More Than Just Ice Cream at Cool Hand Luc

Cool Hand Luc (Twitter: @CoolHandLucTO, Facebook: Cool Hand Luc) located on 545 King St. W. is a cute and colourful ice cream shop that opened back in June of last year. While many ice cream shops in Toronto cut down hours or shut down completely during the winter, Cool Hand Luc steered away from the norm and launched a "Winter Menu" that  offers fresh soups and custom grilled cheese (with weekly features and specials). I was invited by Cool Hand Luc to try out their Winter Menu last week.


Before I go on, I need to point out Cool Hand Luc's back-wall! For those of you that have been there you will know exactly what I'm talking about. This mural... I just can't get enough of it! I literally stood in front of it for five minutes just admiring it...it's so adorable! I especially love the blob of purple ice cream vomiting Mike and Ikes. And the face on that peanut butter cup? Hilarious! =D

Currently, all of Cool Hand Luc's ice cream are sourced from Bobcaygeon-based Kawartha Dairy and their vegan friendly,100% natural, fat-free fruit sorbets come from Solo Fruit in Montreal. However, this will all change this summer as owner Luc Essiambre hopes to produce at least 50% of their ice cream, and by 2013, Cool Hand Luc will be serving exclusively their own homemade ice cream.

Ah this is what I'm here for, Cool Hand Luc's soups and grilled cheese~

Luc works along side executive chef Catherine Hall in creating their vegan soup menu; it is produced off site to maintain 100% vegan / vegetarian consistency. Luc hand makes all the purees and meat-based soups / chili on a weekly basis. 

Here is Luc making our grilled cheese~ My friend Julia and I told Luc that he can decide the grilled cheese toppings for us :)

My Combo: Small Soup, Deluxe Grilled Cheese (Basic Grilled Cheese + 2 Toppings), Pop / Water ($9.50)

I opted for the chili because I love having it when it is cold outside. I really liked this chili because it was thick with a lot of ground beef, not too "tomato-y" and had a little bit of kick to it as well. It was really hearty and substantial, a great choice if you like chili or a thick soup.

My deluxe grilled cheese was made with cheddar, tomato and bacon with white bread. I enjoyed it as it was light, easy to eat and not greasy at all. The bacon was done just right - cut to small pieces and not too salty - and with the tomato and cheese, the whole sandwich tasted really good. 

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2012 Chinese New Year's Eve Feast

Let me start off this post by wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year! I wish you all a healthy and prosperous Year of the Dragon! And it doesn't matter if you're not Chinese, you will still get this blessing from me ^_^


Before I jump into what I had for my Chinese New Year Eve's dinner, I want to share with all of you my Chinese horoscope for 2012 - it is actually really really shitty and goes something like this [with my thoughts inserted in pink]: 


"You are prone to losing money, so avoid any gambles or guesses [I don't gamble...whew]. Since you are also prone to accidents and legal troubles, take it easy at work and do drive carefully [it seems like I am prone to many bad things]. Your regular income should remain stable ["should"?]. If you are a surgeon, butcher, soldier or police officer, you will do well [I'm neither of those so guess I won't be doing too well]. Work that involves finance or gambling are not good paths for you [again, I don't gamble]. Only hard work will bring you money. If you want to succeed, put in more effort [I promise I will not be a slacker]. Choose saving over gambling [alright enough with the gambling!]. Quarrels and arguments can be expected, so be patient and keep an open mind [this one may be tough lol]. If you are single, forget marriage this year [Haha CHECK!]. Beware of surgeries [WTF?!]. Your digestive system could bother you [NOOOOOOOOO!]."


Holy crap! Is there anything good for me this year? Should I just write-off 2012 right now? O_o Thank goodness I'm not superstitious or else I would be losing sleep every night over this. So yeah, I will ignore that...completely =P


Sorry I digress...back to food. It is pretty much standard that my Mom will cook a very elaborate meal for the family every Chinese New Year Eve (I blogged about last year's CNY dinner too). She usually starts prepping several days before to make sure everything goes smoothly the night of the dinner. 


I got a couple of kitchen shots. Here we have oysters in the deep fryer. Cute fryer, huh? ;) 

Roasted pork belly right out of the oven. Crispiest skin EVER! So much crispier than the ones in Chinese restaurants, I guarantee it! Honestly, the best roasted pork belly comes from my Mom's kitchen. Period!

With the five of us - my parents, my brother, my sister-in-law and I - there was plenty of food to go around. It was complete indulgence! ^_^ We had the following dishes:

Lemon Chicken with Shallots and Ginger - This dish is very tangy and appetizing, I especially enjoyed the shallots which soaked up all the sauce. Just so you know, eating a whole chicken during Chinese New Year symbolizes a proper beginning and end to the year (here are a list of dishes that are staple to a Chinese New Year's dinner)

Vegetable Plate - Like I mentioned in my post last year, I really like this veggie dish because it has so many textures and flavours; there are bamboo fungus and shoots, bean curd sticks, tofu, mushrooms, "fat choy" and dried lily flowers. Although it may not look it, I assure you that it is very appetizing =P

Deep Fried Oysters - Thinly battered, hot, crispy and the juicy oysters inside *drools*! Every time my Mom makes these I go crazy....cholesterol level through the roof!

Stewed Chinese Black Mushrooms with Fish Belly and Sea Cucumber - My Mom always uses the biggest and thickest Japanese mushrooms for this dish :) I love fish belly and sea cucumber as they are both very soft and tasty. 

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Food on Film @ TIFF

I'm going to take a wild guess that if you are reading this right now, you ♥ food...

I'm also going to assume that most people like movies too (really, who doesn't?!). 

Well then, I present to you, the best of both worlds: FOOD ON FILM @ TIFF

TIFF has partnered with Oliver and Bonacini and Food Network Canada on an exciting new subscription series at the beginning of February which brings chefs, food experts and film lovers together to enjoy the best of culinary cinema and conversation. Food on Film features six screenings with guests from across North America who use the films as a launch pad for engaging discussions and take questions from the audience. For each instalment, host Jason Bangerter (@chefbangerter), Executive Chef of Luma and O&B Canteen restaurants, welcomes guest chefs from Food Network and other experts from the culinary world to examine the intersections of great food and great films. A unique dish will be created and served at Luma before and after each event (additional charge applies) and all Food on Film subscribers will receive a recipe card for each of the dishes.

  Food on Film begins Tuesday, February 7th. Click here to purchase tickets.

Subscriptions to the complete Food on Film series (6 screenings) are available for $180 for non-members or $140 for TIFF members (prices include tax). The last guest in June is still TBD. Dinners are extra.

TIFF — Toronto International Film Festival, Reitman Square, 350 King St. W., Toronto.

Call 416 599-TIFF or Tiff.net for additional details and tickets.

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Snake Soup at Snake King (Hong Kong)

Pleasantly full from our epic seafood dinner in Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, my friends suggested we go get some snake soup. I was a bit hesitant because 1) I was already very full from all the seafood, 2) It was getting late and I have a plane to catch the next day, and 3) snake soup is not dessert (something that I will always have room for...but snake soup? More savoury stuff?! I dunno :S). But my friends insisted that we go (well for my sake anyway) as I haven't had snake soup since I was little (more than 20+ years ago) and most importantly, they know I won't be coming back to Hong Kong anytime soon. Anyway, I'm so thankful that my persistent friends were able to drag my lazy ass up because the snake soup was so incredibly delicious...making it the second most memorable meal (?) I had in Hong Kong.


The most popular snake soup establishment in Hong Kong is Snake King. This one we went to is called Snake King Fai (they are always called Snake King ___) . If I remember correctly, we went around 10:30-11pm and it was still packed (they only have like 8 stools in there though).

Simple menu: Large and small sizes of thick snake soup, regular snake soup (less ingredients than the thick snake soup) and sticky rice (a larger, eat-in only size, and a smaller size that you can take-out).

Newspaper clippings about Snake King.

It is very common to order sticky rice with snake soup because they go together really well. I must admit, although I was full after my  epic seafood dinner, I couldn't resist digging into this bowl of sticky rice. Each individual grain of rice had so much flavour and cooked just right, not mushy. The liver sausages had a crispy skin and juicy filling, and the peanuts gave a nice crunch, complementing the softness of the whole dish.

We all ordered the thick snake soup. The soup itself is a rich mixture and has a slightly spicy broth with lots of ingredients filled with chicken, snake, abalone, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, pork and ginger.

There are different condiments that you can add to your snake soup. The soup is often sprinkled with chrysanthemum leaves (which are believed to aid the vision and adds sweetness to the dish).

Deep fried crispy crackers for crunch.

My snake soup with all the fixin's! 

A piece of snake meat for you to see. To most people snake tastes like chicken, and I agree.

What a fabulous night! I had incredible company (dining with a chef, his cooks and other foodies) and enjoyed some of the freshest seafood I've ever had in my whole life and finally topped it all off with a bowl of hearty sticky rice and hot snake soup. Really, it was a perfect ending to my Hong Kong trip... I really couldn't ask for more! I wish I can re-live that night over and over again lol.

Well my dear followers, this post concludes my Hong Kong eating adventure! Hope you guys enjoyed reading my posts as much as I enjoyed writing about it~ Back to the Toronto scene I go ^_^

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