The Week in Yum April 13-19 The Wren, WIlly Wonka But Not a Ton of Eating Going On


my first bloody caesar made with gin and a flourish at the Gastropost Party at Osteria dei Ganzi


This was a lean week, especially in comparison to past weeks where it feels like I barely have time to walk and talk with all the food in mouth stuffery. Really, this is actually a good thing because even I can't just keep eating out every day without some sort of consequences and a week of grazing here and there certainly isn't going to kill me. The boys went away for the weekend without me so that they could have some male bonding time. Shack has been working on the new Guillermo del Toro movie and they were shooting a scene in Kingston so he grabbed The Kid and off they went in search of adventure.



Because I was on my own, I chose to eat nothing but chick food. Charcuterie and wine with some girlfriends on Saturday and poached eggs on english muffins on Sunday filled out with a bowl of popcorn here and there was about it for me.


I spent the rest of the week just feeling busy. Our magical unicorn school was putting on their annual, over the top performance extravaganza with a production of Willy Wonka and I had agreed to make a few props as well as do all of the hair and makeup. I made that gumball machine down there, as well as the giant wonka bars. It might not look like much, but that thing took over the better part of two days because the super simple idea that I had in my head looked like a dog's ass after my first attempt and Shack's peels of laughter upon his first viewing when he finally returned home didn't help boost my confidence. I think that dinner probably consisted of grilled cheese for The Kid on Monday although I did manage to make a big pot of last minute spaghetti and meatballs for Shack's Tuesday homecoming. He had been craving spaghetti bolognese the entire time he was in Kingston and was sorely disappointed in every attempt to find it while he was gone but I didn't want to make meat sauce again. There were no complaints over the meatballs although he did reheat it the next night by breaking up the meatballs to try to turn it into meat sauce. Weirdo.

A little worse for wear after a few days of being played with but I think it turned out quite nicely, thank you very much Shack
Meatballs for my meatball

Wednesday, Gastropost held a party at Osteria dei Ganzi to celebrate the 100th mission and I met my two OGs (original gastroposters) Libby and Robyn there to cut a rug and meet up with some fellow Gastroposters. I made the mistake of not eating again and although tasty, there were just some little snacks going around so my lack of lunch and dinner was a very bad idea, in retrospect.  Luckily, I also only had two drink tickets because I fear if I had any more than two of those gin caesars on a nearly empty stomach, I would caused a brouhaha. Instead, we merely caused a small scene.

I have seen Robyn twice in two weeks!

These giant arancini hit the spot but I could have done with about ten more of them



now those are some Oompa Loompahs
Thursday was Willy Wonka Day so it was nothing but Wonka, Wonka and more Wonka but that didn't stop me from swinging by the post office to up my spring obsession to pick up a package on the way to the school. I found this exact Sam Edleman silver brogue online back in March but I couldn't find them anywhere. All the stores I checked were sold out. When sleuthing friends finally sourced them, they didn't ship to Canada and they were not cheap. I might be obsessed but I am not spending over $100, shipping to a friend in the USA plus the cost of having that friend mail them to me on a shoe that I haven't even tried on. I was destined to be sans silver brogue this spring until a friend who lives in Podunk Louisiana (her words, not mine so you can relax), of all places spied a zillion pairs of them at a Marshalls on sale for $39.99! She grabbed a pair and mailed them to me because she is an awesome possum and as of Thursday, I am now the proud owner of this exquisite metallic shoe.

The outfit I had envisioned in my mind all month and one shiny, happy camper


fish two ways with fries, smore brownies and a lemon meringue tart
So, this all brings us to Good Friday. Nobody had to work, The Kid didn't have school and so we had nothing to do and no place to be. Because it was Good Friday, everyone was clamouring for fish and chips in the hood and our favourite neighbourhood haunt, The Wren, was serving some up as their nightly special. We drove my the long lineups at Duckworths and every other Fish n Chips shop to find The Wren, half empty and we grabbed a table. Within half an hour the place was packed but we didn't care because I was sipping on a fig infused boozy bourbon cocktail waiting for my supper. 

The fish was done two ways - one huge piece was pankoed and the other was in a traditional beer batter and we were all in agreement that although we all thought we would prefer the batter, the panko fish was the better of the two. Not that the beer batter was bad because it wasn't. It was just enough batter, not too thick, nice and crunchy and not greasy but the panko coating was so crunchy and light. Nobody loved the slaw because it wasn't fresh and crunchy like we want a slaw to be - I am okay with playing with ingredients, making it asian or south american and all that but I still want it fresh and crispy and this was kind of soggy. You can't win 'em all and the fries were salty and crisp, like always.

I was pretty stoked to see a variety of desserts up there but it saddens me to say that they were not great. I don't know where they came from but the s'more brownie was almost impossible to eat. The crust was rock hard and The Kid gave up trying to hack off a piece with his fork and just picked it up and started biting off huge hunks. He just kept saying "I think this is supposed to be served warm" as he stuffed his cheeks likes a squirrel in November, only finishing the damned thing because he is a kid and it was dessert so even a bad dessert is dessert. My lemon tart was not bad but it was not great and there was too much pastry and it was also tough. I think they were brought in and I will stick to my policy of no desserts from now on.

I don't usually like bourbon but I do like figs. I am not sure I would order it again but I didn't hate it so that's good








Because it's The Kid's birthday weekend, there will be much more to talk about next week, starting off with dim sum later this morning at Luckee, Susar Lee's new chinese restaurant located in the Soho Metropolitan Hotel at 328 Wellington St W.


Pin of the week: how good does that look?

Facebook share of the week: her photos always make me soooo hungry

Instagram of the week: look at those three enticing chicks

Tweet of the week:

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