I don’t think anyone uses proper capitalization for Proper Nouns anymore. Is this place beerbistro as it’s website states? Or in formal reviews should we refer to it as Beerbistro or BeerBistro?

Anyways, brunch was at beerbistro on Saturday and it was very nice. Since the weather turned out to be gorgeous, we picked their patio.

They have a small selection of fresh juices and a wide selection of beer. I had the smoked chicken hash and my friend has one of the fritatas. Brunch was served with a selection of small baked breads and crouissants served before the main dishes arrived. My poached eggs were perfectly done – I would have been surprised if a place like beerbistro overcooked them.

Overall a good brunch place. More expensive than a typical bacon-and-egg place, but there was no lineup and it wasn’t that busy – which is a rare thing for a brunch spot in Toronto. I think many people don’t realize the beerbistro is open for brunch on the weekends.

Beerbistro
18 King Street East
Toronto, Ontario
416-861-9872

Need some hot kicks? I bought a pair of

Adidas O-Type Drive sneakers at Town Shoes a few weeks ago. They’re very hot!

Photos courtesy of Underground Station

It’s always a big deal when Ferrari creates a brand new model. The Ferrari GT will be introduced at the low end of the Ferrari range, below that of the F430. There’s not much to know about the car now, except that it’s definitely official. Ferrari created their own “countdown site” where you can hear the sound of their latests creation. In nine more days, pics will be released.

The Ferrari GT preview site is here.

blogTO just published another of their “best of Toronto” lists, this time focusing on the best bakers in the city. Twelve of the bakeriess are listed including Thuet Bakery which must be another offshoot of Marc Thuet’s empire like the cafe Atelier Thuet I went to last week.

Full Story –>

May 4th-10th is Emergency Preparedness Week in Canada. Both Federal and Provincial levels of goverment are trying to get the word out that people should be prepared for emergencies at their home and work. Even though Katrina-like hurricanes and Indonesia-style tsunamis seem a world away from many of us in Canada, local events like blackouts, boil-water advisories and recent flooding are a good reminder that everyone should be prepared.

Here are some websites with more information:
Public Safety Canada (Federal)
Emergency Management Ontario
Toronto Office of Emergency

All of the sites recommend having emergency tools and supplies that can assist you and your family for 72 hours. If a healthy family can be self sufficient so that emergency workers can assist people that are injured or in life-threatening situations, it will easy the strain on emergency resources in times of need. Many retail locations offer the Ready Kit which are available both with food and water and without. It is available at:
Home Depot
St. John Ambulance
Canadian Tire

Other retail locations with similar kits are:
Mountain Equipment Co-op
Costco

Costco also provides a large family-size kit for 4 people:
Costco Family Kit

The 24-hour CityNews channel must make an on air admittance to it’s use of photos from a Toronto photographer without giving him credit.

Full story is at Torontoist and the full decision by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

Briefly in 2006, the Discovery Channel ran season one of Survivorman. From the first episode I was hooked. The series is about Les Stroud, a Canadian outdoorsman, puts himself in outdoor survival situations and survives on his own. Similarly, Bear Grylis from the UK has a similar survival show called Man vs. Wild.

While both shows so the hosts in survival situations, Survivorman really passes as better entertainment. Bear Grylis runs around while a film crew follow behind him every step. Les Stroud, on the other hand, heads out on his own, packing all his film gear and filming everything during his 7-day ordeal himself. He even makes the music heard throughout each episode.

Survivorman started showing it’s second season on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN). Check it out!

The Wyre is a daily email provided by xyyz.ca. The target audience is men in Toronto but they have provided lots of valuable information useful to the general Toronto public.

Recently they published XYYZ: GuyMaps – Jacob Richler’s Guide to Fine Food Shops in YYZ, a map of all the fine butchers and fishmongers in Toronto. Included is my favorite butchers, Cumbrae’s and the Healthy Butcher.

I organized a big party at Jump Cafe downtown several months ago. One of my guests, Scott, chose a fantastic Italian Amarone that I enjoyed so much, I tried to buy it at the LCBO the following weekend.

A quick call to the fabulous sommelier informed me that the wine was a 2000 Amarone della Valpolicella Classico ‘Fracastoro’. Unfortunately, I learned that not all wines in Ontario are available through the LCBO.

Stem Wine Group was the importer of the wine and it was directly available through them. They responded quickly to my email and provided delivery right to my door. Not only do they carry the Amarone, but they have a full family of wines.

My Facebook status usually displays what I’ve cooked for dinner when I get the energy to do something homemade. I usually get messages for recipe’s so I’ll be listing them here. Like all recipes, there are endless variations and substitutions available, however this is a quick easy recipe that I use.

Jason’s Roast Chicken

Ingredients:

• Whole roast chicken
• Dijon mustard
• Garlic
• Carrots
• Celery
• Onions
• Sale & pepper
• Olive oil

Instructions:

1. Dice carrots, onion and celery into largish pieces. Line the bottom of the roasting pan with these vegetables and lightly cover with olive oil.
2. Using scissors (or kitchen shears or large chef’s blade) cut away at both sides of the spine of the chicken. Remove neck and gizzards if they are there and dispose (this recipe doesn’t use them). Wash and rinse the chicken and pat dry.
3. Slice garlic thinly and put underneath the skin of the chicken between the skin and the breast/thighs. Brush mustard on the chicken skin, lightly drip olive oil on chicken, and sprinkly salt and pepper.
4. Score the thighs of the chicken with 1-2 cuts so that it cooks as quickly as the breast meat.
5. Place the chicken on top of the vegetables and put in a 400F oven for 45 minutes. Place a piece of foil on top of the chicken for the first 30 minutes, take off with 15 minutes left to go.