Banana Bread

Banana bread looks like puke as you're making it...

That picture was taken before adding the dry ingredients. 

I forgot to document the final product as a whole, so here's what was left of it:

I basically used this recipe for quantities, replacing sugar with brown sugar and 325 degrees with 350 just because I like the extra brown colour:

Ingredients:

3 overripe bananas

1 cup brown sugar

1.5 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 egg

1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease loaf pan. Mash bananas, and mix with beat egg. Stir in butter and brown sugar. Then add all the dry ingredients and mix to moisten. Bake for 1 hour.

It was pretty awesome when it was fresh - good enough for Andrea and Vivian to both have extra slices, at least.

Banana bread is pretty forgiving, and this recipe seemed to work well enough. I'll probably stick with it. 

Baskin Robbins 31 Cent Scoop Night

Baskin Robbins is having their annual 31 cent (plus tax) scoop night in support of the Canadian Fallen Firefighters Foundation. That's April 27th from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at all Baskin Robbins locations in Canada.

Click here for more details.

Sushi Bong

Sushi Bong (5 Northtown Way, North York, Ontario)

416-227-0022

Would I return? Yes. Their dynamite rolls are GIANT! That one roll took up more than half the take-out box. Prices are reasonable, and portions are huge. I don't remember exactly how much the dynamite roll was, but it was pretty cheap. It's good to know that parking for this place is hell/impossible/non-existent, and seating in the tiny restaurant is just as scarce. Most people do the take-out thing. 

The Pickle Barrel

The Pickle Barrel (Yorkdale Shopping Centre, 1 Yorkdale Road, Toronto)

416-785-8881

Hours:

Sun - Thurs 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Fri - Sat 9 a.m. - midnight

The Grand Menu is like a book.

There were too many options. I just wanted a quick lunch.

Small orange juice.

No pulp. Not freshly squeezed.

Lobster grilled cheese.

It was pretty good. The lobster chunks were evident, and the cheese hid the fact that they might have been a little dried out. The bread was nicely toasted and tasted like the pre-packaged, sliced kind I buy from the grocery store. Salad was fresh enough.

Would I return? Sure. The menu has more options that I need, food is fine, and service is okay too.

Total damage for two: $35.

Potato Dish and Other Random Food

Ever since Agnes took us to that Polish restaurant, I've been craving potato dumplings. Since potatoes were on sale for super cheap, I decided to attempt to make some. I found some recipes to use as guidelines that I would not follow precisely. It seemed easy enough... 

It starts with mashed potatoes.

Already, I had issues. I don't own a potato masher, nor do I have a potato ricer. I had chopsticks and an unsturdy fork. So of course, there were lumps. I probably could've mashed longer, but I was hungry and impatient.

After boiling it, it came out like this:

Then this:

I packaged it with some browned onions and garlic.

 It tasted like boiled mashed potato clumps.

I suppose if I had made them nicer before boiling them, they would've came out nicer. But again, I was hungry, and I'm not really a fan of touching stuff with that kind of sticky, doughy consistency.

Tried something a little different later with the leftover mashed potatoes. I thought I might fry them up. Kind of like gnocchi, I guess.

For the first batch, I actually forgot to boil them first. They came out tasting like... fried mashed potato clumps.

I even started rolling it into a snake.

The fried ones that were boiled first had much more of a dumpling skin like consistency. It reminded me of empty fried Chinese dumplings. And since I didn't have any more patience to make a sauce for it, I ate  the potato "dumplings" the only way I knew how to eat dumplings...

with soy sauce. ;)

I'll try again someday when I have more time...

"Salad"

Breakfast of champions: egg sandwich with spinach, banana bread, grapes, and a glass of orange juice.

"Salad" 2.

spinach, pear slices, red grapefruit.

Salad King

Salad King (340 Yonge Street, Toronto)

416-593-0333

After an unfortunate building collapse/fire, Salad King was forced to move locations. I was never at the older location, but Phil and Viv assured me that this new place was a lot nicer and bigger.

Spicy squid.

You can choose the level of spiciness. I chose 3 chillies. It's not the hottest thing I've ever eaten, but my nose was definitely running. I was just glad that it came with rice. The squid was okay. The vegetables were properly cooked.

Would I return? Sure, it's not bad. When we got there, the place was almost empty, but within 10 minutes, it was packed! This place is quite popular for lunch. We must have gotten there pretty much right when it opened. On the way out, there was a line-up going up the stairs.

Total damage: $13.

Chicken and Boiled Carrots

Used the same lemon baked chicken recipe again...

With boiled carrots cooked in salt and butter.

The chicken came out dry. I didn't account for the fact that I was using chicken breast instead of bone-in chicken like last time. Bake time could have been reduced by maybe 10-15 minutes. Carrots came out slightly buttery and soft. They were nice.

"Salad" for me consists of spinach, cheese, and pear. 

It'd be good with a honey vinaigrette and without the cheese. Or maybe without the spinach.

Pickle Barrel

Pickle Barrel (Promenade Mall, 1 Promenade Circle, Thornhill, Ontario)

905-764-3444

Hours: 

Sun - Thurs 9 a.m. - 10 p.m.

Fri - Sat 9 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Cappuccino. 

Eh. 

Corned beef deli sandwich.

I added $1 to "make it a BIG ONE", and it was pretty monstrous.

The fries weren't very good, but the sandwich was okay.

Would I return? Maybe. I think this particular Pickle Barrel's been around forever, probably over 20 years. The deli sandwich wasn't bad.

Total damage: $31.41 for two.

Alice Fazooli's

Alice Fazooli's (155A York Boulevard, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

905-709-4280

Hours:

Mon - Wed 11:30 a.m. - 12 a.m.

Thurs 11:30 a.m. - 1 a.m.

Fri - Sat 11:30 a.m. - 2 a.m.

Sun 11:30 a.m. - 11 p.m.

Complimentary bread

The bread looked better on the other side where you could see the rosemary and stuff. It was nice and soft in the middle and I liked it with the flavoured oil. There was oil on the bread, and the only issue was that our server forgot to give us utensils and napkins, so the two of us ended up wiping our hands on the napkin the loaf came in. 

I don't remember what these were exactly, but it involved mango slush and cassis.

It looked pretty exciting, and the server poured the red in the drinks in front of us. The red was very berry tasting, but it was okay in the mango slush.

This picture tells a story of who drinks more faster.

It's not me.

Jo had a coupon for a free appetizer, so we went with the mussels. 

Earlier, our server told us there was no more bread after we finished our loaf. Then, the mussels come out and it's served with bread... It wasn't even a different type of bread. 0_o Regardless, the sauce for the mussels was kind of great. It had a nice tomato-ey, boozy flavour... great for soaking into the bread. 

Salmon risotto. 

This was recommended, and I was pleased with it. The balsamic vinaigrette was very strong, and the fish wasn't overcooked. The risotto was nice and soft, albeit slightly plain.

Jo said the decoration on her dish made it look like she was about to eat ninja rice.

Her risotto had an intense mushroom flavour to it. The chicken was hella dry though. 

Would I return? Sure. Jo said that they've made the place more casual. The first major change we noted was that there was this big, awkward space right when you walk in. It makes it look like a grand entrance, but you're so far away from the people who greet you and it seems like wasted seating space. Our server was courteous and pleasant, even if he made little sense with the bread remark and forgot to give us napkins and cutlery. The drinks look cool, and the food isn't bad. 

Total damage: approximately $75 for the two of us.

Tsuki Izakaya

Izakaya Tsuki (5182 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)

416-229-6719

Complimentary tofu.

 Pitcher of Sapporo

Sapporo is a really nice-tasting beer. It goes down very easy.

Cassis orange.

It's very sweet, and quite nice.

Deep-fried chicken.

This was alright. Not the crispiest of deep-fried things that I've had.

Takoyaki

They were a little more exciting last time I was here, but they were still passable.

Grilled black cod yuan yaki.

Again, it was a small piece of fish, but it was super soft. It makes for some pretty awesome tasting fish.

This was on the specials menu that hasn't changed since the last time I was here:

There are deep-fried chunks of garlic on those skewers.

Straw bbq hamachi

The fish had an intense smoky flavour to it. The waitress explained that you are meant to eat it with the onions, garlic, salt and wasabi. Though, I think the fish itself was already supercharged with taste.

Compliments of the chef.

I really liked this. It was tomato wrapped with fish and sauce. The sauce tasted cream cheesy, and the overall product was pretty spicy.

Deep-fried eel.

The eel was somewhat fatty and soft. I liked the texture, but Sina was annoyed with the bones in it.

Cassis grapefruit.

It's not bad, but it's got nothing on the Cassis orange.

Would I return? Yes. There are certain items that they seem to do quite well (black cod), and I've yet to try some of their other menu options. Their alcohol list isn't extensive, but it's enough for me. The staff is courteous and pleasant.

Total damage: partially (a big majority) sponsored by Andrea. Thanks! 

Kuni Sushi Ya

Kuni Sushi Ya (20 Baldwin Street, Toronto)

416-260-3188

Beef lunch special

It's not bad for the price... but it's sort of comparable to what you could get at the food court nearby (Village by the Grange). I don't remember much, but I think it was okay. The beef had a lot of sauce on it.

Would I return? Maybe? I probably wouldn't be the one to suggest going though.

Total damage: under $10.

Korbel

Korbel (13250 River Road, Guerneville, Sonoma County, California, USA)
Wine shop: 707-824-7316
Delicatessen: 707-824-7000
Wine tour hours: 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. daily
Tasting room hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily
Delicatessen hours: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily.

Korbel Brut Rosé

I approve. Slightly sweet and bubbly.

I actually think I prefer this over the sweet rosé they have.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Casey!

McBiscuit

McDevil McBiscuit

A promotion involved a free McDonald's breakfast biscuit sandwich (which isn't actually called McBiscuit, but they should've labelled it as such).

Sausage 'n egg biscuit.

The egg is scrambled and folded, unlike in the McMuffins. That makes the height of this monster a couple jaw clicks taller. The buttermilk biscuit is very fluffy and buttery. It is so buttery that even though I only held the sandwich through the paper, my hands had shiny visible grease drops when I finished eating. Either the paper is that porous or the grease is that potent. The first bite is heart attack awesomeness, but I felt like I needed to run a marathon when I was done... or take a nap.

Would I order this again? Probably not... unless it was free. I'm good with the Sausage McMuffin with egg combo (#2). This calorie-laden biscuit thing is a whole other monster that I'm not ready to subject my body to regularly. 

Total damage: free, thanks to their promotion!

Caffé Demetré

Caffé Demetré (100 York Boulevard, Richmond Hill, Ontario)
905-881-8406
Hours:
Monday-Thursday 2 p.m. - 11:30 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 2 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.
Sunday 2 p.m. - 11:30 p.m



I was craving cake for a week before we finally went and got some. 

Tiramisu cheesecake.

Cheesecake part is nice and dense. Tiramisu part is more like vanilla, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I liked the top cocoa part bit. Jo wasn't a fan of the crunchy outside. 

Chocolate cake.

Warmed up, it was pretty nice. It made it softer and meltier. This cake was also dense, and I liked the crunchy chocolate cookie bits on the bottom outside. It was sweet, but not as sweet as it looks. 

In the end, Jo and I had trouble finishing these two slices of cake. 

Would I return? Yes. When it's not overcrowded, it's a pretty relaxed place to hang out and eat cake. 

Total damage: free for me thanks to Josie!

Check out Professor Crunchy's post.