Rope Border

This month was a little hectic what with travelling for my birthday, plus prepping for another quick trip right after, so I didn’t get around to too much cooking or baking in the free time that I did have. Here’s a quick recap of a few fun highlights from the month:

  • As I mentioned in this post, I can’t remember another year where Thanksgiving and my birthday fell in the same week. Since I was leaving for Vegas the day after Thanksgiving, my contributions were light this year, and I just made mashed potatoes, butternut squash gratin, cranberry sauce, and my birthday cake. To my complete surprise, my brother’s family also brought dessert, which was a cupcake retrospective of all the cakes I’ve made my nieces and nephew over the years. Have you ever seen something so thoughtful and creative?! I’m still in awe. Love them so much:

Cupcake Retro

  • In the most upsetting news of the month, my #1 fave restaurant from my days in the financial district has CLOSED. Nicole and I went for one last lunch at The Gabardine and it just made me so sad. Our favourite waiter gave us the scoop which is that that building was bought and kicked out all the little indie tenants (Ben McNally Books is another one) likely to make way for some Cactus Club type of chain restaurant. Since it must be properly documented, here’s our last order ever, which we shared: grilled cheese with caramelized onion jam, plus the iconic chicken club:

Last Gabardine

  • Weedy ordered a Skor cake for her mom’s birthday, so I made a chocolate cake with salted caramel frosting, a chocolate drip and a rope border on top (pictured above). This was my first attempt at a rope border and I’m so impressed with myself! In reality, it couldn’t have been easier, and I just watched a few videos on Instagram to get the technique down.
  • I visited Heather in Hamilton now that she’s settled in her new place, and we went on a little #HAMONT tour of places in her neighbourhood. We started with the Hamilton Farmer’s Market, where one vendor is selling Portuguese custard tarts that she serves warm with a dusting of cinnamon on top (amazing), and finished at Earth to Table: Bread Bar where we shared the most delicious bread plate with beet hummus, apple chutney and whipped ricotta, plus a smoking sprig of rosemary (very dramatic!).
  • To wrap up the month, my friend Sarah and I treated ourselves to dinner at Alo to celebrate our birthdays. Everything about this experience was next level, from the private elevator that takes you up to the restaurant, to the impeccable service, to our sommelier who we were obsessed with. I was a little nervous going in because Alo does a blind, 10-course tasting menu, but I was very brave and tried everything, and of course each dish was perfectly executed. The only thing I wasn’t so sure about was the sea urchin, but hey, now I’ve tried sea urchin! Alo is definitely a splurge, but the perfect place to celebrate a special occasion.

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

  • My sister-in-law and I crashed the Gilmore Girls Fan Fest up in Unionville at the beginning of the month! The tickets to the actual events were insane, so instead we just walked around Main Street hoping to see some actors from the show. Fun fact: the pilot episode of the show was shot in Unionville! Is this the real reason Debbie wanted to live there? We’ll never know!
  • I had a great reading streak going this month and loved everything: The Matchmaker’s List, The Wedding Party and American Royals (which has a fun concept: imagine George Washington was made King of America instead of being elected President, and therefore the US still had a royal family to this day! This book is YA and about the lives of the princesses and prince of America – extremely my jam).
  • I didn’t watch too much TV this month due to my travels, but the one thing I did watch was excellent. I don’t normally watch any kind of Criminal Minds or Law & Order SVU type of shows (because I value my sleep and don’t need nightmares for the rest of my life), but I did watch Unbelievable on Netflix, which Sarah recommended to me. It’s about two badass female detectives investigating a series of sexual assaults, but it was really well done, and only gave me one night terror.

Flashback!