Get ready...More pie!

As I become more and more dedicated (read: obsessed) with pie, this blog may take an undetermined recess on all other topics until I get my fix. Pictured above are local Mutsu apples. Being unbelievably large and very green, these guys draw you right in with a cartoon-like apple-ish glow. The Mutsu has a mellow sweetness and just enough crispness to suggest it would do well in an apple pie, and as bonus, I only needed to slice up four in order to fill the eight inch shell below.

And more experimentation...

And for some most exciting news: I will be selling chocolate pies at the Dufferin Grove Farmers market, at the Chocosol stand, every Thursday from 3 to 7pm. Prepare to be teased:

See you Thursdays!

PIE PIE PIE

Here are some Thanksgiving pies. Pumpkin pie, sugar pie with apple, and a covered apple pie with homemade plum jam. It sure is hard to do pies justice with a camera!

All ready to be packed up!

Well hello to anyone still out there!!! Turns out my attempt at blogging panned out similarly to my childhood attempts at diary keeping: difficulties in reconciling the somewhat narcissistic act of recording everything to due with ME, left me feeling bored and self-conscious.

That being said, I have still been photographing my noshing endeavors, and am anxious to post my most recent and favorite hobby. Lately I have been obsessed with pie. From start to finish, baking pies allow for tremendous relaxation, meditation and satisfaction. They taste so good too!!

Here's a sequence of photos dedicated to the good ol' apple streusel:

The Black Hoof

When you're feeling carnivorous, the Black Hoof has your fix. Delicious food, perfectly prepared, I always want everything on the menu but am usually full after two items (probably all that protein fills me right up). The cocktails are some special too. Very flavourful and very alcoholic, they require that you sip em' slow. Also a nice selection of beers at reasonable prices.

Meanwhile, I'm always somewhat surprised by the good behavior and temperament of the Toronto dining crowd at this restaurant. While the tables are very close together, it's always busy like crazy and there's no parking or reservations, I never hear anyone complaining. The menu is small and mostly meat (I'm not talking about pork chops here, meat as in brains, sweetbreads, livers, hearts, you name it), the diners order without modifications and they eat what they are given and never send anything back. Kudos to Torontonians on this one, and a big congrats to the Black Hoof for a job well done!

My first ever Manhattan. Tasted just how I always dreamed it would! Next to it is a Denisons Weissbier, cold, refreshing and banana-y.

Beautiful Charcuterie! Exceptionally buttery slice of foie gras pate, bison and blueberry salami, rabbit-something, duck prosciutto, and my favorite: horse mortadella. Comes with pickles of all kinds! Fennel, beet, cauliflower, carrot! I could eat all pickles! More pickles! Forever and ever...

OHHHH what a treat this was!!! Tongue sandwich on brioche with aioli, pickled celery and grape mustard. This was the best damn meat sandwich I've had since last eating at Montreal's Lesters and Shwartz's. For all you Torontonians wanting access to a good smoked meat sandwich, this tongue will give you what you need. It's a bit of a challenge to eat mind you, since the brioche really starts to crumble, but I've never been opposed to a good challenge.

Soup and snacks

Chinese Traditional Buns is an adventure in deliciousness. Don't really know what you're ordering or eating half the time, but the tastes are extraordinary. Great care is taken into the preparation of each dish, as easily observed by the diners vantage point into the restaurant's open kitchen. Everything is also home-made. Noodles are hand-stretched and and hand cut, dumplings are prepared to order, multiple sauces are ladled into dishes as finishes, and the service makes you feel welcome and at home.

Warm soy milk and green tea get you all warmed up and ready for what comes...

Chinese Traditional Buns has the most amazing soup dumplings I've ever had. Explosions of flavour and juicy soup! These buns are pork and shrimp.

This is a pulled pork on mini pita-like bread sandwich. This is the one thing that I MUST have every time. Savory and mouthwatering.

This braised pork belly in pancake has a sweet sauce and is wrapped up with green onion and other unknown stuff (deconstruction of the meal was not a priority when savouring and eating was first concern). The texture of the pancake which had been slightly charred was like a chapati.

Condiments! Must have condiments! I love condiments. Chinese Traditional Buns has a great vinegar and hot sauce which I mix together and dip everything into!!! Mouahahaha!

Alright this dish is a show stopper. Again, these noodles are handmade, and hand-stretched. The dish is described as vegetarian, probably to indicate the existence of vegetables such as bok choy and tiny macerated mushrooms, however there is surely pork included as well. Wonderful, harmonious, pork. This dish sings, in all domains of texture, flavour, presentation. This dish has it all. I want more.

Ah! And for the grand finale, home-made noodle and mutton soup. Perfectly tender and tasty mutton and refreshing broth makes this soup oh so comforting. This would be stellar in the winter but still happy to eat in the summer since I'm a soup monster. Oh CTB, I love you.

Souvlaki is a beautiful thing

Whenever I am in Montreal, I seem to quickly accrue a list of restaurants and foods that I must sample before my time in the city is up. Montreal smoked meat, Fairmont bagels, "Au Pied due Cochon," "Gibby's," all kinds of bakeries, Indian, Pakistani, Guyanese, "Orange Julep", Lebanese, greasy spoon breakfast at "La Binerie Mont Royal,".....

The list can go on and on and on....

All this to tell you that if I can't have it all, I only want one thing food-wise when I am in Montreal: Souvlaki!!!! Doesn't have to be fancy (although Montreal has some AMAZING fancier greek joints), just has to be garlicky, and juicy and smoky-charred and fresh.

Simple put, "Elatos" on Jarry St., has some of the best souvlaki ever.

Elatos offers pork and chicken souvlaki. Their chicken is without exception some of the most deliciously marinated and off the wall juiciest. Besides the standard souvlaki in pita, Elatos also offers three specials. These include pork and chicken souvlaki with french fries and feta (along with the regular accoutrements of tzatziki, tomato and onion). The third special is a pork and lamb gyro pita with french fries, feta, tzatziki, tomato, onion, AND MUSTARD!! I've been kind of obsessed with mustard these days, and was feeling adventurous, so I ordered the chicken souvlaki elatos special WITH mustard. It was wonderful.

Elatos has great greek salad dressing. I love greek salad. So refreshing.

We also ordered a small plate of gyro and tzatziki with toasted pita to make impromptu little sandwiches. The gyro is mainly pork with a light contribution of lamb. Just enough to deepen the taste and make their gyro extra savory.

I miss you already Elatos!!