Nov 1 - World Vegan Day

Yes. It's World Vegan Day.

I know what you're thinking... you're thinking, "Come on, Elpoo. EVERY DAY is vegan day".

Well, let me tell you it's really hard to find vegan shoes and I bloody well deserve a parade because of this, ok?

So how does a vegan celebrate the day set aside to honour her people?

Well, she starts out with a healthy vegan breakfast.

Follow that with a lot of sitting on the couch with her dog while she surfs the internet for kitten pictures,

scientific proof that veganism will make her thin,

and internet medical symptom checkers.

I should probably order this right away.

Later on there might some jubilant vacuuming.

Because it's such a special day I might wash and prep eleventy billion vegetables. I will do this after I vacuum because I always forget how crumbly cauliflower is and there will be cauliflower droppings everywhere. It's like confetti, I tell myself.  It's not confetti. It sticks to the bottom of my feet. World Vegan Day has its sad moments.


I'll take a moment to think about how much I suffer because I am a vegan and I shed one low sodium tear.

So...

After a nourishing vegan lunch

this chickpea, kale and brown rice salad is best served with 3 rows of vegan crackers. Apparently.

I'll get together with other vegans in my area.

We'll talk about how great it is to be vegan and how stupid it is that major grocery stores don't carry agar-agar and teff flour.

Then it's homeward I go for my afternoon nap that I dedicate to St. Cornelius, Patron Saint of Farm Animals.

Then, before I make the most awesome World Vegan Day Dinner Ever,

acorn squash stuffed with quinoa, peppers and vegan cheese.

I'll stop and say a short vegan prayer before the vegan shrine. Every vegan home has a shrine where we can pay homage to our Vegan God.

The prayer is something like this:

Then I'll watch a bunch of tv and go to bed.

Happy World Vegan Day!!

Foodie Friday - St. Lawrence Market

If beautifully photographed cookbooks can be called “food porn”, then St. Lawrence Market in Toronto is the Red Light District”. And I am a total whore.

Many people have blogged and photographed St. Lawrence Market and have extolled its great virtues and whatnot. And they have their own website.

But you're here now, and if you are like me, you're too lazy to keep looking, so here you go. 

I love grocery shopping, and I love grocery shopping without a list. This is an amazing place to go if you want to get stuff that you think at the moment is awesome,

 but will likely moulder in your pantry because you have no bloody idea what to do with amchur powder.

When it was warmer out I liked to hop on my lady bike and head over to the market to get fabulous fruits and vegetables,

 and big dog bones for the dogs who are ungrateful little buggers but I love them in my fashion.

they don't deserve my kindnesses, my dogs.

I have to be careful in the bulk food section because I will buy too much of what I need and top it off with a bunch of tiny bags full of mysteries that I don’t need. It’s just like... it’s all there... and I can’t stop... and it’s shiny.... and the aisles are so narrow.... and I feel pressured....

ssssssaaaaaaaaallllllltttttyAdd caption

pistachios that at first glance look like teeming maggots maybe. Yum.

Mmmmmmmmilk. Yes. I grew up on this. We all did.

You can buy 10 billion kinds of rice there. Not sure if they stock Minute Rice.

Rube's House of Rices

All things ground up and grainy

There is more cheese than even my crafting crew would know what to do with. 

I love cheese. I like eating it, looking at it, thinking about it. Cheese is my muse.

So Much Candy!

Lunchtastic!

Baking Heaven!

Chocolates

Condiments and Pickled things.

Meats

Fishies

crabby legs

Bread! Oh. The bread.

my lunch snack. Bagely goodness.

There is other stuff, too. Like hats and jewelry. 

And the most jam packed kitchen gadgetry nook ever, which has an awesome array of cookie cutters, tea pots and shenanigans.

no room to swing a cat.

gadget mecca

many cookie cutters.

I think I'll go back and get that elephant tea pot. Because without it, I am nothing.

how have I survived this long without all of these things in my kitchen?

Fresh Pasta

Old World style deli fabulousness. I'm talking to YOU Cheryl McKinnon. 

And it’s all housed in a grand old market building. 

You should totally go there.

St. Lawrence Market has a Farmer’s Market on Saturdays that is very cool, but also very crowded. Get there at 4 am to hang out with the city’s chefs and tired farm folk.  There is an antiques market on Sundays. It’s fun to buy crap from there.