The Buick GM Team had one final meal adventure in store for us on our last night at the Touchstone Resort.

J and I (and everybody else in the group) had a great deal of freedom throughout the day to go off in our Buick Encore to whatever adventure we desired. We would gather together at cocktail time before dinner, to share the details of our day.

On this last evening, instead of going into the regular dining room, we were escorted to the private living quarters of the owner.

We were introduced to the sommelier that had paired wines to go with our meal and discuss why each wine was chosen.

We began with an amuse-bouche of lobster claw with a citrus zest to get the party going.

This led to a grilled spiced pineapple, pan-seared king scallops, citrus foam, crisp pancetta and black lava salt, with a mint dressing.

From there we had a wonderful mushroom soup with an herb crouton with sautéed duck foie gras bites.

Our next course was our salad filled with watercress and avocado, grapes, almonds, and a champagne vinaigrette. At this point in the meal we began with some great meats.

We tucked into a hoisin sautéed duck breast with a pecan and cucumber salad with Riesling infused watermelon (my favourite dish).

We moved from duck to a rack of lamb with a mustard and fresh thyme crust accompanied by a gnocchi tossed in a pea mint puree with a pear poached in aged port.

Next up was a beef tenderloin accompanied by mushroom and poached quail egg, saffron risotto croquettes, honey glazed baby carrots, and a cabernet reduction.

If all of this amazing food was not enough, we finished off with an angel hair sugar basket covered cheesecake with strawberries and a chocolate cake for desert.

J and I had never had a meal like this before, but I must say, we look forward to having one again! This was definitely the icing on the cake of our culinary adventure.

A special thanks again to the GM team and Buick Canada for creating all of these amazing memories. Also, a shout out to all of the wonderful people that we met on the adventure. Canada is filled with talented people who are passionate about love, food and travel and we definitely look forward to meeting you all again on our future adventures.

Kath’s quote: “I have long believed that good food, good eating is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters … food, for me, has always been an adventure.”-Anthony Bourdain

Love-that is all.

The next day we met the rest of the participants and the GM team including the lovely Laura Nava – Media Relations Manager of GM Canada. Lunch was served in the hotel by Top Chef Canada star Chef David Chrystian. Chef David designed the menu based on the different aspects of our adventure.

First course up was a Toronto spiced tomato soup with fried sun-chokes, brussel sprouts and cream cheese. Chef David described his hopes that Toronto Spice would one day be a household name similar to Montreal Steak Spice and he included it in all of the dishes (even dessert!).

Next was an Entree entitled “Group of Seven” inspired by the visit we took later that day to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection Gallery where we toured the Group of Seven painting exhibit. This included Chicken Tagine, dried fruits, mint puree, olives, sumac and crackling.

The second entree was called “Ice Fishing in Muskoka”. Although it was too warm to go ice fishing (not complaining!), Muskoka was the final destination of the day where we were to stay 2 nights in the stunning Touchstone Resort. This dish was composed of pan seared white fish with sauerkraut, bacon, pickled asparagus and wild rice.

Last but not least, the meal was concluded with a little “Pick Up” of tiramisu.

While we were finishing up dessert we were ushered out to meet the star guest of the weekend- our Buick Encore. We chose the black, luxury model and one of the very helpful GM representatives walked us through the special features including heated seats, heated steering wheel (my favorite feature!), a built in voice recognition system and the very easy-to-use phone sync program. Then we opened the sun roof, blasted some tunes, picked up our favorite travel snack (Miss Vicki’s Sea Salt and Malt Vinegar chips) and were on our way to the next step in our adventure.

Kath’s quote:  “Onion rings in the car cushions do not improve with time.”-Erma Bombeck

Love-that is all.

When we were invited to attend the Buick Encore Culinary Adventure we weren’t sure exactly what to expect. We arrived in Toronto on Sunday evening and were greeted by the very friendly Lisa Calvi and her trusty sidekick Gary.

They escorted us to the Hotel Le Germain and we were invited to dine in the hotel restaurant – Victor Restaurant.

I had a project that I had to finish up, so instead of dining in the restaurant, I ordered some room service and dined on a delicious feast of Linguini with aged goat cheese, fennel, eggplant and olives.

Jeremy took the opportunity to head down to the bar and ordered two items. The first was off of the restaurant’s Toronto Tasting menu which was described as being food designed based on different spots or neighborhoods across the city. He had the “Corktown, King and Parliament” which bore the description simply of ” ‘Fish and Chips’, tartar sauce and malt vinegar”. He chose this based on the recommendation of the bartender. When the food arrived, Jeremy thought there must have been a mistake in the kitchen because he had never seen any “Fish and Chips” like this before. The fish and chips were put together like a small cake with slices of potato being the fluffy cake and the fish acting as a soft icing layer in between. This “cake” was then panko crisped, slightly fried, and then opened up to absorb the amazing house made tartar sauce. Served on a pool of malt vinegar jelly with a classic lemon wedge garnish. Needless to say, it was amazing. The portion was small, by design, so Jeremy went back to the menu to find another tasty treat. There were so many great options, he went back to the bartender for another recommendation.

The next item was a sushi pizza. He was wonderfully surprized a secnd time with this course.  Having never eaten a sushi pizza before, Jeremy was able to enter in with no expectations as to what would appear on his plate. The pizza was a marinated tuna filet wrapped around a crisped rice base, covered in a slew of pickled vegetables. On the plate there was a spicy soy sauce jelly, a miso puree, roe, avacado spread, and a wasabi blend. Each bite was different as the presentation allowed the diner to mix and match particular elements from the plate. After being pleasantly surprised a second time, Jeremy was content to sit back and enjoy snippets of the Academy Awards on TV while sipping on a nice Amsterdam KLB Nut Brown ale.

Kath’s quote: “I strongly believe that culinary love is not about having a French Passport, but about what you feel” –Albert Roux

Love-that is all.

Korean culture is making a splash in North America.  Not only does PSY’s song Gangnam Style flood our radio airwaves, but Korean food is starting to establish itself in our neighbourhoods.

This winter I had the privilege of hosting the most delightful young lady from Korea.  Yujin was as excited to introduce me to Korean food, a I was excited to learn.

We started simply, as she made me authentic Ramen Noodles that she brought with her from Korea. Unlike the over salted, chemical tasting version, we all ate too many of in college, these were hearty noodles in a delicious spicy broth into which an egg is dropped at the end of cooking to add a scrambled texture and further enhance the yumminess.

One night I decided that we should try the Korean restaurant that is on my block of Corydon while I had access to an expert to advise me on menu choices.  Platea at 590 Corydon is a quaint little place in a house much like my own.  Maybe that is what made me fall in love with it the minute we walked through the doors.  I also loved the touches of beautiful pottery that adorned the table and was used to serve our tea and food.  Owner Sun Me, was very attentive and so pleased to meet such a lovely fellow country woman.

We started our dinner with an eggy pancake called Chun.  It was filled with spring onion and shrimp and served with a great sauce for dipping.

Next we ordered our mains: Osam Bulgoki – a combination of pork and squid with a sweet and spicy sauce served with fluffy white rice and Dol Sot Bibimbap – served in a very hot stone bowl, it was a combination of rice, beef and vegetables cooked in gochuchang paste, topped with a raw egg.  As you stir the ingredients together, the heat from the bowl finishes the cooking process and the egg makes the rice a bit crispy the longer it cooks.

A few nights later, Yujin would get brave and try her hand at making Chun and Bibimbap at home.  After a quick visit to the Korean market, she was ready to get busy in the kitchen to tackle two dishes she had never actually cooked before. Yujin put kimchi (fermented cabbage) and green onion into her chun and I was amazed that she was able to replicate the texture of the pancake by guessing the amount of egg and flour.  For her Bibimab, she cooked numerous items, one at a time including: pork in soya sauce, carrot, onion, kimchi, mushrooms and eggs.  Placing each item in a section over her large bowl of rice, she added a good sized portion of chopped nori type seaweed and topped it all with a mixture of gochuchang paste and honey and at tableside mixed it all together to serve.  The results were shocking, especially to Yujin – absolute perfection!

Kath’s quote: “One of the delights of life is eating with friends, second to that is talking about eating.  And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.”-Laurie Colwin

Love-that is all.

I can honestly say that I didn’t have a bad meal the whole time we were in New York.  Here are a couple of highlights of new discoveries made this time around.

Matt’s Grill W55th Street at 8^th Avenue

After an early morning to participant in the live audience of the Anderson Cooper show, we were three hungry travelers looking for some sustenance.  We found it just a short jaunt away at Matt’s.  What you would expect from a neighbourhood place, the bar takes up a good chunk of the room and locals greet the waitresses like old friends as they pull up a bar stool for a quick lunch.  We all selected sandwiches and fries.

D had the egg salad which was topped with ham and a slice of cheddar, I had the chicken wrap with bacon, avocado and tomato and

B had the grilled Portobello mushroom topped with fresh mozzarella, tomato and roasted onions.

Now a days there are so many Food Network shows about food trucks, and so many of them happen to be in Manhattan, I knew I had to visit at least one of these roadside vendors on this visit.  B and I took a day to ourselves to shop and found ourselves in Union Square Park at lunch time.

There were plenty of trucks to choose from but we decided on Patty’s Tacos for our lunch.

We skipped the famous cow’s tongue tostados and ordered corn tamales stuffed with chicken mole

and the cheese sincronizada (much like a quesadilla but made with two flour tortilla like a grilled sandwich.  This was served with a refreshing tossed salad.  We found a park bench to enjoy our food and watch the passers by.

On the night that we were headed to the East Village to see Stomp we decided to go to the Ukranian East Village Restaurant for dinner, as it was located next door to the Orpheum Theatre. It was nice to have something a little different, which at the same time reminded me of home.

I enjoyed the wiener schnitzel that was crisp and tasty, topped with a fried egg and served with mashed potatoes and vegetables,

B tried the varenyky (AKA perogies) and D enjoyed the beef brisket with potato pancakes.  Our entrees came with salad and delicious bread so there was way too much food all around.  But what else would you expect from a Ukrainian kitchen.

The last little gem we discovered was Uskudar Turkish restaurant at E 73^rd and 2^nd.  Unfortunately we were all so tired that night that we cancelled our reservation and I instead ran down to the restaurant and ordered our dinners to go.  When the food arrived I was so hungry that I forgot to take out the camera and snap my photos.  As a result I can’t even remember what exactly we had.  I know there was a Sheppard’s salad, humus, lamb kabob, cheese pie, but the details are blurry.  One thing for sure, it was yummy and one of my favorite meals of the trip. That may have something to do with my affinity for Turkish food. I guess I just have to go back and do a better job of keeping track of this meal next time.

Kath’s quote: “We are a family who start discussing our next meal before the one in front of us is fully consumed.” -Sister #3

Love-that is all.