My Saeco GranBaristo and a Free Printable!

Saeco generously provided me with the Saeco GranBaristo, but have not paid or asked me to write a review. All opinions are my own!

A few weeks ago, Saeco invited me to attend a coffee event. Their knowledgeable staff and a barista from Rooster Coffee talked about different aspects of coffee beans and espresso makers. I left that event positively buzzing from my caffeine intake and my excitement over my new coffee maker!

Until this point, I used to make coffee at home using a moka pot. If I wanted to be fancy, I would use my manual milk frother. While I could make an okay cup of coffee, I would always apologize before making a cup of coffee for guests “Sorry, I hope this okay. I just make my coffee with my little moka pot. I won’t be offended if you don’t like it” Jeeeez, no confidence.

Since getting the Saeco GranBaristo, I can’t wait to offer my guests a coffee. It’s pretty much the first thing that comes out of my mouth when people come over. “Hi! Come in. Can I offer you a cappuccino? A latté?” It has upped my hosting 100% and has totally changed my morning and afternoon tea times to coffee breaks. My favourite drink is the espresso macchiato. It’s beautiful and delicious. I just don’t think I’ll ever be able to buy a drink at a fancy coffee place again!



I am so impressed with the sleekness of this machine. It can make 16 different drinks and is only 8 inches wide. With my condo, counter space comes at a premium, and I have no issues leaving this out. It looks great and I use it at least twice a day. As this machine also has a hot water function, I’ve been able to get rid of my stove top kettle (in addition to my moka pot and manual milk frother) so it seems like a pretty great upgrade!



In terms of function, there are two parts of this machine that make it a total winner for me,  and the first is that it’s a bean-to-cup machine. It grinds whole beans fresh for you for each cup of coffee. That’s amazing! First off, coffee beans lose their aromatics very quickly after being ground, so grinding them right before using them is ideal. Secondly, whole beans are far cheaper than pods. At the Saeco event, we were also provided with a bag of the House Espresso from Rooster Coffee and it was so good that I went back last week to get a second bag. I’ve made coffees for half a dozen people and they’ve all commented on the freshness, aroma, and taste.



The second part of the GranBaristo that I love is the milk frother. This thing is a total game changer. I’ve been told that whole milk or 3% milk makes the best froth, but we drink 2% at home so that’s what I use and it’s great! The steamed milk comes out beautifully silky and the froth comes out nice and thick. This machine also created a beautiful crema. I seriously cannot say enough good things about the quality of the drinks.

The machine gives you a prompt when the water needs refilling or the spill tray or spent grounds tray needs to be emptied. The only learning curve for me was remembering what drinks the icons on the front made. I wish it was written underneath the icons. At this point I’ve almost made each drink, but I made myself a little chalkboard inspired coffee menu as a reminder. I love the way coffee art looks in the kitchen. Click here to download the printable!



From the time I turn on the machine to the time I’m sitting on my couch with my macchiato is probably about 3 minutes; I have an 11 month old, so anything that gets caffeine in me with expediency is a welcome addition in my home :)

The Perils of Living Alone

I’ve been living on my own since April of this year and it’s been awesome so far. A lot of people were/are shocked to hear Kevin and I aren’t living together*.
Honestly, I’ve found very few downsides to living alone. It’s so freeing!! But there are some downsides…here are my biggest issues:

1. Dishes. UGHHHHHHHHHHH. It takes the same amount of dishes to cook food for 4 people as it does for 1, so I have to constantly do dishes. The catch here is I hate doing dishes and let them pile up for way too long and then I just feel like giving up… I miss the days when Kevin did all the dishes!
   
2. Cooking for one person sucks. What’s the point? It’s crazy how low my standards have dropped for dinner. I used to always make nice dinners!.. everything homemade and from scratch with a glass of wine on the side. Now I live off chicken fingers.. (but I still have the glass of wine! Obviously)
   
3. Grocery shopping for one person also sucks. I pretty much can’t finish anything before it goes bad, so now my fridge looks like this:

That’s right. Empty… Or pretty close to it. At least I have some fresh-ish produce in there. So now I pride myself on the contents of my freezer:
Kevin and I are leaving soon for Boston, so I’m not bothering with grocery shopping until I get back. I have way too much to get done before we leave!

• laundry
  
• packing
  
• drop Riley off at my parents’ house
  
• dishes! ARGH!
  
• sweep floors
  
• change bed sheets (nothing beats coming home to fresh sheets after a trip!)
  
• get some USD from the bank
  
• tidy up living room
  
• mani/pedi

That’s what I really really want to get done before I leave, but I crack under pressure. Hence why I’m procrastinating by writing this post and watching Wheel of Fortune.. while eating an English muffin and some chicken fingers   Jam counts as a serving of fruit, right?
Anyone have any fun plans for the long weekend?? It’s coming soon! Also, is anyone else as shocked as me that it’s already August! Summer is slipping away so fast!
*We had been living together a bit over 2 years when our landlord decided to put our house on the market. Since we had (or so we thought!) less than a year until our condo was done, we moved in respective parents’ houses. I wasn’t such a big fan, so I decided to move out after a few months. I really wanted to try living on my own because I knew once the condo was done, I’d never again have the opportunity.

Green Onion Planter

Did you know that green onions can be put in water, allowing the green parts to regrow almost indefinitely? Just pick up some green onions with the little white roots attached (that’s how they’re sold in the grocery store), then put the bunch(es) in a container of water. Simple as that!

Green onions are so versatile! Here's a short list of how you can use them:

• Rolled in olive oil and then grilled
• Baked into a quiche
• On/in pretty much anything Mexican
• On/in pretty much anything Greek
• Sprinkled on:
• baked potatoes
• soups right before eating
• eggs

I tried it a couple of years ago and really doubted that it would work, but it did! I recently started “growing” them again, except this time I bought more stalks so it looks substantial enough to put in the window alongside my other plants.

The tip is to make sure you cut the stalk all the way down to the white at the bottom or the stalk just dries up like the stalk in the lower right picture below. I also put an elastic loosely around my two bunches to keep my stalks more upright.

What do you think?

Restaurant Crash: Mildred’s Temple Kitchen

I got a new position in a new department at work, so to celebrate my friend Gary took me out for dinner at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen. It was the first time there for both of us and we were very impressed!

We ordered these two drinks when we sat down. Mine on the left, Gary’s on the right. I can’t remember what they were called, but mine had ginger in it and Gary’s at chillies!

Here was our menu. It was a four course meal and I took some photos because the menu looked delicious and the food was very well presented. We substituted the gnocchi poutine for a beet salad because the poutine was made with beef gravy and I don’t eat mammals.

As you can see on the menu, the fourth course was dessert. The waitress poured the espresso over top and I dug right in… about halfway through I realized I didn’t get a photo. Oh well…I’m not even sorry lol it was delicious!

The decor inside was really cool. One of my friends described it as a swanky café and I think I’d have to agree. It was very contemporary and minimal. Even the bathrooms were cool. Check out the photos!

Have you ever eaten here? Does this restaurant remind you of any others in Toronto?

Happy Valentine's Day! Cookie edition...

Kevin and I don't make a big production out of Valentine's Day. I like wearing something red or pink and baking some cute heart cookies, but that's about it. I don't think we've ever gone out to dinner on Heart Day, but we are this year. I guess there's a first for everything!


Kevin loves shortbread cookies, so I usually end up making them for him for Christmas, his birthday and Valentine's Day. My absolute favourite recipe to use is from The Joy of Baking. This recipe has served me extremely well and I highly recommend it!


Shortbread Cookies:

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt

1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup (60 grams) powdered (confectioners or icing) sugar

1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract (I use a about 1.5 teaspoons)

Note: use the best butter and vanilla you can afford - it makes a difference!

INSTRUCTIONS

In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle.  Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.  Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Shortbread cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a week or they can be frozen.

Makes about 20 shortbread cookies.

I put the cookies I baked into a glass jar ($1 from Dollarama) and made a little label to go on the front. I bought a $0.29 piece of striped pink card stock from Michael's to frame a white piece of card stock that I decorated with adhesive stickers (kind of like stick-on tattoos, but for paper - $1 from Dollarama). I used a star-burst hole punch at the top of the label, strung a piece of silver ribbon through it, then tied the ribbon around the lid and curled the ends. It's not super fancy, but it's just a way to personalize a cookie jar... and it only cost me  $2.29. 

Do you have anything planned for your sweetie tonight?

My First Gingerbread House

Wow, is this post late or what?! Kevin and I made a gingerbread house right before leaving for our cruise. I snapped some photos, but unfortunately forgot to post about it! I'm not the most patient person so I was interested to see how working with Kevin on the house would pan it. Well, we're both still alive and you know what?... It was fun! We worked well together :-)


I had a 50% coupon for Michael's so I used that to buy the gingerbread house kit. I can't remember the exact price, but it ended up being $5 or something like that. 

Once we read through the instructions a couple of times, I got to making the icing. I had to add quite a bit more water to the icing than the directions specified, but eventually I got the right consistency. The icing is what holds the walls together...

We had to wait in between "mortar"-ing each wall for the icing to firm up a bit. Eventually, our house was intact!

I wanted the entire roof to be covered in "snow", so I watered down some of the icing and flooded the roof with it. A bit of the icing dripped off, but we just wiped away any excess, no biggie.

Then came the fun part: the candy! After eating about 25% of it throughout the icing process, we proceeded to attach what was left of it to the house. We used every. last. piece. on this house! And I gotta say, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

And my favourite part...the icicles!

Gingerbread houses aren't something that we do in my family, but I really enjoyed it! I think I might try making a gingerbread from scratch next year! Hopefully (fingers crossed) our condo will be done by then so I'll get to do it in MY OWN KITCHEN!! Wooohooo!

What a Load of Crock (Pot)!

I went to my parents' house yesterday to find 2 packages waiting on the doorstep, both addressed to me!

The first one (the big one!) I had to assume was the Crock Pot I won in Brittany's giveaway. The smaller one on the other hand... I wasn't sure what this one was. I just ordered a running hoodie from Lululemon on Friday, but surely that couldn't have arrived so fast... But when I opened up the package it was a Crock Pot Best-Loved Slow Cooker Recipe book and 8 (that's right, 8!!!) seasoning packages for beef stew, pot roast, pulled pork, and chicken soup. Oh man is Kevin gonna love this! He calls himself a meat-etarian and considers chicken a vegetable. For reals! While I barely even eat chicken, that man practically eats like a tiger (in quantity and selection - re: meat and lots of it) so I'll be making use of this for meals for him for sure. 

 Thanks again Britt!!

Decor at Jedd's Frozen Custard

Gary and I went to Jedd's Frozen Custard on Thursday night with a group deal coupon in hand. We each ordered 2 scoops of frozen custard - one vanilla and one chocolate. Being from England, I've had many many many custards in my life, but this was the first time I had frozen custard. It was delicious. Jedd himself was serving us and told us a bit about how the custard was made and said the chocolate wasn't as "chocolately" as normal that day, but that was fine by me - I actually really liked that it was a light chocolate flavour instead of intense chocolate. 

{via}

Anyway, while Gary and I were eating our dessert, I was checking out the place... Before we walked in I noticed how crisp the black and glass store front is, and then once we walked in, I immediately noticed that all of the counters and bistro tables were marble - beautiful!

{via}..and slightly altered

As we were eating I started to notice all the other great little touches: the cabinets were espresso-coloured with chalkboard fronts that displayed the menu options...

{via}

There were a few glass tile walls and fantastic chandeliers

{via}

The radiator had a cool cover on it and even the bathrooms were great!  They had the same design elements as the rest of the place so everything flowed nicely. Jedd said he designed everything himself and I think he did a great job

Unfortunately my camera charger broke and my battery is dead (I've ordered another charger!) so I didn't have my camera with me and grabbed these pics from online. They don't do the place justice!

My Weekend Follies

Up until Sunday, I didn't do much this weekend. Kevin and I hung out at a bar with some friends on Friday, and then hung out at another bar with some other friends on Saturday (Sara and Darcy, from this post, who are soon to be travelling around Asia for 4-months!!). I did manage to finally get around to baking so I could put my cake stand to use! I made cupcakes instead of a full-on cake because I have a cupcake carrier. In theory, I could more easily bring cupcakes to work to share with my co-workers. In reality, I'm addicted to sugar and have already eaten at least 15 cupcakes. Three cupcakes lost their lives in this photo shoot alone. 

But can you blame me?? They're French vanilla with raspberry cream cheese icing! They're super pink because I used a new food colouring and mistakenly thought it was less concentrate than the kind I regularly use. 

On a less gluttonous note...well I guess this still has to do with eating... I went on something called the Edible Tree Tour with some people in my Meetup group. 

Each year Toronto’s urban forest produces millions of pounds of edible treats.  Follow our knowledgeable leaders - and your taste buds - through Toronto's urban forest and discover what appetizing delights await you.

Learn about urban harvesting with Laura Reinsborough from Not Far From The Tree, then explore the Ben Nobleman community orchard with Susan Poizner of Growing for Green.  Uncover delectable edibles in unexpected places with LEAF's Amanda Gomm, and learn how to glean what you've seen with foraging tips and tricks from Forbes Wild Foods. Forbes' jellies, syrups and tree goodies will be available for tasting and sale giving you the chance to satisfy any new-found cravings.

I'm not gonna lie - I thought there would be more eating and less talking, but it was interesting nonetheless. Gary was on the walk and asked today if I took notes. It has been well-established that I'm a horrible note-taker, and case-in-point as this is all I wrote on my iPhone's notepad:

• Conifer trees are high in vitamin C
• If the animals are eating the berries, they're edible
• Juniper is used to make gin

The hike was was over 2 hours and that's all I managed to write lol At least I got this picture of a crab apple

On another note, my dad came over on Sunday to take a truck load of our furniture back to my parents' house. The kitchen table and chairs were the biggest item to go. The kitchen looks so empty now. We have just over 2 weeks until we move out, and I'm really not looking forward to it. Moving sucks. When I was in university, all of my friends said they want to travel as much as they can and work in different countries and cities. Not me! I was always the one saying I want to get a government job and buy a house, and then work at that job until I retire and live in that same house until I die.

Definitely not gonna happen, but a girl can dream!

How was your weekend?  

My Weekend Follies

My weekends are usually laid back because by Friday afternoon, when I ride the subway home, I'm pretty much drained and look a lot like this guy...

I always wake up disoriented and panicky, wondering if I missed my stop, wondering if anyone saw me drooling/falling over, etc. Of course someone did. And they probably took a picture of it. (There are websites that are dedicated to posting pictures of sleeping subway riders. You've been warned folks!) By the time I get home I walk around in a haze, willing myself to stay awake, but by 9:01pm I'm practically sprinting to bed.


This Friday my 9:01pm bedtime didn't happen. Kevin's friend was celebrating a birthday up in the 'burbs. I had a good time - ate a little, drank a little, danced a little, then by 2am, I looked a lot like that guy up top again lol. This happens every time I go out and Kevin's learned to live with it. We had a car for the night, so I went to sleep in the back seat until he was ready to go. This is the benefit of being relatively short :-)


Also, I got a delivery on Friday! A pair of earrings that came in the most ridiculously huge packaging! The earring box inside a small box inside bubble wrap inside a thin cardboard envelope inside a huge box...












On Saturday I played a game of soccer at Riverdale Park with my sister, Michelle and a few other people. It was a scorcher out there on Saturday! We would literally play for 10 minutes, then take a 5 minute time out for water, then play for 10 minutes, and on and on. 
Here are some fun pics from the game...

Michelle with one of the other players (she loves this photo of herself!)

Sara and Darcy duking it out for the ball... 

but really, I just posted this one because it looks like he's gonna boot her in the arse lol

 Then Sara, Darcy, Michelle and I went to the Indian Bazaar Festival on Gerrard Street later 

Michelle and I wolfed down some veggie samosas, and then we all got butter chicken. Yum!

Apparently there was like a live "So You Think You Can Dance" India-version going on. 

This girl wasn't too happy with her reviews...

Straight after this Michelle and I went downtown to watch 

HARRY POTTER 7 in 3D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We bought UltraAVX tickets from the Scotiabank theatre on Friday (for Saturday) and were SO HAPPY we did. The seats for that specific theatre are reserved so you don't have to line up early to get your seats. We got to the theatre ten minutes before the start of the movie and got our seats with no problem. It was Michelle's first 3D movie (I saw Avatar in 3D) and it was fun to see her reaction. She loved the 3D experience :-) Plus the glasses helped conceal some of our tears. We cried like a bunch of babies lol. Happy or sad we knew we'd cry so we went in prepared with a bunch of tissues. 

Sunday was a much easier day spent (mostly) napping on the couch and reading magazines (when I could manage to stay awake), and then Kev and I headed to his mom's house for dinner.

Did you guys get out and enjoy the weekend? Or did you stay inside in the AC?

St Lawrence Market

Every other month or so, my friend Gary and I will take an early Saturday morning trip to St Lawrence Market together. We went there this past Saturday to grab (a very unhealthy) breakfast and to pick up some meat and cheese. I try to get at least one month's worth of meat from the butcher in one trip. The one I go to, White House Meats, freezer packs any meats you want, so it's super convenient. 

Here are some pictures from our trip:

This is a pasta-cutting machine - you can see the fusilli on the board.

I don't wanna say Gary ran to get a peameal bacon sandwich... but he pretty much ran. He had blinders on for that place! He's the one standing just to the left of the stand that says "Breakfast on a Bun"

Here was his sandwich. I don't eat bacon, but if I did I think I would've had to try a piece. The whole market smelled uh-mazing! I wish I could make the next pictures scratch-n-sniff 

My "breakfast" consisted of this olive, feta cheese and spinach bureka (to the left).... and 1/2 of this strawberry and cheese danish. I twisted Gary's rubber arm and he ate the other half. 

We passed by this cute little stand, called Lemon Tree. The woman was selling macarons and cupcakes. I'd never had a macaron before so Gary bought me one

 They were all so delicious looking, but Gary and I both settled on... 

 Pistachio! SO DELICIOUS!

 Cheese and Pate

 Flowers

 Gary and me as we headed on home :-)