Gastropost says farewell

I have been blogging for over 5 years and somewhere along the way when I first started I came upon something online about Gastropost and how people were posting photos from Mission Challenges that the people at Post Media/The National Post were  creating each week. I thought it would be a fun thing to do to post my photos to the online community and join others.  I thought it might be fun to see if my photos got published in the National Post once a week from a selection of the photos that were posted online by a growing food loving community.
For about 5 years I posted photos of food I made and food I ate at restaurants and events around town and shared them with the Gastropost community.

This was probably my first post that got into the newspaper.  I was told I was the only one at the time that included myself and a friend in the photo.  That's because it was so new I didn't know exactly what everyone else was doing.  Mine is the 4th image from the left in case you can tell my popsicle stuffed face.

I never imagined what it would grow into and how it would affect my life.  In about 5 years they created over 240 different weekly challenges and I probably submitted photos for over 200 for sure.

My photos were probably published in the National Post maybe over 60 times.  I lost count but the first time it was published I ran out and picked up the Newspaper because I thought it was such a cool thing.

My dentist who is also a family friend commented about seeing my photos in the paper and my cousin thought it was the coolest thing.

I have even had people come up to me at events and know who I was because of seeing my photos in the paper because they were accompanied by a sketch of my face that Gastropost would create for everyone at the beginning that would be posted under the photo along with our Twitter or Instagram handles.

The Gastropost team would organize events at restaurants in the beginning and I can remember going to Little Anthony's for the first one and meeting the team at the time and them knowing who I was and presenting me with a Gastropost pin to wear so that each of us could meet each other and know who we were in relation to what was posted in the online and in the newspaper.

There were a handful of events where we got to know fellow Gastroposters face to face and the most notable one was for the 100th Mission that was held at a now defunct huge restaurant on Jarvis Street.  Our Gastropost sketches were posted on the walls and on tables around the restaurant.  There was a screen posting live tweets and a presentation of some of our work.

There was also contests to win things like Food Movie tickets, tickets to Food events and things like a Chef apron and a smart phone which I won.

But most of all I met some really great friends because of Gastropost and at a Tea Party that I hosted in my home recently someone pointed out how many of the people were Gastroposters.  I think there was about 6 of them.  I didn't even think of that when I invited them.  They were just my food loving or blogging friends.  

That's the thing that happened.  From posting random photos online to having life long friendships in real life.  

I am truly sad that it is the last week for Gastropost because it has brought so much creativity and friendship into my life.  It has challenged me to seek out interesting food and create more interesting plates of food.

I will miss the Gastropost team and the weekly missions but at least I have some great friends to continue sharing great food with.

And it is fitting that some of the Inspiration Team's photos appear in the Final Last Bite Mission.

THANK YOU GASTROPOST for 5 Great years.

(Image from the National Post/Post Media)

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for FOOD LOVERS

It's almost Valentine's Day and you haven't got a clue what to get for your Sweetheart right?

Well skip the lingerie because all it does is make them feel like they need to have a perfect body.

Feed them with Love and Yummy things instead.

I'm going to give you a few ideas of things you can get or do for and with the ones you LOVE and they all revolve around food in some way or another.


Here are 10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas that will get you lots of LOVE for a little bit of money or a little more:

1.     Dinner Reservations to a restaurant that has a Prix Fixe Valentine's Day Menu if you book far enough ahead of time.  It's not very creative but the creative part comes in choosing the perfect restaurant that caters to your loved one's tastes.   Some suggestions for restaurants in Toronto include:

1a.   Susur Lee has special menus at two of his restaurants, both BENT and LEE have Prix Fixe 4 course meals for $95.00 and I can tell you that if you are lucky enough to see Susur during your visit it will be well worth it.  The food and the service at his restaurants is world class.  Susur is the master of Asian Fusion and the restaurants are beautiful.   It's a bit pricey but this is a restaurant to impress someone special.

1b.   THE BEVERLEY HOTEL on Queen Street West also has a $60 per person menu and the Chefs at the Beverley are very creative with their food so if you are looking to try something new then that's a good place to go.

1c.    DESTINGO has a 4 course "Be Mine" menu that includes Aphrodisiacs.  I haven't been there but I have heard good things.

1d.    LUMA at the Bell Tiff Lightbox on King St. West has a 3 course meal and if you are taking the TTC it's a great one stop shop where you can go and have dinner and see a movie in the same building.

1e.    Want to feel like a Celebrity?  How about going all out at ONE Restaurant,  one of Chef Mark McEwan's restaurants in Yorkville.  Their Valentine's Day menu is $100 per person and you can do a bigger splurge and book a fancy room in the Hotel for desert.

Ok I will move on from fancy restaurants now to a few other things.   What if you want to stay in instead, here are a couple of ideas for that.

2.     You can order a Heart Shaped Pizza from BOSTON PIZZA,  it's a charity initiative so it's a good thing and it looks cool.  The pizza's aren't the best in the city but it's the thought that counts here.

3.     If you are a good cook then it's always a good thing to cook your best dish and do the dishes afterward or if you have a little bit of cash to burn you can hire a PRIVATE CHEF and they will do the fancy cooking for you.

4.     You can also set up special monthly delivery specialty item boxes from places like the CARNIVORE CLUB, popular for men,  or FOODIE PAGES has all kinds of curated products, or you can even set up a healthy Organic Food delivery from FRESH CITY FARMS and I have mentioned them before but AMAZING CLUBS CANADA has all kinds of things like Wine of the Month, Cheese of the Month, Chocolate of the Month and a whole lot more.

5.     What if your special someone loves to cook.  I just got a heart shaped candy red LE CREUSET pot that I just love.  It's a pot that you can cook and serve in and it will last forever which is probably more than I can say for some relationships.

6.     There are lot's of sweet things that are outside of the regular chocolate box too.  Although a high quality box of chocolates is always a good thing it's still nice to show that you are original and like to do things a bit different than everyone else.   How about sending a dozen Red Velvet cookies in a bouquet from ZELCOVIA COOKIES,  cookie bouquets start at around $50 plus taxes.

7.     And there are Cake pops you can get for Valentine's Day from the POP SHOP.  I'm going to pick some up next week.

8.    I found a company that will deliver special Valentine's Day Cupcakes to you too. They are called TORONTO CUPCAKES.

9.   What about signing up for a Cupcake Decorating class with your date.  LE DOLCI has special classes all the time and it's a great thing to do if it's a new person in your life or you are getting predictable.

10.   And there are Macaron classes too.
My friend Mardi of EAT LIVE TRAVEL WRITE specializes in teaching Macaron classes but I can see from her site that she is all booked up for a while but you can book a workshop for a future date and give it as a future date.

Ok.. I can probably think of a few more but this should get you started in the right direction.  If you have any other creative ideas that you stumble upon in your research please let me know and I can add them to the list for next year.

I have made it as easy as I can for you by providing the links to these places so that you can save lot's of time scratching your head trying to come up with the perfect gift for your Food Loving mate.

Please feel free to LIKE my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/starvingfoodie and post any special finds or photos of gifts you purchase from info on this Blog Post.   Or you can just like my Page and you can be notified when I have special events and other special things happening.



I will be spending my Valentine's Day at my friends home.  He has hosted a dinner party for all of his single friends and family for the past few years.  He makes heart shaped bread buns and personalized cookie lips like these.  And he goes all out in the food and the decor and always has little Valentine's Day treats to take home.  I have been requested to make my Smoked Cheddar Mac & Cheese to bring along to the dinner in my Heart Shaped Le Creuset pot.  Although it might be too small if he has invited a lot of single folks.

So get cracking on those gift ideas and let me know how it goes.

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day whatever you do.   MUAH!