What I’ve been eating lately

I cope with stress with food. The more stress, the more food, and not necessarily the healthiest of food either (does anyone ever binge eat salad? If so, please let me know). Judging by the photos on my phone in the past little while, it's been a stressful month. But also a delicious one.

I keep saying this lately, I know I'll have to rein it in soon. If not for vanity (my clothes are tiiiiight), for my health; all this wheat and dairy and sugar is not good for me. When that happens, I can look at these pictures and live vicariously through former me. Or they'll make me fall off the wagon, either way.

(This is also a bit of a recommendation on where to eat in Toronto, with the exception of one Ottawa place. I recommend all these places.)

Wvrst sausage and beer hall is still one of our go-to places:

I like the chorizo sausage with peppers and sauerkraut.

Dessert is usually ice cream, like the gelato at Hollywood Gelato (my usual is key lime pie and Skor):

Golden Turtle has been another of our go-to places since we moved to Toronto, Will and I go there for lunch at least once every few months.

I get the beef ball and throw in tons of Thai basil. No beansprouts, Sriracha on the side to dip into.

Ossington St has changed a lot since we started going to Golden Turtle, now 200% more hipster with craft breweries and new restaurants, including Bang Bang Ice Cream and Bakery (an offshoot of Bakerbots, which got a mention on Buzzfeed's 25 Bakeries Around The World You Have To See Before You Die):

I got the everything cookie with burnt toffee ice cream. It was good, but I don’t know if it was worthy of the list of 25 bakeries you should go to before you die.

This dog didn’t care though, she just wanted me to share with her:

When I travel, I always need to know where the good places to eat are. I recently travelled to Ottawa on business, where I popped into my favourite Vietnamese restaurant to have the wonton soup (which is really more Chinese):

When I got back to Toronto, I attempted to be healthier with this green juice from Greenhouse Juice Co (my go-to for fresh cold-pressed juice):

But after that, I went back to my old habits.

For lunch before going to a Blue Jays game, Will and I tried Lucky Red, a new bao shop in Chinatown.

It’s Chinatown going more hipster/trendy/upscale, which I have mixed feelings about. But the food is pretty good.

The housemade yuzu lemonade is delicious.

The decor was a little freaky.

My reaction to the baked baos was a little “meh” (the steamed baos were better), but I really liked the lo mien.

Smoked meat with ballpark mustard, which is fine but you can get a better smoked meat sandwich elsewhere.

BBQ chicken, essentially a mini burger with a few Asian elements.

Rice balls and pork belly lo mien. I really liked the lo mien, the rice balls were like Asian arancini.

Work has been a major part of my stress, so this week I needed a lunchtime pick-me-up in the form of Purdy’s salty caramel truffle ice cream with dark chocolate sauce.

Going back to Chinatown, I tried the traditional banh mi sandwiches from Nguyen Huong (owned by the parents of the three brothers who opened Banh Mi Boys and Lucky Red). More traditional, cheap, and delicious.

On the other end of the city, I go to Moo Milk Bar for cookies and milk and ice cream sandwiches.

Cookies and Cream cookie with vanilla ice cream. I only had a half sandwich (one cookie), because I’m not that disgusting.

I also like going out to Moo Milk Bar because I can hang out on Lake Ontario for a bit.

Finally, Will and I had our 15th anniversary lunch yesterday at Playa Cabana. We have high standards for Mexican after eating at Rick Bayless’s restaurants in Chicago; happy to report that this place (while expensive) did come close (but just not quite).

Ancho-braised short rib brisket crispy tacos.

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Well, this was an embarrassment of riches this month and I definitely need to cut back. (After Will’s birthday dinner where we’ll probably end up going for pizza again.) When I do my monthly wrap-up at the end of August, I hope to not have this many food photos and to be back on the right track.