groovy granola

Store bought cereal is so expensive, and thus out of my budget at the moment. But look at what I had in my pantry. Why, the makings of delicious granola were at my fingertips. If you have time, granola is super easy to make.

Here's what you will need:

Thick rolled oats (don't use the instant or quick cook kind)

Nuts (I used walnuts and almonds)

Dried fruit (I used coconut, dates, and cranberries)

Some kind of sweetener. I used a mix of agave and maple syrup, but you could use honey, or even boil down some sugar and water into a thick syrup. Ratio can be 4 or 5 parts grain to 1 part sweetener.

Chop up your nuts as finely or as coarsely as you want. 

Same goes for the fruit. I like mine nibbly-sized.


Mix the grains and the nuts together, then add your sweetener, and some cinnamon and vanilla for fun. Stir until coated.

Toast your grains and your chopped nuts in a shallow baking pan at 350 degrees until golden. This takes about 20 minutes or so. Take care not to burn the grains, checking them often and stirring them around so as to toast them evenly. Enjoy the heavenly aroma emanating from your oven, and the sense of satisfaction as you scorn the cereal industry for turning basic whole grains into cardboard tasting pap.

Once your grains are all toasted, transfer them into a bowl to cool and then add the fruit. Do not toast the fruit, it will burn. 

Let your groovy granola cool and then transfer into a jar. It will keep for a long time in the cupboard, and indefinitely in the freezer. So good on top of yogurt or with your preferred milk/milk alternative. Have fun making the simplest and healthiest cereal on earth!

Sparrow by day, Sparrow by night

Sugar Shack Brunch/ Drinks at Sparrow let's do this!

 Part 1: enter one of Montreal's nicest gastropubs with an empty stomach begging to be filled with a variety of pork products smothered in mother nature's tree candy liquid.

Start off with some proper French Canadian split pea and ham soup. Just like mémére makes. Enjoy the fact that it's in a dainty cup, as you know this is only the beginning of a maple pork orgy.

Feves au lard et patates! Ouin!!!!

This meat pie killed it. I am not a fan of pie crust. It's like Sparrow read my mind because they used some kind of buttery croissant crispy topping. It was amazing. Drizzle the lot liberally with maple syrup and bang your fist on the table because it is so. Damn. Good. 

Will you get a load of that sausage? It's almost obscene. When you taste something like this you understand why pigs had to die. 

For the rest of the day, do not eat. Just walk around in a carb fueled daze and enjoy the ride. You're no lumberjack but you just ate like one. Maybe try and go climb a tree, or something.

Part 2: Sparrow by night y'all! Bring your parents here, they'll love it. This here is a French 75, maybe because it consists of 75% alcohol? Prosecco, gin, lemon, vermouth. Get some!  Random fact about these wide cup champagne glasses: they became fashionable in the 18th century and were apparently modeled after Marie Antoinette's breasts. I'll drink to that! I kind of wish her boobs would have been a tad larger though, because this drink was delicious.

Daddio's gin martini--Tanqueray 10. Nothing but the best for the Bond emulator. Actually, it was stirred, not shaken.

I love the look of this bar. Suitably vintage/British for this food snob.

Dad and Mom. Best 8 dollar Cosmo in town.

Party time, excellent! 

Milos

I like to talk about food with people, especially to find out about restaurants I should check out. Many references are often made about Milos, and how it's the best greek restaurant in Montreal. I decided to put this claim to the test. I don't really have a true reference point, not having ever been to Greece, but in my mind I pictured fresh and simply prepared food with lashings of olive oil. And that's pretty much what I got. I was transported to Adriatic bliss without even leaving my neighbourhood.

Freshly toasted bread and their own brand of olive oil. The charred crunchiness contrasted beautifully with the fresh and bright taste of the oil.

Debating whether to pay ten bucks for a glass of wine, or a ten dollar supplement to have grilled octopus, it really was no question. This was so worth it! The octopus was really very tender with a nice meaty charcoal bite. 

Cristal started with the classic tomato and feta salad. 

Olga had a double barreled salmon meal. Her starter--smoked Atlantic salmon.

Freshly grilled tsipoura fish...flown in from Greece. Not eco-friendly but tasty nonetheless.

A giant bouquet of fresh flowers. Classy! 

A classy and unassuming facade. It matched the food: simple, fresh, clean and delicious. What was also fun was that the atmosphere and the clientele were unlike any other Montreal restaurants. My friends and I wondered where all these sophisticated people came from. Milos is a great excuse to get dressed up and eat some really fantastic food.

Restaurant Arepera

Rue Duluth in the heart of Montreal's vibrant plateau always promises yummy good times. There is an abundance of "bring your own wine" restaurants which can make your nights out way less expensive and way tipsier at times. But, I was with my friend (with whom i like to lunch) or "chum de fille" as you will, for a lunch date--so no wine this time. We had better plans: to consume hearty, flavourful, exotic...Venezuelan food!

We headed to the corner of Duluth and De Bullion to check out the restaurant, aptly named Arepera as it serves the traditional arepas. Not sure what that is? Neither was I. The handsome and friendly waiter was very happy to explain that arepas are a type of white corn flour chewy bread stuffed with delicious meats and vegetables of all kinds. Sounded good to me!

We went with the chicken and avocado arepa. Hoder, qué bueno! It tasted like chicken salad suspended in the creamiest guacamole imaginable. Pleasure synapses fired in my brain--the combo of carbs from the corn bread, fat from the avocado, and protein from the delicious fresh chicken just flooded my limbic system and made my brain and taste buds very, very happy.

We also ordered a "plato" which comes with the meat or veggie stew of your choice, rice, black beans, fried plantain. Oh the plantain..., is there another substance that lends itself better to a quick bath in piping hot oil? I don't think so! You eat all of this with another mini-arepa and amazing homemade sauce. Avocado sauce, and homemade hot sauce with chipotle peppers. I will be back to Arepera just for those sauces. Trust me.

You can't say the food at Arepera isn't fresh. The cooks were grabbing produce off of the display to make our lunch. Beautiful. 

The interior is clean, bright, and warm. All the elements you need for lunching on a cold winter's day.

A hammock in the restaurant, why not? You might need this after stuffing your face with delicious arepas...I settled for a brisk walk home, feeling full and satisfied.

Cayman Food Times

I recently visited a friend living on Grand Cayman Island. What an amazing trip. Fun, sun, surf and sand...all the clichés of a holiday getaway. I excitedly looked forward to all the fresh food, especially fruit, that I would be able to consume in this tropical paradise. I should have done my research, because when I arrived I soon realized that a lot food is brought onto the island on shipping containers from the United States and even from England. Here is a little look at the yummy things I ate and drank while on Cayman.

I pretty much had the best brunch of my life at the Westin Hotel on Cayman. An all you can eat and drink Champagne brunch! The bubbles and conversation were a-flowing, and you could tell which tables had nearly drunk their fill by their noise level.

Oh god, look at that delectable clutter of food. I went heavy on the seafood with seared tuna, seafood salad, seaweed salad, sushi, dumplings and for desert: bacon, breakfast food of champions. I win at life!

This is plate number one, with champers glass numer two. Foodgasm.

Hello rum punch, where have you been all my life? Later in the evening, I accidentally smashed that blue water glass. People who know me will not be surprised.

Oysters! Served with cocktail sauce, how pedestrian. This restaurant, Guy Harvey's was actually OK. However, when my steak was brought to me cold, I had to complain. Fueled by rum and visions of Gordon Ramsay screaming "start again!" I returned my plate to the waiter. For some reason the head chef, who really should be in the kitchen, was faffing about in the restaurant talking to customers. He had the nerve to tell me "you know eet eez very deefeecoult to cook ze steak hot, because you ask for medium rare". To which I rolled my eyes and replied that my dinner companion had ordered his steak rare and his was served hot. The chef kind of looked at me with a "you caught me talking out of my ass" look. Touché!

Freshly grilled Mahi on the beach. With a jerk seasoning, no less. This is what I had been waiting for.

                  

Aside from eating, I did a lot of standing around in infinity pools with swim up bars mere meters from the beach. No big deal.

Also, lots of margarita drinking.

And this.

Laurier's chicken shack

I have this friend with whom I like to lunch. We have sort of become the ladies who lunch. Not that we have the time or the money to do so, but hey, you only live once, so why not shirk responsibilities and throw down the credit card once and a while? Not that this meal was expensive; I am rapidly learning that lunches are way cheaper than dinners. The same held true during our excursion to Gordon Ramsay's re-hauled Chicken Shack on Laurier, in Montreal. It's not so much a chicken shack as a classy rotisserie. The decor was pretty much the antithesis of the "before" looks on Kitchen Nightmares. Whitewashed wood on walls, dove grey banquette seats and lovely brown exposed beams. The place was spotless. I also really enjoyed the oversized pickle jars on each table to eat to your palate's content. I am a huge fan of pickles.

My companion and I both decided to get the prix fixe lunch menu. A very good deal for 14.95$, plus you don't really need to eat for the rest of the day! Choice of soups or salad, many chicken and non-chicken mains, and amazing homemade deserts.

We both decided to go for the salad. How many times have I watched Gordon verbally bitch-slap bad restauranteurs for the quality of their produce? Too many. But he obviously takes his own advice.

The salad was perfect. Nice touch with the shaved fennel.

Nice thigh! The chickens are local, grain-fed and presumably have a life before becoming sustenance for my body.

Everything tasted awesome. The service was courteous and prompt, except they forgot to bring our drinks before the food came. Give 'em hell, Gordon!

There was a great selection of homemade deserts. This here is the chocolate cream pie. It was crazy good!

I would go back just to have another taste of the bread and butter pudding. 

Check out those caramelized pecans! 

curry in a hurry

Greetings fellow eaters. I made a veggie curry, wanna see?

 The veg in question. Later I added mushrooms and frozen peas, because my dad loves frozen peas and he was partaking in this particular curry. That, and my mom asked me if I would put peas in for my dad 130,004,287 times during the making of this curry.

Chop the veg up. Put some effort into it!

Stir fry the veg (I like to use coconut oil) starting with garlic and ginger. Then add the firmest veggies in first, such as potatoes and carrots. After frying and softening the veggies a little, I added the curry paste.

I like to doctor the jarred sauce with a variety of India spices. It makes me feel like I actually cooked rather than mixed things around. Anything to boost the self-esteem, people!

Time to add in the softer veggies like peppers and mushrooms.

I love mushrooms in curries.

Yes, I finally added the peas, minutes before serving this on some quinoa. Quite the satisfying meal, and even tastier the following day!