December: I'm Dreaming of...

It‘s taken me a while to write this post as I‘ve had a number of things on my mind.  A lot of self reflection actually. Maybe this is the last post of this kind for the year and it‘s the time to reflect... or maybe when I became a mom, I see myself differently.  Becoming a parent tests your character, beliefs, and stamina.  It makes you think about the person you are as you wonder who s/he becomes...

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I recently made this very sweet, decadent, loaded with dark chocolate and butter loaf cake and it was just...well...okay.  Something between a cake and brownie.  The recipe itself might be good and maybe it was just me...I haven't been baking as much as I'd like and when I do, the results are not too great.  Practice and focus are key, but dedicated time and focus is what I lack right now.  

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Steeping tea is not a hard thing to do, but I also seem to be very poor at it recently.  Sometimes I pour too early (short steep) making it too light and sometimes I forget about it till it's quite strong and over-brewed.  In some ways, I think it's a reflection of who I am and where I'm at in life.

Too early a pour :: I'm too eager for results that I rush things and produce something with little substance...
Too late of a pour :: I'm not focused, juggling too many things I want to do that I don't pay enough attention to it...and thus forget what's important.

Ahhh, tea and metaphors for life, I'm sure I‘m not the first to say the above.

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But, I can still dream (because we all need to dream), so this December I'm dreaming of...

light and fluffy cakes (and some simple cookies) made more than once

- a simple chiffon cake, maybe topped with a light as snow whipped cream frosting
- gingerbread cookies...warm spices to warm up these cold days
- a Swiss roll cake  decorated Junko style (I have yet to try a recipe from her book)!  Just because it's sooo cute...this may be my over eager self talking again, but like I said, I can dream...
- watching my favourite movie with a warm tea and the oven on...and not caring if snow is falling heavily or not

Oh, yes...and finish the book The Untold History of Ramen....a very interesting read so far, review to come soon!  

Enjoy the rest of 2014!

CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice - Now Open in Toronto

Another Taiwan bubble tea brand has opened in Toronto; Coco Bubble Tea.  Located in a small plaza north of Finch and Midland (near Keung Kee Restaurant), this past weekend they were just in their "soft opening" stage. The offerings are definitely geared to a North American market with fruit slushes, tea macchiatos, and chocolate flavoured drinks.  Not a bad thing, but different from more common offerings in Taiwan.  Their webtsite shows drinks that are not offered here but I think it would have been good to have some items that would be unique to this brand.

Winter melon, apple, and I think green bean (mung bean) slush would have been good options to include.  I would definitely go for a green bean smoothie as it was common in Taiwan (and supposedly is good for "cooling" the body or reducing acne).  It‘s interesting to note they only have 2 fresh teas.  

I opted for a hot Matcha milk tea as I actually had a cold HK milk tea just before (but I had to try Coco out even if I wasn't thirsty).

Taste: Okay, but it misses a bit on the Matcha flavour.  I wasn‘t asked about my preferred sugar level as I usually will get less or half sugar, but it turned out ok, just a bit sweeter than I‘d like at the end.  I think the real taste test will be on their milk tea and a fruit tea.

Service: Soft opening so can‘t really comment except the service was friendly.

Atmosphere: Clean, spacious. 

Will I return?  Yes, to try other drinks and give a more informed review.  But, they will definitely be competing with Marathon Donuts during the day in the milk tea category as Marathon is known to have award winning HK style milk tea and they are priced lower.  

La Mere Restaurant :: Super Find in Scarborough

La Mere Restaurant
3278 Midland Ave.
Scarborough, ON M1V 0C9
416-297-0297

Every so often I read Yelp reviews and come across a place that I saw a while back but was a bit unsure of trying and then wish I did try it so I could be the one to discover such a great place!  La Mere is one of those restaurants.  In a short time, they've even opened a second location in Richmond Hill at Times Square (Hwy 7 and Leslie).

  

We had tried to go once on a weekend and it was packed!  The tiny restaurant only has tables of four's and two's.  So, definitely go off peak times if you don't want to wait.  I'm not quite sure if this place is considered "Northern Chinese Cuisine" but there are a several dishes that are characteristic of Northern Chinese Food. I'm happy Toronto has more and more Chinese restaurants that showcase the extensive variety of Chinese cuisine.  We ordered a few dishes to sample the range of offerings and all were tasty!

We ordered a cold dish of celery, cloud ears, and bean curd, which was light and crunchy.  Simply dressed with sesame oil and a bit of salt, it started the meal off great.

Cold Appetizer

The pork neck soup came with 3 pieces of pork which were tender and lightly flavoured.  The noodles were  chewy which we liked but became soggy near the end; common for a lot of noodles if you let it sit in the broth too long.  The broth was probably the most disappointing part of the meal.  Not too much on flavour but I'm also glad it wasn't too salty.  The noodle soup offerings are well priced and would be great as a quick lunch.

Pork bone soup with hand pulled noodles

If you like lamb, these were tender and fairly decent.  More spicy than cumin IMO though. Would be great with a beer, especially when served with toothpicks.  My only gripe would be the price is a bit high for the amount you get.  At $13 I expected a little more.

Toothpick Cumin Lamb

Below is the beef pancake that the Chinese name of the restaurant (老媽肉餅) is named after.

Crispy skinned and filled with a ground beef mix that tasted pretty good.  

Definitely a comfort food, oily, crispy, and meaty.

Beef Pancake ("Meat Pie")

Service was okay, nothing extraordinary.  But just an observation, another table had plastic gloves to eat their pork bones with but we weren't given any...maybe we had to ask?

There were definitely a few other things on the menu to try but we'll save that for next time!  Overall, a great find in Scarborough for good, hearty, and (for the most part,) reasonably priced meal.