Bitter Gourd - Chinese style

I like and feel eating something bitter and this is the perfect vegetable. I find it easy to cook and healthy. How easy? 2 ingredients : bitter gourd and eggs. 

How it looks inside

Bitter Gourd Eggs
Directions :
1- Cut the gourd lengthwise, remove the white fiber and the seeds.
2- Slice it.
3- Beat 3 eggs with a pinch of salt. Add sliced gourd.
4- Cook.

~V.Cat~

Tiramisu

At my friend's farewell party, her mom made TIRAMISU! It was amazing. The day after, it was even better. As it was so good and she is a generous friend, she accepted to share her mother's famous well kept recipe with you guys :P

Tiramisu
Ingredients : 
4 eggs
120 g sugar
500 g mascarpone
400 g ladyfingers
Strong expresso

1-2 TBSP Amaretto/Baileys/Tia Maria/Rhum
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions :1- Beat egg white + 1 TBSP sugar until forms peak.
2- Whisk egg yolks + sugar until all lighter in color.
3- Add mascarpone to egg yolks mixture -- add Amaretto/Baileys/Tia Maria/Rhum -- vanilla extract.
4- Delicately add egg white in the egg yolks mixture.
5- Assemble a) ladyfingers dipped in coffee (FAST otherwise become soggy)                          
                     b) creamy mixture just prepared.... repeat and finish with the creamy mixture.
6- Sprinkle some cacao.
7- Reserve in the fridge 24h with a plastic wrap. 

~V.Cat~

The Friendly Thaï

Hello everybody,

First day in Toronto and my friend's brother living there suggested us a Thai restaurant called The Friendly Thai. He said a lot of good thing about it, so we simply said «Why not?». It is food and we never tried it, so let's go!

Appetizers : Friendly Thai Appetizer Plate (hot and cold spring rolls, calamari, shrimp satay and mango salad served with plum and peanut sauce) (15.99$)

Appetizers plate

The spring rolls hot and cold were vegetarian and bland taste. The shrimp were good, but did they taste satay sauce? not sure...The calamari were well fried : crispy outside. Mango salad was super yummy : the mangoes were crunchy under the teeth and well marinated.

Sauces (left to right) : Plum, peanut and sweet/spicy/vinegar sauce.

Avocado Spring Rolls

I didn't have a chance to taste them, but the person who ordered it loves avocado and definitively loved those spring rolls :)

Main plates :

Marinated Grilled Chicken (10.99$)

Was the chicken really marinated? Bland taste! Fortunately, the fish sauce mixed with sugar (top right of the picture) saved the plate. On the good side, the chicken was very tender, not dry at all. The salad underneath the chicken added freshness to it. How I like to eat it : slice of salad, chicken and dip it in the sauce. Hmmmmm 

Shrimp Curry Pad Thaï (12.99$)

Chicken Oodles of Noodles (10.99$)

Chicken Oodles of Noodles is stir-fried noodles with marinated chicken, mixed with broccoli, bok choï, red bell peppers, tofu and bean sprouts, garnished with green onions, and parsley, lemon and orange. It is served with a bowl of peanut sauce. The noodles were well cooked, the sauce thick and a bit sweet. One of our friend told us to mix the noodles with the peanut sauce, verdict : it made the sauce thicker, add richness to the plate but I found it a bit on the heavy side. 

Note : The plate looks small, but they are really filling. Proof : we couldn't finish them.
Disappointment might have come with the fact that I didn't feel the authentic Thai flavor in the cuisine. I found it very americanized, but overall good. 


Rate :
Food : 3.5/5
Service : 4/5
Price/quality : 3.5/5
Overall : 11/15

The Friendly Thai
678, Yonge St
Toronto, ON
M4Y 2A6
(416) 924-5804
http://www.thefriendlythai.com/index.html
(Menu available)

~V.Cat~

El Trompo - Taco Bar & Cactus Grill

Hello everybody,

My friend and I just arrived in Toronto downtown with Megabus (if you want to travel Montreal-Toronto, I would highly suggest it to you, because it is cheap ~15$+tx and it is pretty comfortable, the bus only stops once at Kingston). We walked towards Kensington market and it is already late afternoon, we didn't have lunch yet. We were starving to death from the bus ride and the walk. What's best to do when you don't know where to eat but want to eat something good? Let's ask people :)

Actually, we get lucky and a Mexican Restaurant was recommended. Frankly speaking, we were skeptical about the choice, but still wanted to give a try as we were tired and hungry with no idea where to eat - brains were not working at this time. 

There you go : 

First, 2 sauces were brought to our table : the red one (left) is a basic salsa with tomato and the green one (right) is made with green tomatoes and chipotle (so a little bit spicy). Both sauce enhance the taste of the tacos we ordered. They brought something *humph a little tanginess but not overwhelming the flavor of the tacos. So it was a plus.

We ordered 2 different taquitos : 1) Spicy tangy chicken (chicken cooked in a sauce made from tomato and chipotle - 9.75$); 2) Chorizo (we choose this one because we were told the sausages were homemade, it was served with coriander, onion and lime - 9.75$). Please, try them with the sauce, they were both DELICIOUS. What's special about them is the soft tortilla (what I have not seen in Montreal). 

                                                                        

We completed the meal with 2 beverages which were really refreshing : on the left, it is the Tamarind (sweet and sour, but for the texture, it is thicker than water which doesn't please everyone - 1.50$). On the right, it is the Jamaica (Iced tea made from a tropical flower called Jamaica or Hibiscus - 1.50$), it is a very flavorful drink and not too sweet.

Note : Don't be fool with the size of their tacos, they seem small but you will be full at the end.

Rate :
Food : 4.5/5
Service : 3.5/5
Price/quality : 4/5
Overall : 13/15

Restaurant El Trompo
277, Augusta ave. (corner Oxford)
Toronto, ON
M5T 2M1
(416) 260-0097
http://www.eltrompo.ca/index1.html
(Menu available)

~V.Cat~

5000 ans - Korean Restaurant

Hey everybody,

After helping a friend to pack and move her boxes, we decided to have a supper at 5000 ans, a Korean restaurant close to her place. We were so tired and hungry, we would have been able to eat a whole cow :)

We ordered a combo Budae jigae (~25$) which include a ramen plate with sausages and kimchi and a bowl of bibimbap (vegetables and meat on the top of a stone bowl of rice which you have to mix before eating). The service was quick, but there were only 3 customers at the time we went.

 Stone plate with Ramen, pork, sausages, kimchi and vegetables.

When the broth boils, you mix it and wait until everything is cooked. Time to dig in! It was decent, the soup in which the ramen cooked tasted like the powder you find in the package you buy at the grocery store, so we were kind of disappointed. But we were totally full after the meal. Very filling!

Bibimbap

Nothing special about this bibimbap, the red sauce on it tasted too sweet for what I would have expected from a Korean restaurant. It seems it was gojuchang (korean spicy sauce) mixed with Ketchup, but a bit too much ketchup in my opinion.

Note : Usually, in the Korean restaurant, they used to serve some side dishes (kimchi, soybean sprouts, potatoes...), but in this one, I can't believe it they didn't :( Big  big disappointment!  

Will we go again? NO!

Rate :
Food : 3.5/5
Service : 4/5
Price/quality : 4/5
Overall : 11.5/15

5000 ans 

2176 Rue Sainte-Catherine West
Montreal, QC H3H 1M6

(514) 932-7565

~V.Cat~

Back to school giveaway

Hi everybody,

Allthingsforsale.com is having a giveaway contest. They sale various bento boxes and accessories. A new way to have a good start or to continue your healthy habits during school session --> bento boxes! Enjoy!

Giveaway - bento boxes

Cacao 70

Hello everybody,

So what's the best place to have a get together with a friend that you haven't seen for a while? Obviously, around chocolate (between girls, it's our péché mignon but which solved and comforted us so many times :P). Moreover, my friend LOVES when i say she loves, I really mean it : She LOVES chocolate! I think it will be difficult for her to chose between chocolate and her husband (just kidding). We choose Cacao 70 for the meeting place.

We both wanted to give a try to this new place, especially after hearing people said that it was better than Juliette & Chocolat. We didn't hold ourself for the order, we wanted to have sample of their various items on the menu, so we picked : «sharing sharing» (for two). Basically, it consists of «1/4 of triple chocolate pizza, banana split waffle, chocolate snacks, warm chocolate sauce, chocolate covered ice cream, strawberries, chocolate hazelnut wafers and milk chocolate fondue served with your own personal grill to roast the marshmallows» (28.95$+tx). I should have checked the description before ordering. It was a lot, a lot and a lot of chocolate, you have to love sweet in order to be able to finish that monster. 

Sincerely, we first received a sample of their chocolate in 2 glasses, it was thick and very chocolaty (milk chocolate). Appreciated but not impressive.

Then, come the chocolate snacks, warm chocolate sauce, chocolate covered ice cream, strawberries, chocolate hazelnut wafers and milk chocolate fondue served with our own personal grill to roast the marshmallows. The small balls in the center are crispy inside like puff rice covered with chocolate, nice texture change of texture.

Here is a closer look of the personal grill which I find it really cute and fun to roast our own marshmallow.

                                        

Sincerely, it was just good for two. But the waiter came with another huge plate with again a lot of chocolate. I thought I was going to have an heart attack with that much sweet (that's why I mentioned earlier that I should have checked the complete description...). However, my friend was super happy, so what do I have to say, let's enjoy it :)

Second plate and last one (fortunately for me) : 1/4 triple chocolate pizza, banana split waffle (the bananas were caramelized before being covered with chocolate, so it added a special touch),  warm chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream.

Comment : The waffle was just okay, not enough crispy according to me but tasted just fine. My friend loved the chocolate pizza which I found quite boring : just a basic dough covered with chocolate... bofff! There was too much chocolate, it all tasted the same at the end :(

Overall, for people loving chocolate, it is a place to go. Better than Juliette & Chocolat? not sure, they both are quite the same in my opinion, but simply offer different ways of serving the chocolate. Debate still on for fans of chocolate, let me know if you have a preference and why.

Note : I found it a bit pricey for the quality and for what we got.

Rate :
Food : 4/5
Service : 3.5/5
Price/quality : 3.5/5
Overall : 11/15

Cacao 70

2087 Ste. Catherine West

Montreal, QC H3H 1M6

http://cacao70.ca/

(Menu available)

~V.Cat~