A Few Thoughts from the Princess....

So…this is my very first blog….ever. They say you should write about something you know and love, and there isn’t much I know and love more than food, wine and spirits (and my Chef). As Chef mentioned in the intro, we are not food snobs. I grew up with a relatively broad palate, having been reared in an Eastern European household with a wide variety of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences due to my parents’ extensive travels prior to landing on the shores of our great nation. Here are a few things about me to give you an idea of where my points of view are coming from…..
• Having travelled a fair bit myself, I am open to new tastes and experiences but I have my limits. No bull testicles, or goat brains for this princess, I can’t even handle liver.
• I love wine, I mean, really love wine. I don’t believe that expensive = quality, and I’ve found lots of bottles that are inexpensive, smooth and pair perfectly with or without food.
• My favourite veggie is spinach. It’s so versatile and maybe I love it so much because my Mom often made homemade spanikopita which was my very favourite treat.
• Bread….sigh. The bane of my existence. I have a love/hate relationship with it. Love the smell, the feel of a crusty artesian baguette, the caraway seeds from the rye loaf that get stuck in my teeth. It’s just so versatile….you can eat it plain, toasted, with an endless number of toppings, dipped in soup or sauce, in salads as croutons, or warm out of the oven lovingly smothered with freshly churned butter. It’s comforting….who didn’t get ‘toast and tea’ as a kid when they were sick or come home from school at lunch to a grilled cheese sandwich (back in the day when kids could go home for lunch). The problem is that bread doesn’t always love me back. Apparently it’s not a good dietary decision to make it the central component of every meal, even though that is quite easily accomplished.
• Pasta – see ‘bread’ above.
• Meat/poultry – essential like water. If I am going to eat liver, it needs to be in the form of fois gras or liverwurst. (I like them both, see? Not a snob.)
• I don’t know the name of every ingredient in a dish or remember the name of every bottle of wine.
• Value – like Chef said, we don’t mind paying a good buck for a meal. But I can’t stress enough that there has to be value for the money. This is a key principle for me.

We will blog about our ‘wow ‘experiences (not to be confused with an ‘aha’ moment) around food and dining. It won’t always be about food, it might be about a great server or exquisite décor. Could be about anything that caused us to think, or more often, say out loud ‘wow…..(fill in the blank) was fantastic/decedent/delicious/gorgeous’. We all experience moments that we’d rather forget, but we don’t want to focus on those, unless we think our followers need to know as a matter of public safety.

Here are some notable ‘wow’ moments from the past few weeks, just to get you caught up…..

Lisbon by Night – somehow good dining experiences in Toronto are often associated with new, slick, trendy and fashionable places. Thank goodness that isn’t always the case. Lisbon by Night is a throw back to restaurants we went to with our parents…. bulky chairs, lots of photos and memorabilia on the wood paneled walls, chunky, sturdy cutlery and dinnerware. This Portuguese restaurant combines great food, excellent service, live entertainment, and a lively, friendly atmosphere to give diners a thorough ‘wow’ experience. We were at the corner of Dundas St. and Bathurst St. and yet, for a few hours, felt oceans away from Toronto. Food – excellent with special mention for the sardines, Portuguese sausage appetizer, grilled grouper and Vera’s home made dessert (although we are told the recipe was originally her sister Carmen’s). Chef had the Fish Rodizio which is a constant flow of nine different kinds of perfectly grilled succulent fish and seafood from sea bream to shrimp, accompanied by rice, tomato, cilantro and onion salsa, and grilled pineapple. We had white port as an aperitif which was a nice change from our usual favorite martini, and went surprisingly well with all the apps. Not knowing much about Portuguese wine, Carmen, our perfectly attentive and knowledgeable server, helped us select a great bottle of white (sorry, don’t remember the name). We switched back to port with our dessert, and she brought us a special treat – a 1978 port which was smooth, not overly sweet and perfect with Vera’s home made dessert (layers of light fluffy mousse with a graham cracker crumble and chocolate). Throughout this mouth watering meal, we were entertained by a very talented duo that played quite a selection from Pink Floyd to traditional Portuguese music. Of course, there was a small dance floor and it was wonderful to see people up dancing. You just don’t find that kind of experience in the city very often and we would go back in a heartbeat. If you are looking for little taste of Europe in the city, check out www.lisbonbynightrestaurant.com.

Liquor Tastings at Toronto Temperance Society www.torontotemperancesociety.com - as members of this excellent private club, which is modeled after a pre-prohibition era speakeasy and makes exquisite cocktails with the best and freshest ingredients (syrups, bitters…even the tonic water is made in house), we often get to partake in liquor tastings put on by the manufacturer and/or distributors. We’ve been to several notable tastings in the last few months…..
• Bruichladdich Scotch – this scotch is distilled on the Isle of Islay, off the coast of Scotland, one of the very few distilleries that has not adopted technology and continues to distill using the same techniques forged in the late 1800’s. It is also one of the few distillers using only organic barley all grown in Scotland. We were thoroughly entertained by the rep from the distillery who had great and inspiring stories to tell and guided us through the tasting from light and spicy to complex and smokey. www.lochindaal.com
• St. Germain – this is a fantastic liqueur made in France from elderflower blossoms. The best description is a taste of ‘spring in a glass’. We were lucky enough to try it before it was released at the LCBO, and of all the different cocktails we tried, our favourite was the classic St. Germain….liqueur, proseco and a splash of club soda with a twist of lemon rind. The perfect summer patio cocktail. www.stgermain.fr
• Oxley Gin – our friends at TTS managed to get their hands on a case of this fine gin, distilled in London. This is a cold distilled gin, crafted in small batches so it’s not available at the LCBO, but a few cases were distributed in the city to selected establishments, and we were extremely fortunate to be included in this tasting. We are huge gin martini fans (TTS makes the best in the city, by the way) and the Oxley Gin was fragrant with juniper, fresh and intense. Classic taste simply on the rocks. www.oxleygin.com
• Patron Tequila – so Patron is, or should be, near and dear to all Canadian’s hearts, as Dan Aykroyd owns the rights to Canadian distribution of this fine tequila spirit. We tasted five of the tequilas – Silver, Anego, Reposado, and two fantastic flavoured tequilas….Patron Citronge (a lovely, fragrant orange liqueur) and Patron X.O Café (rich, intense coffee flavoured liqueur). The reps from Patron were funny, engaging and true enthusiasts. They mentioned that the bartender at the W Hotel in Montreal is using the Patron X.O. Café in their summer house cocktail this year. If you’re in Montreal, check it out! www.patrontequila.com
L.A.B (Live and Breathe) – this is an outstanding, intimate, fashionable restaurant on College St (which is one of our favourite dining destinations). Recommended by the folks at TTS, we ventured over there late on a Friday night a couple of weeks ago. Told it was ‘molecular gastronomy’, I was worried that equaled small and expensive. L.A.B, was anything but. This meal was so delicious, I feel compelled to list everything we ate.
We started with a few appetizers….Mushroom Ragu, Beet 3, and Tortiere. This was more than enough to entice us on to mains….Braised Veal Shoulder for me, and Rabbit “Marrow Bones’ for Chef, all washed down with a few glasses of red wine (don’t recall what we ordered, but it was excellent). Somehow, after all this deliciousness, we couldn’t help ourselves and ordered dessert. It was a tough choice, but we went with the L.A.B S’mores and were not disappointed. Owner/Chef Howard Dubrovsky joined us afterwards for shot of tequila as we talked all things food. This the best dinner we’ve had in a while, and we have a lot of great dinners. For full menu descriptions or to make a reservation (which I highly recommend) go to www.labrestaurant.com
Cupcakes – there are a lot of places doing cupcakes now, and we’ve tasted more than our share lately. But…I have to give a mention to For the Love of Cake in Liberty Village for their ‘Cookies and Cream’ and ‘Crazy Carrot’…..www.fortheloveofcake.ca


Okay, that’s enough for now….I hear the laundry calling. Yes, even princess’ have to do laundry sometimes.

The Princess

Once Upon a Time...

Not so long ago in the thriving metropolis of El Toro a Gypsy Chef met a downtown big city foodie. After falling into culinary lust... low and behold the inevitable happens and a few months later "The Culinary Adventure Company" was born.

In the months it took to put our little venture together, we took a veritable tour through culinary underbelly of the Toronto food scene...tasting the good, the bad and the down right nasty. We shared many great meals, discovered eclectic neighbourhoods, and had a few laughs. Then we thought... wouldn't it be great to share these experiences with others....so we decided to co write "The Culinary Adventures of the Chef & the Princess". As we continue to check out new and interesting places, we will keep you up to date on our latest food finds.

But to start, lets get a few things straight. First off... I am a real Chef...she is NOT a real princess... and neither one of us are food snobs.We write it as we see it....without an any agendas, bias or compensation.We enjoy it all... from opulent fine dining to a buck seventy five Vietnamese sandwich in China town. We might not always be right, we might not always agree with each other, but we do seek out good value for money and quality ingredients. We don't mind forking out some dough but the food quality and the service better be up to snuff....'Cuz as a chef I get down right cranky when its not... and so does the princess...Old Gordie Ramsey has nothing on us....LOL. So until next time, I leave you with one of my favourite food quotes....

"Cooking is like love....it should be entered into with abandon or not at all" - Harriett Van Horne 1920-1998

Thanks for reading...

Chef