yard sale-ing

I dropped into the annual Trinity Bellwoods yard sale on Saturday morning. It was busy (and hot!), but I scored a couple of sweet deals.

This General Food Kitchen Cookbook from 1959 was $1. Some of the recipes and pics are hilarious (who wants to fight for that sardine, boiled egg and tomato sandwich?) and uber-kitschy (where can I get a soup tureen that looks like a head of cabbage?).

I was really drawn to these needlepoint pieces for some reason. They were $1 each.

max's restaurant

Over the weekend, me and the fam trekked out to Vaughan for some Filipino food at Max's Restaurant. Max's is a chain in the Philippines and is known for it's fried chicken. At 8 p.m. on a Saturday night, we had to wait about an hour to get a table. Service was quite slow, but the food was classic Filipino deliciousness.

Max's teasers appetizer plate (Lumpiang Shanghai/Filipino springrolls, crispy calamari)

Our table

Whole Max's chicken

Garlic rice (fried rice with A LOT of garlic)

Lechon kawali (crispy deep-fried pork belly)

Pancit canton (stir fried egg noodles, vegetables, pork, chicken, shrimp)

Then onto dessert! We went for the Halo Halo, shaved ice topped with sweet beans, ube (yam) ice cream, jackfruit, coconut jelly, palm nuts, leche flan (caramel custard), evaporated milk and crunchy rice flakes.

And Buko Pandan, young coconut mixed with Pandan gelatin, condensed milk and Macapuno (a type of coconut) ice cream, topped with crunchy rice flakes.

Max's Restaurant

1520 Steeles Avenue W.

obsessed: speculoos spread

I've been obsessed with Speculoos spread since I picked up a jar in Paris. Growing up, Speculaas (those spicy, windmill shaped cookies) were a favourite amongst the Dutch side of my family. This spread has the same spicy taste, is the texture of peanut butter (even sticks to the roof of your mouth), and tastes mighty fine on toast. But my favourite way of eating it is on a spoon, straight out of the jar.

screaming for ice cream...sandwiches

Sometimes all you need is a good cookie to make a bad day better.

But when you've had a really bad day, you'll need something more. Like two cookies. And some ice cream in between.

saturday dim sum

Rol San doesn't have the cart ladies that I love so much, but the dim sum is always fresh and consistent. Plus, even though you'll most likely have to wait in line if it's a weekend, the dishes come out fast. Our table was overflowing with baskets and plates just 10 minutes after ordering.

Rol San

323 Spadina Ave.

sweets & treats

I fear that over the last few weeks I've developed quite the sweet tooth. One culprit? Caramel au beurre salé from Paris. It's rich, sweet and slightly salty. It's perfection really.    

* salted caramels (so good that I'm rationing them and kicking myself for not picking up more)

* Franck Kestener "Atlantique" dark chocolate bar w/ salted caramel and crisp butter cookie

I picked up a couple of the above bars at A L'Etoile d'Or, a small shop in Montmartre. The owner, Denise Acabo (pictured below) is a sweetheart. She showed me clippings of publications she's been featured in, asked me which blogs I've seen her on, and I loved how she would suggest chocolates for me then sample a few right there saying she was hungry. I guess she never got sick of eating chocolate.

* A L'Etoile d'Or

30, rue Fontaine (9th)

Paris

easy preserving

I haven't started any real preserving since not a lot of fruit and veggies are in season yet, but I did make a simple apple jam recently as a spread for a pork belly sandwich. It's pretty quick to make and tastes like applesauce, but with the texture of a thick jam. I used this honey lemon apple jam recipe, but divided it in half.

* pork belly (using the Momofuku technique but with skin on for crunchy crackling)

* pork belly sandwich

I also ran out of candied jalapenos last month (because I dropped an entire jar and it smashed all over my floor), so I promptly made some more. When I made these last time, I didn't remove the seeds, which resulted in some wickedly spicy pepper rings. This time I de-seeded about half.

And here is some Vietnamese pickled carrot and daikon that I made. These are quick pickles and you can eat them about an hour after making them. I added them to a refreshing cold soba noodle salad.

musée de la chasse

While we were in Paris we visited the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (the hunting and nature museum) due to a recommendation from a friend who said it was really cool. It's not as well known as the Louvre or Pomidou and I think it has only been open to the public since 2007, so it's pretty quiet and a perfect getaway from the crowds. The museum has three floors and houses an extensive collection of art, hunting relics and taxidermy. It was a neat way to see the role hunting had in France (and Europe) throughout the years. 

Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature

62 rue des Archives (4th)

Paris

paris, je t'aime

There are so many things that I love about Paris. The relaxed pace of life. Sitting on terraces for hours drinking wine. Strolling through the different arrondissements and finding hidden corners, markets and cafes. Picnics in the parks. The first crunchy bite of a baguette. Runny cheeses! The butter! Those pastries! Macarons! I miss Paris so much already. 


Some of my favourite eats this time around:

(clockwise from top left) 

Salade gascon from Le Relais Gascon: Under that layer of garlicky fried (probably in duck fat) potatoes was a large chunk of foie gras, slices of smoked duck and then the usual salad stuff.

Falafel from L'As du Fallafel: Crispy falafels topped with pickled cabbage, fried eggplant, cucumbers and hummus. The sandwich makers here have their technique down pat: they layer falafels, vegetables and sauce throughout so everything gets mixed properly.

Rotisserie chicken + potatoes from Rue Mouffetard: There are vendors along the Rue Mouffetard that have rotisseries full of chickens. As the chickens cook, their juice fall onto a huge tray of potatoes. It's easy to get mesmerized watching the rotisseries turn, turn, turn. Oh, and the chicken and potatoes are da bomb.

Pâtissier stohrer

Pâtissier Stohrer is supposedly one of the oldest pâtisseries in Paris. I had a hard time deciding on what to get, but settled on a croissant (flaky and perfect), a chocolate eclair (not shown, but believe me, delicious) and a puits d'amour or "well of love", a flaky pastry shell filled with vanilla bean studded custard and topped with a layer of crackly caramel similar to a crème brulée.

(clockwise from top left)

Millefeuille from Fauchon: layers of puff pastry and pastry cream (Joe's fav Parisian treat).

Canelé (a custard-y, slightly chewy pastry with a deep, caramelized outer shell) and Chausson aux pommes (apple turnover) from Paul a chain of boulangeries/pâtisseries (this was for the train ride back to London.)

Macarons from Pierre Hermé. The ones pictured above are lemon, pistachio, salted caramel and asparagus with walnut oil (a seasonal flavour that surprisingly worked!). 

Some of our best meals were spent sitting in a park eating cheese, bread and fruit from a local market. This spread was bought at La Grand Epicerie.

* Le Relais Gascon

6 rue des Abbesses (18th)

Paris

* L'As du Fallafel

34 rue des Rosiers (4th)

Paris

* Pâtissier Stohrer

51 rue Montorgueil (2nd)

Paris

* Fauchon

24-26 place de la Madeleine (8th)

Paris

* Paul

over 300 locations 

* Pierre Hermé

72 rue Bonaparte (6th)

Paris

* La Grand Epicerie

38 rue de Sèvres (6th)

Paris

tea time

On our last day in London, we made reservations for afternoon tea at The Lanesborough hotel. It was pretty pricey (around $60 per person), but it felt like a truly unique, old-time London experience—complete with crust-less finger sandwiches and fancy-dancy pastries. Plus we had to dress up, which is always fun once in a while.

Assam supreme tea

Pre-dessert of vanilla panna cotta with chocolate cream, chocolate biscuit and mango  

Three tiers of goodies

Savouries: chicken and sundried tomato, egg salad on brioche, cucumber and cream cheese, smoked salmon with herbed cream cheese on beet bread, ham and sharp cheddar on cranberry bread, mini caramelized onion and blue cheese quiches

Cakes: red velvet with cream cheese, blueberry with white chocolate and lavender, chocolate with ginger 

Pastries: sorry, I can't remember exactly what these were (but they were yummy!)

Scones (plain + raisin) and toasted raisin tea cake

Clotted cream, lemon curd, strawberry preserves

The scones were definitely the highlight for me. They came to the table warm and I spooned generous amounts of the thick clotted cream on each bite. When the waiter asked us if we wanted seconds, we did not hesitate to say yes. I was tempted to eat the leftover cream straight off the spoon—but classy ladies don't do that kind of thing.

The Lanesborough

Hyde Park Corner

London, U.K