Cooking with Alison

Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Cooking with Alison is now an Amazon Influencer!

In Random, Reviews on February 2, 2019 at pm

Hi everyone,

As you know, I love sharing my favourite food, restaurants, and cooking-related products with others. Now I am formally sharing my favourite Amazon.ca products through the Amazon Influencer Program. Categories include cooking/baking/kitchen, as well as home and décor, smart-home and other electronic devices, health and beauty, travel, dog products, and other fun stuff for adults and kids!

To check out my recommended lists, which will be updated periodically, please go here:

amazon.ca/shop/cookingwithalison

 

Thanks so much!

Disclaimer: If you do happen to purchase an item through my Amazon.ca storefront, I may earn a small amount of Amazon credit at No extra cost to you.

 

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Toronto’s Best Coffee Competition at the Coffee and Tea Expo (and an Interview with Barista Brian)

In Random, Reviews on April 6, 2017 at pm

Toronto Coffee & Tea Expo

Toronto’s first annual Coffee & Tea Expo will be held this weekend, April 8-9, 2017! It will take place at The Glass Factory, 99 Sudbury Street. I LOVE coffee and sample it everywhere I go, so I’m sure you can imagine how excited I will be to attend the event and provide social media coverage! Be sure to follow me on social media (details here) and check out my Introduction to Coffee Tasting.

At the expo, you’ll be able to try free drink samples, purchase coffee beans and tea leaves, experience the culture and new trends, and learn new recipes, tips, and tricks. I am most excited for the Best Coffee Competition! I was lucky enough to have a chance to interview one of the judges, Barista Brian, prior to the event. At the event, you will also meet other coffee and tea lovers, baristas, roasters, sommeliers, blenders, distributors and retail stores.

If you purchase your tickets online, you will get a 25% discount! See here. Tickets are already starting to sell out!

Photo of Barista Brian from his Instagram page (@baristabrian). Provided by and used with permission from Toronto Coffee & Tea Expo.

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The National Buffalo Wing Festival (Part 3 – Go for the Entertainment Alone!)

In Random, Reviews on October 16, 2016 at am

The National Buffalo Wing Festival runs every Labour Day weekend in Buffalo, NY. Even if you don’t love chicken wings, go for the entertainment alone. This is part 3 of 3 posts that I’ve shared about my experience at the 2016 festival. (Please see here for more general information about the festival. Also, I tried the food from almost every single vendor reviewed them here (part 1) and here (part 2).)

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The National Buffalo Wing Festival (Part 2 – Reviews of Almost Every Vendor Continued)

In Random, Reviews on October 3, 2016 at am

I had the BEST time at the 2016 National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, NY. I tried the wings and other food items from almost every single vendor over the 2-day festival. I’ve shared my reviews below. Please see here for Part 1 of the reviews and for more information about the festival. It runs every Labour Day weekend. If you’re thinking about visiting Buffalo, see here for my top 10 favourite reasons to road trip there. (See here for my post about the entertainment at the festival, which was just as good, if not better than the food. And that’s saying a lot!)

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The National Buffalo Wing Festival (Part 1 – Reviews of Almost Every Vendor)

In Random, Reviews on September 22, 2016 at am

The National Buffalo Wing Festival is held in Buffalo, NY (the birth place of the buffalo chicken wing sauce) every Labour Day weekend. In 2016, the festival celebrated their 15th anniversary and they pulled out all the stops! It was attended by over 70,000 people! It was my first time attending and I had the BEST time. I made it my mission to try at least one wing flavour from every single vendor at the festival. The vendors at the festival made the best wing sauces that I’ve ever had in my life – and I used to eat chicken wings at least 5 times a week! Here is Part 1 of my reviews! (See here for Part 2 of the reviews. See my Top 10 Reasons to Road Trip to Buffalo, NY here.)

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10 Reasons to Road Trip to Buffalo, NY

In Random, Reviews on September 11, 2016 at pm

I live in Toronto, ON, Canada, and plan road trips multiple times a year. Before the Labour Day long weekend in September, 2016, I told a co-worker that I was planning a road trip to Buffalo, NY, USA. She looked at me surprised and said, judgmentally, “Why?”. I realized then that a lot of people don’t realize how much Buffalo has changed in the last few years. So here’s a list of my top ten reasons for visiting Buffalo, NY.

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Grocery Budget Challenge – Preferred Credit Card

In Grocery Budget Challenge, Mind Your Cents, Reviews on July 20, 2016 at pm

This article is part of the Grocery Budget Challenge series. See the Introduction here.

Choosing the right credit card can help you save money on groceries (and other things). I use the Tangerine Mastercard, because it has no annual fee, it pays 2% cash back on up to 3 spending categories of your choice, and it pays 1% cash back on all other purchases. I chose groceries as one of my money-back categories. See below for more information.

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Night It Up! 2016 – Toronto’s Best Asian Food Festival

In Reviews on July 17, 2016 at am

There is still one more day left of the 2016 Night It Up Asian night market in Unionville (Markham), Ontario. I’ve been to most of the Asian food festivals across the GTA and Night It Up is, in my opinion, hands down the best of them all! The vendors seemed especially good this year. Below you’ll see what we ate, what we saw, what Really excited us, and some of the better deals that we found!

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Alcoholic Cider Reviews (UPDATED)

In Drinks, Reviews on July 14, 2016 at pm

Updated July, 2016: Several new brands of cider added with even more to come in August! Plus, keep your eyes open for upcoming Radler (grapefruit) beer reviews! 

I’ve always loved hard cider, and I can remember a time when Strongbow was pretty much the only option in my local bars and liquor stores.  Luckily, over the past few years, the number of new brands of alcoholic cider in Toronto’s LCBOs has exploded.  So, naturally, I made it my mission to try nearly all of the different brands of cider that are currently sold at the LCBO in order to declare my new favourites.  I hope that these reviews will be helpful in guiding your cider choices this summer!

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The Largest Japanese Festival in Canada

In Reviews on July 11, 2016 at pm

The inaugural Japan Festival in Mississauga, ON was on July 10, 2016. It was the largest in Canada and was a huge success. I suspect (and hope) that it will become an annual event! There were food and drink vendors, informational booths, and an assortment of products for sale. The entertainment was non-stop with great variety (traditional and modern). Some of the performers were flown in from Japan. Having a stage and large screens at the venue made the wait for food less painful. I don’t think I’ve ever had to wait so long in line for food. But in my opinion, the food was worth the wait. I’ve shared my photos and reviews of the dishes that I tried.

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Introduction to Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting

In How-To, Reviews on July 6, 2016 at pm
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Photo courtesy of Flavor Your Life

On July 5, 2016,the Flavour Your Life program, which is funded by the European Union and the Italian government, hosted an extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) tasting event in Toronto. The event was held at Buca Osteria & Enoteca on King Street West, where the food and drinks were incredible, by the way. It’s my new favourite Italian restaurant and I can’t wait to go back! I usually only purchase Greek EVOO, so I was very excited to learn more about Italian EVOO. A HUGE thank you to Gordon from Confessions of a Toronto Foodie who told me about this opportunity.

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Review of the Best Steakhouse in NYC and the USA – Peter Luger

In Reviews on July 4, 2016 at am
John loves going to steakhouses, so we eat at popular steakhouses whenever we travel together in the USA. (See my reviews for steakhouses in Toronto here.) We’ve been to E.B. Green’s in Buffalo, Longhorn in Michigan, we’ve had Maui Cattle Co. steaks and burgers in Maui, and most recently, we tried Keen’s (see my review here) and Peter Lugers in New York City.

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