picnic time

My long weekend was filled with overdue cleaning, errands and catching up on sleep. Not super exciting, but we did make sure to spend one sunny afternoon at the park having a relaxing picnic. Once we laid out the blanket, I brought out the yummy eats: devilled eggs, a fat muffuletta sandwich (influenced from when Seema blogged about the deliciousness that is the muffuletta) and some rice krispie treats.

For the muffuletta, I loosely followed this recipe. What resulted was a mega-flavourful sandwich explosion! 

Layers of meat (sweet soppresata salami, capicola and mortadela), cheese (provolone) and a sweet/salty/spicy mixture made of giardiniera, olives, roasted peppers and capers. It's a serious sandwich that's for sure. I'll definitely be making this bad boy again.

Instead of regular rice krispie treats, I made a white chocolate cake batter version—basically a cake mix infused rice krispie treat. They were a sweet addition to a great summer picnic.

white chocolate cake batter rice krispie treats

5 tbsp butter
6 C rice krispie cereal
5 C marshmallows (more or less depending on how gooey you want them)
1/2 C dry cake mix (I used rainbow chip)
1 1/2 C white chocolate, chopped
rainbow sprinkles

1. Melt the butter and add the marshmallows, stirring constantly until melted. Stir in cake mix.

2. Add in the cereal and stir until evenly coated.

3. Press into a baking pan (8 x 11) and set aside.

4. Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. Spread over the treats. Scatter sprinkles over the top and let cool.

foodstuffs

Some random food-related pics from this past week:

1. Trying out a new flavour of Pretz from Sanko. Supposedly black pepper chicken. Tasted like peppery chicken bouillon. Oh well. The melon cream(y) soda was pretty refreshing.

2. A new-ish addiction: milk chocolate covered toasted corn from Soma. Salty and sweet, I polished off this bag in no time.

3. The first scoops of the summer at The Big Chill. So many flavours! 

I settled on watermelon sherbert and pistachio kulfi. Can't believe I've never been here before.

4. Maxwell getting his first taste (ok, more like whiff) of an original steamer hot dog from The Little Dog (conveniently located beside The Big Chill).

It was a good week! 

100 days old

Over the weekend, Maxwell turned 100 days old. And because he's half Korean, we decided to throw him a baek-il party. You can read about this Korean tradition here, but basically it's a celebration of a baby surviving its first 100 days (back in the day a lot of babies didn't make it to 100 days, so it was a reason to celebrate). We weren't planning on marking this milestone, but then I thought about how great of a memory it would be for Maxwell, so we rushed around and got everything the day before. It was a sweet little party for three! 

The table included Korean Shingo pears and a baby watermelon (there's always fruit on a Korean celebration table), Asian snacks, sticky rice cakes, and the requisite baby photos.

The sweet Korean rice cakes (tteok)are a must. I like the really soft and chewy ones stuffed with red beans (the tan, white and brown ones). The shiny green, red and pink ones have a liquid honey centre. The cake-like multi-colour slices are much drier, not very sweet at all and even though they look mighty pretty, they're definitely my least favourite.

We also had a very non-traditional (but delicious) ice cream cake with two kinds of ice cream inside: cookies and cream and gold medal ribbon. 

The party continued the next day thanks to Maxwell's halmoni and halabujee (grandma and grandpa in Korean). They brought even more rice cakes, fruit, kimbap, and two cakes.

Halmoni made a traditional steamed rice cake that says "100 day celebration" in Korean lettering made out of dates.

We love you not-so-little Mundoo! You make us smile and laugh every day!

an afternoon in parkdale

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another year

Sometimes when Mundoo is crying, I say, “I understand. You’ve only been on this earth for two and a half months, everything must be terrifying! Can you believe I’ve been here for 33 years?” Well, let’s make that 34 now. Over the weekend, I celebrated a low-key birthday. I treated myself to a new iPhone (!!!) and spent the day with my two favourite boys. We capped off the evening with some cake and dirty Chinese food (you know, the deep-fried everything and red sauce-type of Chinese food). Sometimes it sooo hits the spot. 

to the market

Getting out of the house when it's winter and you have a new baby is tough. Like, really tough. But now that I'm more comfortable with my little Mundoo, I've been bundling him up, strapping him into the baby carrier, and trying to take him out on little adventures at least a couple of times a week. It's been great for both of us. Earlier this week we ventured out to Kensington Market. First stop, the new-to-the-market, Nu Bügel, for wood-fired, Montreal-style bagels. 

Then a quick perusal at Good Egg. Man, do I want this set of Falcon enamelware.

The market is always a fun place to walk around. It's a bit too busy for me on the weekends, so I appreciate being able to go on a weekday.

And finally, a visit to Hogtown Charcuterie. Cured meats, pâtes and terrines, and get this, a "fermentation station" lined with pickles! I grabbed a pair of their sausage rolls (really tasty) and can't wait to sample more of their goods.

Stay tuned for more of our little outings as the weather warms up!

checking in

It's been all about baby around these parts which means I've done next to no cooking or baking and definitely haven't been going out for any good meals lately. But who cares when you have a healthy, happy (for the most part), growing babe!

Luckily, for Valentine's Day/Joe's 35th birthday, my mom volunteered to babysit so that Joe and I could sneak away for a quick lunch down the street at Milagro. The appetizers were the most memorable part of the meal: a delicious ceviche of octopus, shrimp and crab, and a chunky guacamole served with crispy tortilla chips. 

We ended the day with a simple vanilla birthday cake from Dufflet and my two Valentines. 

what's really been cooking

Blogging has taken a bit of backseat here these last few weeks. But it's with good reason: in a matter of weeks (eek!) Joe and I will be welcoming our first baby into our little family. It's an exciting time, but also a stressful time. Luckily we are blessed with great friends and family which definitely makes things easier. I'm going to try my best to keep up with posting and I semi-promise that this won't become a baby blog (I may not be able to resist showing you some of the awesome prezzies I've been receiving for our baby dude), but if it goes quiet over here, at least now you know what's up. In the meantime, here are some shots from the baby shower that Adam and Davis threw me. They know that cured meats and cheese are the way to my heart. 

five guys

I think that Five Guys may be my new favourite burger spot. But only for their burgers. Not that their fries are bad (they're not, they're just not my fave), but their burgers are awesome. I'd classify these burgers as a step up from fast food, but not the same as the "gourmet burgers" that come with all kinds of crazy toppings. When you walk in there are bags of roasted peanuts for munching on (free!) But if you're allergic, be warned that they also cook their fries in peanut oil.

I went for the cheeseburger (not to self: a regular cheeseburger here is actually a double). And got it topped with ketchup, mayo, extra pickles and grilled onions. I loved the fact that none of their toppings cost extra (even the grilled onions or mushrooms). And they use my beloved processed cheese! Cheeseburgers are so much better with processed cheese.

The juicy hand-formed burgers are grilled on a flat top to order and are really messy to eat. Next time, I'll go for the "little cheeseburger" (one patty), which I think would be the perfect sized burger.

Five Guys

Locations throughout Ontario