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Um just let me say OMG YUM. Best meal I’ve had in a long time.

Winnie recommended this restaurant to us in Toronto. She said it was like a tapas place where you can try all sorts of weird things like tongue and bone marrow. Sounded awesome to me, and it totally lived up to my expectations.

It’s a small restaurant, so we had to sit at the bar, but that was cool because then we could watch them cook. Those last two pictures are the entire kitchen! They cook everything on a regular kitchen stove! Also the poor guy in front of us just did dishes in the worlds tiniest dishwasher the entire time. I wonder how long he has to do that job before he gets to move up the ranks?!

I had mulled wine and Scott had a fruity beer.

We started with two pork carnitas tacos. They might look like just regular tacos but these were probably the best tacos I’ve ever had. The pork was plentiful and tender, the guacamole was extra creamy and flavourful, and the tortillas were super soft. You could also put some crunchy pork skin on it for some crunch and some lime and hot sauce. The flavours were strong and worked well together. Really really delicious.

Next we had the bone marrow. It was very oily and rich, but also amazing. It came with a salse verde type of thing, salt, and bread. They combined together beautifully. I had been wanting to try bone marrow for a long time so I’m glad I finally got to try it!

Then we had tongue on brioche. There was a mountain of shaved tongue, brioche, pickled celery, some type of mayo sauce, and a mustard seed(?) sauce. The tongue was tender and salty and good. It reminded us of corned beef or pastrami. I don’t think I would have realized it was tongue if no one told me. The mustard sauce was awesome and again the flavours worked perfectly together. We devoured this whole dish in no time.

Even though we were already pretty full I decided we should still order the dessert. I am SO GLAD we did because that was like the best dessert of all time. We were dying from how delicious it was. It was a warm butter tart with raisins, topped with pistachio-maple ice cream, stout jam, and crunchy pretzel streusel. PERFECTION. The pastry was buttery and flaky and tart filling was sweet with pops of sour from the raisins (and I usually hate raisins!). The contrast of warm butter tart and cold ice cream was also pleasing. Finally the pretzel topping added crunch and saltiness to the dish. Please send me about 100 more of these!!!

Anyway if you can’t tell, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS RESTAURANT. Everything tasted well thought out and balanced. ~Flavour profiles~ are their speciality, in my opinion. Also it cost a lot less than some of the fancy meals we’ve been to, and I enjoyed it fifty times more. Check it out soon!!

The Black Hoof Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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So a billion years ago we went to Toronto. We had a great weekend filled with visiting family, seeing friends, and touring around (it was Scott’s first time to Toronto after all).

My aunt and uncle took us to Red Lobster to meet my grandparents (mom’s side). I hadn’t seen them in a really really long time. We can’t communicate that well but I’m so glad we saw them. It was happy and sad at the same time. The next day we met my aunt and uncle again with my other aunt and my cousins too. We went out for an epic dimsum meal somewhere North of the city and then hung out and watched the Olympics at my aunts apartment.

Scott and I went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was sort of interesting? There wasn’t very much Canucks or Sens stuff, but the simulators were cool. Scott tried being a goalie and hitting slap shots.

You can pay money to get a professional photo with the Stanley Cup…. OR you can just go right up to it and take your own photo. I’m not sure the people buying photos knew that.

After the HHOF we saw that Winnie (a friend who used to live in Vancouver) was pre-drinking at a bar really close by. It was really cool that we got to meet up with her, as it wasn’t planned at all but worked out perfectly! She gave us tons of really great recommendations of places to eat… which I will post about in the next couple of posts.

Elevator selfie in our cheapo hotel. The hotel actually ended up being pretty decent. They get a hearty thumbs up for me for letting us check in at 9AM to nap after our overnight flight! Plus also free wifi! I would for sure stay at the Holiday Inn downtown again.

CN Tower on our last morning in Toronto. It was a nice clear day so we could see pretty far. Not that I knew what anything was though? Like I couldn’t tell if the tall buildings in the distance were like Mississauga or just still part of Toronto. Toronto is real big.

The best/worst part of the CN Tower was the HIMALAMAZON. One of those 4D “rides” that moves around and squirts water on you and stuff. Judging by the graphics, it was pretty ancient. The plot made no sense either, basically you were a log floating down some tracks. But the tracks had loops in them?? And the Himalayas and the Amazon are not even close to each other AT ALL??? Bizarre.

Delicious Toronto foods post coming up next.

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Quick update from Calgary:

Scott and I had so much fun in Ottawa last week. I made Scott try every winter activity including canal skating, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, fort building, tobogganing, curling, hockey and probably more that I am forgetting right now. It was also awesome seeing lots of friends and family. I wish it didn’t cost so much to come visit so I could come more!

It has also been really fun here in Calgary. I got to ride my friends’ horse! And then Can-Am week started on Tuesday. I thought we were just coming to do some informal sliding but actually it’s like a proper week of training. We’ve done two track walks, 5 runs, running starts, and icehouse practice time. And there are tons of coaches around filming and giving us feedback after every run. Yesterday was quite a long day but today is much shorter. Good thing because my legs are sore.

The track here is much much slower than Whistler but challenging in different ways. It’s bumpier and has a tricky corner and a kreisel (270° corner). Running starts are also an added challenge for Matt and I. I popped the groove yesterday which wasn’t very fun as it took me a few corners and a lot of toe dragging to regain my composure. At least I know what it’s like now.

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I did three more runs from corner 3 last night, much more successfully than the other night. Matt and I have been getting times within a few hundredths of a second so the (friendly) competition is fierce. I’m not going again tonight because I’m still getting over a bad cold. I don’t want to be sick for our big trip.

Leslie’s mom is in town so we all went out for brunch this morning. Rosemarie AND Scott were able to come too so it was really nice. We went to the Twisted Fork Bistro and ate lots of eggs benedict and frittata and baked eggs and banana french toast. I love going out for breakfast with people! I miss our monthly brunch club with Zsofi and Jess.

Oh yeah I also have purple hair now??!! Leslie helped me do it yesterday. :D

I’m working tomorrow (ummm better figure out how to put my hair in a bun) and then we’re off to Toronto, so my next post will probably be from Ontario. See ya.

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Mint Oreo brownie ice cream cake for Scott’s birthday. This cake was AMAZING. So many different types of sugar, so many different types of delicious. Would have been easier if I had a spring-form pan, instead I had to improvise with bits of cardboard and parchment paper, haha.

Our attempt at chili cheese fries. Good, but needed more liquid cheese…

Rosemarie made us a nice lunch platter one day when she was staying with us. She really was a great house guest. Those little bottles are filled with delicious balsamic reduction that we bought at the apple festival.

Scott’s co-worker gave him about 9 billion key limes, which he promptly turned into key lime pie. One naked key lime pie, and one key lime pie with meringue (above). I liked the naked one more… it was super super limey. He also juiced all the extra limes which I used to make margaritas, and guacamole.


SO LATE. Budget Bytes Crispy Peppermint Bark. I love the addition of rice krispies to the bark. It adds a nice crunch and keeps the costs low. I want to make this again right now, even though it is totally not Christmas. Bark in any season I say!