Ok, every since I was born our family would drive to Toronto to see my mom's family who lives there. And this, by extrapolation, meant the following: Persian supermarkets!!!!!!!!! Now, y'all don't even know how in love I am with ethnic markets. But being half Persian, I am particularly in love with the ones of my own culture because it means I get a chance to stock up on all the things I can't get elsewhere.
It's been years since I've been to Toronto, but my mom went with her sisters about a month ago and brought me back my FAVORITE things ever: Sweet Bread. Sweet bread, as I have called it since I was about 3, is actually called "Gata" Bread, but I changed the name in my youth because, well, it tastes sweet. I like it much more than the traditional flat Persian bread with sesame seeds, but my mom strongly disagrees: everyone has their preference suppose.
Why and I bringing this up now, a month after receiving my little surprise? Well, because I wisely threw it in the freezer for a time when I was missing home and needed a sweet treat. See, Sweet Bread is kinda like gold to me...
Other amazing this to do in Toronto is hit up Lawrence street and try "Friends" Persian restaurant. They have the best Persian eggplant in the world. And if you keep driving, there is an enormous Persian supermarket (well, enormous in the ways of ethnic markets) where they make homemade Persian sandwich ice cream bars. If you've never had one, let me explain: you take two of those vanilla wafery cookies and in the center there is saffron infused ice cream with chunks of crystalized cream. It is amazing. Gosh, I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. They're easy to make, come to think of it. Yes, this is one for the blog - it's going on my list.
So what makes Gata so good: the filling! It's like marzipan, except doesn't taste like almond. But the constancy is about the same -more crumbly maybe. It's basically sugar and butter mixed and layered in between two pieces of dough, but in loaf form. Argh...it's hard to explain: here's a picture:
I found a recipe here but I haven't tried it and there's no picture, but maybe I'll try it sometime. Probs not, though, because a) I like going to Toronto to visit my family and b) it's waaaay easier to just buy about 10 loaves and freeze them till the next trip ;)