T.O.bites | Toronto Food & Restaurant Blog

cooking with the iPad

I know a lot of Canadians are on the fence with buying an iPad which comes out in a few weeks (pre-orders start on the 10th).  I’ve had mine for about 3 weeks now and I have had a lot of use out of it.  I used to try to make notes during reviews in the WordPress app on my iPhone but I always found it tedious to type out anything besides a few blunt words on the device.  The WordPress app on the iPad is a nice step up with a larger screen and bigger keyboard but it’s not as friendly when you’re not connected to a wifi hotspot.   It still needs some work too.  I just don’t understand why I can’t insert photos within my posts the way I can through the website.  Instead, it just wants to attach them all at the bottom.

Cooking with the iPad is a better story.  It’s with great and free apps like Epicurious that can you move the old cookbook back into the cupboard.  Having thousands of recipes at your fingertips is excellent, not to mention they’re sorted really well within the app which makes finding what you want a breeze.  Not sure what to make tonight with the rest of the vegetables in your fridge that are on the brink of going bad?  Then just plug in what you’ve got and you’ll be shown a selection of recipes that you can make with them.

Epicurious

App aside, having the whole internet at your fingertips will save on paper from printed recipes, not to mention the endless selection of cookbooks you can buy through the Amazon Kindle app.  Mind you, most of my recipe books and papers tend to get dirty quickly and you may not want to have chocolate chip cookie dough sloshed all over your iPad but it probably wouldn’t do much, if any, damage if you did get some on it (I take no responsibility if you drop your iPad into a bowl of it or in the sink!) Heck, I’d rather get cookie dough and flour on my iPad than all over the keyboard of my laptop any day.  At least I can just wipe it off.

My bottom line here is if you’re still a fan of the printed text of cookbooks, then you’ll probably detest the technology.   But if you’re a fan of convenience, like me, then you’ll love the iPad.  I probably wouldn’t use it to replace the iPhone/iPod touch though as most of the cooking apps are already on that platform.  It also might be a good idea though to up the settings to make it longer before the screen locks while you’re cooking so you’re not unlocking the screen every 5 minutes with your hand all globbed up in food.

The iPad comes out in Canada on May 28th.
The Wi-Fi online version will sell for $549 (16GB), $649 (32GB) and $749 (64GB)
The Wi-Fi and 3G versions sell for $679, $779, and $879 respectively.
No word yet on how much the data plans will cost in Canada but currently in the states they are $15 for 250MB a month and $30 for unlimited.  Word is that Rogers is going to offer the plans but we have no idea how much they are going to gouge for it

Groundhog Pub courtesy of Google Maps

The Groundhog (Pub) saw its shadow and burrowed back down into the hole, permanently.  The Pub, which sat on the north east edge of St. James Town on Bloor St, has closed their doors last Friday.  The pub used to be the place to hang out after work for my colleagues, who are now going to have to find a new watering hole.  The owners of The Groundhog are opening up a new pub at Jarvis and Wellesley, which hopefully won’t leave all of the staff jobless.

I’m curious as to what will take over the spot, as that corner already has a Tim Horton’s and a Subway (our top two on the number of ‘chains around the city’ list).  I wouldn’t be surprised if a Starbucks happens to open even though there’s already a busy one nearby at Jarvis and Bloor.

There’s a contest being held this Sunday, March 14th by For the Love of Cake which is reminiscent of one of my favorite shows, the Iron Chef.  Coincidentally it’s called the Iron Cupcake, not to be taken literal, cause that wouldn’t be so tasty.  This time though it’s purely cupcakes, and the secret ingredient is beer!  For $5 you can be a judge and will be able to sample the cupcakes made by the chefs.  My friend Matt over at Paragraphs, Pie Plates, and Pictures… happens to be participating the contest and has some details about his trials and tribulations with the mini cakes in preparation for Sunday over at his blog.  I wish him the best of luck, and it’s too bad he can’t enter those delicious looking turkey meatloaf cupcakes.

For more details regarding the contest this Sunday, head on over to their site.

Damn Helen it’s too bad we didn’t know about this earlier cause we could’ve totally rocked with some amazing vegan cupcakes.  Wait, does booze make it less vegan?

Dragon Beard Candy

Every time Chinese New Year rolls around, it makes me glad to be living in such a diverse city full of great cultures with excellent food.  There isn’t a better way to spend the day of celebrations than in Pacific Mall; formerly known as Markham’s hotbed of pirated DVDs and games, now somewhat restored to it’s former glory as one of Canada’s largest Asian malls.

A group of us spent most of last Sunday there where everything Chinese was proudly being flashed and displayed at us and anything Valentines was completely scrubbed out.  I wouldn’t have it any other way for a February 14th!

The candy being made

During our scouring through the mall, among a mass of Chinese New Year trinkets and paper cut outs being sold, there was a small stand making the famous dragon beard candy.  When I can see people make the food I’m about to snack on, I’m usually completely sold.  Maybe that’s why Tiny Tom’s Donuts are always a must-buy each year at the CNE.

Dragon Beard candy is a pretty delicate process which only a handful of people in the world know how to make. It’s made by boiling sugar in water until most of the water evaporates and you’re left with a rubbery clump of sugar, then you pull and stretch the candy over and over again endlessly until you get long thing strands resembling a beard.  All this is done while keeping it completely covered in flour so that it doesn’t stick together or to your hands.  After, it’s cut and wrapped around a mixture of peanuts and coconut shavings.  The video below shows it better than I can actually explain it.

The guy who does it at Pacific Mall is usually only there when he can be.  Most of the times, you’ll catch him there on a long weekend when the mall is busy.  There’s also a possibility you can find him there on any other given weekend but it’s usually a small chance so I really wouldn’t make the trek out there just for the candy.  Thankfully, a lot of the stores are now filled with some interesting things to buy and look at since most of the pirated DVD stores have been given the boot and gone into temporary hiding.