What I've Been Up To Lately - March 2024

It’s my birthday this month so I’m doing all sorts of celebrating with friends and family (more on that in the April newsletter) But one of my recent favourite things to do is buy my birthday cake. While I love baking, I like treat myself with a delicious cake made by a beloved Toronto baker. Check out below to see which one I ended up going with :)

What I Ate

I have a couple of mini lists from 2 of my favourite spots in Toronto, Kensington Market and St. Lawrence Market. But I think it'll be fun to do a bigger list into each of these places since there are some great gems hidden in there.

Things I ate at Kensington Market:

• Blackbird bread - It's the Keninston Loaf for me! I usually buy the sliced loaf, pop it in the freezer, and pull out slices of bread as I need them. That way, the bread is always super fresh.

• There's only 1 thing better than a donut, and that's a donut that donates. Dipped Donuts is making limited edition dog-friendly donuts in support of Save Our Scruff, a Toronto-based dog rescue organization. Their Cali Dog Donut is made with dogs in mind with whole wheat flour, peanut butter, bananas, yogurt, and honey! It's also human-friendly, but I'd probably opt for their Brown Butter Sea Salt donut instead.

Things I ate at St. Lawrence Market:

• The fried calamari at Busters Sea Cove

• The Godfather sandwich from Uno Mustachio - The veal parmigiana with eggplant. It's big enough to split with someone else!

• A everything bagel with chive cream cheese at St. Urbain Bagel (but next time I'm definaey trying the pumpernickle or pretzel bagle!)

• All of the fresh berries from Family Food Market (on the top floor)

• Valrhona fancy chocolate fèves from Domino Foods (the lower level bulk store)

• BONUS: Don't sleep on the tulips from Phil's Place (the lower level produce store) that sells these beauties for $4.

While at St. Lawrence, we picked up some of our groceries for the week, including the ingredients for this lemongrass pork vermicelli dish, plus the homemade Thai iced tea, which was honestly the meal's star. Plus, we made a Nicoise salad with a nice soft, jammy egg. It's the perfect WFH lunch since it comes together quickly and full of healthy fats and veggies.

Birthday Cakes!

If you want to order a cake for a special occasion, I compiled a list of some of the best bakers in the City to pre-order your cake. Some of these small-scale bakeries may require up to 1 month's advance ordering of your cake. Most of them release their pre-orders 1 month at a time, so check them out in advance if you want to secure your cake.

This year, I ordered my cake from Gallz Provisions. I've always admired her beautiful sculptural cakes and knew that I needed to order one for my birthday this year. I ordered the Cacao Nib & "Mystery Fruit because who doesn't want a bit of mystery for their birthday?

Last year I ordered a cake from Coco's which was their chocolate candy bar cake. It's more of a dense-style cake. that is just gorgeously decorated. You can even pick the colours of your cake too!

My other runner-up is the Ultimate Chocolate Cake from Bobbette & Belle. They are a bigger bakery where you can typically pick up a cake when you visit, but also pre-orders. I ordered this as a slab cake for our rehearsal dinner. My first apartment in Toronto was across the street from their Leslieville location, and you could often find me ordering a slice of chocolate cake on the regular.

The following bakeries I haven't tried their goods, but not necessarily their cakes. But they are on my list to try in the near future. If you end up giving them a try let me know!

• Breadhead - They rotate what the sell at this shop, and they don't always do cakes, but they have galettes, donuts, and cookies. Check out their frozen crossiants if they have them!

• Barbershop Patisserie - Their chocolate cake is on my list to try ASAP since their pasteries have always been top notch

• Castle And Coal - They have a wide variety of goodies that usually includes a seasonal cake or two, but the yare known for their seasonal Kouign-Amann which you can pre-order)

• Emmer - This shop also features rotating goodies. Known for their pitascticho crossiants they also sell seasonal cakes and other delicious pastries

• Roselle's - When I lived in Corktown I would stop here for a treat (or two). Their earl gray cake looks like exactly what I want to try!

• Sticky Buns - The former Prarie Girl owner has opened a cininiamon bun stop on St. Clair and she also has pre-orders for her famous cupcakes and cakes!

• Honesy's - I have been eyeing their vegan ice cream fudge pie. It has summer dessert written all over it.

• Ed's Ice Cream - A traditional ice cream cake, but you can order it with your favourite Ed's ice cream flavours.
  

Things I Did

My very dear friend Carmen Cheung took some new professional headshots for me. After switching brokerage and getting new glasses, I figured it was time for some new photos. Luckily, we have a gorgeous Ossington office that was the backdrop for my new photos. Stay tuned for them!

I enjoyed the snow one last time before it all melted away at Cherry Beach with my dog, husband, and cousin. The dogs have the best time there, and it's such a beautiful space that since I moved to the West End, I don't get to visit as often as we used to. My goal is to try to go at least once every 2 months.

At Brott & Co, we are doing open houses at some of the most beautiful homes in Toronto, including 424 Clendenan with a gas-heated covered patio with heaters and a gas fire pit, and the soaring views of 612-160 Baldwin St with 20 ft. Ceilings. It's been a very good real estate inspo month. Be on the lookout for our latest listings, which usually hit the market on Tuesdays!

Things I Read

Toronto Star's - How do I create a realistic game plan to buy my first home?

It can be overwhelming if you are saving for your first home, many experts suggest working backwards to know how much you will need to save. Start to think about your ideal home and neighbourhood and work with a real etate agent to research the sale prices of that to establish a ballpark range. Now you have an idea about how much your downpayment should be - they aretypically from 5-20% of the home's cost. Get the rest of the details in the link above!

Vanity Fair's - The Iron Claw: The Real-Life Von Erich Tragedies You Don’t See Onscreen

After watching The Iron Claw, I knew I needed to know how much of this story was true and if there was anything else that was left out of the movie. This article gives a great run down of the family and spoiler alert, there was a ANOTHER death in the family that they didn't even get into with the movie since ther was already so much grieveing.

Bon Appetite's - 41 Spring Desserts to Lure You Out of Hibernation

This month I talked a lot about desserts so if that's got you in the baking moode check out this round-up of spring seasonal desserts to bake. It's rhubarb season so maybe stop by St. Lawerence market and pick up some fresh rhubarb and give a new dessert a shot!

That's all of this month - see you in April!