mini holiday: q & fresh review

last week m & i took a mini holiday down to toronto.  and when i say mini, i mean mini.  we were there and back in less than 24 hours.  and 8 of those hours were spend driving.  crazy?  mmmmmaybe a wee bit.  but after acquiring 2 tickets to the live taping of Q with the national as the musical guests there was no way we weren't going to make it happen.

enter: mini holiday.

the morning started off bright & early at the glen gould studio @ cbc.  2 wonderful hours of live radio followed.  jian was charming & witty as ever, bon iver gave a great interview & the national were amazing and played not one, but two brand new songs.  much swooning ensued.  {seriously, don't take my word for - watch for yourself.}

{the national}

after all that entertainment i had worked up quite the appetite.  and although i really wanted to try a new vegan restaurant {i still need to make it here, here, here and here}, we had a generous gift certificate to use up so off we went to make our usual pilgrimage to fresh.   

{source}

although we've eaten at fresh many times before, at least we challenged ourselves to both try something new.  we skipped the juices & smoothies this time so that we would have room for an appetizer & dessert.  to start we ordered the spring rolls that were stuffed with brown rice vermicelli, mushrooms, carrot & cilantro and served with a garlic dipping sauce.  these were okay, but nothing special.  the rolls themselves were really greasy & a little bland but the dipping sauce spiced them up.

holy garlic though!  yowza!  breath. of. fire.

{spring rolls}

m ordered the special which was a huge sandwich on a ciabatta piled high with chimichuri tofu, lemon aioli, tomato, lettuce, cucumber & a little kale slaw on the side.  he loved this and went so far as to gush to our server that it should be added to the next edition of the menu!  although i didn't get to taste it myself {i think someone loved it a bit too much to share}, i was granted a fallen cucumber with some of the aioli and it was indeed delicious.

{hypnosis by chimichuri}

after much deliberation, i settled on the tangled thai salad; shredded carrots & yellow beets, jicama, napa cabbage, chopped peanuts, cilantro, cucumber, and their salad topper.  i also added some grilled tempeh on the side.  the whole thing was dressed in a peanut lime dressing.  i loved the salad itself but i found there to be not much dressing and it tasted a little watered-down.  i saved the day by making use of the big fat lime wedge garnishing the bowl.  i'd order this again, but next time i'd ask for extra dressing on the side.

{tangled thai}

{a happy me}

dessert to go was the big winner here.  m ordered his signature pair of flourless cashew cookies & i went with the feature candycane cupcake {both via sweets from the earth}.  it was a really nice, dense vanilla cake - almost like a poundcake - topped with a big heap of minty-coconut icing.  mmmmm.  we ate them up so fast that there is no photographic evidence.

but they were the perfect ending to the best min-holiday i've had in a long while.