauce in this dish, which is really wonderful when you use smoked bacon! There shouldn't be too much fat if you are using double smoked bacon. If you are using bacon strips, you may like to drain off some of the fat before you add the bacon to the pasta.

6. Serve with a little bit of cracked pepper. Need more umph? Add some baby tomatoes to your asparagus, bacon mix whilst you are cooking your asparagus. Chili pepper flakes would be yummy too!

Art Stroll: Ai WeiWei and Graeham Patterson

After work last week, the weather was nice so I thought I would catch up on some art installations in downtown Toronto.

At the moment, until August, the famous, controversial Ai Wei Wei has an installation of sculptures at Nathan Philips Square. Based on the Chinese Zodiac of Animals, known mainly to North Americans as a form of fortune telling found on place mats in Chinese restaurants. Dependent upon the year you were born, you possess the similar personality traits of a particular animal.

Each of the heads are placed on poles on the exterior of the Square's large fountain.

I am a horse so I tracked down this sculpture first.

Meh. Can't say I liked the horse. (Boring...)

Ah, the Dragon was much better as was the Rooster. But maybe they were a better subject to work from.

Most were cute to say the least. Rather family friendly.

Look at the cutey wooty Rabbity wabbity. As the sculpture's are by Ai Weiwei, they have an underlining political argument. Apparently they are based upon works originally created by Jesuit missionaries in China and were later taken (i.e. stolen) by the Europeans in the 17th century during the Opium Wars. Like most contemporary art, you don't really get that story by looking at the art, but by reading an essay about the work. Nice for the summer...

...I continued my walk to Brookfield Place to see Graeham Patterson's Stockpile, an interactive artwork made as part of the Luminato festival. While I have yet to participate or attend any Luminato event, it is good that more of the events are interactive and are free to the public this year. (Personally the ticket prices have put me off most Luminato events).

Stockpile is based on popular mechanical claw arcade games.

Children and their parents were lined up to play for $2. Using what looked like an Atari joystick, the children would move a strapped human within the cage. The human would then attempt to grab a toy from the 'stockpile' using two long sticks.

It seemed that most of the children were winners, although there were some walking around with official "Loser" certificates. To quote a man from the audience, "It seems like there are better odds with this game." It was a lot of fun cheering the claw on and the children were happy with their toys!

Taste Test: Q Kola

Up until a week ago, I haven't been much interested in blogging. I'll blame it on a spring funk. Now it is summer, things are looking a wee bit more exciting!

Welcome a new pop/soda taste test: this time it is Q Drink's Kola, purchase at that so-called "organic" store in my hood with a freaky amount of American products, and few Canadian.

Booooooo.

Let's ignore the fun factor that there is stuff I have never, ever, ever, seen.

Remind me next time to wipe the sugar
off the table before I take a picture.

Q Kola comes from Brooklyn, NYC and comes in a very pretty bottle. I chose this particular flavour because of it's Christmas spices (I am a sucker for cinnamon, ginger and clove).

The blurry white writing says stuff like extracts of cinnamon,
clove, coriander, kola nut, lemon, lime, orange and nutmeg.

Thought it would taste rather weird. SURPRISE! It's yummy and tastes, wait for it, like a non-super sweet Coca-Cola. It made me think, "hey, maybe these actually are the ingredients in Coke, they are just hidden by all the sugar!!!"

Not overly spicy. Not overly bubbly. Not overly sweet. Mmm. This is really good!

Q Drinks comes in seven flavours: lemon, grapefruit, tonic, kola, club, orange and ginger. Maybe I would try the lemon next or grapefruit. Their website has a short complete history on the creation of carbonated drinks and locations on where you can purchase them (sorry Canucks, there aren't that many places for us, but where I purchased mine wasn't on the list so there is hope you may stumble on it).

The company was created after the owner had one to many inferior gin and tonics and decided to make his own tonic. Well, woot woot to that! Maybe I will try the tonic to mix it up with some gin. It is summer after all.

Taste Test: Fentimans Orange Jigger Soda

Last week I ventured into an organic grocery store that I have lived near for about 5 plus years and had never been inside. Organic means expensive to me. I also believe that most organic food is part of "green-washing" marketing, where something rather ordinary is suddenly healthy because it is labelled organic, but does not have any proof to make it's claim.

The store was shockingly American. Almost (if not all!) the produce was American! Then scattered throughout it's aisles, there was the usual suspects of healthy, natural foods and Canadian content. Milk, of course due to dairy/border laws was Canadian. Same with baked goods since most natural food stuffs don't have the preservatives to travel. But really, it was sad. Oh and there was a weird amount of maple syrup.

It left me angry.

On the brighter side, they had a really wacky selection of pop. Hence, my taste test of "Fentimans Orange Jigger Soda."

I'd never heard of it - have you?

It comes with a cool bottle cap.

Apparently this product is British but is bottled in Vancouver. (???) That is odd to me, for we dare not call pop,"soda" in Canada.

Fentimans has a neat ingredient list: fermented ginger root extracts with mandarin orange juice and juniper extracts. Funky. The raised glass says Botanically Brewed (and is why it was at the Organic grocery store).

How does it taste? Rather disappointing. I don't taste the ginger at all. It tastes rather like mandarin orange juice with just a little bit of carbonization (which I do like).

According to the website : 'Jigger' is an old English term for a good measure, which is used when combining the juice of eight mandarins and the zest of Seville orange in every bottle.

Here is a pic of PM David Cameron having a taste test of Fentimans. Check out the amazing wallpaper in the background LOL:

While I am not impressed with this flavour, they have lots of neat flavours which you can see here. I am curious about their "Curiosity Cola" which The Guardian has named 'the best soda in the world.'

Guess I have to go back the grocery store!

My Rob Ryan Plates & Collection

I have a little collection of Rob Ryan work. None of it original, original - unless you count my signed lazar cut. (which is signed!)

This was my first purchase.

Rob Ryan is an artist, based in England and is quite well known for his intricate paper-cuts. He was really one of the first well known and established paper-cut artists, before paper-cutting became incredibly popular.

He lives and works in Spitalfields, London, where you can visit him in his shop named Ryantown.  Two years ago on my trip to England, I missed an exhibition of his and contemporary British craft artists. I was literally a day late and was kicking myself to the point of bruising! I even went to Spitalfields to find his shop later and got distracted by a huge street market.

 One day I hope to own an original but it is out of my price range at the moment )-:

My 3rd Acquisition ... his little story book.

Well I did manage to visit a gallery/shop that represented him and managed to buy some lazar cut cards. You can check out Castor & Pollux here. It's a really cool little shop...

My camera died before I could photograph them for you!

Today I purchased his plates. YAY!

Oh, to eat off of them or hang them on the wall - decisions, decisions!

My Vacuum Obsession: My New Dyson, the Best Vacuum ever!

For the longest time, I have needed a new vacuum. My old clunker barely did anything and after vacuuming, I would need to use a swifter. And even though it was an upright, it would toddle at the most inappropriate times, and fall on my feet, or back, or crash and hit something.

I started research over two years ago(!) into a new vacuum and really fell in love with the Dyson television commercials. Also, probably because I work in the arts, I had also seen the yellow ball vacuums in design cases in design museums!

Trick is, I had to ask everyone I knew who owned one, whether or not they liked theirs.

A total of five people I know own a fancy (and expensive) Dyson,
but did they like them?

Here were my results, bad and good:

BAD (more like Complaints)

With the Dyson Ball Design vacuums (everyone I knew had one), the ball prevented you from reaching underneath furniture. This was the major complaint. 

Everyone complained about the weight. They are heavy...hmm, 40 pounds?

For those that had a detachable hose, the strong suction would cause you to fight against the vacuum hose, as the suction pulls you back. This was enough for the individual to say she would never buy one again because stairs were so difficult.

One complaint I read online was the suction was too strong in general and pulled carpet.

My cousin had one problem, but discovered it was only a dog hair clog.

GOOD (more like Worship)

My Precious: My Dyson Air Muscle Pet Machine

This sucker sucks. But the nice thing about my model is the four different floor settings: bare, low pile, medium and high pile. Terrific. Works fine on my rugs too. It works so well, it gets the particles of dirt out from in between the wood floor boards!

It is a tad quieter than my old vacuum. But apparently according to complaints online, it is loud. It's a vacuum - whaddaya expect?

This was the amount of dust after my first Dyson vacuum. I had vacuumed with
my old vacuum only a week before. Wowee! 

Washable hepa-filters and canister. Yay! I no longer smell dust while I vacuum and no bags! But a word of warning, you must wait before the dust settles before emptying the vacuum. I was too excited the first time....Oh and I have a sick fascination looking at how much I have sucked up.

It has a tiny beater brush for stairs (if I had any).

I use the thin attachment for dusting and love how it gets between the rungs of my radiators, behind furniture and the wall and the brush that can be lowered onto the thin attachment is super on lampshades.

Items of Annoyance (not really bad, just annoying)

Two out of the four attachments attach to the body of the vacuum but the one tend to use most doesn't attach so I have to lug it around the apartment as I vacuum. It pivots nicely and gets to the back of furniture easily. The suction is excellent for it being attached to an extendable wand.

The attachment I use most and has already taken a beating (scratches).

I had a major stroke of luck finding my vacuum for half-price at Future Shop (for $300) when it usually retails for $600. It is probably more than what I need for a small apartment yet one day when I grow up and move into a house, it'll be great. If I did stay in my apartment, I would recommend one of their cordless or smaller models.

Still scared by the price? Yes, they are cheaper in the United States than in Canada. Another alternative is to buy refurbished through the Dyson Canada website as one of my friends did.

Love it, love it, love it - vacuuming is my new sick hobby. LOL!

Natural Peanut Butter, Vegan Baggage and Cookies

In a rush, I grabbed the first peanut butter on the shelf. It was on sale. We needed peanut butter. I grabbed it...

Didn't realize until I got home, not only was it crunchy, it was natural.

I'm all for natural products. The less chemicals in my food, the better. So I thought, "What the hey" and stirred my separated oil and nuts.

Things I don't like about Natural Peanut Butter:

1. You have to stir it well. If you don't stir it well enough, you will find that when you get to the bottom of the jar it is oddly, freaky, crusty dry. 
2. There is less sugar and I like sugar. It is really noticeable in Natural Peanut Butter. To solve this problem I added jam to every peanut butter'd piece of bread I had.
3. I don't know if it is all those saturated fats but DAMN IT REALLY STICKS TO THE ROOF OF YOUR MOUTH.

I couldn't throw out the peanut butter. I resolved to bake with it.

UGH! You have to stir it before you even bake with it!

I scoured the internet for a new peanut butter recipe and found an interesting vegan one.

Vegan?!?! I just didn't know. Vegan? Tasteless, wacky, kale?  You see, I have vegan baggage.

A vegan stole my job. Another vegan I used to work with would insult me on a daily basis (I blame diet/lack of food). And the whole wool thing, honey thing really gets my goat.

But, I am open minded. I know of one vegan who is sane and a terrific person. There is hope. So I decided to try it. This recipe uses olive oil (I have never baked with olive oil despite how many recipes are out there) and good ol' natural peanut butter.

"If it doesn't taste good, I'll eat it!"

Did it work? Does it taste as good as a normal, regular, everyday peanut butter cookie?

YUPPERS! And there are very few ingredients: Maple syrup, flour, vanilla, salt, baking soda and peanut butter.

This is an important picture: the dough looks just like
a regular non-vegan recipe.

The final product: just wonderful!

A warning: Mr. B believes these cookies are dry, but I don't find them that way at all. They do stick to the roof of your mouth a bit more than a regular cookie. They are less sweet (which I remedied by sprinkling sugar on the top of them).

To try this recipe out visit the link at 101 cookbooks right here.