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A Saturday morning at St. Lawrence Market

~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

Last Saturday was the most disgusting day in the universe (although Sunday could have given it a run for its money).  Since this past weekend was my first in Toronto, I had wanted to tear the place apart in a day of tourist-worthy exploration.  Although my weekend expectations were a little underwhelmed as a whole, the experience of spending Saturday morning at St. Lawrence Market gave way to a rainy day that was nothing short of wonderful.

From my position perched atop a counter stool, here are my thoughts on the marketplace…

Never have I ever experienced such a vibrant epicurean culture contained within four walls.

As soon as I entered the market building, I was met by the most glorious combination of smells.  Buttery croissants still warm from a morning of baking, meat spices wafting through the air, flowers from a near by vendor.  All competed for my attention and, in doing so, created a scent that could only be described as heavenly.

On the first floor of the market a string trio plays, their eyes closed and their bodies swaying back in forth to the sound of their own tune.  Men and women lean around small counters affixed to large poles, their sandwiches dripping meat and vegetables onto their plate.

At the bottom of the stairs is a jewelry vendor selling antique gold and silver charms.  The necklaces dangle back and forth, taunting me with their glitter and shine.  Those who know me will recognize that antique jewelry (particularly of the gold and pearl variety, if we’re getting specific) is my weakness.

I walk over to the booth, doe eyed and with a stupid small smile on my face.  As I paw my way through the troves of precious treasure, I half heartedly ask the vendor’s wife how much the necklaces are.  Her answer saddens me.  Everything is at least $80.  They are real silver after all.  Sensing my apprehension, she points to her right where a jumble of tacky necklaces swing.  “Those are cheaper,” she says in a patronizing tone.  Hmmph, needless to say I admired her fares for only a moment longer before sulking away to continue my cheap student existence elsewhere.

Continuing up the stairs, the sound of people, music and footsteps vibrates up into the high ceiling.  The musical atmosphere has changed dramatically from the first floor string trio, and here a guitarist and banjo player (banjoist?) strum a jazzed up version of Canon in D.  It makes me think of graduation.

In the centre of the second floor is a housewares store (read: Hilary’s dream area), where I peruse the shelves for vegetable mandolins, non-stick skillets and cute cupcake liners.  I can afford only the latter, and happily leave with a box of lavender themed holders.  Oh right, I also saw former GG Adrienne Clarkson.  She was at the cash while I was checking out plates for food photography.  Since I’m partially obsessed with semi-Canadian celebrities (think every CBC radio host in existence), I followed her around, before realizing that I was being decidedly creepy.  I switched to lurking on cheese vendors instead.

Speaking of cheese vendors, they were everywhere.

I want to have an adventure in cheese!

Whhhhhhy did I not have food to get and people to cook for?!  I did get to buy some stuff, and ate a brunch of pastries and perogies.  Even if I didn’t buy food, it would have been impossible to starve.  You see, the number of samples at the market put Saturday’s at Costco to shame.  Just walking around, I managed to snag huge chunks of gruyere, brie on crackers, Canadian specialty mustard, ham and a satisfyingly chewy piece of ravioli.  I could live off of the samples alone.

My market adventure made me realize that if I lived within a 20 km radius of this place I would come every single weekend.  I would be extremely well fed and fat, but incandescently happy.

PS: aren’t these the most fun Kleenex holders you’ve ever seen?  I would totally be fine with having a cold if the Easter Island men could soothe me back to health.

Below, a few more pictures of my rainy morning.

Rawlicious (#HilarysTorontoAdventures, take two)

~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

If there is one observation I have made thus far from my time in Toronto, it is that the city is obsessed with the suffix “-licious.”  Seriously, Rawlicious, Veggielicious.  I’m starting to get flashbacks to that awkward period in grade nine when I loved Fergie and that annoying (but admittedly catchy) song Fergielicious.  It’s not good.  Please Toronto, cease and desist with the licious-ing before I am forced to take this online rant to the realms of Twitter and Facebook.

But anyways, the next stop in my culinary adventures was Rawlicious.

The restaurant is Toronto’s only raw dining location, and is also a safe haven for veganites, of which I am not one.  Located a short ten minute walk from my aunt’s house, Rawlicious was the next logical step in my dinner samplings.  My best friend Brittany (who has a new blog, CHECK IT OUT!) almost had a heart attack when I told her about the restaurant.  Apparently this female guitarist who she has the biggest, most unhealthy straight girl crush on always goes to this place.  She had a major fan girl moment.  On top of allowing Britt to vicariously experience a semi-brush with fame, Rawlicious was included in this *sigh* veggielicious festival, meaning that I got a discount on a super meal.

Ah, so what was this super meal you ask?  Well included in the aforementioned special was the following:
– A 16 oz smoothie of choice.  I got a chocolate milkshake made with nutmilk, raw chocolate powder, avocado, agave, and vanilla;
– Taco wrap with seasoned nut-loaf (to replace the ground beef), guacamole, chopped tomatoes, shredded romaine, salsa, and nut cheese; and,
– A mixed greens salad with a tangy lemon dressing.
Total: $15

Not included in the special, but very much necessary was an $8 piece of lemon cashew baked cheesecake on top of an almond crust.  It was drizzled with a tart raspberry syrup that was just lovely.

Even though I was at a raw/vegan specialty restaurant, I still somehow managed to underestimate the amount of green that was going to show up on my plate.  When the waitress brought over my dinner, my jaw dropped (or at least the jaw in my inner mind did).  SO MUCH GREEN.  The Hulk could have easily been chopped up and put on my plate.  Even the tortilla for the taco wrap was a green lettuce leaf.  A year earlier I would have walked right out of that place to the nearest pizza joint.  NOW, I am a brave food warrior.  I shoveled the first fork full of leafy greens into my mouth, bracing myself for my body’s rejection of healthiness.

It didn’t happen.  Raw vegetables were actually yummy.

Now, the salad was good, just as really any salad is.  I’m not too picky with salads.  It was the taco wrap that I was really worried about.  Turns out my fretting was premature (as it almost always is).  The nut loaf meat replacement thinger was AWESOME.  It genuinely tasted like ground beef.  I know this is probably a pretty standard statement, but I could totally go vegan if someone cooked like this for me.  It was great.  Filling, tasty and, of course, super healthy.  Mission veggie accomplished.  Also, the chocolate milkshake tasted kind of weird at first, but I eventually got over the initial “no dairy” thing and embraced the sweet flavour of avocado.

Not only was the food at Rawlivious excellent (albeit a little pricy), but the innards of Rawlicious were great as well.

I sat in the window area where, if the place had been a clothes store, they would have had the creepy mannequins on display.  Instead, there was an area scattered with fancily adorned pillows.  After I finished my meal I stuck around and read for a bit.  It was nice.  I felt hippie-to-the-max, but hey, a girl’s allowed to feel like a flower child once in awhile, right?

Gallery below.

The Beet Organic Cafe and Market

~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

For those of you that don’t know, I’m in Toronto for the rest of April interning at the National Post.  Due to this, and the fact that my commute gets me home well after a regular person’s dinnertime, I think I’m going to be eating out quite a bit.  Luckily I’m living in a great Toronto neighbourhood.  It’s called The Junction and, from what I can tell, it seems like a trendy, up-and-coming neighbourhood with lots of great culture and food.  There are worse things.

Anyways, I’ve decided that as part of my next few weeks in Toronto, I’m going to do my best to explore the city and be a shameless tourist.  I desperately love exploring new places, and can’t wait to walk around and check out everything that Toronto has to offer.  My eager touristic desires will hopefully take me to loads of great restaurants, of which The Beet is the first.

(PS: Whatever I write about restaurants is not meant to be a review, but rather my overwhelming need to share with the world the awesomeness of my experiences.)

(PPS: Yep, I plan on taking all photos with my Hipstamatic iPhone app until further notice. Deal with it.)

SO The Beet…

The Beet is located within a short distance of where I’m staying.  Toronto currently has this “Veggielicious” festival (try hard not to judge the name) which is organized by the Toronto Vegetarian Association.  As part of the festivities, several Ottawa eateries are offering a special vegan dish.  One of these restaurants just happened to be The Beet.  Lucky me.

Here’s what I got:

Organic Island Roti Special
– Tonica Kombucha Mimosa: tonica kombucha with freshly juiced apple ginger and beet
– Organic island roti: chickpea, potato and spinach curry in an unbleached wheat roll.
– Spring greens with beets, carrots and tamari roasted seeds
– Mini raw vegan cheesecake (gluten and sugar free)

Grand total: $15.  Vundabah.

This was such a great start to my restaurant trying mission.  To me, the juice resembled a beet smoothie, and I was surprisingly not turned off by the thought of juiced vegetables.  My mouth was beet-red by the end of my meal.  The roti was warm and comforting.  For those of you who go to Carleton, it reminded me a lot of a vegan version of one of the naans they serve at Mike’s Place.  The cheesecake was absolutely adorable and served in a small plastic dish the size of a shot glass.  I shoveled each spoon full of cheesecake and a single strawberry slice.  It was creamy and tasted whipped to perfection.

The restaurant itself also had a great vibe.

Decoration bulbs hung suspended in mid-air and upbeat music poured out of the high ceiling.  From my seat (which was an old church pew), I had a good view of the extensive list of teas, all written neatly on what appeared to be a gigantic chalkboard.  Tacked to the counter was a sign that said “we’re voting CBC.”  The journalism student inside of me rejoiced.  The table decor was cute and clever – pink and white daisies sat brightly in organic milk bottles that were filled to the brim with water.

Considering the restaurant isn’t that big, there was a lot to choose from on the menu.  I plan on returning within the next few weeks to try one of the following:

– Buenos dias wrap: avocado, spicy black bean spread, quinoa, pico de gallo, raw Quebec cheddar on a brown rice gluten free wrap ($13), or;
– Huevnos rancheros: two eggs with Quebec raw cheddar, sweet potato mash, topped with sour cream, pico de gallo and avocado on a Canadian corn tortilla (also $13).

An all around delicious and friendly experience.  I love my adopted neighbourhood already.

The Beet Organic Cafe and Market, 2945 Dundas St. W.  Click “more” to see the rest of my pictures from today’s meal.

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Happy Birthday Kristina!

~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

Kristina was one of the fantastic people that I worked with this past summer at Carleton’s Student Experience Office.  We had a series of inside jokes involving turtles eating things (google image it, cutest thing ever), and this card pays tribute to those weird (but hilarious) exchanges.  Last year Kristina’s belated birthday card had a penguin wearing a tuxedo on it.  Clearly we’re starting some sort of animal pattern here.

In case you can’t tell, the turtle is wearing a party hat.  Just accept it.

Happy Birthday Brittany!

~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

Since March is the best month to be born in, it’s no surprise that one of my favourite people is also born during this time.  I’ve mentioned Britt several times on my blog in passing, but just to review, she is my roommate, best friend, and motivator extraordinaire.  She is also mature beyond her years and, despite her only just turning 20, she has acted as my mother figure in Ottawa since second year.  My learning to cook can also be accredited to Britt, who coaxed me out of my safe haven of grilled cheese sandwiches and George Foreman grilled chicken.  B, I owe you one.

I tried (and perhaps failed) to make this card as rad as Britt’s personality.  She’s into the whole rock and roll thing, and thought that sparkly paper from The Papery would suffice in meshing this musical genre into birthday card form.  There’s also some groovy, multi-coloured sparkle paper on the inside, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say it was wicked.

PS: I PROMISE I’m going to start blogging about food again. I’ve basically been eating cupcakes non-stop for the past week, and am dying to eat healthy meals.  I made a great dinner tonight and am planning something extra-special for breakfast tomorrow. Stay tuned.