Photo Diary: November 2014

The most applicable mug I've seen at Chapters!

Stella is always there for me when I need to de-stress (I sound like an alcoholic...)

<3_<3

:)

MDD's Global Junior Training dinner at the CN Tower!

View of Toronto from the CN Tower!

My essentials when I go anywhere

Steak et frites (and hockey)

Not pictured: me wearing a Leafs shirt (who am I)

Swiss Chalet craving satisfied!!

Such a festive spread! We are so holiday ready!

I got Taylor Swift FLOOR tickets!!!!! Countdown starts now for her concert in October 2015.

MDD's Annual SFL event at Real Sports!

Christmas cookies, omnomnom

I finally got new glasses 8)

& last but not least...

The past year has been a whirlwind in terms of progressing in my career. I worked/studied my bum off and it finally paid off :) I PASSED!!! Thank you to everyone who has supported me along the way and believed in me when I didn't have enough confidence in myself. AHH - it still feels surreal. I can't believe I'm done!

November has been one of the busiest months this fall, in terms of work. Hence, the lack of adventures around town! However, I still had a lot of fun and cannot believe this year is almost over. 1 more month left - must finish it off strong!

Mildred's Temple Kitchen

The two words Sunday and Brunch go together like Sunday Brunch.

Aka perfectly.

After hearing raving reviews of Mildred's Temple Kitchen, I decided to finally venture out to Liberty Village to see what the fuss was about.

Arriving at 1:40pm, I was hoping that the wait would be minimal as brunch ends at 3pm on Sundays.

Unfortunately, we still had to wait for 45 minutes. However, as there were many places to explore in the area, the wait did not seem too dreadful.

Walking in, the design of Mildred's was really cute but all I could smell was caramelized onions and coffee. An odd combination, but enough to make my mouth water.

We sat down in one of their side booths, and quickly decided what we wanted to order.

I ordered Veda's Choice.

Mildred's classic poached eggs on a flakey croissant with smoked salmon (or you can get rosemary bacon), topped with Béarnaise sauce and served with mixed greens

J ordered the Big Brunch Skillet.

Pulled pork, roasted onions, black beans, and potato hash with sunny eggs and piri piri salsa

And of course, we could not come to Mildred's without getting Mrs. Biederhof's Legendary Light & Fluffy Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes!

Look at that brunch spread!

I have to say... I am very glad that I finally tried Mildred's. Everything was absolutely delicious. My concoction was just amazing. My favorite part was poking the poached eggs and watching it spill out.

 The smoked salmon was really fresh and the croissant was indeed flakey and baked perfection.

J's skillet was just the perfect combination of those ingredients and super filling. She could only finish half of it!! I had a taste of the pulled pork and the seasoning was (y).

As for the pancakes, I have nothing bad to say about it except we did not get enough blueberry sauce! It was very fluffy, but not at all light. We were SO full after. Our stomachs were very happy, to say the least.

Thanks for a great (late) start to my day! I can't wait for my next brunch adventure.

Origin Restaurant

Looking for a new place to try near Union Station, I decided to finally check out one of Claudio Aprile's restaurants, Origin.

Unfortunately, we went for dinner so it was really dark inside. With the window walls at the front of the restaurant, I would believe that Origin would look beautiful during the day (for brunch?!).

As we did not make reservations, we were seated at this lovely large table (which we shared with another party).

Their one-page menu was full of many interesting dishes. It seemed like they had a dish for each cuisine possible! So we decided to order a couple appetizers to share, along with our main meal.

 Bufala mozzarella + pear + rosemary oil + pinenuts + honey

 Tostones + guacamole

Crispy calamari + caramelized peanut sauce + pineapple + shredded vegetables

Chicken tostada + poblano mojo + black beans + queso fresco + cilantro

Origin beef burger + avocado + smoked mayo + arugula

Spicy Spanish fries + chorizo + manchego

Overall, we really loved our time here. My favorite dishes were definitely the two appetizers we ordered to share, and my spanish fries!! I had ordered the burger because I was craving avocado (lol I know, who does that) but I didn't taste any so that was sad. The one dish I would 100% recommend would be the tostones and guac. The tostones were nice and warm and just absolutely delicious with the guac. AH just thinking about it makes me crave it.

Can't wait to have a chance to go check out Origin North!

Coffee in Christmas Cups

It's that time of year for the favorite holiday cups!

Yes, I am aware that almost every girl will post a photo of the Christmas Starbucks cups.

Whatever, go ahead, judge me. Because for some reason, this instantly brightened up my day! I'm not sure if it was the coffee or if it was the cup. I really think it was a combination of both.

51 more days! :)

First Snow

Today marks the 1st of November (can you believe it?!?)

And also the first snowfall of the winter (like, what?!)

It was a nice surprise this morning when I sleepily opened my blinds and saw fluffy white cotton balls falling from the sky.

I love snow! But only when I'm inside in my pjs drinking hot coffee. :)

Hence my morning looked like this:

(I'd like to think my mug choice was very appropriate for this post :p)

But then life happened, and I had to head to work.

Happy November!