360 Restaurant Review

360 Cafe CN Tower Restaurant Review 

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Vegetarian lunch prix fixe

2 courses $55

3 courses $67

appetizer (choice of)

BUTTERNUT SQUASH BISQUE

Toasted pumpkin seed crème fraiche

ORGANIC BABY KALE, BLACK CURRANT AND PINE NUT SALAD

Aged Pecorino cheese, Niagara Pinot Noir vinaigrette

PRESERVED TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE TART

Wild watercress salad, black olive vinaigrette

ZUCCHINI CARPACCIO

Arugula, watercress, shaved Parmesan cheese, lemon juice and olive oil

main (choice of)

WHOLE WHEAT SPAGHETTI WITH VEGETARIAN BOLOGNAISE

Dried cherry tomatoes, grated Parmesan cheese

EAST ASIAN CRISPY BABY EGGPLANT

WITH CURRIED VEGETABLE PROTEIN

Crispy shallots, toasted coconut paneer

CAVATELLI WITH RAPINI AND OVEN DRIED TOMATOES

Kalamata olives, grated Parmesan cheese

A SELECTION OF SEASONAL VEGETABLES

Either grilled or steamed with olivada and aïoli a choice of sides

Sides: Baked potato with sour cream, Sweet Potato fries,

chive mashed potatoes, Yukon Gold frites

side dishes $9

ROASTED ROOT VEGETABLES

BAKED POTATO WITH SOUR CREAM AND CHIVE BUTTER

SAUTÉED FORAGED MUSHROOMS WITH THYME

YUKON GOLD FRITES WITH TRUFFLE AÏOLI

FRENCH BEANS AMANDINE

SWEET POTATO FRIES WITH LEMON AÏOLI

BROCCOLINI WITH PARMESAN CHEESE

CANNELLINI BEAN STEW

YUKON GOLD MASHED POTATOES

dessert (choice of)

NIAGARA APPLE AND CRANBERRY CRUMBLE TART

Vanilla bean ice cream, lavender crème Anglaise

WARM MAPLE WALNUT TART

Québec maple syrup ice cream

LINDT DARK CHOCOLATE LAVA CAKE

Espresso crème Anglaise, milk chocolate ice cream

VANILLA YOGURT, ORANGE CURD PARFAIT

Pistachio sable cookies, wild flower honey, Ontario gooseberry jam

ICE CREAM (choice of)

Vanilla bean, maple syrup, Lindt milk chocolate

SORBET (choice of)

Raspberry, mango 

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I went to the 360 Restaurant in the CN tower while I was in Toronto during the winter break. After struggling to find a restaurant with a vegetarian menu, and foods to relate to my blog, I finally found this restaurant and decided to make a trip out of it! Since I have an exchange student living with me right now, and we were going to Toronto anyways, it turned out to be the perfect place to go! Sight seeing and an amazing menu! But was is really as great as it seemed?

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This restaurant was  amazing!

My family and I went to the CN Tower during the afternoon, and decided to go to the 360 Restaurant for dinner. The view at our table was absolutely amazing, and as soon as we walked in we noticed the wonderful setting of the restaurant. I was impressed to see they had a full vegetarian menu with plenty of options. I decided to have the "whole wheat spaghetti with vegetarian bolognaise' as my main dish and a "warm maple tart" as my desert. 

While ordering our meals the staff was very welcoming, friendly and professional. While waiting for our food we enjoyed the miraculous view. We had to wait a long time for our meals, but once we got them they were hot and fresh. The food was very well presented and looked delicious, but I have to say I was slightly disappointed when I tasted my main course. The spaghetti was very bland and tasteless. My family said that their meals were alright, but not exactly what they expected. My Mom however said that her "Alberta AAA Beef Tenderloin" was perfectly done and tasted great, but I was unable to try it since I'm a vegetarian. We were all hoping the deserts would make up for it though, and they did!

The desert was amazing. My maple tart's presentation was wonderful. When I took a bite of it it was warm and chewy, and not too sweet. It had just enough taste of maple where it was enjoyable and not too overpowering and strong. By far one of the best deserts I've had for a while. While I wasn't able to take a picture of my desert, I found a picture of the maple tart online shown below.


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The restaurant requires a reservation since it is always so busy. You can make a reservation by calling 416-362-5411 or online. The website to find all the information you need is: http://www.cntower.ca/en-ca/360-restaurant/overview.html

Maple Memories

Maple Memories!

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When I was a child, I remember I never really liked sweet things; ice-cream, cookies, candies, cake, those sorts of things! Although I wasn't a fan of sweet treats, I absolutely loved maple syrup. Anything with maple syrup I loved!

When I was around 7 years old, my Aunt and Uncle decided that they would take me to the sugar bush and show me how real maple syrup is made. This is one of my most favorite memories growing up because I remember being so happy and excited to learn something new.

While I was at the sugar bush I learned lots of things. I learned that there were two main parts of making maple syrup; 1) collecting the sap from the maple trees and 2) getting the sap to a sugar house where it gets boiled into real maple syrup. Of course there's lots more work than simply collecting and boiling the sap, the diagram below shows what has to happen in order to get this golden liquid into stores.


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Now while I was in the sugar bush, I got to see the tapping process. The maple trees being tapped have a metal spout in the trunk of the tree, with a metal pail under it to catch the dripping sap. I remembered at the start of the tour through the maple bushes the tour guide said at the end we would be able to try some of this pure maple syrup, and I think that was the best part of the trip.

When we got to the end of the trail, there was a man with a pan of snow in front of him and what looked like to be spilled maple syrup in it. Right away I thought that we wouldn't be able to try any, since he spilled it in the snow, but he quickly explained that he was making "Maple Taffy". He then took a wooden popsicle stick and twirled it around the maple syrup in the snow. The maple syrup stuck to the stick and looked like candy. The man then handed it over to me and told me that that is maple taffy!

Below I'll include some things I saw while at the sugar bush;


Delicious Maple Taffy
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Trail Of Trees Being Tapped
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Many New Great Maple Treats To Try
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Maple Baked Beans Recipe

Maple Baked Beans

http://www.ivillage.ca/food/recipes/maple-baked-beans

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 pound dried navy or great northern beans

2 tablespoons  molasses

2 tablespoons  brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 strips thick-cut bacon (optional ) 

2 tablespoons  spicy brown mustard

Directions: 

1. In a large pot, cover the beans with water. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 1 hour, drain. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

2.  In a bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except the bacon. Stir in the beans. Place 1 strip of bacon at the bottom of a large ovenproof dish, Dutch oven or antique bean pot that your mom gave you.

3.  Pour the bean mixture over it, then push the other strip of bacon into the beans. Add just enough boiling water to the pot to cover everything. Cover the pot with aluminum foil, then the lid. 

4. Bake 5 hours, checking every hour or so to make sure the beans aren't drying out. (Add more water as necessary to keep them submerged.)

Maple Festival

Maple Festival 

Maple syrup is often associated with Canada. Canada has been a leading producer of this liquid ever since the aboriginal people first taught the settlers how to tap the maple trees and boil the sap. It has become a large part in Canadian culture and Canada is known for maple syrup. There are many festivals and activities that take place in different parts of Canada dedicated to maple syrup, the one I'll be talking about in today's post is the Maple Syrup Festival at Bronte Creek Provincial Park in Ontario.

Every year on the first weekend in March is when the park's annual Maple Syrup Festival gets started. The park is open from 9:30am - 3pm every weekend in March and every day during March break. The Bronte Creek Maple Festival offers plenty of activities that can be the start of a truly Canadian tradition!

At the festival, guided tours of Maple Lane where 1890's costumed interpreters show how maple syrup and maple sugar is made is available for visitors as well as other attractions. There is also a maple museum and the option to tour the 100-year-old Spruce Lane Farmhouse!

Costumed Tour Guides.
http://www.brontecreek.org/maple-syrup-festival-photos.htm#.VKssyk10zIV

Be sure to check out the gift shoppe while you're in town for some wonderful 100% maple products!
http://www.brontecreek.org/maple-syrup-festival-photos.htm#.VKssyk10zIV

Enjoy a fun wagon ride to the heated pancake house where you can buy wonderful,  fresh, hot pancakes with pure maple syrup and sausages!
http://www.brontecreek.org/maple-syrup-festival-photos.htm#.VKssyk10zIV

Reflection

Bread Experience

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While taking cooking this year I learnt how to make bread in one of the units. I have to say that bread was my favorite thing to make as is has such simple basic ingredients yet can have such a variety of flavors and uses. During the bread unit I learnt many things and it has given me abilities that will help me grow in my ability to cook.

For my lab at the end of this unit my partner and I made Kalacs. Kalacs is a Hungarian sweet bread often served during easter and was also new to both my partner and I so we had to rely on the things about bread that we learned in previous lessons. I remember this lab being somewhat confusing due to our lack of preparation, but in the end it made us realize how important being prepared is and how if we focus we can actually get things done. 

Kalacs Sweet Bread.

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Our bread turned out okay, but we could have done things to make our bread turn out better and make the process flow better. Since we only read the recipe the day of the lab ( wont do that again ) we realized there was plenty of information missing and we had to guess and rely on the knowledge we had to make the bread successful. At the beginning of making our bread we noticed that the recipe was only telling us how to make bread using a stand mixer yet we were not supposed to use one. This made us have to figure out how to blend all the ingredients together in order to make a successful bread. The recipe of our bread also only mentioned adding warm milk to the yeast, but in class we only ever talked about adding warm water. This added confusion but once we clarified with our chef we were able to actually start making bread.

Even though we had our struggles, we did have positive experiences in this lab. I was paired with my best friend for this lab, which made things a lot easier since it wasn't has hard to communicate to each other and ask each other questions. We both remembered most key important parts of making bread, such as making sure the milk wasn’t too warm or too cold, or remembering to add a bit of flour at a time while forming the bread.

This lab/unit taught me that bread is a very important food as it can be made for so many uses and can be involved into all kinda of traditions or events such as for a religious dinner, a side dish, an appetizer, main part of a meal, ect. It also taught me to have more patience because we had to allow the bread to rise.

Overall this was one of my favorite labs. I definitely would do better if I had to redo it again, but learning through mistakes is what makes you better at cooking. 

Maple Cookie Recipe

Maple Cookies 

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INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 egg 1 cup real maple syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2.	In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg, syrup and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Stir into mixture until well blended. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart and flatten slightly.
3.	Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool on wire rack.

Welcome To My Blog!

 Magic Of Maple Syrup! 

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   Welcome to my blog about maple syrup! Maple syrup is a syrup produced by the sap of different kinds of maple trees, especially the sugar maple. Maple syrup is used as a sweetener. Many people use it while baking instead of sugar or other sweeteners, some use it in tea instead of honey, and it is often used as a topping for pancakes, waffles, and other breakfast foods. Maple syrup is often recognised as a Canadian product, as 75% of all Maple Syrup production occurs in Canada. However, it originated in the Northeast of North America and the Great lakes region, by both the Americans and Canadians. It's thought to have been started being made in the 1860's.

While reading my blog you'll see how to use maple syrup in different recipies, learn about the maple syrup festival, read my very own review on what I experienced while enjoying (or not enjoying!) a maple product from a restaurant, learn about my personal experience with maple syrup, and more!

I hope you enjoy my blog as I open you up to all the wonders of maple syrup!