Photo Diary: December 2014

Just a couple Christmas themed photos for my December photo diary. This month consisted of parties, food, alcohol, and great company. What more could I have wanted to end off yet another amazing year? 

And thanks to everyone here who has continued to read my blog for another year! xo

Grazie Ristorante

On random days, I have sporadic cravings for pasta.
And the day that I went to Grazie's was one of those random days.

Located at Yonge and Eglinton is a cute Italian restaurant called Grazie Ristorante. I have always heard about this restaurant but never had the chance to venture over since I am rarely in this area. So I was excited to try it!

Walking in, I expected it to be really loud and busy (not sure why I thought that) but it wasn't. It was calm and quiet, and it was actually a lot bigger inside than I had expected from looking outside. The interior made me feel like it was decorated very 'home-y' like and I think it suited the restaurant!

To start, we ordered Cozze Portofino, which are fresh mussels steamed in either light tomato sauce or white wine sauce. We chose the white wine.

Bruschetta, an all-time crowd pleaser. Toasted bread with fresh tomato, garlic and fine herbs was something you couldn't say no to!

I ordered the Nico pasta, which was pappardelle with sautéed veal strips, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms in a veal jus, with a touch of cream.

For dessert, I opted for the classic Tiramisu.

And a latte. :)

Overall, it was a good meal. It satisfied my pasta craving, as my dish was really delicious. I really enjoyed the veal, and the sauce for my pasta went well with the veal. I felt like there were too many sundried tomatoes though. I left a large pile of them when I was finished.

As for the appetizers, they were also worth ordering. However, the tiramisu was sort of a let down. I did not really enjoy it - I like my tiramisu with more of the ladyfinger/coffee substance and less of the cream. This one was about 85% cream :(

Other than that though, there were way too many different pasta and pizza options on the menu that I would have liked to try, so I hope I will be back soon!

Thankful this Holiday Season

On Christmas Eve, my friends and I decided to put together some care packages for the homeless people around downtown. I always walk by them on my way to work and especially during the winter, I really wished I could help them.

Sorry, side note but HOW cute is this little penguin bag? (The answer is so cute.)

Anyways, so we put together some winter essentials and other things that we thought they would enjoy. We also got some dog treats for the ones who also had dogs to take care of.

Here we are, ready to spread some holiday cheer! It was such a heartwarming experience. I can feel this becoming a tradition :)

We ended the night off with some wine :)

On Christmas morning, the first thing I did was put on a face and went to Christmas service at my local church. In the midst of everything going on during this time of year, it's easy to forget the real meaning of Christmas.

So happy birthday Jesus, and happy holidays to everyone!

These penguin PJs are still my favorite to wear during the holiday season. 

Matchy matchy with my sissy :)

I hope everyone had a great time this holiday season, and hope y'all had a good one!

xo

Christmas Ready

3 more days until Christmas! Who's ready?!

Because I am :)

Copacabana Brazilian Rodizio Steakhouse

Loving food as much as I do, I could never turn down any kind of buffet,
especially not an all-you-can-eat meat one.

Copacabana Brazilian Steak House has always been on my list, but it was more of a 'special event' kind of dinner as opposed to a random weekday dinner.

So when it was my friend's birthday and she lived 5 minutes away, why not?

We went on a Sunday, which meant we were greeted with live music when walking in.

If you go on a Friday or Saturday, they have a special Brazilian martial arts show while you're eating dinner. But on Sundays, it's all about the live music.



We especially loved it when they started playing requested songs (Bailando, to be more specific, and they even sang Happy Birthday for us!)

So basically, there are people walking around the restaurant with sticks of meat and if you have your little card at the table like this...



They will come over to your table and cut off meat for you like this...

And then you use your tongs to pick up the meat like this...

And you eat it :) they come so often that you usually have a least 3 meats on your plate at once waiting for your approval.

In addition to the meat, there is also a hot foods bar at the back of the restaurant that served salads and other things, such as mac & cheese (a personal favorite).

For dessert, they walk around with roasted pineapples. They were a hit!! So delicious.

Once you're feeling a little stuffed, you flip over your card to this...

To signify that you are ready to cool it down and stop eating. Overall, it was a good meal. I don't think it is worth the price that you are paying for but it is something that you should experience.

Pizzeria Libretto

When I heard that Pizzeria Libretto was opening up a location that was close to me, I was beyond excited!! This has been on my list of places to try for a while now but could never make it out since the other two locations were located "too far" (Ossington, and Danforth).

The menu is overwhelming. There are so many options and you really have to know exactly what you feel like having in order to choose one to order! If you don't, you'll end up wanting everything. Just warnin' ya!

They also have this lunch menu where for $15, you get a salad, one of their simple pizzas, and a dessert. I thought this was quite the steal so we ended up getting one of these lunch combos in addition to a standalone pizza.

We started off with some bread as we waited for our food to come.

Arugula Salad | Pear, Walnut, Piave, Ontario Gamay Vinaigrette

Margherita D.O.P. | Tomato, Basil, Mozzarella

House-Made Sausage | Caramelized Onion, Mozzarella, Chili Oil 

Peppermint Gelato

Overall, I enjoyed my meal but I didn't really understand the hype. Maybe I just don't enjoy pizza as much as everyone else does, because I can't say I absolutely loveeee this place and would crave it. The salad was really good. There is just something about the combination of arugula, walnuts, and pear. The two pizzas were really good. I also enjoyed the pizza a lot more with their chili oil.