by ·3 Comments

Rosemarie and I went to the Black Hoof for dinner our last night in Ontario. We were supposed to meet some of my friends but they all work too hard!! So instead Rosemarie and I had a sister-date and gorged ourselves on all sorts of offal. Delicious delicious offal.

Horse tartare. With crunchy sunchoke chips and an egg yolk. A+ WOULD EAT AGAIN. Raw horse tastes a lot better than you might think.

Sweetbread karaage with Japanese mayo and lots of pickled vegetables. This was my first time eating pancreas. It didn’t have a strong taste, but it did have an interesting texture. Not bad, just interesting. Deep frying anything in crunchy karaage batter helps anything taste amazing. I give this dish an A-.

We had some pork carnita tacos. They were awesome, like last time. Grade: A.

And because we are pigs, we ordered tongue on brioche too. The meat was so tender and tasty, I swear you’d never guess you were eating tongue if no one told you. It comes with grainy mustard and pickled celery. This one gets an A+.

I love this restaurant. I’d really like to go back some day with a big group of people so we could order one of everything on the menu. Still so many things I want to try: salmon crudo, liver and onions, beef heart etc etc. If you live in Toronto and haven’t been yet…. why?

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

by ·1 Comment

The Ripleys Aquarium in Toronto is really cool! The best part is that there is a really long conveyor belt that goes through the main part of the aquarium, including a tunnel section, so you don’t even have to walk. You can put your bags down and just relax for twenty minutes while gliding past tons of sharks and fish and rays. Rosemarie and I did the conveyor belt twice. :D

That was the first time I have been in an aquarium tunnel. When we were in the dark part you couldn’t see the glass and it looked like sharks were just floating through the air above our heads. Really cool effect.

Rosemarie and I really liked the aquarium. We had perma grin the whole time. Also if you go after 7PM it’s $5 cheaper (and less crowded!).

by ·1 Comment

Last weekend Rosemarie and I went to Listowel thanks to a super awesome Sunwing sale. Dad and Kate decided last minute to join us so we ended up having a really nice impromptu family reunion!

I was really happy not to have to drive to Listowel from the airport. I think I only got ~1.5 hours sleep on the plane.

After lunch and a house tour at grandma and grandpas we all drove out to Lake Huron to my aunt’s cabin. We had margaritas and dinner and a campfire. It was fun!

That is Rosemarie getting coached by 10 people on how to make a campfire pogo. We used homemade Italian bread and a hotdog and it tasted awesome. I need to get one of those things because the possibilities are endless… cheese… chocolate?… yummm.

Uncle Terry kept our wine glasses FULL. :)

The next day we took the scenic way to Aunt Joanne’s house via a beach near Inverhuron and my cousin’s new house. The sun was nice and warm but the water was super cold.

Dad cooked a big stir fry and Kate made a chocolate cake for grandma’s birthday.

There was a gust of wind, OK?? :P

We came back to grandma and grandpa’s house to sleep that night, and then just relaxed and chatted the next day until we had to leave. Dad and Kate braved Toronto rush hour traffic to drop us off in the city. Rosemarie and I explored Toronto on our own a bit but I’ll leave that for its own post.

While I don’t think I slept properly any of the nights, I’m so glad Rosemarie and I were able to take advantage of that sale because the trip was worth the pain. It was great to see everyone after not visiting for so long. I would do it again for sure.