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foooood in canada

s’mores!

how many times have we seen people doing s’mores in movies, with sticks around a campfire? so naturally, this was on the list of things we wanted to try in toronto. :D

we got helpful tips from a friend’s teenager granddaughter on the proper way to do them, gathered the ingredients and off we went. the first step (if you don’t have a campfire nearby), is just to lay everything out in artistic piles, and then pop your creations in the oven to melt the chocolate + brown the marshmallows…

… which our oven did exceedingly well. :| sigh.

so after replacing all those burnt marshmallows, we tried again, this time keeping a careful eye on the whole thing. a minute or two was all it took for them to become golden, and then it was just a matter of topping them with another cracker to make a sandwich.

squishy goodness ensued! :D we discovered s’mores are delicious but extremely sweet, so we soon realized we’d been a bit ambitious with the quantity we made. oh well…

i’d still like to try them out in a campfire someday, but for now, i’m happy we succeeded at this quintessential north american experience.

Categories
foooood in canada

breakfast restaurants

why is it so hard to find a place that serves good, hearty breakfasts where we’re from? i *love* the fact that you could get up at any time in north america and a meal with eggs and carbs is just around the corner.

so naturally, we indulged quite a bit while in canada…

the formula seems simple enough: bottomless mugs of coffee, plus some form of carbs (pancakes, waffles, toast, potatoes, fruit), bacon, and most importantly, eggs — lots of eggs, in all their configurations! in short, brilliancy on a plate.

our european breakfasts feel almost dainty in comparison. these are proper thousand-calorie meals that will keep you full for the rest of the day. personally, i think i’d probably be ok with having a single one of these midday and call it a day…

although i love our toasts and pastries, i think we could use more of this in europe. if i did not already have enough stuff on my plate for a few lifetimes, i would open a place like that (complete with a flock of chicken in the background to supply the essential ingredient).

if anyone wants to do just that, i’d probably volunteer to beat some eggs! :D

Categories
foooood in canada

milk in bags

one of the things you see around here in canada is milk being sold in bags, which is something that i had not seen since china.

it’s way cheaper than its tetra pak’d alternatives, so i can understand why it’s popular. just put a package on a plastic jug, cut open a little hole in a corner (not too big or you’ll be spilling the thing everywhere!)… et voilà!

the same milk, but with much less packaging per liter. sounds good to me! :)

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foooood postcards

eggs on postcards!

a beautiful egg-themed postcard that landed on our mailbox some weeks ago, all the way from finland. friends definitely know how to cheer us up! :)

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foooood in azores in portugal

what we ate in terceira

my tasting memory is quickly fading, so it’s time to do one of these food recaps again!


the gastronomic pride and joy of the island is alcatra, a beef stew that is slowly cooked in a clay pot for hours. some prefer the top bits of the pot (which are drier) and some prefer to grab their meat from the depths of it, where the pieces are moist, drenched in sauce and falling off the bone. they tasted equally great to me, and we ended up having it several times around the island.

i’m a fan of charcuterie, and the island’s chouriço (smoked sausage) and morcela (blood sausage) were divine. especially the morcela…

…goodness!

friends invited us for lapas (limpets), a type of sea snails found in azores. we gave them a go, and they were surprisingly delicious! drenched in garlic and lemon, they pop right off their shell.

quinta dos açores is a meat & dairy business (there are more cows than inhabitants in terceira!), with a side gig of restaurant & ice-cream parlor. the design of the place is refreshingly modern and the dishes are great too. :)

more charcuterie and the island’s inhame (taro), a sort of sweet potato that is served steamed.

now and then you could sense the influence of the american base looming nearby — pizza and fried chicken were never very far, as well as mountain dew and other drinks. we even saw fanta grape in a supermarket!

in between hikes, we took a detour to queijo vaquinha to try their cheese platter. the cheeses were good, but the bread was amazing! and of course, we drowned it all with kima, the fizzy drink from azores that comes in pineapple or passionfruit flavors.

what about dessert? sadly, i forgot to take some proper photos of all the delicious d. amélias we had, a mini cake quite similar to broas de mel, but somehow better and more delicate, as the regal name would imply.

but i did take a photo of the island’s cornucópias. these almond cones filled with egg cream were were amazing… but i’m glad we tasted them only on the last day because boy, that was heavy. they’re small, but probably pack enough calories in them for the whole day! :D

and i think that covers it! it was a good trip all around, filled with awe and discovery, and i only wish we could have stayed a bit longer to go on exploring. i guess that’s our cue to come back again soon!