FRIDAY NIGHT ON THE TOWN!

Watermelon, ice cream, cupcake, beer, pizza and a tea latte.

That's all the food I consumed within a four-hour period, so it probably comes as no surprise that my stomach is no fan of me this morning. Add to that combination a Tylenol Extra Strength, because I had a mondo headache after work, and well, someone was a little "funny" after dinner last night.

I always forget that you cannot combine Tylenol with alcohol. The thing is that I rarely drink because a) I don't drink wine--ever and b) I'm picky about my beer. So the chances that you'll find me drinking are pretty slim-to-none but Sean and I found ourselves in a quaint part of town and when the restaurant we chose (based solely on their thin crust pizzas with awesome sounding toppings) had beer selections including those from Mill Street Brewery, I had to go for it! But alas, I'm hoping the two or three times I've accidentally mixed these two ingredients together does not lead to serious liver damage or failure.

Let's back up a bit though. Sean waited for me for 30 minutes while I had to work late and after that we headed back to my house so I could change. I grabbed some watermelon for me and my dad's beef curry with rice for Sean. I don't do curries in the wintertime with no air conditioning. It's just plain wrong. Yes, I'm VERY tempermental in the summertime, springtime, whatever.

After that we headed to the mall to find shorts that I actually fit me but stopped by Coldstone Creamery where I got the Banana Caramel Crunch and Sean got the Cookie Minster. We decided to get the "Like It" (small) size this time around but at only 50 cents less, I felt like it was kind of a rip off. We should have gotten the larger size but I know it would have been too much ice cream.

An hour later I came out of the mall with a top and three pairs of shorts. Go me! I was actually previously wearing shorts that were two sizes too big--oops! After that we headed to one part of town's Main St. and came across the Unionville Pizza Co. and it looked promising. Sean suggested we check out the menu but before we did, I couldn't take my eyes off the store front of the Old Firehall Confectionery. Against the dark sky, the old firehall was radiating with light and people buzzing in and out of the shop. I told Sean we had to check it out.

We stepped inside part of my dream-come-true. The shop has everything a die-hard sweet tooth could dream of: ice cream (from Kawartha Dairy), fudge, chocolate-covered anything (pretzels, strawberries, cookies), cakes, cookies, cupcakes and the most artistic and interesting truffles I've seen in-person (chocolate lavender anyone?). After a look around, Sean and I settled on a single cupcake: vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. What better way to test a shop's worthy-ness than to review the most basic of cupcakes. It's pretty much my MO for any cupcake shop I enter. At $2.89 plus tax for a small (and $3.99 for a large with ganache filling), these were the priciest cupcakes I've ever purchased. They weren't even advertised as all-natural (a la Dufflet) or the best I've ever seen. They were square however. Yep, that's right, square cupcakes and this is what they look like:

Excuse the shite photo. You'll notice the lack of photos from this post because I didn't have my camera with me (blogger nightmare) and the iPhone's abilities to take photos at night are horrid at best.

Our first bites were not pleasant ones. There was something a little bit "off" about the consistency of both the buttercream icing and the cupcake itself. I found the cake to taste artificial; like that of cake mix but as light and fluffy. Sean said it tasted artificial and mealy and he was right. It was definitely mealy. There was a really weird consistency to the cake. We then cleaned out our palettes with water (thanks to the refilled Evian bottle I carry with me everywhere) and tasted the icing and cake by themselves. The icing. Ugh. Where do I even begin. It was hot, almost melting and do I dare say that it tasted like nothing? It was just butter that was a few degrees past room temperature iced onto a cake. It had the slightest taste of vanilla but certainly not one that was pure. It was nice to eat a cupcake that wasn't too sweet but this icing could have used more powdered sugar. It was literally like eating a cake with piped butter and sprinkles on top. At $3 for one small square cupcake, this is definitely not a re-purchase.

After declaring that they may have stole the property for my cupcake shop, I still make better cupcakes and Sean agreed with me. We then headed back across the street for dinner and with hopes that it would turn out to be better than the cupcake. It turns out that the Unionville Pizza Company has been around for three years, though previously known as the Harvest Wine Bar. I remember Harvest Wine Bar. I remember never venturing inside for a very specific reason, though now that reason escapes me. Sean and I opted to sit inside (everyone else was out on the dimly lit patio) and I took a quick glance at the drink menu. My eyes opened wide when I saw Mill St. on tap and in bottles. Seriously, really? Organic beer offerings in a restaurant in my town!? Oh I was giddy with excitement. And not only Mill. St but another option too! I couldn't choose. Faced with so many beer offerings, I asked Sean about the difference between pilsners and ales and whatnot and finally settled on a Nickel Brook cream ale. It's brewed in Burlington (not too far from here) and entirely organic, even carbonated naturally. I was super amped to try Mill St. for the first "real" time (I had previously only had a sip but this completely organic beer got to me. Sean got a German beer that I can't remember the name of but I love it when Sean talks with a German accent so I made him say it three times. His beer was served with a lemon wedge and he was the beer winner of the night. I loved my beer (I finished it all and it's actually rare for me to finish a beer by myself--again, I'm picky) but Sean's was totally awesome. I have to find out what the name of it was from him.

Sean and I opted to split the roast duck pizza and it was great. Not as awesome as the anchovy pizza in New York City (that pizza was to-die-for) but this was good for my town. The dough was made from organic flour and thin as thin could be--just the way I like my crust! Our toppings include roast duck, tomato sauce, mushrooms, goat cheese and arugula piled on top. I thought that there was a little bit too much cheese but Sean didn't seem to mind ;)

Unfortunately the menu on the UPC's website isn't quite up-to-date (items have been updated, prices increased) but if you're in the area, it's definitely worth it to stop by for a meal. They also have some great appetizers including arancini, beet root carpaccio salad and corn chips with fresh guacamole. They also have some great burger options include a turkey, lamb, buffalo, veggie and kobe burger.

After dinner we decided to walk along Main St. and I grabbed a tall black tea latte from Starbucks. I was a little shocked when the barista told me the price: $3.57. Seriously? That's how much I've paid in the past for tea and hot milk with foam on top? I couldn't believe it. I had to borrow a dollar from Sean to pay for my latte. Suffice it to say, there will not be a lot of tea lattes in my future but oh, it was kind of worth it. That's probably the best tea latte I've had in a long time. Sometimes they don't put the sugar syrup (which is fine by me) or sometimes they put too much (blech!) but this one was perfect. Kudos to the barista who made that one. So eventually it got cold and I needed to use the washroom and when I came back from the washroom Sean mentioned that my eyes were red ("you look baked") and I couldn't stop laughing. But eventually I became really sleepy and could barely keep my eyes open so Sean suggested I go lie down in his car while he listened to Bowie. That's when the trouble started. I couldn't walk down the stairs properly and that's when Sean mentioned something and when it hit me, I had a Tylenol earlier (!!) and then I had alcohol. Oops! Anyway, lesson learned; it's never a good idea to mix medication with alcohol.

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Just to make sure that I was not being completely biased, I made my dad eat the cupcake as well and give me his thoughts on it. After his first taste (I wish I had videotaped it, he was tasting it like a person tasting wine), he asked if it contained cornmeal. See, my thoughts exactly...a mealy consistency. I asked him if it was stale or just plain bad and he said it was a combination of both; that it was just sugar with no flavour. After dad's taste-testing, this is what's left of the cupcake:

I'm now at a loss as to what to do with the cupcake. Do I toss it or do I finish it? I'd hate to toss any baked item but I also try to follow my diet of "if I'm not in love with the taste, I won't eat it." According to my rules, I should toss it but I also hate to waste food--though I'll happily throw out all kinds of pre-packaged and processed crap that I find in my house.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: HOOF CAFE (PART TWO)

So if you're born on a leap year, when do you celebrate your birthday? Would you have celebrated on the 28th or do you celebrate on the 1st? If I were a leap year baby, I would celebrate on the 28th...a day early. Who doesn't like early birthday presents? I sure do! Especially when they come in giant boxes all the way from Vancouver!

I'm not gonna lie...I was kind of bummed that I didn't have any mega-awesome-out-of-this-world birthday plans like last year (it was a two-parter!) but Sunday's plans included birthday brunch at Hoof Cafe (*swoon*) with Sean, which was good enough for me! His parents were going to join us but my birthday was in the middle of lent so they decided to stay away, which meant more food for the two of us!

We managed to get a table for two despite arriving after 10am. Could it be...has the hype died down? Or is it because they've increased the prices?...more on that later.

Sean and I were seated directly under the menu, which was great for Sean--not so great for me. I neglected to take a photo of the outside of the restaurant--again--so just re-read my previous review for the exterior description.

A few changes to the Hoof Cafe...they were advertising the bone marrow beignets (donut holes) as a special and now charging $5 for 6 donut holes. Not terribly cool, though they did taste better than the last time Sean and I enjoyed them. This could possibly be due to the fact that we let them cool down after they were served to us and therefore, the tip of my tongue was not burned. Also, I think we only received 5 beignets in our order, otherwise Sean ate one without me noticing.

After a brief break, our "mains" arrived. I ordered the tongue grilled cheese...
My tongue sandwich was super tender. The cheese was seasoned with something that I can't remember anymore. Sean was asking me about it and I think I said dill. It was a very distinct herb.

Sean ordered the French toast with a slab of foie gras and julienned apple:
Sean prepared the perfect bite of French toast and foie gras for me--along with julienne strips of apple and sugar.
This was my first time eating foie gras. I ate it so I knew what it would taste like, which was buttery and smooth but to be honest, it didn't blow my socks off. Would I order it again? Probably not. Sean and I decided to do "splitsies" so I gave Sean the other half of my sandwich and he gave me the other slice of his French toaste plus half of his foie but I found it to be too sweet. I ended up sprinkling some coarse sea salt onto my bites before consuming.

We also got a bone on the side ($8):
I'm not crazy about the new presentation of the bone marrow. Yes it is easier to eat but I prefer the shorter cuts and cheaper price. This was definitely not worth $8 considering that the entire right side of the marrow was almost as thin as paper. There was hardly any marrow on the bone. We didn't even have enough to cover all four toasts which was really disappointing. (Note: this ended up being gratuit due to "receipt failure" so I can't really complain that much.)

Sean...satiated. Our server with his t-shirt and cardigan in the background. I didn't feel like a re-do.

After our meal we headed to Nadege (which is just about one street south) so that I could pick up a dozen macarons. Whenever we're in the area--which just happens to be whenever we eat at Hoof Cafe--I always ask Sean if we can stop by Nadege.

I always feel a little bit apprehensive because spending $25 and change on a dozen cookies does seem ridiculous but Sean said that he understood why they were so expensive after he spent an afternoon making them with me last summer. I'm not sure if he was taking about the process of making macarons or the process of making them with me specifically but I'll take whatever justifies $25 cookies.

My box 'o precious:
Contents: salted caramel (yellow), olive oil (light green) x 2, mojito (green) x 3, cassis (blackberry, purple), mojito (again!), poppyseed (pink with poppyseeds), blackberry chocolate (light magenta), chocolate (light brown/beige) and salted caramel (again). Sean and I tasted a mojito macaron on the drive home to watch the mens' gold medal hockey game and holy mother f, was it good. A mint macaron--GENIUS!! I'm glad I got four.

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Anyway, I felt a little so-so about our second visit to Hoof Cafe. It wasn't nearly as exciting and pleasurable as the first time. I'm not thinking about our meal days later like I was the first time and not anticipating our next visit. I was really excited about the idea of bringing Janice to Hoof Cafe but I think I might let a couple of months pass before I go back there again.

Maybe Sean's right...maybe when something is so good the first time, you should never try to re-create that experience. Maybe it's a good thing I didn't try to re-create my 26th birthday celebration then.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: HOOF CAFE

Surprisingly I hadn't heard about Hoof Cafe until Sean mentioned it to me from a review in NOW Magazine. When Sean called me later to rave about a pig-centric restaurant, I wasn't entirely convinced. I know, I know...what the heck could I be thinking?

After some debate about whether or not we were really going to head downtown on a Sunday morning just to eat breakfast, Sean decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. We passed by Hoof Cafe at 9:40 on a Sunday morning and guess what, not a soul standing outside the 30-seater restaurant. Sean and I decided to waste some time in the car before heading outside to stand in line but just 10-15 minutes later, the line was long! Sean and I quickly joined the line and it's a good thing we did because the guy behind us was the last one to get a table. If I had stalled in the car any longer and we hadn't gotten a seat (we got two right in the middle of the bar) right at 10 when the restaurant opened, Sean would have been VERY mad at me. Oops! Note to everyone out there: You MUST show up before 10--forget what NOW magazine says.

I accidentally deleted the photo I took of the outside of the restaurant so imagine a white brick facade with a hanging black sign with a white outline of a pig and the words "Hoof Cafe" in cursive. That's what you'll see along Dundas St. West, at Gore Vale Rd.

Once seated, right in the middle of the bar and after getting our drinks (grapefruit juice for me and an Americano for Sean), Sean and I couldn't really decided what to order because everything sounded so good. We stared at the chalkboard menu for quite some time. Do we get the rabbit pancakes or the pig tail and grits or the sucking pig benny or the ploughman's plate or the french toast with foie gras? Seriously decisions had to be made! After pondering for quite some time, Sean and I settled on the following:

Bone marrow donut holes (like Timbits) with sour cherry jam, rolled in granulated sugar:These come six to an order ($3) and are hot little nuggets of yum! Seriously. Seriously on the hot part though. When they arrive, do not dig in! Even though you're crazy excited to bite into your first bone marrow donut hole and experience your first taste of something at the Hoof Cafe, don't do it! You will burn your tongue and it will mar the rest of your tasting experience.

Next up was the toast with jam and goat butter ($4)...
Is it just me or does our blob of jam look like a frog to you? And does the goat butter look like a piece of lard? Well anyway, it surely didn't taste like any of that. Sean could detect a subtle taste of...of...y'know...that je ne sais quoi when you're eating goat cheese. It's like you just know it's goat cheese. Anyway, being obsessed with brie and goat cheese, I had to figure out what the heck he was talking about but sadly, could not pick up on the distinct goat flavour :( It was still a great way to enjoy goat butter though. The jam...I have no clue what kind of jam it was...strawberry, cherry?...it was great too; not too sweet or viscose, it went quite well with the goat butter.

And just when you thought this tiny body couldn't eat anymore, we have our main breakfast meals! I ordered the Sucking Pig Benny ($13):Two poached free-range eggs atop a mound of tender pulled pork atop a biscuit. A jalapeno hollandaise topped everything off and onto the side, one of my favourite greens--a simple-dressed argula with with homemade spicy pork rinds. Yum!

Sean's breakfast: buckwheat pancakes with rabbit, blueberries, bacon crisps/curls and candied celery ($14):
Sean was the winner on this day. His plated combo of sweet and salty left me with a taste that I can only compare to the eggplant maki consumed at Kinki and if you know me, you'll know that I've been talking about this damn eggplant maki since it was eaten at this restaurant in Ottawa almost five years ago to this day. Seriously! Explosion of flavours in my mouth and no syrup necessary--not that they even serve it with syrup. I could have devoured Sean's plate but being the lady that I am, I touted the merits of his dish and then went back to mine--a little bit sadly.

And lastly, the dish Sean had been waiting for, bone marrow ($5) served with small toast crisps alongside a dish of sea salt:
Ah, bone marrow. Thankfully, I'm one of those crazy kids who got fed bone marrow when they were like...I dunno...6 or 7? My earliest recollection of bone marrow comes from a stew either one of my parents would make. The stew would sometimes contain carrots, peas and potatoes (wow, so "white people" for Asian parents in the 80s) and sometimes other things, but the one thing my brothers and I fought over was the bone marrow. And we either used a tiny little butter knife (thanks British Airways--which now means I must have been 5 or 6) or the smallest, narrowest teaspoon in the house we could find to scoop up little blobs of tasty fat. And oh, turns out that bone marrow is not fat at all but a tasty form of protein and healthy fats. Not sure if this is true but more research will have to be done. I should ask my parents, really. Anyway, whoa, I digress. Back to the bone marrow dish. It always reminds me of my childhood and it always will; that meaty, fatty flavour spread on a little piece of toast and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt...the whole thing just pops in your mouth. So, so good.

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I am still thinking about Hoof Cafe. Writing this review has made me really hungry. I want pork products and I want them now. Obviously the only vegetarian thing in this restaurant is the juice (orange/grapefruit), coffee, tea and French Toast (sans foie gras). Let's just put it this way, if you're not a pork fan, head in the opposite direction. But if you're a fan of Porky just like I am (and trust me, I am), head downtown really early on a weekend because you won't regret it. And don't forget about the donuts--because they're not on the chalkboard menu. For $3, you'll thank me later!

RESTAURANT REVIEW: GIO RANA'S

Gio Rana's Really Really Nice Restaurant is really just a big nose. From the outside, that is. I don't remember seeing a sign with a marquee indicating the Italian restaurant Sean and I were to dine at. All I saw was The Nose.

After a quick trip to the Leslieville Spit to see this:we decided to head to Queen St. West to run some errands and then headed over to Leslieville for dinner since our attempt to grab dinner the last time, ended up in epic fail. We decided upon Gio Rana's because it was close-by and because we were both hungry. I was just about ready to gnaw Sean's arm off.

The decor at Gio's is funny. The walls are not complete and it's quite dark inside, but we were able to grab a table for two on a Saturday night without a reservation. After a few bites of some bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic, we were ready to order. But wait, where the heck was our waitress? Chatting with another waitress? Dilly-dallying infront of the computer screen? Talking to the busboy? This seemed to be the theme of the evening.

Eventually we found our waitress and made our order.

First up was the prosciutto with fig stuffed with gorgonzolo cheese and honey. I have no photo to show, so imagine this instead. There's a round white plate. On top of that plate lies a child's handful of arugula. On top of the arugula is one black mission fig topped with gorgonzola and a drizzle of honey. Surrounding the mound is three strips of prosciutto. It was good. Was it $7.95 good? Probably not but I was hungry. And Sean and I had finished all the bread.

Next up were our entrees. We skipped the option of a pasta in case we ended up with too much to eat, which ended up being a smart decision on Sean's part. I got the ossobucco with roasted potatoes and Sean got the pork tenderloin with chickpeas. Meats hover around $14-15 and sides are an extra $5.95. I neglected to see the latter on the menu so when our waitress told us that sides were an extra order, we ordered but a mention of the cost would have been appreciated. In my case, as you'll soon see, $6 could have been saved.

My ossobucco with mushrooms:My side of roast potatoes (this plate is actually smaller than it looks):Sean's pork tenderloin with a walnut and gorgonzola sauce:
Sean's side of chickpeas (ceci) and cured pork (again, this bowl is actually smaller than it looks):
So I ate about 1/3 of my potatoes, Sean had some and then I had about 1/4-1/3 of my ossobucco and Sean had some and when I asked the busboy if I could have the rest of my meal packed up, he said "of course" but neglected to pack my potatoes! Okay, okay, so I didn't really gesture to the plate of potatoes but only to the plate of meat but you'd think that since someone is paying $6 for a plate of potatoes, you'd pack them up too. Common sense people!!

So not only that but their ossobucco was cooked using chicken broth. Chicken broth, people! And if you're not aware of the fact that I'm allergic to non-organic chicken, you would be right in assuming that Gio's ossobucco did not go down well that night. And just to make sure that it was the ossobucco and not just a fluke, I decided to eat the leftovers the next, next day and had the same reaction. Not so good. Was it my fault though? Should I really have asked if the ossobucco contained any kind of chicken? Sean didn't do so at the amazing Italian restaurant in NYC and his osso buco went down really fine. I mean, really fine. I still think about that osso buco sometimes.

Anyway, back to Gio Rana's. Overall I'd rate Gio Rana's Really Really Really Nice Restaurant a 7.5. The waitress was MIA for the most part; she forgot about Sean's tea, was MIA for our order, MIA for the dessert menu and just about every other time we tried to find her but the food was really good, despite my chicken issues.