2-4 Deliciousness

Oh how I love the two four! The summer is without question my favourite time of year, and taking a long weekend to celebrate its unofficial beginning (along with Queen Victoria's birthday, of course!) is one of our country's finest traditions. 

I know that most people like to barbeque to celebrate the holiday, but such a task is impossible when one lives a building, as we do. Instead, Steve and I decided to try and emulate one of our favourite foods in the world -  the good ol' Urban Herbivore grain bowl!

It was a lot of work preparing all the toppings, etc, but wow was it ever worth it! The bowls included: quinoa, tomatoes, kale, artichokes, hummus, roasted petters, tempeh, grilled zucchini and eggplant, and lemon tahini dressing. Yum!

Here's Steve's....

My slightly less full but equally beautiful bowl...

Steve in an awkward but oh so endearing pose...

Of course we had to have wine!

All in all it's been a great weekend...and it's not even over yet!!! I'm off to enjoy some of this beautiful weather :)

Review: Skinny Bitch

In my review of Eating Animals, I mentioned something about how books on veg'nism need to be a little on the deceptive side if anyone other than those with veg tendencies can ever be expected to pick them up. Thus a friend recommended that I check out the book Skinny Bitch, which is just that.

I'll admit that I already had an idea of what this book was about. I've been known to stick my nose into it from time to time at Chapters, and have seen it mentioned countless times on vegan food blogs. I was always a bit turned off by the abrasive title, fearing that the book would make me feel even worse than I usually do about not being the picture of skinniness. The fact that Skinny Bitch rose to fame when Posh Spice was spotted with a copy only added to this impression.

As a result, it didn't really surprise me that the authors lay in on readers from the first page, claiming that one has to use her head about food and stay away from crap. Ok. Crap constitutes meat, dairy, and refined sugar. Sure, I'm with you. In the end, though, Skinny Bitch turns into yet another "eat less calories and exercise" routine, with a few unsettling factory farm images thrown in. Of course, I thought, since that's really the only way one can succeed at becoming a skinny bitch. 

I mean honestly, if a woman eats a thousand more calories per day than she needs, she will most certainly gain weight, even if all she eats is vegan food. Last time I checked vegan food still includes evils like sugar, chocolate, peanut butter, and french fries. Sure they tell you not to eat these things too, but then how does this diet really differ from any other? (Aside from the further restricting principle of abstaining from meat and dairy. But then most of those foods contain a lot of fat and calories too.) All these restrictions advocated for apparently different reasons render the book more than a little disjointed. Is it a diet book, or a book on veganism?

So, you need to eat fewer calories to lose weight, and factory farms are terrible places. Who could dispute those points? But then Freedman and Barnouin go and throw in all these "facts" about the evils of caffein, synthetic sweetners, etc, claiming that such foods will inadvertently make you fat. Hmmm. Maybe I just objected to this part because I know I will never, ever be able to give up coffee, and I will never, ever believe that it makes people fat.

Kudos to that authors for slamming low-no carb diets, but then they turn around and advocate fasting which to me does nothing for their credibility. True, it may turn you into a skinny bitch. (The bitch part manifesting as a result of the fact that YOU'RE STARVING.) I hate it when people claim that the headaches, nausea, etc they experience while fasting are simply their bodies detoxifying. Clearly you're sick because YOU'RE STARVING!!! 

Obviously, the content of Skinny Bitch annoyed me. I quite enjoyed the sassy, tough love writing style, but advocating common sense only to repeatedly break your own rule does not an effective book make. For a book that does a much better job of marrying veganism with a weight loss plan, see Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet. 

I Succumbed.

For some reason I thought Bensimon sneakers (which I've been obsessed with for some time now) were not available in Canada. Then today I was walking through the Eaton Centre, and there they were in the display window of Little Burgundy!  Well of course I just HAD to pick up a pair!! This fabulous find, together with the beautiful weather, made today the best day I've spent in a long time :)

P.S. No regrets so far!

Wall Inspiration

I love our new place, but am really displeased with the lack of any sort of decorating scheme in the bedroom. Steve and I have been discussing what we want to do with it, and were sort of leaning toward a wall of personal photos - not necessarily of people, but anything that looks nice or brings back fond memories. Then I saw this photo at Design Sponge, and realized I absolutely love the idea of mixing personal and purchased/professional pics. The randomness of sizes, colours, and layout is fabulous!

An Afternoon at Kensington

Kensington Market is one of my favourite places in all of Toronto. On a bright, sunny day like today it just BEGS to be photographed...so that's what I did :)

One Eighty

Last week, something happened to yours truly that sparked a momentous life change. You see, since I was about sixteen, I have been ADDICTED to Tim Horton's coffee. Not the stuff that you can buy in the big red tin and make at home. I mean the real brew that you get when you order in the restaurant itself.

Hence I was thrilled to see that there is a Tim Horton's located a handy five minute walk from our new place in Toronto, and have been frequenting this fine establishment for the past few weeks. The other day I didn't have any change on me, so I brought my Mastercard instead. (Tim Horton's only accepts cash or Mastercard. Yeah. Figure that one out.) Sleepy and caffeine-deprived, I stumbled up to the cash and ordered my large black with Splenda on the side. Just as I was about to pick up my cup from the counter, I here:

"Excuse me - your card was declined."

"What?"

"Declined, your card was declined."

"Oh, well, can you try it again?"

She tried again, and again it was declined. I briefly considered asking if I could have the coffee for free. Lord knows I've given them enough business over the past decade to count for three normal people. The idea was discarded as quickly as it was conceived, however, as I remembered that there is a Starbucks only about a three minute walk from Tim's, where my debit card would gladly be accepted.

Don't get me wrong - I have always been a huge fan of Starbucks too. It's just that usually when I go there I'll order some sort of speciality drink. (Tall sugar free vanilla soy latte is my fav.) I had tried the plain coffee in the past, but its strong flavour never really appealed to me. At 8:30 in the morning, however, I all I was craving was a plain old coffee. 

I asked the friendly, animated young man behind the counter for a tall cup of their mildest brew, and handed him my debit card.

"No need for that," he said with a smile. "One of our lovely customers would like to buy you a coffee today."

"Oh, that's nice, who?" I said, looking around.

"They wish to remain anonymous."

"Ok, tell them I said thank you."

Not wanting to remove myself from the good vibes right away, I went out to the patio, pulled out a book, and sipped my (really quite good) cup of coffee. It was one of the nicest half hours I've spent in a long time. 

I've returned to Starbucks to engage in the same ritual for the past four days. Unfortunately, my secret admirer has not been there - or at least has not offered to buy me any more coffees. Either way, I think the whole experience was a sign of good things to come, and why mess with something that seems to bring such good vibes/luck? Plus, the coffee itself is kind of beginning to grow on me...

Simple Pleasures

...cause that's what life's all about, right?