new eats

The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic.
Between being mommy & working on a fairly involved freelance job, there really hasn't been too much down time.
Enter totally awesome grandparents.
My parents are looking after Lulu for most of this week so I could really focus on the job I was working on.
Well that and I was really in need of some grown-up time with big daddy.
(still working on that New year's resolution)
The shoot went really well yesterday, and though I'm glad it's finished it was really fun to work on a big project again.
I do love my job.
It feels so good to feel creative again as well.
It also felt good to be able to go out for dinner all week past 8 p.m.
by the time I was finished working it was too late to cook..
so we decided to hit a few new spots.
Wednesday we went to Seoul City on Queen st. west.
Not as authentic as some of our favorite Korean restaurants in little Korea (ie. Il Bunji) but more hip and stylish.
We started with a couple of OB's-rice beer from Korea.
then we had a little chef's sampling plate with Korean Fried Dumplings
Hand-made dumplings stuffed with pork, kimchi and watercress, with ginger soy dipping sauce.
Kimchi Crab Cakes
Pan-fried panko crusted crab cakes with Seoul City aioli.
and the Korean Pancakes with Cured Salmon with wasabi creme fraiche and cured salmon, topped with tobiko.
for our Entrees I had the Black Cod $17
Broiled black cod with miso glaze complemented by daikon, red onions,
cucumber slaw and steamed rice.
Excellent.
and Big daddy had the Kalbi $16
Succulent marinated beef short ribs grilled to perfection, and plated with
seasonal vegetables and steamed rice.
Everything was really good and the place itself is quite nice, good music, good service & good food.
We will definitely go back again.
Then Last night we went to Coca on queen St. west.
Just a few doors down from Seoul City in fact.
The place was packed and for good reason.
It's run by the same owners as Czehoski's.
Narrow & dimly lit, the Spanish-influenced tapas and wine bar is cozy and inviting.
Once again we scored the table in the front window which is always perfect for people watching, my second favourite pastime next to eating & drinking.
They have a fantastic wine list and I wish I could remember the name of the red that I had last night, but I do remember that it was excellent and I ended up having three glasses of it.
damn shoulda just ordered a bottle. oh well.
we started with the cured meats.
Serrano ham, clove spiced smoke duck and spicy chorizo.
(thankfully they we sold out of the cured horse meat..not sure I could have gone down that road or not)
we also had some Catalan flat-bread with Mahon cheese served with a fig chutney. And house cured white anchovies and eggplant.
We also had some of the pickled heirloom beets.
The cod cakes were okay.
We also shared the grilled steak and a couple of the best chicken wings ever.
Not your typical bar grub, and so delicious.
Rounding out our meal we shared the rice pudding and sipped some Madeira.
Our waitress was excellent.
Very passionate about food and wine and really took the time to describe everything to us even though every table was full.
I highly recommend Coca, but don't wear anything that you can't throw in the wash when you get home, because the only draw back was that we smelled like fried cod cakes when we left the place.
not so sexy.
But having to shower before bed...kinda sexy.
so tonight we are going out again.
But I must say that I am feeling guilty for all the extra calories I'm consuming..
But not THAT guilty.

As an aside, all this rich food and wine has had an intestesting influence on my sleeping.
I've had such weird and intense dreams these past couple of nights.
Plus not having to get up at 3 a.m. with a teething toddler has done wonders for my REM.
Last night I dreamt I was making out with the guy from The Office.
No, not Dwight Schrute- that would have been really weird,
but Jim Halper.
O.M.G..I think I have a crush on Jim from the Office.
well at least I wasn't necking with Steve Carell..that would be cause for concern.
I could understand having a sexy dream about Benicio Del Toro, Javier Bardem or maybe Gael Garcia Bernal or hell even Penelope Cruz (having just had spanish food)
or maybe Yul Kwon from survivor or Daniel Dae Kim-Jin Kwon from Lost (Korean food)
but Jim from the Office??
What's up with that?