WoofStock Spring 2010

Can I just say how much fun Woofstock was? Seeing it was my first time going and taking Abby with me, we didn't really know what to expect - would there be tons of people? tons of dogs? tons of goodies for the dogs? Well, definitely yes to all of the above! Front Street was blocked off from Wellington to Jarvis this past weekend to allow owners and their dogs to enjoy the company of other dogs and to allow booths and booths of goodies, services and merchandise to be sold and samples to be handed out. 

Woofstock runs 2 days in the Spring (June 12 -13) and will be happening again in November (this time it will be indoors at the Direct Energy Center - we question if they will allow owners to bring their dogs in).

I was amazed at how many dogs I saw in one area! You would look to your right, and there would be a group of Bernese sniffing each other. Then you look to your left, and there was a group of Pugs. And groups of Huskies, and Great Danes, and Chow Chows and the list goes on. It was pretty neat to see all types of breeds and sizes and all of them getting along just fine! 

Beauitful and huge Husky

Chow Chow with LV bandana.

Abby was super thirsty all the time but thanks to all the random water bowls everywhere, she was well hydrated and ready to taste lots of treats and greet other dogs. 

A very happy Abby about to enjoy your icecone!

I think what the dogs really enjoyed aside from the goodies was that there was a water fountain for them to freely jump into and cool off. Look at how happy Abby's friends (Nikki and Koji) are in the water. Abby on the other hand, was too scared to jump in. Seriously not sure if she's really a Golden Retriever :)

Nikki closest, Koji looking somewhere else.

Won't go in.

Glad the weather held up that day and it didn't rain. All in all, a great festival to attend if you own or want to have a dog! This definitely will not be the last time we go :)

Didn't realize they were real until I looked closely.

The Fountain

Gourmet Dog Treats for sale

Munching on Toronto - Lahore Tikka | Little Anthony's | Nava

Whether the food was good or not, I will still say what I need to say about my experience and whether or not my taste buds were satisfied.

This is what it looks like from the outside.

Back in February, two very good friends of mine took me out for dinner at Lahore Tikka. This great place is located on Gerrard Street East and honestly, you would probably just drive by it not knowing that its actually a place to have amazing traditional/modern Pakistani and North Indian food.
When we were there, they seem to be expanding into a bigger space but I kind of liked how the dining environment made me feel like I was actually somewhere in India or Pakistan or just definitely not in Toronto (I don't want to say 'grungy' because that's not the right word to describe it). The photo below is a shot of the hallway to the bathroom and the kitchen. There is a dining area to the left and one to the right. (please excuse my photo blurry-ness. It was taken with an iphone and I was probably shaking - no steady hands).

The hallway with tables.

 We ordered a lot of different dishes and I must say everything was very good. It was pretty authentic and the prices were pretty decent. 

I wish I could remember everything that we ordered.

I definitely recommend this place and I would love to go back again and try other dishes. I really love Indian, Pakistani food.

Last week, I went to Little Anthony's for family dinner. It was great to see my family, but the dining experience was kind of odd and the food was below my expectations. Maybe I had high expectations for it because we read good reviews on them but the service really got to me. Again, a lot of times its not that food is bad, its the service that ruins the balance. The server we had was not very, 'server smart' lets say. While we were waiting for the rest of the party to join us, we received no service really from our server. He didn't ask us if we wanted to start off with some bread, or if we wanted to get some drinks. We had to ask him for bread, and when he brought it, he gave us one dish of olive oil with a few drops of balsamic vinegar to share amongst nine of us. Then, my aunt spilled wine on her dress, and my cousin had to ask the waiter three times for club soda. He came back with the club soda, and started telling us that he didn't want to change the table cloth. huh..? We never asked him to.

Risotto Ai Funghi

Now onto the food. For appetizers, we ordered Carpaccio, Mussels and Calamari. Not bad, but portion wise was pretty small. For the main course, I ordered the Risotto Ai Funghi and needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. The Arborio rice was just too hard for my liking. It reminded me a bit like the time I had really bad risotto somewhere in Yorkville where it tasted like I was eating barley paste. No good. This time wasn't as bad, as the sauce was decent. Just if the rice could have been cooked a little more, it would have been perfect. My cousin ordered the Veal Shank with Shaffron Risotto. Same thing with his risotto, too hard for the liking but the veal was very tender and juicy.

Ossobuco Con Risotto Alla Milanes

 

Last but not least, I would love to share a great classic dish modernized by Nava Restaurant & Bar.
Everyone loves grilled cheese right? Who doesn't? Its like my budget lunch at least once a week. What's so good about the grilled cheese at Nava you ask? Well, they take a classic grilled sandwich and turn it up a notch by adding thin slices of granny apples, mustard, bacon and a different type of cheese, not cheddar. The concoction of these ingredients creates the amazing Supreme Grilled Cheese. Absolutely delicious and fantastic with sweet potoato fries. Its a must have everytime I go to Nava.

So there you have it. Another 3 restaurants to try. Stay tuned for more to come :)

Munching on Toronto - Turtle Jack's | Poutini | Ravi Soups

For the past few months, I have decided to do the following. Tighten my belt and wallet from Monday to Thursday by bringing lunch and cooking dinner at home. Then comes Friday, and that's when I get to eat out for lunch and sometimes eat out for dinner over the weekend.

I've tried a few new restaurants both uptown and downtown recently and I thought I'd write a little blurb on some of them.

I recently went to Turtle Jack's with a few of my girl friends and had the opportunity to sample their menu and have a few drinks. I must say, the food was nothing special. I had the french onion soup with a side of mac n' cheese. I am on mission to find the best french onion soup and so far, I have not found it yet. The mac 'n cheese was pretty heavy and when I ate it the next day, there was a whole lot of oil at the bottom.
The waiter we had seemed a bit out of it or something. He didn't come by on a regular basis, leaving us hanging here and there throughout the night. We asked for water, and he brought one glass of water. Maybe he was new so we'll cut him some slack.

French Onion Soup

Mac n' Cheese

I cannot believe how many different kinds of restaurants there are downtown. I'm not talking large chains here like Jack Astor's , The Keg etc. I'm talking boutique cafes, eateries, and famous one of a kind bistros, pubs and grills.

Poutini's House of Poutine is a great little place to get some really good poutine. The regular size was more than enough to fill me up (couldn't finish it actually) and I just love the recycled containers it comes in. We ordered the Poutini's poutine with vegetable gravy and the Poutigly, which was a traditional poutine with bacon. I really enjoyed the poutine with vegetable gravy. I did not think there was a difference in taste at all, but I'm sure there will be those out there that will beg to differ.

Poutini's poutine w/ vege gravy

The last place I want to briefly talk about in this post is Ravi Soups. I can't seem to find their website so I linked blogT.O's write up on them. I went for lunch a month ago and was definitely satisfied. A friend of mine kept telling me that the soup would fill me up. I was a bit wary because I never really just got full on soup. However, she was right. The soup was definitely a meal in itself. I enjoyed my butternut squash (one of my favourite soups) very much and am looking forward to going back and trying other gourmet soups on their menu.

I can't remember the correct name for
this soup but it had mushrooms.

The butternut squash soup.

So there you have it. Three new eateries I have tried out and nonetheless give thumbs up to (ok, I'll give Turtle Jack's another try).
Stay tuned for more 'munching on toronto'.

Photography Gallery Opening - OCAD 2010 Photo Thesis Show

A few weeks ago, my ex-colleague from Aritiza invited me to her grad thesis photography opening. She was a part of the graduating group of students that were show casing some of their pieces from their thesis. The location: Drabinksy Gallery in Yorkville, Toronto.

My friend's collection told the story about a Chinese myth, on how people that were related to each other or destined to be together were tied together by an invisible red string. There are a few versions of this myth out there, so feel free to google it.

The lovely photographer and her work.

I thought her work was very clean, sophisticated and it definitely conveyed the message it was trying to tell. There were 2 floors to the gallery and quite a variety of work displayed throughout. Here are some selected pictures of work from other students. Congratulations to the graduating class of 2010!!

Photography Gallery Opening - We Are Photographers?

Hello-Foto in 'We Are Photographers?'

 This was definitely a great night as a group of friends came together and delivered their own sets of vivid photographs from their adventures all over the world including India, Seoul, Inaka, Los Angeles, Taiwan and of course our hometown Toronto.

For those of you who were unable to attend, here are the biographies for each individual photographer. 

I must say the opening night was a success! Everyone came out to support the photographers, admired the collections and munched on 75 lbs of chocolate chip cookies (well not all of it in one go of course!). 

I will finish off this post with some pictures of the gallery. Can't wait for the next one! Great job boys!

Nick Tam's collection - Toronto

Hitoshi's collection - Inaka

Richard's collection - Toronto, Seoul, LA

The night of the opening.

The DJs that night.

Nick's collection - cont'd

Cooking from my MakeShift Receipe Binder III - Lobster

I went through my receipe binder a few weeks ago and thought to myself, I would like to make something with seafood. I'm a huge sucker for seafood when it comes to Lobsters, Crabs, Mussels, Clams, everything with a shell lets just say. Honestly, I eat anything out there, except for Olives and Anchoves.

So I went grocery shopping, and lucky me, live Lobsters were on sale. I ended up buying 2 for just a little over $5.50. Awesome deal! I brought them home, dumped them into the sink and allowed them to kick around for a bit. After saying goodbye, I placed them into a pot of boiling salt water.

Here they are after being cooked through.

I can't remember the exact ingredients for the sauce I made but it required the lobster's juice.
After tackling the shell and getting every piece of meat I could out, I was ready to eat.

Doesn't look appetizing because of the presentation but it was super tasty!

Its amazing how much you save when you cook at home, especially with seafood. This plate cost me oh, less than $8. Now that's a steal!