• sonia roselli water balm

    July 2018 Faves

    Hi Everyone!

    I’ve decided that I will be adding other things to my monthly favourites posts; I’ll add food/drinks, clothing and entertainment!

    Here are this month’s beauty faves:

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    The BCL Spa Sugar Scrub Lavender + Mint and BCL Spa Dead Sea Salt Soak Lavender + Mint are amazing. Both have made my skin feel so soft and the lavender + mint scent is fresh and clean. The sugar scrub is fine and not too coarse on the skin, and it dissolved in a warm bath. The sea salt soak was so relaxing. I don’t know what it is about bath salts, but they always make the bathwater feel silky. I would definitely recommend picking up the spa set if you’re into at-home pampering! I was lucky enough to receive the 4-piece set in a giveaway I won from @DannyCoHair.

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    Sonia Roselli Water Balm (read my review) is amazing and I can’t wait to try more of her products! It’s a multi-use product and it feels so good on the skin. I use it as a moisturizer and primer.

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    I’ve really been liking the Tarte Tarteist Creamy Matte Lip Paint in Birthday Suit. Sadly, I need to declutter it because it’s drying out. But I really liked the shade and the feel of it. Sometimes, I would top it with some gloss, which would lighten the shade a bit. This is the shade Birthday Suit, the mini that everyone got from Sephora for their birthday gift last year.

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    I went to Indie Expo Canada and I picked up a holo nail polish called The Deep End by Colors by Llarowe. It’s described as a vivid turquoise based multi chrome that shifts from turquoise to green to blue to purple to pink with added holo sparkle. I really wanted a blue-turquoise mermaid-y nail polish and The Deep End was my fave of the turquoise holo nail polishes at the Indie Expo. I swatched them on a nail wheel (as you can see above); one coat on the left and two coats on the right. I love that it’s holographic, so it doesn’t have chunks in it and therefore the nails feel nice and smooth. I love glitter nail polish, but I don’t like that you can feel the texture of the sparkles until you apply a top coat and even then, sometimes it still feels a bit bumpy.

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    I tried Meghan Markle’s zucchini bolognese recipe. I had seen it on Buzzfeed and it sounded interesting, so I thought I’d give it a try. They call it a ‘bolognese’ because you cook the zucchini for 4 hours (similar to slow-cooking a bolognese sauce). I thought it was pretty good, but I think I would prefer if the zucchini still had some crunch and kept it’s shape. I like the recipe and would use it again, but instead cook the zucchini for a portion of the time. Also, I’m a girl who likes to eat meat, so I would probably have some roast chicken on the side or even add some into the pasta.

    I’ve been enjoying the President’s Choice Blue Menu Pink Grapefruit Sparkling Water, it’s refreshing and it has no calories, no sugar and no sodium. I don’t usually like flavoured water, but this one I don’t mind. It’s great if you want something carbonated, but don’t want to drink pop.

    What were your faves this month?

    Love,

    jen

  • scaddabush italian kitchen & bar

    Review | Lunch & Dinner at Scaddabush Italian Kitchen & Bar

    Hi Everyone!

    Ever since I went to Scaddabush for my birthday a few years back, I have been raving about the fresh mozzarella! This weekend, we finally went back so my family could try it. I’ve been to two of the downtown Toronto locations: Yonge & Gerrard and Front & Simcoe. They have six other locations: Oakville, Scarborough, Vaughan, Square One, Sherway Gardens and Richmond Hill. I went to the Yonge & Gerrard one for my birthday and we went at about 10:30 and it was super busy still. For Front & Simcoe, we had a reservation at 6 and it was obviously super busy especially since we went on a Saturday which was also St. Patrick’s Day.

    DINNER

    20160930 peach mango bellini

    Peach Mango Bellini Sparkling wine, peach schnapps, Cassis, mango purée

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    Fresh Mozzarella (Naked) Extra-virgin olive oil, San Marzano tomato jam, sea salt, focaccia crostini

    Fresh Mozzarella (Prosciutto)Fig jam, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, focaccia crostini

    Straight Up Meatball (stuffed) Our signature meatball with focaccia crostini, three-cheese sauce, poor man’s Parmesan, Sunday sauce, fresh basil

    yum

    Mario PizzaProsciutto, fresh mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, baby arugula

    Zucca Ravioli (social) – Butternut squash ravioli, Grana Padano, hazelnut butter cream sauce, fried sage, poor man’s Parmesan

    Fettuccine Capri (large) – Shrimp, scallops, PEI mussels, squid, roasted red peppers, tomato sauce, orange gremolata

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    ZeppoleDeep fried sweet dough, dusted with citrus sugar, served with chocolate hazelnut sauce for dipping

    Favourites: fresh mozzarella (naked & prosciutto), straight-up meatball (stuffed)

    The mozzarella is only available after 5pm each day. So, if you want to try it, you have to go at dinner time, not lunch. Both the naked and the prosciutto are great options.

    I feel like their best dishes are the appetizers and the pastas. Especially since the mozzarella is made fresh and so is the pasta. I think we all got full on the appetizers before the pasta even came and I think we could’ve skipped dessert. For me, I would prefer to get appetizers instead of the desserts.

    The pizza tasted like other flatbread pizzas I’ve had. It was good, but it was your typical flatbread pizza. Maybe one of the other ones with more toppings is better.

    The zucca ravioli was good, but quite sweet. We probably could’ve ordered a large instead of the social. We brought the leftovers home and I ate it the next day by frying it up with a runny egg, it was delicious.

    My dad ordered the fettucine capri. Although I like seafood, I don’t love seafood pasta, but it was good, especially the pasta itself.

    My sister and brother-in-law shared one of the new features: Chocolate Bomba- Sponge cake, mascarpone panna cotta, Nutella mousse, chocolate ganache, toasted hazelnuts, strawberries, citrus sugar. My sister said it was good, but very rich, so I think it could’ve been split between three people or maybe if we hadn’t ordered so many appetizers. I didn’t really like the zeppole because it had a bit too much of an egg taste for my liking.

    Next time I go, I might try the chicken parmesan or get the spaghetti and meatball.

    LUNCH

    I’ve since been back for lunch and here are my thoughts on the new dishes I tried. We went right when they opened and five of us shared one appetizer and three dishes ( sandwich, pasta and pizza).

    Italian Burger – Hand-pressed Certified Angus Beef ground chuck, fresh mozzarella, arugula, bruschetta, balsamic reduction, basil pesto aioli, focaccia bun

    Shrimp Spaghetti – lemon wine cream, garlic butter, roasted garlic, fresh basil, fried capers, piccante sauce, spicy poor man’s Parmesan

    Smoked Bacon & Egg Pizza – Double-smoked bacon, Berkshire sausage, Alfredo sauce, fried russet potatoes, caramelized onions, chilies, chives, two freshly cracked eggs

    I loved the burger and the spaghetti was really good as well. I would order both again. The burger patty sort of tasted like the meatball, but it had a nice char on it and the focaccia bun was nice and soft (but not at all mushy). The pizza was pretty good too, but I probably wouldn’t order again. Although it was interesting having potatoes on my pizza. I would get potatoes on my pizza again. Since I shared the pizza with friends, I don’t think everything was on the two slices I ate. I didn’t have any chilies or caramelized onions.

    Have you tried the fresh mozzarella at Scaddabush?

    Love,

    jen