by ·1 Comment

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

by ·0 Comments

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.

by ·1 Comment

I’ll be honest… the last few weeks have been kinda bland. Just been working a lot, mostly at the hospital, but some at the data centre as well. I am tired!! But loving the paycheques. Anyway all this working is helping to lead up to the MOST AWESOME FEBRUARY EVER!!

It starts off a little early with Leslie visiting from Korea/Ottawa, our first Dine Out Vancouver meal, ladies night at Mt Seymour, and skeleton this weekend!!! If the ice is slow we may be moving up starting positions. If it’s fast then we’ll stick with lower ladies and then wait until the next weekend to move up. That weekend is also Rosemarie’s birthday. :)

Then Scott and I are flying to Toronto for a few days, then Ottawa for the rest of that week (where Rosemarie will be too). We’re cramming in seeing as much family and as many friends as possible. Plus Scott has never been to Toronto so we’ll do some touristy things as well. Is Niagara Falls fun in winter???

Then Scott and Rosemarie fly back to Vancouver and I fly to Calgary for a whole week of skeleton training! I don’t know a whole lot about what we’ll be doing there but so far it sounds like we’ll be learning to do real running starts in the icehouse, and also trying out the Calgary track. That track is slower, so we’ll be able to start from the top. So cool!

After that my calendar is blank. Haha.

PS Check out the shirt I made for Rosemarie for Christmas. WE LOVE BOB’S BURGERS. We especially love Tina. I don’t know how they keep coming up with such hilarious things for her to say… but they do… and it’s awesome.

CAPOEIRA! BRAZIL!

by ·2 Comments

Wow I seriously do not want to know how many calories and grams of sodium I ate in the last two weeks. We ate out A LOT!! Someone pass me the salad please.

december 1st, 2013 – turkey banh mi from Saigon Noodle in Kailua

december 2nd, 2013 – Loaded Nuggets Munchie Box from Jack in the Box in Kailua

As I learned a few months ago, Jack in the Box started selling these Munchie Boxes after 9PM for $6 (actually $7 in Hawaii). They’re pretty much for stoners. The boxes all come with a big drink, curly fries, regular fries, two tacos, and some kind of main dish. The options are

  1. Stacked Grilled Cheese Hamburger (hamburger with a grilled cheese as a top bun)
  2. Exploding Cheesy Chicken (chicken burger with mozarella sticks and cheese sauce on it)
  3. Loaded Nuggets (chicken nuggets with cheese, ranch and bacon on top)
  4. Brunch Burger (burger with egg on a croissant)

I chose the Loaded Nuggets and it was tasty. The tacos were two-dimensional. I nearly died of food overdose afterwards. Scott and Natasha had the Exploding Cheesy Chicken. Rosemarie was smarter and just ordered a regular burger.

I will probably never eat at Jack in the Box again.

Jack In The Box Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

december 3rd, 2013 – Original Chicken Sandwich at Burger King in Honolulu

Our flight home left Honolulu airport at 11:30PM so we were at the airport very late. We didn’t realize that the food court was about to shut and were left with very very very limited options for dinner. This chicken sandwich was pretty gross but it was pretty much the only option left after 8:59PM.

december 4th, 2013 – alaska roll and spicy tuna roll, yam, potato and shrimp tempura from Sushi Garden

Rosemarie requested cheap sushi after being away from Vancouver for 1.5 years. Sushi Garden definitely hits the spot.

december 5th, 2013 – homemade falafel with tzatziki

Rosemarie made this and it was mega tasty. She says next time she will make the pitas too. BEST HOUSEGUEST EVER.

On December 6th Scott and I went to Kevin’s house for dinner. I didn’t take a picture because I was shy. They made a whole bunch of appetizers for dinner and everything was awesome.

december 7th, 2013 – quinoa with roasted vegetables, and sausage

december 8th, 2013 – spicy peanut cabbage salad and spicy chicken

december 9th, 2013 – pesto pasta bake and spicy cucumber salad

december 10th, 2013 – beans and rice with shrimp

december 11th, 2013 – slow cooker chicken and wild rice “soup” and raw carrots and cucumber

This was supposed to be a soup but turned out very very thick. Mmm glop. It still tasted fine, even though it is seriously not visually appealing.

december 12th, 2013 – ahi tuna club sandwich and fries at Joey’s

The doctors at the hospital I work at took us out for a lunch/dinner for the holidays. I had a tuna club sandwich and it was really good! The ahi tuna was pretty hefty, and just seared on the outside (the way I like it). The onion rings added crunch and the chutney and mayo sauce added even more tasty flavour. All the appetizers we ordered were really good too. I enjoyed this meal a lot.

december 13th, 2013 – hot and sour wings at The Pint

Expensive mediocre wings and a bland drink. The nacho I stole from the table next to us was the culinary highlight of the evening. Might not return.

december 14th, 2013 – microwave lasagna

To save money in Whistler we always try to bring as many meals with us as we can. This time we brought a frozen lasagna and cooked it in the microwave. We forgot to bring forks though so I had to eat it with a big knife.

by ·0 Comments

Some of the delicious foods on our trip:

Poke bowl at the surfing competition. (Bowl of cold raw tuna on a bed of warm rice.) SO TASTY. We could taste sesame, soy sauce, chili. Overall it was very nice and I would 100% eat it again!

Matsumoto’s shave ice. Mine was supposed to come with ice cream and beans but it came with neither. I am still sad. I had been waiting three years for another shave ice with ice cream and beans!! :'( Rosemarie was nice enough to give me an ice cream donation part of the way through, lol.

Shrimp and rice from Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck. Garlicky deliciousness. I just had a half plate this time, which was definitely plenty.


One day we went to Ihop for lunch. They had Christmas specials that were significantly cheaper than regular meals, plus they sounded significantly tastier! WIN WIN! All four of us were very boring and all ordered the white chocolate raspberry pancakes with the smallest side option (eggs and hashbrowns). I think each meal only cost $6 or $7 and it was definitely filling. I added extra syrup because I felt they were not sugary enough already. :P

Fish tacos and chicken tacos. With lots of added hot sauce. Nom nom.