Big Smoke Burger (Eaton Centre) - Blazing Pineapple and onion rings. To be honest, the burger wasn't anything to write home about (the glazed pineapple came this-close to being sickeningly sweet), but the onion rings were fantastic. Perfectly crunchy on the outside, but somehow still crisp and super-fresh on the inside, these were among the best onion rings I've had. Went with C.

The Rude Boy (397 Roncesvalles Ave.) - Just looked up what the Burger Week special was, and apparently it consisted of "Brisket/chuck patty with house-cured tongue pastrami, bacon, Thousand Island dressing, Gruyere, and Rude Boy sauerkraut." This was pretty good, and the house chips and pickle strip were wonderful additions. The Parm Fries on the left (which are "triple cooked thick hand cut fries, herbs, shaved parm, jalapeno ketchup") were a wonderful complement too. Went with two of the guys from work, T & Z.

Burger Brats (254 Adelaide St. W) - Can't actually remember which of their burgers this was, but it was delicious. From the photo, it doesn't seem like much to look at, but the flavour was just spot-on. Went with L & S - we cut it dangerously close to closing time (we got there at like 9:50pm), but it was so worth it.

Not ready to write about all the major changes and events that have happened over the last couple of weeks/months yet, so here's another barrage of backlogged food photos (yay!) from various student-budget-friendly places around Toronto. (Part 1 can be found here.)

Salad King. Classic. This particular photo was from when I went with L, a family friend whom I've known since I was like five years old. She was in town on co-op, and it was really nice to catch up, especially since it had been a couple years since we'd last met up.

Harbord House (150 Harbord St.) - Chicken Pot Pie. Delicious. A had his sister come visit, so a bunch of us joined them for a late dinner.

Jimmy the Greek at the Eaton Centre.

Ramen Raijin (3 Gerrard St. East) - pretty sure this is the first time I tried ramen. S's birthday, also with M and A.

Just Desserts (578 Yonge St.) - they have an excellent selection of desserts.

Don Don Izakaya (130 Dundas St. West) - mackerel, maybe? There was a ton of food ordered, but I took a photo of this because they literally came out with a blow torch and smoked it right in front of us, which was pretty cool.

Dessert Trends Bistro (154 Harbord St.) - chicken pie: scrumptious. We went for brunch for J's birthday, and they had an excellent selection of both food and desserts. The atmosphere is super cute as well. Additional desert photo can be found on this old post.

Pickle Barrel.

Sushi Shop.

BnB Toronto - Bistro and Bar (123 Queen St. West, inside the Sheraton Centre) - Bison Burger and some sort of brussel sprouts side. This was part of Burger Week.

Black Skirt (974 College St.) - can't recall exactly what this is, but it may have been the veal panini. Went with J, M, S and S on J's suggestion; the place has a very unique atmosphere (very homey/rustic), and pretty good food too. The cannoli I got for desert was yummy as well.

Fairly sure that this is Santouka Ramen (91 Dundas St. East), although I'm not entirely certain.

Yakitori Bar (1 Baldwin St.) - Baldwin Village has a bunch of really cute places to eat. Went with J and M on a weeknight during the summer. Portions tend to be on the "healthier" side, in that they fill you up just the right amount at the time when you finish eating, but you'll probably get hungry again later during the night. Food is good though.

Ryoji [Ramen & Izakay] (690 College St.) - Taco Rice. Located in Little Italy, they specialize in food from Okinawa. Went during the summer with M, A and S. (Was literally looking at the menu just now and noticed that they have fried cream cheese wontons. Wow, will have to get some next time.)

To-ne Sushi (414 Queen St. West). Usually a pretty safe bet for sushi. Some interesting music choices. The staff are quite nice as well.

And as a bonus, a photo from the first time I went to Dark Horse (with J and M). The quest to find the best hot chocolate in the city is still ongoing.

So... are you hungry now? ;)

In my fourth year/graduate seminar on Thursday, the professor ruminated on an interesting human behavioral psychology phenomenon. With the Olympics having taken place recently, it's obviously something that's been on everyone's mind. But in any case, as we were speaking about [social science research] methodologies and how some decisions and constraints are, at the core of it, arbitrarily chosen, she brought up the point that it's a human construct that we have three medal places. Way back, it used to be only gold and silver. Later on, bronze was added in. And stemming from that, to place in the top three is to medal - to come fourth suddenly seems like a significant difference.

And even more interestingly - as a result of this - people who win bronze tend to be happier than people who win silver. Because those who come second almost came first, so it's a bittersweet mix of being proud of the accomplishment, and disappointed at being so close. But for those who get bronze, it's yay, placed!

Some interesting thoughts. Anyway. Not that this is entirely align-able, but February is the second month of the year, and this one has been very rough, to say the least. But there's no point in letting what can't be controlled create a pervasive negative influence, and focus instead on making that which can be controlled as positive as possible.

As always, tomorrow's a new day.

*Photo of a sticky note found in a bathroom stall on campus. Cute.

So Toronto has annual themed food festivals: Winterlicious and Summerlicious, wherein participating restaurants offer prix fixe menus for lunch and/or dinner. One of my exec teams and I hit up Bannock today, and the food was very good, especially considering the price. Bannock is known for "Canadian comfort food" - I've actually been once before, albeit for their regular menu. On the note of Oliver & Bonacini restaurants, I've also been to Biff's Bistro previously.

The kale caesar salad, with dulse, horseradish and Bannock croutons

The pig + chips, with Ontario pork shoulder, roasted garlic fries and mustard greens kimchi

The cheesy chocolate cannoli, with chocolate peanut sauce, brittle, and Ontario cream cheese