Eva’s Original Chimney’s

Just take a moment and look at that….

Eva’s Chimneys, ever hear of them? Check out their website Eva’s Chimneys here

I had heard of them because I like to keep somewhat up to date on food trucks, I am enthralled by them! Canada is starting to jump on board with food trucks, but we have a long way to go.  There are no food trucks near where I live (besides the odd chip truck, which are also delightful!), so I have not had a chance to try much, but I ogle over them online as I inspire to get to them one day!

I tend to plan trips around food, sad I know!  I was heading in to Toronto for an appointment, which I, conveniently, booked just before lunch.  To be honest, I really didn’t care about lunch, I was more concerned about dessert!  Just a few days before I found out that Eva’s Chimney’s were located just outside of Union Station for the entire summer, along with numerous other food venues as part of the Union Summer.

After my appointment and lunch we headed back to Union Station. We had a look around at all of the other food vendors and really regretted going to a restaurant for lunch.  There was a huge variety of delicious looking food.  I guess we will have to go back!

I got a little too excited and completely forgot to get pictures of the venue and all the deliciousness.

I went with the Dream Cone – Seen Above

– cone coated in cinnamon sugar
– coated with Nutella
– soft serve ice cream
– chocolate
– toffee bits
– more ice cream
– caramel drizzle
– chocolate drizzle
– 2 brownies- in the bottle so it does not leak, a Lindt truffle!

The way the make them, you can just pull the ‘cone’ apart.  It comes apart in perfect ribbons.

 

and the Lindt to hold in all in…

I ate it all, minus 2 bites that I shared. Every bit of it was amazing!

The cone was light, and sturdy, but not too sweet at all.  In fact the whole thing wasn’t really that sweet.  Maybe the cone cut the sweetness? I was afraid it would get soggy as the ice cream melted (it was 35ºC), but it didn’t.

The crunch of the cinnamon sugar was a nice contrast to the soft dough and filling.

Every bite was amazing!

Mom and Dad shared one, they are not big dessert people.  They got the Eva’s Apple Pie

– cone
– soft serve ice cream
– home made apple pie filling
– more ice cream
– caramel drizzle
– Lindt Truffle

Dad, who ate too much lunch only had a few bites but love it!

Mom, who really doesn’t eat dessert ate the rest!  She loved it! She also agreed that it was not sweet at all and quite light.  You don’t get that heavy, full feeling after eating one, and it is big!

We have been raving about Eva’s Chimney’s ever since and agree that we need to go back before Labour Day when the Food Vendors shut down.  Only this time, we will go for lunch and dessert!

To be perfectly honest, I would go to Toronto just for the cone!

Top 10 of 2014!

It’s cliché, but it is hard to believe another year is over.  I’m happy to say I met my goal and did a lot more baking this year than last year.  This year I tried many new things.  There were some amazing results and some horrendous flops!  I like to post about them all, because not everything turns out and that’s ok, frustrating, but ok.

Here are what I think to be my best of 2014 as well as a few honorable mentions.

Honorable Mentions

I have 2 honorable mentions this year.  The first being, I was a judge at a Butter Tart Taste off!  It was an amazing day and I was so honored to be part of it.

Second honorable mention is for my favourite cake this year.  I really liked how the Camera Cake turned out

Here is a list of what I picked as my favourites of 2014

10.   S’mores Cups

These little delights are so easy and very so tasty.  I first had S’mores Cups at the Relay for Life.  One of our team members brought them and I was hooked.  I searched the recipe and made them as soon as possible.  I am not a fan of real S’mores, but these are great!

9. Snickers Popcorn

This is something I wasn’t entirely sure I would like.  Amy and I were having a baking day, cheesecake was our main delight of the day.  We needed something that didn’t need to be cooked for a family dessert.  Amy picked Snickers Popcorn. Unreal!  It was delicious, and so addicting!  I could not stop. 3 days later when the humidity had got to it I was still wolfing it into me. Excellent and will make again!  It always helps to have someone else to bring you out of your baking comfort zone.  I would have never tried this, but love it!  Thanks Amy!

8. Toffee Cheesecake

This Toffee Cheesecake was made with the toffee candy I make, kinda like a Skor bar.  This was really good.  I’d definitely make this one again.

7.  Strawberry Pie

I am starting to get the hang of this pie thing, my crust is improving.  This was my first Strawberry Pie.  It was good.  It got rave reviews from the pie fans of the family, and I admit, I liked it too.

6. OCC #6

I have been slacking on my Oatmeal Cookie Challenge.  I have been searching for a very long time for ‘my favourite’ cookie. This Oatmeal Cookie is definitely in the running.  It has a great texture, holds its height and had great flavour. The best part? This recipe makes one cookie! Give it a try.

5. Cherry Pie

This pie was amazing! Hard to believe 2 pies made the list this year.  I’d say this was the perfect Cherry Pie. Hope I can duplicated it next year.

4. Pumpkin Cake

I am not normally a fan of pumpkin stuff but this Pumpkin Cake was good!  What made it was the cinnamon cream cheese icing. Amazing combination.  It was a huge hit at Thanksgiving.

3. Toffee Chocolate Bars

These were amazing! I found these Toffee Chocolate Bars on Pinterest.  The picture caught my eye and I knew I had to make it.  They were a huge success.  I loved them.  The gooey middle layer was fantastic and I loved the sugary base.  Definitely worth a try.

2. Pecan Pie Cheesecake

This Pecan Pie Cheesecake was by far the best Cheesecake I have ever made! The sweet pecan filling went perfect with the creamy cheesecake top.  This got rave reviews and topped everyone’s list as their favourite cheesecake.  You must try it!

1. Christmas Pudding with White Sauce

Even though I just made this a few days ago, it was by far the best thing I made this year.  Not only was the Christmas Pudding absolutely delicious, but it brought back a family tradition that I can to carry on for many years to come.

I hope everyone had a great year and here’s to a wonderful 2015 filled with many delicious sweet treats!

 

A New Bake Book

Gramma bought me a new cook book yesterday,  It looks fabulous!  It is not one that you will find in a big book store or on-line, its way better.  This one is from real homes, in real kitchens, recipes that have been made for years in country kitchens!  The Simcoe County International Plowing Match Cook Book.  The Plowing matches are a yearly event and they are huge!  My town hosted back in (I think) 2007, it was truly amazing to see.  People came from all over to attend.  It is not just farmers on plows (which is what I assumed, from the name), it is fields upon fields of displays and shops and equipment and baking and contests.  It truly is something to see.

Back to the cook book.  I love these kind of cookbooks, recipes that have been enjoyed for, maybe, generations.  They are simple, yet delicious!  There are over 350 pages of wonderful recipes.  Sections such as appetizers, snacks, preserves, breads, muffins, main courses all of which I have not even looked at.  When I look at a cookbook a head straight to the back and check out the dessert section.

I look forward to trying many wonderful desserts, cookies and squares and just maybe a few from the front sections.

Thanks Gramma!

Live and Uncorked

I have to admit that I am a bit of a Food Network junkie, I love just about everything out it.  So, when I heard that 2 Food Network stars were coming to town I was thrilled to have been able to get tickets, Thanks to Gina!

If anyone watches Iron Chef you will know Kevin Brauch, the on the floor man who updates everyone on what is happening also the host of The Thirsty Traveler and Bob Blumer star of Glutton for Punishment and the Surreal Gourmet. Kevin and Bob struck out on a 5 city tour to share behind the scene moments from both of their shows, display their talents mixing drinks and cooking and to share great stories from their careers.   What a night!

Click to enlarge each photo

 

Here Kevin called Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes.  It was very cool.

Bob Blumer and I 🙂 after getting his latest book signed

Cobourg Ribfest

Cobourg is about an hour away from where we live, but every year we make the trek to attend their Rotary Rib Fest, it is one of the best around.  When you get close there are signs to follow but really all you need to do is roll down your window and follow the aromas wafting from the bbq smokers…

A few pictures from the Cobourg Rib Fest

Most of the ribbers are the same so I will just show you the new ones and the ones we ate at this time….

My parents and I all ate at Bibb’s, it was fabulous!  Their pulled pork was so tender and had such great flavour.  Their bbq sauce was killer! I tried this one because I saw that you were able to put on your own sauce and I like mine saucy.

I may have got a little carried away with the sauce but Oh My God was it good!

Dad had their rib combo with slaw and beans.  The loved the ribs, the slaw and beans were a little to be desired…kinda like canned beans and very bland slaw, but the meat made up for it.

Mike tried a new one as well this time, Uncle Sam’s From Albuquerque.  He quite enjoyed it.   It was finished while i was in line, so no picture….

One thing we like about the Cobourg ribfest is they also have other food fair to try.  Here are a few that we could just not turn down…

The Bloomin Onion, battered and deep-fried, oh so yummy!

Butterfly Fries – basically homemade potato chips that they make to order and are warm when you get them….very good!

All in all great day, great food, but we did have to make a mad exit when it started to downpour.

Peterborough Ribfest 2010

I was quite excited to go Peterborough’s ribfest this year, as it is my hometown.  The venue changed this year and I would not say for the better, it was just not big enough.

The Crazy Canuck was pretty good, they gave HUGE portions, this was my Pulled Pork Sandwich, for only $7

At least 2 meals out of this sucker, would have been way better with more of their sauce.  Their sauce was Excellent!

I got my first pulled pork sandwich here at Jack the Ribber.  Thoroughly disappointed, I think the pig must have ran across Canada getting to Peterborough it was so tough, dry and super salty!  A couple bites and I couldn’t eat it, and notice the size difference and for the same price $7

Would not recommend them at all.  I guess the short line should have been  a red flag!

Have had Crabby’s before, it is pretty good.

Dad tried Fat Albert’s, it was more like a pork stew, quite watery.  Dad really like it from here.  He got ribs to take home, have not got the verdict on them yet.

Overall, we were not impressed with Peterborough’s Ribfest.  Probably wont go back.  Looking forward to Cobourg’s it was amazing last year!

Pickering Ribfest!

Today was the kick of to the Rotary Ribfest Season, which brought us to Pickering, a bit of a drive but well worth it.

Look at that!  You can almost smell the goodness!

Mike tried the Pulled Pork here and he really like it.  It wasn’t my favourite.

This is where I got my Pulled Pork, Loved it!  Mom and Dads ribs came from here, they were very good!

Best sign of the day

I really wanted one of these, but was too full, next time!

It looked better there, This is what I brought home.

Great day and looking forward to the next ribfest.  So far my Favourite is Silver Bullet

Ribfest!

I know this is not something that I made, but it was so good it is definitely worth posting!  We went to the Cobourg Rib Fest on Saturday, it was amazing!  Amazing ribs, pull-pork sandwiches and many other wonderful foods.  My favourite was Ribber #4 from Florida.  Their pulled pork was so good and sauce was amazing!! We will definitely be going back next year.  Worth the drive to Cobourg.

Can’t wait for next year!