This piece is a true OBG. Oldie But Goodie. Completed for an expressive typography class at OCAD, the goal of the assignment was to use found type in order to express the word of choice. Of course, I chose the word deLiSh, and spent hours rummaging my organic green bin for food scraps. Quite the shmellie affair.

Bigups to Paul Sych, my expressive typography instructor. His SH.T is S.CK!!!!!!!!!!!! I also heart the work of Marian Bantjes and Stefan Sagmeister. Both graphic designers take the fine art of found type to some next level sh.t!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Poutini's House of Poutine — Toronto, ON

Ate at Poutini's House of Poutine with some homies the other day. Ordered the Teeny Weeny Tiny Poutini, $5.62 flat! Loved that vegetarian gravy was even an option. It tasted exactly like a traditional meat-based gravy, though massively sodium-y. I know, I know... gravy is supposed to be salty. Needless to say, I drank so much water during the meal that I could feel it jiggling within me afterward. Hate that feeling. PS. Jiggly Room.

My favourite thing about poutines is the fries that jut out of the bowl. Y'know, the ones that are 1/2 crispy, and 1/2 submerged in gravy? Well, this poutine barely had any "jutter-outers." I was unable to enjoy that beautiful contrast of crispy & mushy fries all in the same bite. Don't get me wrong, the cheese curds in this poutine were squeaky as hell, but I would've loved them even more if they were a tad more tender to the bite, more "mellow," if you will. PPS. Why the Copperplate Gothic typeface, Poutini's? WHY?!?!!!!

Lumpia: The Mac Diddy of All Comfort Foods

You say spring rolls, I say lumpia. Poh-tay-toe, poh-tah-toe. In Filipino, lumpia translates as "spring roll." Mom's version of Lumpiang Prito, "fried spring roll," is the BOMB DIGGITY DAWG! Filipinos love dipping these fried little crunchy suckers into vinegar and eating them with white rice. I usually ditch the rice and gobble-mangia on these lumpia fresh from frying pan, still standing up in front of the stove. cRuNcHhhhhhHH cRRUUNNCH CRuNNNCH crunch.crun.cru.cr.c. WATCH OUT, T.O. STREET FOOD SCENE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

            Mom's Lumpiang Prito

• Moms prepares the lumpia filling by choppin' up small pieces of green beans
  and sliverin' up small pieces of carrots. Add bean sprouts if you like.
• Moms sautees the green beans and carrots with small, whole shrimps. 
• When the veggies and shrimps are cooked, she spoons this lumpia filling
  onto thin sheets of rice paper, around 3-4 tbsps per sheet. These spring roll rice
  paper sheets can be bought at Chinese grocery stores like T & T Supermarket.
• FUN PART = Fold each rice paper like a present, tucking the edges in first.
  Each lumpia roll should now resemble a phat, yummy, irregular cigar.
• Moms pours a generous amount of canola oil in her frying pan. With the stove
  on medium heat, she carefully places no more than 4 lumpias into the pan.
  SSSSSSSSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIZZZZZZZZZLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEE
• Fry, oh glorious lumpia, fry. Turn each lumpia over and over again until evenly
  browned on all sides. Want 'em crispier? Fry 'em for longer. Then enjoy enjoy :)

Best Vegetarian Restaurants/Eateries: Toronto 2010

View Best Vegetarian Restaurants in Toronto in a larger map

It is unfortunate that some of the best vegetarian restos in T.O don't even have websites. Curious foodies must refer to resto review articles or Chowhound or Yelp or whatever in search of potential menu items they may want to try. Furthermore, of the vegetarian restos that do have websites, these websites simply DO NOT reflect the quality of food that is delivered!!! The wonderful flavours, complex textures and culinary creativity of the food served at these restos is poorly reflected in the design of their websites.

kitchen-sink lunch

Healthy, delish food to-go. A foreign concept in the GTA. Y oh Y must supermarkets here underwhelm me so? Whole Foods does a decent job of offering us healthy food choices on-the-go with their hot & cold tables. But lo and behold, finally, a Canadian company has made the attempt. GOOOOOO newest Longo's location @ Bathurst & Rutherford!!!

In a starvin' fury, I grab a take-out container in the cold salad bar section of Longo's and scoop up wheatberry salad with cranberries & pumpkin seeds, creamy, lime-green avocado slices, hunks & chunks of hard, spicy tofu, and juicy, pillow-y pieces of button mushrooms. Soon as I get home, I hastily hard-boil 1 egg (10 minutes max), squash it into irregular pieces with a fork, throw it into the take-out container, and voila! Kitchen-sink lunch is good to go.

—Sam Grawe, Editor-in-Chief @ Dwell 

Bymark Toronto — The $34.95 Bymark Burger

So the folks at Richmond Hill Post ordered the so-called "Best Burger in Toronto," the infamous Bymark Burger, to get tested in a chemistry lab. Health Canada suggests the average, healthy adult should consume 2,000 calories daily, more or less. AND THIS &*%$# CONTAINS A WHOPPING 853 CALORIES ALONE!!!! Shiet son. BeeTeeW: Cost of burger = $34.95. Holla at pg. 42 of this link to see how many calories are in your beloved Veal Sandwich from Cali Sandwiches. Bahahahaha. Muahahahaha. Gahahahaha.

Chocolate Research Facility — Singapore, Malaysia

Lychee Martini... Green Apple with Dried Pear? Darjeeling Tea???! Red Bean Milk??!??!! These are only 4 out of 100 different chocolate bar flavours at the Chocolate Research Facility in Singapore. Designed by Asylum, the entire identity (branding, interior design, website) is conceptually strong. In a space where phat drips of chocolate ooze from the ceilings, one is whisked away to a land of wonkyness and scrumdiddlyumptiousness.

This oozing chocolate theme is continued on the Chocolate Research Facility's website. Hilariously, on the homepage the user is forced to click on the link of their choosing quickly, before the milk and dark chocolate dripping from the top of the page eerily consumes them. I say nevermind the refresh button, 'low yourself to get smothered in the smooth, buttery, ooey and gooey goodness, just like Augustus Gloop!!!!!

Petite Thuet Toronto — Caramel Apple Macaron

Behold the caramel apple macaron from Petite Thuet. This macaron's crust cracked in an egg-shelley-like pattern upon first bite. It had a moist, chewy interior... apple-y (Golden Delicious-y?) flava flave. 88 times better than Moroco Chocolat's salted caramel macaron, which was awfully lacking in salt to counter the macaron's overpowering sweetness. The mission at hand here is to consume the best macaron in T.O. If you have, holla!

egg-less banana chocolate chip muffins

Ingredients: whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, bananas, plain yogurt, chocolate chips, butter, brown sugar, ground flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda.

Love using plain yogurt in my baked goods, it adds so much moisture... for a fraction of the calories sour cream would add! For all you vegans out there who don't already know, bananas and/or ground flaxseed mixed with water are both sexcellent alternatives to eggs. Substitute 1 ripe, mashed banana for 1 egg. Substitute 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp. cold water for 1 egg. E-mail me if you would like this recipe.

Swirls Cupcakes Toronto — Red Velvet & Raspberry Vanilla

---------------------------------->>>WITH THE ESS ON MY CHEST!!! $8.00 for 12 cupcakes @ Swirls Cupcakes, haha to the unfortunate suckers who missed out on the WagJag deal.

Red Velvet Cupcake (crm chz icing)
       —yup! hint of cocoa
       —rich, dense-ish cake-y texture
       —lite, crm chzzy icing; simply luscious!

Raspburry Vanilla Cupcake (raspburry buttercrm icing)
       —kinda-too-sweet-for-me vanilla cake
       —cake could have been lighter & fluffier & airier
       —raspburry icing saves the day

jam or jelly?

Originally, this piece was only in black & white, and it was an expressive typography project I completed at OCAD. The goal of the assignment was to choose a word or short phrase and express it typographically using only black & white. Recently, I've been experimenting with this ol' skool project by adding colour, and this is merely the newest version I have come up with. But somehow it just doesn't satiate me... has me yearning to smear tbsps & tbsps of REAL peanut butter & jelly onto it. Crunchy or creamy peanut butter??? Jam or jelly???

Winterlicious 2010 — Auberge du Pommier [lunch]

Sea Bream w/ Heirloom Beans, Golden Nugget Squash & Cardamom Cream

Overall, I quite enjoyed Winterlicious lunch at Auberge du Pommier. In this entrée, the cardamom cream was sittin' pretty lookin' all foamy n shiz, but dare I say I could barely taste cardamom?? Shoulda ordered the Quiche with duck confit. Quackity quack. Still, mmm = crispy-skinned fishiness. The entrée's firm heirloom beans were simply BOMB when consumed in the same bite with smooth, silky squashiness.