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.