Mary MacLeod's Shortbread

May 8, 2016

Another Groupon purchase - $12 for a dozen cookies. So I decided to give them another shot. 

One of each - original, chocolate, double chocolate, whole wheat, cranberry almond, butterscotch, coconut ball, mint chocolate, orange chocolate

This time around I found the cookies were super crumbly and the flavouring seemed a lot more subtle. I didn't like them as much because they were just so delicate that they literally crumbled before you could get a good bite in. 

If i had to pick a favourite, then I would pick the orange chocolate, which had a more pronounced flavour and it wasn't as crumbly.

August 10, 2012

I adore cookies and one of my favourite cookie stores is Monsieur Felix and Mr. Norton.

I first saw the Mary Macleod brand of shortbread cookies at Holts Gourmet and I got curious about the brand. So, I did a little research and found out that Mary Macleod's Shortbread is a well established business serving customers (in Toronto and all over Canada) since 1981. 

A local brand! I couldn't wait to try out another famous cookie company based in Canada.

Dozen cookies $17

Clockwise from the Top: Dutch Chocolate, Traditional Shortbread, Chocolate Chunk Shortbread, Orange Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, Cranberry Almond Shortbread, Toasted Coconut. Middle: Hazelnut Shortbread

I didn't rank the cookies in order of the taste because I don't consider myself that knowledgeable about shortbread cookies. My preference is for harder shortbread cookies; so, I created a "Crumbly scale" just to rank how the cookies crumbled relative to each other. 

Crumbly scale: 

1 = dissolved immediately to 10 = rock solid

(numbers are in brackets)

Clockwise from the bottom:

a) Dutch chocolate: I really liked what the smooth and bitter dark chocolate flavour brought to the shortbread cookie. It was rich and decadent. (8)

b) Traditional: I loved it! Recipe was classic and delicious. (9)

c) Chocolate chunk: Fantastic! After eating it, I know why this is her most popular cookie. It has great flavour with the mixture of chocolate into the shortbread batter. (7)

d) Cranberry almond: The cranberries in the batter made it a unique and memorable cookie. Unfortunately it was a little too crumbly for me. (5)

e) Hazelnut: Really good, great hazelnut taste with the chocolate chunk dough (5)

f) Toasted coconut: I thought this was a great spin on the shortbread cookie and it worked out nicely in my opinion. (8) 

g) Mint chocolate: It even smelled like mint chocolate! After I took a bite, the mint left a lingering aftertaste. I didn't think the chocolate was as nicely done as the Dutch chocolate. (6)

h) Orange chocolate: Orange scented, but I wasn't a big fan of it for the same reasons as the mint. (6) 

i) Whole wheat Walnut

Great nutty taste, but it was super crumbly and it broke apart really easily (2)

Overall: Mary Macleod's offers a huge variety of shortbread cookies, all of which are such a treat! My favourites here are the Chocolate Chunk and the Traditional - yum.

Website: http://www.marymacleod.ca/website/

Sushi Kaji

We've heard so many good things about Sushi Kaji and it's always ranked as one of the top Japanese places in Toronto. We came here for a milestone event (rather than just a casual dinner) since it costs

$130 per person for the tasting menu with the sashimi plate (or $100pp without sashimi plate). 

It was actually located in a rather unassuming location (we drove by it before we realized we passed it). When we walked in, the restaurant was quite nice and had a peaceful feel with enough space between all the tables so that you didn't feel crowded (and it was mostly reservations only). 

Butternut squash with a surprise in the middle and edamame
This first dish really set the playful tone of the whole omakase experience. It was intriguing, fun and yet had a hint of familiarity (with the edamame beans).

Octopus with a yuzu sauce

Very yummy! Who knew yuzu and octopus could go along together so well?

Sea bream, mackerel in back and amberjack

The fish was fresh and beautifully plated. I liked that the mackerel wasn't salty and the sea bream had a slightly gummier texture and the amberjack was nice.

Sea bass in seaweed sauce
The fish had a nice crispy skin, a sweet flavour and flaky flesh. The seaweed sauce was delicious too!

Sea urchin
Not the typical sushi presentation! The sea urchin was really rich, tasty, creamy and decadent. 

 Crispy fried noodles in broth
This was tasty but rather small for the noodle portion of the meal.  The noodles were nice and crispy, but a rather strange combination with the broth. I'm not sure I was 100% behind this idea.

Unagi with yuzu
The yuzu sauce hits again! It added a nice citrus punch to the sweet unagi on rice.

Octopus sushi
It was quite sweet. 

Sweet scallop and nice touch of sauce on top
The sauce enhanced the sweetness of the scallops by providing a bit of a salty and savoury contrast.

Squid sushi

Cute and fun! 

Salmon roe

Bluefin tuna
The tuna was so slippery and fresh - yum!

Diced toro with green onions
Toro is the fatty tuna belly (also known as some of the most expensive and amazingly delicious  sushi/sashimi) and as yummy as it is by itself - it's actually quite nice with the green onions (like when I had it in HK).  Unfortunately, I felt like this was rather poorly executed because the seaweed was badly wrapped around and the sushi just fell apart.

Torched toro with sauce on top
This was a much better Toro experience! It was fun and different (and still amazingly yummy).

Sea bream sushi with seaweed on top
The sea bream was really yummy and it had this light sauce that enhanced the flavour.

 

Unagi and cucumber rolls
It was good, but the sushi wasn't very nicely wrapped in this case either.

Mackerel sushi
Interestingly enough, this was saltier than the sashimi we had earlier.

Vanilla  ice cream, mixed jelly and fruits in syrup
A nice note to end with - the dessert was sweet and tasty.

Pear sorbet and condensed milk
I liked the origami paper presentation, but the dessert seemed very small in comparison to the other dessert options and it was only okay.

Roasted green tea Crème brûlée 
Another crème brûlée in a week! It was good and really incorporated the roasted green tea flavour.

Overall: A really nice experience at Sushi Kaji with lots of interesting and playful dishes. The service was really good as well - I just wish the portion sizes were a little bigger (or that there were some more courses). 

Website: http://www.sushikaji.com/top.html

L'Avenue Bistro

Another Groupon adventure: $89 for two 3 course meals and bottle of wine. I'm not a wine drinker, so unfortunately deal was lost on me.

However, the menu looked really good. 

French crusty baguette and room temperature butter!


The white wine

Escargot with garlic, leeks, white wine, cream and toasted brioche
Very yummy escargot in a garlic butter sauce.  It was delicious and not too rich or heavy as a starter.


Beef Bourguignon and frites
The bourguignon had a hint of red wine with super tender beef.  It was nicely done and pretty tasty.
The frites were okay.

Steak and frites
I wasn't a fan of the lemon aioli they had accompanying the fries (so I asked for ketchup). The steak was okay - a little on the tougher side for medium and there was a lot of butter on top making it a tad salty.

Espresso Cheesecake at the top and Pistachio Crème brûlée
The cheesecake was really rich and heavy and probably not the best way to finish off our meal.  

I loved the pistachio crème brûlée! It wasn't the best crème brûlée I've ever had but pretty good with this decadent creme that was saturated with the nutty pistachio flavour.

Overall: It was a nice meal (if a little on the pricier side) and the service was great!

Website: http://www.lavenuebistro.com/

Yummy Zone

Taiwanese lunch box

Chicken filet with mayo, Soy Sauce egg, broccoli, tofu and rice

It's a pretty balanced meal and large portion size.  The food was all pretty tasty with lots of yummy fried chicken on a bed of rice, some simple tofu (not spicy or anything) and steamed broccoli. You can also upgrade your drink to a bubbletea for an extra $2. I got the taro bubble tea which was pretty good. 

Tout Sweet - SF

I picked up some treats at Macy's as a souvenir (I'm a big fan of edible souvenirs).

 
Macarons!

They survived the plane trip much better than I did (it was a bad idea taking a red-eye from SFO to CLT then CLT to YYZ).


Clockwise from the top yellow: Exotic Banana, Burnt Caramel, Raspberry Hibiscus, Lemon Yuzu, Peanut Butter & Jam, McEvoy Olive Oil, Lime and Sea Salt and Sicilian Pistachio & Ceylon Cinnamon
The Exotic Banana was a very accurate description - it had this hint of exoticness (tropical notes?), but it also tasted like a regular banana.  Even though I'm not a big banana dessert fan, I actually really liked this and would eat it again.
Burnt caramel unsurprisingly tasted exactly like burnt caramel (can't say I was a fan of it). 

Raspberry hibiscus had a flowery note, but the flavour was predominantly raspberry.
Lemon yuzu had a nice citrus punch and a light lemon flavour.
Peanut butter and jam tasted like they used really good quality peanut butter and instead of using jam in the middle as the filling, they had jam in the feet of the macaron.  It was interesting, but I didn't really like it.
Mcevoy olive oil, lime and sea salt - I liked this! It was such an interesting and fun combination and I didn't really get overwhelmed by the olive oil taste (which I'm not a big fan of). 

Sicilian pistachio and ceylon cinnamon: I thought the cinnamon overwhelmed the pistachio in this case and I love the taste of pistachio desserts, so this was a miss.

Website: http://www.toutsweetsf.com/

Nabe - SF

I was trying to get a Lyft to the Golden Gate Heights Mosaic Stairway/16th Avenue Tiled Steps from Mission, but I ended up at the Hidden Garden Steps instead (the GPS was a little confusing and both my Lyft driver and I had no idea where we were going LOL). Still pretty cool! I actually started at the top of the hill and walked down to find out that I was at the Hidden Garden Steps. 

Afterwards, I met up with my friend and we went for a lighter and healthier Japanese meal (since we were both feeling a little sick from Coachella) before I went to catch my red-eye flight back home. 

 

We got the Shabu Shabu with Wagyu Beef, vegetables and udon. 

Wagyu beef was so tasty with all of the marbled fat...mmmm

This was great comfort food with veggies, beef and soup! Then after we finished all the meat and veggies, the server came by and mixed some rice, egg and a few other ingredients with the leftover broth to finish. 

This was pretty yummy too! It was the first time I've had shabu shabu like this!

Overall: Good experience at Nabe! I had yummy wagyu beef, the server was really nice and helpful and I learned something about shabu shabu that I didn't know before.