hurrah for cozy dinners at the dinner table!

when is the last time you ate at a table in your home? for paul and i, it was last night! after what seems like months! and we vow to do it way more often. but a big push to actually sit down for dinner is to make a dinner worth sitting down for (rather than a quick rice and veg that we sit on the couch with), which last night was roasted butternut squash, raw chili, ginger garlic coleslaw, edamame quinoa and kombucha (grapefruit sage is my absolute favourite!) with jodie and janna!

the butternut squash was inspired by a recipe i saw in alive magazine but as usual for me and recipes, i didn't quite follow it. what i did was bake the butternut squash and then blend it with about 2 tablespooons of olive oil and 2 tablespoons of earth balance and 2 tablespoons of dijon and a palm-full of fresh sage and a pinch of sea salt and a small nub of ginger. then i baked it at 400 F for about 30 minutes and then i broiled it at a bit higher to brown a bit of the top because i hadn't added anything (like cheese, like the recipe had suggested). it was smooth like baby food and i liked having it mixed with the other dishes, like janna's yummy quinoa, for texture purposes. it was also nice for a "sweet" change from my garlic-heavy chili and slaw.
the chili is my ever-faithful matthew kenney one (his everyday raw book is worth buying just for that recipe, i swear!) and i had made a raw caesar-ish dressing earlier that day that we used like a sour cream on top (delicious! it was a blend of cashews and water and lemon juice and ACV and sage and dulse and tahini and olive oil and braggs) and the slaw was inspired heavily by ani phyo's chinese chickenless salad (page 161 of raw food essentials, another great book to have around). i did a blend of braggs and ACV and garlic and ginger and olive oil and tahini and maple syrup. paul told me today when he pulled out the leftovers that it really needed some nuts on top which i agreed and the original recipe had called for that.
having time off right now affords me the luxury to relax and take time to make food and i hope this experience influences my working days as well so that i get into the habit of coming home from work and sitting down at the table for dinner after making more inspiring meals with paul. ^_^

toronto! to raw in tow?

last weekend my friend alison shields had her grad art show in toronto and i feel so lucky i was able to come out for the opening. i'm so excited for her finding her 'thing' if that makes sense? at first i wasn't really in the mood for travelling, strangely enough, but it didn't take long after getting off the plane to be excited to eat at live again and well, to see some great people again!
over the just under 3 days i was there, i went to live 3 times! hehe. so i'll start with that. definitely my favourite raw place. they have cooked things too but it's all vegan. and i love getting recommendations to go there from people who eat meat! it's always amazing! i have not ordered ANYTHING there that has been a letdown and that's pretty impressive!
i'm currently debating buying live's recipe ebooks... i can only imagine some amazing meals in the future if i had such inspiration... hmm....
on friday, i went for a late lunch/early dinner and couldn't decide so i went for the raw combo which included some pizza, falafel, spring rolls and beet ravioli! there was also a salad! this was probably the first time i did not finish everything on my plate and someone else's at a raw restaurant :) i can't even name my favourite dish on the plate! all incredible. ooh and i had a blueberry kombucha which reminds me that i started making my own kombucha just before i went and it was ready when i got home! my first batch ever! eek!

anyways, the next night, i came for dessert and we picked the black forest cake, almond butter cup and the raspberry strudel? (i can't remember what it was called) but again! nothing was a miss! wow. i don't know how this place does it!

and then, on my last day, i came for brunch and had the raw huevos! SOOOO incredible!!! i don't know what the thick cracker-like thing was that everything was piled on but it was super hard to cut into but seemed like too big of a mess to pick up... but no matter, it was delicious!!!

 that last day started with a rushed brunch (i had to get to lunch at live right afterwards!) at starving artist. i had a fruit bowl (amazing berries and such! i hate canteloupe/honeydew plus one grape fruit bowls!) and 2 mini vegan, gluten-free waffles with fruit!

oh and i musn't forget the awesome place i went to on the saturday: mylk uncookies in cabbagetown. their thing is "something for everyone". i had raw treats (of course) - the lucuma one was my favourite- but the cookies looked amazing - like pillows of chewiness! wish i had taken a photo! they have gluten-free and vegan things and of course, gluten-free, vegan, raw things! i had a couple tea lattes with house-made almond milk! they didn't have raw uncheesecakes that day but i hope to someday be back and try them!

oh and wouldn't you know but the owners are originally from vancouver and used to shop regularly at the kitchen shop i worked at for a number of years! i love how small the world is sometimes! :)

i didn't get to rawlicious which i went to last time i was in toronto and i still haven't tried cruda cafe but i'll just have to next time!

anyways... i had a wonderful weekend in toronto... got to meet up with a lot of amazing people and eat amazing things and i managed to bring a few things back from panacea too, including kale chips from live and a raw chocolate easter bunny lollipop from live on chocolate! YES!