Duboce Park Cafe

I still find it ever so sad that after working at a cafe/bakery this past summer, the magic of breakfast/brunch is over. I have a hard time appreciating the typical eggs, potatoes, toast combination as I used to. I suppose now it's all about the company.

Veggie Scramble: tomato, mushroom, onion, spinach, cheddar cheese; 5-grain toast; fruit

Recipe: Roasted Broccolini, Kale, and Chickpea Salad with Ricotta

I went to one of my favorite bookstores in the city, Green Apple Books, this past weekend and bought a new cookbook! It's called Feast: Generous Vegetarian Meals for Any Eater and Every Appetite and I read rave reviews about its recipes. I'm trying to eat more vegetables in creative ways so I figured the cookbook is a worthy investment. I'm a sucker for photographs of each recipe so I'm a little sad that this book has minimal photographs. But the first recipe I tried out is the following recipe and I liked it a lot!

Roasted Broccoli, Arugula, and Chickpea Salad with Ricotta

Adapted from Feast: Generous Vegetarian Meals for Any Eater and Every Appetite

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 bunch broccoli, cut into thin, long florets

1 bunch arugula or kale, cut into 2-inch pieces

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

¼ olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

1 lemon, cut into wedges

8-oz (250 grams) fresh ricotta cheese

pinch red pepper flakes

finishing oil for drizzling

Instructions

Preheat the boiler to high.

Toss the broccoli, kale, chickpeas, and garlic with the olive oil. Season lightly with salt and place on baking sheet.

Broil baking sheet, tossing halfway through cooking, until the kale is crispy and the broccoli just tender and charred but still bright green, about 5 minutes.

Squeeze the juice from two lemon wedges all over the top and toss together.

Divide between two to four small plates and top each with a dollop of ricotta.

Sprinkle the ricotta with black pepper and red pepper flakes and drizzle each place with finishing oil.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with more lemon wedges for squeezing over the top.

Note: I used regular old broccoli and arugula instead of kale. If using arugula, mix it in at the last minute of broil.

Oscar

Yes, we named the tree Oscar. This is basically my first ever real Christmas tree. My friend was so kind as to pick up a discarded mini tree on the streets after the holidays and lug it back to his apartment. We tried to buy ornaments but of course, who sells ornaments in January...

So we got creative instead and made our own out of plastic balls! We decorated the balls with sharpie and hooked them on to paper clips. So perfect. My friend even started a fire in his fireplace and I got to relive a true Christmas.

Recipe: Avocado Tartine with Cucumber and Sesame Seeds

After over a year of bookmarking this recipe in the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, I finally made it! And it was so good I basically had it every day for the rest of the week. As described in the book, this recipe is reminiscent of a deconstructed cucumber and avocado sushi roll and you can either keep or nix the baguette part and just eat it in salad form. It's crunchy, creamy, nutty, and so fresh!

Avocado Tartine with Cucumber and Sesame Seeds
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 2

Ingredients
1 6-inch length of baguette
1 avocado, halved, pit removed
½ cup (85 grams) minced seedless cucumber (about ¼ of an English cucumber)
1½ tsp rice vinegar
½ tsp toasted sesame oil
pinch of salt
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Instructions
Split bread into top and bottom halves, and toast the halves.
Arrange slices of, or mash, half your avocado on each toasted baguette half.
Stir together the cucumber, vinegar, sesame oil, and salt.
Dollop half the cucumber salad on top of each bread half.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and adjust seasoning to taste.
Eat immediately.

Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar

I had no idea this bar existed inside The Fairmont Hotel. Pretty cool place with a tropical theme, pool, rain!, good music, and dance floor. The drinks are expensive so I made sure to enjoy every sip of the Mai Tai in a plastic coconut.

Best Card

Challah French Toast

Being home means having the time to actually cook more special breakfasts. The challah bread that I made turned into french toast. Best with strawberries on top.