Just another gift?

What is your idea about a gift?
When is the best time to give a gift?
When you choose a gift, do you choose something you like, or something you think the recipient will like?
Who do you think is happier with the gift? the gift-giver or the recipient?

In this post, I will share my thoughts about a good gift, and a sample of such a gift!

Planet Bean Coffee- Guelph, Ontario

I used to live in Guelph up till 2010 when I moved to Kitchener. I’ve always liked the cozy downtown of Guelph, especially Old Quebec Street. But many things have changed since then, including Planet Bean Coffee!

Revel Caffè – Stratford, ON

Beside its international fame for the Shakespeare Festival, Stratford is home to some artisan coffee shops and fine restaurants. It is also the birth place of Balzac’s Coffee Roastery.

Wood Fire Bagel (Montreal Bagel) – Kitchener, ON

I am not a big fan of Bagels, but wouldn’t miss out on authentic Montreal bagels baked fresh daily in town …
It is WoodFire Bagel located at 2161 Kingsway Dr, Kitchener, ON

Balzac’s Coffee Roasters- Kitchener, ON

Latte Art – Creating microfoam milk without a steamer

Tags

cappuccino, frother

Don’t you just love it when you order a cappuccino/macchiato/latte in a Coffee shop, and you watch the barista behind the espresso machine creating a Heart, Rosetta, or a Tulip on top of your drink?

Watching them creating these shapes in few seconds, makes it look so easy!! But we all know it is not, and needs lots of training, expensive equipments and maybe Batista courses!

But… wouldn’t it be cool, if you could just do it at home?

Yes…. yes, this is a photo for my home-made cappuccino and I do not have an espresso machine. In this post and perhaps another one (coming), I will try my best to tell you how to create latte art without an espresso machine (steamer)!

On-stove espresso maker-macchinetta

I have been using On-stove Espresso Maker for almost three years. Throughout this time, I have tried different tricks to improve the quality of the espresso I get from it. I know it can’t reach the quality of those served in good Espresso bars, but I try to get as close as I can. Here are a few tips for making a good on-stove espresso:

photo credit

Pourquoi Pas Espresso Bar – Montreal, QC

When we are visiting a new city, we like to see the city through locals’ eyes. I think that’s why we choose to explore the city on our feet usually with little or no directions.
We never carry a GPS or other hard or soft Geo-locating tools and almost always manage to get a close-to-accurate cognitive map of the area we are visiting within first couple of hours of roaming around.

A tasty part of the adventure, of course, is to try new restaurants and cafes. By experience, we know in order to get a moderately-priced and good-quality treat, we should avoid touristic districts.
For daily fuel though, we do some more planning when visiting a new city. We search for artisan coffee shops/espresso bars and prepare a list of them (if any) to check during our visit.

In the past Christmas holiday, we visited the French Canada. We have tried a couple of coffee shops/espresso bars in Quebec city and a few more in Montreal.

Here, I am writing about “pourquoi pas” espresso bar, which served us the best cup of cappuccino during our visit to the French Canada.

Yeti Cafe – Kitchener, ON

It is been a while that I wanted to write about the Yeti cafe in Downtown Kitchener.
The Yeti cafe is located at 4 Eby Street N Kitchener, right in front of the Kitchener farmers’ market.

The Savoury – Waterloo, Ontario

Tags

British, Indian, Pie, restaurants

The other day we decided to try “the Savoury” in uptown Waterloo after reading about it in Table for Maple.