The Weekender
Four ways to a better weekend.
Welcome to Quaintrelle Weekender.
This is a short list of things I am currently loving to make eating, drinking, and hosting easier and a lot more interesting.
Going Out:
The newly opened Bar Ardo is a block or two west of the original Ardo restaurant – a Sicilian spot on King Street not far from the George Brown hospitality campus. It just opened a few weeks ago and I’ve already been twice for lunch. The food is very, very good, service warm and efficient, and the setting is both cozy and sleek. My first visit I sat at the art deco bar and had the house-made rigatoni with bresato sugo and a glass of Dolcetto d’Alba; the next visit I shared a few small plates with a friend: Ardo’s stalwart chickpea fritters, a sensational caesar salad that hits the perfect balance of anchovy (aka, not too much), and seasonal confit artichokes served with capers, mint and pecorino. Reservations are recommened, and you can expect mid-tier pricing for a downtown Toronto restaurant.
Staying In:
I’ll be spending a good portion of the long weekend with my family. Over the last few years we’ve developed a habit of playing a board game with our afternoon wine and cheese. The last few holidays have centred around The Train Game, a strategic adventure building networks of rails from one city to another – before your opponents get the lines you need to complete your journey. It’s a ton of fun.
Set the Scene
Rechargeable cordless table lamps
Nothing is more flattering than good lighting. Except maybe a terrific pair of Spanx.
Ok, make that nothing is more flattering and comfortable than good lighting.
I recently rolled the dice on these sleek, gold lamps and am utterly blown away by their power, bright, yet soft, light, and design. I have them on my coffee hutch and they cast a beautiful glow throughout the room.
They do take a good day to fully charge from empty, but they also last nearly eight hours. Just charge them throughout the night. Highly recommend.
Cooking Tip: Tame the Bite of Raw Onion
If you’re sensitive to the harsh flavour of raw onion, or suffer from… ahem… “onion burps” the technique of sugaring your onions is a game changer.
Slice your raw onions and toss them with a little sugar. Just enough to coat – say 1/2 teaspoon for a half an onion. Let them rest for 10 minutes or so while you go about prepping other things.
I learned this kitchen tip in my first cooking course at GBC years ago and have been preparing raw onions this way ever since. It doesn’t make your onions sugary, or even sweet, the sugar just smoothes the onion’s coarse edge. Case in point: last summer, friends came over for lunch. Eating our salad, one stopped mid-bite and marvelled, “Wow, these onions are really good.”
Try it and let me know what you think.