Category Food Businesses, Products, & Recipes

The first idea Olive got in her hot little head was to write a food blog called Olive to Eat. Olive loves to unearth the finest local flavours and talk endlessly about them. This sometimes drives her family nuts but they figure it’s easier than listening to her sing (don’t ever ask Olive to sing, especially not Crazy, Patsy Cline style). Sign up to receive Olive’s food blog posts by email or follow her on twitter, facebook, pinterest, or instagram.

Photo contributed by Laura Kelly.

Olive tried to bake up a cookie business, Olive My Love, but couldn’t find an easy way through all of the Peel Health red tape (those folks are sure looking out for us). Her fortune-not! cookie business quickly crumbled. If you have been extra sweet to Olive, you might still find a box of cookies on your doorstep at Christmas.

Next, Olive had a yearning for those tiny lipstick samples she played with as a child. She was once caught red-lipped, hanging like a monkey from her mom’s vanity, after trying on every colour with reckless abandon.

Ding dong, Olive the Avon Lady is in business! Avon samples anyone? Follow Olive the Avon Lady on facebook or sign up for her Avon newsletter by sending your consent to [email protected].

Try as she might, Olive just couldn’t contain her creative juices. Come on, Olive, what is in those suitcases?!

If you know Olive, you know she loves hunting for vintage treasures.

She has been busy carefully curating a line of fun and flirty vintage accessories.

Come see Olive’s collection, Olive in Love, now available at Three Wishes in Streetsville.

Enjoy all this dreamy shop has to offer (vintage home and garden and Bloomin’ Lovely handmade, local lavender products packaged with vintage love).

Follow Three Wishes’ facebook page for current hours of operation (limited). Please don’t forget to follow the Olive in Love page for updates on Olive’s latest finds.

So, Olive’s got a bit of a – forgive me – mixed olive thing going on. Sometimes she is sure she can hear her husband singing “ccraazzyy” under his breath. Thank you so much to all who support me, especially you honey!

How lovely to wake up on a beautiful farm, with a gaggle of gal pals, and be served a “proper British breakfast” by our hostess with the mostess. Fried eggs, fried tomatoes, sausages, hash browns, fried mushrooms, whole grain bread, Wiltshire bacon rashers (Loblaw’s), and British baked beans (British Grocer Wholesale). Cracking good! Thank you, Christine!

Read More

Oh, there’s no getting over the fried perch of Dover.

#thebeachhouse #portdover #lakeerie #beautyview #greatfood #greatlake #roadtrip

Fried perch at The Beach House in Port Dover, ON. So tender and sweet. And the view is mesmerizing.

The Beach House
2 Walker Street
Port Dover, ON N0A 1N0
Telephone:(519) 583-0880

Susur Lee’s Chinese food restaurant, Luckee, is a jewel. From the moment you enter the door, thoughtful details – from décor to Nouvelle Chinoise delicacies – stir you sensually.

Enter from Toronto’s SoHo Metropolitan Hotel through the sultry bar, accented with ultra-feminine hits of lipstick red, sumptuous velvet, and a stunning, floor-to-ceiling canvas.

Asian motifs are repeated throughout the décor – in the delightful butterfly and lantern decals at the street entrance, in the beautiful floor tiles, and a flashy neon sign. Even the intricate pillars are pretty. Juxtaposed against modern wooden tables and chairs, sleek black tile, and dark wood floors and panelling, the décor is an embrace of masculine and feminine, modern and traditional.

Catch a glimpse through the open kitchen of the hidden gems soon to be revealed at your table.

Steamed Long Xia Gow are plump, supple dumplings filled with luxurious lobster and asparagus, and garnished with green onion. Siu Mai (steamed chicken and shrimp dumplings) are crowned with scallop and black truffle.

Steamed Long Xia Gow and Siu Mai

Leave the delicate Xiao Long Bao (steamed pork soup dumplings) in your bowl when you tear into them; a delicious broth of tender, shredded pork will cascade out.

One of the things I love about dim sum is the dipping sauces. Luckee serves a variety of exquisite, housemade sauces. Crispy, caramelized Chicken Pot Stickers (stuffed with chicken, chives, and cabbage) are served with black vinegar ginger dip. Soya dip is laced with fresh, hot chili peppers. Chef Susur Lee’s Sriracha and Chinese mustard have different flavours of heat. A bright, ginger and green onion pesto adds a whole new, fresh dimension.

Chicken Pot Stickers and Salt and Pepper Spiced Squid

There’s a bounty of seafood delicacies to choose from, like Salt & Pepper Spiced Squid. Hong Kong Style Steamed Whole Sea Bass is so tender and sweet, garnished with julienned red pepper, leeks, and ginger, and dressed at the table with sweet soya juice.

Hong Kong Style Steamed Whole Sea Bass and Spicy Soya Bean Crumble Shrimp

Succulent Spicy Soya Bean Crumble Shrimp sit on top of crisp cucumber slices in a gorgeous puddle of sweet and tangy kaffir lime and Thai basil glaze.

Service is informative and attentive. As much as I enjoy the typical, cheap dim sum dives, the pleasures of our dim sum brunch at Luckee left us feeling utterly pampered. A must-try stop on your next trip into T Dot.

Luckee Restaurant and Bar
328 Wellington Street West
Toronto, Ontario

Telephone: 416-935-0400

Website: http://luckeerestaurant.com/

Di Liso’s Fine Meats has the best legs in town – duck leg confit, that is! Tender, moist, meaty duck legs are rich and flavourful; the crispy skin my #guiltypleasure. Chef-prepared for this butcher. Priced in range with other duck leg confit available in the burbs but Di Liso’s quality makes the drive to St. Lawrence Market absolutely worth the trip. Definitely my go-to-guys for duck leg confit in our region. Can’t wait to try their duck sous-vide, chocolate and caramel pork tenderloin, and Mennonite-prepared stuffed boneless chicken legs.

Left photo credit: Angela Mondou

Confit is a traditional French method of preparing duck: legs are covered in duck fat and cooked slowly at low temperatures to tenderize while retaining flavour and moisture.  All you have to do is warm up the prepared duck confit under the broiler until skin is crispy and meat is hot. Here is how I served it for my girlfriends on our fabulous weekend getaway: on a bed of greens, with fresh fig, tiny dabs of fig goat cheese, and fig vinegar (all available at the market). High in fat but during an active weekend of night snowshoeing, dancing until 2:00 am, and yoga in the morning I figured we girls deserved a treat! Such a satisfying indulgence and so easy and special for entertaining.

To avoid the crowds at the market, get there very early on a Saturday morning or just after morning traffic on a Friday. If you look for it, you can find public parking dirt cheap within two blocks of the market – if I tell you where I’d have to kill you after. 😉

Di Liso’s Fine Meats
91 Front Street East
Toronto, ON
M5E 1C4
(St. Lawrence Market)

Contact info, map, website, and hours here: http://www.dilisosmeats.com/contact.html