The Week in Yum Dec 13-19







Friday I had lunch with the lovely and talented  Libby Roach at a place called Railees, tucked way in the industrial wasteland at Eglinton and Warden so that she could review it for BlogTo.
It is a diner. It's in a heavy industrial area on side street so you really have to want to go there. I had a grand time with Libby. Loved the onion things. The tomato soup was really good. The end.
Lunch with Libby is always a treat, regardless of where the meal takes place. You know, I was still feeling a bit guilty for the night that I fashioned a soft box out of a paper napkin at The Parlour to diffuse the flashlight on my iphone so that Robyn and I could take decent photos in the dark until Libby whipped out this discreet little snapper and hopped up onto the chair. Okay, we were also the only people in the place  and she is pretty tiny and it's not like she hops up on her chair at 8pm on a Friday night at Patria but it's still an impressive sight.
Nothing like a low key lunch with another food blogger/writer


Saturday things improved drastically in the eating department. Our friend, Jen of Piccante Dolce, made us a timpano to eat while we watched Big Night and it was a wonderful thing to do to kick the holidays off. Besides the fact that this is truly one of my favourite movies of all time, her timpano was NUTS. It was not only packed with layers of meatballs, sauce and hardboiled egg but she actually piped each piece of rigatoni with cheese AND she made the sheets of pasta that wrapped this puppy up herself. I made a salad and some crostini but really, who cares? It was all about this wonderous pasta bomb. This layered, baked pasta dish is also sometimes called timballo, bomba or tortino, depending on what region it comes from but, in Big Night, it is called a timpano so we shall call it a timpano too. Sharing the movie with The Kid was a real treat too and we were all thrilled to discover that Liev Shreiber is basically a glorified extra in it and who remembered that skeletor , aka the former Mr Jenny From the Block, was the silent kitchen helper? I hadn't seen it in years, clearly.

there was at least 2 lbs of pasta in there for a final weight of approx 8 lbs
these photos don't do it justice at all, but I was too excited to eat it to worry about taking pretty pictures of it

Sunday, I was too full from the timpano to eat much of anything but I baked Chocolate Dipped Pecan Shortbread and Chocolate Cookies and we finally got a tree, which I have decorated entirely in blue and glittery things from Target and Dollarama. Best. Tree. Ever.

On Tuesday I worked all day and didn't plan on being done til about 8pm so when I found myself finished by 5pm we had no choice but to have  dinner at The Wren because the cupboards were bare at home and I was pooped. We shared guacamole and wings with jalapeno sauce and bbq sauce on the side. I really love the way they do their wings - lightly coated with some sort of breading, crispy and dry with the dips on the side. The boys had entrees but the apps and a couple of glasses of wine were enough for me since I did snack quite a bit on set. I just can't resist the giant jar of pistachios and the bottomless bowl of orange crispy snack mix. Cheese Doritos are my crack.

Wednesday saw me eating next to nothing for some reason, just one of those days. I mean, I ate something but just a bowl of pistachios for lunch, maybe a piece of toast for supper. Who can remember?

Thursday, Shack was finally done working on his movie so we lunched at  This End Up after a trip out to Etobicoke to Pasquale Brothers for Spanish provisions in preparation for my Xmas Eve tapas feast. Its a great little store, chock full of all kinds of great oils, vinegars, spices, pickled things, cheese etc and the prices are really good. The dude talked us into a sheep/goat milk cheese called   Monte Enebro that cost about $65/kilo by letting us taste it and now I am going to go crazy NOT opening it and eating it all up before Christmas. Thanks Pasquale dude. I could not be talked into the $70/kilo serrano ham even though that price is really good for imported serrano. Sorry friends and family, I don't love you that much. I love you chorizo much though.

Spanish provisions from Pasquales in Etobicoke


At This End Up, as always, Shack had the roast beef sandwich and although I really wanted the cod cake special, without The Kid there to eat half of them, it seemed wasteful to order them on my own so I tried the dal fries instead. It's almost like Indian poutine, with a thick, filling red lentil dal, creamy feta and crispy fried shallots piled on top of their delicious  fries. It is now on my fave five at This End Up.



This weekend will be spent getting more groceries, cleaning the house and getting ready for our Xmas Eve soiree and then it's off to visit family Xmas day. I will report back on my Xmas Eves Tapas and my Xmas trifle that I will be taking to Kingston for our family dinner. I am not 100% finished the finished recipe but I know it will involve dulce de leche, chocolate wafers and lots of whipped cream.

 Pin of the week:I can taste them when I look at this picture

 Facebook share of the week: HOW THE HELL CAN COOKIES BE THIS CUTE???

Instagram of the week: a refreshing break from all the xmas baking shots


Tweet of the week:


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