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This Weekend’s Tasty Combos

Wendy’s parents came to town for the dual celebration of her birthday and American thanksgiving. We had Thanksgiving over at my mom’s house, where she served exotic-to-them, comfort-food-to-us Filipino food — chicken/pork adobo, pancit (noodles), lumpiang shanghai (egg rolls) — because they don’t get to eat that sort of food every day. Come American Thanksgiving, I’ll go do there and have exotic-to-me comfort-food-to-them stuff like turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, all of which I’m looking forward to.

(If you’d like to know more about adobo, this blog entry by The Wily Filipino is a good introduction and has lots of links.)

Wendy’s mom brought up some of her famous homemade pumpkin bread, and I discovered that it goes quite well with adobo. I’m going to have to remember that combo.

The other combination I enjoyed this weekend is a little more obvious, but alas, available only to people in Accordion City. It’s Dufflet’s chocolate banana cake (three layers — chocolate / banana / chocolate — with a thick whipped chocolate buttercream frosting) and Loblaws’ “President’s Choice” Chocolate Fudge Crackle vanilla ice cream (vanilla ice cream with crackly chocolate sticks).

Still Good After All These Years

On Thursday, which was Wendy’s actual birthday, I took her to one of our favourite spots: the Avenue Bar and Lounge at the Four Seasons at Avenue Road and Bloor. Yes, the drinks may be rather pricey ($18 for the specialty stuff), but they’re quite tasty, their service is excellent and hey, it’s Wendy’s birthday! We had our favourite dish, the steak frites. something their kitchen does very well.

On Saturday night, Wendy’s folks took us out to Marvellous Edibles, a gem of a restaurant that’s hidden in a forest of big-box stores and factories on Laird near Eglinton. The food is great, the selection is pretty wide, the desserts are amazing, the service is friendly, and it’s cheaper than you might expect. I’ve got to thank Peter Deiwick (if you’ve ever seen a live musical in Toronto, you’ve seen him) for introducing me to the place.