Summerlicious '11 Round-up: FRANK at the AGO

My Summerlicious round-up continues with my second stop: FRANK at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This has been another restaurant that has been on my list of restaurants to try for quite some time, and it was coincidence that it was housed in another Toronto museum. FRANK, named after Frank Gehry who did the re-design of the AGO, is headed by Executive Chef Anne Yarymowich, with Martha Wright as Chef de Cuisine (great to see two women running the kitchen!).

Compared to the sleek décor of c5, FRANK has a warmer atmosphere when you walk in the door, with the wood details, splashes of colour (we were seated in a room painted red, which some people claim is the colour the helps encourage an appetite), and works of art on display. The glass dining tables, while pretty, caused the cutlery and our menus to go slipping and sliding every which way though. Made for some pretty funny pre-dinner entertainment I guess as I chased around my knife.

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Summerlicious '11 Round-up: c5 at the ROM

Another summer. Another Summerlicious. Toronto diners rejoiced at yet another season of fabulous food at an affordable price. Whether chefs hate it or love it, it’s a chance for them to showcase their food and restaurant to potential new clientele, while still welcoming their regular customers.

I originally had reservations for three restaurants, but unfortunately, one of them got cancelled by the restaurant. In the end, my Summerlicious was themed around “museums,” as both restaurants I ended up going to were at Toronto’s two most well-known museums: c5 at the Royal Ontario Museum and Frank at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

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Wordless Wednesday #52: Berrylicious

Wordless Wednesday #51: Night It Up! 2011

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Lacy Coconut-Topped Brownies

I went back home for a quick visit a few weeks ago and wanting to make some treats for my friends, I turned to my trusted Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich. This cookbook never ceases to amaze me at how incredible the recipes turn out. Every recipe I've made from the book has turned out perfect and absolutely delicious. Alice is a baking genius.

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Wordless Wednesday #50: Brunch at Jak's Kitchen

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Strawberry Jam

With so many strawberries on hand, I turned most of them into jam. I never really was much of a jam person until I started making my own. Store-bought jam, no matter how gourmet it is, still seems too...gelatinous to me, and far too sweet.

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Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Last Sunday was an absolutely stunning day to be outdoors in the GTA. Blue skies, sun beating down, hot without all that yucky humidity. While some may have headed for the beaches or the pools, I headed out to the strawberry fields.

I haven't gone strawberry picking in years—I'd say at least since I was 7 or 8 years old. I remember my parents would slather sunscreen on my brother and I on a weekend morning, put on our hats and take us out to the strawberry fields. While my mom diligently picked strawberries, I hoped around from bush to bush with my little bucket, ate a lot of strawberries, with a few here and there finding their way into said bucket, and dug through dirt. So I may not have been the most handy helper at that age...

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Kimchi Naengmyeon / Kimchi Cold Noodles

There’s nothing like beating the heat than with a bowl of cold, refreshing noodles. I just love gobbling down a bowl of these in the dead of a summer heat wave. It takes minimal effort to make and doesn’t heat up your kitchen all that much, great for me as I don't have air conditioning at my place.

I’ve been craving kimchi a lot lately, and I thought what would be better than to add them to cold noodles? Minimum effort. Maximum flavour. And so, so good. (And good for you! It’s loaded with vitamins A, B, and C and contains “healthy bacteria”—lactobacilli—which helps with digestion.)

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Wordless Wednesday #49: Would You Like Fries With That?

The Inaugural #FoodTruckEats

It seemed like a lot of Toronto's foodies (and non-foodies) were out in full force this past Saturday at the Distillery District in support of Toronto's first ever Food Truck Event. Clearly the turnout, over 3000 present, proved that the city of Toronto was ready and wanting a food truck scene of our own.

This food truck event was the brainchild of Suresh Doss, who, after having followed the U.S. food truck scene for the last few years, decided that enough was enough and it was time to bring the food truck fun to Toronto. After rounding up some great vendors and chefs, and weeks of planning on his part, the event turned out to be a huge success.

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