The recipe for a great evening

Gigantic steak
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

1. A gigantic steak from St. Lawrence Market

2. Great, “macho” friends

3. Flintstones-style dinner

4. Corey Hart (he’s got a website!)

5. We wear our sunglasses at night!!

I got a new cell phone

My brother bought a Pay and Talk Telus phone back in 2002. When he graduated from UCC in 2003 he gave it to me. I’ve had it ever since. Come 2007 and the 5.5 year old cell phone is now ancient. It was cheap, though. $25 every two months with the prepaid cards. There was no better deal to be found. The problems started when I couldn’t recharge the battery very well. It was not making contact with the charger anymore. I had to move it around to make contact. It was not easy. The phone was getting old.
Last week I decided to stop at Telus to upgrade the phone. Well, they decided that for Pay and Talk, you can’t keep the number if you want to change phone models. I would have to get a new number. I was appalled and certain that they don’t want to keep their customers. I walked out of there and went to Bell World, if I had to change my number anyway, I would not give them the satisfaction of keeping me as a client. So I bought a prepaid phone with Solo Mobile (caution: annoying website full of Flash animations). I had to change my number anyway, since it was not originally in my name and my brother would have to call Telus customer service all the way from France and change the phone to my name. He hadn’t done it in the first place because they wanted to charge him $50 for it. It was not worth it.
So I got a Sanyo SCO-3100 in pink! Yes, my phone is pink. I have a new number but it is not that different from my old number. I am so excited, it even has a camera and everything (I know, I was like the last person on Earth to get a camera phone, but I now have one, yaay!).

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Gabby’s wedding

Gabby’s wedding
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

Gabby got married this weekend.

Morimoto

I was really excited to receive my pre-release copy of Morimoto, published by DK, DK is one of my favourite publishers, their Eye Witness travel guides are just amazing. I was expecting beautiful pictures and I was not disappointed.
So who is Chef Morimoto and why should I get his book? Masaharu Morimoto is the regular iron chef Japanese in the Iron Chef and Iron Chef America shows. I always have fun watching these shows on the Food Network, and I was curious to see what a book by him could provide.
The book starts with a 2-3 page biography of Chef Morimoto and his career as a chef, this biography was written by JJ Goode (a long-time food writer). It is then divided in several chapters:

• Sashimi and Sushi: Including a description of how to cut fish, clean octopus and clean clams
• Rice, Noodles, Breads and Soups: With several recipes for rice dishes, including my beloved sticky rice in lotus leaves
• Fish and shellfish: With recipes for lobster, crab, shrimp, etc.
• Duck, Chicken, Pork, Beef and Lamb: This is the chapter that seems to be the most “fusion”, since it includes a lot of recipes that seem French-ish, and stuff with hot fiery chiles
• Vegetables, Tofu and Eggs: A chapter that I was especially interested in, because of its vegetarian content. It includes a recipe for tempura vegetables. Sadly, a lot of veggie and tofu recipes include some type of meat, or cheese
• A special chapter called Recipes to Contemplate: Which includes an abalone croquette. Curiously, there is a typo on the title and it says “albalone” (page 211).
• Desserts: There is a tofu cheesecake that looks delicious (my readers will have to try it for me and let me know what they think, since I cannot eat any cheese)
• Stocks, Oils, Spices and Sauces: Recipes for different sauces and stocks that are needed for the various recipes in the book

The thing that I liked the most about this book is that it has a kind of “guide” in each chapter describing how to use the ingredients, like how to cook the rice, what dashi is, how tofu is made, etc. All the explanations and most of the recipes are accompanied by step-by-step photos illustrating the process.
This is definitely a book worth getting for reference and as a cook book. The only “but” for me is the same as always, the price is $40 USD but it is $50 CAD. At today’s conversion rate it should be about $42 CAD. A 25% markup is too much for us Canadians. I recommend ordering from an American bookstore, like Barnes & Noble, they give you a discount and even with the shipping it’s well worth it. (Sorry Canadian retailers, it’s not my fault, it’s just common sense).
The amazing photography is by Quentin Bacon.

I won another contest!

Street meat
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

I don’t know what is with me lately, but I just won another contest. I am so excited. I won a free copy of Found Magazine‘s book Found.
I owe it all to the street meat I found on Spadina Av. last fall.
Thanks Torontoist and Simon and Schuster!

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Second day of the Virgin Festival

Waiting at the VIP lounge
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

We started the second day at the VIP Lounge enjoying a few Bud Light beers. We took the ferry and headed for the day of fun and music.
Greg and I participated in the football contest.

It was actually quite embarassing, I couldn’t even win a lousy t-shirt.

We saw the sunset.

I ran into Bridget, a knitter.

And enjoyed a lot of nice music:

The Killers, The Editors…

…and, of course, the Smashing Pumpkins, which was amazing.

We had an amazing time. Thanks Virgin Mobile and BlogTO!

Day 1 of the Virgin Festival

On the ferry
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto

We took the ferry to the Toronto Islands and got there on time to see Bjork.

We had a great time at the concert. It was a great show and we had great view.

The show ended with a blast!

Then it took us two hours to catch the ferry back. I was all tired and cranky, but nevertheless looking forward to the next day’s show.

The Virgin Festival is this weekend!

And I just scored free tickets! I won a contest for BlogTO. I am so excited. We will be attending both Saturday and Sunday for free.
Thanks BlogTO and Virgin Mobile!

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In the knitting dumps

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m just not liking any of my knitting and not being inspired by anything new. It’s the first time that I really don’t want to buy anything, and what I have in progress. As loyal readers may remember, I have 3 projects going:

The green silk top, which was supposed to by my first summer knitting ended up being the only one and I didn’t even finish it.

The Montego Bay scarf is going all right but it’s quite boring.

And the Cezanne cardigan is also progressing but with no excitement.

So I don’t know what to do on what will inspire me.
Maybe it is the lack of good TV to accompany my knitting activities?
Maybe when the new season starts in a few weeks I will feel better about my projects?

Any ideas, my dear readers?
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