On Thursday, my family and I went to the zoo. At least 10 years had passed, since I’ve last been. It was a lot bigger than I remembered as a child. Here are some of my favourite photos from the day! My full zoo gallery can be seen on Flickr.
Tag: toronto
Tiana’s Adventure Vlogs #2 – ALL CAPS Music Festival Day 2
Here are clips of Day 2 of ALL CAPS featuring performances by Watershed Hour, Effin Saddle, Eons, Pachamama, Magneta Lane Beliefs, Catl, and Rich Aucoin.
Anniversary In the Dark at O.Noir
Nash and I love adventure and for our anniversary we decided to dine in the dark at O.Noir. The restaurant, located at the corner of Church and Charles has two dinner services 5:45pm and 8:30pm. Dinner is a prix fixe with 2 courses at $32 and 3 courses at $39.
After placing our orders in a small lit bar area, we were led by our server into the pitch-black dining room. All the servers are legally blind. Our server guided us to the table with a hands-on-shoulder method. It was scary at first to rely only on another person’s voice, but I learnt to put my trust in our guide and found my way to the table. We were seated at the end of a row of tables beside a wall.
We began with some Long Island iced teas, which I made a conscious effort not to knock over. We were also brought bread which I failed to butter. It’s hard to judge how much butter I scooped on my knife in the dark, so there were blobs of it everywhere! I ordered the Surprises for three of my courses. Nash ordered from the menu for his appetizer and main dish. I think my appetizer was a salad with avocado, feta cheese, tomatoes and cranberries, at least I think they were cranberries. Nash had a grilled octopus salad. The octopus was very tender and not chewy.
I’m still trying to figure out what my surprise main was (I forgot to ask). There was green beans, mashed potatoes and what I think is steak in a mushroom sauce. Nash thinks it was pork. It was very flavourful. He ordered the shrimp and sun-dried tomato risotto. I had one of his shrimp and it was well seasoned and felt very large. We both had the surprise dessert which was a cheesecake, served on its side. Not sure what sort of cheesecake but I did taste coconut and pineapple. Maybe pina colada.
The whole experience was a lot of fun. Our appetizers and mains were served in plates that had edges like a bowl, so accidentally pushing the food off the plate wasn’t a concern. I did end up using my hands to help get food on my fork, and to feel if I was actually done each course. Technically I could have licked the plate and nobody would have noticed. It was interesting to have to rely on other senses to gauge our way in the dark. We could hear conversations around us and tried to figure out how close they were. I think there was one table separating us and the people beside us. There was a lot of accidental eye-poking to try to see how far away we were from each other.
During our entire meal, everybody kept up with the rules. Nobody pulled out a smartphone or let in any light. Conversations was plenty and it was definitely a memorable way to spend an anniversary!
Lobster Everything at Rock Lobster
Last week before the El Catrin launch party (I didn’t think there would be so much food) I had dinner with my blogger friend, Melody at Rock Lobster on Queen West where Shanghai Cowgirl used to be.
The Lobster Poutine ($13) had a lobster bisque gravy, fresh lobster and of course cheese curds and fries.
Melody had the Lobster Taco ($5). I assume it was delicious because she ordered a second serving.
We also shared these Bacon Wrapped Corn Dogs served with mustard and a sort of hot sauce. I can’t refuse bacon wrapped things. It wasn’t too heavy either.
By far my favourite thing was the Rock Lobster Ceasar ($12). I regularly hate ceasars but this one was perfectly seasoned and spiced. Oh and of course the fact there was a lobster tail in it, which I dipped in the drink for extra deliciousness.
I’m already thinking of going back just for the drink…
*Update*
Me and Nash went back to Rock Lobster and had these delicious scallops on the house! We originally ordered Devilled Eggs and I guess they ran out and forgot to tell us. So we were rewarded with these divine scallops instead. We didn’t even complain or anything. This is customer service at its finest.
El Catrin Launch Party
Thanks to The Mint Agency, I attended El Catrin‘s media launch party.The Mexican restaurant, which is located at the heart of the Distillery District (where Boiler House used to be), has one of the most beautiful patios I have ever seen. The new renovations also made it appear more welcoming to a wide variety of patrons. Inside it was colourful and inviting.
We were treated with an endless supply of margaritas. I usually think margaritas have way too much salt, but these were perfectly balanced!
Various hors d’oeuvres were served. There was enough that I wish I had not eaten dinner before hand. One of my favourites were the fried fish tacos with salsa roja. There was another taco with shaved pork, axiote, pineapple, cilantro and onion that was also quite good.
Other samplings included tamatillo and cilantro marinated shrimp; seafood ceviche; pastor pork quaesadillas with pineapple and gouda cheese; and more. Dessert included a mexican take on crème brûlée and a bacon topped fudge, which was like heaven in my mouth.
Everything I sampled was full of flavour. I looked into their menu just now and it looks reasonably priced. I will definitely come back to eat the full-sized versions!
A Food Tour of Toronto Urban Roots Festival
Last weekend was the inaugural Toronto Urban Roots Festival. If you’re interested in the music portion of the festival, you can check out my reviews here. This, however, is a look at some of the delicious food options that were available.
Collective Concerts did a great job organizing the event. They hired mom and pop restaurants instead of chains like Pizza Pizza. Environmental Defence was a sponsor providing free filtered water via Event Water. Nestea and Vitamin Water were also on-site giving people an unlimited amount of free drinks. I have to say this was one festival where I hardly saw any garbage on the ground. All the patrons were very courteous and thoughtful of the environment.
Per Se Mobile
I ordered their Short Rib Sandwich ($9). There was a generous portion of meat with cheese, arugula, pickled red onions on a fluffy bun. There a chipotle-esque flavour in the sauce. Kettle-chips were included with the sandwich.
Feng’s Dumplings
This place shares my last name, so it only seemed fitting to try them. I had 6 dumplings ($8) and told them to mix it up. Vinegar was sprinkled on them. I’m not sure what kinds I had, but they were all moist and delicious. Pricing wise, I thought it was a little expensive at more than $1 a dumpling.
Manual Labour Coffee
I had seen the adorable Manual Labour truck on the grounds on Thursday and Friday night. I was really excited to have them Saturday morning since the festival started bright and early that day. However, they were not set up until 3:30pm that day. What a missed out business opportunity! Anyways, they seemed to learn their mistake because on Sunday they came much earlier.
A popular option was the Coffee Pop. ($2.75) It was a carbonated expresso drink. I added some liquid honey in mine to taste. It was a bit weird. One sip would be bitter than the next sweet and tingly with carbonation. It was definitely something unique!
I also tried their Ice Break (not on the same day). They described it as a take on an Australian frappuchino. It was sweet so no additional sugar needed and cold enough for the hot day.
Capalansky’s
As per a security guard’s suggestion, I ordered their Smoked Meat Sandwich ($8). It came with a pickle and there was a variety of mustards to choose from at the truck. I went with a simple honey mustard. I thought I may have been lacking vegetables during the festival so I had a small order of potato salad ($1).
Bacon Nation
My favourite food item at TURF was probably Bacon Nation’s Porkfection ($8). It was a spectacular sandwich with pemeal bacon, pulled pork and crispy bacon strips that were actually crispy. It was worth the messy fingers.
Summertime Lemonade
To limit my amount of caffeinated and vitamin filled drinks, I decided to buy a classic lemonade.
Bonfire Catering
For $5 I had a slice of their Mexican pizza. It was just okay that day. It was a little dry from sitting out in the sun.
Kanga
On Sunday it started raining really hard during dinner time so I forgot to take photos of food. But I did have Kanga’s delicious meat pie and blueberry iced tea!
Overall, I thought there was a fantastic food selection at TURF. There was a very homey and family atmosphere to the entire festival and I quite miss it already!
Ate My Way Through the Harbourfront Centre
To celebrate Canada’s birth I headed down to the Harbourfront Centre, mainly to eat bacon.
For $7, Barque Smokehouse offered a plate of bacon samplers. There was a mini smoked pork belly with pineapple skewer, peameal bacon taco, a smoked tofu with lettuce, bacon wrapped sausage, nachos and lastly a root beer float with candied bacon. To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed. It was too bite size to really give you a bacony kick. I think I would have preferred to pay more to have a full-sized version of each of these things made in less of a rush.
Luckily, there was plenty to eat at The Harbourfront Centre. There were many vendors around and some worldly offerings at the World Cafe. Maybe since it was Canada’s Day, two corners were occupied by our country.
A beaver tail felt like an obvious choice considering it was Canada’s birthday. In case my American readers don’t know, it is deep fried dough (sort of like a churro or fountain cake) in the shape of a beaver tail and served with a variety of yummy toppings. They are usually quite rare in city and are mainly found out East or at ski resorts. Anyway we chose a light offering of apple cinnamon.
To wash it down, I had a fruity alcoholic drink called Krazy Kool-Aid. It was sweet and refreshing despite not having any actual Kool-Aid. We enjoyed some tunes from The Toronto Mambo Project as we enjoyed our drinks.
We returned a little later to the World Cafe to sample the other Canadian offering Portobello Burger which had various vegetarian dishes on the menu. We ordered the Tasty Tacos and the Portobello Burger. The tacos had black beans & garbanzo beans, sauteed in onions and cooked in a tomato sauce. It was served in hard corn tostados with a traditional Mexican salsa and topped off with an old cheddar cheese. The cilantro was generous and even though it was a hard shell taco, it wasn’t messy at all. The portobello burger was served on a whole grain Ciabatta bun. It contained chipotle mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion, sweet red peppers, and goat cheese melted into a portobello mushroom cap. For a vegetarian burger, we ate it before remembering to take a photo of it.
When we were not eating, we explored some of what Harbourfront Centre had to offer. We were quite entertained by some hilarious karaoke rap. I totally should have busted out some Eminem but I thought that was not clean enough for the diverse audience. We ventured into the buildings to see what was in them and discovered an Architectural gallery as well as another with Inuit art. At Paws Way they celebrated Canada’s Day with a presentation of Canadian dogs and cats. Here are some random photos:
Harbourfront Centre’s fireworks had happened on Sunday so I headed home to see some with dad at Mississauga Celebration Square.
Related articles
Weekend at the Harbourfront & Toronto Island
On Sunday, our family went down to the Harbourfront Centre to check out the Tall Ships at the Redpath Waterfront Festival. Teddy also came with us. Either we thought the boats looked the same as regular boats, or we were on the wrong side of Queens Quay but we couldn’t find too many to take photos of.
Since we had the dog with us we ventured into Paws Way. Inside was a cafe where you could share your food with your pet, a store and walls full of random beloved pet stories. To play in with the Tall Ships theme, in the event/activity room there were dog breeds that sailors used to bring on ships.
Since we seemed to fail at finding boats, we decided to go the island. It was somewhat cloudy so the sky in photos looked a bit boring.
Oh and here is Teddy checking out girls
and his reaction:
Hogtown Smoke at a Jager Party
Last week during NXNE there were plenty of day parties. The one I ended up staying the longest in was the Exclaim! and Jagermeister BBQ.
Everybody in the Toronto music industry was around so it was nice to catch up and relax amidst a hectic week. To drink, there was free Jager shots, Monster energy drinks and Pabst. Attendees were given punch cards for food and drink.
There was a snack truck full of everybody’s guilty pleasures: chips, chocolate, candies, cookies and more. Everything free. The guy seemed lonely so I visited the truck multiple times. Apparently he was doing market research, so his data is going to have some weird Asian girl eating one of everything.
The cards entitled us to one small sandwich (or poutine) from onsite food truck Hogtown Smoke. I ordered the brisket sandwich and there was tons of meat sandwiched between the little bun! There wasn’t too much to it (no slaw), but it was tasty on its own. There was also a huge selection of hot sauce by the truck from mild to adventurous for those looking to tickle their tongue.
Nash got the pulled mushroom sandwich, mostly because while in line we were wondering what that would be like. He’s also a mushroom fan. I liked the smokey flavour they were able to injected in it.
It was a lovely day of sun, music, friends and food!
Party photos by @plafleur and Jagermeister Canada
Jerk Pulled Pork @ Barton Snacks
I didn’t really post anything last week because I was at NXNE. It was pretty hectic and even meals proved cumbersome unless they were quick and on the go. I was in the Queen West area on Thursday and wasn’t feeling Poutini’s so opted for something different. I ended up in Barton Snacks!
Inside they had desserts like ice cream as well as savoury foods in the forms of sandwiches, tacos and hot dogs. I asked the people what they would recommend for a hungry person with no limitations and they suggested the jerk pulled pork sandwich.
I have never had jerk anything besides chicken before and I found this an interesting twist. It was very flavourful and a spicey! I also enjoyed the coco bread it was served in. It was not heavy, but enough to keep all the ingredients from falling apart.
In writing this post, I discovered there is another Barton Snacks in the Annex. Since I’m always in that area, it definitely warrants a visit.
Tiana Feng 