Boy oh boy, I can’t even give it either a fork or chopsticks. Can’t understand why people like it so much. The better plates are shrimp and snow peas stir fry and bean sprouts.

Suprisingly, the desserts taste much better than the entrées. I had almond biscuit, bread pudding, tapioca pudding, brownies and creme caramel. Not sure if it’s worth $26.99.

The food in France is exceptional. Just about anywhere in the town you can find good food, shall I thank the authors at Lonely Planet (France) as well?

The Adventure

This is “Andouillette with Fries” I tasted in Monte Carlo. It’s a speciality dish in France.
It’s pork intestine. Guess, the French could be like the Cantonese in terms of the exotic food. The bad taste of the intestine is suprisngly not there thanks to the strong pepper seasonings and the sauce.

I also ordered the Rock Fish Stock Soup to start. It’s the best 16 Euros I spent on soup!

A Suprise

Dim Sum Plate in Nice! Can you believe it? The round dumpling located at the “4-o’clock” of the steamer is a dumpling I like a lot, but even I couldn’t find that in Hong-couver!

The sweets

Of course the day cannot end without desssert! It’s fruit Clafoutis. It’s a different rendition of the one I had at Provence Marinaside in Vancouver. It’s made out of eggs (like quiche but sweet taste) with lots of exotic fruits and a light tart base. On the topm it’s like creme brulee, it’s burnt a bit. It’s exceptional. Thanks to the recommendation from Lonely Planet.

The Snacks:

We brought this Smoked Salmon cone at Monoprix (I think it’s like a supermarket giant that sells just a bit of everything. It’s like a upscale Safeway with London Drugs and Winners all in one!). Inside the cone, it’s a pate of Smoked Salmon topped with some cream and the gello with chieves.

A Regular Lunch in Nice

We went to a nicely decorated place on Boulvard de Jean Medicine in Nice. I guess the French will call this place “sympthatic”. It’s the Combo I picked to satisify my eggs craving. It’s a Sandwich of American Style and with the toxically delicious White Chocolate Raspberry Tarte!

Walking on a brisk winter morning in Toronto to the Hart House’s gym, my sleepy soul was refreshed by the 30-min cardio I did, as well as the company of the infamous “Rainy Men” song.

Right after the workout, I had a craving for mushroom and my palette was indulged by this little place on Yonge St called “Not just Noodles” cafe. The price is like 70% of Vancouver’s  and the food is not very oily and with little MSG.

Food tour episode 2:

Venturing to West of Toronto in the Kitchener/ Waterloo area, passing by with all the blue-chip company’s headquarters on the Highway 401, we arrived to this small town in St. Jacobs. Guess what I saw first? The first Home Hardware store in Canada.

Finished Brooms on display at the Hamel Broom.

This charming little town house the Mennonites people, which is similiar to the Amish people on the Simple Life show. Housed with many local hand crafts and art and craft stores, we came across a store called Hamel Broom just specializing on the old-fashioned brooms. Later on, we routed back to Markham and had dinner at the pretty cool cantonese style congee noodle house called the Congee Wong.

Ingredients:
One lbs chicken wings
One can of regular cola (355 mL)
70 ml of soya sauce

Steps:
1. Marinate the chicken wings for 30 minutes with two tbs of soya sauce, two tbs of Chinese cooking wine (can be substituted with Brandy), white pepper, salt and sugar.
2. Sauté chicken wings with two- to three cloves of freshly diced garlic in medium heat. Cook both sides of wings until they turn golden (approx ten minutes).
3. Add cola and soya sauce (the soy to cola ratio must be 1:5). Turn to mid-heat and cook it for 30 minutes. Add sugar/salt to taste.

Ingredients
3 dried scallops
3 dried mushrooms
1/4 lbs of sweet peas
1/2 lbs skinless shredded chicken breasts
1 serving of rice

Instructions

1. Marinate chicken with 2 tbsps of chinese cooking wine, 2 tbsps of soya sauce, some white pepper, and some sesame oil for 30 mins.
2. Soak dried scallops and mushrooms into hot bowl of water for 30+ mins. Then marinate the mushrooms with 2 teaspoons of soya, sugar, and sesame oil.
3. Add oil onto a saucepan. Sauté the mushrooms, scallops, and sweet peas with garlic for 2 mins. Add in the chicken until it become golden. Set aside.
4. Cook rice.
5. Heat a chinese terra-cotta pot. Put the cooked rice on the bottom of the pot. Then pour the chicken, peas, mushrooms, and scallops on top. Add 1/3 cups of water. Covered and cook for 20 mins.
6. Heat up 2 tbsps of oil and 1 tbsp of soya sauce on a saucepan. Add the sauce onto the rice. To serve.