Sunday, January 27, 2008

Winterlicious: Tundra

For our second winterlicious outing this year, we went to Tundra with Nick and Tammy. Pictures aren't fabulous, some without flash and some with... but here they are nevertheless...

Pretty martinis to start..bread basket with black olive tapenade...
Appetizers:
Tammy had
featured soup

created daily by our team of chefs
this night Cream of Mushroom... velvety and tasty...
The rest of us went with
baby lettuce and seedling salad
apple, dried cranberries and toasted walnuts in a roast apple cider vinaigrette
fresh, crisp, with a nice vinegary bite
Some wine of course
red
and white
Mains:
I chose
poached Atlantic salmon with fine herbs

crab forked new potatoes, winter vegetables and mussel tarragon emulsion
potatoes were fabulous... seafood overload.. salmon pure tender, flaky perfection...
Tammy and Nick went with
coq au vin
grain fed Cornish hen braised in red wine with baby vegetables
and caramelized onion rosti
simply beautiful, generous, and delicious...
and Jay decided on
Nova Scotia lobster macaroni and cheese

with fresh lumachini pasta and 4 year old white cheddar
creamy lobster and pasta perfection, taste was right on... however presentation was not what I expected, one I though it was going to be baked in a dish not loosely formed in a skillet, two this plate could use some color, green would be nice.. baby spinach...
Dessert:
Jay's
spiced carrot cake and wildflower honey and orange marmalade
cream cheese ice cream
presentation could be better, overall an ok dish
while the rest of us had
apple cheesecake
calvados caramel sauce and almond tuille
you just can't go wrong with cheesecake... this was good

Our meal was great. Overall food was fabulous and very tasty. One drawback however is that the menu presented at the restaurant differed from the one online... I don't like those surprises... I choose my place based on the menu online weeks in advance... changes on arrival are not welcome... I was looking forward to a salad with beets, instead I had to settle for dried cranberries...

Online Winterlicious Menu

featured soup
created daily by our team of chefs
or
baby seedling salad
baked red and yellow beet, toasted pumpkin seeds, roast apple cider vinaigrette

slow poached wild atlantic salmon
crab mashed Yukon gold potatoes, mussel tarragon emulsion
or
cornish hen “au vin”
braised in red wine with mushrooms, pearl onions, baby vegetables, mashed Yukon gold potatoes
or
lobster macaroni and cheese
fresh lumachini pasta, nova scotia lobster, au gratin with aged white cheddar and truffle essence
or
pumpkin goat cheese risotto
wild mushrooms, walnuts, garlic sage cream

apple cheese cake
rum caramel sauce
or
spiced carrot cake
honey vanilla orange marmalade

Friday, January 25, 2008

Winterlicious: C5 (Crystal Five) at the ROM

Winterlicious has finally arrived... I so look forward to these fabulous buget meals. We're going to 4 different places, and we're starting off with brand new C5 at the ROM. The kitchen is open concept, the dining room is huge... they need to hang up some art to counteract the echo... I took my camera with me. The pictures aren't the greatest, because I took them without flash... it hurts everyone else's eyes... I'm considerate...

Martinis to start... Maple Leaf for Jason and Purple Haze for me...our bread basket... the butter is flavored each night... this night it was sesame seed...
We had two appetizer choices
Butternut Squash Bisque
or
Calamari Salad, Avocado, Split Black Olive Vinaigrette
We both went with the Calamari, since Jay makes the best butternut squash bisque in the world... It was very interesting and delicious...
Glasses of wine for our main... red for Jay and white for me...
Two choices for our main:
I had Butter Poached Grouper, Shitake Eggdrop Broth ... fab
and Jay went with 72 Hour Sous-Vide Beef Short Rib, Chestnut Potato Mash ... my how divine...
and desert, I had Chocolate Bread Pudding, Parsnip Gelato, Carrot Foam... presentation is very nice... the dessert itself lacked chocolate... it was ok... edible... but definitely missing the wow
Jay had Pecorino Cheesecake, Ginger snap tuile, balsamic gelee ... I couldn't eat it... Pecorino is made with sheep milk... and I can't stand that stuff... but his accompaniments were absolutely fantastic...
cappuccino's to accompany our dessert...
even the sugar bowl was pretty...
Then we headed back home.. Jay made himself amaretto and ginger ale and for me he whipped out a birthday martini... a present that I got from Karolina (one of my super sisters) Belvedere vodka in a shaker for one...
then I sipped, blogged, and watched Harry Potter... good times

Beautifull and delicious...


blood oranges

When Jason has been bad... it's so good...







Dinner 3: Thursday, Jan. 17th/08

Jason's 007 martini with wild melon honey....
Vegetable chowder...
Grilled veggie and cheese sandwich...
and Kinga made dessert... absoultely super fabulous dense and chocolaty cupcakes with tangerine frosting and sprinkles... I had two... soo yummy...

My vacuum has arrived...

meet Tess... yes that's right I named it...

Jason's Chicken and Eggplant Stirfry

sometimes even I'm confused at to which I love more... my man or his food... :)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Mustard pork chop with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli with white cheddar cheese sauce...yummmy...

Dinner 2: Thursday, Jan. 17th, 2008

Lisa missed this one...

Vino to start...
No appetizer this week (and if there was one I forgot to take a picture). But below is our main, ricotta and sun dried tomato stuffed onions, on a bed of baby arugula, grape tomatoes and marinated artichoke hearts...
Dessert was supper simple, baby pears and loquats stuffed with pistachio mascarpone...

On a side note... Kinga is making dessert for the next three dinners... that is very exciting.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Sunday Brunch

Our Sunday's off together are so rare lately, that we try to do something special when they happen. This past Sunday we went to Didier for brunch.I decided on Croque Madame - Parisian-Style Sauteed Ham and Cheese, Sunny Egg
Frites for sharing...
House made mayo for dipping...
Jay had an Omelette Paysanne - Potato, Button Mushroom and Smoked Bacon, Greens Mix
and we decided to have dessert for breakfast as well...Apple Tarte Tatin