Showing posts with label Now Magazine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Now Magazine. Show all posts

Monday, July 8, 2013

Farmers Market + Tech Conference = @ Eat Up TO

Yes, you read that right.  A farmers market, food and drink event with a tech conference thrown in the mix...that pretty much sums up the Eat Up TO event that took place on Sunday, June 23rd at 99 Sudbury Ave.
Some of the many sponsors of Eat UP TO
Hosted by Foodea

I was there to help out the only tea company at this yummy and informative event.  My Tea Brew is the brainchild of Certified Tea Sommelier, Donna Sikora.  Donna was my one of my fellow travel mates on my recent China Tea Tour too, so I was more than happy to help her out.  Add great drinks, some of the city's finest food trucks and food tables, with oysters!  Hello, I was there!

Food trucks!


A sunny summer afternoon calls for beer!

La Tromba's Watermelon cucumber margarita was very refreshing
Cool City Oyster Yard - I found another cool oyster house in town


Lucky Limes from Prince Edward Island were fresh, salty and sweet finish, mmm

Service with a smile from San Pellegrino

Donna from My Tea Brew

Donna's handcrafted Red bush Chai Mallow puffs were perfect little fluffy treats!  It had just the right amount of chai flavour, not too sweet and oh so soft.  I could have had two!
Berry berry rooibos on tap - fragrant, light and refreshing



John Placko of the Modern Culinary Academy
Food meets science in molecular cuisine

Flexible caramel and green tea infused aerated white chocolate - looks like sushi, fun to eat!


Kevin from Cheesewerks 
In defense of food photography by Chris from Gastropost
A great little find, La Rivolta pop-up


The arancini was delicious! Light and crispy on the outside and cheesy gooey on the inside and oh so tasty.  A treat from La Rivolta.  Everyone's so friendly at the farmer's market.
Food Media Panel of Wendy Kam Marcy (Hip Urban Girl) , Jen Chan (Foodpr0n), Yvonne Tsui (3 Hungry Cats), Casper Yue (Toronto Food Trucks) and Abbey Sharp (Abbey’s Kitchen) moderated (standing)


Dillion's vodka Thyme Lemonade was a perfect way to cap off the day.  (their vodka is distilled from Niagara grapes!)


The nice fellows from Sangwich (Dolce Lucano) gave us tea gals a treat of sandwiches, thank you guys! 

Cowbell! 
And if you can't tell by now, besides tea, I also really like oysters!!  Pimm's Cup with my last two oysters of the day (Raspberry Points from PEI).

And last but not least, Hot Bunzz!
These cute stuffed buns are a riff on the Chinese baos.
I tried the Bison Short Rib and Brazilian BBQ Beef.  I really enjoyed the flavour of the Bison. The Brazilian BBQ Beef was more similar to a Chinese style baos/buns. The BBQ sauce was made with Brazilian coffee.

They were both tasty buns, but unfortunately because I was chatting with Gayle of the Canadian Foodies Blog so long, the chef had to interject and tell me that "they're not Hot Bunzz anymore". Oh no! They're warm not hot... aww, guess I'll have to get some more soon and devour them right away to get the proper Hot Bunzz experience!
I had such a great time.  I picked up some good information, tasted some yummy food and fantastic drinks.  I look forward to next year's Eat Up TO!  In the meantime, there's a new market in town.... Night Market TO until October for us foodies!

I love to share, so if you liked this post, feel free to share with your friends!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Where's Waldo, um, I mean Rita, this weekend?

Here are a couple of cool food and tea events in Toronto this weekend:

Saturday, June 22nd, 2 - 3:30pm - Spring Tea Tasting event at Tao Tea Leaf (934 Yonge Street)
       Come taste some of the finest and freshest Chinese teas that Certified Tea Sommelier, Tao Wu,  brought back from China.  A special award winning guest will be performing a Chinese tea ceremony.  There will  snacks as well. If you miss this, they hold frequent tea workshops.
         

Tao on the right

Tao hosted the China Spring Tea Tour.  It was a fantastic experience.  I got to taste lots of teas, learn a lot about what the leaf goes through from bush to cup.  (Looking forward to sorting more photos and continuing to blog about it!)


Sunday, June 23, Noon - 6pm - EatUpTO! at 99 Sudbury St.  
          I'll be there helping out fellow Certified Tea Sommelier Donna Sikora steep and serve tea from her tea company, My Tea Brew at EatupTO! This innovative food and marketing event is a mix of farmers market and tech conference and is being presented by Now Magazine.  There'll be food industry speakers, close to 30 food and drink vendors and food trucks!  Who doesn't love food trucks!?

Click here for tickets and more information.  A portion of the proceeds will go towards Covenant House Toronto, and their Cooking For Life program.

Come out, drop by the stand and say hi!

Now back to the task at hand...those travel photos...

Photo: Tao Wu
This is kind of how I feel with sorting my photos right now...