Two secret ingredients

Yesterday I went to the Dufferin Grove Farmer's Market and got carrots and beets. Today they impromptu turned into a soup. To liven up the broth, which was otherwise the salted water from simmering the vegetables, I fried minced carrot greens stems and parsley in olive oil with garlic. I also added two secret ingredients: sweet smoked paprika and aged dried orange peel that I previously wrote about.

Butterscotch Peanut Butter Marshmallow

Let me start by saying that these are all gone.

There is so much sugar in these that the Redpath factory went into backorder. 

I'm finding it hard to explain my love for these without expletives.

Just look at the pictures. And keep three things in mind:

1. Butterscotch chips 
2. Peanut Butter 
3. Marshmallows

RIP Rob Ford

Now here's a halloween decoration that made me laugh and turn my bike around to take a quick snap of! 

Curb Alert Toronto #1

I've wanted to do Curb Alerts for a while now, and this is my first one! My Curb Alerts are of interesting pieces that I see lining the streets of Toronto, which are up for grabs. I post the location and a picture within a couple hours of sighting, and it's first come first serve!

Here we have a small table or nightstand, about 24" x 8" and 24" tall. Made of real wood, it has some water damage but would be wonderfully restored with a quick sanding and application of stain and tung oil. It's located at 149 Euclid Ave. Good luck!

Drink Development at R2

Last monday saw a few of the R² baristas brainstorming and shopping for the ingredients of possible specialty drinks. I photographed some of the process. 

Ingredients: result of shopping

We ended up developing two drinks, the orange mocha, and the chocolate chili latte. The orange mocha is currently being served at R², and comes with the lovely garnish of a chocolate-coated sliver of candied orange peel from Delight on Queen West.  

Chocolate-coated candied orange peel slivers

Ingredients of the orange mocha

Me on the phone

Chris, an esteemed regular

Evan, making a free-pour swan

Evan, pleased about something, possibly my photo of his latte art

We will be serving the chocolate chili latte later this fall. 

Chocolate chili latte ingredients