581. Recent Food | Cooking & Eating Out

Ever since I got my newly renovated kitchen, I've been cooking a lot. I won't say "a lot more" because back then I literally never cooked lol. Cooking is actually pretty fun. There's a lot of recipes I want to try but not enough time...and well, I can only eat so much in a day. I really like baking. I want to get a nice blue (or bright pink) Kitchenaid stand mixer. So far I've been mixing everything by hand and I'm not that good at thick mixtures..or kneading dough. So here are some things I've recently cooked, as well as restaurant meals mixed in. I've had several failed recipes (gnocchi from scratch, apple pie from scratch, etc) that I decided not to take pictures of lol.

Shepherd's Pie! Half eaten. It was my first time making it and it actually turned out really really good. Probably one of the best shepherd's pies I've ever eaten. I am not just saying that because I made it myself (I can admit most things that I make don't taste that amazing yet since I'm a beginner cook hahah). I want to make it again soon but it takes a lot of time.


Nachos from Against the Grain


Another dinner I cooked - roast chicken thighs with potatoes and peas, cooked in white wine.

I made WAY too much of this. & I didn't really like it. It was pasta with chicken, spinach and tomatoes. Actually it would have tasted really good if I didn't put so much cream in there because it was way too heavy/filling for me.


My sister came over one day and we made a shrimp scampi pasta for lunch. It was soooo good. I never used to eat shrimp when I was younger but now I love it, and it's so easy to cook. I've made this a couple times already.

Strawberry Kale Salad at Amsterdam BrewHouse. This place is awesome during the summer for drinks at the patio (it's beside the lake) but the food isn't the best. It was a hot day so I wanted to get something light and cold so I went for a salad. They really skimp on the strawberries here lol. It's supposed to be a strawberry kale salad but there was literally only three thin slices of strawberry. So not even a full strawberry. Also three thin slices of apple.

Preparing my apple slices for an apple cake. The apple slices were tossed in lemon juice, brown sugar and cinnamon. I ate a few slices just like that and they were so delicious! Here was the final product:

In terms of cakes, so far I've made carrot cake, apple cake and banana bread/cake. Banana is my favourite. I've baked each of those cakes a few times each already so I've kind of "perfected" the recipes by now. The banana one is a bit annoying to make because you always have to wait until the bananas are super ripe. So you always need to plan ahead on when you can make it.

The most delicious apple pie at King Edward Hotel! I love how the pie crust was in the shape of an apple. I wonder how they made it like that. Now that I'm all into cooking, whenever I eat out and like something I always want to try to make it myself. This was what inspired me to make my own apple pies (which I failed at).


& Royal York Hotel's version of apple pie..

Also now that I've been cooking, whenever I eat out at restaurants I try to order things I cannot/wouldn't want to cook myself. This was a dinner at Pearl Diver where I got a burger and a side of garlic shrimp. When the shrimp came I immediately thought..I shouldn't have ordered it since I could've just made it at home lol. They were good though. But I actually thought the ones I made with the shrimp scampi tasted better..

& finally this was a dinner one night with my family at Pizzeria Libretto (again!). As appetizers we got calamari as usual, and arancini balls which didn't taste as good as I had hoped they would. But they are one of my favourite places for calamari in the city.

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391. Afternoon Tea at the King Edward Hotel

Last Friday afternoon, we went for a nice afternoon tea at the King Edward Hotel. The tea is served in their lobby, every Friday to Sunday from 2:30pm to 5pm. Afternoon tea is always really enjoyable and relaxing; savouring the food and tea at a nice leisurely pace, when a few hours can pass by without us even realizing it. We left completely stuffed (unfortunately unable to finish the sweets tier) and fully satisfied with the experience.

The afternoon tea at the King Edward Hotel has been a tradition since the property was built in 1903. Their tea service has evolved over time, while still maintaining its history and origins.


For $42, the King's Tea offers guests the royal treatment with an assortment of traditional finger sandwiches, sumptuous pastries and scones with Devonshire cream.
There's also a Champagne Tea (King's Tea + a glass of Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial), Sparkling or Sherry Tea (King's Tea + a glass of sparkling wine or Sherry), and Jester's Tea Party (for kids under 12)


The view of the lobby from our table

The teas here are supplied by the brand "T", which include the signature King Edward Blend, Taj Spiced Chai Tea, Darjeeling Oolong (one of my favourite types of tea!), Lapsang Souchong, Organic Peppermint Leaves, and several others. It took us quite awhile to choose which one we wanted as they all seemed really good.

Always my favourite part of afternoon tea - the finger sandwiches! I usually rate afternoon teas by the quality of their sandwiches. I really loved the ones here. Each one was quite different from the next with a variety of flavours. My favourite was the Egg Mimosa and Asparagus Pinwheel, followed by the Lobster and Shrimp Brioche.


Sun dried cherry and classic cream scones, served with Devonshire cream, strawberry preserves and house made lemon curd. The sun dried cherry scones were delicious!! Probably one of the best scones I've ever had at afternoon tea. I found the classic ones too dry though.

Roasted strawberry and rhubarb fool, Earl Grey infused chocolate pot de creme, maple sugar shack tartlet with silken maple mousse, and green tea madeleine. Since I love green tea, the madeleine was my favourite.




After the tea, we went for a bit of exploring before heading home (conveniently just a 2 minute walk away).




Overall, it was a memorable and fun experience. I would definitely love to return someday, and if you love afternoon tea like I do..I recommend a visit! To reserve, call 416-863-4125

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This post archived in: Toronto

377. Desserts

We seem to eat a lot of desserts. Especially at hotel lounges.



Deq at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.


Library Bar at the Royal York Hotel.





Consort Bar at the King Edward Hotel


& if it's the middle of the night with everything closed, there's always the 24-hr 7 West Cafe

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This post archived in: Toronto