The Week In Yum June 1-6 Leslieville Market is Back and They Have Wine!

Get on over here and enter my giveaway for a gift basket full of Italian goodies courtesy of S Pellegrino

I was sitting here thinking I hadn't done much this week until I started loading the photos and I realized that I had, in fact, eaten a ton of good stuff. It's so easy to forget by the end of the week when most of the food excitement was stacked up at the start of the week.





Saturday went like this:
a morning trip to Adonis for provisions


Shack's favourite Shwarma - Shwarma Empire at Lawrence and Pharmacy in a strip mall. Yes, I know it's in God's country but it is one of the best shwarma in the city so just get in the car already

My take on cornbread and shrimp from Le Bremner from the blog for dinner with The Neighbours and friends

Sunday morning starts with a trip to Leslieville Market again at last! I got up early and grabbed my bundle buggy and set off to walk to the market, flush with excitement that it's officially summer now that the markets start up again. Imagine my delight when one of the first booths I spy is the wine booth. People tasting wine, buying wine right out in public like they do JUST ABOUT EVERYWHERE BUT THIS STUPID CITY. The lovely winemaker from Greenlane in Beamsville was selling her wares and she was so charming and lovely that I was forced to buy myself a bottle of rose. Thank you crazy Toronto bylaw people for allowing us to join all of the other civilized places that allow grown ass adults to sample and purchase wine at a market.

Each week, they will rotate between Greenlane, Tawes and Stanners Vineyards and there is also an ATM machine on site for the first time. This market has grown so much in the few short years since it first came to be that I can no longer imagine my 'hood without them.






Shack and I arrived back home at almost the same time (he had some work stuff to do) so we threw the kid in the hot rod and took him back to Leslieville to the barber for a haircut. While we waited for him to be transformed we popped into Boots & Bourbon for a snack and shared an order of huevos rancheros. I will admit that my expectations were not high, based on previous visits, but it was really good. You get a nice stack of really crispy tostada, layered with black beans and stuff, topped with those nice, runny fried eggs and a spicy salsa. We just looked at it for a minute, trying to decide how to attack it and finally settled on turning it into a big mess of chilaquiles and smashed it all up with forks.
a surprisingly tasty rendition of huevos rancheros at Boots & Bourbon


Terroni

lovely dinner at Terroni on Yonge St



Sunday evening was dinner out with family at Terroni on Yonge St at Summerhill. It was our first visit to this particular Terroni and let me tell you, the place is HUGE. We had a bit of trouble finding our party up on the roof of the building, sitting outside on a beautiful patio. If felt like we just kept going up and up and up, more stairs upon stairs but it was worth it when we reached our destination so I will forgive the endless stairs.

The food was great, the prices were as expected and the service was fine but you know what was kind of weird? Shack's step mother really wanted a mojito and was told they don't make them. Then she asked for a caesar and was told, again, they don't make those either. She then asked for a glass of rose and was told that they don't serve rose. In the summer. On the patio. No rose.
WTF?
Don't tell me that your bartender can't whip up a mojito on the fly to make the poor woman happy when you have turned down all three of her preferred drink requests, none of which are out of line. I can understand not having clamato or rose on hand - okay, I cannot understand why any restaurant/bar would not have these things on hand - but you don't have a bit of mint lying around somewhere?

Italians never drink rose? Are you so committed to being absolutely authentic that you don't even stock a couple of bottles of rose or sparkling rose or something for the summer season for your patio?

Apart from that, my salmon was very nice, Shack enjoyed his pasta, my negroni was perfect, the server was gorgeous and charming, the patio is lovely and we did have a nice dinner and I would definitely go back, I just thought the whole drink sitch was very odd.




My blogging buddy, The Tasty Gardener, was asked to invite three bloggers to have dinner with her at Smoque N Bones at 869 Queen W as part of a promotion they are doing with Samuel Adams beer. It was kind of a tweet up and they wanted bloggers who are active on twitter and instagram and all that jazz to come and have a beer, eat some bbq, take lots of photos and social media it up. It was  Heather from The Tasty Gardener, Robyn from Planet Byn, Jenny from The Brown Eyed Baker and myself and I think it's safe to say, we were loud. To make it even more obnoxious, there was a photographer there, taking pictures of us taking pictures of our food and just being loveable idiots in general. There was much merry making, tweetering, instagramming and noshing and we had a ridiculously fun time.

Shack and The Kid were at loose ends and so I told them to swing by, sit at another table and pretend they don't know me so they could eat too. I did have ulterior motives as well, as this meant that I would have a drive home.

We all agreed that the sandwiches were great. Pulled pork was tangy, not too sweet and the coleslaw was a perfect match. If you are eating pulled pork sandwiches, there must be slaw in there too or at least something else to provide the necessary crunch to contrast all of that melty meat and soft, squishy bun. The brisket was very good too, but I preferred the pork, myself. They make a smoked, spicy sausage that is fabulous and everyone really enjoyed the cornbread but I wasn't crazy about the sides. They were just okay, for the most part. If I had to pick a favourite side it would actually be the potato salad, which was full of dill pickle and quite tasty. The beans were disappointing because we like beans that are thick and smoky and bold and these were kind of bland.

I would totally go back for a sandwich and a beer - I am not a beer drinker but I really liked the Samuel Adams and skip most of the sides.

Sauvignon Bistro
as my campaign contribution, I doll MMM up for her various functions which is certainly a treat for me too

Wednesday night was spent at a fundraising dinner for my friend and Ward 32 city councillor, Mary Margaret McMahon. MMM as we call her, is a little powerhouse who never stops and the whole family will be working, in some capacity, on her reelection campaign. We are sticking The Kid in her office, I am her beauty guru and Shack does whatever she tells him to do and we were both happy to be able to come to the dinner.

Sauvignon Bistro at Queen and Rainsford in the Beach hosted this shindig and they really put on a lovely dinner. I don't think either dishes I ate are on the regular menu but they should be. A soup of sweet onion, tomato and chili, green onion, sour cream and tortilla chips was very tasty indeed. For my main course I chose the seared salmon on potato rosti with toasted almond green beans and really flavourful scallion emulsion. Shack's orecchiette with with a spicy tomato chorizo cream sauce is on their menu and I liked the bite or two that I swiped before he licked his plate clean so I guess I can vouch for that one too.

I have only eaten there a time or two in the last couple of years and I didn't remember liking the food this much so if this meal was a sign of what is going on in the kitchen these days, I will be back again asap. Also, after a decade of trying, Sauvignon had been allowed to build a second patio at the side of the restaurant so there is plenty of outdoor seating which makes it even more attractive now that the weather allows for actually sitting outdoors without a parka on.


fundraising dinner for Mary Margaret McMahon at Sauvignon

On Thursday I had the pleasure of beautifying this lovely creature for the CTV Upfronts. Upfronts are where the network brings in a bunch of the stars of their most popular shows as well as new shows that they have just aquired and they pimp them out in a day long event that is full of tv interviews, a red carpet and all manner of pimpery. Keep your eyes out for Aja Naomi King down there because she is one of the beautiful young stars of How To Get Away With Murder, the newest Shonda Rhimes show that is slated to start airing in the 2014/2015 tv season at some point.

We did try to go to The Wren (you must be wondering what kind of week doesn't include a visit to The Wren at this point?) but they were closed because "You've Gotta Eat Here" was filming there. Good for them for now how will we ever get a table????


By Friday I was exhausted and full and didn't eat all day because sometimes I just can't. Dinner was a plate of cheese, some salami and a nice little lentil salad with bread because even I get sick of food from time to time.

Pinboard of the week: so much pretty

Facebook share of the week: Just because I am so excited about attending the Long Table dinner in Stratford this Sunday!

Instagrammer of the week: I want to eat the screen

Tweet of the week:

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