Hello NYC

I'm off to New York City tomorrow night until Sunday. I plan to see Liars play on Thursday night at the Bowery Ballroom, eat at Blossom, snack at Babycakes and Stogo, and hopefully go to Coney Island. Maybe a little shopping too.......

Vegan Danish Bakery

T discovered this link yesterday to the Vegan Danish Bakery in Thornhill, north of Toronto. It looks like a bit of a trek, but I'm excited to head out there and try some of their rice-krispy squares. Has anyone heard anything about this place or been there?

Valley Girl

I watched the sweet 1983 film Valley Girl on late night TV last night as I couldn't sleep. I forgot how much I like it, especially Nicholas Cage's character and the song that closes out the film.

Rainy Saturday

Home brewed ginger tea sweetened with a little agave, and a vegan apricot, walnut and oatmeal cookie. A perfect snack for a rainy Saturday afternoon watching Project Runway and reading this book.

Cooking Catch Up

I've been enjoying spending lots of time in the kitchen over the last day or so, and with rain forecast for the next few days, I'm sure this will continue. Yesterday I made some vegan banana bread with spelt flour from the recipe in the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook. Dinner was soba noodles, store bought Korean dumplings and a simple soy broth with edamame, carrots, beans and spring onions which were lurking in our veggie crisper.

Today I pickled some radishes after being inspired by the tsukemono/Japanese pickles at our local Korean supermarket yesterday. Finally I made some granola with almonds, pecans and golden flaxseed, as well as dried apricots, figs and pears.

The Break is Over

It has been a long time since I have posted (almost three months!) due to some difficult times here in Canada. I got a job, but my work permit was denied so there has been much flux in T's and my plans about where to live. T went over to London for a job interview as we thought we would move there instead, and we even discussed returning to Melbourne. But for now I think (it changes minute to minute!) we are staying put here in Toronto. T is going to study as of 10 May, which has the wonderful benefit of giving me an open work permit. So 10 May will also be my first day, as my boss kindly kept my job open for me so I could get a different type of work permit.

Now that that is out of the way and I have moved on from my ongoing battle with the depression demons, I have been trying to figure out how to spend the next few months before starting work. I have many projects in their embryonic stages, but the first is to update this blog, and also my photos on my flickr page. T and I took a short trip to Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa for my birthday just before Christmas, so they should all be up shortly.

Here are some pics from Montreal - what a place, so wonderful for vegans and just walking around (in -20 degree temperatures!) I am very silly that I didn't take any pictures at our two dinners at Chu Chai - their satay "chicken" and deep fried spinach (drool) was too good for words, so good in fact that I didn't even think to take out my camera before diving in. All I wanted to do was cram it in my mouth as quickly as possible : )

A Great Weekend

+ Seeing A Serious Man

+ Dinner at Live

+ A visit to Algonquin Provincial Park, where we saw a beaver making his way through the water, wood in mouth, to repair his house just before sunset

+ Discovering White Lotus and their delicious vegan spring rolls and lemongrass "chicken"

+ Continuing reading Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne

Last night I saw Growing and Fuck Buttons at the El Mocambo, and am looking forward to seeing some films at the Canadian Labour International Film Festival (CLiFF) at the Bloor Cinema later this week.