Photo Roundup

Besides it being another crazy week, I was also without my USB cord for a couple of days. SO, it's time for another roundup post.

The beef stir fry I ate for Saturday's dinner was prepared almost exactly like the chicken one I did earlier in the week. The differences were that I used bok choy instead of the chinese lettuce, and added sambal oelek and lime juice to the marinade. I also served this stir fry with chow mein noodles.

On Sunday, I went to the opening for Georgette's first photo exhibit at Side Space. The photos are mainly of bicycle bells, highlighting the many ways Toronto cyclists express their personalities through cycling accoutrement. For snacks, there were these adorable bicycle cookies in gingerbread and shortbread. Yummy AND cute.

Last night was book club at Claudia's. We downtown girls ventured into the wilds of North York to eat, drink, and discuss Lawrence Hill's wonderful and engrossing novel, The Book of Negroes. Besides laying out olives, cheeses, crackers, salad, nuts and cookies, Claudia made some very delicious chicken quesadillas. Full of tender chicken and gooey cheese, they were the perfect antidote the hostile suburban winds.

For lunch today, I thought I'd soothe my broken heart by returning to Mabel's. They hurt me the day before by letting me know they weren't going to be doing their bread pudding, which I'd heard about from friends who raved about it, in the warmer months. But while I was there, crying inside, I did take note that they had a beautiful selection of savoury items as well.

Going with the chicken pot pie first was probably for the best. It's full of organic chicken, celery, corn, peas and carrots. The topping is a house made herbed buttermilk biscuit. I could have eaten these by themselves. They had a lovely delicate flavour and were incredibly fluffy. On the downside, the sauce, though creamy, was a bit bland, and the carrots undercooked.

Then I ate the cookie. My god, what a cookie! Now, I'd been warned beforehand that I just shouldn't eat it, because, in Lisa's words, it was like heroin, and I'd find myself visiting Mabel's every day to get a fix. I don't know about that - it was incredibly rich - but I could see once a week...

The cookie itself was crumbly on the edges and uber rich towards the centre. It had a subtle peanut butter flavour, not too sweet, with vanilla notes at the end. The filling was incredible - about ¼" of an intensely peanut buttery and fluffy butter cream. And I'm not calling it a butter cream lightly. Together with the more subtle flavours of the cookies it was sandwiched between, it created nothing less than cookie magic.