Pho Good
Our neighbourhood is full of restaurants of all different cuisines and there are a number of Vietnamese, Japanese, Schwarma and Indian places as well as Chinatown just down the other side of Somerset a couple blocks. I am not a huge fan of Asian cuisine but Jenn was introduced to Pho through a work lunch out and thought I would really like it. We finally got around to going out to a Pho restaurant nearby for dinner.
For those of you unfamiliar with Pho, it is a Vietnamese noodle soup served with either beef (pho bo) or chicken (pho ga) or both (pho bo ga??). The noodles are made from rice and it comes with bean sprouts, peppers, basil and lime on the side that you can add in yourself along with different flavourings such as hot sauce, soy sauce and a couple other choices (I wasn't sure what they were to be honest). The soup is served in three sizes: small (think a small mixing bowl), medium (about the size of a hard hat turned upside down), and large (the size of the mashed potato bowl at Thanksgiving dinner). I had a small and did not get through it all but the good thing with Pho is that it heats up very nicely the next day and we took our leftover Pho to go and had it again the next night. I walked out of Saigon Pho with what felt like a Pho baby in my belly - all that delicious broth.
It is a very yummy and inexpensive meal!
For those of you unfamiliar with Pho, it is a Vietnamese noodle soup served with either beef (pho bo) or chicken (pho ga) or both (pho bo ga??). The noodles are made from rice and it comes with bean sprouts, peppers, basil and lime on the side that you can add in yourself along with different flavourings such as hot sauce, soy sauce and a couple other choices (I wasn't sure what they were to be honest). The soup is served in three sizes: small (think a small mixing bowl), medium (about the size of a hard hat turned upside down), and large (the size of the mashed potato bowl at Thanksgiving dinner). I had a small and did not get through it all but the good thing with Pho is that it heats up very nicely the next day and we took our leftover Pho to go and had it again the next night. I walked out of Saigon Pho with what felt like a Pho baby in my belly - all that delicious broth.
It is a very yummy and inexpensive meal!
Barberian's Steak House
I was in Toronto for work this week for a couple days staying at the Marriott at the Eaton Centre. The purpose of the trip was to wrap up the year, meet our new VP and celebrate the successful year Ontario region had at Emco. To cap off the celebration, we were taken for dinner at Barberian's Steak House.
Barberian's Steak House has been around for 50 years and is set in an old building that the owner has preserved to its original character as much as possible. The building features a huge two-story wine cellar that houses more than 30,000 bottles of wine. In addition, all of the artwork on the walls around the restauarant is Canadian artists including the Group of Seven and historical painting that show the Hudson's Bay Company and Samual Champlain - very cool.
Our group had the entire wine cellar room to ourselves and all 36 of us sat at one long table among the shelves upon shelves of wine (you can see in the picture). The meal was fantastic and the service and company were great too. I had red wine and a filet mignon wrapped in bacon with a side of broccoli and mushrooms - food orgasm if I ever had one! (Yes Mom I just said food orgasm on my blog). The restaurant isn't really inexpensive but you pay for what you get which is an amazing meal, great atmosphere and quality food and service.
Mmm mmm good!
Barberian's Steak House has been around for 50 years and is set in an old building that the owner has preserved to its original character as much as possible. The building features a huge two-story wine cellar that houses more than 30,000 bottles of wine. In addition, all of the artwork on the walls around the restauarant is Canadian artists including the Group of Seven and historical painting that show the Hudson's Bay Company and Samual Champlain - very cool.
Our group had the entire wine cellar room to ourselves and all 36 of us sat at one long table among the shelves upon shelves of wine (you can see in the picture). The meal was fantastic and the service and company were great too. I had red wine and a filet mignon wrapped in bacon with a side of broccoli and mushrooms - food orgasm if I ever had one! (Yes Mom I just said food orgasm on my blog). The restaurant isn't really inexpensive but you pay for what you get which is an amazing meal, great atmosphere and quality food and service.
Mmm mmm good!
Holiday Treats!
I went to a holiday party hosted down the hall at Melody's condo. Her and our other friend Milene host an annual potluck Christmas party and Jenn and I were invited this year. We made two huge pans of scalloped potatoes and these neat rice krispie lollipops. I saw these on a kids' party website once and they were decorated in birthday theme but I thought I could do them in Christmas colors and they would be a good dessert and easy to eat and transport. They were quite a hit and they looked very festive. Not everyone wants a heavy dessert especially during the holidays so this is a nice alternative and fun to eat.
You basically just make the rice krispie squares recipe then form the balls, let them cool a bit then decorate (I rolled them in green and red sprinkles, coconut, and drizzled melted chocolate on them) and then insert a popsicle stick ($ store) and put them in the fridge to harden. I tried to stick them into styrofoam balls that I had cut the bottoms off of and put on the tray for presentation points, but some of the balls were top heavy and starting sliding down so I just propped them up instead and that worked!
Easy, yummy and festive treat!
You basically just make the rice krispie squares recipe then form the balls, let them cool a bit then decorate (I rolled them in green and red sprinkles, coconut, and drizzled melted chocolate on them) and then insert a popsicle stick ($ store) and put them in the fridge to harden. I tried to stick them into styrofoam balls that I had cut the bottoms off of and put on the tray for presentation points, but some of the balls were top heavy and starting sliding down so I just propped them up instead and that worked!
Easy, yummy and festive treat!