Beauty Review: Bare English & Co.

In my previous Bare English & Co review, I raved about the wonderful texture of these vegan lip balms from Toronto. With organic ingredients and tea infusions, the non-toxic formula is the best I've come by. My friends at Bare English & Co just came out with 5 new flavors and I'm so excited to share these with you!

They currently have 7 flavors available;

VegFoodFest 2014: Part 3 - Sunday

For my third day in Toronto, I needed to get myself some breakfast since VegFoodFest started a little later. We went to Fresh Restaurant for a lovely breakfast of vegan pancakes, tofu scramble, tempeh bacon and a side of onion rings. Their almond milk latte is also amazing! I also loved the funky paint colors and chandeliers, it made for a fun atmosphere. 

Once at the Harbourfront where the festival is held, I attended Big Bald Mike's first ever public speaking event.

VegFoodFest 2014: Part 2 - Saturday

Saturday was a beautiful morning in Toronto heading to Day 2 of VegFoodFest hosted by the Toronto Vegetarian Association. If you haven't seen the previous post, here it is.

My breakfast consisted of Cookies & Cream Marshmallows and a Sticky Bun from Apiecalypse Now Bakery. Because who doesn't love an overload of sugar first thing in the morning!

VegFoodFest 2014: Part 1 - Friday

Last year was my first time visiting Toronto's massive Vegetarian Food Festival (the biggest in North America!). I had such an amazing time and you can read all about it here. This year, I knew I had to go and experience it again. There is something magical about being surrounded by all these wonderful like-minded people.

My Friday night started off with Doug McNish doing a cooking demonstration of his Mac&Cheese. He showed us how to make a cheese sauce using butternut squash and nutritional yeast, then topped it off with some fresh breadcrumbs. So yummy!

Beauty Review: Bare English Co. Lip Balms

Lip products and winter go together like peanut butter and jelly. We all know that finding a suitable lip balm is a harder task than it may initially seem. It needs the right scent, flavor, packaging etc.. but the right texture is one of its most important components. Achieving a smooth “non-sticky” application can be pretty tricky for producers of such products, especially without using any animal products or harmful chemicals (petroleum jelly, parabens, etc). Since the average woman consumes 2 kilograms (yep, that's kilos my friends) of lip products in her lifetime, it’s important to avoid nasty dangerous chemicals.  [Source: Terra20]

Like most women, I have a huge stash of lip products. They are hidden in every coat, every purse, hidden in drawers and pant pockets all around me. Also, vegans are always on the hunt for really good vegan lip balms, since they are sometimes hard to find. This is why I was so excited to have won a pack of 3 Bare English Lip Balms from Andrea Tomkins’ blog, A Peek Inside The Fishbowl. I put them to the test, and January is one of the best times to do this, in full blown Canadian winter. 

3-in-1 Restaurant Reviews - Toronto

During my weekend at the Vegetarian Food Festival in Toronto, I took advantage of the multitude of veg restaurants in the area to stop by a few of them. If you haven't read my posts about the festival, here are the links for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3. Some of these restaurants I had heard of already, but Happy Cow definitely helped picking them out. I ended up visiting Kale, The Hogtown Vegan, and Sadie's Diner. I presented them in chronological order, but it turns out it's also in order of preference, enjoy!

VegFoodFest 2013: Part 3 - Sunday

Well, waking up that morning was not easy. After Day 1 and Day 2 at the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival and a night of eating, drinking and dancing you can imagine my food baby, my hangover and my lack of sleep. That said, I was still so excited and ready to discover more veg-related products and businesses.

It was such a beautiful day, with the sun shining down on Toronto like it was mid-summer. As soon as I got to the festival, I was on the hunt. Thirsty. I wanted either a green juice or smoothie, maybe I'd even try some kombucha! After doing the rounds of booths, I got very discouraged. There were huge lineups at smoothie stands. One of the kombucha vendors were gone, the other one sold out a few minutes before I got there. Sad but hopeful, I tried to find something other than a $3 water from a vending machine. And then I found it. There was a table with man holding a massive knife, beside a box of fresh coconuts. EUREKA! I had never really tried packaged coconut water, and definitely not straight out of the coconut! I watched this talented man strike at the coconut a few times just enough to make a slit to stick in a straw. Well worth the $5 I'd say, and how cool did I look walking around holding a coconut with a straw!

VegFoodFest 2013: Part 1 - Friday

First, a tidbit about me:
2013 is my first year being vegan... Weird, I know. I almost feel like I've been vegan forever because I've been researching and dipping my toes into it for years. I grew up in a smaller northern Ontario town that had little (read: nothing) to offer the veg community, so it was difficult for me to make the jump from vegetarian to vegan. Immersing yourself into this culture and connecting with people in it is so amazing. I did this mainly online and with social media, since I felt I was so far from it physically. Toronto, by far, is the closest veg-destination and will probably always be my favourite (to be determined...) Their annual vegfest was the next step in strengthening my vegan lifestyle and of course, to be shared with you lovely readers.

My wrist tattoo - April 2013

VegFoodFest 2013: Part 2 - Saturday

Day 2 of the Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival was amazing! Haven't read my post about Day 1? Read it here.

The first event of my day was Marni Wasserman's presentation called "Fully Nourished". I have to say she looked absolutely ravishing and glowing, even on that icky rainy day.

The cooking demo was really informative and nutrition-focused. She talked about multiple uses for ingredients like quinoa (the nutritional superstar) and cooking tips for different uses like porridge and salads. The quinoa salad recipe demonstrated was amazing - it really was great for a full meal type of salad. It had quinoa, chickpeas, shredded beets and carrots, kale, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, avocado and a homemade dressing. And we all got to taste it afterwards!

Marni Wasserman's Quinoa Salad

Value Village Hauls

Thrift shopping is something that you are really into or not at all. It has been pretty trendy lately so I think a lot of people are jumping on board, which is great (especially from the environmental standpoint). I've always loved it. I love the treasure hunt, the lower prices and the smaller environmental footprint left behind.

The people who know me know that I always head straight for the sale rack every time I go shopping. It's always been my instinct to only buy things on sale or to save money everywhere I can. So naturally, I'm a fan of second hand items. I'm am even bigger fan of the value village giant half off sales that they have every few months. I'm all over their social media to make sure I know when the next one is. This one was right before they started setting up their Halloween merchandise... Heads up for next September! :)

Beauty Haul: Lush Cosmetics

On my recent trip to Toronto (see my restaurant post) I did a bit of shopping on Queen street. I spotted on a Lush store on my way to the Loving Hut restaurant, and prepared myself for some massive splurging. I'm a huge fan of Lush for many reasons, one of them being the labelling of vegan products. The majority of their products are vegan and have this little V symbol to identify them. What a great way to kickstart my vegan beauty regime! Here are the all-vegan products I purchased:

Vegan Restaurant: Loving Hut Toronto

When in Rome! (or Toronto!)

I spent the long weekend (family day in Ontario) in Toronto and I knew right away I wanted to hunt down some amazing vegan restaurants. After a search on Happy Cow, I had a looooong list of places to visit. Ok, I went a little bit overboard. I know I can't even get to a dozen places in one day, let alone eat a dozen meals. My trip was then planned around the area I wanted to visit most (shopping!). Unfortunately, I only had time for one outing so the Loving Hut in Toronto was my restaurant of choice. Now, I'm not a restaurant critic by any means, so I'm just sharing my experience and my opinions with you. Enjoy!

What a lovely place! The staff is friendly and the decor is adorable, much like a popular cozy hangout kind of vibe. I was impressed with the large menu, since I'm used to being restricted to 1-2 options. Here's the best part: I ordered 2 meals, equalling 4 plates, to myself! I probably sounded crazy but I asked the waitress to bring me some take out containers so I could take half of each meal home. And extra ketchup, of course!