RESTAURANT REVIEW: WINDSOR ARMS (HIGH TEA)

Happy birthday to me! Earlier this afternoon, I celebrated my birthday with an afternoon high tea at the Windsor Arms hotel. I was accompanied by none other than Jessie and Sean, two of my funniest dining companions. Our reservation was not until 1pm, but of course, we were 30 minutes early so we sat in the car opening four birthday cards from Sean and some presents: tickets to the Sleigh Bells concert in May (wahoo!) and money (for a future camera purchase, double wahoo).

Upon entering the Windsor Arms tea room, we were given a choice of tables and I chose to sit at a table near the windows (better for photo-taking). Jessie and I chose to sit on the booth seats which were plush but a little too low; Sean sat in one the chairs which looked really comfy. Our room was bright and airy, with gold-framed paintings on the wall (none of which I remembered to take a photo of). In the corner there was a display of hats which Jessie and I found quite amusing:

Along with our individual tea, we each opted for the full tea which includes scones:sandwiches:
and petit fours:
Our meal began with a mini goat cheese and caramelized shallot quiche:

This was a really great way to start the meal. The caramelized shallot really made the quiche and I'm not even a fan of quiches (from an overload of them back in Switzerland with Jessie in 2001).

Scones included raisin and plain, served alongside devon cream and strawberry and raspberry jam. Check out the mini jams:

Our assorted of finger sandwiches included cucumber with sundried tomato paste and dill cream cheese:

smoked salmon and wasabi sour cream with salmon caviar:

and grilled chicken, grany smith apples, citrus mayonnaise and greek yogurt and chives which I don't have a close-up photo of because I never ate of them (non-organic chicken). I'll try and snag one from Jessie's iPhone.

Here's another shot of our assortment of petits fours (courtesy of Sean):Individually, they were (as described to us by our server) a dark chocolate fudge (for Jessie):

a raspberry or strawberry mousse in a dark chocolate tea cup (it was raspberry and delightful, obvi mine):

an Opera cake ("they just call it Opera cake" for Sean)

a blood orange mousse with sponge at the bottom and blueberries (mine):

a lemon meringue tart (check out that awesome toasted meringue for Sean):

and a white chocolate something (that's pretty much all our server said; Jessie had a hard time figuring it out but it came with a cherry with gold leaf and had a hard, crisp texture on the bottom.):

The presentation on this one was amazing. I wish I liked white chocolate so I could have tasted it but I find white chocolate too sweet. I even find milk chocolate too sweet sometimes. Oh well, c'est la vie.

Then we also had strawberries and cream:At first glance, it didn't seem like a lot of food but it was. I didn't finish one of my scones and by the time I got around to eating my strawberries and cream, I felt like someone was forcing me to eat it. It was a little bit sad. I had the face that I always have when I can't eat but feel like I have to finish it. I ended up just having a taste of the cream (it looked like ice cream, I had to try it) and finishing off my berries.

Oh yeah, about the tea. Jessie chose the Black Velvet which includes ginseng, peppermint, licorice and black tea while Sean chose the Chai Arms which includes ceylon, cardamom, cinnamon, glove, ginger and black pepper. I chose the Tibetan Tiger which includes black tea with vanilla, chocolate, butterscotch and caramel (though I don't remember reading the description of the last two). Our teas came in fancy tea pots:

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High tea at the Windsor Arms was definitely a memorable experience. At $30 per person it wasn't terribly expensive but it is cheaper Monday-Friday. During the weekend it's $8 extra and higher during the holidays, I believe. There's also a sherry or sparkling wine option for an added $5. I'm not partial to either (sulphites = migraines) but it would have been a fun option, especially during a celebration of sorts. There was two other parties celebrating birthdays and the server brought out other chocolate petit fours for each party to enjoy along with a candle while singing "Happy Birthday." I would have enjoyed it but honestly, I had consumed so much food already that the thought of more wasn't going to leave me with the most pleasant of birthday memories.

Here are some fun photos throughout our afternoon lunch...
Sipping our tea:

Sean being the server:

Sean and Jessie enjoying their scones:

Before and after scone-eating:

RESTAURANT REVIEW: LAI TOH HEEN

Groupon's are a wonderful thing. If you're not familiar with the Groupon system, or one of the many similar systems (such as LivingSocial or DealFind), this is how it works: you sign up to receive a daily deal for restaurants, spas, manis and pedis, car detailing packages and more. When Groupon became first available in Toronto, I immediately signed up and was offered a whole slew of amazing restaurants. I also signed up for LivingSocial shortly thereafter.

Sean and I have been able to eat at some pretty awesome places including Chippy's Fish & Chips (which we enjoyed at a theatre while watching Black Swan, no joke), and Lai Toh Heen, which we've now visisted twice.

A sister restaurant to the very famous Lai Wah Heen, Lai Toh Heen offers the same elegant, upscale dim sum fare, as well as innovative Chinese food that Sean and I were very excited to try out upon our second visit. We perused the menu quite meticulously--a Chef's Tasting Menu? Oh we're coming back for that, when our wallets aren't so thin--but from the appetizer section we knew exactly what we were getting: the pan-seared foie-gras glazed with ice wine plum sauce, on a bed of shredded duckling in sesame and peanut dressing ($18):Now my only other foie-gras experience was from The Hoof Cafe (the French toasted with a slab of foie gras that Sean ordered and I had a bite of) and to be honest, it wasn't a taste I thought I'd let my tongue experience ever again. I kind of thought to myself, this is what we force-feed ducks for? I'm not a vegan, not even a vegetarian, nor do I ever preach about the benefits of eating grass-fed, organic and/or local, but I just didn't really get it. What was there to like about foie gras? Lai Toh Heen made me bite my tongue. This foie gras, however small it was (and believe me, that $26 appetizer really could have been meant for one), was amazing. It melted in my mouth and the combination of ingredients made it really tasty.

Next, we decided to order the oolong tea smoked duck breast slices with pickled turnip and seaweed ($20):I was surprised to see that this dish also came with pickled carrot slices which, along with turnip, are two of my favourite pickled vegetables. If your only experience with duck is the roasted kind you get at those Chinese take-out places--the ones full of grease and fat--I definitely urge you to try the duck from Lai Toh Heen. This duck was not fatty or greasy at all and had the pleasant aroma of the oolong tea. The pickled vegetables gave each bite a nice crunchy texture and the seaweed salad alongside the dish had a wonderful taste as well. Mmm...seaweed.

Our third course was stir-fried french green bean & fresh lily bulbs with Chinese wine and ginger ($16):The beans were not covered in oil as you find in many regular, cheaper Chinese restaurants. The fresh lily bulbs were also very interesting. They had a very mild onion-y taste that lingered for just a second before vanishing.
My date:Me:The reason I look so yellow:

A strip of translucent yellow surrounding the bar where we were seated.

Sean and I don't typically have dessert at restaurants because the options usually include the usual fare, but Sean was delighted at the thought of one particular dessert at Lai Toh Heen. I present to you the double-boiled papaya bowl with snow fungus and almond cream ($12):Our waiter told us that the dessert takes 20 minutes to prepare but Sean was quite excited and I didn't mind waiting. (We're not sure if he told us to warn us or to make us choose something else on the dessert menu, har har har.) The almond cream is actually more like a soup and the taste is very reminiscent of almond jelly. I have no idea what the papaya tasted like after being double-boiled but since papayas usually make me want to "upchuck," I'm going to hazard a guess that Sean really liked it and I would not have. For my dessert, I settled on the chilled mango pudding ($5):Sean eating his dessert reminded me of a person eating a soft-boiled egg in the morning:Served alongside some fragrant white rice, our main dishes were plentiful and delicious. Though they seemed very simple in description, they were complex upon both our palates in taste and texture. Sean said that Lai Toh Heen is probably his favourite upscale Chinese restaurant because though the description of their food might seem simple, the flavours are so complex, you just want to let them marinate in your mouth. Okay, okay so he didn't exactly say that last part but it was something along those lines. I would definitely recommend Lai Toh Heen to anyone seeking out a new innovative Chinese restaurant. It's even worth the price to try out at least once. Sean and I are quite excited to be able to go back someday for their Chef's Tasting Menu. Our dinner was just lovely.

A LITTLE DISTRACTION

Sean and I, being the fun-loving couple that we are, decided to test my luck at eharmony.ca. For those of you not in the know, eHarmony is an online dating service for singles wanting to find singles for long-term relationships--or something like that. The advertisements boast about being able to find you your long-term partner and show couples who met on a specific date and then got married just a year or two later.

A little background info though: a while back, Sean was at his friend, Corey's house, when they saw an advertisement on TV for eHarmony's online dating services. Sean and I were at a good place in our relationship but eHarmony guaranteed being able to find you a compatible match based on a number of factors, so Sean and Corey decided to put eHarmony to work. I have no idea what happened to Corey but Sean had no luck. According to Sean's answers, eHarmony could not find any suitable matches. I would have been furious at the idea of Sean looking for potential mates but was actually rather amused by the fact that eHarmony couldn't find anyone compatible for him. To be honest, it didn't really surprise me; Sean's a fickle person.

And so, this past week, with the AC running and the eHarmony ad once again plastered across the TV, Sean suggested I try filling out the survey. So off we went onto the good ol' internetz and filled out what ended up being a ridiculously long survey. I answered that thing as honestly as I could (with Sean's help at parts I wasn't sure about) and lo and behold, this is what eHarmony told me:Can you believe it? eHarmony couldn't find any matches for me either! I was actually really shocked! I thought there would be at least one person who would someday take Sean's place when either a) I got tired of him or b) he croaked early. (I kid, I kid.) Seriously though, not one match? C'est impossible!

My time was at least somewhat well-spent because they did hook me up with a free Personality Profile, which was highly contradictory and amused Sean and I for quite some time. The only thing they got right was that I am an introvert. Big whoop!

Anyway, I guess that since Sean and I both couldn't find any matches on eHarmony.ca, we're positively made for each other. WAHOO!

DEAR TYLENOL...

Whatever it is that you put into your magic pills, they really do work like magic. Nothing, absolutely nothing, makes me feel better when I have a cold like your little yellow, Daytime pills do.

Thanks very much,
Dominique

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It's amazing how my body responds to medication. It won't respond to Traditional Medicinals Echinacea Plus or orange juice or chicken soup or anything like when I have a cold. It only and I mean, only, responds to Tylenol Cold. It's like they're in cahoots or something. Of course, knowing that I only had one measly yellow magic pill left, I was very hesitant to take it but also knowing that I couldn't miss another day of work, I had no choice but to pop the pill on Thursday morning, right before I started my eight-hour shift. But that was on Thursday morning and finally broke down yesterday afternoon and bought another $15 box of magic, orange pills. Ugh, damn Shoppers and their convenience prices! Figures that I'd end up downtown feeling utterly miserable and in desperate need of some Tylenol. So yeah, the new Cold Plus (the regular Tylenol cold plus mucous relief, what joy!) kept me going for another 4-6 hours. I managed to get through Kiki's Delivery Service, which I did not get through the night before (sorry Sean!) and while Sean wanted to take a nap after the movie ended, I was all fired up and awake. But I did manage to take a nap with him anyway.

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But let me back up and show you some eats...from the 30th...pre-sickness:
Breakfast was the standard half WW English muffin with PB and coconut butter:Lunch was organic roast chicken drumstick and veggies:Snacks included grapes and strawberries:Along with the very last half of a chocolate walnut and dried cherry brownie (man, those were good!) and two squares of Lindt Sea Salt for my second breakfast:Sean and I were heading downtown for a concert after work so we decided we'd grabbed dinner in the city. Before that though, I decided to snack on some prosciutto sandwiches (read: prosciutto sandwiched between water crackers) in the car. Before the concert we dropped by Dufflet to pick up their lemon/lime coconut tarts:

Sadly the tarts were lacking the tart flavour that I've come to expect from Dufflet. Sigh. Their lemon tart is, in my opinion, one of the best tarts in town, so this was truly a disappointment. It was way too sweet and you could hardly taste it. The coconut top did make up for it--but not entirely. Not a repeat purchase. (And I think that's the first time I've ever said any negative about Dufflet Pastries.)

And then went to Steve's Music store so I could pick up something to clean my drum kit but it was closed. So we then headed to Whole Foods so I could stock up on the essentials (ie: Vita Coco) but they were all out so I ended up getting some watermelon, water crackers and other stuff. In the end we didn't have enough time to grab something to eat so I just ate my watermelon.

After the concert we ended up in the parking lot for almost an hour before we were able to get out and by that time I just wanted to get home to sleep since I had work in the morning. Thank goodness for the prosciutto and water crackers I had eaten during the drive into the city and in the parking lot.

PS: For those of you interested, the concert was Vampire Weekend and it was totally awesome!!!===

31st...Wednesday
I decided to try something new for first breakfast:Strawberries with two two-bite cranberry and orange scones from Whole Foods. The scones are a little on the sweet side but they're tasty. They kind of suck all the moisture out of your mouth but I like my sweet scones like that.

Lunch was organic roast chicken on a bed of pale red kidney beans along with roast veggies:It really does pay to make your meals way in advance!

Snacks were the usual grapes and strawberries:
Along with half a chocolate-dipped macaroon from Dufflet and two squares of Lindt's Sea Salt chocolate for my second breakfast oatmeal:Chocolate was consumed, macaroon was not :(

And as you saw earlier, dinner was the following because I was feeling downright horrible:===

1st...no April Fool's jokes here
With sickness setting in, I didn't really want to eat anything but I knew it would be a bad idea to skip out on first breakfast. I knew a scratchy double-toasted whole wheat English muffin wasn't an option so I went with two cranberry orange scones with Earth Balance (yay, finally) along with some Olympic green tea and vanilla yogurt, grapes and strawberries:

I assume it was all very yummy because I couldn't taste a thing!

Second breakfast usually involves oatmeal but this time I decided to swap my lunch for breakfast:Organic chicken soup with orzo, egg drop and a hidden chicken thigh. Sadly this chicken thigh was not even close to organic. Bad times ensued. Double sad that I was at work. Triple sad that I ate this soup earlier than I normally would have because I was sick. Ughs all around! Note to self: do not assume something in Whole Foods is organic unless the label says so!

Lunchtime was oatmeal with two chocolate squares and the following grapes and strawberries:along with this box of Vita Coco:I wouldn't normally have finished both boxes of Vita Coco so quickly but I was sick and being sick means I make excuses for lots of things.

Here is the chocolate and macaroon I had that still did not get consumed:Sean and I had plans to get our hair done later that evening but plans fell through when the time turned out to be inconvenient. We headed downtown anyway so that I could go to Steve's to pick up some cleanser for my cymbals and we grabbed some Korean food for dinner. No photos...it wasn't that great anyway. My dumpling and rice cake soup was really nothing to write home about though Sean's cold noodle soup looked way better. I forgot that Korean dumplings tend to be heavy on the ginger and ginger in savory form makes me want to gag. I was really hungry so I managed to eat all but one. Blech. Dinner left my Korean craving very unfulfilled.

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2nd...Good Friday
Breakfast was eaten in the car on the way to the city:Whole wheat English muffin with PB and coconut butter on top. Clearly I put way too much coconut butter on top--hence the oozing. Some of it even dripped onto my makeup bag in the background. And yes, I did lick the CB from my makeup bag. I can't waste good coconut butter!

Lunch was had several hours later after Sean went from this...to this:HOT! Wow Sean looks so young now! I think we now look like an age appropriate couple rather than him looking super old and me looking super young. Don't let that "before" shot fool you--his beard used to be longer than that. Plus I now this his hair matches his clothing. Before his hockey hair didn't really match his (I hate to say it), "indie/hipster" clothing.

I also got my hair done but I just got my colour touched up. Photos to come. A full review of Caplansky's will also follow but for now, here's the smoked meat sandwich and fries that I had for a late lunch (it was a little after 4pm):I was smart enough to only eat half of everything and take the rest to-go. This lunch was consumed while my nose was running non-stop. It was kind of gross. After lunch we had plans to hit up Greg's Ice Cream on Bloor St. but my cold had other plans. We had to hit up the Shoppers stat for above-mentioned Tylenol. I was going down--fast! After a quick stop into the devil store (just kidding!), we came out with a box of orange-coloured relief, I popped one of those into my mouth and then Sean and I stood in line for some ice cream--just the thing to cheer me up! Sean ended up getting a scoop of orange marmalade and I got a scoop of Fifty's Frost--a malted chocolate.

After that we headed back to Sean's place. It had been a long day in the city and I was ready for some downtime. Upon arriving at Sean's, I was hungry again so a snack was consumed:Tea along with a bowl of fruit...blackberries, pineapple, canteloupe and some sketchy blueberries that I ended up tossing into the green bin. I felt bad about it but Sean reassured me that no one else would end up eating them.

And that's was the end of the day's eats.