"Weekend" Trip Day Four

Today I headed home early in the morning and back to work. But here is a look at an awesome dessert I enjoyed yesterday! I was at this adorable little ice cream cafe that offered a wide variety of rich, sweet, ice creamy desserts such as sundaes, waffles, crepes, cakes, beverages, and more. A lot of them had cute names too, such as Tropic like it's hot, Beaches and cream, Choc this way, Cocoa ono, and more.

I ordered this sundae called Summetime Fatness, featuring brownies, cocoa chanel ice cream, french dark chocolate sauce, belgian white chocolate sauce, chocolate pieces, whipped cream, and waffle. It. Was. So. Darn. Delicious. Suuuppper rich though!

"Weekend" Trip Day Three

Today I experienced Korean Barbeque for the first time. Korean Barbeque restaurants allow you to grill your own meat, fish, chicken, and vegetables on a gas or charcoal grill usually built into the table itself. I had some steak, pork, short ribs, chicken, red pepper, and zucchini along with some side dishes of rice, fried tofu, and kimchi. 

It's a fun concept if you don't mind working for your food and doing most of the cooking yourself. You can grill foods and chat and eat a little at a time. And you can cook your food exactly how you like it; no complaints!

"Weekend" Trip Day Two Point Five

In the evening of day two, I had a really, really cool dining experience. I went to a restaurant where the dining room is completely pitch black. It's a really neat concept - eliminating your sense of sight heightens your other four senses. Therefore you taste and experience your food a lot better and enjoy it solely based on flavor rather than eating with your eyes first. You can order two or three courses. The appetizer is a choice of surprise meat, fish, or vegetarian. For the entrees you can choose specific dishes such as a filet mignon, or pasta, or fish with sides, but you may also choose a surprise main or a surprise vegetarian main. And for dessert there is chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, fruit sorbet, or a surprise dessert. The restaurant also features a large selection of beers, wines, and spirits. 

You begin the evening in the lit bar, where you look at the menu and place your order. Next you are led by your server into the dining room. All of the servers are visually impaired, which I think is a great concept both because they are the best people to do the job and it gives them a great employment opportunity. You literally have to place your hand on your server's shoulder and allow them to guide you through the double doors and to your table. The tables are small and you have to keep track of where you set your water glass and utensils and napkin without being able to see them. Your server instructs you on where to place empty dishes when you are finished and always passes you food and drinks straight into your hands. Communication becomes even more important, with a lot of chatter throughout the dining room coming from people you can't even see. It is a little unnerving at first, not being able to see anything and having to rely on other people and other sense. You think your eyes will eventually adjust but they never do as the restaurant, which is in an old subway station, is completely dark. 

I had a surprise vegetarian starter, which to my taste buds turned out to be a salad with warm mushrooms and parmesan cheese. I also had a surprise cocktail, which didn't have a strong alcoholic taste but had a very pleasant fresh ginger flavor. My surprise vegetarian main seemed to be ratatouille with rice and cheese. And I am almost certain my surprise dessert was a piece of blueberry cheesecake. The most difficult part of the entire experience, I found, was knowing when you finished your plate or not. You had to use your hands a bit. It's probably kind of messy but luckily, no one can see you! I'd hate to see the tables afterwards but it would probably be fun to watch a video of me making a fool of myself.

It's fun going with a dining companion(s) as well, as it's a great chance to communicate without relying on body language and a fun, romantic experience to share. Just don't plan to share dishes because it is hard enough to find your own mouth let alone someone else's. I would definitely come back here again - your experience would be different every time!

"Weekend" Trip Day Two

Day Two was the really exciting food day in the city. The first part of it was spent at a large national exhibition. The ex takes place every year and features games, rides, cultural exhibitions, shopping, but most importantly, the large food building carrying a wide variety of interesting and unique vendors. 

At the ex, you will find lots of deep-fried and sugary foods, as well as ethnic foods and strange combinations of food. I saw things like cricket tacos, deep fried cookie dough, raclette, Jamacain fried chicken, Dutch stroop waffles, cake poutine, sugar mountain, liquid nitrogen sorbets, pizza cones, spaghtti doughnuts, sushi burritos, fudge, deep-fried chocolate peanut butter cups, octopus balls, mac and cheese, cheesecake on a stick, cookie sandwiches, giant smoked turkey legs, chocolate truffles, gnocchi, grilled cheese sandwiches, poutine, and so so much more!

I personally tried some Dutch stroop waffles, chili fries, cricket peanut brittle, octopus balls, raclette, deep fried cookie dough, chocolate fudge, smoked turkey, beer jelly, liquid nitrogen ice cream, and a cookie sandwich and possible more I have forgotten about. 

Deep fried cookie dough and peanut butter cups

Dutch fries and stroopwaffles

Chili fries (left) and octopus balls

Fudge

Mac and Cheese 

Cakes and desserts

Doughnuts

Raclette

Liquid nitrogen sorbets

Fudge

Chocolate truffles

Giant smoked turkey leg

"Weekend" Trip Day One

A "weekend" in the food industry does not necessarily consist of Saturday and Sunday when in reference to time off. In fact, a weekend rarely falls on the busy days of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Rather a weekend is whenever you have two to three consecutive days off. Often you don't even get weekends, just two separated days off or not enough days off at all! For me, this past Sunday, Monday, Tuesday served as a weekend and were the first days off (aside from one random day off) in almost three weeks. Therefore, I treated myself to a mini weekend getaway. Here are some highlights from my trip.

On Sunday morning, after working until closing the night before, I woke up super early to travel to the airport and catch my flight out. I landed fairly early in the day, leaving the entire day for me to explore. The only food related event of the day (aside from eating tacos for dinner) was going out to lunch!

I went to a Sushi place for lunch where I had my first experience of ordering from an electronic tablet at the table instead of from a server. This was super convenient at a place like this, as it is basically an all-you-can-eat buffet but instead of a buffet line, the food comes from the kitchen quickly in small dishes. You choose options from a variety of sushi rolls, meat dishes, fried items, dumplings, vegetables, and more. 

I had some sweet potato sushi, radish sushi, deep-fried tofu, pork dumpling, edamame, sesame chicken, deep-fried chicken, avocado rice pizza, and a few others. I'll admit I really struggles to use chopsticks for all this though. 

And for dessert a selection of ice creams: red bean, green tea, mango, chocolate, and vanilla.

Field Trip To A Farm

Today our work took a little field trip, since the restaurant was closed today. We were invited to visit one of our producers, who provides us mainly with fresh, local chickens, but their farm also features pigs, turkeys, mushrooms, and a variety of produce including cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, strawberries, haskap berries, seabuckthorn, raspberries, chokecherries, and more. It was fun to see where some of our food comes from and to meet the people behind the operation. 

Culinary Exchange - Day Thirteen

In concluding my trip, here is a collection of all the food photos from may delicious meals I enjoyed!