lorena barrezueta bakeware

I love to bake.  That is no surprise to those of you who know me.  I have a cookbook collection that has been growing larger by the year, that I will one day take with me when I move out of my mother’s house.  What I don’t have is a set of bakeware to call my own.  Over the past couple years of taking baking lessons, I have picked up a cake pan here or a loaf tin there and love the non-stick, metal bakeware.  However, I would not say that this functional bakeware is at all pretty. 

Wait till you see Lorena Barrezueta ‘s colourful, bold, Gourmet Collection.  You’ll want one of everything.  I sure do!

Artist Note:  Lorena Barrezueta is a New York (Brooklyn) based artist who earned a BFA in Product Design from the Parsons School of Design.   Lorena’s porcelain dishware are cast from aluminum takeout containers and can be purchased online from the Curiosity Shoppe here.

via funky finds

via luxist

via design alphabet

via olive bunny

paper garlands

How cute are these paper garlands for your next house party or backyard event?  I saw the idea posted on blog, Creature Comforts, which originated from website, Project Wedding.  Any colour pallet would do, and the garland can be easily customized in length and texture for your entertaining needs.  For more info on how to do this project yourself, click here.

via creature comforts blog

via project wedding

dutch design cheese

I have been searching for new blogs the past couple days in order to give my posts more international content.  While I love all the amazing posts that come out of the US, I think it is important to see what people talk and post about all over the world.

Here is a blog I recently found that I am loving.  It’s called April and May Studio and the blogger hails from the Netherlands.

What caught my attention on her blog was a post she wrote about dutch design cheese.  To back up the cheese story a bit to give some perspective, the Dutch have been making cheese since 400 AD and Holland is the largest exporter of cheese in the world!  Popular Dutch cheeses that you may be familiar with include gouda, edam, maasdamer, dutch goat cheese and leidse cheese.

Back to my find, Dutch designer, Marinde van Leeuwen of VODW Marketing  decided to design some fashion forward cheese wrappers for a special exhibit at Moooi Gallery in Amsterdam called DesignKaas. 

Here are some of her cool looking cheeses:

lace

tulip

give me cheese

omg baked goodness 2

I showed you some pictures of the desserts that my guests and I indulged in the other evening- now for some pictures of the cute shop located on Dundas Streets West (between Dufferin and Lansdowne) and some other treats. 

via blog to

via taste to

via compendium daily

via compendium daily

omg baked goodness

Tonight I attended a great dinner party and to end off the night, was treated to a trio of mini desserts from Toronto bakery, OMG Baked Goodness.  We tried their cheesecake with a ginger crust, a light cheese taste, not too sweet or dense flavour (like a NY cheesecake) and some citrus.  We also tried the apple caramel pie-one word: amazing.  Not too sweet, drizzeled in caramel, oatmeal crumble on top and lots of apples, no junk/gross filling.  Finally we tried a maple syrup type tart- think butter pecan but made out of maple syrup. 

I would recommend this place 100% if you are looking for a place to pick up desserts for a party instead of making it yourself.  The consensus among the seven guests this evening was that OMG Baked Goodness’ mini desserts were better than Dufflet.  Could the queen of dessert have some competition?

Try them for yourself.

cherry blossoms

Today is the first day of spring.  Happy spring.  I am spending the weekend out east in Cobourg (about an hour drive east of Toronto) relaxing with family, good food and lots of magazines! 

To celebrate the first day of spring, I wanted to write a post about one of my favourite flowers that put on a big show in spring, cherry blossoms.  Blooming anywhere from January in certain areas in Japan to May depending on climate, these delicate pink flowers are not to be missed.  I plan to coordinate one of my Asia trips to coincide with the cherry tree blossoms one of these years. 

In Toronto’s High Park, there is an annual cherry blossom walk late April- early May if you want to check out the spectacular colours and fragrances.  Vancouver also has a cherry blossom festival, with all the event information and activities here.  One last festival to check out is the National Cherry Blossom festival in Washington that starts the end of next week info here. 

popcorn bar

Enough with the gooey cakes that no one eats at a wedding!  I have three weddings to attend in June and I am already praying that people get a little creative with the sweets and move away from the traditional dessert bar. 

If you are looking for some ideas that won’t break the bank for the upcoming wedding season and want to move beyond the cupcake trend, I suggest looking at a popcorn bar.  Here are four reasons why:

1.  Popcorn can be made sweet so it tastes like dessert- check

2.  Popcorn can be dyed any colour you want to fit in with decor- check

3.  Popcorn is portable, not messy, and fun- check

4.  Popcorn, if there are leftovers, does not take up freezer space- check

Four great arguments in favour of a popcorn bar in my opinion.  Now for some arrangement and style options.

via once wed

via meriment design

via how sweet it is

via wedding2plan

gelato

via sugar cookie brooklyn

The weather has finally taken a turn for the better in Toronto.  The past few days, the temperature has been hovering around 13 to 15 degrees.  The sun is shining and people have magically appeared on the street and come out of their winter hibernation in search of vitamin D.   

One of the first things I think about when the weather warms up is gelato.  Maybe it’s the allure of colourful choices staring back at me with creative topings that draw me in, or the pungent, strong flavours that taste so much better than ice cream, in my opinion.  I am not a seasonal gelato eater by any means.  I am happy to grab a cup in the dead of winter but I am sure any gelato cafe owner will tell you that business is booming between spring and fall in Toronto and now is the time to start hunting for your gelato spot.

I noticed two new gelato cafes in Toronto this past month prepping themselves for the gelato season; one that recently opened on Eglinton West between Avenue Road and Bathurst.  I don’t remember the name but it looked cute when I drove by this evening.  The other is the Mad Italian Gelato Bar on Bayview south of Eglinton that will compete head to head with Hollywood Gelato.  (Very art of war strategy- keep your enemies close by).   As a follow up (post post) review, I tried the Mad Italian Gelato Bar today and it doesn’t come close to Hollywood Gelato or Il Gelaterie.  Mad Italian is light and creamy but is missing the bold flavours.  I would not rush back.

In my tribute to new gelato and the start of gelato eating season, a couple pictures to rouse excitement.

via laist

via serious eats