FOOD REVOLUTION TORONTO 2012

A good friend of mines is a major foodie. Almost as big of a foodie as I am. With almost anything related to food we can almost always count on the other agreeing or having an opinion. When Joanna of Bumpercrop approached me about Food Revolution Day in Toronto. It was a resounding YES all the way! 

What is Food Revolution? It all started with this guy you might know....Mr. Jamie Oliver of Jamie Oliver BBC Naked Chef, Jamie's Ministry of Food, Jamie's Italy series fame etc. etc. etc.  

Food Revolution Day is May 19 and its main purpose is:

“My charity aims to inspire people to reconnect with food. It's all about raising awareness and individual responsibility, resuscitating dying food culture around the world and, ultimately, keeping cooking skills alive.”

Jamie Oliver

 

It was a brilliant day, with some really great people meeting all in the common goal of good food, cooked with love and shared with a good purpose at its heart. To start your own chapter or event visit Jamie's Foundation site. 

I think you will agree, there was some really good eats had by all. What a great time with friends new and old. 

Ontario First Spring Asparagus with Parma from The Bumpercrop!

Confit of Pork Belly served with Truffled Mash and Haricot Verts

Great people enjoying good food and company! Thanks to all who donated to a good cause and came out to enjoy!

I love cheese and so did everybody else...this was a delightful way to start the evening!

Heather from Knead Bakery in Toronto provided the a great way to end the evening. Buttercream, rhubarb vanilla cupcakes!

I'll post more photos as they come! I want to thank Joanna again for hosting such a wonderful evening. It was so much fun, we all made new friends and saw some old ones that evening. A great evening indeed for a great cause! We will do this again on the next Food Revolution Day in 2013! Hopefully, we will see you there? Drop us a comment if you would like to be informed about the next event! Cheers!

 

More Photos from the event! 

 

EL TROMPO - A Kensington Market Gem!

Tacos, tacos and even more tacos. The phenomenon of food trucks and remarkable little establishments such as El Trompo have revitalized Toronto's taste buds for this simple yet delicious street food. I visited this little hole in the wall based upon the recommendation of Suresh Doss of Spotlight Toronto and Food Truck Eats fame. I will forever be in his debt for sharing this little place with me. The service was snappy in a good way. The food was awesome and re-ignited my interest and love of Mexican food that I had only not too recently lost.

Guacamole

Let me explain. In my travels, I have been to LA and I have even vacationed in Mexico and to be honest was not impressed with the flavours or lack thereof in the food. LA street markets and even haute cuisine restaurants all seemed to fall flat. Leaving my taste buds unimpressed. Now after visiting, El Trompo will forever be my first pick to satisfy my Mexican food cravings. I am reborn and truly excited with the food that they are creating. Take a look at these photos and I challenge you to disagree! El Trompo rocks...that is all. The best Mexican Taquitos in Toronto hands down.

Al Pastor

The Al Pastor is their specialty, it is a Mexican city inspired style taco. Pork and meat marinated in the traditional sauce. Served on a corn tortilla, coriander, onion and pineapple. Sweet, savory and spicy and very good eats!

 

Salsa and Nachos

Chorizo Tacos

They use their home made Mexican sausage to stuff these corn tortillas. Served with coriander, onion and lime. These went down very well! With either of the above choices you could not go wrong.

Churros! Only available on Saturday and Sunday

I was truly impressed with the great flavours of the food that they are cooking at El Trompo. The staff was brilliant and very friendly. They were all very proud of the food they produced.  I loved it.  If I had to make a suggestion. Go for the Tacos, they are stellar. The Guacamole was nice but a little out of line on price. The Salsa and Nachos were ordinary. I would grab another plate of tacos rather than going for an appetizer. That's my feeling anyways. Also, a note this place is almost always busy and sometimes you may have to wait. Patience...this place is worth it.

El Trompo

277 Augusta Avenue,

Toronto, ON

M5T 2M1

416.260.0097

www.eltrompo.ca

NEW BEGINNINGS...

When I started this blog I had someone give me gentle nudges to start this adventure. She knew that I loved food and photography equally. Which is to say that I LOVED BOTH a lot! She also thought that I could be a great source to speak and share food stories passionately and with a credibility that can only come from having been in the industry for years and knowing it inside and out. She was right. She did know me and I am forever going to be grateful for those nudges into this. 

Months have come and gone by so quickly since I last posted. What can I say about this time in my life and absence from my labour of love,  is that so much has changed. Many times I have attempted to do a post yet, it has been so challenging to even look at my blog let alone sit and write a post. All I can say is that I am looking forwards to new beginnings and new experiences. I have had my heart crushed, my life turned upside down and have been put through the emotional meat grinder that is simply called life.

I had promised that I would write from the heart, be open and honest to whomever came across my blog. I feel that I owe it to the people who have ventured out of their way to look here. But this will be the only post that I will ever dedicate to my past love that was my wife, Michelle. Unfortunately, we weren't meant to grow old together. It came to me as a huge surprise. She came up to me one day, ironically after doing a successful catering event and told me of her decision to leave and seek out a new life without me. It hurt, still hurts and I am certain will hurt for some time. At many times, I had inspiration to write but, I would not even be able to come and visit my own page, her photos are plastered all over the blog and it hurt too much to see them. She was my muse.

It's been months if you are keeping track, October 2011 since I last posted. For those who have enjoyed and looked forwards to my food posts. I'm sorry that I have left this cold turkey. Over the months, I have gotten stronger and have been able to face the reality of moving onwards and upwards. I thank my friends and family for all their support be it in real life or out in the social media universe.

That's all I want to say about this. I am ready to move forwards and share my explorations into what I consider great food and my passions as it relates to my life. Travel, Motorbikes, fishing, camping, good friends and awesome adventures. See you all out there!

Nicholas