going to WORK

The other day Kristin Archer of I Heart Hamilton and I met to catch up and to check out WORK, one of the many new restaurants/bars popping up in downtown Hamilton. In the past few months just on James North alone (not even counting the multiple new spots that have all opened recently around town) we’ve seen the opening of sandwich, soup and salad bar resto McCartney & Son, arcade themed pub The Stowaway and WORK located right next to This Ain’t Hollywood (my favourite Hamilton live music venue).

If I’m not mistaken before WORK opened it was formerly a yellow awning-ed Portuguese sports bar. Am I right? The yellow awning is down but on the interior, you could say… the decor has probably not changed much. But that’s kinda what I like about WORK. Its beauty is in their unique culinary fusions. I counted at least four or five different takes on dishes from various cultures. They have southern ribs and fried chicken, classic spaghetti and meat balls, jerk chicken and even chow mein.

There was such a variety to choose from on their menu that it took Kristin and I a good ten minutes of contemplation to finally make our lunch selections.

However, the one thing that we were quick to decide on was an order of avocado fries. The avocado was in that perfect melt-in-your-mouth state of ripeness but with a crispy savoury battered exterior.

After much deliberation my final lunch selection was the braised beef sandwich. It had a nice tart punch of tangy fresh horseradish.

For dessert we couldn’t resist splitting the Koo Koo cake (named after the classic neopolitan striped Koo Koo Taffy Bar). It’s made with strawberry and cappuccino gelato, layered over an espresso crumb crust.

The charm in WORK is that there’s no pretences; it wears its heart on its sleeve and is the kind of place you can saddle up to the bar, enjoy a beer, some great affordable food and likely end up chatting with everyone in the place (they’re all fans). I found myself telling Kristin that if Steve and I didn’t have a baby, we’d probably frequent here on weekday evenings for a beer and some grub (especially pre-shows at This Ain’t). For now I’ll have to settle for sampling the WORK menu during lunch time meet ups.

Thanks Kristin, it was great to try another new place together and to hear about what you’ve been up to. Looking forward to the next rendezvous! You can read Kristin’s post about WORK here.

*WORK, 337 James St. N, 905.777.9675

sew hungry #2

This was only the second Sew Hungry food truck rally that I’ve attended and it definitely seemed busier than the last one. Parking was tough and the line-ups were heavy. We started off at the Dirty South food truck but it was so busy that we passed on the fried chicken and waffle sandwich and headed straight for Buster’s Sea Cove.

My first Sew Hungry I remember saying that I had regrets about not trying Buster’s Sea Cove’s lobster roll. So first on the list was to get me a roll.

My meal came with a bag of chips, a juicy pickle and a lobster roll. The roll was pretty small and in the end I felt that it was a little over-priced -$13!

Buster's Sea Cove Lobster Roll

Be warned that when attending events like this, when you have a stroller, eating on the go from places like food trucks and food stands take on a whole new life. You’ve got crowds to manoeuvre around (and no matter what you always seem to be in the way), rocking to ensure that your baby is falling asleep (so you can eat with some sort of ease), and you’ve really only got one hand free, which is due cause for some messy eating.

So when I spotted a church parking lot filled with empty tables and chairs my friend Vern and I made a b-line for it with our two strollers and sleeping babies in tow. The admission; the purchase of one meat pie (with gravy, peas and onions and a pop). Hello -no problem there! Out of the crowds and the ability to use two hands while eating, we were pretty much sold.

It was a fabulously delicious homemade meat pie. I had to stop myself from licking the plate.

Our next stop was at El Gastronomo Vagabundo (with surprisingly no line-up). For all that it’s worth, line ups are sometimes not the best indicators of what’s good and what isn’t. We were so impressed with the presentation and flavour of the battered poached egg on asparagus that next time I see this truck I won’t hesitate to sample more from their menu.

Deep-fried poached egg; and the yolk was still runny!

asparagus, battered poached egg, with candied bacon

Just check out the photo gallery on El Gastronomo Vagabundo’s page here. Their food looks soooooooo good!

The one truck that I wanted to check out but didn’t get a chance to on this go round was The Big Chief, which is Hamilton’s newest food truck specializing in First Nation cuisine. I’m happy that it’s a Hamilton local so I won’t have to wait until the next Sew Hungry to sample some venison chili and bison sliders. You can follow them @thebigchiefco.

If you’ve never been to a Sew Hungry I do recommend that you go at least once. Do a little research prior to see which trucks you want to hit up first. Most of the trucks sold out of their menu items later on in the day. So get there early before the line-ups get out of hand. If I venture to another Sew Hungry, I’ll also likely consider taking the free shuttle bus or biking so as not to have to deal with finding a parking spot.

food in tins

The first really warm spring day about a week or so ago, I packed up some treats and headed out for a play date picnic with Omi at Gage Park.

I do love picnics. Especially meats, cheese and snack type foods.

I gathered some items that we had around the house along with some foccacia bread for make-your-own mini open-faced sandwiches.

Finally put this handy stackable tin lunch container to good use. This little contraption is called a dabba (or tiffin). We picked it up when we were travelling in India. It’s kinda like the Indian version of the obento box.

For dessert I made this super yummy treat. Get this -Mars Bar Rice Krispie Squares! Yeah, it’s pretty decadent, but they are so yum. If you can believe it there’s three Mars Bars in this one batch! Sometimes I have to remind myself about the three bars to stop myself from eating the entire tray all in one go. Three Mars Bars in one day is just totally unacceptable.

fish and chips

If there’s one thing that Steve and I love doing it’s going to a nice classic pub for pints and good pub fare. Since we don’t live in England, where people don’t automatically think you’re the worst parent in the world if you show up to a pub with a kid. And since we can’t exactly leave Omi at home to fend for himself; then I suppose the next best thing to going to a pub is if the pub comes to you. Hence our idea to make homemade fish and chips!

This was our first time taking on such an endeavour and it turned out to be surprsingly easy and delicious. A simple cold bitter beer battered recipe turned out some beautiful crisp results on our first go. I picked up some haddock from the farmer’s market, along with a Mill Street Spring Imp bitter lager (should’ve really used an ale but it still tasted fabulous). We used a beer battered recipe that I found here.

I whipped up a quick tartar sauce inspired by my friend Vern’s fish and chip post from her blog Nine Ate Seven. For my tartar sauce I mixed in mayo, finely chopped capers, pickles and green onions plus a dash of apple cider vinegar, a squeeze of lemon and a pinch or two of sugar. As per Vern’s suggestion on her post we also tried out the double deep-fry method that successfully resulted in some extra crispy sweet potato fries.

Who knows, this may just inspire a frequent stay at home pub night at our place. It’ll be fabulous once we can sit in the backyard again -patio time!

sugar bush

The last weekend of March we were in Kingston visiting some old friends. While there we decided to make the most of the early spring weather by heading out to a nearby conservation area for a maple syrup festival.

To the sugar bush!

The trees were tapped with the sap flowing. We noted that they had several different methods of tapping, some with metal pails, other trees with blue plastic buckets, and some were tapped atop a hill with a series of connecting tubes that ran towards the sugar shack down the hill below (definitely the most efficient).

maple syrup evaporator

There wasn’t any snow of the ground so we weren’t able to do the classic maple syrup on snow or ice. Of course there were pancakes and although we’d already had a delicious breakfast we could not forgo sampling at least one (or two)!

This pancake was so delictable and the maple syrup was so fresh!

I hadn’t been to the sugar bush since I was a little kid. I’m sure in the upcoming years we’ll be doing an annual maple syrup pilgrimage to Mountsberg (and the like) with the little one.

sleep over

Among the many things that people will tell you when having kids is that your life will never be the same and that you’ll never be able to live like you used to. Honestly this idea kinda petrified me -to think that I’d be sequestered to an isolated parental island void of all “normal” social contact and/or limited only to baby/parent talk.

However, I’ve suprisingly found that besides the obvious life changes invovled in having a child, life with some effort can be quite as it were pre-baby.

The beauty is to come up with novel ideas on how to continue to socialize and maintain social equilibrium.

Thus far we have found that life can take on many of the same ceremonious social rituals (however, I’m sure this too will change). We’ve managed to finagle going out for dinners, visiting friends, and more often than not these days having friends over. We must of course give thanks to our friends, who have continued to request our social presence.

There are challenges that do arise in trying to socialize. Especially when we want to meet up with friends who live out of town that also have kids. Between naps, dinner, baths and bed time, this all  leaves little room to get in a satisfactory visit.

So in honour of living life the way we used to like let’s say having dinner with some old friends from out of town, we pulled off our first ever parent sleep over and it was a success. Once the kids had their dinner and bath time, and it was all quiet on the western front. We parents camped out in the mainfloor of the house with wine, escargot, bubbly Italian beers and fondue -how so appropriately over the top adult like of us.

tempura oil fondue -a Japanese twist on a French meal

the next morning -starting the day off right with some colouring

soup

One of the best things about soup, besides eating it, is that if you make a big ol’ pot you can freeze some for another soup meal.

We’ve been doing precisely that all winter long.

One of my favourite soups that Steve makes is a bacon, kale and bowtie pasta soup. We modify the recipe from a lovely soup book we own called Sunday Soup by Betty Rosbottom. She covers soups for every season that are really easy to make.

Making soup stalk from scracth. A whole little chicken was added to this.

bacon, kale, bowtie pasta soup

potato & leek soup and a grilled cheese

With Steve working from home we’re able to enjoy some pretty cute lunches together slurping away at our soups.

plan b

We don’t always, but when we can we try and by local and/or organic.

This winter we decided to buy a winter share with Plan B Organic Farms. It’s the second time we’ve ordered a share with Plan B. What I like about it is that it cuts down on trips to the grocery store, and it helps us decide what meals to make for the week.

With Plan B you have the option of buying entirely local, or with a mix of international and local organics goods. You can get a weekly or bi-weekly share, and you can order a small or large box. They can deliver directly to your home or you can check to see where they do free local drop-offs in your neighbourhood.

We opted for a small bi-weekly box for 10 weeks (we added on an order of coffee and eggs too), which we pick up at a local store a short walk from our house.

Plan B has been perfect for this winter stretch, as it’s helped to tide us over until things get hopping at the local farmer’s markets for spring and until our summer garden gets into full-swing.

We make a lot of soups and enjoy having fresh pea sprouts on our lunchtime sandwiches and garnished on salads.

culantro

Oddly enough I fell in love with Peruvian food when I was living in Japan (of all places). There was a delectable Peruvian restaurant in the city I was living in that served anticuchos, deep fried plantains, civiche, salchipapa and purple chicha corn drink. Mmmm. However, having left Japan over a decade ago and with the lack of Peruvian restaurants in Southern Ontario, I had not had the pleasure of indulging in any Peruvian delicacies in a looong time. So I was pretty excited to hear about the opening of a Peruvian restaurant right here in Hamilton.

Culantro Peruvian Cookery has only been open a few months but they have already garnered rave reviews and drool worthy pleasantries with regards to their food.

So on an impromptu early dinner meet up with a few friends, we decided to check Culantro out for ourselves.

We were greeted by the super hospitable chef and Co-owner Juan Castillo, who went above and beyond to make us feel welcome, and to ensure that everything that we ordered was totally perfect (and it was).

I ordered two empanadas; one carne and one pollo with a side of sweet potato fries.

Steve ordered two empanadas with the veggie salad

The empanadas and sauces were super delicious and totally hit the spot. I wanted to eat about a dozen more. In fact, I remember saying out loud that I kinda wanted to sleep on a pillow of empanadas so that whenever I woke up I could just go “omnomnom” and then fall back to sleep dreaming of eating more empanadas.

The carne empanada was stuffed with prime ontario steak, olives, raisins, and a boiled egg. I know a boiled egg! It may seem a little weird to some, but you have to trust me, it was so super delicious.

On the menu there’s also quarter, half and whole marinated rotisserie chickens (polo a la brasa), which someone at our table also ordered and it was mega yum!

Before our meals were complete Juan came out to chat with us, and to bring us all a little sample of their chicha morada, which is a drink made from purple corn juice with a twist of lime, pineapple and a hint of cinnamon. It was beautifully refreshing with all different sorts of  subtle hints of flavours that tickled my tastebuds.

To find out a little more about the story behind what brought Co-owners Juan, and his sister in law, Catharine to open up a Peruvian restaurant in Hamilton check out their blog here.

In the mean time if you haven’t been to Culantro yet, you should. You can’t go wrong with their empanadas.

The next time that I hear they’ve got pork belly and ceviche on their daily special I’ll have to pop in for another visit, and maybe I’ll indulge in another empanada (or two).

*47 King William St. 905.777.0060 @culantrocookery

not a pancake

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again my favourite meal of the day is…. brunch!

I know it’s Pancake Tuesday and everything, however, this post isn’t about pancakes but about my latest brunch discovery the croque madame.

To make this decadent brunch treat you need a fresh loaf of French bread. Slice it up and get it ready for some classic pan-fried French toast.

For every 5 slices of bread I use 2 eggs and about 1 cup of milk. I usually mix into the eggs a pinch of cinnamon and an even tinier pinch of clove powder. Slide a small pad of butter onto the pan and start French toasting away. If you want your French toast to be a little sweet sprinkle a bit of sugar on the side that’s up and hasn’t been flipped yet. Voila! Fluffy golden brown French toast.

Once you have your French toasts toasted you’re going to sandwich it up. First, spread a thin layer of dijon mustard  (I used a lovely maple dijon mustard & that little bit of sweetness was just right), then a slice or two of black forest ham and a generous amount of grated Swiss, gruyere or Emmantal cheese. Close up your sandwich with another piece of French toast. Heat up your oven to 400.

Next prepare your béchamel sauce. Which consists of butter, flour, milk and cheese with a pinch of salt, pepper, and nutmeg. I used a béchamel sauce recipe from here.

Top your sandwich with the béchamel sauce and add a generous sprinkle of cheese on top. Then bake in the oven until the top is golden brown (about 10 minutes).

What’s in the oven is a complete croque monsieur. You can leave it at just that OR you can take it one notch up and add a poached or fried egg atop of the sandwich to make it a croque madame, which is what I did.

croque monsieur -a baked french toast sandwich with ham, swiss cheese and béchamel cream sauce.

So, while these beauties are browning and melting in the oven, get your eggs poaching or frying. I did my eggs fried sunny-side up, and garnished with some market fresh thick bacon.

Served this madame up with a nice light salad, oven roasted tomatoes and pan-fried crisp potato medallions.