In Search of Good Street Food Vendors

It has been over three weeks since the last street food adventure (see Finding Street Food Vendors & Where Are Those Street Vendors).

Given the rain that surprised us mid-day today, the options were minimal and the closest was Naan Wraps - an Indian food street food vendor with limited selection.

The options were two rice bowls (butter chicken and a vegetarian one) and two naan wraps (chicken and vegetarian).

My partners in street food vendors' discovery went for the butter chicken. The verdict is that it needs to be spiced up (surprisingly, a colleague had hot sauce in her office which came in handy for this meal).

I personally opted for the chicken naan wrap. It was a huge naan filled with tandoori chicken, Indian style rice, peppers, onions and sauce. 

Let us say it was mediocre at best. The naan itself tasted fresh and had a nice texture to it. The fillings were bland. I am not sure I want to try something else from Naan Wraps.

Now those of you who read my feature of Al-Watan (see Weekend Lunch Pakistani Style) would know my passion for mango lassi. 

Well, Naan Wraps had their own mango lassi version which I could not resist. However, I should have knew by the colour what I am getting myself into - a light orange lassi means less mango and more sugar. Or was it made with vanilla yogurt I wonder? It was simply too sweet and one of the worse mango lassis I have had.

Anyways, it is only the beginning of June and we have all summer to try the rest of what Vancouver street food vendors have to offer. Stay tuned...

Traditional Potato Salad

With the BBQ season upon us, I have been craving a nice traditional potato salad. Checking out recipes on the internet only confused me, so I ended up mixing and matching until I perfected this potato salad recipe.

Here it is for you all to enjoy.

First, boil 6 medium potatoes, let cool and cut into small pieces.
 
Add to the mix 2 - 3 boiled eggs, cut into small pieces. Chop few springs of chives and add in.

Make the dressing from:

- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 2 Tbs cider vinegar
- 1 Tbs German dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp sugar


Mix and enjoy.

Food Shopping in Toronto Part B

While Langos failed to impress (see Food Shopping in Toronto Part A), this new place I discovered makes our Urban Fair and Meinhardt look plain. Welcome to the world of...

 McEwan - 38 Karl Fraser Road, Toronto, Ontario

Product selection and displays are what makes this store a unique food shopping experience.

Cherry tomatoes creatively packed welcome you next to chocolates. Products like Carnaroli Rice with Orange Zest make you want to hide in your kitchen and experiment with cooking for days on end.

No picture will give McEwan's selection of pastas credit. Pastas in different colours and shapes including the colourful pasta hats, roses, and bow ties, even black and white pasta bow ties.

And this repeats itself in many product categories including rice, cereals, vanilla, sugars, sauces, desserts, spices and on and on.

As you would have figured, it is definitely not cheap. And those you see in the picture are not fancy scotch bottles - they are fancy oils and vinegars hidden behind a glass display.

Definitely not the place for your everyday dinner shopping, but I sure could become a weekend regular if they opened in Vancouver.


Arz Bakery and Fine Foods - 1909 Lawrence Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario

Another unique shopping experience that we lack in Vancouver, a Lebanese grocery shop with fresh produce, bakery and all you need in between.

The place had five varieties of eggplants, let alone some unique fruits (featured later this week), fresh pita bread and other Lebanese baked goods, all sorts of cheeses, meats, nuts, teas, sweets, pickles to CDs and gifts.

Below is a display of the Lebanese olives they carry. Imagine how far I can take my Lebanese feasts with a store like this down the street...

Food Shopping in Toronto Part A

A lot of time was spent food shopping in Toronto, too much time that I had to divide the posting over two days.

Galleria Supermarket - 865 York Mills Road, Toronto, Ontario

The first thing that came to my mind when I stepped into this Korean supermarket was "this is like London Drugs on steroids".

Everything was hitting me at once - produce, meats, rice makers, electronics, make-up, plastic containers...you get the idea.

The most fun was the cooking and eating area. You can pick up freshly made food that is pre-packed, order for take-out, or sit and enjoy a meal surrounded by Korean TV.

Overwhelmed I roamed, everything felt somewhat useless unless you want to eat it on the spot. Too early in the day to eat store-cooked Korean food.

Longos - 808 York Mills Road, Toronto, Ontario

A favourite of my brother's, this Toronto-based supermarket chain failed to impress me.

It is full of quality food, meats, cheeses, baked goods, fruit and vegetables, but it is trying to pretend it is a special kind of store and failing at it.

But then, we have Urban Fair in Vancouver, so being impressed by a grocery store is difficult.

And to impress less, a worker approached me to say, in a very mean unfriendly manner, that I can't take pictures without manager's permission. Too late...

China Gourmet - 877 York Mills Road, Toronto, Ontario

Now it is time to snack and China Gourmet takeout was it. As soon as you step in the place, you feel the quality of food and service.

Shanghai Noodles and Chicken Curry on Rice were picked up and enjoyed in the Toronto heat.

Breakfast in Toronto

 

No Toronto trip is complete without Kanafeh - a typical Lebanese breakfast. It is a crust made of semolina, stuffed with what I believe is Nabulsi cheese; a middle-eastern cheese that becomes soft and elastic when heated up.

This is baked and covered with sweet syrup (Quater) made of sugar and water with a touch of lemon juice and rose water. It is served like a sandwich in a special sesame seed soft bread (Ka'akeh) made specifically for this breakfast.

Lebanese pastry shops will make one batch of this at sunrise and it is typically gone by mid-morning. This is also the case in Toronto Lebanese pastry shops where we had to be there before 9 to ensure we have it.

It is by far one of my two favourite things for breakfast (the other is Mankoushi - a topic for another day). It is sweet, cheesy, and can keep you going for hours.

Too bad you cannot find it in Vancouver (or maybe it is best that it is not available here or the pounds would have added up quickly). The place in Toronto that makes it is a close second best to the ones in Lebanon.

Cooking in Toronto

A day of art, cooking and cats in Toronto. 


Today's fascinating piece of art is called Chubby in Dreamland - a sweet sleeping kid with hand on his cheek. The full story of Chubby can be found at inart-el-fen.blogspot.com. Originals and prints can be bought from www.inartelfen.com.

Home made pasta sauce was on the menu. My brother's sauce does not use garlic but focuses on chives and herbs for flavour. 


The beautiful garden is overflowing with mint, rosemary, thyme, basil and chives. A bouquet of those was freshly picked from the garden, chopped and became the base of a fat/oil free pasta sauce.


The sauce itself was very red - tomato paste, fresh tomatoes and lots of chopped red peppers, slowly simmered for the below very red looking and tasting sauce.

The healthy Toronto dining was also reflected in President's Choice Blue Menu Spaghetti. Made with semolina, whole grain barley and oat flour, lentils and flaxseeds, it is high source of fibre and iron, but almost no fat and zero cholesterol. 


Surprisingly, it tasted just like any spaghetti, but with a slightly darker shade.

Served with grilled chicken and a salad of endive and romaine lettuce, tomatoes, red peppers and cucumbers with balsamic vinegar dressing. Thank you ya khayi.

Even Toronto Kitchen Cats could not resist and made a rare appearance to check out the food.

Live From Toronto

In Toronto visiting with my brother. My brother is an artist and this is one of his pieces showing us together as kids.


It is a beautiful rendition of an original black & white photo of us. More on the story behind this piece at inart-el-fen.blogspot.com - brothers. Or you can buy framed prints or originals of all his work at www.Inartelfen.com.

Back to food...The festivities began late afternoon with Kaisse - Arabic for drinks and mezza. Lebanese Arak was featured, but I opted for something local that I have not tried before - Steam Whistle beer.


This is a made-in-Toronto beer using just four natural ingredients: spring water, malted barley, hops and yeast. The bottles are made from thicker-than-average glass rendering those bottles less breakable and, as a result, having better recycling probability than other bottles. More on this at www.steamwhistle.ca

The mezza featured pistachios, Lebanese olives, cucumbers and my brother's home made Baba Ghanouj.                                             Now I know many of you have already asked me to feature the Baba Ghanouj recipe. But the way my brother made it is much better than mine on both taste and texture. Let me try this and will blog it later.

And the table was set for feasting.

The feast was the infamous Molokhia. To know more about this lovely dish, see the following links:

Eid Moubarak With Molokhia

Prize Feasting
A tastier production than mine . Is it because Toronto has better mallow leaves or could it be my brother is simply a better cook?. 

And then there was dessert - Kowl Wa Shkor (literally means eat and be thankful). This is lebanese-style small peanuts baklavas. 


Alas, memories of the previous two days  'travelling east with crappy food' are way behind me, thanks for this lovely meal.