It's a good day to be me

I just got home and there was a pile of delivery boxes stacked five-high at my front door (not to worry -- I have one of those Fedex stickers that says it's okay to leave stuff there and my neighbours are trustworthy, for the most part.) 

There was a beautiful, unsolicited package from Ace Bakery (homespun granola, artisan crisps, merry berry jam), bottles of red from Penfolds and Beringer, extra virgin olive oil and Chianti Classico from Castello di Gabbiano (the bottle says they were established in 1124 in the heart of Tuscany.) 

There was also a fancy squat bottle finished off with a red wax seal, that looks like it could be balsamic, but all the writing is in Italian and it's got a kind of frothy, golden finish to it, so I'm really not quite sure. The label says Castello di Gabbiano Delizia del Castello, 'Condimento alimentare di mosto d'uva invecchiato in piccoli barili di legni pregiati'. So, this is my guess at the translation: It's 'barrel aged vinegar and oil, made by a short pregnant woman with a mustache who has a beautiful singing voice'. We won't know for sure until I've tasted it. Or until one of my Italian-speaking friends weighs in.

I also want to mention that I was just getting in from another fabulous lunch (I've been really lunch-lucky this week.) I met my friend Ann at One and she insisted we start with the butter-braised lobster spoons. We ate them so fast that our waitress yelled at the kitchen to put in another order because she thought we hadn't received them. "We kind of inhaled them," admitted Ann. It was hard not to. After that first mouthful I was all like, "Hell, ya!" They were hot, buttery, perfectly salty and perked up with vermouth and a single coriander leaf. I'm ready to go on record as saying that this is currently the best appetizer you can have in Toronto. What's more, where Mark McEwan's restaurant struggled a bit at first, earning One the cheeky nickname Once, I for one, will now be calling on it once and again.