Back Home & Salmon For Dinner

Toronto was...well...TORONTO! Which means (for me, anyway) lots of delicious food...lots of delicious ethnic food...seriously easy access to every kind of food imaginable...plus a scrumptious over-the-top dinner at my cousin Arlene's. I've already mentioned my favorite desserts and then got too busy having fun, wandering around, drooling and meeting up with friends and family to write more.

One of the things I really miss about Toronto is the LCBO Food & Drink Magazine. Imagine the most beautiful foodie magazine complete with stunning photos, wonderful articles about wines, cocktails, interesting places (at home & abroad) and the recipes that go with them. Then...wonder of wonders...it's FREE!!!! You heard me. The Liquor Control Board of Ontario publishes these gorgeous magazines at least five times a year and you can only find them at local LCBO outlets. They run out quickly, so one needs to be checking often. If you live in Ontario (I can only assume that you can find them in all Ontario cities with LCBO outlets), take advantage!

If you're like me, and live away, you can still take find the recipes for food , drinks and even "mocktails" (no liquor) but it's not quite the same as curling up with a paper issue I can bookmark with lots of little papers waving out at me. Lucky me, Arlene usually picks up a copy for me and this time I had two to take home. I'll be sharing many a recipe with you. To start things off here's the dinner that Arlene made...(LCBO photos are better, but...hey, I was in a hurry to eat!

Pork Chops With Exotic Mushroom Sauce (slurpingly delicious - we were almost prepared to eat the left over sauce with a spoon)
Green Beans with Browned Butter & Pine Nuts (the aroma of the butter browning...awesome)
And a sinfully delicious dessert that I think comes from Martha Stewart, but we'll have to wait until Arlene emails the link or the recipe.

Update: Arlene sent the link and it's not Martha it's Rachel Allen's recipe for Pink Merigue and Raspberry Cream

The recipe was with strawberries and actually had another cookie on top - sandwich style, but Arlene got creative and made it with blueberries and we decided one over the top sweet meringue was more than enough. Just look at how cute the base of this confection is...I could eat it all by itself.
So what does all this have to do with the photo of the Roasted Chimchirri Salmon on Mixed Greens at the top of this post? Silly you...if you haven't guessed already...it's time to retreat to a little The South Beach Diet Supercharged ...at least before I head back to Toronto this weekend for a very special foodie visit. I've been invited to participate in Hellman's Real Food -Eat Local Project and I'll be sharing much more about that next week. I'm very excited - and that's a giant understatement.

This week, expect lots of healthful meals and exercise...keep your fingers crossed that I can fit into my gorgeous new dress!