Before I get to this week click here to see my detailed post on the Heritage Toronto tour we took last week.
I'm a golf widow on the weekend as John was away in Pittsburgh at the US Open. They left Friday morning and came home on Monday afternoon.
And caught on camera on the 18th hole.
So my BFF and I met downtown at Union Station and started off with lunch. The annual Luminato Festival is on in town and they took over Front St. from York to Bay, closing the street to host a food festival.
Fifteen restaurants from across the GTA will offer their signature dishes in a two-day smorgasbord. Chefs take to the stage for free food demonstrations every hour on the hour, with giant chess and Jenga games available, and a bar by Parts & Labour. Gotta love that name for a bar!
A unique project cooked up by a Toronto chef Newcomer Kitchen is the work of Len Senater, the owner of a popular breakfast and brunch spot on College Street called The Depanneur.
This program gives newly landed Syrian refugees staying in hotels a chance to cook their food before they move into their new homes. Senater hopes that the women here will eventually lead one of the pop-ups and show the city the kind of home-cooking that can’t be found in restaurants.
Ricky Casipe is a chef from Hawthorne's. Hawthorne Food & Drink is a small restaurant on the edge of Toronto’s financial district. As a designee of OCTA’s FeastON program, our food mandate is serve ‘Farm-to-Fork City Food’ using local, seasonal and sustainable ingredients. Operating as a non-profit restaurant, Hawthorne is the social enterprise arm of The Hospitality Workers Training Centre. Training participants enter Hawthorne for coursework and transitional employment periods to build on skills needed to enter Toronto’s growing hospitality industry.
On the right is Toronto-based chef, two-time TEDx speaker and activist for social justice and sustainable food systems, Joshna Maharaj. Check out her recipes.
K chose the smoked meat. Wish I could have got you one, Beth!
I am a sucker for pork belly and this one was made by the Fairmont Royal York hotel which is located across the street and can be seen in the third photo.
A rare occurrence.
Looking back as we left.
We then take the streetcar along King St heading to the Distillery District and were sidetracked by a church and a heritage schoolhouse.
The Distillery District contains numerous cafés, restaurants, and shops housed within heritage buildings of the former Gooderham and Worts Distillery. The 13 acres (5.3 ha) district comprises more than forty heritage buildings and ten streets, and is the largest collection of Victorian-era industrial architecture in North America.
I will do a separate post on this so this is just highlights.
Monday the closet guys came to rip out the closets and take down the wall.
Tuesday one guy came to fix the floor in the closet instead of patching he replaced the boards.
We were lucky the previous owner had left a box of the boards in the locker. He did a fabulous job.
When he left John touched up all the spots in the closets where they had removed a wall and also where the other shelves were.
Wednesday I went to Chinatown on the hunt for plant pots but no joy. I then came home while John went golfing. The closet guys were scheduled to finish on Thursday but they finished up on Wednesday and they look amazing!!
I immediately started arranging stuff in the office. There is so much space. The other side has an upper and lower racks for hanging clothes. There is another shelf at the top missing from this photo.
BEFORE it was L shaped with an alcove.
AFTER - doors at entrance to walk in closet.
Everything put away.
Pictures waiting to be hung. That large looking drawer is actually a pull out laundry basket.
Thursday I took a brief stroll down Bloor St. W look at these cakes!
Then we went to Costco. Most of the day was spent putting stuff away.
This is the hall closet. So much space! There are also two hanging racks on the other side.
Above picture does not show the three sliding shoe shelves.
New doors on all closets! Don't mind the tools in the hallway.
Friday morning was devoted to laundry and other chores before we left for Taste Of Toronto.
Click here for Taste of Toronto 2014.
Click here for Taste of Toronto 2015.
This year's menu card.
This year's event took place at Fort York the same as other years. But instead of being within the Fort it was held in the park beside it. A perfect location with lots of shade trees and sitting spaces.
I'll only post a couple of photos here with more to come.
Lots of samples, we tried sapwater (really good) kale snacks, and bought scones and brownies.
From Barque The Bee's Knees - brisket burnt ends of crispy rice.
Fat Pasha - Za’atar Grilled Chicken, Hummus, Skhug,Tahini, Lemon, Pickle, Olive, Hot Pepper, Pita
The hummus was delicious.
What the heck is skhug??? It is the green sauce you see.
Hot sauce skhug is extremely popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. The sauce, a creation of the Yemeni kitchen, was brought to Israel by Yemeni Jews.
Here is a recipe that I will definitely be making.
Some soldiers from the Fort dropped by.
Beer delivery.
Saturday - leftover chicken a la orange
Sunday - burger patty with gravy and cauliflower
Monday - meatloaf with sweet potato and white potato mash
Tuesday - leftover meatloaf with kale added to the mash.
Wednesday - ham, boiled potatoes and brussel sprouts (John golfing)
Thursday - we repeated Wednesday's
Friday - fried potatoes, ham and eggs.
EATING LUNCH AROUND THE WORLD (IN TORONTO)
International Burgers at Batch in Financial District
New England Clam chowder at St. Lawrence Market
Mexico tacos at La Carnita John St.
Poland Cafe Polonez cabbage roll, pierogis and potato latkes.
India Aroma buffet
Asian Pork won ton noodle soup
England Afternoon Tea
International Hero burgers
International Taste of Toronto and Luminato Food Festival
Poland Cafe Polonez cabbage roll, pierogis and potato latkes.
India Aroma buffet
Asian Pork won ton noodle soup
England Afternoon Tea
International Hero burgers
International Taste of Toronto and Luminato Food Festival
Looks like you have a busy life. I love the food events - lots of tempting flavors offered in one location.
ReplyDeleteYou have me in tears of envy! (I mean that in all the BEST ways.) What an awesome week. You are so right, I would have loved to have joined you for lunch.
ReplyDeleteAnd your closets??? Awesome. I love how organized they are and how great they look. Fantastic.
I have never heard of skhug, but that recipe you shared looks really, really good. And great timing for summer. Just as soon as I see jalapenos at the farmers market, I'm going to make this. YUM.
I've never been to one of those Taste of events, but my sister has, many times, and she loves them. Sounds like you had a great time, too!
ReplyDeletehttp://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/06/bookexpo-authors.html
sounds wonderfully delicious -- looks like it was lovely weather, too! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat fun you had! Great photos!
ReplyDeleteBoth food festivals look tempting!
ReplyDeleteJust the idea of the pork belly slider has my mouth watering! It sound delicious. Though I think would have wanted to sample one of everything at the festival. It all looks so tasty and interesting. Yay for the closet reorg! It's always such fun and so satisfying to get everything cleared out and discover how much room you have. Love the US Open picture. It looks like he had a good time!
ReplyDeleteI love food festivals. It's so much fun to taste a variety of foods in one place -- things you might hesitate to order in a restaurant as a full serving. Looks like both festivals had plenty of unusual selections. You did a great job of capturing the diversity.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful, wonderful experience! I would love to have been there. And such a GREAT thing the Newcomer kitchen is!!!!
ReplyDeleteWow. What a week. I'm exhausted just reading about it. The food festival looked amazing. Here's Mine
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun foodie week! The food festivals look incredible--I am sure it was hard to decide on what to eat with all of the delicious choices. It must feel good to get your closets done too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting post as always. Have a great week. Cheers from Carole's Chatter
ReplyDeleteWhat a post!
ReplyDeleteTaking part in Saturday Snapshot after very long...
Here is my post
I don't think we have a festival that awesome in my area. Wow, so much to see and eat. I love touring with you. I understand about being a widow of a hobby. You are a golf widow and I am an astronomy widow :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of pork belly as well but my mouth is watering just thinking about all of the food you experienced and saw and smelled at the festival. Amazing!
ReplyDelete