My Favourite Restaurants in Toronto ♡

In alphabetical order!

I can't rank them, because they each have their own charm :)
I left a hyperlink to each restaurant, so click away~

$$ moderate     $$$ expensive

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♡ Cafe Belong ♡
This cafe/restaurant is located at the beautiful Evergreen Brickworks market/park.
The best time to go is during the weekends in the spring/summer, when they have the
farmer's market. You can also hike up the hills and get a great view of the CN Tower and
the city. Many people walk their dogs in this area. You will also find many families here.
This is also a great place for dates, hanging out with friends, or just having a stroll by yourself.

$$$ 💐 550 Bayview Ave, Toronto, ON. M4W 3X8
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♡ Hibiscus Cafe ♡
This small cafe uses organic ingredients, while using sustainable materials.
Their salad is colourful, flavourful and nutritious! This is also a vegan cafe
and yes, they serve vegan cheese with their crepes :) It's located at the Kensington
Market, so there is a lot to see in the area. There is also an organic grocery store nearby.
There's usually a 15 minute wait time, just because the place is kind of small.

$$ 🌺 238 Augusta Ave, Toronto, ON. M5T 2L7
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♡ One Love Vegetarian ♡
This small take-out/dine-in restaurant offers delicious vegan/vegetarian, Caribbean
food. They have a fairly small menu, but everything is delicious and very flavourful!
It's a very small place. There is a communal table and a couple of seats on the side.

$$ 🍌 854 Bathurst St., Toronto, ON. M5R 3G2

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♡ Woodlot ♡
This restaurant is known for their sourdough, as well as cooking with local ingredients.
Their menu changes by the season and most importantly, the food is delicious!
It's also more expensive, so it's nice to eat here on special occasions. I also love the
ambience of this place. They have an open kitchen and the lighting is dim, but during
the summer time, the natural light coming in through the large window is beautiful!
You will always find something new on the menu, but once it's gone... it's gone.

$$$ 🌿 293 Palmerston Ave., Toronto, ON. M6J 2J3

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DESSERT!

♡ Bar Ape ♡

Okay, this is not a restaurant but my favourite vegan-friendly gelato shop!

They have the best flavours in the city. No doubt. Peach bourbon? calamansi?

Yes, those are some of their flavours. The best part is... they have a new flavour

pretty much every week. You can follow them on Instagram to find out more.

Sometimes, they have vegan soft serve or gelato bars! :p

$$ 🍧 283 Rushton Rd., Toronto, ON. M6C 2X6

♡ Zimt Vegan Chocolate ♡

I found this vegan chocolate over a few months ago and I love the packaging!

Not only is it vegan, it's also organic, raw, and ethically sourced!

Introducing Zimt! The founder is from Vancouver, Canada :)

Her name is Emma Smith. Thank you for producing these amazing treats!

I will always love my mint chocolate combo, but they also have a maple

and rosemary combo, which I enjoy. The ingredients list is super simple and

you can understand every ingredient that you are reading.

This bar includes:

cacao nibs, coconut sugar, cacao butter, peppermint essential oil
Yep, that's it.

Raw: meaning it is not processed with heat. Raw chocolate is Cacao.

Cocoa is processed cacao with heat.

Find a location near you here!

Thank you for reading.

I just wanted to share this random favourite :)

♡

♡ Current Reads ♡

Books. Oh, how I love non-fiction :)

Here are some of my current reads and I highly recommend them!

I'll just go in the order that I started reading them.

The End of Food | By: Thomas F. Pawlick

There's another book with the same name by Paul Roberts, but that one is more

American based. This one is more Canadian, which I prefer of course. It's more relatable.

He talks about the food industry and how the food we eat no longer has the same nutritional

value as it once did. It's a great read, if you're interested in what you are putting into your body.

Slow Death by Rubber Duck | By: Rick Smith & Bruce Lourie

It's amazing to find out how many of the products we use and see daily are actually quite toxic.

It's important for us, as consumers to have a certain knowledge before making any purchases.

This book would be great for parents or people who are thinking of having children.
This book is also Canadian based.

How to Climb Mont Blanc in a Skirt | By: Mick Conefrey

This is an interesting book! It focuses on female travellers and explorers dating back many

centuries ago. I find it very fascinating and a shame how little we know about these amazing

women, dating back to the 19th century. You will also find very random/quirky facts about

the women and their travels in this book :)

Stuff Every Gardener Should Know | By: Scott Meyer

I love this little pocket sized book! I spotted this gem at a local bookstore and had to pick it up!

I'm slowly attempting at growing my own vegetables, and I'll be working on an organic farm

later this year. This is definitely helpful for those who are new to gardening.

Thank you for reading :)

What have you been reading!?

♡

Cosmic Pasta Salad Recipe ♡

Hello everyone! This is going to be a super random recipe post,

but I wanted to share this delicious pasta salad recipe with you all!

But I am truly sorry if it does not turn out well. I am a very inexperienced cook.
My palate is quite refined and I don't like to season my food too much.
I can taste the sweetness of a raw almond and the spiciness of a piece of celery.
If your tastebuds are like mine, then I hope you'll enjoy this recipe :p

♡ Please note that the ingredients I use are completely organic and suitable for vegans ♡
This recipe serves only 1 person :p

You will need:
♡ 1 cup cooked brown rice pasta (Tinkyada's Brown Rice Spirals)

♡ 1/3 cup cooked black beans (Eden Foods' Black Beans)

♡ 1 avocado with a sprinkle of lemon juice

♡ 1/3 cup nutritional yeast

Mix all the above ingredients, then add the salad on top.
You can also add the avocado in slices, separately with the salad.

♡ Cosmic salad blend (Kind Organics Cosmic Blend)
This salad is a blend of lettuces, kale, pea shoots, asian greens, arugula, chard,
beet greens, corn shoots, parsley, dill, fennel, basil, lovage, cosmos, nasturtiums,
marigolds, dahlias, dianthus, carnations, roses

♡ Himalayan sea salt, black pepper & Italian seasoning for taste

This will also taste great with some vegan herbed feta sprinkled on top!

Enjoy! :)

My Favourite Biodegradable Products ♡

As you may all know by now, I like to be more eco-friendly and have been

trying to reduce the amount of waste I produce. I have compiled a list of

some of my favourite biodegradable products!

To be even more eco-friendly, I have decided to take the natural fibre clothing challenge!

I just made it up, but if it's actually a thing, then yay! :p

Meaning... I will try to buy only clothing made from

100% Cotton, Linen, Silk, Wool, Cashmere, and Hemp :)
If you know of any other natural fibres, please let me know!

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♡ Silver Hills Sprouted Bakery Breads/Bags

I love their bread. I have only tried the Ancient Grains Big Red's and The Queen's Khorasan.

Their plastic bags are also biodegradable. Yay! Their breads are also super nutritious,

organic and non-GMO.

♡ Pela iPhone Cases

These beautiful iPhone cases are made with flax straw! Unfortunately, they only

have cases for the iPhone, but I'm hoping they'll expand to other phones as well.
The cases have a smooth texture and the right amount of thickness.
This is also a Canadian company :)

and here is a photo to prove that I actually buy these things :p

♡ The Green Beaver Company Shampoos & Conditioner

I am trying out the whole shampoo line and I'm really enjoying the lavender :)

Fine Lavender is used in the ingredients list and many of you may not know this, but

there are many types of lavender! They all have different uses :)

Fine Lavender (Lavendula Augustifolia) is commonly used in aromatherapy, which helps to

promote relaxation! It has a complex sweet, refreshing and woody scent cultivated in the

south of France. I also have Fine Lavender essential oil for my diffuser and I love

using it in the evenings before going to bed :) Kashmir Lavender is also good for that.

I also love Matter Company's Biodegradable Soaps, especially the Rose!

I can't seem to find it on their website :( I bought mine at the One of a Kind Show in Toronto.

I hope you found this post helpful and interesting!

Happy Holidays! Stay safe and eat healthy! :p

Don't be tempted to intoxicate yourself with sugar and processed foods :)

Where I've Been

I haven't been very motivated to blog.

I'm constantly working or traveling and it's been pretty great :)

So... get ready for a post filled with a ton of photos! :p

I visited the Netherlands again in June and traveled to Den Haag,

where the original painting, "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" resides.

It's located at the Mauritshuis not too far from the train station.

I've been wanting to see this painting for many years. I don't know why but this

painting has always left an impression on me. I'm glad I went to see it!

The museum was quite small, but filled with paintings from Troost, Vermeer.

They had a cafe/bistro on the 3rd? floor and their menu looked quite good.

I had a glass of orange juice, a cappuccino and the open faced sandwich

with cheese, apple syrup, and mango chutney. It was pretty delicious :)

There was one day where I took the wrong train home and I ended up at Zwolle station.

Well... at least I got free non-alcoholic beer :D I was running up and down the stairs of

the station trying to look for the right platform, where people were handing out the free beer.

They probably thought I was nuts or wanted more beer.

I tried the alcoholic version and pretty much fell in love and I don't even

drink... so it's officially my favourite beer :) The alcoholic version tastes like sparkling

citrus iced tea, with beer. It only contains 2% alcohol, so that's good for me :)

I think it was the day I went to go see Nijntje (Miffy) in front of the Rijksmuseum XD

It was her 60th anniversary! :)

I tell everyone who visits the Netherlands to try the FRESH stroopwafels, not the

ones from the grocery store, because it just isn't the same :p They're delicious and probably

not very good for you. You can buy the grocery ones to bring back home though.

I also love cooking! I usually shop at Albert Heijn because it's literally located like

every block of the city =\ (probably exaggerating).

The day before I left, I went to this amazing palace in Apeldoorn. The first queen of

the Netherlands lived here. The last queen passed here. The palace is beautiful. It is

now partly a museum, filled with paintings of the family. If you want to visit, it's

called the Paleis Het Loo. It's about a 20 minute bus ride from Apeldoorn station.

Of course, there were many more places I visited in between, but that's all I'll share for now.

Then I went to Vancouver with a friend from July 8-14... to be continued! :)

♡ Whole Foods ♡

So there was a new Whole Foods that opened today so my friend

and I decided to go check it out. You can't hate Whole Foods :p

I think the photo above is self explanatory :p

I can never get bored of walking around Whole Foods!

They also had a beautiful cheese section and delicious looking cakes/tarts!

Hope you're all having a good start to the week!

♡ My Trip to Chicago ♡

Picture heavy post! :p

I decided to do a pretty last minute trip to Chicago with a friend.

I didn't know too much about Chicago before I started researching what

to see, eat, and do there. When I was there for the past 3 days, a part of

it reminded me of Toronto, but it also had tiny hints of New York City

and a tiny bit of San Francisco there.

☼ DAY ONE ☼

We started our day with Brunch at m. Henry!

Their quiche was awesomely delicious, not for vegetarians though.

Then we headed to the Architecture Boat Tour!

It was great and was definitely a visual feast! :p I loved the architecture.

I took a lot of photos, so this is just a glimpse of what I have! :p

Then we went to the Art Institute of Chicago :D

I fell in love with this painting by Eustache Le Sueur "Meekness" (1650)

There wasn't enough time to look at everything :( They close so early! 5pm :(

Near Millennium Park :)

☼ DAY TWO ☼

Then we went up to the Skydeck (Willis Tower) to get a nice view of the city :)

The Shedd Aquarium was pretty big, I don't think we saw everything.

Near the Lakeshore :D

and of course... on the last day, we did some shopping :p

You can check out my Instagram for more photos of my trip! :)

Please do not use my photos without permission/credit.