Chocolate Torta with Salted Hazelnuts

As a relatively new Edmontonian and food-obsessive, I've been wanting to go to Corso 32 pretty much since I moved here. It's been featured on some "Best Restaurants in Canada" lists (enRoute and Maclean's), and Avenue and VUE have both named Corso 32 on their Best Restaurants lists.

So imagine my dreamy, drooling delight when Corso 32 turned out to be the secret location of my Valentine's date. My boyfriend is a very smart man.

After four courses of impossibly delicious food and wine, this happened. Chocolate Torta with salty hazelnuts. Incredibly silky and intensely chocolatey, with a salty-sweet crunch on top... a wave of pleasure will flood your brain, your eyes will glaze over, and all you'll be able to do is make "omagahhhh" sounds in between mouthfuls.
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Frangipane Tarts

So... if you don't already own British chef Jamie Oliver's book Meals in Minutes, or haven't seen the accompanying TV series, then you need to do either or both (probably both) right now. The book is full of relatively simple and extremely delicious recipes, designed as full meals, so you can impress people with a beautiful spread without working at it all day long. Plus the photographs in the book are so gorgeous you'll want to eat the page itself. 

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Avocado Pound Cake with Raspberry Glaze

I'm obsessed with avocados. They're so damn good. I've tempered my addiction somewhat, but there was a while there where I was eating at least half an avocado every day. On toast, in pasta sauce, on pizza... but I never realized you could bake with them. 

When I was home for Christmas in December, my mom (knowing that I have an avocado dependency) gave me a recipe from her Chatelaine magazine for a pound cake that uses ripe avocado as a substitute for about half of the butter. So, I mean, I don't know about healthy, but it's definitely healthier than a regular pound cake. Plus it's kind of quirky and colourful and delicious, and that counts for a lot.


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