Birthday Dinner at Mildred's Temple Kitchen

A new restaurant opened this winter in Liberty Village - Mildred's Temple Kitchen. It really isn't new - just relocated. Mildred Pierce was the name of the original restaurant (named after the 1945 film classic) and it was just a little bit further north of Liberty Village and had been a well regarded area restaurant for over 17 years. The new restaurant is quite the place and the food is very distinctive and quite delicious!

I was treated to a B-Day dinner here and that was just fabulous since I hadn't tried it out as yet. The decor is smashing - bright and airy and simple yet elegant. The menu has some unique items as you can see following.


I guess my favourite thing had to be the Dungeness crab salad heirloom radishes & Dijon ice cream. Yes, Dijon ice cream! We were instructed to squeeze the lemon over the salad and mix it all up and the ice cream turned into a nice cold chunky quasi dressing for the crab meat and salad greens. It was delicious!


For dinner I had Pork and Beans! No, not your usual. This was one heck of a NY Steak sized pork chop lying in a small bed of mashed topped with green and yellow beans and deep fried pig's ears as the garnish! Very good and I have half the pork chop waiting to take in my lunch tomorrow!

Jeff had the "Classic Mildred Burger" which was for sure a classic. A huge hand formed burger which apparently was fantastic. Amanda had the pickerel and it was served on polenta. Everyone enjoyed their meal!



Amanda's dessert was quite incredible. Tapioca pudding with a hot chili sorbet and garnished with poppers (the candy!)... She said it was quite good!


Next time this is the dessert I will have!

Catch Up Time

It has been a few days since I have blogged.  I feel guilty and sot of like I have forgotten to brush my teeth.  I guess that is good.  The habit has been forged.  Now to keep the habit alive without letting it take over, become an obsession.  You see the truth is there are a lot of other things in my life which need to be done, which want to be done.  It is important to find a way to blog regularly without neglecting other things which are more pressing and are more important.  

This week has been hectic.  Catching up with stuff put aside as I studied for my exam.  Major deadlines at work which need to be met before I take 4 days off.  Tax and business bookkeeping to catch up with.  Getting ready to go on vacation to Las Vegas.  Having a few nights out with friends - socializing  is a good way to let off stress and to recover energy even if late nights result in too little sleep.  Having fun is necessary to well being.  So this week has been full up and a few nights blogs just fell too low on the priority list.

Last night I started to write my blog and ran out of time before I had to rush off to meet my dinner date.  

Which, by the way was a spectacular night of dinner at Le Select Bistro and jazz music at the Reservoir Lounge Fantastic night - but I got home way too late and then had an extra early morning at work.  I am paying for that tonight - did what I had to do and now I will blog.   Listening to some great concerts on Radio 2 - first KD Lang and now Hauxley Workman.    I need to get a good nights sleep because  tomorrow night will be sleep deprived as well - I have a 6:30 a.m. flight and since it is international and requires a 3 hour advance arrival that puts me at about 3:00 a.m. drive to the airport!  yuk - did I book this flight?...   As I was saying important to get a good nights sleep tonight.

Tomorrow night is Earth Hour and I do hope you all are going to turn off your lights at 8:30 for an hour.  We are organizing a party for Earth hour in the Condo party room - everyone in our building is invited to come down and enjoy the "lights out" together.   I am on the organizing committee and so need to go help set up at 7:00.  My friend Barb is coming down from Collingwood and spending the night before we leave for Vegas.   She and I will have a drink at the condo party and then come up to the apartment to look at our darkened city from the 21st floor.  Should be quite the sight.  Maybe I should post a photo or two.   Then as soon as it finishes we will be hitting the sack.  As I said, early morning flight. 

I took my dog Bella to get a haircut this week.  She was so shaggy and matted I just had her shaved right short so I could start over and try as it grows out to be more diligent with brushing her hair so it does not get matted.  She is  a different dog now - smaller by a fair bit and really very cute.   

I will l finish todays blog with the blog I nearly finished from yesterday:

I sit here at my desk (now located in Laura's "x" bedroom) I can see the CN Tower and the downtown skyline in
3/4 of the rightmost side of the view.  
Today the weather warmed but the air was damp and ribbons of fog rolled in from the Lake.  Not really sure if it was rolling in or rolling out, but when I got home from work there was a layer of misty cloud which hung low on the sky and above there was no fog.  It made an interesting view of the skyline. I snapped a pic. 

But that is not what I want to blog about.  When I look out my window, on about 1/4 of the left side I get a birds eye view of my "sister" condo, called "Zip", which is joined at the base with this one and with which we share building amenities.  

It reminds me a little like one of those ant farms - you know the one, you can see the tunnels and the ants going about their business inside the glass jar.  As I sit here I can see into the living room of about 60 apartments - about 3 across and about 20 floors vertical.   Lots of stuff to keep the eyes busy...  

I am starting to get to know my neighbours across the way  but not in the way you typically get to know them.  I have never met any of them but am coming to know their ways habits and lifestyle as I watch their comings goings through my window. There is a nice couple who live at number 4 (I number from top to bottom for instance 1 through 3 right to left are the 3 rightmost apartments on the top floor, and 4-6 is on the 2nd from the top floor) the guy in number 6 likes go around house in his shorts. His lady friend,likes to sit on the bar stools located what appears be bar height. Number 9 always has tv turned on. They have a big one and it faces the window so you can see what they are watching - in the morning City's Breakfast TV.

Anyway, in future blogs I may well refer to my "remote neighbours".   I am sure I will be privy to some interesting stuff in the coming months.

Winterlicious dinner - Yum, Yum!

Winterlicious ends tomorrow night.  Twice a year Toronto has an “eating extravaganza” and a good number of the better (and not so better) restaurants participate in a two week event where they each offer a fixed price dinner (at a reduced price) for a price of $25,$35, $45, depending on their normal prices.  

During the Winter and Summer “liciouses” I try to get out and sample food at some of the restaurants I would not usually get to.  Last night I joined some girlfriends and we went to Bymark. 

Bymark is a 5 star restaurant which sits in the heart of the financial district, within the TD complex.  There is a bar upstairs is one which I have always wanted to go to in the summertime, decorated in leather and wood, it sits under a large sky light and there is a patio – it is always filled with the white shirts and ties of the financial professionals, investment, commodity and currency traders and those in the know of high finance.  I have a fantasy that involves going into that bar … I say no more … LOL

 Downstairs is a very sophisticated and exclusive restaurant which has 3 private dining rooms which accommodate 14 people each and the main dining room which doesn’t accommodate many more.   Decorated by an award winning designer, it oozes elegance. The restaurant site lists the price range of this restaurant as $150 -$200 for a meal, and I wouldn’t doubt it.  The Winterlicious price for our meal was $45 but of course with drinks and wine – it did add up.

 I had a wonderful time visiting and chatting with my girlfriends and we both caught up with each other’s goings on, both at work and in the social arena.  Unfortunately, there were a several other women friends who normally attend when we have these get togethers but they were not there.  We missed their company. 

The menu, I thought was much nicer than listed in the Winterlicious web site.  The starters were wonderfully presented and the portions were not small.   We covered all the bases and between the tree of us sampled each item on the Winterlicious Menu:

Starters:

·         Braised short rib and butter nut squash risotto with spiced pears

·         Organic greens with herb shoots and white wine vinaigrette

·         Yellow fin tuna sashimi crusted with nori, yuzu, miso chilli sauce 
and pickled daikon

Starters:

·         Prime short ribs braised in Sapporo, chilli and soy with 
herb tapenade

·         Roasted artisan chicken “ coq au vin” style with spun potatoes

·         Grilled Jail island salmon with butter braised leeks, smashed 
fingerling potatoes and citrus sauce

Dessert:

·         Braised Goats cheese panna cotta with pistachio studded
brandy snap and berry sauce

·         Warm carrot cake with pineapple ice cream,
pecan praline and caramel sauce

·         Pear strudel with maple syrup sauce and rum pecan truffle

I know I should add some personal observations for the meals, but I beg your forgiveness… it is morning and I am running late for work…  Suffice to say the food was impeccable and absolutely delicious. 

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