Food Review: Prairie Girl Bakery

Cupcakes! Cupcakes! Cupcakes!

Ever since the hype of cupcakes spotted up a few year back, I have yet buy into the cupcake culture and indulge myself in a bakery/store bought, high price cupcake. However, one year ago, a friend of mine told me about this one bakery that I had to try, had to. So... I did!

This was truly a cupcake store. They only sold cupcakes. They had 15 daily flavors + other specialty cupcakes. They also have gluten free option.

They offer very adorable cupcake toppers. Monday's special was a red little birdie.

Even their cupcakes get a special lighting stage to highlight the beauty of their cupcakes. 

There were so many that we could not choose. The staff member saw us struggling and offered us a card that had all the different flavours  to choose from. She also gave us a pen to help us check off what we liked. Our list got bigger and bigger.

It came down to 6. 

Strawberry Vanilla

Chocolate Chocolate

Coconut Vanilla

Lemon Vanilla

Classic Red Velvet

Vanilla Bean 

We decided to try them all! Note to you: Have a glass of milk while trying half a dozen mini cupcakes. It'll taste that much better.

Before trying this place out, I did my research and read up on other peoples' reviews of this place. I saw a lot of great reviews and I saw a few that just flat out hated it in every single way. Already I had a good impression since it was a friend of mine who told me about this place, so I had good thoughts. 

It turned out to be very tasty, especially for my first time. The cake was moist and flavourful. Each cupcake flavor was not too overwhelming but just right. My favorite was the lemon vanilla and chocolate chocolate. I think I would just eat a dozen of those and be good.

And this was the aftermath. A little too much icing, but my friend and I had A LOT of fun eating and enjoying those Prairie Girl cupcakes.

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Location: 18 King Street East (just off of King on Victoria st)

Open: Mon - Sat from 10am - 6pm

Price: Reg $2.75; mini $1.75

Go and try them for yourself! =0)

Winery Tour Review: Peller Estates

If you are planning to head up to Niagara-on-the-lake this summer and would like to know which wineries are worth going to, you may want to check this out.

This summer I went Niagara-on-the-lake and attended a special tour at Peller Estates called Chicks & Chocolates. What a name, right?! That certainly got our attention!

Chicks & Chocolates

So we went up to one of the rooms upstairs and the tour guide started the lessons of pairing different wines with different types of chocolates.

I loved the darker chocolates paired with ice wine and sparkling wine.

The tour guide had a vast knowledge and was very fun to listen to.

I learned how to taste chocolate with the different types of wines and how to get the most out of the wine and separate the different flavors. This was one of my favorite wine tasting experiences.

The Peller Estates was so beautiful and so big! 

=0)

Frosty's $1 (Toronto)

Need to cool down but only got change in your pocket?

Well here's a thought: Head over to Wendy's and get cooled with a small Frosty (Vanilla or Chocolate, though I prefer chocolate myself) for only a buck!

It's not quite ice cream but thicker than a milkshake. It's perfect!

The small is the perfect amount to cool down without having an overload that you can't even finish.

So, my friends and I all stopped by for one each too! It was well worth the price of a $1.

Thanks Wendys!

Food Review: Butler's Pantry

In the heart of the Annex, just off of Bloor on Markham/Mirvish street, there is a street lined up with the chill-est restaurants waiting for you to enjoy. I went here with a big group of friends to enjoy a friend's birthday and of course with some good food.

Butler's Pantry was the name. 

We sat inside due to the our group size. But Butler's Pantry also has a very nice and medium-size patio out front.

They had a very wide variety of food choices. I was surprised and delighted to see some Egyptian and Indian flavours. I might even add that they're "genre" should have a new category called "Toronto". Toronto has so many different foods to offer, it's no wonder I found a restaurant that really exemplifies just that. But the most important thing was the taste.

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I decided on the Beef Burgundy Casserole

The presentation was beautiful. And on top of these very large and heavy white squared plates, there was my beautifully created Beef Burundy Casserole. I was a little disappointed that it was my salad that filled most of my plate and my casserole looked more like a side dish.

Overall, the taste of my Beef Burundy wasn't too bad. The beef was nice and not dry. The flavours were great. Although, it was the mashed potato on top, though beautifully presented, was a bit dry tasting and not very creamy as I would have liked it to be.  The salad was large and good. The salad dressing was my favorite (photo below). They gave us a couple of bottles for the table. 

Some of my friends' entrees were very large and very tasty.  Right in front was an order of the Biryani (spicy, $9).

I give Butler's pantry a 2.7/5

The presentation of food was great. 

The price was reasonable ($$).

The atmosphere was dark, but nice.

The taste was a little better than okay.

Need an Old Testament refresher? Look no futher!

All is welcome.

Every Wednesday night @ 7:00pm, Grace Toronto Church holds a Old Testament Survey class that goes through the Old Testament books for those who would like to dive deeper into the meanings of those wild (and true) stories such as Adam & Eve, Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale. Or come if you just feel you need a refresher about the Old Testament. Great insight with great speakers.

When: Wednesday (every week in the summer)

Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Where: 41 Britain Street (closest intersection Sherbourne/Queen St. East)

Speaker(s): Dan McDonald & Kyle Hackman

More info: http://www.gracetoronto.ca/

July 13-15 Weekend Activities

It's the weekend and it's time to see what's going on around Toronto GTA

NIGHT IT UP

Haven't heard? Well... then you're in luck. This is a Night Market, very popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, held in Markham Civic Centre (Warden/Regional Road 7). They are in their 11th year. 

Open: Sat | 12pm -12am & Sun | 12pm -8pm

Admission: FREE

Location: Markham Civic Centre (101 Town Centre Blvd, Markham)

Since this is a Toronto "Night it Up", it does not exclude but rather includes Korean, Japanese and Malaysian cuisine into the mix. There are over 100 food and merchandise vendors. Also, they play free outdoors screenings. So watch out for that!

But it's really mainly the food that people come!

And "D"elicious, it was! They have so many yummy taste that you've got to come and try them yourself. Just be warned it will be crazy busy.

Miss Eve & Starbucks Refresher

Miss Eve heard about the FREE Starbucks refresher and just had to line up and get one of her own!

Miss Eve could not contain her excited and hurried to the nearest Starbucks.

We did not see this coming: Such a long line. But we got in and out pretty fast. The staff at the North York Center franchise was more than efficient.

The staff even had a good time shouting out the orders so cheerfully.

One order of the Cool lime Refresher please...

How'd it taste?

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Well....... Miss Eve thought it was.....

Very refreshing! =0)

Food Review: Joons

Had a craving for Korean food and got my fixing the day after Canada Day. 

My friend and I enjoyed a beautiful day in the park and after catching up it was already dinner time. We walked a little south to Joons on Yonge street just north of Sheppard Ave. 

I ordered this dish many years ago and I loved it. It's called Dak Galbi 닭갈비 ($9.95 per portion). This is a 2-person portion (must buy 2 portions minimum) that has a great spicy (but not too spicy) sauce with cabbage, carrots, tender chicken breast and legs, and onions. We also ordered a side of mozzarella cheese and rice cakes to make the dish even more tasty.

And it was very tasty! The meals' portion was just right. We had very little left and took it to go.

They had a very simple line of side dishes. My favorite was the white radishes cut thinly and the sugar mashed potatoes.

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This is a great place for good Korean food. It has a wide variety and the price is decent. The decor is definitely nothing to show for, but that doesn't stop the customers from filling the restaurant.

Overall, I give them a 3.8/5

Food Review: Dim Sum Downtown

Where oh where is a good place to have good, affordable dim sum downtown Toronto?

This one was tough to find. I searched everywhere, read a million reviews and talked with many different people who had very different experiences. 

DIM SUM KING SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

Dim Sum King is located on Dundas St. West between Huron and Beverly. It's in a plaza on the 3rd floor. 

When I walked in, I literally felt like I was in one of the dim sum restaurants in Markham or Richmond Hill. It's a very large banquet hall in the heart of downtown's Chinatown. Amazing!

Unfortunately, my first experience here was not so great, due to my own circumstances. We got there a little after 2:00pm where it was basically deserted. We were lucky enough to order 6 dishes (3 people) before they stopped serving completely. The service was not good, but efficient. It was pretty hard to get their attention to get the bill.. stuff like that was not easy.

However, during the late afternoon hours, every order (Small/Medium/Large), was $2 each! What a great deal! We had the usual, siu mai, har gow and spare ribs.

Portions were medium size.

Price is excellent.

Space is very nice and spacious.

Service is okay (since I wasn't there during busy hours and still slow service)

Taste is great!

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Overall, I would rate it 3.5/5

Free Slurpee Today! Hurry only 1,000 to give away!

Free 11 oz. slurpee at participating Seven-Elevens' in Canada!

Why?

It's SLURPEE DAY... therefore.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY 7-11!

Got a cup of the Orange Crush!

Miss Eve had a small taste of the Fusia Cream Soda! She loved it cuz it was very refreshing!

What a perfect day for a free slurpee!

Hurry, it started at 11:00am and goes until 7:00pm. But if they hit 1,000 giveaways, then it's over! So hurry and find a 7-11 near you!