Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Penrose = Disappointment


Today Jay and I decided to go to Penrose Fish and Chips for lunch. This place received a "What's your Toronto?" spot on CTV, and I just kept hearing that this is the joint for the best fish and chips in town.

I forgot my camera so I don't have pictures of the experience, but I found this one on the web.

The best part of the place are the old pictures on the walls.

Lunch was gross.
1. The place is a bit of a dump, could use a fresh coat of paint to say the least.
2. Jay had haddock and chips and I had halibut and chips. Mine was more expensive, and yet the fish portion was half the size of Jay's.
3. It was fried too long.. the batter was dark brown, and it was oily and soggy.
4. Same for the fries, oily and soggy, with a bit of a bitter aftertaste... maybe it's time to change the oil.
5. The place only serves fish and chips... you think they could make the condiments... but you'd be wrong... we got 3 packets of jam sized tartar sauce, and the lemon was actually one of those lemon bottles with that processed lemon juice in it. They're incapable of slicing a real lemon into wedges... that was a letdown.

I think that this restaurant might be the oldest fish and chip shop in Toronto and therefore cool because of it's history, but it's definitely not the best.

We will never go to Penrose again... the fish and chips we had at Chippy's were much better.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Dinner at Kinga's: Sunday Nov.16th, 2008

This Sunday Kinga cooked dinner in honor of Jay's (Oct. 24th) and mine (Dec. 9th) birthdays. Lisa and Rob also enjoyed this fabulous feast.

To start we had mushroom bruschetta...drank 3 bottles of delicious white...
for the main Kinga made roasted side of organic salmon... this was sooo good... she used rosemary which I usually hate, but it complemented this dish perfectly... leek and dill sauce... the picture is a bit deceiving... this was a beautiful green color... and very delicious..
roasted mini potatoes and carrots...
and this is my plate... I'm learning portion control :)
for dessert/our birthday cake Kinga baked a cheesecake (love cheesecake)... she went easy on the candles because together Jay and I are 67 years old... (we didn't want to set the fire alarm off)
the cheesecake was topped with white wine poached apricots and marmalade and drizzled with white chocolate...
it was perfectly dense and creamy..
yum....
Kinga is an excellent cook... the girl has it all... looks and talent in the kitchen...

leftovers make some of the best hoagies


Composed of:
- shredded chunk of braised beef
- sauteed onions and button mushrooms
- sauce that we had in the freezer from previous meal
- a bit of Heinz 57 steak sauce (my fave)
- applewood English smoked cheddar cheese
- all in a sesame seed hotdog bun

Served with my carrots and peas.

Friday, November 14, 2008

oh my panties... he's an American Gladiator

Jesse "Justice" Smith... well Tina only gets the best

awww TINA you're still Simply the Best…


Tonight Jay and I went to see Tina Turner in concert. This is supposed to be her last tour, but that's what she said eight years ago. We saw that concert as well. It was our fist one together…

Tonight's' show was fabulous. Tina is unreal. The woman is 68 years old and pulls off a mini and a pair of heels better than most 20 year olds. I believe she does not know what old age is. She didn't dance as much as she did 8 years ago but she did dance... she's so awesome. She sang a lot of her past hits and some new material. "Simply the Best" and "Proud Mary" had every single person up and dancing.

Her band and back up dancers were great as well. Especially the dark chocolate god who goes by the name Jesse "Justice" Smith… Tina sang "We Don't Need Another Hero" from the Mad Max movie, Justice's outfit and his body for that song is burned into my retina for I hope eternity…

Jay favored one of her backup dancers… the girl sure could move.

One thing about the concert audience… it was seniors night… lol.. Jay and I were a couple of youngsters (and we're both in our 30s). This worked to my advantage, because I have no sense of rhythm… none… nada… I think I might also be tone deaf. I can't even clap in sync with a few thousand of other people.. lol.. but I shook my booty way off the beat all over the place anyways.. it makes Jay giggle…

To conclude… Tina I adore you… I hope you have another LAST tour when you're 75 and then again when you're 80…

Thursday, November 13, 2008

the ultimate hotdog…

start with a proper sausage type dog... we got ours at Pusateri's.. then some finely chopped jalapeno pepper...then some fine cheese...
then some finely chopped onion...some fresh cracked pepper...
and the pièce de résistance... some fancy bacon/ham...
very thinly sliced and wrapped around each dog...
baked at 410 degrees F till perfect...
for my beer choice I went blond...
Jay went dark...
it was sooo good... there is some finely diced pickle underneath the dog and some mustard as well... topped with a squiggle of ketchup and served alongside a salad composed of green onion, tomato, cucumber, avocado, and iceberg lettuce with Jay's own buttermilk dressing...

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

my idea, Jay's cooking

iceberg lettuce with tomato and green onion and buttermilk dressing...ricotta and sweet potato cannelloni with red beet and carrot sauce
topped with more baby beets…
and some Parmesan cheese…
I can't even describe how creamy and delicious this was...

i felt like pancakes

and so I made some this Sunday for breakfast, lemon ricotta ones with roasted apples...

the other white meat

LCBO choices for dinner...once again Jay has prepared a superb meal: pork tenderloin with white bean cassoulet, roasted apples, and roasted cipollini onions
for dessert mille-feuille and lemon meringue tart

Breakfast Club