Taking food recycling to a whole new level

Figured this was a pretty neat piece of news to share with our readers.  Adam Smith is a trained UK chef who has come up with an interesting restaurant known as “The Real Junk Food Project”. He cooks up nutritious meals using volunteers and all food that is deemed “un-sellable” by supermarkets and restaurants. This …

A journey around Toronto’s pastry world (2)

So here we go again, more pastry talk from our epic journey around Toronto. Last post I talked about Frangipane Patisserie, Nadege, Patachou and La Bamboche. This post will bring us to the east side of Yonge and all the delicious treats that can be found around that side of town. Rahier Patisserie (Bayview and …

A journey around Toronto’s pastry world (1)

So it’s Saturday afternoon, the sky is grey and depressing, our stomachs are growling so what are we to do?!?! Well, most people would make lunch, but here at Notes On a Meal, we don’t find that to be enough so we embark on a French pastry shop journey. Equipped with a sneaky camera (well, …

O’noir Restaurant, Toronto

Hello all! After a slight delay we have returned with yet another Toronto restaurant review. This one is courtesy of one of our lovely contributors, Mr. Pyjama Chef. Enjoy… “Have you ever imagined losing one of your senses? Just consider spending 2 hours in a room where you can only hear, smell, touch, and taste …

Cakes at Ma Maison, Toronto

So with summer being here and wedding season beginning, I figured that posting a few pictures of the amazing custom creations of the Ma Maison pastry team won’t hurt anyone… Enjoy

The Grizzly Project, Barcelona

This is a very interesting clip on the design and making of a chocolate grizzly bear by the Barcelona Pastry Guild School for the World Chocolate Masters competition this year. Enjoy!    

Ma Maison enters a gingerbread competition

Just in time for the holidays, the Ma Maison team decided to enter a fierce but fun gingerbread competition. The rules were simple, make “something” out of gingerbread was basically all we were told. The construction had to be 2x2x2 feet and everything except the base had to be edible. Ma Maison came up with …

Macarons

Having always been fascinated about the art of making macarons, I’m proud to put up this little post as a tutorial for those wanting to try this process out. Just to clarify, I’m not talking about those fairly disappointing and overly sweet coconut confections but about the colourful and extremely flavourful french macarons. A thick …

Great beginnings…

I’ve always been passionate about food and I do feel like I’ve definitely enjoyed it more than those around me. It doesn’t only nourish me but it makes all problems better, cheers me up, calms me down, excites me, and if it was a person, it’d be my soul mate. It wasn’t until recently that …

Pickled Asparagus

Here we go with our first pickling date of the season! Asparagus is out in full force and on a pretty solid whim, we decided to stock up and rip into a pickling frenzy. Goal: 12 jars of pickled asparagus. Method: 1. Trim asparagus of woody ends.  Each stalk should be about two inches shorter …

DIY Sous Vide Challenge

Evan and I are looking to build a DIY sous vide machine.  We are sourcing the parts and are just about to ready to rock and roll. If anyone is interested in playing with us, drop us a line… Here’s what we’ve come up with so far: -in principal any body of water can be …

The $20 Challenge

Being starving students, saving some money is never a bad thing.  A couple of us came up with a neato idea.  The rules are simple. 1. Make a meal for two for $20 or less. 2. The meal must include 3 courses.  Something along the lines of an app, a main and a dessert. Or …