The Yum Yum Factor

Lamb chops, bit of olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper 145F for medium rare preheat for a couple minutes at 390F cook for about 8-10 minutes I had an air fryer once before. It was the size of a small spaceship so, even though it worked just fine, I had where to put it, it didn’t fit in any of my cupboards and I had to keep it in the garage. That means I never used it and to be honest, at that time, I thought they were only good for fries and chicken wings.  Gadget maven that I am, I also have a CrispLid for my Instant Pot and I love it too, although when I need to make, say, enough chicken wings for the three of us, I have to cook them in a couple of batches but for doing veggies, browning something I just pressure cooked (like a bread pudding or a whole chicken) and when it’s just one or two of us, the CrispLid is perfect. I didn’t even know I would want a larger capacity air fryer until I was offered a Ninja Air Fryer . I love my Ninja blender with a fierce, burning love and bec...

I have been taking my time, slowly converting many of my favourite recipes to work in my pressure cookers. Although I am a hard core Instant Pot fan ( I own four of them), I was given a Breville Fast Slow Pro at the end of the year to try out it.  In order to get a good feeling for it,  I have made it my personal kitchen pressure cooker, with the Instant Pots taking a well deserved break.  Like the Instant Pot, the Breville does double duty as a slow cooker, it cooks rice, it has the sauté  feature as well as a reduce feature and you can also steam things in it. It doesn't have the yogurt function, but for me, this is not a deal breaker at all as you can make yogurt without a pressure cooker and if you don't plan to make yogurt at home, you won't miss it at all. I could write up a long, drawn out review but, to be honest, I agree with pretty much everything that Laura, over at Hip Pressure Cooking, has to say in her review  so you might as well ...

I feel like I am back in the saddle again with two media events in one week under my belt. After a bit of a break from eating and drinking all the damned time, I am back to eating and drinking all the damned time, which isn't the worst thing in the world. This week, the discovery of the summer was, without a doubt, Mill St Brewery's Distiller Root Beer. You heard me people, BOOZED UP ROOT BEER and it is really, really good. It's not too sweet and none of us could detect a trace of alcohol taste which is either a really good thing or a really bad thing. It was suggested that a scoop of ice cream would make for an amazing grown ass adult root beer float. I will be reporting back on that as soon as I can get my hands on a six pack to bring home (I was told that the LCBO will be stocking this sugary ambrosia by the May 24 weekend).

If you live in Toronto, you have probably had shortbread from Mary Macleod's at some point. Unlike most other self named companies, there really is a Mary Macleod and she started baking her famous chocolate crunch shortbread in 1981. Even after 30 years in the business, Mary, herself, still spends time in the kitchen coming up with new treats like the Butterscotch Shortbread Crumbs I used to make the crust for this cheesecake. I was more than happy to accept a free bag of cookie crumbs to experiment with because I would happily buy them anyway. I used to live right across the street from Mary's shop on Queen St East for a few years and so I was very familiar with the product. It's not like I had ever run over there in my pjs and grabbed a few cookies to go with my morning coffee or anything.....

Anyone who has read my blog, even casually, is probably aware that I have a couple of irrational fears when it comes to cooking and I am proud of the fact that I have worked to overcome these fears in the last few years, for the most part. It's not like I am deep frying every day now, but I do it when I have to and I not only can jam and stuff but I give the results to people I care about and nobody has died. Yet. That leaves the final frontier - pressure cooking. Just like I did not grow up with a mom who canned, I also did not grow up around pressure cooking so it's always felt like living on the edge to me. I think pressure cooker and visions of this immediately come to mind: Enter the magical electric pressure cooker: My shiny, new Instant Pot After following the reviews of the Instant Pot for more than a year, I finally decided that it was time to bite the bullet and get myself one of these bad boys This thing bills itself as a 7 in 1 machine that s...

Amuse Bouche - Lobster BELT on a buttery brioche bun Encore Catering has invited me to a host of blogger tasting events and for one reason or another, I am never able to go. In the spirit of full disclosure I am going to tell you that the fact that they are located at Dufferin and Steeles is usually a contributing factor and to get myself out there for an early evening tasting makes it impossible to manage if I am working in the city since I need to bring my passport and an overnight bag with me once I am going north of Lawrence and Yonge. Now, add the westerly climbs of Dufferin into the mix and you might as well invite me to come to Woodstock Ontario at that point. Because I have been following the social media of all of the other bloggers and food writers who HAVE attended, I vowed to attend this latest tasting evening. From the Beaches, it's about an hour on TTC, which isn't all that bad but I will forewarn you: If you are going to go and visit them in their cater...

Sea Witch Fish and Chips funky lamps, comfortable, laid back interior with some interesting, nautical themed bits and bobs I get to go to a lot of media dinners and eat a lot of free food and I have to tell you, I eat more mediocre food than good food at these things. I usually only share the places that I am excited about because I prefer to share restaurants with people as opposed to "reviewing" them. With that in mind, I am thrilled to share Sea Witch with you. The small, neighbourhood restaurant is located on the hot little strip of St Clair West (just west of Bathurst) and it's been garnering rave reviews since the day it opened for it's small, simple and well executed menu. There are no bells and whistles, no 3 page menu attempting to make everyone happy, no fish tacos and , at this time anyway, no liquor license so not everyone is going to be thrilled with Sea Witch but people who want to eat really delicious, perfectly executed fish and c...

EastSide Social  Last week, we finally made it to EastSide Social in Lesliville , admittedly a little late to the party. People have been raving about this new east end eatery since it opened last summer but, for some reason, I had it in my head that this was going to be straight up Halifax cuisine and, this will earn me some death threats, I have never visited the east coast for the food. To me, I have memories of lobsters boiled to within an inch of their lives, weird tasting donairs that the locals go mad for and all to often, thick, gluey chowder. I have always loved the east coast for the people, the scenery and the ocean and just kind of resigned myself to the food situation.

my beloved Habanero Squid at La Cubana on Roncesvalles It's Good Friday so I am going to make this brief. I had a few great meals this week so I will share that with you and maybe give you some ideas about where you can go and get a great snack over the long weekend.

Meet Craig Wong. If you have been living under a rock you may not have heard of   Patois , his Jamaican Chinese restaurant here in the fine city of Toronto. There isn't a "best of" list that he hasn't made since opening under one year ago and one of the things he is becoming increasingly renowned for is his brunch. I know, I know, Anthony Bourdin claims that brunch is only a way for the kitchen to use up the weeks leftovers to serve to hung over hipsters before it all goes bad but at Patois, this couldn't be further from the truth. His brunch menu relies on creative twists on classic dishes with everything made fresh for a menu that is truly a stand alone affair, with nary a repurposed leftover to be found.

Detour Coffee has brought out the camper to the the Green Living Show The Green Living Show Highlights of the food variety at this years Green Living Show:

I have always loved The One of a Kind Show, both as a visitor and even as a vendor back in another life when I did a line of kid's glass art called Buster Boy. These days, I am just there as a shopper and I rarely miss a show if I can help it.

look at how green that falafel is ..... beautiful Last week I was all about La Cubana, visiting twice in a ten day period which is a pretty big deal for me. I don't venture out the far reaches of the west end just to eat all that often, especially considering that my second visit was on an especially frigid day by transit. La Cubana Chorizo Empanada So, how did this past week start? With a THIRD visit to La Cubana with friends on Sunday night for dinner. My previous two visits were both for lunch for this was my first dinner visit. Although it was great to have some nice wine with my meal, my only complaint is that it is really, really bright and retains that diner feeling which is not always what I want in the evening. During the day, it is bright and cheery and full of sunlight if you sit at the front but there is a bit of a cafeteria feel to it after dark. Now, all that said, the food is so great that I will give it a pass (although I would be more apt to go f...