Hello again all,
Thank-you for the outpouring of support on my latest blog from yesterday - my traffic went through the roof! Metrics! Cool!
As promised, I have more news to share and even a new recipe (on the way), but it's not a step by step - so I'll just post it here in the blog section and maybe I'll do a step by step for the recipes page another time - that blog post will follow this one.
So, onto some culinary adventures from the last three months:
New Years 2015
Continuing the tradition my family started when I was little, I had some close friends over for lobster dinner on New Years Eve - what a treat. Here are a couple pics of me preparing the critters and my table. Sides were home made mac and cheese (recipe here: cookalongwithkate.squarespace.com/#/mac-and-squeeze-with-spicy-cajun-shrimp/) and asparagus. Dessert was a chocolate mousse (recipe to be posted).
Lobsters are pretty easy to cook, but I thought I'd post some knowledge that my friends and I learned the night of, when one of our buddies unfortunately checked out before dinner time (he died). So, what do you do when one of your lobsters dies before you cook them? Well if you catch it early enough - he died within a half hour of checking on him and his friends - wrap the sucker in a plastic bag and keep it in the freezer until you are ready to eat him, so we did just that and everything was alright. PS: you can/should only keep a dead uncooked lobster frozen for 24 hours max before you cook it.
Roux
Later on in January, I tried out a new restaurant here in Toronto with my partner in foodie adventures, Scott: Roux. Roux is a New Orleans inspired restaurant located in the Junction. They have a small menu, and everything on it is done right, including the cocktails - I sampled a blackberry mojito, it was amazing. I had the scallops and creamy grits for my main (pictured below) which was delicious and modestly priced given the excellent quality of the shellfish. Starters included fresh shucked oysters and duck spring rolls and Scott had the special which was a strip loin steak and Cajun shrimp skewer - it was awesome, I highly recommend it!
Valentines Day 2015
As per amazing-I-have-the-best-boyfriend-ever tradition, Scott took me out for a lovely meal - and it was also a new restaurant for both of us; Bestellen. Located on College West and known for their meat, Bestellen was hosting a special prix fixe Valentine's dinner with two seatings. Scott and I got pretty much the same options and we also opted for the wine pairings with the meal. Below are some images of the meal - sorry they're so dark, it was "romantic" in the restaurant.
The meal:
- Amuse bouche: Gazpacho with olive oil dust and sweet rolls with herb infused olive oil
- Appetizer: Beef Carpaccio with blood orange (this came with a wine pairing)
- 1st course: Rabbit Ravioli (another wine pairing)
- 2nd course: Beef Shortribs (this also came with a wine pairing)
- Pre-dessert amuse bouche: Homemade "pop rocks" again with blood orange (lol, they loved the blood orange that night)
- Dessert: Chocolate mousse with hazelnuts and blood orange (this came with a bourbon cocktail pairing)
