I think it is pretty clear that food falls under my list of favourite things in the world. It makes me happy when I eat it, look at it, and think about it. BUT I have another favourite thing – my cottage. My parents have a cottage in Haliburton on Kennisis Lake and I have been going up to the cottage every summer for as long as I can remember.
So you must be thinking, how does Julia last an entire summer without eating out in Toronto? (side note – now that I am an ‘adult’ I don’t actually spend the entire summer up north anymore but I do go up almost every weekend in the summer and now that I am in school they usually turn into long weekends – ah the life! I am considering being a student as a career). Anyways, I have two favourite food places up north that get me through the summer:
1) Webers
Webers is located in Orillia on the East side of Hwy 11 and is easily identified by a large orange coloured bridge installed over the highway so you can access Webers if you are going either north or south – whoever thought of that was a GENIUS…or they were worried about their customer’s safety. Actually the story goes:
June 1981 – The ministry of transportation put up a chain-link fence above the barrier to prevent thousands of customers from crossing the highway barrier.
June 1983 – Webers acquires a portion of the CN Tower pedestrian bridge to provide their customers with a safe way to Webers when travelling southbound and to prevent them from dropping their delicious burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes while attempting to run and jump across the highway.
Webers has been charcoal barbequing burgers since 1963. I have only being going since 1992 but my parents both went to Webers on the way to the cottage growing up.
If you haven’t heard of Webers or don’t like Webers, I don’t like you. I have had a long lasting love for Webers since I was a kid. As a kid I would beg my parents to wait in the long line up for a burger – I never mind waiting. Actually even to this day I will still wait in the long, long line for my Webers burger. I get excited thinking about Webers – I’ll most likely have one this weekend – I can’t wait, even though I just had one on Tuesday…
For the most part, I strategy pick who I will drive up with to the cottage to ensure we can go to Webers. After my first year of university I gained the freshmen 15-30 and my mother was trying to “help me” on our way up north. I fell asleep in the car and instead of waking me up and stopping at Webers my mom kept on driving. This was one of the few times I yelled at my Mother. And to back up my reason for yelling - I hadn’t been to Webers since the previous summer. Not cool mom. She now knows to never pass Webers if I am in the car whether I am coherent or not.
Anyways, I LOVE Webers and you should definitely stop next time you are driving by. They have great grounds to enjoy your meal with picnic benches and a water station for your dog. If it is raining or too hot outside there is a CN railway car you can eat your meal – one of the cool parts of going as a kid!
1) Rhubarb
Rhubarb is an upscale casual dining restaurant located in Carnarvon, which is 35 minutes away from my cottage. It is an awesome restaurant that has a craft Brewery, Boshkung Brewing Co., in the basement. Rhubarb has amazing food, a great atmosphere and looks onto Mirror Lake, providing quite the picturesque view. Rhubarb uses local seasonal food as well as a wine list that features many Ontario wines.
My family and I frequent Rhubarb all year round. My mom and I popped in after golfing earlier in the week and split a few appetizers. We started with one of the specials, the French Farmers Plate. It was awesome and quite interesting. There was wild boar apricot terrine, chilled duck breast, aged goat cheese, and delicious chutney. To be honest, I was a little bit worried about the wild boar terrine but it was unbelievable - It pays off to be an adventurous eater.
Now for my favourite dish: The Duck Confit Poutine:
This falls in the top 3 poutines, maybe even the BEST poutine I have ever had and I recommend visiting Rhubarb solely for the purpose of trying it. Even my dad, the pickiest eater in the world, loves this poutine – although, I don’t think he realizes that it is not topped with your standard gravy but instead a grainy Dijon mustard gravy (which is to die for). Also, instead of cheese curds they use old cheddar. I am drooling thinking about this. AND if you are not up for the full size poutine or don’t have anyone to share it with you can ‘duck confit poutine’ your side fries on any other dish!! We paired our meal with a bottle of Norman Hardie Unfiltered Pinot Noir – ALSO RECOMMEND TRYING THIS. It is delicious but hard to find at the LCBO so use their website location inventory details. I am going to visit the Norman Hardie Winery in Prince Edward County next week and will have the all the details for you!
I think it is safe to say I have a food addiction.
Check out my Twitter & Instagram account for my cottage eats this weekend!
I am Julia Ranson, a 25 year old post graduate Student at George Brown College. I am studying Digital Media Marketing… although sometimes I wish I was in the Chef program BUT only for the cooking portion (assuming you get to taste everything you eat)!
As soon as my metabolism slowed down I discovered my love for food…convenient, right? I am one of those people who wakes up thinking about the meals I am going to have during the day or where I may be going out for dinner. To be honest, I am not sure where I came from because my mom eats out of necessity, not because she loooooves food, my dad is probably the pickiest eater on the planet, and my brother is one of those people who is content eating pizza & chicken fingers out of the oven. I can also out eat any of my family members, which leads me to conclude love for food is not genetic. I try to explain my love for food to them and they just can’t relate, although they do tolerate my excitement for trying new restaurants and food photo shoots. Now my Dad will even hold his phone flash on the dish in a dark restaurant while I am trying to capture the best photo, which is actually quite cute. Currently, I have 5,000 photos in my camera roll. Can you guess how many are of food or have food in them? About 4,000 – and I recently went through and deleted doubles and poor quality photos.
Anyways, about a year ago I started an Instagram account called @dineNdabbleTO to document my food adventures, and now I have decided to expand my food blogging and challenge myself to write about my experiences, give recommendations, share my favourite places to eat in Toronto, share some ‘How To’s’, and create a small, fun, food community.
In case you were wondering – I love pizza, peanut butter, wine, candy, ice cream, and all desserts. FUN FACT though: I haven’t eaten candy, chocolate, or dessert since September 1, 2016… I am in a bet and determined to win. OH the bet is over September 1, 2017 and I am having a dessert potluck and you are all invited!
