Sunday Brunch at Langdon Hall

After spending most of Saturday afternoon strolling around the hotel's property, then treating ourselves to a fantastic Chef's Tasting Menu in the evening, you may wonder what we ended up doing Sunday at Langdon Hall (Twitter: @Langdon_Hall, Facebook: Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa). How about the same thing all over again?! Well not exactly, but close enough. 

Feeling rejuvenated after a great night's sleep (in our beautiful room nonetheless) we woke to marvelous weather; there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Taking full advantage of this and the few hours we have before checking-out, we took one last excursion on the estate's herb and water gardens, fields, and manicured lawns. 

We would rest on the benches between our walks every now and then just so we can take a mental picture of the gorgeousness surrounding us. Life could not be better at that moment.

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Oops, actually it can! Enter Sunday brunch, outside, underneath a big beautiful tree, with a view of the Langdon Hall gardens!

STAR FRUIT MARGARITA ($18)

Star Fruit Syrup combined with Cointreau and Sauza Gold

MOCKTAIL ($6.50)

Cucumber and Beet Syrup Soda

Skin + Bones Tasting Menu

Y'all should know by now how much I like Skin + Bones (if not, click here). According to foursquare I've been to Skin + Bones (Twitter: @skinandbonesto, Facebook: Skin+Bones) a staggering 7 times in the last 60 days. Insane! Given, I didn't have dinner there every single time it's still a remarkable number (especially for someone who doesn't work there haha). Having said that, don't you think Skin + Bones deserve a second post on my blog? I certainly do! This post is a recap of a dinner a couple of weeks ago where I went to Skin + Bones with my friends Nic (@NicCanCook), Alex (@chefwh1te) and Stephanie (@Stephaniemmgh). Knowing that I was coming in *again* chef Matthew Sullivan (@GastroMatthew) prepared a tasting menu especially for us *thank you*.

After a couple of cocktails, it was wine time.

Pork Bone Soup Braised Pork Neck and Fermented Daikon

(chef Sullivan made this PBS especially for me :D)

Raw Sea Bream from Nova Scotia marinated in Fermented Mushroom Juice, Raw B.C. Wild Stripped Shrimp.

Table 17 - Table d'Hote

This is my third Table 17 post. My first post was several months ago when I went for their regular dinner menu; my second post was around several weeks ago when I went for their Sunday brunch; and this post is about my dinner with four friends this past Sunday where we tried Table 17's Table d'Hote menu.


Table 17 offers a Table d'Hote menu every Sunday and Monday which features three courses for $32. Pretty awesome, right? Well there's more - what's even better is that there's also no corkage fee for Table d'Hote!


If you want to see more pictures of the decor at Table 17's please click here. I only took this one picture on Sunday because for the previous two visits I always sat at those two-person tables against the wall; I had a different view this time =)

My friend ordered a Caesar and I ordered the Pomegranate Sour (Stoli vodka, grapefruit juice, pomegranate juice, fresh citrus juices). I love Caesars but I wanted to try something new (also because I tried their Caesar last time at brunch already). The Pomegranate Sour tasted alright, no complaints, but for $12, I expected some kinda garnish...a lemon wedge, a lemon curl, a tacky umbrella even... just something so the drink would look more appealing than just three pomegranate seeds at the bottom.

*Sigh* we did not take advantage of the BYOW / no corkage fee deal as we did not get to LCBO in time to buy wine =( O well, next time.


Moving on to the food~ Before our first course came, we all shared a plate of Hot Balls, pictured at the top of the post. Three out of the five of us never had them before but because of Twitter, they have heard so much about them so it was a "must-order" anyway. As I expected, everybody loved them. Those Hot Balls with the accompanied sauces are simply irresistable. You can read more about Table 17's Hot Balls here. 

APPETIZERS

Shaved Ontario Asparagus - Pea shoots, heirloom radish, ricotta salata, mint & hazelnut vinaigrette.


My friend, Cindy, loved the pairing of asparagus and pea shoots. She thought it was a great salad over all - everything was very fresh and the hazelnut vinaigrette was very flavourful (maybe a tad bit too flavorful as she sometimes found bites that were too salty). Cindy liked the salad as it was different, delicious, and very well portioned.  It was her favourite course of the night.

Crepes and Waffles at Spin Dessert

Thank goodness for Spin Dessert, I no longer have to rely on Demetres for my dessert fix in the west end. In my opinion, Demetres has gone down in quality over the last several years: presentation is sloppy and depending on what location portion size can be drastically different too. Oh yeah, some locations really need a renovation as well. All in all, I just don't feel like I'm getting my money's worth when I get a crepe or waffle at Demetres. In all honesty, I think crepes and waffles are never worth $8-$12, they are essentially a rip-off in in a sense considering they consists of just batter and ice cream or some fruits and other toppings. But nevertheless, I'd rather be walking out happily ripped-off than walking out feeling all bitter about it.


The one thing that bothers me the most about Demetres is the presentation of their crepe. This is just purely personal preference but I like my crepes to be methodologically wrapped with ice cream on top of the crepe, unlike this crepe from Demetres, where the crepe was simply draped on top of the ice cream and then sprinkled with toppings and syrup with two randomly placed blobs of whipped cream. I personally find this crepe really ugly.

Photo credit - Tummy Points

On the other hand, look at this crepe from Café Crepe; this is how I would like my crepe to look like.

Photo credit: UTTSA

Pretty, right? I know not every place will, or want, to present their crepe exactly like that which is fine, but all I ask is the following: serve people something that look like you put some effort into making it.

Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I was itching to bake one day. Itching. But I knew I was also too lazy to go out and get ingredients at the store - I basically wanted to bake in my pajamas without having to change. Solution? Rummage around the house to see what's available. 


I wanted to use up the white chocolate that I bought extra the last time I made the Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins, so I went to allrecipes.com, typed in "white chocolate" in the ingredient search field, and found this Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Perfect! My mom has a huge bag of Craisins that she uses for her biscotti, and my house always has oats because my parents sometimes make oatmeal for breakfast.

Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins

My foodie friend, Cindy, forwarded me this Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins recipe from eat me, delicious about a month ago. She told me they were great and has already made them a few times. Convinced, I decided to try making these muffins as well, although I have to admit, I was weary about mixing chocolate and tea leaves together. What an awkward combo, right? Especially its chocolate chunks, not even chocolate chips. In hindsight, I think this worry of mine led to the downfall of my muffins.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground Earl Grey tea (or more if you dare)
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chunks