I’ve been slowly emerging from my winter hibernation, and had an excellent month of eating, both out and in, during March. I felt like I was back on my blogging game, so you’ve already read about what was going on in my kitchen. Here’s what else was happening:

• March kicked off with the Oscars, and Kristine came over for our annual tradition of good eats and yelling at Kelly Osbourne.  I was feeling the need for a tropical meal, so we had these BBQ Chicken Quesadillas with Pineapple Mango Guacamole, coconut rice and sauteed peppers, with these cookies for dessert.
• We had clients in town for work, and took them to The Chase for dinner, which Toronto Life has subsequently named their #1 new restaurant of 2013. Everything was perfect. First of all, you’re served warm focaccia brushed with TRUFFLE BUTTER to start your meal, and it comes with a little recipe card, which I found so charming. For dinner, I had the beef short rib with broccoli four ways (pureed, grilled, kimcheed [stalks] and fried [florets]). If you have a special occasion to celebrate, or need to impress someone, bring them to The Chase. You won’t regret it!
• I could not have had a better time at The Carbon Bar when I went to celebrate a co-worker’s birthday. We all shared a few of the appetizers, including crisp chicken skin (just do it, don’t question it) and a few of us shared the Pit Master Platter for dinner (pictured above). This is a feast of deliciousness that has pork ribs, beef brisket and buttermilk fried chicken, but not so much that you can’t move after, just enough to try everything and be happy. We were all also freaking out over their ‘slaw, which has corn nuts it it (amazing). Dessert was a mini banana toffee cream pie which made me miss my friend Danielle. Needless to say, I’m obsessed, and it’s really dangerous that this place is so close to my office.
• I ran away to Florida for a week and it’s STRAWBERRY SEASON down there! I ate strawberries, yogurt and granola for breakfast everyday and was a happy, happy girl.
• Had another great dinner at Swish by Han, which is a spot by my work that I’ve been to a handful of times. They’ve switched up the menu recently, and it’s not online, but we had pork sliders, tempura shrimp tacos, sticky chicken wings and tofu. It’s always a good idea to go there.
• I bought the Oh She Glows cookbook, and am pretty excited to work my way through it, especially the smoothie and snack sections. Nicole and I are going to have an OSG dinner next week, so you’ll hear about that soon.

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

• My #1 hobby this month was complaining about the weather, but I’m sick of talking about it. I’m going to burn all my winter coats when Spring finally arrives.
• As mentioned above, I was in Florida for a week, and shut off my phone for the entire time. No email, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, or anything else. It was pretty liberating, and I binge read my way through these five books: The Kitchen House, Before I Go To Sleep, Last Night at the Viper Room, Eleanor & Park and Divergent. My favourite of the bunch was Eleanor & Park, recommended by Lainey and my friend Kathleen. Can’t wait to read her other books.
• Back in 2008, I had pneumonia and was home from work for a month. Kristine brought me the first three seasons of How I Met Your Mother to watch, and I loved it ever since. Just finished watching the last episode and I’m still processing my feelings. I’ll update this later.