Restaurant: A Thing for Chocolate

I have a thing for A Thing for Chocolate. That's right, I've been there many times and I won't stop! There's buzz going on about this hidden gem in the Hintonburg neighbourhood of Ottawa. They even received a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor! The French-themed restaurant has an extensive menu of sweet and savory crepes, coffee and mocha drinks. 

The owner, Omar, has developped a seperate vegan crepe menu and keeps

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!

Beauty Review: Purple Urchin

You need soap. P.U.

Probably one of the best slogans I've ever heard. Why? The "P.U." not only stands for "pee-you" (you stink), it also stands for the brand Purple Urchin. Genius! This is an Ottawa-based homemade soap and body product company that was originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (shout out to my Northern Ontario peeps!).

Here's a little bit about their products: (excerpt taken from their About Us page)

Our goal in making this soap was to make a wide variety of soap that contained only vegetable oils and delicious fragrances, while avoiding the use of unnecessary chemicals. We wanted to make soap that felt luxurious and would not strip the skin of moisture, and that was as natural as possible while still offering a wide range of scents...

Purple Urchin soap is not tested on animals, nor do we use lard or tallow in our soap. Most of our products are 100% vegan-friendly, and all are 100% vegetarian-friendly, and biodegradable. We refrain from using palm oil in our soaps since the demand is extremely high...

Being environmentally-friendly is also extremely important to us in our everyday business operations, and we try to reduce waste and to use as many recyclable and/or recycled products as possible. We also use local, Ontarian, and Canadian suppliers whenever possible...

Childhood favourite, Nutella!

Nutella. Yummy! What else is there to say, who doesn't love Nutella??? Here's the catch: I love Nutella, but not what it's made of. I figured there has to be a way to quench my craving without actually buying some. I found an old (expired) jar in my pantry and looked at the ingredients:

• Sugar (replace with agave nectar)
• Modified palm oil (destroying rainforest! Skipping the oil to reduce fat content, but feel free to try it because it gives it a smoother texture)
• Hazelnuts (yep)
• Cocoa (yep)
• Skim milk powder (I used almond milk, but I also could have tried soy milk powder)
• Whey powder (dairy by-product)
• Lecithin (What?? After doing a bit of research, I found out that lecithin is a fat that can be derived from many sources to improve texture. Most lecithin is derived from soybeans, but other sources include egg yolks, so no guarantee.)
• Vanillin (Vanilla, for those of us who speak english)

Totally easy to re-create a fixed up version. Here's what I did: