For the past four months I've been in love with cold pressed juices. From fruits like grapefruit, berries, veggies like kale, spinach, to added stuffs like activated charcoal, cayenne, and oil of oregano (oh God that oil of oregano was killer and its taste was clinging onto my mouth and throat for life - never again will I try oil of oregano/cayenne-added juices). 

And for the first three months of the four, OJ's was under construction. But when it finally opened in April, I had already been part of the Belmonte Raw cult and was addicted (it's a healthy addiction though) to their Hydrate (activated charcoal, coconut water, lemon) - until OJs had little samples out at the front that lured me in on the way to work.
I had some green one and it was refreshing - not salad-tasting like some of the green ones at Belmonte, but more like a green lemonade.
But like any other place in the PATH, you can't just sell one thing and hope it'll rake in all the dough to pay your rent:
Owner Aly says people often come for coffee/espresso drinks with the almond milk that you may not be able to get at other cafes.

And a fridge-full selection of Kombucha (which was all the rage in Cali, but seems to not be as well known here...yet), coconut water, chia pudding jars, more juices!

Loving how flexible they are with what you want in your juices - though the menu lists exactly which fruits/veggies go in there, you're free to ask for substitutions: I've switched red apple for a green one, added kale/cucumber to ones that didn't contain it. 
One complain was the intense frothiness which filled up half the cup. Aly says that's where all the fibre and good stuff lies, and I told him a few ways they can turn that fibre-filled foamy layer to a fibre-filled layer of liquid so we can slurp it through the straw. Berry taste was amazing until you got to foam.
This espresso bean, cacao, banana, peanut butter and other stuff filled smoothie was super satisfying, but unfortunately, is unable to replace that morning caffeine fix we all need. Tasted like a blended up coffee + Reese. So good
Coming soon are their in house made organic green yogurt bowls which would be a great breakfast if you don't like the idea of replacing a breakfast/quick meal with a drink. Looking forward to the different toppings they'll roll out for these yogurt bowls soon!

Coming soon

OJ's Team

Big thanks to team at OJ's - always fuelling my juice fix

Oh silly me didn't bring camera for my cake's big day

It was nearing the end of winterlicious and I had only gone to one winterlicious dinner! So we opted for a lunch one, and it seems that among the few we places at which we wanted to dine, just Daisho had an open table for 1200. 

We took the stairs up to the third floor, passing by the milk cold room (and making a note that we should make a stop there after we've had our meal). The bright bright room filled with natural light was a huge plus for making the dining area feel open and optimal for food pictures (actually, any pictures in general).

Pink lady apple wedges kimchi'd, arugula, maple labneh, pork jowl bacon

We both chose to start with an apple kimchi salad. The spicy kimchi was great with the sweet and crisp apple wedges. Argula kept it fresh, jowl was crisp and contrasted nicely. The smear of labneh was too thick for out liking - both of us used it sparingly. We spent a while debating what type of apple they used to make into kimchi. Was too sweet to be granny smith but was so crisp, maybe golden delicious? Turns out it was pink lady, a type of apple I've never had until that day. Good

Chicken + pork 'spam', coconut rice, fried egg, spicy sauce, shittake mushroom, napa water kimchi, cilantro, fried egg

Chicken & pork sausage rice bowl. The sausage is shaped like, might I even say, a crispy an fried spam, and had a 78% resemblance to a level-upped spam. Rice is not the Asian kind but the Western kind that doesn't stick together. Sauce is like a thick soup consistency. Very filling and moreish. Okay

Rice cake, mussel, yuzu, thai basil, sake, steamed bun

Mussels with a steamed bun. The bun though. It is not your typical asian steamed bun, and I feel that it is a western style dough that has been shaped and steamed, yielding a fine crumb which disintegrates very quickly upon dipping in the mussel's broth (but dipping it in the broth was the intended purpose of the bun, no?) Mussels were plump and fresh;  the portion was on the large side. Lots of fried shallots, and lemon-grassy (fresh tasting) taste. Tastes like the kind of flavours my mom makes (south east asian). Would have been significantly better if they replaced the steam bun with any other bread, baguette would have been great. Okay

Chocolate mousse ganache, stout, deep fried banana, freeze dried banana, ice cream (maybe vanilla, or wait, was this cold thing supposed to be the mousse? I don't know and forgot to ask)

Chocolate mousse. But where is the goddamn mousse? Oh, its hiding in the form of a chocolate ganache. Then why has it been called a mousse? We felt quite fooled. Was the chef playing a joke on us? (Haha, I laugh in reply) There are deep fried bananas, freeze dried bananas, an ice cream whose flavour I do not recall, and some chocolate sauce. The mousse made the dessert moreish and decadent. Though I never liked chocolate desserts to begin with. So can't really judge this one.

Vanilla custard foam, honeycomb/brittle, orange, microgreen (basil? I'm kind of dying to know what it was now.)

Vanilla custard - is more of a vanilla foam (they siphoned the custard I'm guessing?). Topped with crushed brittle that doesn't taste like it's been infused with any flavours (ie it tasted like sugar). And was that micro basil leaves on top? Was a nice touch. Especially enjoyed the cooked saucy orange bits which refreshed the dessert bowl. Cake bits were almondy - was it a madeline? genoise? Would be nice if that was less sweet because the bits of honeycomb/brittle was sweet enough. Okay

Americano

Being only my second winterlicious meal for this year, I can't really make any solid assertion but both times I found the appetizer to be significantly better than the main and dessert.

At one point the guys came here so often (at least once a week) that they were all chummy with the owner and all the waitresses/waiters.

But then they started discovering the other Asian bars (because our favourite waitress stopped working at Sake and went to O-Bar).

And I almost didn't go to Sake Bar ever again, until the guys found out they were going under reno and changed owners as well. It is now changed from Korean to Japanese (no side dishes and no creamy corn on a sizzling plate). Yes, the waitresses are Japanese too!

More upscale than Sake Bar prior to owner change, and food is better (so you can enjoy even if you're sober)

Sashimi salad. A large bed of assorted veggies and a hearty serving of chopped sashimi. Spicy, tangy, sweet dressing with a bowl of rice, mixed like bibimbap. Good

Chirashi. Chopped sashimi, avocadoes, rice and my fave Kewpie mayo. Okay

Ikayaki. Grilled squid, so tender and not chewy at all. So fun to eat sauce was good too. Good

Karaage. Pretty looking but nothing to special about taste. Okay

Nuggets cut on the diagonal, alfalfa sprouts (which are super popular in sandwiches here in Santa Clara). Just regular nuggets, no comment

We had Sapporo and Canadians that night.

People in and all around Toronto have been talking about Uncle Tetsu's cheesecake for a while now - how there's a two hour wait line, how you're limited to only purchasing one cheesecake per person, and how wonderfully delicious it is.

My friend who passed by the infamous line up hyped it up, but wouldn't wait in line for me.

My friend who did wait in line ate it all and only told me so when the entire cake was gone (which took like 5 minutes to eat, or so they said).

So I made it for myself.

And then I got addicted and made it two more times:

So instead of waiting in line for Uncle Tetsu's cheesecakes to come out fresh from the oven, make them in your own oven.

~ Ingredients ~

A

250 g cream cheese
50 g butter
60 ml milk

B
5 egg yolks
20 g flour

C
5 egg whites
90 g sugar

~ Method ~

I
Melt A in a pot over medium heat, mix. Do not boil.

II
Remove from heat, mix in B

III
Beat whites until soft peaks on low, then medium

IV
Add sugar in whites, beat high

V 
Fold C into batter 3 separate times

VI
Pour into parchment lined inside, foil wrapped outside spring form tin or cake ring

VII
Bake 300 F 60 minutes

IIX
Remove from tin, cool on rack

Let cool to room temperature or put in the fridge to cool. Cutting it while it's still hot can be messy unless you use a sharp knife dipped in hot water after each cut.

Are you ever so concentrated on something that all your surroundings are muted and all bodily needs (actually I'm just referring to the need to eat and the need to take a break) are shut off?

The other day I ended up coding for 6 hours straight for an assignment and feelings of being tired and hungry did not register at all during that time (if only I could be this hard working all the time).

It's time to eat. After I took all the pictures, boys were getting impatient, sitting restlessly, and only passive aggressively rushed my photo-taking ritual

Another day, we were enjoying the auto show so much that feeling hungry and tired did not cross our minds at all.

But when we finally saw sofas (and a phone charging station!) our legs gave out, and the hunger kicked in.

I don't even like pizza, but I had a three slices (one of each), and even a half of a fourth!

Actually, we ordered two pizzas and a flatbread:

Waitresses were attentive, but that was maybe because the place wasn't that full (Thursday night)

Would I go to Boston Pizza again? Probably not. 

"Maybe another location?" Nope, not even another location. Was never a pizza fan, and although I did eat more than I thought I would, that would have had to be due to my neglected hunger.

P/S

Dear readers, what is your favourite menu to flip through?