Recipe: red curry chicken (or tofu or beef)

What a way to warm up on such a blustery no good shivery day! It's like the red curry chicken you've had at Thai restaurants, but lighter -- and using ingredients you're mostly likely to have on hand. That means using light coconut milk that makes the sauce a little thinner, but still packed with flavour.

You can really get creative with your protein and veggie choices (try tofu, bamboo shoots, fresh basil leaves and snow peas for variety), but here I used broccoli and eggplant, which I love using in curry because they sop up the gravy. Instead of using the pre-made red curry mix, I like to buy a jar of the paste (which can be found in the Asian section at most grocery stores) and add a can of coconut milk, which is a little lighter on the wallet too.

Food Adventure: Chinese banquet

Forestview Chinese Restaurant

468 Dundas St. W.

What's a foodie do with a random Saturday night? Why, randomly attend a Chinese banquet, in honour of, well, discerning was difficult, but I think it may have been the beginning of spring? Well, maybe in China. Who cares? It was so much fun and 10 courses for $25, including tax and tip.

Recipes: healthy fish tacos with spicy coleslaw

These fish tacos are like a little hit of summer in the midst of the winter blahs. They're fairly easy and healthy and you're likely to have most of the essential ingredients on hand.

Winterlicious review: Canoe

Canoe

66 Wellington St. W

What a perfectly wonderful and romantic way to cap off my Winterlicious extravaganza! Like everyone says, Canoe is absolutely amazing. And given the restaurant would usually set you back much more than the $45 Winterlicious menu, there was no pretentiousness at all ---the servers were uber friendly, offering us a seat near the window with an extraordinary view from the 54th floor of the TD building. It made for a perfect combined early Valentine's Day and belated anniversary!

Winterlicious review:Lucien

Lucien

36 Wellington St. E

As you may be able to tell from this photo, the restaurant was none too busy on a Tuesday night, but by the way we were treated, you'd never be able to tell. It felt like it was one of those classic Winterlicious experiences, where restos that are usually raved about put out sub par food and staff makes you feel like they're just rushing you through. And given the quality of some other $35 menus I dined on, this Lucien food simply wasn't worth it.

Winterlicious review: Luma

Luma 

350 King St. W

A swanky home to celebs during Tiff, the Oliver &Bonacini resto in the Bell Lightbox is as close to a red carpet experience we lowly Winterlicious diners could find -- and for $35 the price is definitely right.

Just in case you're drunk and looking for some Super Bowl food to eat...

Randomly on Gawker, I found these really funny Super Bowl recipes.

http://gawker.com/5882189/super-bowl-recipes-for-the-already-drunk

Winterlicious review: Trevor Kitchen and Bar

Trevor Kitchen and Bar 

38 Wellington St. E.

First: Do not get confused and walk into Swish by Han, which is upstairs to the right. That is a different restaurant, and they do not have your reservations.  Second, definitely go to Trevor. The friendly server told us chef Trevor spent months coming up with his Winterlicious menu because he thinks it's a way to get people to taste a wide selection of their food, so they'll come back. That just makes sense. The food is excellent and so is the service. Definitely worth the $35 price tag.

Winterlicious review: C5 Restaurant

 

If not for the celebrity chef, get to C5 ---the acclaimed restaurant in the Royal Ontario Museum -- for the view, the culture, the ambiance. Although it didn't have the most enticing offerings on its Winterlicious menu (mostly comfort/ upscale cafeteria offerings), the food -- a good value for $25 --was well executed, portion sizes were decent and the service was friendly and attentive.