[Event] #CookingWithRosa @ 7 Numbers Restaurant

Location Review
516 Eglinton Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 322-5183
Website

A few Mondays ago, I was invited to attend a monthly cooking class at 7 Numbers Restaurant (@7_Numbers), hosted by chef and owner, Rosa Marinuzzi. How often do you get to cook with the chef of one of the city's favourite restaurants? Well, apparently you can do it once a month at 7 Numbers. Offered on the last Monday of every month, the $85 tuition fee includes an entire night of cooking, a massive family-style Italian feast, bottomless wine, and fine company. And if you have the luck that I did, you might get a free Italian-language lesson out of it too!

Cooking Class Menu

[Giveaway] Carlsberg St. Party's Day

Besides recovering from the apocalyptic snow storm Toronto is experiencing, guess what else will be happening this weekend? Oh yes. It's that time of year again. Your annually opportunity to enrobe yourself in green and get in touch with your Irish roots is here. Happy early St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Since 2011, Carlsberg has been hosting Canada's largest St. Patty's Day party, aptly named as St. Party's Day! (Twitter: @StPartysDay, Facebook page here)

THE DETAILS
Who/What: 4th annual St. Party's Day festival hosted by Carlsberg
When: March 14th-16, 2014
Where: Andrew Richard Designs (571 Adelaide Street East, Toronto)

[Event] Toronto Festival of Beer 2013

Last weekend I had the pleasure of once again attending the Toronto Festival of Beer (@TOBeerFestival). Despite it being the 19th annual TFOB, this would only be my second time in attendance. And with all the lessons I managed to learn from my first beer festival visit last year (see here), I think it's safe to say I was able to enjoy it this time around even more!

The Preparation

First order of business was to (a) buy tokens (no tokens, no beer!) and (b) to hang out a bit in the media lounge. It's a nice refuge from all the walking and standing around, and it also doesn't hurt that there are an endless supply of Neal Brothers (@NealBrothers) chips and LOL Candy trees (@LOLcandyco)to snack off of! :)

Official Beer Festival Currency

[Niagara] Days of Wine and Chocolate - Day 2

After having such a great experience from Day 1 of the Days of Wine and Chocolate festival (read about it here!), My boyfriend Rob and I continued onto the mission to visit as many participating wineries in the Niagara on the Lake area. Long story short, we would fail at this mission, but it was a great time regardless!

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PELLER ESTATES WINERY
Andrew Peller Signature Series Ice Cuvée | Candied Bacon and Chocolate Sponge Toffee

Peller Estates Winery

Peller Estates is a rather common wine found in the LCBO, but actually seeing the winery was quite a memorable experience. Even with a blanket of snow covering most of the property, pulling up to the winery was breathtakingly grand. I got a tingly sensation just driving up the long pathway leading to what could only be described as a castle. Well worth a visit!

[Niagara] Days of Wine and Chocolate - Day 1

Niagara on the Lake is definitely one of my favourite places to plan a spontaneous getaway to. Sitting on a perfect escarpment for growing wine grapes, the area is abundant in local wineries both big and small. I've been out here a couple times, but only ever in the summer where the open vineyards are so scenic and inviting. That got me thinking, what exactly happens here during the winter time?

Turns out there is much to do in the winter, even when there aren't grapes growing anymore! In the spirit of Valentines day, 28 wineries in the Niagara on the Lake region (@NiagaraWine), collaborate to bring a Days of Wine and Chocolate event. For $35, a touring pass is provided which gives you access to each of the wineries during the weekends of February. In exchange for a stamp in your touring pass booklet, you'll receive a small chocolate inspired treat, along with a carefully selected wine pairing. Each pairing allows the winery to showcase the flexibility of their signature wines. I initially thought it would be a lot of desserts to consume, but the portions are quite manageable. Not to mention, they aren't all sweet, either! There A handful of wineries decided to make savory chocolate treats. One even cooked up a pot of peanut butter pulled chicken! More on that later.

Days of Wine and Chocolate

If I lived closer to the Niagara region, I would probably return every weekend with my touring pass and attempt to visit every winery. Unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. With 28 tastings, one car, and only 2 days, we settled on cruising down one street per day, crossing off as many wineries as we could.

And so, here are the samplings from Day #1 of Wine and Chocolate.

[Event] Chop Steakhouse & Bar Launch

Location Review
801 Dixon Road
Etobicoke, Ontario
(416)674-7500



Last Thursday I was invited by Mr. Brendan Bailey (@BrendanBaileyPR) to Chop Steakhouse & Bar's VIP launch event. I had seen a couple of chop steakhouses while on vacation in Vancouver, so I had some notion of what a huge deal it was to be invited! A sister restaurant of Toronto's more ubiquitous restaurant Moxies, the newest Ontario location of Chop Steakhouse & Bar (@Chop_TOairport) focuses on offering a new dining experience (what they call Fine Casual Dining) to a great steak. Relaxed, unpretentious, while still serving sophisticated culinary plates using the choicest ingredients.

Chop Steakhouse Bar

[Events] Oktoberfest at Steam Whistle Breweries

So now that it is October, it’s only fitting that I do a little post on Oktoberfest, right? Right. But make no mistake, despite it commonly celebrated over Thanksgiving weekend, Oktoberfest actually starts in September, and lasts a total of 16 days. The very first Oktoberfest took place in 1810 in Munich Germany, and was to commemorate the marriage of a German King Ludwig to his bride Therese. 200 years later, this festival of beer is still celebrated by 5 million people all over globe. A ceremonial 12 gun salute and official tapping of the first keg marks the beginning of the 2 week long festival.

This year Oktoberfest began on the 22nd of September, and so last week I decided to join in on the festivities by attending Steam Whistle’s (@SteamWhistle)annual Oktoberfest celebration. Complete with a celebratory first keg tap, traditional German fare, and lots (and I mean LOTS) of beer, I just couldn’t resist going!

I made a trip out to downtown where the Steam Whistle brewery is.

Steam Whistle Brewery

[Event] Oikos presents "Christmas in August"

This is a little known fact, but I'm a big fan of yogurt. I absolutely LOVE it. I'd go as far to say that 99.99% of the calcium that I take in is probably from yogurt. That being said, I may surprise you a little when I tell you how I reacted to a yogurt tasting dinner invitation. Instead of being euphoric, I was a little hesitant and reserved. I mean, yes I love yogurt, but let's be honest. Yogurt is not the first thing that comes to mind when we are talking about versitile cooking ingredients. So was it impossible? Not if Chef Rob Rossi (@ChefRobRossi) has anything to do with it.

Chef, restauranteur, and winner of the inaugural season of Top Chef Canada, Rob Rossi knew exactly how to tackle the challenge, serving up a meal with a Christmas theme. I don't know about you, but Christmas is definitely my favourite holiday, so I didn't mind that it came early!

This way to Christmas!

[Event] The 2012 Toronto Festival of Beer

Just over a week ago, I had the pleasure of attending the 18th annual Toronto Festival of Beer at Bandshell Park. Being Canada's largest beer festival, it was definitely an overwhelming feat for this newbie! Each year the festival brings together hundreds of beer exhibitors and pavilions showcasing everything beer related. From cigars to food, hot girls to zoo animals. So much to see, do and soak in all at once! It was definitely a good time, but I wish someone would have told me how to tackle it strategically to make the most of my day. So here it is, Mary's guide to The Toronto Festival of Beer.

There really aren't too many words to describe this event aside from being one collosal beer party!

1) Equip yourself!

Photo by: Yvonne
So the first thing you do when you enter is buy tokens. These are the golden universal currency of the festival, as it is the only currency vendors will accept. Sold at $1 each in packs of 20, make sure you stock up on these. You don't want to get caught running of them!

[Events] Dish Crawl Markham

A group of strangers meet together at a pre-determined spot, at a pre-determined time, armed with nothing but an empty stomach and an eye to discover local cullinary delights. This is what I signed up for when I decided to join the inaugural Dish Crawl even in Markham (@dishcrawlMK)

But Dish Crawl (@dishcrawl) has long existed before else before this. There are close to 20 cities across North America (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Montreal, Ottawa, and many many more) that have established a Dish Crawl presence, with what seems like no signs of stopping.

For the price of $60, the ticket holder had the privilege of sampling four mystery spots in the beautiful Markham Main street area. Having the specific restaurants and food items revealed to us the day of, simply added to the anticipation of the event!

Ribbon cutting ceremony with Zeion Wilson, Carolina Moretti, and Gretchen Wilson

Tasting Dinner at Noka

Location Review
513 Bloor Street W
Toronto, ON
(647) 351-1188


Probably due to it's proximity to University of Toronto, the Annex is saturated with countless budget friendly food establishments. I regret to say that I don't usually eat in this area, but just walking through that strip of Bloor, I couldn't help but notice how many Japanese restaurants there were. And just when you thought there were already way too many, another pops up. Situated between Menchies and Sushi on Bloor, is the newly opened Noka Japanese Cuisine & Sushi (@NokaToronto). They have lunch specials for as low as $5.95, how can you NOT come here?

Burger Week + Priest vs. Chuck

Did you hear? For the next five days from May 30 - June 3, it's The Grid's (@TheGridTo) very first Burger Week! HAPPY BURGER WEEK! So what does that mean exactly? It means it's time to put on those fat pants after you've decided which of these 20 participating burger spots to hit up. And considering a Burger Week burger will only cost you $5, perhaps I might need reinforced elastics on those fat pants...

So on a somewhat related note, this past weekend I went and had burgers twice....one right after the other. It might have been all the excitement and anticipation for burger week, or perhaps just a simple craving, but either way, it happened. I didn't intend on it playing out like that though. In fact I would've been perfectly happy eating just one burger that night. But the problem was I couldn't decide whether or not I wanted The Burger's Priest or Holy Chuck Burger, so obviously the solution was to have both, right?

Banana Mafia Asian Street Market Party

So I'm a little behind on this post, but I figured a great event deserved at least a mention, even if it is a tad late. But hey, better late than never, right?

So this aforementioned great event is the inaugural Banana Mafia Asian Street Market. It's a bit of a mouthful to say , but the concept is simple. Five great chefs of the Asian culinary world: Chef Nick Liu (@Ninjachefnick) of GwaiLo, Chef Robbie Hojilla of Ursa, Chef Leemo Han (@Limohan) from Swish by Han and Oddseoul, Chef Jeff Claudio of Yours Truly (@YoursTruly229), and Chef Jonathan Poon of Chantecler (@chanteclerTO) gather at Toronto's Amsterdam Brewery with the objective to serve delicious dishes in a Singaporean night market inspired setting.

Mavrik Wine Bar Tasting

Review Location:
676 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON
(416) 214-9429


Last week Grace and I were invited by Tim (@mrtimchan) to Mavrik Wine Bar (@MavrikWineBar) for a wine tasting event. Not being much of a wine person, I was pretty intimidated. I don't know the first thing about wine, except the fact that it's made from grapes, right? Well lucky for me, once a month Mavrik invites professional sommelier Alexander Hamilton to educate on the art of wine tasting to whoever would like to drop by. And if you ever have a chance to talk catch a conversation with owners Liz Choi and Joanne Park, they will be able to tell you how Mavrik came about. I'll elaborate more later, but it's an interesting and inspiring story!

#Paella Cooking Class at Pimenton

Location Review:
Pimenton Spanish & Mediterranean Fine Food
681 Mount Pleasant Road
Toronto, Ontario
(647) 343-4870


I don't know about you, but just looking at this picture of paella makes me hungry. I'm a big fan of paella, but never in a million years did I think that I could cook up this Spanish staple dish. I'm not too bad of a cook, but something as complex as paella? No way.

And so I was elated when Mary Luz Mejia from Sizzling Communications invited me to attend one of  Pimenton's paella classes. I know absolutely nothing about Spanish cooking, but never fear, chef Jose Arato is here! And thank goodness for that. Owner and head chef of Pimenton (@PimentonTO), Jose Arato takes his Venezuelan background and many years as a chef at the Hyatt Park Hotel to everything that he does. Pimenton offers lots of cooking classes, catering, charcuterie, wholesale, cooking supplies, and food to go.

#GuuTweetUp @ Guu Saka Bar

Review Location:
559 Bloor Street W
Toronto, Ontario


Last week I went to one of my very first Tweetups hosted by Ken (@inyourmouthTO). I believe it was also his first time hosting a Tweetup, so I must commend him on what a success it was. Thanks for organizing!

This is also my very first blogging post about an event, but luckily it's still not too far away from my modus operandi: lots and lots of food! While Guu (@GuuToronto) is one of my favourite Izakayas, I have never actually gone to their second Toronto location: Guu Saka Bar.