Night It Up 2011

(Markham Civic Centre parking lot, northwest of Highway 7 and Warden Avenue)

This year, the festivities moved north from their former location at the Metro Square parking lot. There seemed to be a lot more space, and there were even some picnic benches for people sit down and eat properly. Even with the extra space, Night It Up was still fully packed with people and food smells. 

Lamb skewers (6 for $10)

I liked the spicy seasoning that was on them, but Jo was unimpressed with the meat itself. I wasn't expecting super tender lamb shank, so I was satisfied.

Takoyaki octopus balls (4 for $3).

The balls tasted like a lot of filler, and missing the brown tonkatsu sauce. I did appreciate the bonito flakes though. The packaging was also really cute.

Malaysian murthabak ($8).

These looked really exciting as they were making them. The dough was being stretched and cooked in front of our faces. A scoop of filling is then added to it, making it into a sort of savoury pita. There were originally two sauces to choose from, but when we got ours, one had already been depleted. The dough is chewy as you bite into it, but it's not flavourless. The meat and veggie insides were mild and quite tasty. It was a bit like meat and vegetable curry in a pocket of chewy dough.

Lots of people had pineapples with straws coming out of them. The contents of the pineapple had been taken out, mixed with ice/water (and maybe some sugar), and poured back into the shell for you to drink. Some booths had free refills, and others had refills for $1 or $2. At some stations, the pineapple is blended with ice into a smoothie/slushy. Unfortunately, I didn't get that kind. Mine was simply mixed with ice. It was a bit underwhelming, but at least I could taste the pineapple chunks. On the plus side, we saw some for $7, but I got mine for $5.

End of day sale squid (2 sticks for $1).

It didn't have much sauce, but Jo liked the softness of it. I think my piece might've been cooked slightly longer than hers.

Chestnuts (small bag for $3.25).

These were burning hot when the lady handed me the bag. I had to let them cool for a few minutes before attempting to eat them. The small bag was more than enough for me after eating all the other food.  Warm chestnuts smell absolutely wonderful - especially compared to stinky tofu. They taste pretty good too when they're warm.

The location switch was a good idea. There seemed to be more parking spots available, and the picnic benches were useful. It was still annoying to manoeuvre through hordes of people, and some of the lines were still pretty long. Again, towards the end of the night, everything goes on sale and vendors make sure that you're aware by screaming it out at you.

Ten Ren

Ten Ren Tea (330 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill)

905-881-8896

Wonton noodles.

 The wontons are miniature.

Ten Ren's lunchtime specials are okay priced. There are definitely cheaper options in the area, but they'll probably also be busier. 

Muffins!!!!

(5150 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)

Unsatisfied with my recent muffin experiences, I sought out baked goods from other locations. 

Inside the North York City Centre, not much was open on a Saturday afternoon. I managed to find a Second Cup that was open and La Prep.

Not much was on display for La Prep, but there were three sad looking chocolate chip muffins. One looked like someone had picked a chunk out of its top. Luckily, I got the other one.

It looked so promising. It had the proper mushroom shape, and the top did not look soft at all. Turns out that the edges were crunchy, but the muffin had a bit of a staleness to it. Nevertheless, after so much searching, I was just happy to be eating a real muffin.

It took waking up at early morning hours to finally find a satisfying muffin. On a weekday morning, around 7:45 a.m., I tried North York City Centre again, hoping for some warm, fresh, awesome muffins. Since I had already tried La Prep, I decided to go for Café Palma P.A.M.'s Coffe and Tea Co. 

[Update: The actual place is called Café Palma. They just use P.A.M.'s Coffee & Tea Co. bags.]

As I grabbed the paper bag, I was instantly excited because I immediately noticed the the heat emitting from my breakfast. Yes! Warm! Would I finally get my fresh, crunchy top chocolate chip muffin? YES!!!! I was too anxious to eat it up, so most of the top was eaten before I took this picture:

I can assure you that it looked like the definition of muffin before I hacked at it.

It was everything I could ask for in a muffin: crunchy top, warm, fresh, chocolate chip flavoured, and affordable ($1.25). Though the inside tasted as though it had already been buttered for me, it was awesome. Discovering this shop that sold real chocolate chip muffins was like finding a unicorn. 

Would I return? Heck yeah! Café Palma is my new favourite place ever. 

[Update: Went back again today. Did a little better on the picture.]

The inside has that somewhat translucent look as if it had been dunked in melted butter. There's a coconutty taste to it. The top was still marvellously crunchy, and it was still served warm. It's a little hard to find an intact chocolate chip.

Would I return? I just did. It's even more likely now that I know when the muffins are consistently fresh. 

Toronto à la Cart

Toronto a la Cart (Yonge and Finch)

Just south of Yonge and Finch, in front of the Shoppers Drug Mart, one can usually find a huddle of people around a Korean food stand at night. This is the only Toronto a la Cart location where I've actually spotted patrons. There are some interesting offerings, including kimchi dumplings, the red bean fish-shaped waffles, squid balls, pork belly bacon, and cup noodles. Since the nearby H Mart no longer sells the fish-shaped red bean waffles, this is a pretty good alternative at a price of 3 for $2. Though I must say that they didn't look as nice as the ones that Galleria used to have. 

Jo tried the fish cake in soup ($1) and squid balls.

Everyone seemed to like the MSG-filled broth that came with the fish cake. The squid balls were kind of like crab cake consistency, and not really exciting. They were also a bit dry inside.

Cup noodles ($3.50)

This actually looked like it came in a coffee cup. Jo said she saw them use a whole pack of noodles and was pleased with what she got. The broth seemed to be the same as the fish cake broth, but pepper was added so it was a bit spicier. 

Would I return? Yes, considering that I didn't get anything from there yet. Those cup noodles also looked pretty cool. This could easily provide a cheap dinner on the go.

McDevil Muffin

This tray was pretty random, what with the filet-o-fish combo and the chocolate muffin.

 Still on the prowl for crunchy top muffins, I decided to try the one at McDonald's.

This was an Oreo double chocolate muffin (or something along those lines). This was the closest thing to crunchy top muffin that I've had in a while. The edges were slightly harder, but I wasn't sure if that was by design or from being left out all day. If anything, the Oreo cookie bits made it crunchy. 

The search for proper muffins continues... 

Liquor!

Mel brought back a nice mini selection of liquor from... Scotland?

First up was Glayva.

This liqueur was incredibly sweet. I noted a strong honey taste. 

The ten year Edradour single malt scotch whisky was incredibly difficult to drink. It burned so much that it took me several minutes to finish my tablespoon amount. The twelve year Balvenie was a lot friendlier on the throat and mouth.

Jo had bought some Patrón Silver so we wanted to compare it to her Mexican cheapo brand tequila.

Jo marvelled at the handcrafted bottle. We noticed that the Patrón had little to no scent, as opposed to the boozy smelling cheapo tequila. The Patrón also went down a lot easier.

Total damage: free for me thanks to Jo for sharing and Mel for importing!

Villars Chocolate

Villars

An import from France, this is quite possibly the best chocolate I've ever had in my life. 

 The "pépites de café" pop like Rice Krispies and the combination is not unlike those Nestle Crunch bars... except that the chocolate is dark and awesome, and the crunchy part tastes like coffee.

Bursts of coffee flavour embedded into Swiss dark chocolate makes this a snack I regret having shared. ;)

Cheers to Aurélie for sending me a sample of chocolate bars available in France!

I wish it were as easy to find here.

Top Saigon

Top Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant (550 Highway 7 East, Richmond Hill, Ontario)

905-886-3893

I finally found the name of this restaurant. I no longer have to refer to it as the pho place at Times Square Mall.

Some sort of curry seafood noodles in broth.

I almost always get the grilled oysters whenever I go here.

They're pretty big and super garlic-flavoured. 

Would I return? Yep. If for nothing else, I'd go back for the grilled oysters.

Total damage: I can't remember. This was from a long time ago.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter cookies are awesome because the easy ones only involve three ingredients: peanut butter (1 cup), an egg, and sugar (1/2 cup). Bake at 325 F for about 15 minutes and that's all it takes for some soft, warm cookies.

I tried a little harder to make them nicer than I usually do. But I still refused to touch the raw "dough" with my hands.

According to the recipe, it should've yielded 24 cookies. Instead, I made 10 oversized ones. Yay! Monster cookies! Nom nom nom.

Disaronno Coffee

Disaronno + coffee = awesome!

The Italian amaretto adds that nutty flavour to the coffee, and sends out an enhanced aroma to my nose.

Seriously, it's awesome. Too bad all I have is instant coffee.

Oh yeah, and happy Canada day!