Rosedale Diner

The Rosedale Diner is one of Toronto's oldest eating establishments, but despite being around for 33 years, I've never been. A friend and I had dinner there a few weeks back to celebrate some good news. It was a random pick for us, but am I glad we picked this place!

I had the organic beef burger with fries and then shared the poutine au canard (duck poutine) with my friend (I know, I know, double fries, but like I said, we were celebrating!) And boy was it delicious.

The burger was juicy and cooked perfectly, with just enough seasoning. Instead of a traditional bun, the patty was served in a pita.  The fries (garlicky) were made with fresh potatoes and was deep-fried to crispy perfection.  

The duck poutine was amazing as well, but by the time it arrived, my friend and I had stuffed our respective faces with the burgers, and therefore didn't give the poutine the attention it deserved (though we still finished everything).

The cafe itself is quite small and intimate - but by no means snooty. It's the perfect place for old friends to catch up and celebrate good news.

Restaurant rating: Definitely worth an extra hour or two at the gym.

Happy Birthday Hungry Dumpling!

It's amazing how quickly a year goes by! When I started this blog last year, I honestly didn't know how far I would take it. I thought I would start it and truly believed that at some point, I would forget about it. But lo and behold - it's been a year and I'm still going strong! (Mind you, I was quiet last December, but that's because I baked over 1,000 cookies for various family members...but that's a story for another day).

Thank you to all who visit regularly - and cheers to another year of yummy blogs!

Peanut butter raisin cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies...

I love the taste and texture of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. The ingredients are classic and familiar - and always good for a bad day (though many of you know my indulgence of choice are butter tarts). But sometimes, classic and familiar can become stale - which is why I like to take classic recipes and add a twist. 

I stumbled upon such a thing on a random trip to Bulk Barn. I was looking for chocolate chips, but came across cinnamon chips. My first thought: cinnamon chip cookies. Now, I bake often, but I'm by no means an expert baker. So once again, I went back to my teacher Martha Stewart for a recipe I could tinker with and make my own.


Martha (and I know it's presumptuous to use her first name, but hey, it's my blog, so I give myself permission) has a great recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I find this recipe to be very forgiving, meaning that if you added and substituted one ingredient for another, the recipe would still work. And it did!

Too close...but still yummy

Pasted here is my modified recipe. The only thing that didn't work is my spacing. I was out of parchment paper so didn't space the cookies out as far as I should have...


Ingredients (*means changes/additions):
- 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 cup packed light-brown sugar (*reduce to 1/4 cup)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (*reduce to 1/4 cup)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups salted whole peanuts (*substitute raisins)
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (*substitute cinnamon chips)
- *1 cup crushed walnuts

Directions (no changes)

Duff's Famous Wings

Mmmm...wings...

I heart chicken wings.  Truly I do.  Spicy and sour. Crispy and crunchy.  Mmmm...and while everybody knows this already, I still have to say it: Duff's Famous Wings has the best chicken wings in Toronto.

I went to Duff's back in December with my Big Brother and had a blast. Over fun conversation, we shared wings, beers and the obligatory veggie sticks.

The atmosphere is friendly and was crowded for a Tuesday night. The staff was great and well...it was a wing place. Enough said.

Restaurant rating: Definitely worth an extra hour or two at the gym.

Happy New Year and How Baking Works

Happy New Year everyone!  As you can see, my blog entries dropped over the holidays. From cooking a massive holiday/birthday meal to setting up my own cookie factory, let's just say I'm glad the holidays are over. The fact that I've literally eaten my way through December is why I'm glad to be getting back to normal again (though I do have the day off today).

Santa was good to me and I received many amazing gifts: one of them being the textbook "How Baking Works" by Paula Figoni. The book literally breaks down the theory of baking - from measuring to accurate temperatures to the chemical reactions of the various ingredients. I've been baking for awhile now and am fairly comfortable following recipes, but I would love to create my own.

I just started the book and it's like being back in school again - though now I'm studying something I'm passionate about. I'll provide updates as I go through it, but 22 pages in and I have to say it's been awhile since I've been a student proper. While the content is interesting, the writing is a tad dry. I can't wait to get to the experiments though.