Recipe: Raspberry Oreo Chocolate Cheesecake

For a friend's birthday during Christmas holidays, I decided to make a cake. Her roommate is allergic to gluten, so I had to whip up something that didn't have any flour. After scrolling through Pinterest, I came across this recipe and I absolutely loved it. I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake, but the Oreo cookie base and chocolate ganache topping made it irresistible. The red raspberries also add to the colours of Christmas. I like this recipe as it doesn't require any icing or decoration, which saved me a lot of time!

An Afternoon at Butter Avenue

Butter Avenue has been on my list of dessert places for the longest time, but I never got to visiting the store as it is a bit out of the way for a downtowner like me. The main location is on Yonge street in a nice neighbourhood between Lawrence and York Mills. They also recently opened a second location downtown (yay! much closer) on Queen Street close to Spadina.  

We each ordered a different type of dessert to try and an iced coffee and latte. The coffee was good but pretty standard, and I was a tiny bit disappointed that my latte didn't have latte art. 

I didn't have any macarons at the store, but did buy some to go. My favourite flavours are lychee raspberry and dark chocolate. 

Let Down at Locus Lounge

Waking up naturally on a sunny Sunday with no particular plans in mind is the ideal condition for growing brunch dates. Even though I adore Cafe Medina to no end, my curiosity and aversion to block-long line ups on the most popular brunch day of the week led me to Locus Lounge! The place exudes a dark, gothic vibe when it comes to its decor, so I was very surprised to learn that they served brunch.

Locus Lounge has quite an extensive brunch menu, so it took us a while to finally decide what we wanted. First up was the Huevos Rancheros. I was expecting a hearty mess of ingredients thrown together but their version was surprisingly light and refreshing. I would have liked the salsa to have more kick in it but overall this dish managed to keep me on my toes without being too overbearing. 

Huevos Rancheros $13

A New Favourite: Siena Restaurant

Tucked just ever so slightly away from the hustle and bustle of Broadway and Granville sits Siena, a nice little neighbourhood gem. The space is small but inviting, with its use of wood and its handwritten chalkboard of the daily specials. Unfortunately, since we had a later reservation, many of the special items were already sold out.

Nonetheless, Siena's staple menu still had many things that caught my eye. I'm always a little iffy when it comes to pork tenderloin because often times it can end up being tough. This was certainly not the case as the pork came out to be melt-in-your-mouth good. Even though the portion did not look intimidating, I'm sure I would have been satisfyingly full if I had polished this off on my own.

Grilled Natural Pork Tenderloin $25

CraveTO: Senses Ignited

The CraveTO event was, in my opinion, a huge success. It was my first time at Wychwood barns and I love the venue. The last food event I had gone to was at Evergreen Brick Works, so I was mainly comparing this event to that.  I really liked that Wychwood barns had lots of places to seat, whether it be the grass, concrete steps or plastic tables and chairs on the sand. 

When we arrived at 7, there was a fair amount of people, but it got more crowded as the night went on.

Our first stop was to grab a drink at Dillon's. I did not know about them before this event, but the cuteness of their set up and the pastel colours immediately drew my attention.

Dillon's Distillery has 4 signature spirits, and their gin and rye were featured that night. We got to choose between Rhubarb Blossom and Honey Rye Lemonade.  They were very generous with the alcohol and almost half of my small plastic cup was rye. Although a bit strong for me, the drink tasted very good. I liked the citrusy flavour and freshness. 

Asada was at the top of my to-try list for this event. For the night, they offered 2 selections, chorizo or pulled pork, in burrito or taco form. The burritos were pre-rolled so I went for the tacos as I wanted to see the ingredients.

I was fully expecting to like the chorizo more, but pulled pork won my heart instead. Probably because of all the sauces and toppings, the chorizo's savouriness was overpowered.   The pulled pork taco on the other hand was perfect. The BBQ sauce was an ideal balance between savoury and sweet.

The staff also showed me other items on their menu in-store. She definitely succeeded in getting me to want to venture out to the store one day!