October is my favourite month of the year! Thanksgiving, my birthday, Halloween, cool weather,  pretty leaves, delicious apples, scarves, what more could you need? This monthly recap will be pretty short because I was back on my blogging game, so you’ve already read about what I cooked and baked at home. I had a few noteworthy meals out and a couple of unblogged treats though, so here they are:

• I brought the Pumpkin Gingersnap Tart from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook to work for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit. It was super easy to pull together, although my cream cheese swirl didn’t swirl so much as clump.
• I had a pre-birthday dinner at Oddseoul with my friend Nicole, based on Carole‘s recommendation. We ate everything she told us to, and more: Avocado & Scallion slaw, Squash Poutine, Bulgogi Cheesesteak, The Loosey and Korean Wings. Killer cocktails too. Highly recommend this one!
• I went for a work lunch with my boss and another colleague at Bannock, and after eating there for a couple of years, there’s only one thing I order: the turkey burger. I finally nailed why I love it so much on this visit: it’s like a classy McChicken! Juicy ground white turkey, dill pickle mayo, and a big tempura onion ring all on a soft fluffy bun. Messy to eat, but so worth it.
• My friends from work and I went to check out Drake One Fifty, which just opened a few weeks ago, and I can’t say enough about it. It was absolutely jam packed, but everyone was so friendly from the hostesses, to our waitress to the servers. The food was outstanding as well, although we weirdly all ended up ordering the same thing: slow-roasted lamb with a spicy tzatziki and grilled eggplant. SO GOOD. I also made everyone order dessert so I could try them all, and I liked mine the best, which was mint cocoa nib ice cream with a little macaron and a marzipan swirl. Heavenly.
• I had a quick trip to Denver that did not yield any time for foodie adventures, and returned late on the 30th, so I also didn’t get to make any Halloween treats! But I ate my fair share of candy when I went to my friend Lydia’s to give out candy and hang with her little guys.

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

• I tore through The First Affair by Nicola Kraus and Emma  McLaughlin and LOVED it. Great beach read if you have a trip somewhere warm coming up!
• Also read most of Where’d You Go Bernadette on the plane and have to highly recommend this one too. A little quirky, very funny, and super addictive.
• I’m becoming mildly obsessed with the new talk show The Social, which I would say is a Canadian version of The View, but skewing toward a younger Gen X and Millennial audience (i.e. no Barbara Walters).  It re-runs at 7pm when I get home from work and I’ll put it on when I’m prepping dinner or just need to chill a bit before going to the gym. There’s a great feature on the show website “What We Wore” where you can see where the girls’ outfits are from. Love that!