Fabulous Fairholme; Everyone Can Cook; Rebar

Thursday March 12 -- Thursday was a Victorian cookbook odyssey, beginning with breakfast at the Fairholme Manor. Owner/operator Sylvia Main served chocolate espresso loaf still warm from the oven, with scrambled eggs and slices of grapefruit, orange and kiwi. But most noteworthy of the morning was the homemade granola served with vanilla yogurt. So noteworthy it's one of the first recipes you'll find in the bed & breakfast's celebrated cookbook, Fabulous Fairholme. I've never experienced granola like this . . . I can't wait to try out the recipe at home.


I ate well on the set of Eric Akis's Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations photo shoot at Michael Tourigny's Studio: Chocolate Guinness Cake, Shrimp in Champagne Butter, Saffron Rice and Mashed Rutabagas, Prosciutto-wrapped Papaya with Brie and this Valentines Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Heart-Shaped Croutons. The studio is great and it was the most fun I've had on a food shoot. Eric and Michael have been working together on the Everyone Can Cook series for years, and with their lovely team of Lauras and Lighthouse brews on tap to cap off a hard day's work, they've got a great thing going.

Dinnertime: My criteria for finding a restaurant was the following:
a) busy (= popular = good food)
b) colourful decor and staff (not quite as important, but atmosphere still counts for something, especially when you're on your own in a strange city)
c) vegan options on the menu: I love my meat but I'm a sucker for the weirdest thing on the menu, and vegan menus necessitate alternative approaches to food.

Rather than ask for advice I relied on serendipity, and after wandering downtown for a while I (surprisingly) found exactly what I was looking for when I happened upon Rebar Modern Food, which also turned out to be the restaurant whose cookbook all my vegetarian friends rave about. Rebar was bustling with activity; soon after I arrived a line-up formed at the door. I had the (spicy!) Almond Burger with Monterey Jack cheese and (SPICY) housemade ketchup, a cup of (spicy) Orange Chipotle soup and a (not spicy -- just chocolatey) vegan walnut brownie to go.