TRAVEL: Edinburgh, DEEP FRIED MARS BAR

Location:
Clam Shell
148 High Street
Edinburgh

Must. Try. Deep Fried Mars Bar.

The Clam Shell on High Street complied.



Even posing for pictures.





While we waited...





*

At last.....



That was one hot mess...


This much grease can't be good for anything.



Glad I tried it, but the DFMB is not for me...maybe it's the chocolate bar I don't care for...what about the DFAB (Deep Fried Aero Bar)? Then again, maybe not.

*What was so disconcerting was hearing (and seeing) Katy Perry on the tele. To be that far away (and so removed) from North America, yet...obviously..not far enough, was eerie.

Caaa-LI-FORnia-GIRls-Are-Un-Den------

Great, now I have it stuck in my head.

Recipe: Good Old Fashioned Pancakes

Just in time for Saturday morning's breakfast!

I'd only ever made Aunt Jemima pancakes when I was younger so when I found this recipe for pancakes on Allrecipes.com (with 4.5 stars and 3,327 reviews!), I had to try it. It's easily the best pancake recipe, ever, and the only one I use and will continue to use from now on.

Here it is, with my changes in italics:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (definitely DON'T use whole wheat flour, ever! I tried this once and the pancakes were too chewy, thick and heavy)
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 C *or as desired* Ghiradelli's (or any brand) dark chocolate chips

Directions
1.In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.
2.Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.





Toppings
Frozen blueberries and/or strawberries tossed into a saucepan makes a lovely fruit topping
or
Fresh raspberries and powdered sugar on top of maple syrup.
Sometimes I like to spread Godiva chocolate spread over the pancakes...yep, it's delicious.

TRAVEL: India: Delhi: Haldirams

Location:

somewhere in Delhi

www.haldiram.com

Anyone who has ever visited an Indian family's home or is Indian is familiar with the Haldiram's symbol.  See below (image from Google)


No Indian tea-time is complete  without Haldiram's.

A bag of bhel puri or chiwda will always be kicking around the cupboard of an Indian home.

So think of the impact of going to a Haldiram's RESTAURANT.  I was amazed, astounded, in awe of the industry that is Haldiram's.

Look at the number of servers behind this counter as you walk in:

now that's service !

There were three people asking me what I'd like.

And then there's the sweets.  My God, the sweets!  Imagine the biggest Indian Mithai (sweet) shop you've been to in Toronto, then triple that!  Row after row of delectable goodness...all so fresh, too!

sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeets

Then there's the "restaurant" part of it, more like fast food, where you pre-order then wait in line and bring back your goods to round tables that you stand at to eat.  It was lunch time when we went and incredibly packed so at least they've figured out that putting chairs into the equation would be a waste of time.

The chinese food was delish!!!  Made specifically for taste buds that can appreciate spice.  I don't know why fries are a chinese dish in India, but we saw it a lot.  Spicy fries.  Can't complain though, I'd never be able to get spicy fries in the Western world unless I made it myself.

the chinese food (with fries)

The channa batura was....well, see for yourself.

channa batura!

HUGE!

You even have to go through a security check/terminal to enter Haldirams.

Now, that's hard-core!

MoRoCo

Location:
99 Yorkville Avenue, Toronto

www.morocochocolat.com

Our friend whose baby shower we threw treated us to a fabulous evening at Morocco, er, sorry MoRoCo, not like the North African country.

A very lush and lavish, sumptuous, velvety, romantic place.

Interior

Interior

Menu

We had tea and more tea. The selections were highly unusual and came in little test tubes.

Teas

Tea pot & cups

Chocolates

The mac n' cheese according to my friends (I'm lactose-intolerant) was better than any other they'd ever tasted, and I'm assuming they weren't comparing it to Kraft.

Mac n cheese

The different creme brulees!

Chocolate fondue

The food is indulgent and makes you feel like a queen.

Also, the bathrooms are gorgeous little rooms in pretty black and white.

The service could have been better and more attentive but we were too busy being girly, to really care.

Yeah, this is a wonderful place to go with your girlfriends or on a romantic date.

Sloan's, Florida

Location:
112 Clematis St West Palm Beach FL

www.sloansonline.com
One of the prettiest candy stores I've ever been to has got to be Sloan's in West Palm Beach, Florida.

It's PINK!   And has fancy lamps and a painted ceiling and they have chocolates and delicious ice-creams!!







We had a caramel-and-nut-filled chocolate which got wrapped up all prettily!


I'm sad to say I missed out on the bathroom which is apparently incredible!! Check out the review on Crappers Quarterly (yep, I'm just as surprised as you that this site exists!)

Fascinating!

Worth going there for that, alone!

Cows, Banff

Location:

134 Banff Avenue
Banff, AB

www.cows.ca

There's no better place to pick up an ice-cream cone than from one named Cows, don't you think?

Cows, Banff, Alberta

Chocolate Fudge

They have a giant cow in the entrance and lots of souvenirs/t-shirts to buy (fairly pricey, though!)

COW!  There was no line-up when we were there!

Although the ice-cream didn't blow me away, I have to say even being someone lactose-intolerant, I would go again, 'cause in scenic Banff, it's totally worth it.

They're also open all year round.  Moooooooooo!

Juliet et Chocolat

Location:

1615 Rue Saint-Denis, Montreal

Juliet et Chocolat

One of the places we stopped in at for a few pralines.   I can't remember now how much they were; I have the receipt somewhere, but I do remember them being quite pricey.

They looked like the ones I'd once bought from Costco a while ago...this one pictured below is a little beaten having been the sole survivor to make it on film.

The last praline from Juliet et Chocolat....

If you like fancy chocolates like I do, it's a good place to try out.  These pralines weren't too exciting, but I'd go back and try something else there.

Product: Truffle Pig

You know how much I love bacon.

And chocolate.

The taste combined? Not so much....

The name combined?  Works really well.

Behold,

The TRUFFLE PIG.

Hagensborg Chocolates: Truffle Pig

I certainly hope that the hasty manner in which these photographs were taken are an indication of how darn decadent these chocolates are!  I obviously couldn't wait to rip open the package and take a bite.

Speaking of packaging, isn't it adorable?  LOVE the design!

The chocolate itself comes in lovely voluminous piggy shapes.....sadly, not evident in this image...I was too eager, what can I say?

Dark & White Raspberry

You'd be too.

Check out the fantastical Hagensborg Chocolate company based out in Vancouver Canada, for more. Sadly can't buy these delights online, however, Zimbel's Cafe carries them ($3) in Peanut Butter, Orange and Raspberry flavours.  There's also plain ol' milk chocolate which I suspect is anything but plain.

Chocolate Festival

October 19 - 25

It's the 4th year of Toronto's Chocolate Festival!  And it's happening right now in the city!

Print your coupons here and sample some of the tastiest desserts in town!

You're welcome ;)

Frugal Fare #2: Mini Bar

Location:

116 Spadina Ave., Toronto

Cost: $1-6

Mini Bar is #2 in Foodhogger's Frugal Fare in the city!



It may be mini, (literally a hole in the wall on Spadina, south of Camden on the West side) but Rachel & Susan (pictured) are doing a splendid job serving fresh sandwiches ($3), sushi ($5.75), edamame ($1.50), miso soup ($0.95), tea, coffee, juice, bagels, fruits, candy and more from the depths of this tiny shoppe.



The two ladies are wonderfully warm and friendly and speedy!

Their straight-forward menu:





 My tuna sandwich for $3.50; delicious & home-made tasting:



Mini Bar's fantastic, but don't go, 'cause it's a hidden gem in the city and we want it all to ourselves! ;)