Super Brunch Sunday: The Gem

Now that it's no longer my restaurant-less November, I'm expanding Super Brunch Sunday to include restaurants (the majority of which will be located in the Toronto area). I love brunch, and the one thing I like more than eating it, is not having to cook it myself.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.

 The Gem, located on Davenport at Ossington in Toronto, is more renowned for their nachos and beer (SO GOOD by the way.  And the burrito is nice.  Great vegetarian options for once!), but they prepare an outstanding brunch spread on Sundays as well.  From 12-4pm, all kinds of eggs, french toast, home fries and much more can be YOURS! On this day, I ordered the butterscotch pancakes.  They were perfectly fluffy, but honestly the butterscotch chips tended to clump together and were too sweet! Next time I think I'd just get the regular pancakes, because the texture was just perfect! 

Ephraim got the eggs over medium with bacon and french toast.  We both have a sort of "standard" breakfast order, and this is his! I love that for the toast they give you a big hunk of toasted baguette, well buttered.  I am totally a butter person.  I don't care how well margarine spreads, I'll never pick it over butter!

One of my favourite parts of The Gem is the decor.  Unfortunately I didn't capture the best of it, as there was a small brunch crowd and I got all self conscious about having my camera out.  We go every couple of weeks though, so expect a supplementary post chalk full of Elvis busts, Pin Up wall art, and lots and lots of glitter.  OH the glitter! I did get a couple shots of our table for your enjoyment.  All of the tables at the Gem are topped with glass, but the table tops themselves are filled with postcards, business cards, doodles, photo booth pictures, the works.  I've added a couple pieces to the tables in the last year, and it's pretty fun to see a ticket from a show you went to (but someone else's seat!) or a card from your friends business, while you sit down to a pint or some eggs.  It's my favourite neighbourhood haunt!

--Erin

** apologies for the tardiness of this post! I was home ill yesterday and just wasn't up to looking at any food that wasn't toast or tea.  Feeling much better today, but still taking it pretty easy.  Hope you're all having a good weekend so far!**

Super Brunch Sunday: Buttermilk Pancakes with Warm Apple Cinnamon Topping

Last weekend's brunch was sooooo good.  The perfectly cooked buttermilk pancakes (thanks to Ephraim!), topped generously (I may have added more after these photos, that stack got messy) with warm, gooey, cinnamon loaded apples.  It was like pie filling, but better, because it obviously used to be something that's good for you.  Used to be.  But that time had long since passed.  YUM.

Buttermilk Pancakes (modified from Fannie Farmer's 1945 recipe) Serves 2

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk (or more)
3 tablespoons melted butter (or vegetable oil)

Method

1. Mix together the dry ingredients. 
2. Add the beaten egg and melted butter and stir vigorously, adding more milk, if necessary, to make the batter just thin enough to pour. 
3. Drop by spoonfuls or pour from pitcher onto heated and greased griddle or frying pan using medium heat. 
4. When full of bubbles and the underside is browned, turn and brown the other side. 
5. Serve with maple syrup and additional butter (and apple topping.  Come one now.)

Cinnamon Apple Topping (modified from This Homemade Life)

Ingredients

 2-3 apples, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of water

Method

1. In a skillet, on medium heat, melt the butter.  
2. Pour in the apples, and saute until just tender.  
3. Add in the sugar, cinnamon and water.  
4. Continue cooking (and stirring) until it reaches a syrup-like consistency.

If you like the plate, I won't tell anyone.  I was pretty tempted with this one! And I am happy to report that the leftovers were SUPERB brought in to work to eat at my desk a few days later.  You'll want to double the pancake recipe though!

What are you making for brunch this weekend?

--Erin

Month in an Apron: My Restaurant-less(ish) November in Review

Howdy folks!

The week is ever so slowly coming to a close and I for one am SO excited for the weekend! I'm headed into Toronto for a weekend full of errands and fun (and more fun!).  Can't wait!! This weekend also marks the start of December, so I wanted to take a moment and write about how my attempt at a month without restaurants went.

This time last month I was looking at my credit card statement wondering how I could possibly spend SO MUCH money on food.  I mean, I love food and all, but I don't eat a large amount, nor do I eat out every day, so what's the deal? The fact is, I live in a tourist town, and as such, food (and groceries, and clothes, and everything) are ridiculously expensive.  And while groceries may cost me more here than they would in Toronto, I knew I could make a significant dent in my budget by cooking exclusively, and not falling into the trap of buying a lunch at work (even if the company cafeteria has the most vegetarian options and is the most reasonably priced place to eat in the town.  And now that I've said that I can hear Ephraim saying "ahem, the stagecoach, ahem!". Second cheapest.  There).

The month has not been completely restaurant free.  Let's get that out on the table first.  In the last 30-odd days, I have purchased food from outside sources 4 times.  A couple weeks ago in NOTL we had "Fabulicious", a terrible portmanteau that is the name of an event where the priciest restaurants in the area (and there are lots of those, this is wine country!) do special prix fixe menus, making them more accessible.  So, I had a special dinner out with some friends from work.  That was cheat meal number one.  

Later that same weekend, I had two little slip ups, one of which I'm not sure really counts since it wasn't a full meal per se, but I went out to try poutine for the first time and to celebrate the return of a friend who had been out of the country for a couple weeks.  Actually, I ordered chili cheese fries (also a first) and tried someone else's poutine, but it was still a magical affair, and there was beer, and I don't feel bad about it.  So there.  Then the next day I was ravenous to the point of extreme irritability after an extended trip to IKEA (y'all know what I'm talking about.  And I wasn't about to cave and buy some IKEA food.  Standards!) so we went out for felafel.  Still, I don't feel badly about that, because Ephraim's life was on the line (EXTREME irritability).  So, up to this point we're at 3 slip ups, 0 of which I regret.

I bought lunch at work one day this whole month, and it's the only time I felt that I had really dropped the ball on my goal.  I didn't take the time to cook something large enough the night before that I would have leftovers to bring with me.  I made sure to swing by the grocery store on my way home from work, cooked an extra large meal, and woke up with plenty of time the next morning to pack a substantial healthy lunch for myself. I learned from the one incident this month that I felt could have been prevented, and was worth working to avoid.  And I feel really good about that.

All in all, this experiment has been really worth while.  It has saved me money (which incidentally I will be spending on a reward for my efforts :P), it has pushed me to try to cook things that I would normally just go out for (burger night was a 2 time success.  Whoop whoop!), it resulted in much less food waste due to better meal planning, and a substantial shift in the ratio of perishable to non perishable food items I bought over the month, as I was shopping for produce twice or even three times a week, instead of only once.  I feel good about the changes I made, and I feel confident that I can carry over the habits I have formed into the coming months, while granting myself some leniency, because let's be honest, life without the Guru's Dhal Makhani is not worth living.  Gimme my curry, please!

With holiday shopping well underway, have you made any changes to your budget to accommodate for the extra spending this time of year brings?

--Erin

Month in an Apron: a restaurantless november

Starting work on a new season and talks about big future dreams had me taking a good look at my finances recently.  I don't have very many expenses and thus still put money away in the bank each month, but I could see places where I was really throwing the money away. And while it's nice to be able to afford nice things, it isn't even really nice things that I'm spending it on.  A shift in priorities is what I needed.

I've been reading Denise's blog Ispasio recently, and I suppose it has got me in the personal budget mindspace.  Denise shares her journey as a young adult navigating financial independence, while sharing useful tips on how to effectively create a budget plan you can live by.  I haven't gone so far as to make myself a strict plan yet, but I have decided to challenge myself to go a month without spending money on my biggest frivolous "expense": going out for meals.

I know, it should be basic, and shame on me for not cooking myself 3 meals a day, and all that.  Since moving out here a year ago, I have been cooking for one person (weekends excluded), and I kind of hate it.  I am used to cooking for two people, and sharing the task and managing leftovers and all that.  Now it's just me and it drives me crazy and too often I neglect to pack a lunch and I end up eating at the cafeteria at work.  Weekends are tough because Ephraim and I like to go out, and especially venture for anything you could call "ethnic cuisine", because we don't have anything like that where I live now.  But hey, for this month, I pledge to try to learn how to make those things myself.  

I'm also sticking my grocery receipts to my fridge for the month, so I can clearly see how much it costs to feed me for a month, and how much money I was throwing away on mere convenience.  I hope to learn some new recipes, look more critically at the ways I spend my money, and maintain a healthier diet than the crappy vegetarian offerings of the restaurants of Niagara-on-the-Lake can offer.  And after November, keep on to what I've learned while still letting myself occasionally enjoy those things better cooked by the pros.

--Erin

Rainy Days are for Baking: Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

We've had our fair share of rain in these parts lately.  To combat the gloom I whipped up a batch of these cookies.  t certainly did the trick, and I happened to already have all the ingredients in the house.  Hooray!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies (Originally from Delish)

1 1/2 cups pecans
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange nuts in single layer on baking sheet and toast in oven 5-7    minutes, until golden brown and aromatic. Cool the nuts and then coarsely chop.

2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

3. Cream butter & sugars on medium speed about 1 minute, until fluffy. 

4. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. 

5.Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix on medium-low speed until incorporated. 

6. Add in nuts and chocolate chips and mix well.

7. Drop dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies are medium-brown around the edges.

I have been making an effort to cook more, and thus have decided that for the month of November, I will not be going out to restaurants (with the possible exception of my Grandfather's birthday dinner in a couple weeks).  I hope this pushes me to learn a few new recipes, and carry over the good (money saving!) habits into the coming months.  And forever.  I hope. What this means concerning this blog, is that I will be posting more recipes this month (and hopefully in general in the future!) for you to make at home and enjoy.

Or just look at the pictures.
No judgment.

Happy baking!

--Erin

Quebec City Pt.1: Afternoon Tea at the Chateau Frontenac

I totally caved, and went for afternoon tea with Ephraim while we were in Quebec City! I just had such a nice time having tea with my Mum in Ottawa, and the Chateau is beautiful, soooo we went.

And oh man, it did not disappoint!!

The food was incredible, for both meat eaters and vegetarians! I have had tea at a couple other Fairmont Hotels (the Chateau Laurier, and Royal York in Toronto) and have found them to be the most accommodating for vegetarian diets.  But even then, this exceeded expectations.  I mean, just look at it all.  The choice to do open face sandwiches was refreshing, and showed of the many beautiful colours.

The room was lovely and basically all wood.  It felt nice and warm in there, and Ephraim totally blended in in all his tweed.  

I love to take photos of him when he isn't looking... he gets me back for this, don't worry.  Seriously though he is perfectly styled for that room!

Needless to say we enjoyed a couple hours filled with tea and nibbles and conversation.  I tried the vanilla orchid black tea, it was incredible.  I was just about to order Earl Grey, but thought I ought to try something different! Not that there's much of a gamble in vanilla tea! 

I promise I don't go for tea NEARLY so often normally, but as I was traveling and had the chance to try some place new, I figured I really must!  I'm so glad, because both outings have been a pleasure! It's only a habit I can keep up for a short time though, I should probably save the cakes and pastries till the holidays (at which time I may as well do my best Vader impression, 'cause "there'll be no one to stop us this time"). In the mean time, I'm planning on making a giant batch of pumpkin seeds this weekend.  Yum!

--Erin

The Heritage House Cafe

While up in Haliburton for the Thanksgiving long weekend, Ephraim and I took a short trip into the town of Haliburton to stop at the drugstore and seek out a cup of coffee (or in my case, tea). After some driving around, we came across the Heritage House Cafe.  The building had previously been Banks' Heritage Store, but has since been converted into a nice little cafe with an adjoining shop, and rooms for rent, b&b style I assume. 

The place was sparsely but meticulously decorated, with rustic wood floors, original molding, crates stacked to create the hostess' stand, and lots of little elements to indicate the cafe's former life as a heritage store.  It was a great place to sit tight and enjoy a hot drink, and though we didn't get anything to eat, I heard tables around ours remark how good the food was.  Large leather chairs, dark wood tables and glass topped rock "filled" (they were hollow!) wire crates created the bulk of the furniture, creating an industrial image and a comfortable atmosphere simultaneously.  Though I am not in the area often, the Heritage House Cafe was a great place to escape the commotion of a family filled cottage. 

--Erin

Ottawa P.3: Afternoon Tea at the Château Laurier

One of my favourite things ever, is afternoon tea.  Since I was quite young, my Bubbie and Zaidy (that's grandma and grandpa in Yiddish.  You learned today!) have been taking me for afternoon tea for my birthday.  It's always been a fun treat, and a nice way to spend a couple hours with my grandparents, my mum, and my brother, talking and eating (in roughly equal amounts).  

Though it wasn't either of our birthdays, my Mum and I decided to have afternoon tea at the Château Laurier while we were in town.  This year was the 100th anniversary of the hotel's construction, so what a perfect time to enjoy a short visit!

By this time in our trip, I was pretty sick and my Mum had begun to catch my cold, so the opportunity to drink copious amounts of tea was welcomed.  The spread at the Château Laurier did not disappoint, and I was thrilled when I tweeted about being there for afternoon tea, and the Château tweeted me back! Now that's service.  So cool.

jam and clotted cream, meet arteries. Yum!

My beautiful Mum and her tea tray

Plain and dried currant scones

They made me special vegetarian sandwiches! One had a sundried tomato and olive spread, it was so tangy and spicy and just GOOD!

Neither of us had any room left for the tart, but they sure were cute.

Some good old Earl Grey and treats were enjoyed that day.  Looking back at these photos makes me want a hot cuppa right now!

Do any of you have little family traditions you do for special occasions? This one is surely the most delicious I have ever been a part of, and it's something I look forward to being able to treat my children and grandchildren to some day.  If they're not rotten little things, anyway, hahah!!

--Erin

Ottawa P.1: Eats

Howdy folks!

I am back in the Niagara region for a short while to recharge (and repack!) before heading back to Toronto.  

I thought I'd share some photos from my recent Ottawa getaway in a couple different posts, each centred on a different time or theme.  This post is on the most important part of any vacation, the food.  Yes, now you truly know me, I like good food whether at home or away.  Okay, especially away, it's kinda nice to try something wild you may not get the chance to eat again, don't you agree?

Naturally, I managed to get very sick the night before we flew to Ottawa, so some of my meal choices were exceedingly boring (a small bowl of potato leek soup for dinner... does it matter when you can't taste anyway?), but there were 2 places we went in particular that I would love to return to.  Okay, enough jabber, onto the attempted food photography!

Our first day in town we went to Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine.  It was awesome.  The Thom Yum soup really hit the spot (haha the spices may have loosened the sinuses some....yummy...), and I always appreciate a place where I can eat anything on the menu.  My Mum tends to research vegetarian or vegan restaurants in any city we visit, and this one was a total winner.  I definitely recommend it if you're in the area!

We also enjoyed the crispy wantons with sweet chili dipping sauce, and the summer rolls with jicama and vegan "ham" with a peanut dipping sauce, pictured below.  We arrived toward the end of their lunch sitting (they also do an all you can eat buffet, which were I in better health I may have been inclined to try), so the place was really quiet, but service was fast and friendly, and the food really was very good.  The restaurant errs a bit on the lifestyle side of things, and handed out a pamphlet on the environmental and health benefits of a veg*n diet with the cheque, which I am sometimes a bit iffy on (not much of a preacher), but they were also doing a special thanksgiving dinner with whole tofurkeys, so I'll let it slide.  

The following day we ventured into ByWard Market for breakfast and just to see the sights.  My grandfather travels to Ottawa for business on the occasion, so he has a couple places he likes to go when he's in town.  Benny's Bistro in Byward Market is one of them, and it's a place I need to return to too! I got the french toast with poached pear.  It was amazing.  It was only 3 pieces of baguette but it was so rich I actually had to surrender before I could manage the last few bites.  I want this to be the last thing I eat before I die.  I'm really passionate about breakfast you guys.

The location is super cute, if not absolutely roasting inside (jackets and cardigans were promptly removed!).  The front portion of the building is a french bakery, with the back room serving as a bistro.  Everything looks, and almost certainly is, ridiculously delicious.  Also the place's mascot is the owners Daschund.  Sign me up.

I'll be posting the other photos from Ottawa over the course of this week, in a 3 or 4 part series depending on how poorly I edit down the nearly 300 photos I took, hah! So stay tuned, there's some god lookin' stuff on its way (some more of which is just as delicious looking as these pics!)

--Erin

The Donut Diner

After the closing show of the Directors Project, Ephraim and I were forced to try a new place for breakfasty goodness.  At gunpoint.  Maybe I made that last bit up.

I'm pretty serious about my breakfast food, and going out for a good breakfast is, in my opinion, one of life's greatest pleasures.  Actually, I like a good breakfast at home too, which is why I have invested in a waffle iron.  Every breakfast is the breakfast of champions if you declare yourself a champion, right? And I can pack back my waffles like a champ.  But I digress.

baklava and bacon, together at last.

Our regular breakfast spot was no longer serving breakfast (being that it was half past noon already...), so we tried out The Donut Diner in Virgil.  I have passed by this diner dozens of times and have always been bewildered by their bizarre menu (milkshakes, donuts, and shwarma.  What?), so we had to check it out.  Sadly, the food was pretty icky, but to be fair, I did get eggs, and not a donut. And hey, if it's called the Donut Diner, you gotta figure the fried batter is pretty great, right? The Dutchie donuts were the size of my face. Yummy.

Though the food wasn't particularly worthwhile, the atmosphere in there was pretty great.  Just the right kind of dingy, enough to keep away the tourists but not enough to be physically repulsive.  Am I making this place sound appealing yet? Haha! 

Anyhow, I was pretty pleased that I had my camera on me, so I could capture a bit of the decor (I am a serious sucker for black and white tile anything.  Love it) and of course have a little camera battle with Ephraim.  He only had his phone, so I won.  I'm good like that.  

Next time I have a hankering, I'll have to stop in to the Donut Diner for some fried sugary goodness.  I'll report back and let you know if they're worth naming your business after! They're going to have to be pretty damned delicious to top the Harvest Barn sprinkle donuts though.  I am strangely determined to find a place to get reliably superior donuts to Tim Horton's.  I just find their monopoly on the donut industry a little off putting.  Am I reading too far into this? Oh, most definitely.  But this is a donut taste testing mission we're talking about here.  You gotta have vision. Delicious, delicious vision.  And stretchy pants.

Well, I'm off to Ottawa for a little trip with my Mum for a couple days.  Anybody know of good Vegetarian food, vintage clothing shops, or generally awesome stuff to check out while I'm there? The last time I was there I was 13 and mostly just interested in Beaver Tails (okay, I'm still pretty interested in Beaver Tails!).

--Erin

Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

As intended, I made the frozen peanut butter chocolate pie from A Beautiful Mess, this weekend.

Luckily, this dessert was a hit, because it's definitely something you don't want to have around for long, or have a surplus of.  Because you will eat it.  All of it. 

On the difficulty scale, I'm giving this pie a rating of "Drunken Monkey", meaning a drunken monkey could make this with little difficulty.  I got fancy and melted my chocolate with a double boiler and it was STILL so ridiculously simple.  So find yourself an intoxicated primate and make this pie, your friends will thank you (your pancreas will not).

There are a few adjustments I'd make next time around to make this really spectacular.  I'd definitely want to switch up the crust, and I think go with a homemade chocolate crust.  There's already so much peanutty goodness going on, I think the pie needs a little more chocolate and a little something salty to really set it off.  Maybe an Oreo crust? Mmm!
My presentation also needs some work on this.  I really dropped the ball there.  Lucky it was still delicious so nobody noticed!
--Erin