I've been getting burgers at Burger Joint (inside the Le Parker Meridien hotel) on and off for years and I just realized - I've never told you about it. Yikes.
It's usually mentioned alongside other burger favourites in the city, so if you haven't been here before, you kind of need to get on that. Once you walk into the hotel, you have to search (depending on what entrance you come in from) for a huge red curtain. It's behind this curtain that you'll follow a hallway that leads you to this burger haven.
Seasonal bakeries have become something of a rarity these days, I'm not sure why. There's something about them that I inherently trust, though. Maybe it has to do with the fact that if you're seasonal, you're considered better (well, I consider you better) than whatever's offered 365 days out of the year at other, more convenient establishments. But convenience isn't necessarily what I'm after. Fresh is what I'm after. And this bakery is all ABOUT that.
A photo posted by Punch Bowl Market & Bakery (@punchbowlmarket) on
I've only gone twice (thank you Greg & Katie for introducing me!), but both times have been magical. I mean, look at this pie selection. And the individual tarts will blow your face off.
And in the autumn, they even have bales of hay! HAY! Where the hell else can you buy a bale of hay for under $10? Nowhere - I've looked. Home Depot laughs in your face if you ask them that question.
In any case, if you find yourself near the Devil's Punch Bowl in Hamilton, you have to stop in here. They're open seven days a week from 9am - 5pm, from April 1st to December 24th. Get the hell over there.
The Streetsville Farmers Market runs from June until the end of October on Saturdays from 8am to 1pm (128 Queen Street South in Mississauga, Ontario). And if you have any sense inside you, YOU HAVE TO GO EAT THIS DONUT. Insanely tasty.
Clearly, I have many positive things to say about Trader Joe's. The newest addition to Products I Love At Trader Joe's are these goat cheese medallions (seen above).
Why They're Great
They're perfectly packaged, so you only need to open one for a whole salad.
Since you open each package as you need it, you never have to deal with stale, yellowy goat cheese (ie. IT'S ALWAYS FRESH).
The real problem with buying cheese and storing it at home is that you need to eat it rather quickly, since it goes bad so quickly. BUT NO LONGER! You can now eat your cheese at a leisurely pace and bask in a life well lived.
Are all of those points kind of the same? Possibly. But it still get my point across. These medallions are magic.
(And calling them "medallions" instead of "logs" or "cheese chunks" or something was a stroke of genius. Who doesn't want medallions in his/her fridge?)
Once in awhile (or extremely often, depending on your preference), you need to get out of the city. So when I was recently asked by my friend Jenn to accompany her and some friends on a day trip to venture across Long Island, I was eager to come along. What did we do? What DIDN'T we do is the more apt question.
We found a farm where we could pick raspberries & blueberries in Mattituck, which happened to have the largest and loveliest sunflowers I've seen in years.
And, I mean, look at these tomatoes. Are you kidding me with that ripe-ass red? So gorgeous.
We then headed onward to Macari Vineyards to sample some wines, which happened to be accompanied by the finest of truffle cheeses.
To finish the day, we stopped off for food in Oyster Bay. I've only ever heard of Oyster Bay because of that Cole Porter song, but I figured that hearing a place mentioned in a lyric is almost too great a reason to solely visit a town. And the oysters at Canterbury's were fantastic.
The above photo is of the Oyster Bay LIRR station - and it may not look like much, but I can't accurately describe how much I love seeing these older types of train stations. I love the fact that it never got torn down and completely redone. Doesn't it make so much more sense to restore buildings like these? Ugh. Love this old station so much.
Anyway, it was a great day. There are so many different paths you can take once you get off the highway heading to Long Island. I hope to make it to Montauk someday.
There's a (relatively) new restaurant in the Thompson Hotel in Toronto that has the most eloquent dining area I've seen in ages. Not only is it a gorgeous place to eat lunch, but the food was spectacular.
Grilled Turkey Club
There's also an added on bakery section to the restaurant that handles their to-go pastries. The macarons are ridiculously good - and that's coming from a person who doesn't really enjoy or understand macarons but they are so, so good. I will definitely return here as soon as possible. Thanks for introducing me to this place, Marla!
This is definitely one of my favourite ice cream shops in New York City. It really feels like it fell out of the 1950s and somehow managed to stay afloat all these years. You can even sit at the counter! Like at Pop Tate's!
Jenn and I went here recently so that I could finally try an egg cream. Despite its name, it contains neither eggs nor cream - it's a beverage consisting of milk, carbonated water and chocolate syrup. What does it taste like? I would classify it as a lighter milkshake (ie. delightful).
I've wanted to try one of these for years and it didn't disappoint. I'm not sure if it's mainly something you can order in New York or if they're as popular in other states, but if you find yourself in this part of Queens, you should really try one.
If you can think of three or more shows you like to occasionally watch on Food Network - YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS SHOW. (If any of those Food Network shows you watch center around Guy Fieri... yikes. May want to re-think some life choices.)
Quick summery? Each episode of the series profiles a single world-renowned chef. That's it. That may not sound extraordinary, but it's shot so beautifully and it's so well done - I can't get enough of it. And I promise you that I don't feel this way based solely on the fact that I've been to one of the restaurants that they do an episode on. WATCH THIS SHOW!
Dominique Ansel is famous for his cronuts, but this summer his burrata ice cream is the thing that has captured my heart. Here are the two current flavours available (in soft serve) at Dominique Ansel Kitchen.
I was so excited to try this that I had planned it all out. I intended on eating it slow and lovingly but since it's soft serve and the summertime, I needed to lick fast. And even as it melts through your hands and onto whatever you're wearing, it's still worth it. It really f-ing tastes like burrata. What the hell? Amazing. Such a good day. I even met the man himself!
He was nice as hell and he's a genius. If you find yourself in the West Village, you gotta try this soft serve.
