PB Explosion

I’m conditioned to think that May 1 is the beginning of summer because of the way my university terms were structured, and I definitely felt a lightness in my spirit this month after a depressing spring. This month was centred around my trip to New Orleans, but there were a couple foodie outings back here worth mentioning:

  • My nephew had his Confirmation this month and I made him a monster Peanut Butter Explosion cake (pictured above). It was basically this cake (minus the caramel & peanut filling), with three layers of chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting, and a chocolate drip with Reeses décor. He loved it!
  • My friend Heather and I met up at Indie Alehouse in the Junction on a nice sunny day, somewhere I have never ventured, but now have the best reason to go back. I am obsessed with this place and all the food we tried. First of all, a bucket of popcorn with bacon, grano padano and chili. Next up we split an amazing mac and cheese with mushrooms, goat cheese and truffle oil which was obviously amazing. Finally, a life-changing pizza with caramelized onions, roasted squash, balsamic glaze and BLUEBERRY RICOTTA! What?!  Homemade ricotta has been on my kitchen to-do list for ages; need to get on that, plus this variation.
  • My niece had a Patisserie themed baking birthday party at the end of the month, and I made her Funfetti Mega Cake inspired by How to Cake It! It was three layers of vanilla cake, two layers of rice krispie treats, pink ombre icing on the inside, and topped with more rice krispie squares and sparkely marshmallows. I might write up a separate blog post on this cake, we’ll see.
  • For Book Club this month, we pivoted away from pizza and went to Baro. This is the newer space from our old friend Steve Gonzalez (from Top Chef Canada) (he had to move out of his old location, Valdez, across the street). The snack menu on the second floor has a lot of the same items from Valdez and we had guac and chips, yuca fries, empanadas, and the star of the show: Chori Papa. This is a warm blend of chorizo, potato, peppers and goat cheese that you scoop into flour tortillas. I miss the rooftop patio at Valdez, but this fills the gap nicely!

Other non-foodie things I was obsessed with this month:

  • It was a great reading month for me, and I recommend all three books that I read! My favourite author Curtis Sittenfeld has a new collection of short stories out called You Think It, I’ll Say It. I’m not a huge fan of short stories in general because I like to get engrossed in a novel, but of course Curtis’ are amazing. Each story could have easily been a full book. Next up I read Emergency Contact which was a very cute YA romance which I would recommend for a light summer read. Finally, I read The Favourite Sister by Jessica Knoll. I have to say that just like her first book (Luckiest Girl Alive) I was very frustrated and confused for the first quarter because I couldn’t figure out who was who and what was going on. You just have to keep going and power through.
  • The Americans finished up this month and I thought the series finale was so satisfying (won’t spoil it here). I also finished Atlanta Robbin’ Season plus watched a lot of random teen movies on Netflix (The Kissing Booth! Candy Jar!).

Flashback!