After having a hopping good time this summer at Victory Café's Summer Cask Ale Festival, I jumped on the opportunity to check out Volo's Cask Days, their 5th annual cask ale festival.

Seventy casks from 40 brewers have graced the Yonge Street watering hole over the last week, and the festivities officially wrap up tonight with $5 pint night.

We head back to Kensington for our latest essential bar. A summer favourite for its front patio, this bar also makes for a worthy fall/winter retreat thanks to its good selection of beers on tap and definitely off the tourist-track sort of vibe.

Today's bar: Ronnie's Local

Photo by Yellow Bananas

So you're too old to get all dressed up and go around stockpiling candy in an old pillowcase on Halloween. Not to worry, you can do your trick-or-treating at a variety of fun-loving bakeshops across the city. There is a great selection of cookies, cakes and other goodies to satisfy even the most mature sweet tooth out there.

What do you get when you mix smutty writing and extreme cupcake enthusiasm? You get Rachel Bussel (renowned erotica author and cupcake connoisseur), who was recently in Toronto promoting all of sex, sugar highs and buttercream frosting.

Over the past weekend Ms. Bussel hosted both a 'cakehead' meetup at the Drake and a writers' workshop at sex shop institution Come As You Are.

Located behind the Winchester Hotel, our latest essential bar embodies old-world Russian glamour. One of the must-do drinking experiences here is to enter the large, wood-lined freezer behind the bar where you'll be provided with fur coats and hats and served food and vodka a la Russe.

Today's bar: Samovar Room

The 50's-themed Chocolate Ball held at the Palais Royale on Friday was the final event of a week of activities in conjunction with the 4th annual Toronto ChocolateFest.

From savoury to sweet, liquids to frozen treats, the ball was a deliciously indulgent evening. Foodies and adventurous eaters satisfied their taste buds while raising money for a charitable cause. All food stations were sponsored and all funds raised from tickets ($150) to the silent auction were donated to the Ava Rose Fund, a chairty supporting neurosurgery research at Sick Kids Hospital.