Juice diaries – part II

Outside it might be snowing… inside it’s a fruity celebration! Thanks for all the recipes and tons of suggestions. I have made a few green juices of which I wasn’t particular proud, so I will spare you those ones!

(Yes, I have this new found fling with strawberries at the moment, but they are all slightly different ;-))

juice1juice2juice3juice4juice5juice6juice7

JUICE 1 – 1 mango, 1 orange, 1 grapefruit, 1 apple (red delicious)

JUICE 2 – 170g raspberries, 2 oranges, 1 apple (red delicious)

JUICE 3 – 1 apple (red delicious), 1 grapefruit, 2 pears, grapes, 2 kiwi

JUICE 4 – 2 oranges, 1 apple (red delicious), 1 kiwi, 1 carrot

JUICE 5 – 450g strawberries, 1 apple (red delicious), 1 pear, 1 peach

JUICE 6 – 225g strawberries, 1 grapefruit, 1 orange, 1 pear

JUICE 7 – 225g strawberries, 1 orange, 1 apple (red delicious), 1 grapefruit, 1 peach, 1 lemon

Just an ordinary week…

After a period of strikes Toronto’s biggest pride is playing again: the Maple Leafs! Hockey (ice hockey that is) is the bomb in Canada, and it’s a fun and crazy experience to attend a game, especially when seated at the 10th row… The crowd goes wild!

One thing I really don’t miss from the Netherlands is the rain. YUCK! Nothing better than a sunny, cold day in Toronto: walking through the beautiful Trinity Bellwoods Park, having lunch at Nadège, doing a little bit of shopping (SALE!!!) and having dinner with friends. This week it’s time for Winterlicious, Toronto’s biggest winter culinary celebration where lots of local restaurants offer fixed price menus. Going local is the way to go. The perfect opportunity to go to this special (and way too expensive but totally worth it) restaurant you always wanted to go! Check out http://www.toronto.ca/special_events/winterlicious/2013/index.htm for more information. Bon appétit!

Maple Leafspark 2parkpark_towerbrunch NadegeToronto Yonge Dundas Square

I am from Amsterdam.

crown

Big news in the Netherlands: our Queen will abdicate the thrown and her son and his wife will be our new King and Queen. From next year onwards, we will no longer have our famous and beloved Queen’s Day, but we will celebrate… King’s Day! I’m sure this celebration will be as festive and orange as it has been the previous decades 😛

Since this is a post about the Netherlands, also known as Holland, I will make use of the opportunity to explain the difference between these two names for my small country :-). I am sure that the majority of Dutch people living abroad struggle with this dilemma as well: am I from the Netherlands, or from Holland? I prefer to say: I am from Amsterdam (sounds much cooler hehe).

So… for once and for all: WATCH & LEARN!

Juice diaries – part I

My Christmas present: a juicer. I have never made juices in my life before. But is sounds really really healthy. So here’s the result of my first week of juicing… And I’m starting to like my new ‘lifestyle’. CRAZY OF JUICING 🙂

juice1juice2juice3juice4juice5juice6juice7 

JUICE 1 – 2 apples (red delicious), 2 peaches, 2 grapefruits

JUICE 2 – 1 melon, 1 mango, mint

JUICE 3 – 1 apple (red delicious), 1 beet, 4 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, ½ cucumber, ginger

JUICE 4 – 3 tangerines, blueberries, 4 golden kiwi, 2 mangoes, ginger

JUICE 5 – 1 fennel, 3 carrots, ½ cucumber, red pepper, 3 stalks of celery, broccoli, ginger

JUICE 6 – 1 grapefruit, 2 oranges, 1 mango, 1 apple (red delicious)

JUICE 7 – 450 gram strawberries, 2 oranges, 2 red apples (red delicious)

Sightseeing in TO

Sometimes it feels like we have to do some more sightseeing in Toronto, so on a Saturday we took the car and drove through the city. We made one cultural stop WOOHOO, and went to Casa Loma (casaloma.org). You wouldn’t expect a castle in the city, on a hill overlooking Toronto! This had to be celebrated with a cocktail hehe.

Casa LomaE11even

A woman’s got to do what a woman’s got to do. Meanwhile, still on my mission to discover all the best places in Toronto, so hereby an extension of my list of favourite spots. Great restaurant: Weslodge (wedlodge.com), coffee/lunch: R2 (blogto.com/cafes/r-squared-cafe-toronto) and Neuf (leneufcafe.com), interior design on Queen Street West: Design Republic (mydesignrepublic.com) and Stylegarage (stylegarage.com). More interior on King Street East and in Liberty Village: West Elm (westelm.com). Last but not least, fashion: Lavish & Squalor (lavishandsqualor.com). (EN)JOY!

Visitors in Toronto!

During the Holiday season we had some special guests visiting us in Toronto. What do you show your family and good friends as a real Torontonian? Let’s be honest… after three months of living here we should know!

It is worth the 1.5-hour drive from Toronto to the Niagara Falls to watch these specials falls at the border of Ontario, Canada and New York State, USA. Furthermore, a trip to Canada isn’t complete without visiting an ice hockey game, the most popular sports game of the country. And despite the strike of the Toronto Maple Leafs the men enjoyed a game of the Marlies. Beer and hotdogs, YAY! For our need of culture, we visited the Royal Ontario Museum (rom.on.ca), Canada’s largest museum of world culture. Living in the same country as the Aboriginals makes it worth learning more about them and their lifestyle.

After celebrating New Years Eve with our Dutch AND Canadian friends in Czehoski (czehoski.com), one of our favourite bars in Toronto, it was time to get into our rented mini-van and go to… Haliburton! In Haliburton we resided in a resort, and blessed with snow and sunshine we discovered a new part of Canada by walking and dog sledding. WOOHOO!!

Niagara FallsFamily pic @Fallsice hockeyROM bearROM Aboriginalsnew years eveHaliburtondogsledding Haliburtondogsledding

New York, New Yoooooooork!!

Another advantage of living in Toronto: living near New York! Even though we underestimated the required boarding time (due to excitement of the closeness of the Billy Bishop City Airport which we can see from our apartment), and missed our flight… One hour later than the original planning, we got on the plane and flew to THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS. New York is magical, especially the weekend before Christmas…

View Toronto from airplaneNY streetscycling in NYStrawberry FieldsEmpire State in x-mas coloursView from NY apartmentNY Public Library5th AvenueBryant ParkGolden pantherRockefeller Center

Check out this cool piece of art @MoMA

http://youtu.be/DvZL7sicCJ8

HO HO HO (Really? Already?)

YES! It’s Christmas time in Toronto. Wham!, George Michael and Bob Geldof are THE men again and you can find more Christmas trees than squirrels in the city. There is a very nice Christmas market in Distillery District, where we also found a little Dutch booth with BOLLETJE KRUIDNOTEN woohoo! Happy me.

Distillery xmasDistillery xmas2

But… Home sweet home. Stockings, a tree and don’t forget the little snowman, make it the best place for celebrating Christmas in Canada. HO HO HO!!!

snowmanhome

Music, maestro!

Totally unexpected, I had two amazing musical nights. LALALALALALA it was great! Sunday some friends and I went to the pop-up concert of Lenni Jabour in Musideum (musideum.com). This place rocks! In a cosy setting surrounded by all kinds of instruments, we enjoyed the live music of Lenni and her string players.

Monday evening Jazz FM organized a Stan Getz night in the Old Mill, a tribute to the famous jazz saxophone player, known for his Bossa Nova style. We were definitely the youngest but nevertheless it was awesome 😛

These are two of my favourite songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pyoP0iA_k0

Food I love

Can’t stop talking about all the places where you can get great food here in Toronto. This weekend we had had dinner at Guu, a Japanese restaurant where they serve delicious food (lobster sashimi YUM and much more sheer luxury). It’s not a regular Japanese place, it’s a unique and chaotic experience, go see for yourself (guu-izakaya.com/toronto)! I can tell you this… Guu is guuuuuud!!!

Nevertheless, cooking at home can be fun too. In fact, quite often I prefer to organize a wine & dine with friends at home… Yammy! Favourite place to get fresh stuff is St. Lawrence Market (stlawrencemarket.com), a big indoor market where you can buy everything you need for an exquisite meal. And a little bit more please, I have to feed my big American fridge, don’t I?

(Check out the cosy aprons LOL)