I wanted to let you all know about a fantastic Cake Design shoppe that has emerged on a relatively low-key (occasionally desolate) block of Eglinton Ave W in Toronto. Not long ago, after a quick visit to the dentist, I walked past a small storefront and did a double take. The store was called Cake Opera and I had often walked past it while it was closed, but this time it was open. I took the opportunity and walked in. I was immediately taken aback by the amazing (and delicious) edible design I was met by. Cakes that can only be described as works of art lined shelves and tables and the open kitchen in the back was shielded by a display case full of cupcakes, cookies, and macarons.

I was greeted by a smiling woman who I started to hound for some information on the store. I turned out to be speaking to one of the owners of the business, Jessica Smith, who is the pastry chef. Jessica graciously took a moment to tell me that she runs the business with Alexandria Pellegrino (Artist and Pastry Chef, respectively). They started out as a custom cake design operation, running out of basements and houses before moving to their current spot on Eglinton W. Since its creation in 2007, Cake Opera has gained notoriety as a boutique cake design studio, equipped to meet every fanciful whim in wedding cake form. Cake Opera now specializes in cakes, confections and most uniquely, Operettas, which are carefully customized sweet tables that look too amazing to eat!

After speaking with Jessica, I wandered around the store, letting the amazing creations wash over me. I may be trained as a designer but making cakes like the ones in Cake Opera seem far beyond my creative capabilities! I snapped some photos and then headed to the counter to decide what to bring home. I chose to try the cupcakes in 2 flavours (which Jessica then doubled, so I could try 4 flavours), a macaron, and a piece of the delicate-looking nougat. I chose to try a Salted Milk Chocolate Caramel Macaron and I couldn’t even make it the 5 minutes to my house to break it out of the little plastic bag it was wrapped in. Without a doubt, it was the BEST macaron I have EVER had!! It was the perfect mix of sweet, salty, crunchy and chewy – delicious!!

Thankfully, I ate dinner that night with about 6 other people so I had help in eating my 4 cupcakes.

Delicious Macarons!

We cut each into 4 and took little pieces. We tried: The Lady Pompadour (vanilla cake, vanilla icing); The Queen of the Night (choco cake, chocoicing); The Madame Butterfly (coconut cake, coconut icing) and my favourite, a Red Velvet with rich red cake and cream cheese icing. They were the most creative cupcakes I’ve seen in, maybe ever, and they were delicious! The cake was fresh and light, but not so light that they fell apart. The icing was sweet buttercream that wasn’t too heavy. The garnishes were perfectly created and placed. Later that night I also took a bite of the traditional nougat, with honey, vanilla, almonds, and apricot.

I truly don’t think that you could go wrong with anything that comes from Cake Opera, and I can’t wait to walk back in and try everything else! I also wish the duo the best of luck and hope that they stick around in their secretive little space – at least until I need my own wedding cake!!

CHECK OUT THEIR LOVELY WEBSITE

www.cakeoperaco.com

Beautiful Cupcakes!

Georgs, the (cheese)head of the Festival!

On Monday I had the pleasure of attending a media event for the upcoming Great Canadian Cheese Festival! I was very excited to be invited to Chef Jamie Kennedy’s Gilead Cafe to mix and mingle with other cheese-lovers of the area!! The event turned out to be a great collection of short speeches by people involved in both the Cheese Festival, such as Georgs (the big cheese of the festival, seen in the picture!), and renowned cheese educators such as Julia Rogers.

The small restaurant was full of people who loved cheese, and we had a chance to nibble on winners of the Canadian Cheese Grand Prix while sipping
Harwood Estate wine and Mill Street Beer! The main munchie event was when Georgs spoke about the Cooks and Curds cheese gala which will be taking place on the Saturday night of the festival. The Gala will feature a selection of FANTASTIC Canadian chefs who will be cooking tasting dishes using Canadia cheeses. One of the chefs taking part is Chef Jamie Kennedy – which is why we were at Gilead Cafe – to get a sneak peek of what to expect from the chef at the Festival. Out of the kitchen came white bowls filled with one of my favourite foods – POUTINE!! It was a bowl heaping with thin, crispy frites, braised oxtail, Black River Cheddar and thick gravy. It was a great way to end the event. If Chef Kennedy’s dish was a good indication of what is to come, I should definitely arrive at the Cooks and Curds Gala wearing elastic waistband pants!

Chef Jamie Kennedy's Poutine

Thanks again to the organizers of the Festval for the invitation to this event and I can’t wait until Picton in a few weeks!

Phew! What a weekend! So crazy that it took me until now to unload all the going-ons onto this page!!

It was a long and amazing weekend for Taste of Cheese at the Gourmet Wine and Food Expo. I spent a total of 32 hours over 4 days at the Metro Convention Centre asking everyone who would listen if they wanted to sample some cheese!

I arrived at the show on Thursday at 2pm with my mother and aunt, all ready to set up our little booth. By a stroke of fate, our next door neighbours were from Hot Mamas – the only other exhibitors from our little town of Pefferlaw (which, granted, I don’t actually live in.. but close enough!).

Once we were all set up, we were ready to spend the next 4 days offering every person who walked by a taste of the best cheese that the show had to offer (but seriously. People did tell us it was the best at the show. Seriously.)! We doled out samples of 2 year cheddar, Picobello, Feuille de Dreux, Abondance, Cabra Feliz, Foie Gras and more great products that I can’t even remember now! I got to be a salesgirl, which is among my favourite of all things to be. Of course, if you were to ask me today if I would want to do it all again this weekend, I would probably have to politely decline, but hey, there is only so many times in one week that I can handle hearing myself ask people if they would like to try some cheese.

I had a great time wandering around the show, trying wine, drinks, food. I was lucky enough to be across-the-aisle-neighbours with a German wine booth. That’s where I found my favourite wine of the show – a 2007 Riesling Kabinett. I had some amazing mac and cheese with goat cheese and truffles (2 days in a row!). On the last day of the show, to my surprise I came across a booth exhibiting some wonderful tequila, that I have tried before, and got a yummy sample of pomegranate tequila!

We sold lots of cheese, and over 5000 toothpicks worth of people tried samples of our great cheese! I was definitely tired at the end, but it was worth it!

Up next? Well, its December cheesebox time! If you’re looking for a great gift for any fellow cheese lovers, think about sending them a cheese box full of over a kilo of amaaazing cheese! Brie with truffles, walnut echourngnac, les petits vieux… I can’t wait to eat all of them!!

check out www.tasteofcheese.ca for information on our christmas taster!

For as much as I love what the cheese (or food in general) tastes like, I also am a snobby graphic designer who judges things by their packages! I love cheese labels (I started to make art with them, I’ll show you once one of the posters is complete!) and I love well designed food packages. While I might not choose a cheese for its label, I would probably choose crackers or chocolate first by the way they catch my eye. I forgot to post about this soon after I got back from NYC but here is a little blurb about what I found in Murray’s, a GREAT NYC cheese shop:

The nicest crackers ever.. I have been staring at these crackers from The Fine Cheese Co. since I discovered their website. They are simple with a retro flair, with beautiful colours and graphics!

The Fine Cheese Co. Crackers

The Fine Cheese Co. Crackers

Sorry for the shoddy photography. I was a little uncomfortable setting up photoshoots of unpurchased crackers in the tiny store!

Either way.. could they be any nicer? If anyone knows of somewhere to buy these in TO let me know! They also had lots of beautiful artisan chocolate.. I only managed to snap a shot of one of them…

Chocolate at Murray's

They had a whole line of these beautifully patterned Mast Brothers Chocolate Bars, and what goes better with cheese than lovely chocolate?  I could barely bring myself to leave the store!

More on Pretty Packaging to come.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/715631–cheese-stores-say-quebec-s-rules-go-whey-too-far

If we’re lucky, the war won’t migrate this way too quickly… I need my cheese!!

But what do you do when you aren’t in a class, or reading articles and blogs and books?

Well, you eat cheese. And lots of it!!

As of today, I begin on a new journey to try as many new cheeses as I can (and to tell you about as many of them as I can!!) I can’t promise that I will be able to eat a new cheese every day, but I can promise my very honest opinion – and that has to count for something, right? I can’t wait to get started!

Hmmm… I wonder what I’ll find to eat today?