The Yum Yum Factor

see how my garden grows?

ahhh, look at that sway backed, knock kneed , young beauty rocking the sweater vest circa 1969.  I can't even with my mom's patriotic red and white ensemble I think I kind of love Ottawa. My first real trip anywhere was to Ottawa as a five year old so it holds a special place in my heart. The Doctor ordered my mom to rest when her ulcer got really out of control but our Dr knew that this mother of five and wife to a man who demanded a steak on the table within five minutes of walking in the door would never be able to accomplish this. He told her and my dad that she had to hit the bricks and go visit someone so she decided to take me to visit her oldest sister who worked for the government in our nation's capital. If my memories are correct, I think we even flew there but my mom is no longer here to answer my questions and nobody else in my family remembers anything about it. If I didn't have this terrible photo of me in front of the parliament building, I would be...

Tamales are a weird thing, for me. Over the years, I have eaten tamales that have made my heart sing and I have eaten tamales that have sunk like a lead ball to the bottom of my stomach.They can be dry as dust requiring an ample dousing of salsa to make them go down so I have gotten to the point where I just don't order them anymore because I never know what I am going to get. You know, just like there are real, live Italian grandmothers out there who use ragu and the green container of "parmesan", there are bad Mexican cooks too. I also realize that there are different styles of tamale, according to the region out there. In some areas of mexico, they are giant blobs of masa dough with a tiny dot of filling and even though they might be authentic,  that is not my jam at all. Traversing the  sea of tamales feels like a minefield sometimes people. Then there is the fact that some tamales are wrapped in banana leaves or plaintain leaves but I like those that are steam...

somewhere along the line my little, baby boy has turned into a tall, lanky man We started Mother's Day off with a bang this year. The kid helped The Neighbour and I garden all day after a trip to the garden centre to buy bags and bags of dirt and mulch - so exciting. After my afternoon playing in the dirt, the boys then whisked me away to a land far, far away. We went to Bathurst and St Clair to Pukka , my new all time favourite restaurant in the city that I reviewed just recently here on The Yum Yum Factor. Shack can be a bit picky...IMAGINE THAT.... about Indian food but, generally, once he is eating it, he is happy. It's just getting him to choose to eat it in the first place that gets tricky for me but I have a feeling that now that he has eaten at Pukka, this might prove to be an easier task. Pukka was just as good as the first time  Even the Indian indifferent Shack could not stop raving about everything he ate. I knew he would love their butter c...

Sometimes things can just be simple, you know? It isn't all Risotto al Nero di Seppia  around here, although it is often all risotto. I saw a video of Merill from Food52 whipping up a corn risotto and despite the fact that we won't see local corn until the end of the summer that will seemingly never occur, I can think of little else. I just made a plain risotto the way I always do but took her technique of adding the raw kernels to the finished rice and covering the pot for five minutes to just cook the corn. I had never thought of doing that before and the result in just tender corn and, therefore, a beautiful, crisp texture in that sea of creamy rice. I think the only real change I made was to add fresh thyme to the stock because, to me, corn and butter must also have some thyme in there. I also topped it with some sherried mushrooms because mushrooms are always a good idea but it was delicious all on it's own. I am counting the days until August when I can make ...

Charcuterie, cheese and smoked mackerel pate at Delecq, a brand spanking new wine bar in The Beach I have been doing the week in yum for almost a year now - okay, I started doing it in July but it's almost a year so shut it. Anyway, over the year it has become more and more popular and I find that I spend as much time eating out, attending food type media events etc more and more. It almost feels like I spend as much time eating out and sharing that stuff as I do cooking and sharing recipes. It is time to freshen up what was originally just a little blather about what I ate that week to make it more useful for those of you who are reading. I am going to streamline my mini reviews, add in a little section where I alert you to any fun food events coming up and I am now going to share a new Instagram user and Pin Board of the week since I now follow so many people that it is becoming impossible to just choose one actual pin or photo. Okay, that said, let's see how m...

Oh Cinco de Mayo, how I love you because you are another excuse to throw a pork roast in the oven and make some tacos. Okay, I don't really need an excuse to do that but sometimes it's nice to be put yourself on the spot when you realize it's been ages since you have roasted up a big, old chunk of pig to wrap in stack of corn tortillas. Sometimes we all need a push. I like to use this David Chang recipe for pork sometimes because the meat comes out delicious, with crispy, crunchy bits but the flavour is neutral and I can use it for a ton of different things afterwards. A bit of ginger scallion sauce with some gochujang something or other and it's kind of Korean or add some smoky BBQ sauce and I have a pulled pork sandwich. Since this was a big 10 lb picnic pork roast, I wanted lots of leftover meat that could be repurposed. I am not even going to link to any one of the 100000 versions of this recipe that are out there because everyone makes it, everyone tweak...

beautiful welcome cocktail of prosecco with pomegranate at Pukka Ascari Enoteca The Kid had a sleepover on Saturday night so Shack and I were lucky and loose, once again. Originally intending to go out clubbing ALL NIGHT, we ended up taking cab to Leslieville with the intention of popping into Goods and Provisions at long last. We walked in the door and turned right around and walked back out. Honestly, how the hell can people hear themselves think when it's that loud? Never mind hold an actual conversation with another human being. Maybe I am just getting old and cranky but I just can't do it. I am sure the food is wonderful and the libations delightful but if I wanted to blow my brains out with super loud music, at least I will pick my own playlist.  We passed Glas wine bar and stopped to read the menu but Shack poo pooed that too and I feared that our night was going downhill fast when I spied Ascari Enoteca across the street. We first dined at Ascari when it...