The Urban Pear, Ottawa

Our New Year's celebration continued over Sunday brunch at The Urban Pear, one of my favorite brunch spots in Ottawa. Their seasonal menu always has a great selection of sweet and savory dishes, and I love the layers and layers of flavors in every dish I've tried.

Our meal started with home made baguette with toasted rosemary butter.

Toasted Rosemary Butter

Between the nine of us, here are the dishes that were ordered:

I ordered the poached eggs with seared lentil & bay laurel crusted rainbow trout. This was served on top of a house smoked walleye & turnip latke, sauteed winter kale, and mushrooms. And all of that was served over a spicy pool of yam broth with chipotle aioli. Like I said, just layers and layers of flavors! The spiciness of the creamy broth paired well with the fish and poached eggs.

Poached Eggs with Seared Lentil & Bay Laurel Crusted Rainbow Trout

CK ordered the sweet + savory dish: a brie stuffed oat & brown sugar coated French toast with double-smoked bacon, thyme infused maple syrup, summer raspberry coulis, vanilla whipped cream, and fresh pear. If you love sweet with a bit of saltiness, this dish is for you.

Brie Stuffed Oat & Brown Sugar Coated French Toast

The penne pasta was the most beautiful dish of the bunch, and the fabulous red color from the beets wowed everyone at our table. The pasta was served with duck confit, brussel leaves, squash, fried egg, radish sprouts, and a beet broth with saffron aioli. They did a great job turning an otherwise boring pasta dish into something exciting.

Penne Pasta with Duck Confit

The heartiest dish was the triple 'A' beef tenderloin & leek sandwich served with blue cheese creme fraiche, lemon-thyme gravy, turnip & caper remoulade, and green salad. Everyone who ordered this dish loved it.

Triple 'A' Beef Tenderloin & Leek Sandwich

I've never been disappointed with the brunch here. The flavor combos are awesome, and the atmosphere is bright and cheerful. The place is normally packed with locals,which is always a good sign of a great establishment.

You can check out my past brunch at this link here.

The Urban Pear
151 Second Avenue, Unit C
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-569-9305

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Happy Persian New Year!

Happy Nowruz everyone!

Today is Persian New Year, also the first day of Spring! Eid-e Nowruz (Persian New Year) is the biggest holiday for Persians, celebrated in many countries including Iran, Albania, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

This is the first year that CK and I are celebrating Persian New Year without his parents, which means that we (including his sister) had to do all the New Year prep ourselves. All the prep revolves around the idea of starting the new year with a fresh start: a thorough Spring cleaning of the house, purchase of new clothes, and the purchase of new flowers.

Another major prep for Nowruz is the Haft Sin spread (pictured in the title photo), a traditional table setting reflecting the major symbols of life and signifying all the things we want in life.

Sabzeh: signifying Rebirth and Renewal

Haft Sin means seven 'S', and everything displayed on the haft sin table starts with the letter 'S'.
The Haft Sin is the focal point of the New Year celebration, and families take pride in displaying beautiful, elaborate settings. I think the three of us did a pretty awesome job with our haft sin this year.

The seven major haft sin items are:

1. sabzeh - legume sprouts (symbolizing rebirth and renewal)
2. senjed - dried fruit of a lotus tree (symbolizing love...my favorite one!)
3. sib - apple (symbolizing health and beauty)
4. samanu - wheat pudding (symbolizing fertility)
5. serkeh - vinegar (symbolizing age and patience)
6. somagh - crushed sumac berries (symbolizing the color of sunrise...sun conquers evil)
7. seer - garlic (symbolizing medicine and good health)

Additional 'S' items are optional such as eggs (fertility), candles (energy), gold fish (life), hyacinth (life and beauty), coins (wealth), mirror (cleanliness and honesty), and pastries (sweetness).

One of my favorite parts of eid is the egg decorating. Every year, we all compete for the best decorated egg.

Decorated Eggs

The winning egg, hands down, is CK's 'kumbaya' egg. Isn't this the cutest egg you have ever seen? He has never been the artistic type, so I'm impressed that we even got him to decorate an egg. Thank god for March Madness...he decorated his egg while watching basketball. I'm so proud of him for doing this! His egg just makes me smile.

Kumbaya Egg

My sister-in-law, naturally, creates the most symbolic and thoughtful egg of the bunch. This year is the Year 1390 in the Persian solar calendar.

1390 Egg

And this was my egg! No significance, it's just what came to mind.

Peacock Egg

It is also important to eat a traditional New Year's dish for Nowruz. In CK's family, it is traditional to have lentil rice with sauteed onions, raisins, and dates. A very simple yet delicious dish.

Lentil Rice

Sauteed Raisins, Dates and Caramelized Onions

And Nowruz is all about visiting family and friends (which we did). It is also imperative to eat something sweet to ensure a sweet year to come!

Pastries to Start a Sweet Year

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Town, Ottawa

When I made the move back to Ottawa, there was buzz about new resto Town everywhere I went.
When our friend, N, made dinner plans with us, I knew where I wanted to take him. We hadn't seen N in ages, and it was great catching up with him, especially over great food. What I really loved about Town was the vibe of the place. It was casual, funky, and friendly. A place where locals could just hang out. If you wanted to have a big hearty meal, they had that. If you just wanted some small plates to share, they also had that. If you wanted a good drink with dessert, you could also do that.
The three of us ordered a bunch of plates to share. My favorite way to dine.

The first dish was the tuna crudo: fresh tuna topped with coppa, mint, lemon, and truffle oil. I loved the mild tuna and salty coppa combination.

Tuna Crudo

Next was a simple plate of olives with pickled fennel and citrus.

Olives

The ricotta gnudi with coarse pesto was a dish that people seemed to love when I read reviews of this place. Maybe I expected too much because I thought it was just ok. It was good, but nothing spectacular.

Ricotta Gnudi

The cod fritters were served with smoked pork ragu and lemon mayo.

Cod Fritters

A favorite of mine was the lamb ragu pappardelle dish. This was served with oyster mushrooms and pecorino romano. The pasta was fresh, and the slow cooked ragu was delicious.

Lamb Ragu Pappardelle

This crispy trout was hard to share but we managed. The trout was served with roasted potatoes, king mushrooms, black olives, and agrodolce. I really liked the addition of the black olives...something I don't see very often with fish.

Crispy Trout

The last dish, which also was my favorite dish, was the dirty lasagna bolognese. What made this dish amazing was that it was topped with a slow poached egg! The runny egg with the warm pasta was perfect. This was also served with swiss chard and toast. I'm pretty sure I ate this dish all by myself. Everyone just stayed away because I was loving it way too much.

Dirty Lasagna Bolognese

Town
296 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Canada
Telephone: 613-695-8696

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Tennessy Willems, Ottawa

CK and I celebrated our be-lated Valentine's dinner at Tennessy Willems in Hintonburg. We're huge fans of Pizzeria Libretto in Toronto, so when we heard that Tennessy Willems had a connection to the place, we were all over it. I've been disappointed with Ottawa's attempt at Neapolitan-style wood fired pizza, but this one I had to try.

CK and I started with a mackerel plate: Whalesbone smoked mackerel on top of an apple beet slaw + lemon Crème Fraiche, served with fresh bread. This was delicious. The fish was perfectly smoked, and it was just the way I like it. The mackerel was a bit too fishy for CK...which meant more for me :)

Mackerel Plate

CK and I both ordered a pizza each. We were handed a big bottle of chilli oil, and it was happy eating from there. The thin crust, one of the most important elements, was chewy and charred in all the right places.

I ordered the bianco: pear, walnuts, fresh smoked prosciutto, fiore de latte, and Gorgonzola. This one is highly recommended.

Bianco Pizza

CK ordered the simple margherita: fire-roasted tomato sauce, fresh Mozzarella, and basil. The sauce was a bit acidic, but a decent margherita overall.

Margherita Pizza

For dessert, we shared the lemon tart. A shortbread pastry crust covered with a creamy, runny lemon custard. The custard was fresh, and you could tell it was made with love.

Lemon Tart

Tennessy Willems
1082 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-722-0000

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La Petite Scierie, Paris

Bonjour mes amies! I'm taking you on a little tour to Paris today.

For some odd reason, when I think of Paris, the words 'mais, oui oui, non non!' blurt out of my mouth. Translated, it just means 'But, yes yes, no no,' so I'm not really sure where I got that from. I learned a little bit of French growing up, but I am by no means fluent in the language as you can see.

La Petite Scierie was the first little shop I stumbled upon on my recent trip to Paris. This cute little shop is steps away from the Notre Dame cathedral, and specializes in foie gras.

Notre Dame Cathedral

I know I'm digressing, but look at the gorgeous Gothic detail.

Gothic Detail on Notre Dame Cathedral

The moment you step into their tiny shop, you will be overwhelmed with all there is - despite the size of the place. You will first notice the beautiful 17th century stone wall behind the shop counter. And when you peek around your shoulder, you will see jars and jars of home made foie gras, rillettes, confits, and pickled vegetables.

La Petite Scierie

While I was slowly trying to take it all in, I was warmly greeted by the shop owner who was excited to educate and talk to us about foie gras.

La Petite Scierie

"Before we talk about foie gras, we must first try some!", the owner says. My friend and I were handed a sample of their foie gras along with a small glass of Coteaux du Layon, a sweet white wine from the Loire Valley wine region of France. The foie gras was heavenly! This is no exaggeration. Foie gras has never been the same since this experience.

Foie Gras

Everything sold in the shop is produced on their farm in Pouilly-sur-Loire, and the production of their foie gras is limited. They do not ship any of their products, so you will have to make a trip to the shop if you want to try some.

Here are some more photos from my trip. Sit back, and imagine yourself eating foie gras while sipping some Coteaux du Layon while you enjoy these photos:

La Petite Scierie
60 rue Saint Louis en l’Ile
75004 Paris, France
Telephone: 01 55 42 14 88

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Lemon Curd Bars

The awesome thing about these lemon curd bars are that they are a hit no matter when and what you make them for. I've made these a bunch of times and people love them every time! The fresh lemon flavor combined with the short bread crust is irresistible. Try it for yourself. You won't regret it....well, you may regret going for that second or third helping, but that's not a bad thing in my books ;)

Lemon Curd Bars
(Adapted from Taste and Tell)

Shortbread Crust
- 2 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 sticks of butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- vegetable oil for greasing

Lemon Curd- 1 cup of fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
- 4 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks (at room temperature)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup of sifted all-purpose flour

Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F/175C. Line a 9x13 baking dish with tin foil. Grease the tin foil with vegetable oil.

2. In a bowl, combine the shortbread crust ingredients and mix well until a dough forms. Press the dough evenly and tightly into the baking dish, making sure there are no cracks. Bake for 25 minutes or until slightly golden.

3. While the crust is baking, make the lemon curd. Whisk together the eggs, 2 cups of sugar, and 1/3 cup of flour, adding the sugar and flour a little bit at a time. Once the lemon curd is smooth, whisk in the lemon zest and lemon juice.

4. When the crust is finished baking, remove from oven and pour the lemon curd mixture over top of the crust. Reduce the heat to 300F/150C, and bake the lemon curd for 30-35 minutes, or until it sets.

5. Remove from oven and let it cool in the pan. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight is best. Remove from pan, peel off the tin foil, and slice into even bars. Keep the bars refrigerated until ready to serve. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

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Topkapi Turkish Restaurant, Ottawa

My sister and I hardly agree on anything food related. I like salty, she likes sweet. I love to try everything once, and she has psychological barriers to almost every food texture. It is no different with restaurant choices...she disagrees with almost everything I suggest.

When we decide to go out to dinner together, letting her choose the restaurant is really not a bad thing. We always end up at places I normally would not go to, giving me something new to experience. Our last meal together was at Topkapi, a traditional Turkish restaurant.

For starters, we had the Topkapi Mezeleri appetizer sampler, a plate of cold Turkish style dips and stuffed vine leaves. All the dips were nice and fresh. We really enjoyed this.

Appetizer Sampler

The appetizer plate was served with warm, fluffy Turkish pide bread.

Turkish Pide Bread

Freebs and I split the Karisik Izgara dinner for two, a huge platter of grilled meats. The platter was served with rice, potatoes, and a Turkish salad.

Turkish Salad

The meats in the dinner for two included shish kebap (lamb), shish tavuk (chicken), Kőfte (ground beef) and pirzola (lamb chop). All the meats were nicely grilled, and we were extremely stuffed by the end of it.

Dinner for Two

For dessert, we ordered a kűnefe to share. This is a traditional Turkish dessert made of shredded pastry and soft cheese. The pastry is layered with the cheese, and the entire dish is sweetened with syrup.

Kűnefe

A close up for you to see the cheese/pastry layers.

Kűnefe

Freebs ordered strong Turkish coffee made with finely powdered roast coffee beans to go with dessert. I thought the cup and saucer was beautiful. Love the bright colors.

Turkish Coffee

The meal came with a complimentary cup of Turkish tea. This was a little too sweet for me. I prefer my tea black.

Turkish Tea

The meal also came with complimentary Turkish delight, which was a perfect end to our meal. Sweet but not too sweet. I learned to love Turkish delight while I was in Sydney. For some reason, it is really popular there.

Turkish Delight

They also have belly dancers on Saturday nights. Check out their events page for the schedule.

Topkapi Turkish Restaurant
484 Preston Street
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Telephone: 613-230-9221

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