Last Day of Spring

Today is the last day of spring but for most, we think of tomorrow as much more exciting, the first day of summer!  Summer weather has started as our springs seem to get shorter and shorter, but when June 21st hits, I often think of the beginning of patio season, barbecues and ice cold beers or crisp white wines, summer fruits. picnics, outdoor sports, and when I was much younger, no school!!

However, today is about the last day of spring and I think a little reflection is in order...did I enjoy spring?

As I get older I find there are years that I don't remember much and that's fine.  Sometimes you remember events or sometimes there are years that were tidal waves and you remember all the details.  For me, "she rolled over" was one event to mark the spring of 2014 ^-^

Here are a few pics of what I've been up to...and yes, this past spring was enjoyable.

Le Cafe Michi - Great Sushi, Cozy, and Dessert All-in-One

Le Cafe Michi continues to be one of my favourite restaurants in Toronto for several reasons.  From the signage at the front you wouldn't think they serve sushi, let alone very good sushi for that matter, but the quality of sushi and food in general is very good; a real hidden gem!  The space is cozy and relaxed, I feel like it could be in Japan; but think smaller town feel, not the flash and energy of Tokyo. (So, if you're looking for posh, head to downtown Toronto instead.)  And, to top things off, the desserts are delicious and made in-house so you'll find desserts such as a green tea red bean cake or tofu cheesecake available.

1802 Pharmacy Aveune
Scarboough, ON  M1T 1K1

416-490-9688

The space

Le Cafe Michi reminds me a little bit of zakka culture and a slower pace of life by the atmosphere they generate, the decor, and the cute handmade goods on display/for sale.  The place is quiet, perfect for good conversation and when you just want to relax with a cup of coffee or tea and dessert.  (By the way, they offer an afternoon tea special that includes slice of cake and coffee or tea for $6.50.)

These kitties are so cute!!

Back room for dining and omakase.

The food

In Toronto there are so many all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants that for many, it's hard to find value in going to a sushi restaurant that isn't.  But, sometimes it's about quality vs quantity and Le Cafe Michi delivers on the quality.

Top left:  salad for chyo-chin bento (could have been a little more interesting tho').  Bottom left: seaweed salad for cafe au lait chirashi.

We ordered sushi specials which come with salad (pictured above), a choice of tea or coffee and choice of dessert.  Besides the sushi specials, they also serve cooked dishes like katsu don and items a la carte.

Chicken karaage, this is how the chyo-chin bento looks when served

The chicken karaage (basically Japanese fried chicken) was crispy on the outside and moist and tender on the inside.  Light seasoning and the batter wasn't thick or too oily.  Drizzled with a spicy mayo based sauce, this dish definitely stood out!!  I was tempted to order it a la carte too but each meal was just enough food on it's own and...I wanted to make sure I had room for dessert. ^-^

The rest of the bento includes 6 pieces of sashimi which were of good quality and unajyu (eel) on sushi rice was soft and flavourful, well made indeed.

The Cafe Au Lait Chirashi was beautifully assembled, my favourite being the mushroom shaped tuna on the left dotted with wasabi mayo (cute!).  The sashimi was fresh and the variety is standard (normally they have uni but didn't have any that day).  My only complaint was the tuna was not as good as I remember.  Underneath, between some sushi rice was some unajyu (bbq eel) which made the sushi rice even tastier.

The dessert

Ranging from Earl grey chiffon to mousse cakes to various cheesecakes, they offer a very good selection of desserts.  We opted for a slice of Sake chocolate cake and a slice of green tea red bean cake.

Part of the dessert case.

Sake chocolate cake

You can taste the sake but it wasn't too strong and really went well with the chocolate. Texture of the mousse and ganache was good.

Green tea red bean cake

The green tea  cream was ohhh so good, just the right amount of green tea and sweetness!  But they were kind of off on the texture of the cake, it was a little too wet and airy.  I've had this cake several times and the texture of the cake was never an issue in the past, moist, light and fluffy, so still worth a try if you like green tea flavoured desserts.

And just because I mentioned it, here is the tofu cheesecake.

One other thing to note, if you're going for lunch or dinner, MAKE RESERVATIONS!  The place is small and has a loyal customer base, you'll be disappointed if you don't!

Mel Lastman Square Farmer's Market 2014 - the Start of the Season

Yesterday was the first day of the Mel Lastman Square Farmer's Market and despite it being cooler than the past few days, there was still a good crowd.

Many of the other markets within the city have already started, each with a slightly different mix of stalls (see Atebyate's recent post).  Here, you'll find several fruit and vegetable farms, local artisanal cheese, honey, natural soaps, a few stalls selling hot food/ baked goods, and an herb and tomato plant stall where I wanted to buy more than I could carry!

My first experience with rhubarb was in sixth grade.  My class went to an outdoor education centre and stayed the week.  Meals were provided and one night we had rhubarb and strawberry pie.  It was probably the only dish that I have a strong recollection of, it was definitely good!  I had never heard of rhubarb at the time but ever since then, whenever I hear someone mention or see rhubarb strawberry pie, I instantly think, "Mmmm"!  But, that was the only way I knew of using rhubarb and surprisingly never tried to make it myself.  So, naturally I had to buy a stalk!

Here are some pics of the Thiessen Farms herb and tomato plant stall...

A huge variety available!

One herb that I have to mention is the chocolate mint herb that was there.  Unfortunately it doesn't taste much like chocolate mint but the leaves do smell like chocolate mint so it'll be a nice garnish or infused as a tea drink.

Really, really tempted to buy these spicy micro-greens but I have to think about how I would use/eat them first...

I bought 2 heirloom cherry tomato plants.  Hopefully they'll last the season since anyone that knows me knows I don't have a green thumb and would probably kill a cactus.  But, I couldn't resist, they were heirloom cherry tomato plants!


Mel Lastman Square Farmer's Market
Every Thursday 8:00 am - 2:30 pm
June - Oct

June: I'm dreaming of....

June is all about strawberries!  Let's hope the crop this year is not too delayed.

- picking strawberries, Ontario has a number of farms within the GTA (i.e. Whittamore's).
- eating warm-from-the-sun freshly picked strawberries, the best!
- making strawberry desserts
- strawberry ice cream or popsicles like these...

Mmm, yes, ice cream.  I'm also dreaming of making some ice cream or sorbet without an ice cream maker...lets see how that goes!

100 Days and More

It's been over 100 days since she made her first appearance.  She has been more than I expected, much, much more.  She makes me crazy at times, but that was to be expected.  It is the subtle things she does that makes me what to hold her forever.

She smiles at me when she wakes up and notices I am there
She stares at me intently and sticks out her tongue when she wants to feed
When she laughs after she spits up
When she smiles after she lightly coughs
Her reaction when she sees herself in the mirror
Her little hands exploring my hand, face and body as I feed her
The frown she makes for a second or two before she cries
The sound of her baby babble as she tries to communicate

All of it is special to me, only existing in pieces of my memory and if I'm lucky, caught on camera.

Here is a short poem I wrote for her to mark her 100 days and for the photobook I'm making...I'm not a poet by any means but hopefully one day she will read it and know I tried to express in words the beauty of her smile.

sketch was created by the app Sketch Guru

Baby's Smile


right from the very start
now and forever
it warms my heart

so sweet and innocent
so naturally charming
my attention is stolen in an instant

so beautiful
like the dawn that breaks the darkness
a light, so hopeful

my worn out wrists and body aches 
are no longer concerning
my weary eyes are now awake

to stare at her for a while 
to see her lips curl
to see my baby's smile

The Face Shop - Charcoal & Konjac Cleansing Puff/Sponge

The charcoal & konjac cleansing puff (or sponge as I think of it), is one of the beauty tools you can find at The Face Shop, a very popular Korean beauty products company.  With at least nine locations in the GTA now, the first I believe at Pacific Mall in Markham, they seem to be expanding at a ferocious pace!  Check out the facebook page for locations.

I don't do beauty reviews since I rarely experiment with new products, but I recently had to pick up another puff/sponge from The Face Shop and thought, "it's a product I like so why not"?!

This is what the sponge looks like.

When wet it has a bit of a jelly-like texture.  If you hang dry it, it will become hard and you'll need to soak it in warm water before your next use.

The purpose of the sponge is to "improve skin waste-removing effect" or I think of it as "eliminate excess oil/sebum from the skin to ensure clearer skin".  Konjac is a root vegetable consumed in Asia sometimes for it's purported detoxifying abilities, but often as a diet food; here's the wiki.  Or to many, it is the little konjac jelly cups (lychee flavour being the first) from Asia that were so popular many years back.  The bamboo charcoal component is supposed to help with oily skin.

Since using the sponge (often with a foam cleanser though), my skin has been clearer and my pores a little less noticeable, except my nose which I have accepted will forever have large pores.  But, I digress. I really like the sponge as it's very gentle (great for my sensitive skin) and I feel it does remove dry skin.  If I do have acne, it goes away a lot quicker when using the sponge in my experience.

Unfortunately, I can't speak to any scientific backing for the product but it's been working for me and at $5 it's worth a try!  (The brand Boscia has a similar product.)  In fact, their beauty tools section is quite good and well priced.  I also picked up a round brush for blow drying for $4 and have purchased their cotton cleansing pads and cotton swabs as well.

But last time I checked, not all the stores carry the puff, I've picked up mine at Fairview Mall and Pacific Mall. The location at Eaton Centre did not carry the product when I was there in the winter.

In terms of the store itself, the service is always very friendly at the locations I've been to and they provide samples of other products when you purchase something.

Bulgogee House: Bento Box Lunch

The Yonge-Finch area of Toronto is known as Koreatown north and there are some pretty good Korean restaurants to check out.  Going south on Yonge, there are less Korean restaurants but we recently decided to try Bulgogee House on Spring Garden one weekend and it was surprisingly pretty good.

Bulgogee House

41 Spring Garden Ave

North York, ON M2N 3G1

416-250-6094

First Impression:  Quiet place for weekend lunch (which suited us quite nicely)
Second Impression:  Good value for the lunch specials!

Not a whole lot to say about the place, they have all you can eat Korean BBQ which is what most people probably come here for at dinner time, but we were there for the lunch specials which are available everyday.  LA Galbi box was $10.95 and the Beef Bulgogi box was $7.95.  If you're in the area Mon - Wed, the LA Galbi box is on special for $8.95, a sweet deal!

Side dishes (banchan):  Four were served, the basics which included bean sprouts, seaweed, napa cabbage kimchi, fish cake.

Beef Bulgogi

 What I especially like about the box was they provided a whole square of tofu and they had fruit and a little Yakult drink as part of the bento box, cute!

LA Galbi

 A note about the decor, it's not the nicest looking place but has an old school feel to it, lots of wood panels.  Service was also polite.