Pickering Food Truck Festival

Food, Food, Food.

That seems to be the theme in Toronto this year, every weekend there is a different food related festival happening.

This past weekend, Aug 5-7 Pickering, ON was the place to be as the City of Pickering celebrated their 2nd Annual Pickering Food Truck Festival, a collaboration with the Canadian Food Truck Festivals. Food Trucks from all over Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area came to the city to showcase their delicious cuisine for everyone to taste. There was an array of different food choices from all over the world, ranging from Latin American to European to Hot and Spicy to Sweet and Savoury flavours.

Some of the Food Trucks that were at the festival are: Beavertails, Berlin 95, Chimney Stax Baking Co, Fidel Gastro's, I Love Churros, Untamed Chef and Curbalicious.

After walking around and checking out all the Food Trucks, I saw this humongous iron skillet under a tent and I knew I wanted whatever was under that tent. The huge skillet belonged to this bright yellow truck that is La Fiesta Catering, and in the skillet they were making Ecuadorian style Paella. The last time I had Paella was when I was in Barcelona, so I was so excited to eat it again, La Fiesta reminded me why I love Paella; the Spanish seasoned rice mixed with seafood was the perfect evening meal for a festival.

If you missed the Toronto and Pickering Food Truck Festival this year, the Canadain Food Truck Festivals is having one more festival before the summer is over in Richmond Hill, September 3 & 4 at Richmond Hill Greens.

What Food Festivals did you go to this year?

Discovering Beautiful Beaune

So it's getting close to the end of out trip, and where making our way to Paris where most of us take our flight back home.

On our road trip to Paris, on of the stops we make is the City of Beaune. Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy, so for all my wine lover, you should take a trip down here, and it's also a very cute little town.

Since we arrived on a Sunday, like most of Europe most things were closed, and we were only staying one night, so we decided to take a walk and discover this small little town.

While in Beaune we stayed at Hostellerie de Brentonniere, which is a barn turned into a hotel, it's very cute.

"The largest wineries in Burgundy"

If you ever find yourself in Beaune and you need somewhere to eat, make sure you check out Le Carnot. It's a Brasserie, which is like a bar/pub, where you can get great food at reasonable price, and just as great desserts. Also, since Beaune isn't far from the city of Dijon, you can get a lot of Dijon Mustard, which is why I recommend the burger, trust me you'll thank me later.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

A Taste Like Home

So the other day I was carving a burger, or something that reminded me of North America, Being in Europe for so long has exposed me to so much different types of food, but sometimes you just want something that your familiar with and reminds you of home.

So I set out looking for a nice burger joint or a shawarma shop.

While walking around Strasbourg, I found this cute little burger joint, that didn't blend into the rustic European look of the rest of the block. 

It was light blue with English speaking words and cartoons in the window. So I walked into 231 East Street, a cute little restaurant with Archie comic pictures all over with cute little catch phrases that were in English and reminded me of New York City.

To say 231 East Street was delicious would be an understatement, It was the best burger I've ever had. They even had Cherry Coca- Cola, which isn't available in Canada anymore, so my meal was pretty bomb.

If your ever in France make sure you head to 231 East Street if your looking for a good ole fashion style burger, there a little on the expensive side, but it's worth it, and plus it;s good to help small businesses. 

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Best In Town

Today we got to go to the best restaurant in Strasbourg, France. According to Trip Advisor, La Vignette is #1 out of 1,078 in Strasbourg. Luckily for us La Vignette is only a 20-30 minute walk from the Chateau.

I can now see why La Vignette is rated #1 in the city, it's a beautiful quaint restaurant, where you felt like you were at your grandmothers house.

We started our dinner with a Cream of Mushroom Soup with Croutons in it. I have to say that it was the best Cream of Mushrrom soup I've had, it was so smooth and flavourful.

The Soup was then followed by our main dish, Salmon with diced veggies and red rice with a creamy sauce. I've never has red rice before, but I have to say it will not be my last time, it has so much flavour and it's a whole rice grain so it reminds me of whole grain brown rice. with the salmon and the cream, it was a great combination.

 And for dessert we had Creme Caramel, which isn't my favourite, but it tasted good regardless.
If you ever come to Strasbourg, France you have to go to La Vignette.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Classic Beer

Since we were in Rothaus, Germany, It would be a waste if we didn't go to the Rothaus Brewery for a tour and a taste.

Rothause has been around for 200 years, and is much loved now as it was years ago. Once a small monastery brewery , the brewery is now owned by Rothaus Baden State Brewery.
Because of strict brewing laws in Germany, Rothaus beer is only made of water, malt, hops and yeast.

I've never been to a beer brewery before, so it was cool to see how it was made, and to see how different Rothaus was to there breweries.

After the tour we were able to get a bottle of beer to taste along with a freshly backed pretzel to eat with it.

There were 3 different types of beer we could choose from: Tannenzäpfle, Pils, Eiszäpfle, and the one I had Radler Zäpfle, which has a lemon taste to it.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Maison Lissner

If you know anything about France, then you probably know that it's the land of wine and bread, If Jesus made his way here i'm sure it was one of his favourite places to be.
 With that being said, Studying in France means we do a lot of wine and beer tasting, and by a lot I mean at least once a week.

One Winery that has been super nice to us is Maison Lissner. Since the first week of arriving in France, Maison Lissner was the first winery we were able to wine taste. We have also had the the chance to go to their brewery and see how they process the wine from beginning to end.

A reason why I like Maison Lissner compared to the other wineries we visited is that it's a family business and has been in business since the town it's build in has been founded. The owner Bruno is the 8th generation in his family to own the brewery and he hopes to keep up the tradition and pass it on to his son Theo, who helps his run the business.

Maison Lissner is located in Wolxheim, Strasbourg France.

The city of Wolxheim is a city full of wine vineyard owners, and the whole city shares a 20+ acres of land where they grow their grapes. 

Something that makes Maison Lissner different from the other wineries that we have visited is that they still follow the old fashion way of making wine. They still mostly use wooden barrels to put the wine in for fermentation, instead of the metal ones and they don't disturb the natural essence of the wine, they allow it to flow down to the cellar once the grapes are crushed and any tress and unwanted substance is taken out.

We Also like them because they always give us a lot of wine to taste.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure

Alsatian Classic

For a Travel, Food and Community blog, I sure talk a lot about Travel and Community, so it's about time I start talking about Food. 

Being that i'm staying in the Alsatian region of France, means I've came across a lot of their local Traditional food.

One in particular is their famous Tarte Flambée.

Traditional Tarte Flambée

Tarte Flambée is bread dough rolled out really thin, (or you can buy it from a local store) covered in Fromage Blanc (white cheese) which is like a cream cheese consistency, followed by sliced onions and shredded cheese on top of everything and then place it in a wood fire for 1-2 mins.

You place the Tarte Flambée in a wood stove instead of a conventional oven because the aroma of the wood burning will go into the dough to give it a unique flavour.

This is their traditional way of making Tarte Flambée. You can add anything you want to the dough and make your own type of Tarte Flambée.

We even made a dessert Tarte Flambée, made with the same dough, but with a different Fromage Blanc that wasn't as salty as the original one, it was a bit sweeter. Then we placed apple slices all over the dough, and once it was done baking which takes 1-2 mins we sprinkled cinnamon over it. 

Dessert Tarte Flambée with Apple slices

I've eaten 3 different traditional Tarte Flambée's (including these) from 3 different restaurant/ people who have made them, and I have to say that all of the tasted different. Not one of them tasted like the last and that's the thing I love about France, you can go to 4 different restaurants and have the same thing but get 4 different experiences and taste with the food.

If you every come to the Alsatian Region of France make sure you order a traditional Tarte Flambée at whichever restaurant you go to, you won't regret it.

To see more pictures,

 make sure to check out the Instagram @youngblackventure