Toulouse Petit- Best Thing I Ever Ate? Um..

During a recent trip to Seattle, FW, Rae, Sis, and I decided to hit up Toulouse Petit for breakfast during their "Breakfast Happy Hour". 

photo courtesy of Rae

Their happy hour is from 8-11am, Monday through Friday and every item is $7.50 (score!!!). I heard about this restaurant through friends and food bloggers mentioning that their Cured Pork Cheek Confit Hash was featured in Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". Obviously, I was sold!

When we arrived at about 10:00am, there was already a line forming outside. We probably waited about 20ish minutes before we got a table. By the way, since they do not have a prominent "Toulouse Petit" sign outside the building, you can locate them by finding the green building. It's quite obvious so you really can't miss it.

We noticed these artistic lamps outside and inside of the restaurant. It has a rustic feel to it.

Hehe, here are these lamps again. 

I am normally very tolerant of bad service (I am Chinese after all :P), but I felt the service at our table was especially lacking during our meal. We tried numerous times to catch our server's attention but it was especially difficult because she would never glance over at us.

After looking at the extensive menu, I decided to get the Spicy Shrimp Creole and Eggs Over Creamy Grits ($7.50). I guess I took the word "spicy" too lightly when I read it on the menu because the shrimp was fire breathing spicy! Even FW who can usually take A LOT of heat was surprised by the punch from this dish.

For me, I didn't love. It was way too spicy for my liking and the grits (which I have always wanted to try) were not as creamy and soft as I'd like it to be. The plump shrimp were the only highlight of this dish. Maybe because I had high expectations coming in, but I was quite disappointed and saddened by the un-epicness of this "creole" breakfast. :( I didn't even want to eat half of it. 

When FW saw that I was clearly disappointed with my dish, she offered to share half of hers in exchange for half of mine. Aw... such a sweetheart! Her dish really brightened my day because it was spectacular.

She got the Rustic Duck and Pistachio Terrine ($7.50) and it was a hundred times better than mine. I am so glad I got to try this because I probably would have just ruled this place out. The eggs were perfectly poached and the terrine was divine. I especially loved the large chunks of pistachio in it. 

Sis got the "Best Thing I Ever Ate" dish called Cured Pork Cheeks Confit Hash ($7.50) and said it was very good. As a whole, it looked a bit on the small side but the tender pork cheeks made up for it. Even though it was good, I don't think it was the best thing Sis has ever ate. Just sayin' :P

Rae LOVED the Duck Confit Hash ($7.50) and said the duck was super flavourful. However, by the end of it, she said it almost had..too much flavour. She was actually quite happy the dish was small because any more of it would be too much to handle.

All in all, even though I was disappointed with my dish (due to personal preference), I think this restaurant serves up unique and interesting food combinations that many of us may not get to try on a regular basis. Especially with the breakfast happy hour, it is an affordable option whenever you are in the area.

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

Happy Eating!

<-- Fried Chicken and Gumbo at Toulouse Petit! I'll try this next time :P

courtesy of http://www.absolutelymonica.com/images/Restaurants/WA/Seattle/T/Toulouse_Petit_Crispy_Fried_Chicken_Gumbo.htm

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Taste the Green (Smoothie)!

photo courtesy of Rae

[This was actually my first post] I love summertime. Or, whatever we Vancouverites call summer here (I see a bit of sun! yay, I can finally wear my shorts!). This summer, I have really been committing myself to eating healthier and exercising more often, and you know what? I'm lovin' it! So to kick start this blog, I will show you a great recipe I found on bodyrock.tv (Zuzana's workouts are awesome and I loveee their recipe ideas).

This is a 'green smoothie' and I drink it pretty much every morning! It gives me an instant dose of energy and I feel great throughout the day because i know I gulped down at least half the amount of fruits and veggies I need per day in the morning already. Plus, I don't feel as guilty in the afternoon/evening when I don't eat as many veggies as I normally do :P

I know it looks a bit frightening (gahh! veggies!) when you see so much green in the blender, but trust me, the fruit will combat the taste of the greens because the ratio is almost 3:1. Below are the ingredients I normally use to make a green smoothie (although I change it up quite often to give it some variety)


Ingredients:
1 Banana
1 Kiwi
1 Handful of Spinach
2 Kale Leaves (I usually omit this)
1 Tablespoon of Flax seed
1 Cup of Water


Additional:
Blueberries (don't put too many though or your smoothie will turn brown)
Watermelon
Papaya
Tomatoes
Raspberries
Strawberries
Mangoes
Possibilities are endless!


I usually add a handful of whatever additional fruit I have in my fridge into the smoothie mix so also feel free to add or omit the ingredients to your liking. :) 

Happy drinking!

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Breakfast with Kirby- Open Face Sprout Sandwich Inspired by Urth Caffe

Ever since I read about Urth Caffe on bodyrock.tv, I've been wanting to recreate their "Sprout Sandwich". Their sprout sandwich consists of "Alfalfa sprouts, Jarlsberg Swiss cheese, red onion, roma tomatoes, avocado & hummus on sprouted bread."

My creation looks like the picture above. I did an open face version because I ran out of bread.. not because I wanted it to be all sophisticated and unique. :P Mine contains Havarti cheese, avocado, vine tomatoes, mayo, and alfalfa sprouts. 

The other variation contained smoked salmon on top. Rae said it gave the sprout sandwich great smokey flavour. Next time, I might add turkey bacon, real bacon, or some deli meat to make this "sandwich" more hearty. 

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Kumare Restaurant & Bakery- Decent Filipino Food

This post is composed of two visits to Kumare but I won't be separating them as I forgot what I ordered for each visit. :P Kumare is a Filipino restaurant located on Park Road in Richmond.

photo courtesy of Pooh

This is the Sizzling Pork Sisig ($8.00) and it is minced pork (ears, innards, everything) on a sizzling plate topped with a raw egg. When you first get it, you have to mix the egg into the pork and let it cook. The aroma of this dish was fantastic! You can smell this from a mile away. The pork was a bit too salty but it didn't deter me from eating most of it (gahh.. into my thighs they go!).

The pork dish next to the Pork Sisig is called Lechon Kawali ($8.00) which is deep fried pork belly. It came with this awesome Filipino sauce that apparently goes well with any type of meat. This dish was very heavy and layered with fat, but boy was it good. It is so artery clogging that you will probably stop after eating a few pieces.

The dish next to the Lechon Kawali is Vegetable Karekare ($8.50). It is a dish composed of assorted veggies in a peanut stew. It was quite good but it is also another pretty heavy dish. I find that many Filipino dishes are very heavy in flavour and sauces, which is quite different from Chinese dishes where many things are steamed and cooked in it's natural juices.

Next was the BBQ Chicken skewer ($3.75). It is one of their most popular item on the menu and one skewer is definitely enough for two people. It was charred on the edges and has a very fragrant barbecue taste.

Mmm... Chicken Pandan ($8.00).. *drool*. This dish consisted of four chunks of dark chicken meat which were marinated in coconut milk, wrapped in pandan leaves and then deep fried. This was delicious because the chicken was very tender and succulent.

This is called Laing ($8.00) which are taro leaves cooked in spicy coconut milk. This vegetable dish is again so heavy yet sooo good. I have never had taro leaves before and I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was when combined with the coconut milk. It has similar texture to spinach when cooked.

I also tried the Java Rice (sml- $2.50) and the Garlic Rice (sml- $2.00) but forgot to take pictures of them. Both of them were very tasty and I'd get it over white rice any day.

For dessert, we ordered the Ube Macapuno Cake. The cake was moist but the coconut cream layer in between and on the side was completely dry and crumbly. It tasted as if the cake was made a week ago. I didn't like it at all. :(

photo courtesy of Pooh

We ordered two Halo Halos for our group of 4. The presentation was nicely executed. Too bad we had to demolish it into...

This. It looks way less appetizing than the first picture right? Regardless, the Halo Halo was very good with great flavour coming from the Ube ice cream and the different beans. This is a good refreshing dessert on a hot summer day.

Overall, the food is pretty good here and I would definitely come back again. However, their service is pretty bad because servers will ignore you while you try to wave at them.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!

courtesy of https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKuWXWi0l8aKNzb9y89fT79JqFC9SVZ4eKQg0XaNZ4MneH8XnpqhB8HLBr1tgNDp2iU7GX3rqSd3CLbiyvHNKdYber3KEucJ5C7KtR2G_QSP0tIk9QHxxN5bE1DL9DpIohv5R2Vk3MKrY/s400/halo-halo-pictures-3.jpg

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Rustic Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Pudding

B-Boy, FW and I were craving a little dessert, so we decided to make some good ol' traditional bread pudding! We followed the kraft recipe for "Rustic Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Pudding".. nomnom..

This recipe was incredibly easy and required minimal ingredients. Who doesn't love that?

First off, we cubed 7 slices of white bread (this one is suppose to have all the goodness of whole grain! :P) 

We chopped up two baker squares of chocolate into little chunks.

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Bistro The Home- Unique Squid Ink Pasta!

This post consists of two visits to Bistro The Home:

Visit #1:

After watching The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (could the name GET any longer?), Meta Knight and I decided to revisit a restaurant we both quite enjoy. By the way, the movie was pretty good. The special effects were amazing and I was kept on the edge of my seat for most of the movie.

Bistro the Home is a Korean-run restaurant specializing in Asianized Pasta. I first heard about this place in October of last year through a post by Chowtimes and my friend's recommendation. I've been back about once a month since my first visit because I love the variety of pastas they serve as well as the reasonable prices.

I don't think they have many customers because when Meta Knight and I were dining here, we were the only people in the whole restaurant (bit weird). So please try this place out! I'd hate for them to have to shut down due to lack of customers, like 90% of new restaurants in the food industry.

First came the complementary garlic bread. Meta Knight was too hungry so he took a bite before I could get out my camera.

I ordered the Nero ($11.75) which is "fresh calamari with squid-ink sauce topped red flying fish caviar". This is the third time I've had this dish here. I love it!

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Cheesecake Etc- Soft and Light Cheesecake

Surprisingly, I have never been to Cheesecake Etc. even though I have heard tons about this place. Because this place has been recommended to me many times before, I was happy that my friends suggested to come here after Celebration of Lights.

The service here seemed slow. But to be fair, that day was the Celebration of Lights and the place was packed when we arrived . Above is what the menu looks like. It is a very simple menu with only a few signature items.

I had a taste of PoohSquared's Apple Cider with Cinnamon ($2.75) and it was very tasty. It had a hint of cinnamon which I love and it made me feel like I was drinking this over a fireplace.

I got the Original Cheesecake with Strawberries ($5.50). It was surprisingly soft and light! The strawberry sauce definitely enhanced the cheesecake as it allowed the cheesecake to never become too dry in my mouth. The real whipped cream was also so incredibly fresh. I can see why everyone talks about how good the cheesecake is. I only wish the price was a tiny bit lower. Perhaps $4.50? I don't know.. maybe I'm just cheap :P

B-Boy ordered the Chocolate Cheesecake ($5.50) and he said it was very good.

He also ordered the Homemade Hot Chocolate ($3.00). Again he said it was very good. I assume they made this homemade hot chocolate by actually melting chocolate chips and doing the whole schbang because it looked very rich and chocolaty.

Overall Rating: 3/5

Happy Eating!

courtesy of http://s3.hubimg.com/u/2189034_f520.jpg

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Vivacity Restaurant- Empress Buns and Fish Maw w/Shrimp!!

Yesterday, my family (aka Kirpa, Kirma, and Kirbro) decided to go dim sum at Vivacity Restaurant. It is located on Alexandra road in Richmond and this restaurant is one of my favourite dim sum places because of their amazing "Fish Maw w/Shrimp" dish that I will talk about later.

So before we received our food, we were given a plate of XO sauce. You need to ask a server for this, but please do, it makes everything taste magnificent. We asked if they sold the XO sauce in jars but they don't.. :( It has a lot of ingredients such as dried shrimp and dried scallops. It is also not very spicy which is great, in my opinion.

We ordered the Pan Fried Pot Stickers ($3.95) and they were pretty good. It had a lot of meat but it wasn't super juicy or anything. I would probably not order this again since there are so many other better dishes on the menu.

Next up was the Steamed Sticky Rice w/Lotus Leaf ($4.35). I didn't have any so I cannot personally comment on the taste, but Kirbro said it was pretty good. 

 

The sticky rice was wrapped around a yolk, dried shrimp, shitake mushrooms, minced pork, and a few other ingredients I can't pinpoint.

This dish is one of the reasons why I always come back to Vivacity Restaurant.. Steamed Fish Maw w/Shrimp Paste ($4.85)!!! This is just sooo freakin delicious! The fish maw is always so puffy and soft, like savoury cotton candy. heh. And the shrimp just accompanies the fish maw so well. All the flavours come out when steamed, so the natural juices that are released from cooking makes for a perfect sauce.

This is the Steamed Rice Roll w/ Mushroom ($4.50) and it was good. Nothing spectacular. But again, I doubt people can make rice rolls taste spectacular.

The classic Steamed Pork Dumpling ($4.50) aka Siu Mai. They were pretty good, with large chunks of shrimp within each dumpling, but I have had better. I would have liked it to be more juicy.

This is the dish I get everytime I come because I am never able to order this anywhere else! It is called Stir Fried Rice Roll in XO Sauce ($7.95). It is not really a rice roll but I guess they don't know what else to call it in English. I searched it up online and I believe they are actually called silver needle noodles (wikipedia link attached). They are usually hand pulled by the chef one by one and that is how the signature look of the noodle is created. 

For this dish, I always put more XO sauce into it before I eat it. haha. So delicious!

My family rarely orders Pan Fried Radish Cake ($3.95) at dim sum restaurants but I gotta say.. these were pretty good. It comes in four pieces and each piece had a lot of radish chunks. The preserved/cured sausage embedded in the cake also gave it much depth and flavour.

This is called Steamed Pork and Shrimp Dumpling ($4.50) which sounds awfully similar to the steamed pork dumpling from earlier. However, they are completely different. This dumpling is wrapped with a transparent rice skin and apparently is very difficult to make as it dries very easily.

The filling consisted of carrots, minced pork, radishes, green onions, and preserved vegetables. This dish can also be ordered deep fried (called Deep Fried Pork Dumpling) but if you are a bit health conscious, go for this one instead. It's just as good.

This is my first time trying this apparently very simple and popular hk street food called Crispy Egg Donut w/ Honey & Sesame ($4.50). This is literally a deep fried egg based dough. You drizzle on the honey, sesame, and coconut shreds that they have provided, and it makes for a sweet dessert or snack.

I didn't really care too much for this dish because it felt incredibly unhealthy and fatty. I felt like I was eating air yet I could feel the calories. Worst combo ever. I can see this being a pretty good snack at PNE or an amusement park, but that's it. I probably would never get this again.

Now... BEST FOR LAST! These Empress Buns ($4.00 i believe) are not on the menu so you have to request them. They were still being made from scratch in the kitchen when we ordered them so that's why it took them so long to bring it to our table. It is a yeast based bun filled with BBQ pork inside and a mexican sweet crust top.

Clearly, we love our Empress Buns. They were incredibly pillowy and soft to the touch. With them being straight from the oven, it was heaven. Pure heaven.

The bbq pork filling is such a nice contrast to the sweet bread surrounding it. I love the sweet and savory combination. If you are ever coming here for dim sum, get this dish!! You will not be disappointed! 

This dim sum place is relatively inexpensive and provides good service and better food. So big two thumbs up.

Overall Rating: 4.5/5 

Happy Eating!

courtesy of http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/e/f/ef0f5_ORIG-homer_drool_2.gif

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