tomato pie.

This past summer, on a six-week-long backpacking trip through Southeast Asia, I had extremely limited time on the internet. Instead of spending my precious hours in crowded internet cafes updating Facebook or sending long emails to friends and relatives, I wandered the streets, beaches and temples, met people, drank too many buckets and discovered new restaurants and treats. Near the end of the six weeks, though, I was craving comfort food from home. Hard. (Despite their best efforts, a burger and fries doesn't quite taste the same over there - at least in the cheap spots I was eating, where local food is what's good on the menu.)

enchilada night.

Ever make something that just does not photograph well, no matter how delicious it is? I feel like that's the story of my just-beginning cooking life - desperately trying to get my home-cooked meals (which have been tasting pretty darn good, I must say!) to sit pretty for the camera, to no avail. But sometimes, that doesn't really matter.

A group of my best girlfriends (minus one or two!) got together last week to make a yummy-looking enchilada recipe we found on a blog we've been reading for a while, 20 Something Cupcakes. We shredded cheese and chicken, mashed guac, got jalapeño juice in our eyes, drank wine and of course, had a few belly-laughs. And when our enchiladas were ready, damn were we ready for them! The kitchen was a mess and the enchiladas were even messier, but it was undoubtedly the best night of my week. And so here's what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving: family; health; nights filled with wine, laughter and friends and good (albeit un-photogenic) food. Can't ask for much more than that. Happy Thanksgiving!

guu izakaya.

My friend Vanessa is pretty cool and has great taste in restaurants and just about everything else so when she recently blogged about her trip to Japanese tapas restaurant Guu Izakaya, I knew I had to copy her and go. Last week, I met with another food-fanatic friend I'd met in a faraway land this summer (and who just happened to be from Toronto!) who'd also been to Guu and gave it the thumbs-up. I was excited.

tuna mango avocado burritos.

Lately, I've been on a burrito kick. I know, right? Awesome for me, not so awesome for my pants. But hey, I'm enjoying it for the time being. Plus this little ditty that I whip up on the regular isn't too offending (or so I tell myself).

I'm the kind of person who discovers a great meal and proceeds to eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner for the next three weeks until I get sick of it and move onto the next passionate food fling. The initial invention of this wrap was no different, until something strange happened: I never... got... sick of it. Seriously, this burrito came into existence (albeit slightly less developed than how it stands today) over three years ago and it's still something I eat on a weekly basis. I've converted family members and friends. And I'm about to convert you!

ozen.

My boyfriend recently moved to London, Ontario to start law school and one of the few things making me feel better about him being in a different city is the thought of all the new restaurants to discover. After doing some review-combing on (you guessed it!) good sushi restaurants, we discovered O"zen, an adorable little japanese-korean fusion restaurant on the main downtown strip last week.

The restaurant itself is cozy (read: packed every time we passed it) with cool decor and the menu had an impressive assortment of standard and specialty rolls, appies and korean dishes.

We weren't starving when we visited, so we each grabbed an avocado salad ($3.95) with "signature O"zen dressing" - a great sweet and tangy japanese-style vinaigrette - and a couple rolls. My spicy tuna with avocado ($5.50) - while sadly unphotographed - came with an amazing spicy mayo (yes, I always order extra on the side) that had a similar spicy-sweet essence to the salad dressing. As a proud spicy-mayo connoisseur, I have to say it was one of the best I've had (HUGE deal). 

Glav had the black dragon roll ($13), which was barbecue eel and avocado on top of a dynamite roll (not an eel fan, didn't even try it) and I ordered the rocket roll ($12, pictured above), a masterpiece of spicy salmon, cream cheese, avocado and tempura bits topped with torched salmon, sweet onion and drizzled in spicy sauce. While I'm not usually big on salmon sashimi, everything here worked perfectly and again, the sauce brought it all together in the most divine way (need to find out what's in that stuff!) The torched salmon on top gave it a slightly smokey hint and the sweet onions were sliced thinly enough to impart just a touch of their flavour. Mmm.

In summary, we may have hit the jackpot for our favourite London sushi spot on first try. In fact, I'm visiting this weekend to experience the debauchery that is Western Homecoming, and if I'm presentable enough at any point in the weekend to be eating at a restaurant, I just might hit up O"zen for round two - no promises though. 

O"zen

607 Richmond Street

London, Ontario

(519) 642-2558

www.ozenlondon.com

big fat burrito.

Sunday was a beautiful day, and by noon my best friend/housemate and I found ourselves wandering the ever-bumpin-on-weekends Kensington market. While the street performers and jewellery stalls were tempting, Big Fat Burrito was more so as we hadn't had time for breakfast before leaping out the door into the sunlight. Drawing consistent crowds since its 2005 opening, Big Fat Burrito is famous among Kensingtonians for dishing up big, fat, cheap and fresh burritos to the masses from their corner shack on Augusta. As a major 'rrito fan, it was shocking that in my years in the city I'd never been.

I immediately loved the price, and the fact that all the toppings on the right were included (hate places that try to charge you extra for the good stuff, like guac or sour cream - like it would be an option to have a burrito without guac or sour cream!) I chose the yam burrito, topped it up with everything and asked for both the burrito sauce -a garlicky mayo- and sour cream (too much sauce? I think not.)

 Gabbs' yam burrito was decidedly drier (read: she has more restraint) and prettier than mine, which was a downright sauce-y mess...

...But we do know that sometimes the messiest meals are the most delicious. The sweet yams contrasted wonderfully with the garlic mayo -much like a sauce you'd dip yam fries in- the rest of the veggies were fresh and crunchy and the size and poundage did not disappoint. When I go again, I'll up the spice factor, as I chose medium but could have definitely handled spicier. Nonetheless, I left the joint perfectly full and with a lot less spare change in my purse (yes, I was actually able to pay with spare change floating around in the bottom of my bag - the joy!) Next time you're in Kensington, grab a burrito at this place, if you haven't beat me to it - which you likely have.

strawberries, brown sugar, sour cream.

If you're lucky enough to still have a few local strawberries kicking around (which we do in Ontario!) then make this before it's too late.

Strawberries, sour cream and brown sugar. The most effortless of dessert efforts (or snack or breakfast efforts... it's your life!) Something my nana used to make for my mom when she was a little girl. Three ingredients. Four simple steps.

1) Dip.

2) Roll.

3) Eat.

4) Repeat!

PS. Not sure about the sour cream thing? Don't substitute it with whipped cream or anything sweet. The brown sugar offsets the tanginess of the sour cream in the most wonderful way when combined with the juicy berry (and would be too sweet with anything less tart.) Trust!