Drake's Corner Cafe

Hello from Toronto (still) everyone! I know, I've been slacking on my posts a bit, but Chloaye, Tatomme and I have just been doing so much every single day...the blog has been the last thing on my mind! I thought I'd update you a bit though with what noms are going down in Ontario (there have been quite a few). 

Here's one place that is definitely worth mentioning from this trip: Drake's Corner Cafe, which is part of the Drake Hotel on Queen Street West.

To start things off, I have to say that the Drake is one of the most unique and beautiful hotels I've ever seen. We browsed around the lobby and lounge a bit, and Tate informed us that each major section of the hotel is designed by a different artist. It was gorgeous. Since it was the middle of the day, we opted for the hotel's cafe instead of their bar (which was stunning).

The cafe portion was a cute little spot with an inspiring and eclectic food menu, impressive fresh juice list and unique and delicious drinks.

The cafe itself was impressive also, you could definitely feel the emphasis the hotel has on arts and culture in this little spot!

The ceiling was covered with a tangle of old bike pieces, it was beautiful!

To start things off and wake myself up a bit, I had a big cup of coffee that kept on gettin' refilled (often). 

After Tatomme's explanation of how she's heard from numerous people that the mac and cheese was incredible at this spot, I had to go for it.

I'm so happy I did! This huge bowl of mac and cheese was made with a perfect homemade 4 cheese sauce, yummy fresh peas, and topped with deliciously flavored bread crumbs (which I love on pasta).

Tatomme and Chloaye both ordered the same thing, Matzo ball soup (I told you it was eclectic), which I tried...and it was incredible. 

Drake's Corner Cafe was such a lovely little spot for a nice coffee and bite to eat before heading back out to peruse the numerous vintage shops in the West Queen West neighborhood. And I'm glad I got to snoop around the Drake hotel that I'd heard all about from many people!

I hope you're all enjoying your reading weeks as much as I'm enjoying mine!

xoxo

Mariel

Sugar-Free Week: Day 1

Hello all! So it's the end of my very first sugar free day, boy was adjusting difficult! First of all, I have to say how this is making me realize how much sugar I really do consume on a daily basis...every time I went to reach for a meal or a snack, it was so tough consciously picking something with no sugar in it!

It all started with breakfast. For some reason, at the time, I didn't remember that eggs exist...which would've been the obvious choice. But, with my lack of memory, I whipped up a pretty dry breakfast of white cheddar rice crackers topped with cheddar cheese and cucumber slices, dusted with salt and pepper. With this I had an apple cut into slices, which I dipped into almond/cashew butter. This natural sweet treat is actually so delicious! I was very happy when I read the almond/cashew butter label and saw that there was no added sugar. I don't know if I could live without that stuff!

The worst part of the morning was the black coffee...I just couldn't handle it. I think we may buy really cheap coffee...I guess it does come in 3 pound cans... Anyways, I just couldn't stomach the horrible bitter taste and couldn't finish my morning cup.

Later in the morning I was hungry after my light breakfast, and still a little groggy due to my lack of morning caffeine. A snack was in need! I nommed on a banana, a piece of rye toast with butter and cinnamon on it, and a mug of chai tea with milk only. I needed to get that caffeine into my system!

I love Superstore...

Then came lunch. I was busy working away on my essay that was due at midnight tonight, so I just had a yummy little sandwich that Dad had made for me this morning. I think he used sopressata salami and provolone cheese. With this, I had a big glass of water. By the way, this is another thing I'm going to challenge myself to do during this week of no sugar...I am going to attempt to drink 8 glasses of water a day!

After a day full of fairly light noms all around, it was finally dinner. I could barely wait for dinner tonight! We had an Indian rice/vegetable dish and chicken quickly baked in the oven. It could not get on the table fast enough!

We used a nice mix/paste for the rice and vegetables, it was really good! A little spicy...but tasty.

The package came with a little pouch of  a bunch of whole spices and dried herbs to "season" the pan before cooking up the vegetables, I thought that was kind of neat! The pack included a bit of cinnamon, some gigantic bay leaves, anise, and cardamom. It smells wonderful cooking up in the butter!

Then we added in the vegetables that had been marinating in the paste that came in the package. We used green beans, cauliflower and carrots.

When the vegetables are all cooked after a good simmer in the pan, you mix these flavorful veggies with some rice:

And soon enough the chicken was done, too, and dinner was served!

I did it! No sugar today. It was difficult, but it definitely is do-able...I can do this! I even drank the 8 glasses of water today, too! Now only 6 more days to go of this sugar-free lifestyle...

xoxo

Mariel

Beaches and Sunshine and Seafood

Hey folksies! Today was such a gorgeous day, I cannot believe it! It is good and bad: good obviously because it was so warm that I got HOT in just my hoodie walking along the sun lit beach, and bad because it does not feel like Christmas at all today! Just look at this...I feel like it's summer!

Tatomme, Chloaye, Ian and I went for a nice little walk on the beach this morning (pretty shortly after I woke up, so I didn't have a chance to eat any breakky) and it was SO BEAUTIFUL!

Here's a little picture of my gorgeous cousins and I!

And here is a picture of my slightly "out of it" little brother and I...

And here is proof that I've always got my blog in mind! You have no idea how many pictures I take now a days (especially since I've over come my public photo taking fear)...today alone I took 245 photos!!!

This is my favorite beach in the whole world...mainly because there are SO MANY edibles on it! For example: it's a little chilly for wading in December, but in the summer when the tide is low you can wade right out and catch amazing, delicious dungeness crabs!

Also in the wonderful summer months, you can go clamming and fill bucketfuls full of these delicious little creatures!

And of course...oysters! But you already know all about these puppies! I am very happy that ONE of these three seafoods are easily attainable during the winter months!

Look at these girls...so incredible! And this beach and the weather!

Side note...I have recently taught myself to crochet...and I whipped up these little mittens on this little vacay! I am quite proud of them...

After our walk we headed back to the condo for a little bit of lunch! Aunty Daphne made this amazing soup, and I had it with a rice cracker with cream cheese, cucumber slices and salt and pepper! Delicious and filling, and good healthy fuel for the afternoon's busy schedule!

After running around doing a couple of errands, we finally got back on track doing some "food related" activities! We went to this great little fresh seafood place in French Creek to pick up some things for dinner...of course we have to have a huge seafood feast before we head off to Victoria! This seafood store is great, it's just tucked away in the marina at French Creek where all the fishing boats dock. It was so pretty there by the time we had gotten there! Industrial...but pretty industrial.

Here's the ocean view from the French Creek, just incredible.

This was a little spot of rust on a dumpster by the fish store...but it was so pretty I thought.

After we stocked up on HOARDS of seafood at the marina for dinner, we drove inland a bit to Cathedral Grove to go for a little walk amongst the humungous cedars! Inland there was a little bit of snow on the moss and trees which was a little bit of a surprise!

Here is the WHOLE Flan gang at Cathedral Grove...I love my family!

And the classic shot...

Our little walk really worked up an appetite, so it was straight home afterwards to cook up the feast! We started off toasting up a little bread with olive oil to sop up the delicious broth from the seafood.

Uncle Peter volunteered to cook up the seafood, so I helped out with salad duty. It was just a super simple salad: romaine, tomatoes, green and orange pepper, and parmesan.

The dressing was just olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little dijon, salt and pepper and (this is weird...but it tasted really yummy...) caesar drink rimmer!

Tonight to drink there was more wine, more caesars, and the addition of some tasty vodka sodas!

Here's a shot of Uncle Peter (literally) whipping up some food...doin' a little deglazing.

I have to admit, us girls were a little worried about his cooking techniques at some points of the preparation, for example when we said "did you de-beard the mussles?" and he replied "what's debearding?!?!", but our insecurities in his seafood quickly vanished when we saw the final product...and then tasted it! Oh my god!

He presented us with a huge pot of mussels, clams and scallops steamed to perfection in a beautiful butter, garlic, red curry, coconut milk and white wine broth. It was the perfect combination of a little heat, richness and complexity...as well as montrous volume...there was SO much food!

On top of that he also fried up some halibut and snapper! It was equally incredible. He fried it up in sesame oil, and topped it off with a little more red curry paste. Wow.

Oh yeah...we had some crab steamed up too...Oh my god!

Look at this plate!!!

The feast of seafood was so wonderful...one of the most flavorful, delicious meals I have had in a while! I love seafood so much you have no idea. Especially seafood while in Parksville! With my amazing family.

Mmm...

Anyways, LOTS of pictures for today! I have many more to come too! I wonder how large the Christmas dinner post will be...I can't wait.

xoxo

Mariel

Parksville and Smoked Salmon and Cake Mix Cookies

Hello everybody! Finally a new post! I didn't get a chance to post anything the past two days because I was busy packing for, and then getting to Parksville! Well I'm here now...and so incredibly happy to be. First of all...it's about +10 (alot more comfortable than -50...) and there is no snow (hello flats, goodbye [f]uggs)! Anyways that's about enough non-food talk for today, I have quite a few food-a-licious pictures from today that you must peruse!

This is actually the harbour in Naniamo, not Parksville, but that's okay. You will see Parksville pictures soon enough.

We got onto the island pretty late last night so we had to do a little grocery shopping today, but as everyone knows, grocery shopping on an empty stomach is not a good idea...so we headed into Naniamo for a little bite to eat before we went! We ended up going to Modern Cafe, where we'd never been before. It is the cutest little cafe/restaraunt! I was so excited to have found it! It's right downtown Naniamo.

To drink I had a nice cup of coffee...with a ton of cream and sugar...

They bring your water in old wine bottles, it's such a cute idea! Everything about this place was adorable! Great old brick walls, perfect lighting, pretty art, and a wonderful eclectic mix of seating (booths, cozy little coffee sipping corners, nice tall tables).

I just felt like something relatively light for lunch, so I had the smoked salmon wrap.

It was nice and light, but not at all plain! In the wrap there was: smoked salmon (obviously), spinich, red onion, deep fried wontons (such a good idea...the crunch was so yummy) and a delicious homemade garlic aioli. It came with amazing fries and a tasty little caesar! 

I had to take a picture of my Mom's halibut burger...look at the size of this thing!

I ended up having dessert too... (any excuse to linger at this wonderful little spot). I had a wonderful creation that was: tempura battered bananas served with caramel and vanilla bean ice cream. It was heavenly. 

Apparently Mod Cafe is known for their home made cheesecakes, and they have a different flavor every week. This week was cappucinno cheesecake, and that's what Ian had! I never got to have a taste (thanks, Ian) but it looked nice so I took a picture...

We browsed around the cute little shops downtown after lunch, and in one store I stumbled across this little gem: a foodie Christmas tree! Isn't it great?? All the ornaments were FOOD! I wanted to buy them all so badly...

And yes, as you can see, I have overcome my fear of taking numerous pictures in public places of odd things now! This is very good news for the blog.

So cute! After we finished browsing, we finally got around to doing the grocery shopping. When we were at our favorite grocery store...Super Store...I made sure to pick up some boxes of cake mix so I could still do a little baking with limited supplies! I picked out some things to toss into my baked goods in the bulk section too, so I could have a little variety!

I whipped up a batch of my cake mix cookies tonight, these ones I made with white cake mix, shredded coconut and chocolate chips!

These things are slowly becoming my number one favorite thing to bake...they are so fast, and tasty! And they are probably one of the cheapest cookies you can get you're hands on. $1.18 for a box of cake mix, and then just the 1/2 cup of butter or margarine, and the 2 eggs!

Anyways that is about it for my culinary adventures today! Now that we have a stocked fridge, and I'm not going anywhere for a little while, I am sure that I will be cookin' up a storm once again!

xoxo

Mariel