Category: toronto

The Charms of the Farm – Why a CSA is the Best Way to Enjoy the Harvest

harvestparsley

It’s almost April, and everywhere you turn people are planning their gardens – mapping out plots, ordering seeds. It’s enough to make a yardless city gal a little bit jealous, and I know I’m not the only one experiencing garden envy.

For those of us who can’t grow our own food (or who have ambitious plans in April that never seem to include weeding in the 30°C temperatures of August), the next best thing is to find our very own farmer who will do it for us – weeding included.

Spring is also when farmers start planning their upcoming growing season and is the perfect time for customers looking to get involved with a Community Shared Agriculture(CSA) programme to find a farmer to work with.

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Sunday Brunch – Toba

Toba
243 King Street East
416-367-8622
Brunch for two including all taxes, tip and coffee: $43

I’m a sucker for a pretty face. While our reviews here at TasteTO generally focus on the food, service and décor always play a part in the overall experience. And while it’s usually the case that the artwork hanging in a restaurant will neither make or break the meal, I’ve got to admit that the wall of 50s pin-up girl paintings at Toba endeared the place to me – just a little. Six paintings line the east wall of the persimmon-coloured room, and all appear to be channeling pin-up artist Gil Elvgren. The works are unsigned and appear to be copies of some of Elvgren’s most well-known images; it’s clear someone is as enamoured of the collection as I am – the series also appears on Toba’s website.

But we didn’t come to Toba for the cheesecake, we came for the brunch, and an impressive brunch it was.

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Where Can I Find – Cake and Candy-Making Supplies

Despite the fact that we here at TasteTO have officially declared the cupcake to be soooo over (enough already, please?), it seems that more and more people are becoming interested in cake decorating. Based on the number of emails we get from places looking for coverage for their cupcake or baking business, it’s an industry that is taking on a life of its own. But with many equipment supply places open to the trade only, finding the necessary equipment and ingredients can be difficult, especially if you’re a home baker.

Sure, tracking down basic baking pans, plain cupcake papers and some simple cookie cutters is easy enough, but once you get into the serious stuff, special molds, pre-made fondants, specialty pans and decorative items might be more of a challenge.

Here’s a list of GTA-based businesses where aspiring pastry chefs and candy-makers can find their gear and supplies.

Nickolaau
629 Queen Street West
416-504-6411
This rabbit’s warren of restaurant equipment has lots of stuff for pastry making, from piping bags and tips, cake stands, palate knives and cake pans. It’s all professional quality gear, though, so don’t be surprised to blow the dust off that cake stand and discover that it’s $70.

Placewares, St. Lawrence Market
92 Front Street East
Toronto, ON M5E 1C4
416-603-1649
This is probably the easiest place to access in the downtown core, and they have everything from a huge wall of cookie cutters to piping bags, tips, cake pans and moulds, fondant sculpting tools, cupcake papers and (usually seasonal) decorations such as non-pareils and dragees. They also stock some colours of Wilton fondant.

Bulk Barn – Loblaws Leslie St. Market (and others)
17 Leslie Street
416-466-4512
Cake pans, including novelty shapes; they also offer a pan rental service if you know you’re never going to use that teddy bear cake pan again. They also have cookie cutters, icing paste and gels, cake decorating supplies, candy molds and couverture wafers, plus wedding, birthday and seasonal supplies.

McCall’s School of Cake Decorating
3810 Bloor Street West
416-231-8040
This is kind of the motherlode; pans, cutters utensils, gum paste, sprinkles, cake stands, moulds, food colouring, decorative paper products. They offer classes as well. Bonus – there’s online shopping if you can’t make it out there.

Katie’s Cakes
1531 O’Connor Drive
416-757-6896
Offers courses in everything from basic cake decorating to working with gumpaste and fondant.

Foodstuffs Inc.
89 Main Street South, Georgetown
905-877-6569
Technically out of the GTA but if you’re in the area, it’s a good source of baking pans, chocolate and candy-making supplies and cake-decorating equipment.

Images from the CFRA Trade Show 2009

Although we knew we weren’t going to be writing about the show itself for TasteTO, we still headed off to the Canadian Food and Restaurant Trade Show this past weekend to check stuff out and look for story ideas.

This is the largest food and restaurant trade show in Canada, with exhibitors promoting pretty much anything you would need if you ran a restaurant or food service operation. All the things people never even think about when they dream about opening a restaurant; from cutlery to chairs to dishwashers, computer systems and take out containers. The food section is full of packaged and processed foods, from frozen French fry vendors to bakeries offering bread and cakes. and of course things like condiments, coffee, or ingredients like baking chocolate… It’s a cornucopia of delights, with most of the food vendors handing out plentiful samples. We ate bite-sized versions of pizza, chicken wings, ice cream, cheesecake on a stick, prosciutto, dried fruit, yogurt, single-origin chocolate, pate, vegetarian caviar, panko-fried pickles, fruit cups, and Campbell’s high-end line of soups. Plus beer, fancy water, kool-aid slushies, coffee, tea, fancy soda… Then we came home and downed half a bottle of Pepto Bismol.

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Leash Laws Exist For a Reason

I was devastated when the news on television last night announced the death of a Toronto man and his two dogs when they were hit by a train. The man was walking along a train track in mid-town when one of his dogs ran onto the track. He jumped into the path of an oncoming train to try to grab the dog. His second dog followed behind him. The man and one of the dogs were killed instantly, the second dog was put down later on when it was determined its injuries were too serious.

The police that the various news reporters talked to cited trespassing as the main cause of the accident. The tracks are fenced off, but many people clip holes in the chain link fences to allow access to either cross the tracks or to walk alongside them. This isn’t unusual, it happens everywhere – we have a train track nearby and people constantly hop the fence to save themselves the extra two minutes it would take them to walk to the same spot via the streets. And until it was fenced off, many people in the neighbourhood with dogs, us included, would walk along the service road that ran alongside the tracks.

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How Do You Handle an Emergency?

This morning while waiting for a bus in front of my building, I heard a huge thud from the street. I turned around to see a car stopped in the centre lane and a girl on her hands and knees in the curb lane. Immediately the driver began screaming, even before he got out of the car. He made no effort to help her up, he just stood there in hysterics, screaming and crying.

The young woman made no noise at all as she tried to get enough breath to contemplate getting up. Another bystander and I rushed to help her. We checked to see if she was able to stand, directed the driver to move his car to the curb, and held her steady as she got to her feet. Through it all she was stoic, resistant even, wanting only to be on her way to her original destination. We tried to convince her to let us call an ambulance, to at least let the paramedics check her out. We urged her to stay and give a statement to police. She would have none of it, only promising to visit a doctor so that I’d leave her alone, and the other bystander walked her across the street and into my building where she was headed.

Meanwhile the driver continued to flip out. Through the conversation with the girl, I was also trying to calm the driver down. He stood there, screeching, “I’m sorry! Oh my God!” over and over again. It took me asking two or three times to find out if he had a cell phone. Four times I told him to call 911 while he fiddled with the phone, putting it back in his pocket and then pulling it out again. He never did place the call (no one else at the scene had a cell phone on them), and as the girl left the scene, he stood there wondering what to do.

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Where Can I Find? – Alfajores

In recent weeks I’ve bemoaned the lack of authentic Mexican and Latin American foods here in Toronto, but for some reason, alfajores are pretty easy to find.

This traditional cookie of Argentina may have had origins in the Middle East, and now variations of it exist throughout Spain and Latin America. Basically, it’s made from two thin but soft cookies (sort of a cross between cake and shortbread) with a layer of dulce de leche or jam in between. Traditionally they are dusted with powdered sugar, but regional variations have cropped up. In Mexico they roll the outer edge in coconut; some places coat the cookie sandwich in “snow” (a blend of egg whites and sugar); and it’s also not unheard of for alfajores to be coated in either white or dark chocolate, although they should not be confused with the Wagon Wheel desserts school kids used to get in their lunch boxes.

To find them in Toronto, the best place to head is Kensington Market. There’s always big stacks of both the coconut and snow versions on the counter at Jumbo Empanadas (245 Augusta Avenue). Next door at Perola’s Supermarket (247 Augusta Avenue), there’s also alfajores at the counter and these make a great dessert after a couple of of tacos from the ladies at the back (weekends only).

Other places these cookies can be found include Aroma Espresso Bar (500 Bloor Street West); La Merceria (506 Adelaide Street West); Chachy’s Peruvian Restaurant (5429 Dundas Street West) and Johny Banana (181 Bathurst Street).

My personal favourites show up only twice a year, at Christmas and Easter. The Community Folk Art Council of Toronto hosts events at City Hall featuring either Christmas or Easter traditions from various countries around the world. Each country has a display of food and decorations and also offers some food items for sale; the lady at the booth from Chile makes the best alfajores I’ve ever had.

Finally, in cruising Google, I’ve come across a couple of queries where people are looking for a particular brand of alfajores from Argentina called Havana. I’ve never seen these available anywhere in Toronto, but Perola’s would be the first place I’d look.

Thinking Outside the (Heart-Shaped) Box

I kind of hate Valentine’s Day. In a world where we should all be saying “I love you” any chance we can get, or where buying a partner flowers or candy should/could be a regular occurrence, there’s just way too much pressure to fill one particular day with a year’s worth of romance and caring. And because most people are out of practice when it comes to showing others that they care about them, they fall back on “tradition” (aka. the tacky and clichéd). So while, in truth, I don’t have too much problem with a heart-shaped box of assorted chocolates (I actually like the orange creams), so much of what falls into the standard Valentine’s Day gift list (a dozen red roses, champagne, romantic dinner for two) sort of makes me retch. Or at least roll my eyes and groan – and not in a good way.

Now while I can’t help readers with the other issues aside from advising that a gift that suits the recipient’s tastes is better than a gift that is simply “traditional” (ie. buy a cool plant or a bouquet of their favourite flower instead of those tacky roses; skip the teddy bear unless the giftee is under the age of 10; and wait until Sunday and go for a lovely brunch instead of getting shafted on an overpriced V-Day dinner…), I am able to recommend some non-traditional sweets and candies that show a lot more thought and creativity than a gift picked up at the gas station.

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Where Can I Find – Blintzes

My first experience with Jewish food was at an old Spadina landmark called Switzer’s. I lived in Kensington Market, and Switzer’s (which was one of a handful of Jewish delis in downtown that survived into the 80s) was right around the corner. It was here that I discovered the wonders of latkes, smoked meat sandwiches, egg creams and my beloved blintzes.

I remember that I ordered on a guess, going only by the description and an assurance from the waitress that they were delicious. When the ricotta and cream cheese-filled crepes arrived with their side dish of blueberry sauce, I was hooked, and for the remaining years that I lived in the market, I was a regular at the Jewish restaurants in the ‘hood, from KOS to the Bagel and Free Times Cafe.

As the delis got crowded out and moved on, blintzes became harder to find downtown. They don’t show up on the menu of the average greasy spoon; they’re one of those things that requires some hunting. I’ve been having a craving recently, and this is what I uncovered.

As the last Jewish deli holdout in the Spadina area, The Free Times Cafe (320 College Street) is probably a good place to start in a search for blintzes. In addition to their Sunday brunch buffet (which includes blintzes, latkes and gefilte fish), blintzes appear on their regular menu, both alone and combined with latkes (be still my heart!).

I’ve never tried the blintzes at United Bakers Dairy Restaurant (506 Lawrence Avenue West), but they’ve gotten very postive feedback on local food forums.

The blintzes at Dunn’s (284A King Street West) are passable in a pinch, although based on a review we did of brunch, their other breakfast offering might not be up to par.

I came across some Internet buzz that Canoe (66 Wellington Street West, 54th floor)  used to serve a dessert blintz stuffed with ricotta and hazelnut, but it no longer appears on their online menu.

Sadly, that seems to be it. The now defunct Shopsy’s used to serve blintzes, and I’m pretty certain that I once, years ago, had them at Fran’s in the middle of the night, but they’re off the menu there now.

It’s kind of a pitiful list, really, and makes me sad for the loss of the many downtown delis that shaped my love of Jewish food. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Free Times, though, so a visit there for blintzes is on my to-do list in the coming weeks.