Butter Avenue

Between manicures and shopping for wedding decor, I managed to squeeze in a brief visit to Butter Avenue in Toronto to sample macarons.  Butter Avenue, located on Yonge Street just south of York Mills, opened the beginning of  2012 by Calvin and Tina.  Butter Avenue is both a shop for macarons as well as other delicate desserts such as pain au chocolat, tarts, cookies, and chocolates.  There is plenty of room to enjoy a treat in the shop’s all white, minimalist interior and modern furniture.

Calvin was behind the counter when I arrived and he helped me select four macaron flavours: Earl Grey, Sea Salt Caramel, Dark Chocolate and Lemon.

In my opinion, no one should eat macarons alone, so I brought along my trusty side kick (my mom) to help me taste test. Butter Avenue‘s macaron were good but not my favourite in the city.  The Earl Grey and Salted Caramel were taste-bud blowing (aka delicious) the two best in terms of flavour but I thought the meringues were a bit too hard on the exterior.

However, to be fair, the night before I indulged in a couple macarons brought fresh from Laduree  in Paris by a visiting cousin; the taste still imprinted on my palate.  That being said, a harder exterior is best avoided.  You want the crunchy chewy balance.

I would certainly go back for a  fix and Butter Avenue’s macaron towers are showstopping in the front window. My mother was tempted to order two mini towers last minute for the wedding.  🙂

Here are some other people who blogged about Butter Avenue:

1. BlogTo Butter Avenue

2. Amy’s Food Adventure: Butter Avenue Patisserie & Cafe

3. CJ Noms: Butter Avenue

4. Sammylicious: Butter Avenue

5. Allure of Simplicity: Butter Avenue

Hotel Gelato

I am back in Prague and now a married woman.  What a trip!! It was an awesome experience seeing all the details of the wedding come together and I look forward to sharing more about the event and some pictures next week on Lamb411.

To start, my fiance and I wanted to serve something cold for dessert at the wedding since it was taking place in August.  I originally thought about serving ice pops to my guests but the logistics of such proved too complicated, so I located a company in Toronto that does on-site event gelato.  We had previously tasted the gelato from Hotel Gelato at a friend’s wedding in the spring and decided to give them a call to see what they could do for us.

We could pick six flavours of gelato for the event which would be served to guests in cups or cones.

I took my fiance, sister-in-law to be and our day of wedding planner to Hotel Gelato with me to review our flavour selection before the big day.

Photo Source: Mouth Media

We chose: Salted Caramel, Pistachio, Coconut, Dark Chocolate, Lemon Sorbet and Vanilla Toffee

There was much deliberation between flavours and gelato tasting among the four of us.  I think everyone fell in love with the salted caramel, a uniquely salty and sweet flavour.  I like coconut and pistachio and my (now) husband loves anything chocolate.

Photo Source: BlogTo

I must admit, in Toronto I am a regular at Hollywood Gelato and the Mad Italian and had never thought of driving west of Bayview for the stuff.  However, having been three times plus working with them for the wedding, I would certainly add Hotel Gelato into the rotation.  What’s even better is that Hotel Gelato serves breakfast and brunch, espresso and a full bar, so it’s like gelato +.  If you missed some of the wedding week details, feel free to read about them here, here and here.

Rachel Foxwell Vessels

I am really enjoying the simplicity of Bristol, UK based Rachel Foxwell‘s vessels.

They are multifunctional, colourful and can be used as bowls, vases, dishes or canisters.

If anyone is planning on attending the Made London Design and Craft Fair in October, Rachel will be showing there.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4 

Wedding Week: Colours…

At last- before I sign off to enjoy the festivities and events of this coming weekend…. a preview of wedding colours.

I am excited!

Wedding Week: The Manic Moose

Say cheeeeeessseeeeee!  Not only am I super excited to work with friend and photographer, Marcin Moka on the wedding day, I look forward to distributing these fun photo props from The Manic Moose.

Photo Source: The Manic Moose Etsy Page