I don’t eat gelato or ice cream often, as sadly, I’m lactose intolerant. However, when I do indulge, my favourite gelato flavour is pistachio. Now, not all pistachio gelato is made equal, and my preference is for the type that has actual pistachio meat incorporated. In fact, I’m usually very disappointed when I try a new gelato place and the pistachio is mostly just extract.
If you’re ever in Toronto, there’s a chocolatier that makes the best truffles and also makes amazing gelato and real hot chocolate. It’s called Soma Chocolate. There are two locations: one in the Distillery District (where we had our wedding reception), and one on King St. near Spadina Ave.
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Now yesterday was a super special day. It was DW’s 39th birthday! Unfortunately, it was a weekday, so she had to spend most of the day at work, but when she got home, we got to spend some time together. Yesterday was also the Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year), and I wanted to combine the two into one celebration by having Chinese hotpot at home. Hotpot is basically a savoury fondue, where you communally cook meat and veggies in a common broth. Our hotpot has two compartments for different broths. DW loves hotpot, and I had plans to do one side miso and the other side homemade Tom yum soup from scratch.
(A hotpot night from a couple of years ago.)
So I started with getting the Tom Yum soup broth started…
But about 3/4 of the way through (45 minutes into food prep), I just felt exhausted from my day of running errands. The thought of chopping more veggies, dealing with setting up the hotpot, washing dishes, and etc. made me overwhelmed. So I asked DW if it was okay if we just had the Tom Yum soup for dinner, with no additional hotpot. Of course she said it was fine. The soup itself had prawns and scallops, and was packed with veggies.
Instead of birthday cake, DW prefers Dairy Queen’s ice cream cake. However, since it was just us two, and I can’t eat ice cream cake, I decided to get her something new:
DQ Blizzard Cupcakes!
She loved them!
We spent the rest of the evening on the couch, watching TV because we were so tired (she hasn’t been sleeping well either), and put ourselves to bed early. Last night, we both got a great sleep, and woke up this morning refreshed.
I guess this is what birthdays look like when you’re almost 40! (Obviously, I’m kidding. She is a very introverted and low key person in general, so this was perfect for her.)
Here are some of my favourite pictures of my favourite girl.
Mama et Maman 
Aww, happy birthday to your wife! That soup looks fantastic. And the glasses in that 2nd photo–oh my gosh. The best.
Thanks! Yeah that family photo is the best!! I love the perms too!
As always, your meal looks amazing! And I am seriously going to have to get me some of those DQ Blizzard Cupcakes.
I love the Distillery District and Soma Chocolate. I’ve only been once, a few years ago right before Christmas and I fell in love with both!
And, I love the photos. I love the dog photos and the photo from your wedding!
Thank you! Yeah, whenever we head to the Distillery, we always hit up Soma. It’s definitely my favourite chocolate (and I don’t even really like chocolate in general).
The “no wading” picture was pretty hilarious to take. There were a handful of homeless people yelling at us while we were trying to take the shot.
I adore good chocolate, so I always have to stop by nice chocolate shops. 🙂
Happy belated birthday!
You always take such good pictures of food. Yesterday I crashed before 9pm and I really didn’t have any excuse for that (too early to be actually pregnant).
Lol. Progesterone can be a good reason to crash though.
Happy Happy Happy birthday DW! It sounds like a great one! This is how Callie and I celebrate birthdays most of the time too…and let me tell you! That’s a fine looking 39! I would have never guessed that was her age..I would have said late 20’s early 30’s..get that shit DW!!! And the soup looks amazing!
Thanks! Haha, yes she looks so young. At school sometimes, she is mistaken for a student. I’ll let her know you think she looks like a young 30 year old pup! It’s amazing how time flies…
Ed’s Real Scoop has fantastic pistachio gelato in my opinion! It’s nutty and not overly sweet. Happy bday to DW.
Yes, we like Ed’s too. I used to live right around the corner! My favourite there was their pineapple yogurt and their blood orange sorbet. What’s your favourite at Ed’s?
I exclusively get pistachio!
Happy birthday! I LOVE DQ ice cream cake . . .it’s probably dangerous that you told me about the cupcakes!
Lol. Yup, DW says she might like them more than ice cream cake!
Aw happy birthday! Such great pics! She looks exactly the same as she did when she was a child!
Doesn’t she? I agree. Totally the same. I look the same too. I should do a child vs adult picture side by side sometime.
Yes totally! Hey… How far are you from Niagra falls?
A couple of hours by car. Not too far.
Oh ok. Was just curious. We might go in October.
Its beautiful. The American or Canadian side? Have you been before?
Canadian side. Planning on flying into JFK and then driving there. I saw the american side and it isn’t as nice. We plan on staying 2 nights, is there stuff to do around there? We went to B.C. last year and it was beautiful but I know it’s not “Canada” lol when we went we got interrogated! they took our phones, searched our phone records, questioned us… 2 hrs! Weird. Hopefully this next time won’t as bad since we went last year.
My goodness! I can’t believe you were interrogated! I hope that doesn’t happen to you in October! Yes, the Canadian side is supposedly much nicer. There is a casino, a butterfly conservatory, a tourist strip of wax museum and cheesy stuff, lots of wineries nearby, hiking trails (Bruce Trail), and Niagara-On-The-Lake is a town about 20 mins away that’s really quaint and nice. My wife grew up in Niagara, so that’s why I know all of this haha.
haha you’re awesome!!! Thanks!!
Happy birthday (belated), DW! She’s so lucky to have a cook like you! We use the same lemon grass paste. I used to buy it at the farmers market and cut it up but I couldn’t use it all before it went bad; the paste is awesome. And those DQ cupcakes look amazing, I love Dairy Queen! Beautiful pics.
Thank you. Honestly, I feel like the lucky one. She is my rock during the toughest times, and has always been super loving and supportive. And she is my sous chef 🙂
You are so sweet. I love the posts about your wife. I feel like love and marriage are alive and well! And yes, having a sous chef helps! Yesterday J kept the egg beater on while I added ingredients while baking a cake 🙂
Yes, love and marriage are alive and thriving here. Cute image of you two making a cake together!
Just wanted to say that I’ll be thinking of you guys today. Sending a wish to the universe for a good beta result.
Thank you. I am so nervous.
OMG DW looks exactly the same as she did as a kid!
And SOMA, yummmm. I loved the sour cherry gelato I tried in the Distillery District branch earlier this year!
Yes!! She totally does lol. Mmmmm sour cherry gelato. I could totally go for one of those right now! Soma’s the bomb.
SOMA definitely is! But I’m a sweet tooth to start with, and both my gf and i are ice-cream & gelato-freaks. We really like Kekkou in Kensington Market!
We’ll have to check out Kekkou! I don’t have much of a sweet tooth though, especially with this pregnancy!
Maybe once Dumplin’ arrives. Come to think of it, Kekkou closes for the winter so you’d have to wait til next year
Noooo!!! Is it still open right now?
It should be! MY gf was there a week or two ago.
I’m gonna google it lol.
DO IT! Their flavors are often way more inventive than ordinary gelato stores. I think they have a second location now, as well.
Yup, looks like the Kensington location is closed for the season, but a Queen St. location is still open. How does Japanese gelato taste different than regular gelato?
I wouldn’t really say it’s Japanese. Will I be bricked if I say it’s ‘banking on’ the Japanese name to sell its wares? It’s general gelato with Asian-inspired flavors. In other words, yes you can probably find your common mattcha green tea gelato, but their forte is stuff like Thai Milk Tea (my fave!), or stuff that has certain ingredients we can find in Asian cuisine. Basil, for example is one that I wanted to try but I think they pair it with a fruit that doesn’t agree with me.
I see. Like how lots of Japanese restaurants are actually owned by Chinese and Korean people? I LOVE Thai iced tea. Omg. Salivating over here.
Yes, exactly. I’ll even go out on a limb and say it is Chinese-run, but I’m not 100% sure. But YASSS Thai iced tea!! It’s funny that Kekkou is the first place I discovered it – in gelato form, yes, but I loved it so much I had to hunt down the real stuff. Sadly….hard to find where I live. One Thai restaurant serves it but I find it a bit too strong (as in, too milky, too sweet, too concentrated). I suspect it’s the way they proportion the tea powder mix with their wet ingredients. But….oh yes, Thai iced teaaaaa 😀