crave conscious

i was just reading about a north vancouver company called crave conscious in the straight and then i discovered a demo in my neighbourhood! yay!
i tried the pear yoga (almond yogurt) drink and found it bitter so i bought a blueberry one to try at home, which i am enjoying while i type this!
i also excitedly bought vanilla almond yogurt (made with just almonds, brown rice, sugar, vanilla and cultures and all organic, vegan, gluten-free greatness!) and a plain yogurt that i'm excited to use as vegan yogurts seem to always be sweet and then you can't use them for tzatziki and other savoury dishes and dips!
and i also bought the cookie mixes (a blend of gluten-free flours and goodies) for triple seed and chocolate chip cookies. i thought i had bought a "dutch spice" mix and figured that was the cookie i sampled (the mix with oil and apple sauce added to it) - they reminded me of enjoy life cookies. i'll have to look next time for that mix! (though it's totally possible i was looking at something else and "dutch spice" isn't one of CC's mixes! ha)

i'm super excited for this local company and to be able to get these products so conveniently!

heirloom dinner.

on thursday night, for the first time in what seems like ages, i met up with sarah and went out for dinner! yay!
we checked out heirloom, just off granville on west 12th, which had just opened up the week before. it's an all vegetarian restaurant with many labelled vegan and raw and gluten-free options! hurrah!
we got the popcorn ($3) to start which was awesome. although i normally eat my popcorn with coconut oil and nutritional yeast just as heirloom does, the added beet powder that the restaurant uses was perfection! best popcorn ever!
i got an algae lemonade to start ($5) that i definitely have to start doing at home - e3 live with lemon and maple syrup? yum!!! so refreshing and invigorating! i think it would do me well to sip on in the mornings at work, though, maybe more so in the warmer months!

we shared the avocado fries ($7? i can't remember) and the raw slaw ($6.50? i can't remember either. oops!). the avocado fries are deep fried in a chickpea batter and served with a homemade catsup which has a strange sweet taste, at least to me and sarah. i kept using it as a dip though because the fries are drying and in my opinion, really need the dip dimension. i think they would go better with a salsa. the slaw was pretty good. sarah mentioned the sesame taste being too much. the slaw was really carrot-y and light. i appreciated the basil garnish and would have enjoyed more basil. 

i would definitely go back to heirloom to try more food. so far, the highlights for me are the beautiful space, my friend vanessa serving (and creating her amazing holistic drinks!), the popcorn, and my company, sarah! 

i'm super excited that vancouver keeps opening up new and beautiful veggie-friendly restaurants!

breakfast at organic lives!

there is now an AMAZING granola at organic lives AND this absolutely delicious (and desserty) peach crepe!

i got two to go last night so my friend heading to the airport early early this morning could eat something yummy and i could celebrate friday? (and perhaps a new job!)

anyways... wow. coconut wrap with a coconut creme and i would love to have a day where i could just sit at the beach in the sun again with a million of these beside me to eat! hehe. oh and a coconut with a straw in it. is that too much to ask?

sejuiced

so i interrupt my so-called flow of costa rica posts yet again... but i just wanted to post something about sejuiced in vancouver (west 4th, near zulu records) as i haven't yet.
my friend and i have gone here for lunch for quite awhile now as he works nearby and i've always appreciated their 'super' (vegan) burger and getting a fresh juice. now that i'm doing the raw thing mostly, i love that they have a raw caesar salad! with raw croutons and crackers and all! i can't remember what juice i got today but it had beet and ginger in it so obviously it was awesome. i love this place. oh yah, and they also have a punch card for drinks so every 10th one is free! bubble tea houses here in vancouver have been discontinuing stamp cards but sejuiced hasn't! LOVE IT.
on a side note, there really should be organic fruit bubble tea houses here. i haven't had bubble tea in forever and i guess i haven't wanted to have one... it seemed to always be an issue of getting no sugar and no "non-dairy creamer" (i don't care if it's non-dairy! i still don't want it!) in my blended drink.
um, anyways! i love sejuiced!

vancouver is awesome.

okay so i have to interrupt my stream of posts to come of costa rica drool-worthy foods to quickly say, THANK YOU WEDNESDAY. i got back on friday and was feeling super discouraged about being home, being cold, being poor, being away from the green beauty that is costa rica.
but then yesterday came along and reminded me of why vancouver is awesome.
first, despite recently moving into my own place and having no dishes, i made up a great salad and enjoyed it out of a pot. i don't use pots anymore for cooking but hooray for them being there for me to eat giant salads out of!












then, i was able to finally hit up the farmer's market. there is a wednesday one at main street station which rules as i usually work the weekends when the westend one is on. last summer, there was one in gastown which RULED but it was a trial run and i guess it wasn't successful enough to do again this year. and since i generally seem to be away most of the summers, it's september when i get a month of bliss of farmer's market time! so i was super excited to collect on the local, organic produce! so inspiring! and i got some curry crackers from radha too :)
















then! i got to meet up with my sister for gorilla food. we both got the jungle coleslaw (SO good!) and she got a burger and i got the main st monkey sandwich that i was craving all day. i last had one of their sandwiches the day i got home from korea so it was so nice to get one again.















and then to complete the day of awesome (though it would have been 200% amazing if it had worked out with my friend who i'm trading piano lessons for a chair to be delivered), i went to talent time that night. and a friend who runs an amazing company of earth-friendly moving boxes, frogbox, who helped me do a zero-emissions move across the city, came to the show too! it's been exciting to see how the crowd is growing at this show.
ooh and i brought chlorella (with spearmint) to drop in my water at the biltmore so it wouldn't taste nasty and also so i'd have this green drink to freak people out with. er, whatever. it made drinking more exciting.
anyways!
i made a pinata for it (full of money - it's a 'cover charge pinata', organic vegan lollipops, pencils, stickers and boxes of raisins) and again, this whole raw thing does wonders for multi-uses of kitchen products. like my stove becomes workspace for crafts! perfect! i haven't started storing stuff in my oven yet but who knows.













anyways, after a summer off, the variety show of inspired and earnest people of all sorts of talents came back to the biltmore. it happens the first wednesday of every month, it's $8 and starts at 9 but if you want a seat of some sort, the lineup to get in starts around 8. i was particularly impressed by the 12 year old violinist. and then at the end, the vancouver complaints choir performed and it was glorious! i loved the kind of complaints veda hille collected to represent the kinds of things vancouver people complain about: cars vs bikes, no beer in the grocery store and umbrella etiquette.
and it reminds me of helsinki which i spent one day in last summer. i guess theirs was the second ever complaints choir. anyways, when i was there, i was excited to find one place with raw/living foods - vegetaari. i went 2x the one day i was there and told the lady i was from vancouver and was excited to check out her place. she said beautiful things to me that of course i can't remember at the moment. but i can't help but relate beautiful food to beautiful people and beautiful love all around.

so... i may be back home and a bit restless for my next adventure (and seemingly in a rambling random mood today?), but there are plenty of exciting and inspiring things happening in my own city to keep me occupied for awhile.
thank you, vancouver.