Patio Dinner Party – 2016
Big Bobbers, a Gigantic Canoe and Good Vendors : CityFest Toronto
An Afternoon with Julie and Baby James
I had a great date with Julie and baby James recently. Regular readers have already met this little guy, here when he was 3 months old, here at 4 months and here at 6 months, oh, and here right before he was born.
Now he is 9 months old and is as as cute and happy as can be. He's sitting up on his own and while I didn't see him crawl, I'm told he's a man on the move. He also has two tiny bottom teeth.
Julie is an excellent knitter and writes a blog on the topic, Knitted Bliss. She wanted to pick something up at a yarn shop in Kensington Market, so after meeting at my place, that's where we headed.
This charming boutique, called Yarns Untangled and located at 89 Nassau Street, offers a wide selection of the best yarns available, with a focus on the work of several talented hand-dyers from across Canada. They also have all kinds of knitting and crocheting accessories and some great yarn inspired crockery. The visit left me wanting to get my crochet hook moving again, after putting it down for the summer.
Cooking with Nick : A Marinated Vegetable Salad
I have the good fortune of living with a talented cook. Nick has experience working in professional kitchens, but chose not to become a career chef, opting rather to pursue cooking as a hobby. He is always at it, thinking up different things to do with easy to find and seasonal ingredients. I say this not to brag, but rather to give you faith that this is a tasty recipe!
This Make-Ahead Marinated Salad is a new take on a salad technique he uses regularly, in that this time he has used Green Beans as the main vegetable, though it can also be made with broccoli or asparagus.
The beans, (or broccoli or asparagus) are steamed until they're tender and then tossed in an ice-bath to stop the cooking and keep them crisp. Then they are tossed with some red onion, feta cheese, sun-dried or kalamata olives, and roasted red pepper. An oil and vinegar marinade is added and the salad is put into the fridge for at least four hours, or overnight.
This is one of the ways he uses the red peppers that he roasts and freezes when we barbecue (as discussed in this post -- they're simple to make in the bbq or in the oven), but bottled roasted red peppers can certainly be used.
He tossed in some fresh basil and oregano because we had it handy growing in the garden, however fresh herbs are optional, as there are also dried herbs included in the marinade.
This salad gets better with time and is the perfect thing to make the day before a dinner party or to bring to a pot-luck. I hope you try it!
We got the green beans in Kensington Market, where they were half the price that they were at the grocery store.
[Aside: I've been asked about the pricing of fruits and vegetables in the market versus regular grocery stores -- unless the grocery store is having a sale, prices in the market are usually quite a bit less. So, a trip to Kensington yields you some really fresh produce for a very good price, plus you get the bonus of a fun experience! Well, I guess if you like that kind of thing, that is.]
A Good Festival : Open Streets Toronto
No doubt, there are a lot of festivals in this city during the summer, with a myriad of food, booze, music, art, crafts, and cultural festivals to choose from every weekend. I quite enjoy them so have been to many, but this particular one that my friend Meghan and I went to on a recent Sunday, stands out in my mind as one of the best.
Why? It was fun, relaxed, crowd-free, and there was little to no pressure to spend money. I'm talking about the Open Streets TO Festival, where miles of what are usually very traffic-heavy streets were closed to vehicles, so people could walk, cycle or roller-blade in the middle of the road, participating in organized physical activities at designated hubs, or visiting whatever shops strike their fancy.
The streets involved were Yonge Street beginning at Queen Street, going all the way up to Bloor Street, and then also Bloor Street, all the way from east of Broadview to Dufferin, with traffic being stopped between 10am and 2pm. That's a lot of roadway to cover in 4 hours, so unless you were riding a bike, the best way to approach this festival was by picking a particular neighbourhood that you wanted to explore along the route and heading directly there.
Meghan and I chose Koreatown, which runs from just west of Bathurst over to Christie Pits Park. We met at the Bathurst Subway station and started walking westward.
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