G and I did a Mexican Dinner night. SAVEUR had a special issue on Mexican cuisine so we thought it would be fun to try some recipes. Plus, we LOVE Mexican food!
G is also single again so it was a good opportunity to talk about it and DRINK!
I've only had Tequila Sunrises at a bar, back in University, when all I drank were cocktails (did not like beer then, still don't love it) so it was interesting to try and make them. Who knew they used Cassis? Quite delicious!
This is us making Tomatilla Salsa with Avocado and Queso Fresco. We served it with warm corn tortillas. SO GOOD! We did all our shopping in Kensington Market because there are quite a few Latin grocers, butchers, bakers. G had never grocery shopped there!
These are guajillo chiles. I have never seen them before, nor used them. Don't you just love the colour? They are not hot at all. Actually have a nice smoky sweetness to them. We used them in making Pambazos (Salsa-Dipped Potato & Chorizo Sandwiches). We bought spicy chorizo but it wasn't that spicy. Even though the sales clerk said they were super spicy. Hmmm, I must have a high tolerance to heat that I never knew I had? We were supposed to use pambazos or teleras for the sandwiches but we couldn't find any and substituted, believe it or not, mini ciabattas. The Latin Bakery we asked at told me I could order teleras in advance and he would make them. Good to know. We were tempted to buy some churros but the plan was to go for ice cream after. Of course we were just TOO FULL to move after these sandwiches.
The above shows why you don't want me cooking at your place! I make a mess!
G2 & I checked out a newish pizza place on Roncesvalles. I was craving a Margarita Pizza bad. Pizzeria Defina has the wood-burning oven and you can choose from Roma style or Napolitan style. I chose Roma because I like a thinner crust. One of my fave pizzas ever was in Roma. Very plain, just tomato passata, basil and the thinnest runniest cheese topping a thin crust. YUMMY. Not like the crappy North American delivery pizzas.
Here's my Margarita Pizza and in the back is G2's, which I can't even really remember what she had on it. I think there was sausage? Look at the charred bubbles! Those are the best!
I'm starting to think this post will just be food-centric. Sorry! I will do another post on some new old movies I saw next. PLUS, it's TIFF time so of course I will be doing my annual round-up.
E's Mom is very cute. I've known E for 23 years so I guess her Mom considers me like another daughter. Another daughter who she ALWAYS asks, "Why you & E no married?" Haha. Mothers are no different in any culture. As a typical Greek Mom, she does lots of canning in the Summer. This year there has been tons of tomatoes and green beans. So E's Mom canned a whole bunch of tomatoes.
Holy canned tomatoes, right? She gave me a jar (it's the big jars) and I can't wait to use it in the dark cold depths of Winter. I've also been freezing some tomatoes myself from Mom's garden, so I'll have some Summer goodness to eat when it's cold.
E & I checked out Holy Chuck Burgers because we had a craving for meat. Let me just say, SO juicy and delicious! The juiciness is probably all fat so I tried not to think about it too much. They hand grind their meat. Since it was my first time, I thought I would just get their Holy Chuck Burger and E and I split an order of fries (we had actually had Chicken Portabella Mushroom Poutine at Lunch, meeting up with my friends from Ottawa). I HAD to try one of Holy Chuck's milkshakes. Lots of flavours and they say it is 95% ice cream and 5% milk. I believe it. I chose the Nutella and Salted Caramel milkshake. Sugar high!
The burger isn't too big and I like that. I wasn't feeling gross after though I think the milkshake pushed me over the edge. I only drank half. Holy Chuck has this challenge called the Chuck Yourself Challenge. Basically you have 6 minutes to eat the Chuck Yourself burger, which is THREE grilled cheese sandwiches (made with burger buns), SIX patties, SIX layers of bacon and SIX layers of cheese PLUS you have to drink a milkshake. When we were there some skinny Asian dude was attempting the challenge and I could not believe it, but he did it! In the last 15 seconds he had to basically shove what was left of the burger in his mouth and swallow. There is no way I could do this. The burger is so tall! If you can do the challenge, you get your meal for free and a picture on the Hall of Fame. If you fail, well obviously you don't get your meal for free AND you get your picture on the Hall of Shame. Haha.
I've known G2 for about 20 years now, even though we didn't really hang out until 7 years later. It's funny because we were part of a bigger group of people and I met her through that group but I don't hang out with them anymore. Through G2 I met some of her Engineering geek friends and over the last year we have reconnected and go out for drinks. It's just a fun night to get together and shoot the shit. Nothing deep. One of the guys has just gotten divorced & is together with the woman he started seeing during his marriage. It seems to be a theme with people my age lately. They got married in their twenties and are now breaking up. Not sure if you call that a mid-life crisis or is it just people change and grow apart as they get older? Anyway, I was very excited when I saw that the pub we had drinks at serves Grasshoppers. Not familiar with a Grasshopper? It's white creme de cacao, green creme de menthe and cream. Yeah, not very healthy. I mentioned my cocktails phase in University. Basically every term I would adopt a new cocktail to drink. One term (I believe it was in the Winter) I was into Grasshoppers. How funny is it to think of me ordering a frigging Grasshopper at the University bar? Luckily, our bar was HUGE and had great bartenders who could make me anything. Unfortunately, I couldn't drink in my first year because I was underage and they checked, but I made up for it after!
Above is the recent Grasshopper I enjoyed. Aww, to the hearts on the side. It was my Dessert. Have to say, it was just as delicious as I remembered!
Okay, the next little while will be devoted to movie watching. I am going to 10 films again this year at TIFF and I'm pretty excited! I love TIFF! The one movie I am totally looking forward to is Hiroshi Abe's Thermae Romae (Toho Company 2012). It's based on a popular manga and is the highest grossing film in Japan this year (about $75 million). Y and I are going to the Gala so I'm actually going to see Hiroshi-san IN THE FLESH. Ahhhhh! I have loved him in so many JDramas and some movies so this is a big thrill! He is very handsome. Yeah, so he's married, to some woman who is like 15 years younger...Dudes, why you want younger women? :) Here is the trailer for the movie:
Funny but some young girl tweeted about how Hiroshi-san has a great body for some 50+ year old man. Ouch! He's actually 48 and heck, I've seen some 60 year old men with great bodies (though I don't want to date them). Enjoy!
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