I love cooking, for sure. Lately it’s been hard because I’ve been trying a food allergy elimination diet so there’s a lot of stuff I can’t eat right now (egg, dairy, chicken, beef). As you can imagine, there’s not a whole lot I can cook that tastes good without those, as they are the base for almost every meal.

So I’ve been learning to cook with a lot of restrictions but still try to make things delicious.

Last night I tried my hand at making a risotto with scallops.

For the risotto: I used Arborio rice, vegetable stock, cipollini onions, olive oil, and a mushroom reduction. I mixed in some separately cooked broccoli and mushrooms to try to be a little healthy

For the scallops: Just salt and pepper, cooked in a little olive oil and some bacon fat for flavour.

Toppings: Just a little crumbled bacon, and a sauce made from basil, garlic, and onions and lemon juice (similar to a pesto).

All in all I think it turned out delicious. The plating is a bit ridiculous… a TOWER OF FOOD! Haha. But It was still fun to make.

Do you have any recipes to share that have to deal with food restrictions?

I have a really high tolerance. But I don’t drink very often. So that often leaves me in a strange spot when it comes to social drinking.

I actually never really drank any alcohol until halfway through the first year of university. I had a bet to win and a long story short… basically my drink of choice became Canadian Club whiskey. Kinda gross, eh?

Over time, my staple drink has become tequila. At first it was Jose Cuervo, but in the past couple years it’s almost exclusively been Patron and some other nice tequilas. I’m not much of a social drinker because it’s pretty hard to sip tequila or play drinking games with tequila. (Although I’ve done it, and well, it’s not pretty)

To be honest, I prefer a fizzy drink like Pellegrino to alcohol any day and I’m perfectly happy to have fun without drinking. But don’t tell my friends that. So how does someone who doesn’t drink very often, find a good social drink?

In recent years I’ve started to enjoy the occasional sour apple martini. Most places don’t make them very good, but if you can find a good establishment that can do them right (West, Blue Water Cafe, George, etc) then they are amazing.

I’ve found a mix of good vodka like Grey Goose, some lime juice, bitters, apple juice, and sour apple mix (e.g. Sourz) usually works pretty well. I still can’t quite seem to replicate it though like West or Blue Water. I wonder what their secret recipe is?

In the past couple months I’ve become a huge fan of the Mojito. However, a lot of places usually don’t carry mint and can’t make one for you. The summer months it is definitely easier to find.

I love me a good mojito, and more and more I think it is becoming my social drink of choice. I usually make them with white rum, club soda, a touch of real ginger ale, lime, and lots of muddled mint.

So yes, tequila will always be my favourite drink… but do you have any recommendations for a good social drink? I’d like something that is not too sweet, and is refreshing?

Also, do you have any famous drink recipes to share? Especially for a sour apple martini or a mojito? I’m dying to find out a good one!

Oh P.S., just to end off this post I thought I’d share the waffles we had on Sunday. Yum!