Melody Mondays: Bing Crosby takes on Hawaii

Yesterday was cold.  Brutally cold.  Horrifically, devastatingly cold.  So cold was yesterday that I never properly warmed myself back up, despite laying by the fireplace on the floor underneath the fluffiest blanket I could find.  It's no wonder why I've got a bright, Hawaiian Christmas day on my mind...

stay warm my friends.

Pleasantly yours,
Bart

Melody Mondays: Nat King Cole

Happy December 1st!!!!  I've been listening to Christmas music pretty much the instant Halloween was over but with all due respect to the Grinches and the Scrooges who can't handle the festive tunes too early (you know who I'm talking to), I've withheld this one till today.

Here's some Nat King (of Christmas) Cole with the classic Christmas Song.  This song demands to be listened to while wrapped up in a cozy blanket, by the fireplace, with a warm drink in hand.  And if it's not too much to ask, some snow too...

this makes me feel warm and tingly inside

PS I finished making my scarf.  Just in time for December :)  You can't tell by this picture but it goes down to my hips and is incredibly itchy. But hey, it's warm!

pls don't shrink this one mom

Pleasantly yours,

Bart

Melody Mondays: Johnny Cash and June Carter

Last night I watched the movie Walk the Line and am now in a major Johnny Cash phase.  You just can't find music so pure like this anymore.  So here's a little bit of John and June to brighten up your Monday :)

Ain't they the cutest?

Pleasantly yours,
Bart

Carrot Tuna Avocado and Pear Salad

My morning was one of those mornings you might be able to relate to.  It was one of those mornings where I was just so busy that I kind of forgot to prioritize feeding myself.  So by the time I got around to food, glorious food, it was already lunch time.

I came up with this improvised salad using the minimal ingredients I had in my fridge and cupboards. 

I'm not exactly what you would call a seafood fan.  I don't like fancy fish, crab, lobster, oysters or octopus (gross).  However, I do like sushi and I really like salmon and tuna.  I usually refrain from eating things out of a can because of all the excess sodium, but there is this one brand of tuna soaked in olive oil that is probably one of my favourite foods.  I'm not a crazy carnivorous eater, but this stuff I could eat like chocolate.  

I started with the tuna (looks appetizing...), then I found a potato peeler and used it on a carrot to get these long and thin ribbons.  Then I cut half an avocado, mango-style, and sliced up some pear.  I then added aged cheddar because I'm of the belief that cheese makes the world go round.  (Another reason why I couldn't be vegan)

Ingredients: 

• 1 can Rio Mare Tuna in Olive Oil
• 1/2 to 1 carrot (I found that only a few shavings of the carrot was enough)
• 1/2 an avocado
• 1/2 a pear 
• 1 tbsn of shredded aged cheddar

Quick and easy - my kind of meal

Colourful too!

Pleasantly yours,
Bart

Guilt-free Cookie Dough Balls

This is a spin off my candy bar recipe.  I didn't have raw cashews nor did I have the urge to walk in the treacherous cold to the supermarket to pick some up.  I did however have a baggie full of my FAVOURITE NUT EVER - them macadamia nuts.  

I stuck them in my food processor till they became a paste, added dates to sweeten, some cinnamon and salt for flavour.  After I finished blending, I sprinkled in some cacao nibs for that choco chip crunch.  Très facile!

Ingredients:

• As many macadamia nuts as you can fit in your food processor 
• Medjool or honey dates, about 3 or 4, depending on how many nuts you use.
• 1 tspn of cinnamon 
• 1/2 tspn of sea salt or pink Himalayan salt
• As many cacao nibs to your liking 

*This mixture turned out a little more liquid than my cashew version so bars didn't seem practical, however, they made the most perfect ball shape.

Enjoy!

Pleasantly yours,

Bart

The quaintest of mornings

Yesterday, Isabelle and I very spontaneously went to Yorkville.  We started talking about how cool it would be if we could make our own face products and skin care things.  We realized how much we can get out of just using basic things, food even.  Maybe that's a post for another day and an experiment to come, but this topic of conversation lead me to wanting to go to Anthropologie and get fancy soap and handcream.  I also needed to find a birthday present for my 3 year old nephew.  And for a while, Isabelle and I have been wanting to go to a yarn store.  What better way to get into the spirit of Christmas than taking out the knitting needles (you must think I'm a grandmother but I swear I'm nineteen).  But alas, there was no signs of a knitting shop in Yorkville.

As we arrived, we passed by Free People and noticed gigantic plastic bags sitting outside the shop against the lamp post, filled with....yarn...(?)  This was very obviously their trash but the likelihood of that happening could not be more in our favour.  It was a gift from the heavens!  Or good karma or whatever.  But we couldn't just go through their trash... I'm not sure if you've ever been to Yorkville but it's not the sort of place for trash pickers.  So, the two of us wandered inside and asked the cashier if the bags of yarn were up for grabs and she explained that it was part of their decoration from last season and that we could take it.  We each took a bag and spent the rest of the day walking around with these massive plastic bags of yarn.  We got the most puzzling looks and inquisitive questions but, hey, free yarn!

Neat colours too!

We made our way to this fantastic cold-press juice bar called The Good Press.  I got a juice called Hawaii 5-0 and it had pineapple, spinach, romaine, arugula and jalapeño.  I really only got it because it said "healthy bones, brain and heart" on the front.  If you've ever had two stress fractures in your life, anything that says "healthy bones" on it is as good as a Willy Wonka chocolate bar with a golden ticket.  But I actually really liked it.  It had this nice spicy kick to it after the sweetness of the pineapple.  Isabelle got the chocolate milk which had cashews, maple syrup, dates, vanilla extract and cacao nibs.

Notice the plastic bags of yarn in the background

I finally got to Anthropologie and found some soap.  It smells like Christmas which equals pure joy in a bar of soap. Woohoo.

I want to live in this store.

I bought my nephew a white dress shirt because I think it's the cutest thing when babies dress like adults.  Especially Owen.

Then we went to Indigo and I got him a little 'story of Christmas' book.  It's a board book because if I got him a paperback, the pages would be ripped out in a matter of seconds.

I also found a little something for myself.  It's called 642 Things to Write About and that's exactly what it is.  Multiple writers from the San Francisco Writers' Grotto contributed ideas.  It's essentially a thought or question, like "what did you have for breakfast?" or "Write about the perfect crime and how you would get away with it".  It's the sort of book that really makes you use your imagination, which is something I find has been dormant inside me for the past year and a half that I've been out of school.  I love writing and this blog has helped me continue that passion while relating it to my daily life.  But with this book, I'm hoping to exercise my creativity the way I used to in 12th grade Writers' Craft class.

As we ended our shopping adventure, we noticed a homeless man bundled on the floor by the traffic light at an intersection.  This is a common sight for the city, as sad as that is, but this man was purple in the face and it was hard to just walk by him.  We watched as a girl left him her warm Starbucks drink, an act of kindness that inspired us to help in a similar way.  We went to the nearest Tim Hortons' where Isabelle suggested that we buy him actual food.  She got him a soup and I got him a bagel and a large hot tea.  If rationed correctly, those were two meals, so we gave them to the man, who was grateful, and went off.  

I'm not telling you this because I want to brag about being a good Samaritan.  I haven't told any of my friends or family about this because I'm not looking for appraisal.  I just think it's worthy of a mention because I'd like to highlight the importance of giving.  It is coming up to be the season of giving, with Christmas around the corner.  But really, it's the sort of thing that should be remembered all year round.  That being said, I'm guilty of noticing it the most around Christmastime because of all the shopping I do for other people.  Do you ever go shopping for your friends and family and you find the perfect gift for someone and it just puts you in the best mood?  You just can't wait to give it to them and to see their reaction.  Call me corny, but spreading happiness is what Christmas is all about.

Now this granny is off to knit a scarf!

Pleasantly yours,

Bart

The Detox Market with a side of cookies

Last Sunday, my girlfriends and I took a day trip to a few places around the city, all of which were recent discoveries of mine.  I had been dying to bring my friends because I had inklings they would have appreciated them.  

First we stopped into a shop that I literally salivate over.  It's called The Detox Market and it's on King St. and Blue Jays Way.  Immediately upon walking into the store, you're greeted by a wall of what I, until further tastings, believe is the world's best chocolate.  The brand is called Taza Chocolate and I was first introduced to this piece of heaven by my school's nutritionist this past June.  Now, she's from New York so my challenge was finding this in Canada and for a long time, I had no such luck.  In September I was in New York myself and found the chocolate instantly at the Whole Foods in Columbus Circle.  Naturally, I stocked up and brought a whole ton back to Canada.  It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I stumbled upon this magical chocolate wall in The Detox Market and my dreams had come true.  

What I like best about this chocolate is that you have some of the most basic ingredients and not too many either.  It rarely surpasses five ingredients.  They use stone ground cacao beans and a bit of cane sugar and depending on the flavour, it would usually contain one or two more ingredients.  But wait...no soy lecithin??! Is it true?  Yes, yes. There is none of that stuff and it's wonderful and I think that might be part of what gives it this unique texture.  I think the texture is what makes it stand out the most for me.  When you bite into the chocolate it almost dissolves in your mouth into a powdery, almost sugary substance.  It kind of sounds too good to be true but believe me, you need to try this chocolate.  

This one I just tried for the first time and it's everything 

right in the world, captured by a chocolate bar

This is my go-to, all-time-favourite flavour and

has the perfect powdery texture I mentioned

So I've just walked through the doors and went on a whole tangent about this miracle chocolate... but turn your head to the left and you'll see a cold-press juice bar from Greenhouse Juice Co.  Not only do they have beautifully delicious flavours of juices (and almond milk, coconut water, aloe water, shots) but they have the cutest names and glass bottle that you can return and collect on a card until you get a free juice!

My friends and I went a little overboard...

The rest of the store is filled with fascinating products - skin care, make up, hair care, body and bath products, fragrances - all free from the chemicals and toxic gunk that you find in most beauty products.  I still need to properly explore this part of the store but lock me in there for a few hours and I'd be in paradise.

And I was in paradise.  I think my friends had to drag me out of the store.  And really the only thing that got me out of the store was knowing that our next destination was cookies.  And not just any cookies...

Le Gourmand (on Spadina and Richmond) has the best chocolate chip cookie in Toronto, according to me and likely numerous Torontonian blogs.  Sidenote: it is also a café but that doesn't really matter to me because as soon as I walk through those doors all I can smell and see and feel (I have a sixth sense for cookies), is that chocolate chip cookie.  

 

This is a record of my first ever Gourmand Cookie reaction, as Instagrammed by my friend...

And here's a happy picture of me and my friends.  All smiles because, well, cookies.

Pleasantly yours,
Bart

Ode to Oatmeal

I was lucky enough to have had this past week off and the first thing I bought was a big old bag of Bob's Red Mill oats.  I was inspired by all of these fancy bowls that I've been seeing on basically every single blog.  It made oatmeal into more than just breakfast.  It was art.  

My first attempt was pretty sloppy.  I learned that as delicious as cinnamon is, it's not very photogenic.  So I had to flip the banana slices over one by one to save the picture.  I take my oatmeal very seriously.                

  

oatmeal with vanilla, plain yogurt, almond butter, 

raspberries, banana, blueberries, walnuts,

coconut and cinnamon

I posted that picture on Instagram and I was embarrassed at how messy it looked but also kind of proud because I went to a lot of work, not just for the photo but for the meal too.  The picture got a whopping 122 likes.  Not even my adorable niece can get that many likes on Instagram.  Shamefully, I'll admit that this superficially motivated me to make more oatmeal throughout the week.  My next mission was the infamous carrot cake oatmeal.

 

oatmeal with shredded carrots, cinnamon, ginger, 

cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, raisins, muesli, blueberries, 

almond butter and coconut

WOW!  It was probably the best oatmeal I had ever had.  To be fair, I've never really gone this fancy with my oats, but still.  I would make carrot cake oatmeal more often if it weren't for the fact that shredding carrots hurts my hand and sometimes extra labour frustrates me.  I'm a lazy chef, what can I say?

oatmeal with banana, almond butter, dates, 

lucuma powder, cacao nibs and coconut

After this bowl, I discovered how tasty dates can be in the mix.  This was also my first time trying lucuma powder but I didn't really taste it much so for my next bowl I was a little more generous.

But oh no!  I ran out of oats!  Thankfully I had a questionably old box of steel cut oats in my cupboard!  I'm still alive so I guess they were okay after all.  Worth it.  This bowl was delicious.

steel cut oatmeal with vanilla, carob powder, lucuma powder, 

cinnamon, cacao nibs, dark chocolate squares, 

almond butter, muesli, raisins, dates and coconut

My mom always tells me that Dr. Oz says that a bowl of oatmeal in the morning makes you happier.  If I had a penny for every time she told me nutritional advice from Dr. Oz, I'd be much richer and shopping at Whole Foods on a daily occasion.  That being said, I agree with her on this one.  Oatmeal is fabulous.

Pleasantly yours,

Bart

The Virgin Suicides

Most recently, I finished reading Jeffrey Eugenides staggering novel, The Virgin Suicides.  To say it's a dark book about a family where the five daughters, each a year apart in age, enigmatically commit suicide, does not fairly present what makes this book one of my new favourites.

Naturally, I'm a sucker for dark and moody literature, which is what drew me to this selection.  The story alone is intriguing but once I delved deeper into the book, I discovered just how much more it had to offer.  It's told from the perspective of an unspecified narrator, though one can conclude that it is one of the many boy spectators in the neighbourhood that had been infatuated with these five daughters, the Lisbon girls, and is reporting on the suicides years after.  Eugenides uses a tremendous amount of imagery throughout the story.  At times it can be gory, so maybe this book isn't for everyone, but for the most part it sets the tone of the book and creates an ominous atmosphere, with themes of decay and grime and motifs of fish flies.  I'm not in school anymore/at the moment, but at one point in my life I really think I would enjoy an in depth analysis of this book.

You're never really given an inside look of what the girls are feeling because you, the reader, like the neighbourhood boys, are just outsiders looking in.  I actually liked this because there was an ambiguous curiosity I felt while reading which made it hard to put the book down.  More than it was a book about suicides and troubled teenage girls, it was a mystery novel.

Days later, I watched the movie by Sofia Coppola.  I think, had I not read the book, it would have been a movie I reeeally would have enjoyed and added to my list of favourites.  It told the story well and stayed quite true to the novel.  It's just that for me, the book was that good, that the movie just doesn't compare.  I felt incomplete at the end of it, wanting more satisfaction.  I wanted to feel the same way I did upon finishing the book and I simply did not.  I also wish it wasn't so Kirsten Dunst-centric.

All in all, I'll be recommending this book to people for a while.  Give it a try because it really is a masterfully sculpted piece of literature.

Pleasantly yours,
Bart

Homemade Vegan (I guess) Candy Bars/Cookie Dough - No More than Five Ingredients

Today I accidentally made something vegan.  Before I begin, I'll make one thing clear - I am not a vegan.  I don't have anything against veganism (I've been against animal cruelty since I first binge-watched Bambi at the innocent age of 4), it's just that I'm not in a place in my life right now where I can make that sort of commitment to a lifestyle.  I am, however, pretty passionate when it comes to eating healthy.  Mostly it comes with the fact that I'm a dancer and I rely on wholesome food as fuel and medicine for my body.  I've also been influenced by my older sister through my teenage years and I've always been fascinated with what she had to tell me.

That being said, I am also guilty of having an incurable sweet tooth.  Which is why, recently, I've been experimenting with finding ways of making snacks and desserts healthy, because the truth is this: sugar sucks.

Halloween was yesterday and while my trick-or-treating years are behind me (debatable), I couldn't help but feel cheated while I stayed in, watched movies and resentfully ate kale chips with my friend.  I probably was what children in my neighbourhood consider the "grumpy old witch".  So in brighter spirits this morning, I took out my handy dandy food processor and got creative.  I blended some raw cashews until they made a paste (it's pretty amazing how nuts do this) and then added some dates.  I used a mix of Medjool and honey dates because that's just what I had.  I processed the ingredients until they were properly combined and made something that looked just like cookie dough.  After this, I added cacao nibs and pressed the mixture out flat in a square tupperware.  Obviously, I sampled in between steps.

sorry for the snapchat documentation

This alone is dangerously delicious and am not even exaggerating when I say it tastes exactly like cookie dough.  So by all means, if anyone ever makes this, just leave it at that.  Eat it by the spoonful.  But I was feeling très experimental and melted some dark chocolate with coconut oil, put that on top of the cookie dough and stuck that baby in the freezer.  Fifteen or so minutes later I took it out and.....

Voila!  Candy bars!

um...still not vegan

Ingredients:

Base/Cookie Dough:
Raw cashews
Dates (really any kind. Medjool are tastiest)
Cacao nibs (or chocolate chips)

Chocolate Coating:
Dark chocolate
Coconut oil

Steps:

1. Toss the cashews into a food processor until it becomes cashew butter (yum).
2.  Add dates. Make sure there are no pits (not yum).
3. Press mixture flat into square pan or tupperware.
4. Melt dark chocolate and coconut oil in a cup in the microwave for a minute and drizzle on top of the cookie dough base.
5. Let it solidify in the freezer for fifteen minutes, then cut into squares and enjoy!

* As I just made this today (and will continue to make this) I'm going to experiment some more.  I bet you could add vanilla or cacao powder for some taste.  Or even coconut flakes, raisins, oats, etc.  Get fancy.

Pleasantly yours,

Bart