Twix Cookie dough Cheesecake Bar

So... I am back from a long hiatus.  I honestly don't know why I haven't posted anything throughout my summer.  I guess I lost the determination to do so with full time work and school happening simultaneously.  I had a great summer this year with a lot of sun, ultimate and friends... I wish I had the chance to go away on a trip though...I am definitely saving that for next summer. This summer passed by way too quickly and now it's already October. Can you believe it!?  I have 1.5 months of school left till winter vacation.  Time just flies by way too quickly.

Autumn is my favourite season and I love walking outside with the cold breeze hitting my face and the colourful leaves everywhere I look.  Maybe I like them so much because of the warm colours of the leaves or because I get to wear my winter clothes again. UBC is gorgeous during autumn, well...it is all year around but I think it's especially beautiful during autumn so if you live in Vancouver and have never been to UBC during autumn, please, please visit this year.  I also love wearing cozy sweaters.. and pumpkin spiced latte so this season just makes me unusually happy.

This past Thanksgiving, I was debating on what to make for a potluck. I made apple dumplings for as long as I can remember but I didn't want to be known as the "Apple dumpling" girl (not that there is anything wrong with apple dumplings) so I decided to try something new.  I have a list of recipes I saved from long time ago and I found two contenders: S'mores rice krispies and Twix cookie dough cheesecake bar.  Seriously, this was one of the hardest decisions I had to make in a long time (I can be extremely indecisive when it comes to food:P).  I was so close to picking s'mores rice krispies bar but I had a lot of travelling to do to get to the potluck and I didn't want the meringue/ marshmellow to melt.  To avoid a disasterous situation, I picked the twix cookie dough cheesecake bar.  Whoever created this recipe, they are a genius.  How do you even think of putting twix, cookie, and cheesecake in one bar?  Mind blown. 

You can find this amazing recipe here 

I cheated a little and got pre-made cookie doughs 

The process

Vancouverites in T dot

I've been to Toronto a couple of times but it was in elementary school & high school and I don't have much recollection of the city at all.  I do remember it being big and dirtier compared to Vancouver but as a girl who loves big cities, this notion made me have an image of Toronto as an awesmoe city.  My  recent trip did not disappoint me and it sure made Vancouver seem like tiny.  In Toronto, I met up with one of my best friend Adriana who flew in from Vancouver who came back to Montreal with me after the trip.

Girl with a huge green bow in her hair.   

We were there during the St. Patrick's weekend and we got the chance to see the parade.  The parade itself wasn't too exciting but I did really enjoy the festiveness of it.

Desserts at Mocoro chocolate in Yorkville

A lovely Christmas + New year with friends

 handmade cards by Alyssa

I absolutely love potlucks because it brings people together and you get to try different variety of food.  What can be better than great food and friends?  This year, my friends Ben and Olivia (a lovely couple) decided to have a potluck at their place.  We had sushi, pasta fruit and meat skewers, ratatouille, donuts, apple dumplings, fried chicken.. and a lot of booze. haha Overall, it was a great night. 

My recent inspirations

L'abattoir in Gastown

So I've been trying to go to L'abattoir for about 4 months now.  It didn't work the first time because we thought they don't take reservations (silly us)  and the 2nd time, my friend made a reservation on a wrong day.... ha... ha... We were even deciding on what to order on our walk over to L'abattoir on that day... We did end up going to Bao Bei, hence my previous post and my friend who made the mistake got crapped on my a bird on our way to Bao Bei.  XD (karma?)

I finally got the chance to make a reservation just before my departure to Korea.  I really wanted to sit in the atrium so I wrote it down in the little blurb while making the reservation through Opentable and we did get the seats in the atrium!  L'abattoir is beside Blood alley and it was originally the site of Vancouver's first jail.  In the 19th century, the restaurant apparently supported the city's meat packing district hence the name L'abattoir (The slaughterhouse).

The menu