One of my personal goals this year is to not stress myself out over things I cannot control. This was tested at the end of February when things got a little busy and I couldn’t find the time to bake or think up something to write about. I normally maintain a pretty good routine of posting once a week, and I’m not going to lie, I did get a little twitchy. Rather than stress myself out over not having a recipe to share (or worse, throw something together in a panic), I decided to shrug it off and start fresh again this week.
Another thing that happened was that I fell in a food rut and I managed to dig myself out by purchasing one of my favourite bloggers, Angela at Oh She Glows, first cookbook. I’ve been following Angela’s vegan food blog for years, long before I started blogging, and none of her recipes have disappointed me. Normally I avoid using cookbooks for my everyday cooking and like to save them for special occasions (I know, weird), but since this book arrived in my arms, I’ve made a point to make a new recipe every few days. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen the photos and it’s been great trying new recipes and buying ingredients I’ve never purchased before.
A few weeks ago, Trevor and I took a walking tour of what could best be described as “the sweeter side of Kensington Market.” If you’ve ever heard of Tasty Tours, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Tasty Tours offers guided walking tours of Toronto neighbourhoods and showcase various bakeries, patisseries and shops to satisfy your ever craving sweet tooth. It may sound a little silly to take a guided tour of a city we’ve been living in for the last 3 years, but it’s a great way to discover places we would have otherwise walked right by. In fact, the first time we set foot in at least half of these places was during this very tour.
Tasty Tours has a great ongoing promotion where they will waive the ticket price if you take a tour during your birthday month and bring along someone who has paid for an adult-priced tour. This deal doesn’t apply to their special holiday tours (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc), but this was fine since this was our first time with Tasty Tours and we ended up deciding on the Kensington Market Sweets Tour based on the location and 2-hour length of the tour.
Tasty Tours likes to keep the locations they visit a secret, although you can check out the list on their website. If you intend to take this tour, I wouldn’t recommend reading further as the element of surprise is one of the fun things about taking their tours. If you do read ahead, please note that the order of the tour sometimes changes based on the tour guide and the availability of the locations.
So like a true sucker, I believed that the worst of winter was over. For the last few days I’ve been noticing that it’s no longer dark when I come home from work and the weather has been warm enough that I don’t require my mitts to already be on my hands before I step outside. I even broke out some of my spring dresses (worn with leggings) because I’m sick of my drab winter wardrobe. I’m not surprised that I’ve been let down though, considering it’s still February and what with my mom warning me about the never-ending snow they’ve been experiencing up in Northern Ontario. It was only a matter of time before the impending snow made an appearance down south as a roaring slushy mess (also known as a typical Toronto winter).
So to celebrate (if that is even the right word) this continuation of colder days to come, I thought I would share a fun recipe for homemade vanilla bean marshmallows. You know, to enjoy in your cup of hot chocolate after you shovel the driveway, dig out your vehicle or even if you just manage to get home in one snowy, wet piece. And if you happen to be blessed with warmer weather right now, I’m sure that these little guys would taste fantastic roasted over a bonfire and sandwiched between two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate.
Try as I may, I’m not a very good plan-ahead-of-time-food-blogging person. And you know what? I’m okay with that.
I’ve always enjoyed reading special milestone posts from other bloggers, such as blog anniversaries (blogoversaries?), birthdays, wedding anniversaries…generally anything that celebrates this day as being just a little bit more special . For some of my favourite food bloggers, I can tell you exactly when their birthday is, the date they were married and even when they started their blog based on the above and beyond creativity of these posts.
A couple weeks ago, I decided to join a gym near my office. I figured that it was well enough passed the busy resolution season and I really needed something to get me off the couch. Now three times a week, I pack my running shoes, gym clothes and a water bottle in my old university backpack and lug everything onto the subway during my morning commute. I find that the best motivation is having my workout gear under my desk seeing as how there is no excuse for not going immediately after work if I’ve already made the effort to bring everything with me.
Easing into the gym routine hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be. Of course, I’m clearly knocking on wood here seeing as how I’m only a few weeks into this and my attention span for all things exercise can be pretty bad. A couple summers ago I took advantage of a hot yoga studio’s 30 days for $30 deal and ended up bailing the moment my month was up. I’ve also done pilates (lasted 2 months), exercise DVDs (still on my shelf – I refuse to get rid of them) and Zumba dance classes (just finishing now). At this rate, it will be interesting to see how long this gym thing works out.
Canadian food blogger, baking and eating her way through life. Musical theatre fanatic. Personal finance nerd. Sometimes runner/yogi. Green smoothies are pretty amazing.
