I heart yogurt

So I just realized I have yogurt parfaits and frozen yogurt really often. So delicious!

From Freshii's: 

From Freshii's again: 

From TCBY (my movie night treat hihi):

From home: 

home made yogurt with berries and walnuts. 

Frozen Yogurt might seem like a healthy alternative to ice cream, but watch out! Lots of sugar in most of them!

Eat away!

M. 

Lemon Meringue Pie

I had a sudden craving for lemon meringue pie this weekend. Which means, obviously, that I had to make one this week. 

First: lay out all the ingredients so you don't get caught up measuring DURING the baking. 

Then, bake your pie crust. 

Prepare your meringue. I made mine with a little less sugar than it called for in the recipe. 

The lemon pie filling: 

Pour it into the pie crust (no need for it to cool). 

Top it off with the meringue and "style it" as you like. 

Bake for about 12 minutes to get the desired brown color on the meringue. 

ET VOILÀ!

This pie is so simple, and SOO DELICIOUS! I didn't know what the hype was about. But now I understand. This is the perfect summer dessert: light and fresh, sour and just sweet enough. 

Delicious. 

Eat away!

M. 

Isobel's Cupcakes & Cookies

I love cupcakes. I'm so glad to have found this bakery. I've been coming here a few times now and have tasted most of their cupcakes. Here are my thoughts: 

First of all, the bakery is well decorated and very cute if you ask me. When you walk in, the smell of freshly baked cupcakes is irresistible.

Look at how cute!!! Imagine if there were TONS more. That's how you feel in the bakery when you have to choose. 

Piping techniques are pretty standard I find. But for cupcakes, I like simplicity. Just a standard star-shaped tip, then add some sprinkles or chocolate shavings (optional). Beauty. 

Note: the following cupcake descriptions were taken from the Isobel's Cupcakes website. 

 Vanilla Bean: 

Vanilla  cupcake with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting. 

My thoughts: 

Classic and simple. The frosting tastes like 100% cream cheese frosting though. I couldn't taste the vanilla bean through there. 

 Kid's Cupcake: 

Vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream frosting (made with icing sugar).

My thoughts: 

Amazing and overly sweet. This is the definition of comfort food (if you have a sweet tooth). I LOVE this one.  

Espresso: 

Vanilla cupcake with espresso truffle centre and dark chocolate buttercream frosting.  

My thoughts: 

I didn't think I was gonna like this one but turns out it's one of my faves. The frosting is so smooth and it's just sweet enough. The espresso adds a nice bitterness to it.

 Ganache: 

Chocolate cupcake with whipped dark chocolate ganache frosting.

My thoughts: 

This cupcake is to die for. If you're a chocolate lover like me, you HAVE to try this. The chocolate cupcake is moist and oh-so-chocolatey. The WHIPPED frosting is light as air and so tasty.  

 White chocolate: 

Chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

My thoughts: 

I had high expectations for this one, but it was just ok for me. Chocolate cupcake is good, we know that. But I was expecting the frosting to taste LESS like cream cheese frosting and more like white chocolate.

 Black forest: 

Chocolate cupcake with a rum cherry filling, with vanilla buttercream.

My thoughts: 

The filing of this cupcake is so good. True black-forest taste. From what I remember though, blackforest cakes have whipped cream topping and not vanilla buttercream. I found that this topping really tasted like whipped cream (actually, it's probably unsweeted vanilla buttercream?). 

I think the frosting should be a sweetened whipped cream on this cupcake. 

 Classic Chocolate Vanilla: 

Chocolate cupcake with pure vanilla buttercream frosting.

My thoughts: 

A classic. However, like the previous cupcake, the frosting just tasted like unsweetened vanilla buttercream, therefore like a whipped cream. 

The vanilla buttercream should be sweeter according to me. 

 Red velvet: 

Traditional southern red velvet cake with white chocolate ganache frosting. 

My thoughts: 

Where do I begin. Red velvet is usually my fave. But this one?? Omg. 

The red velvet cake is a success. 

The topping is not the usual cream cheese frosting. To my surprise, it's SO SO much better. This white chocolate ganache frosting is heaven. So light, so fluffy and just amazing. 

 Chocolate orange: 

Chocolate cupcake with an orange curd centre and orange zest buttercream frosting.

My thoughts: 

I was so pleasantly surprised by this one. It's the perfect combination of sweet and sour. The orange curd in the center is not too sour, and complements the chocolate cupcake beautifully. 

 Boston cream (seasonal): 

Vanilla cupcake with fresh pastry cream centre and dark chocolate buttercream frosting.

My thoughts: 

I love pastry cream (crème patissière) and probably had high expectations. This pastry cream wasn't really tasty according to me. Cupcake was good, frosting too. But I think the centre could've been better. 

 Lemon curd: 

Vanilla cupcake with lemon curd centre and lemon zest buttercream frosting. 

My thoughts: 

I thought this little one would be like the chocolate orange (which I loved). However, the lemon center was TOO sour. It made me do a funny face. 

And last but not least: 

 Chocolate peppermint (seasonal):

Dark chocolate cupcake with fresh mint buttercream. 

My thoughts: 

I love the chocolate cupcake (have I mentioned it enough times?) . The mint buttercream is nice. I know it's difficult to get the mint taste to come out in frostings. Especially if it's fresh mint. Maybe add some mint syrup or flavor?

Hope you enjoyed this review. I love this bakery and will come back for more!. 

Eat away!

M.

http://www.isobels.com/index.htm




PS: please don't think I'm a fatso. I only taste them: 

Banana Chocolate Pie

Dessert ideas often strike me randomly during the day. Then, it's a fixed idea and I HAVE to make it. 

Today: Banana chocolate pie. 

1- Graham cracker crust

2- Ripe bananas

3- Chocolate and Banana cream pie filling

Note: I rarely use pudding mixes for desserts, but this recipe called for it so why not. I did substitute the sour cream for greek yogurt though. 

4- Whipped cream 

*** DON'T FORGET TO ADD A LITTLE SUGAR AND VANILLA EXTRACT

(they don't always mention it in recipes)

5- Assemble it all! :)

6- BON APPÉTIT!

Eat away my loves, 

M. 

Greasy Spoon Restaurant

I've heard a great deal about this restaurant and wanted to try it for a while now.

As a beaufitul coincidence, I also found a 3-course meal menu for 2 people on www.tuango.ca this week too!

The menu looked amazing too - I had to go this weekend.

 My first impression of the restaurant was not so pleasant. When I called to make reservations, the guy answered: "ALLO!??"

I was like.... Hummm.... This is not so professional of them. 

But then, I was pleasantly suprised to see the restaurant. Beautiful, charming restaurant on Laurier st. 

Inside, a very warm and cozy, yet trendy feel to it. 

We were basically sitting with the table beside us however (downside). Really crowded restaurant and little accomodation available.

For starters: 

Chorizo, confit tomatoes, caramalized onions tartelette with old balsamique dressing. 

I was really impressed with this dish. It had a perfectly fluffly puff pastry under all the yummy flavors.  

Then, a smoke meat poutine. 

We were expecting a traditional poutine, but this was nothing like it. There were no french fries, but potato croquettes (delicious), with the traditional gravy and cheese curds. OMG this was so amazing. 

The mains: 

Maple glazed pork belly with creamy polenta. 

The polenta was good. However, the plate was so unbalanced. Do you see anything GREEN on the plate? Nuh. COME ON PEOPLE. 

The pork was really juicy, tasty and tender. However, it was full of thick fat. Not very much meat to it. 

Overall, not so good. 

Beef short rib raclette style: 

Mashed potatoes were good (hard to miss). 

Beef was extremely tender, but very fatty again. 

AND NO GREEN AGAIN!?!?!?! 

For dessert: 

Chocolate brownie with salted caramel and crème anglaise. 

Need I say more? Delicious. Nothing more, noting less. 

Small portion too - it's perfect.  

Citrus zest crème brûlée

Very good. Light and fresh.

The top was perfectly caramelized . 

 So overall, I would recommend this restaurant. They have an extensive wine list, lots of cocktails, the environment is warm and inviting. 

On the downside, the service is not so good and it's kind of pricey. 

Eat away my friends, 

M. 

http://greasyspoonmtl.com/

The Healthy Choice

When you've been eating "junk food" all weekend, you need to eat healthier at some point. 

My sister made this bean dip tonight made with beans, tuna, dill and onions. 

You put the whole thing through a food processor and voilà: a high-protein, low fat snack or meal. 

We had it with veggies and crakers. 

Eat healthy!

M. 

Pudding Chômeur

Un vrai délice québécois: 

See the sauce float over your dough mixture! :D As it cooks, the sauce will slowly travel to the bottom. 

Final result: sticky, gooey and just plain delicious. Wow. 

Eat pudding!

M. 

Filet de porc à l'ail et frites

 The trick to having perfectly seasoned, tender meat: marinate your meat for AT LEAST an hour. We usually marinate overnight. 

Flavor comes from FAT! Seriously. Fries aren't fries if you stick them in the oven. 

Frites belges: Mayonnaise à l'ail. 

You do need some veggies though. For salads, throw in anything you can find. Tonight, I found baby spinach leaves, blood oranges, pineapple, almonds and dried cranberries. 

ET VOILÀ! BON APPÉTIT!

Eat my friends, 

M.