to be continued..

life upheaved. computer busted (currently using my mom's).

i'll be back eventually.

it's no double rainbow, but..

Double yolk!

This has to be a good luck thing, yes? Crazy-great chicken luck, I await you with my arms wide open and my head flung back. That's right.

Also, thanks for making my breakfast scramble extra-yellow and protein-y!

...waiting in line on 54th street at 7:30 am...

Garbage to the right of me..


Broadway to the left.

Sometimes auditioning defines itself.

Happy birthday to me

Home from vacation and happily reunited with my very beloved kitty (who has been staying with my grandmother for the past 3 months).

Best birthday present ever.






As you can see, I also got a birthday mani/pedi: Jungle Red for a fucking fierce year. That's how things work, yes? Your nail color on your birthday dictates the quality of the upcoming year? I'm pretty sure that's how things work..

And a very merry co-birthday to carathecarebear!

WTF

Some weird crap I didn't buy:

Vibrators aren't actually an odd thing to buy.. unless you're in a fucking supermarket. At which point, yes. I generally don't expect vibrators for sale alongside the produce.

This candy bar is, apparently, extremely masculine. And/or homosexual.

Just to be clear:

As evidenced by the skirted stick figure holding a purse with a fucking X through it- this candy bar should not be consumed by womenz. I'm not sure what would happen if I dared to eat it, but I imagine it would involve spontaneous gender transformation. Or I'd just be killed. I'm also not sure what on earth would possess Nestle to market this. Like, what went on in this meeting? "Guys, do you know what would sell chocolate? Sexism." Or perhaps it is an attempt at reverse psychology, so I'll be like "FUCK YOU, Nestle, I'll show YOU what women can and can't eat!"

Whatever it is, it's a colossal asshole.

This store needs to be set on fire. Maybe.

Here we have an entire shelf of candy modeled after poo. Because that's appetizing.

At least the moose has the sense to look embarrassed.

THIS mother fucker:

Creepy molester uncle bear here is just fucking smug. Like "Yeah, I shit candy. Wassup?"

This beaver appears to be working really hard to.. make your candy. Somebody help me.

This elephant is not pooping, though he kinda looks like he is. I actually kind of like this one. Pink popcorn!

Store kitteh.

I keep.

A Vegiac Visits.. Riz Pan Asian Restaurant in Toronto, ON

So...


This is perhaps not ideal decor for your entryway, Riz.

That said, the food is really so good. My order: mango fresh salad rolls, vietnamese taro veggie spring rolls, veggie lemongrass soup (not pictured), veggie pad thai, and some ridiculous fried banana dessert concoction... all delicious! Sure, I'm a sucker for anything fried that I can safely eat (mmm taro rolls and banana thing), and yes, I'm a sucker for your PLATES!!!..





..but the food was also good on its own merits. My only complaint would be that the pad thai didn't have as many vegetables in it as I would have liked. It did, however, contain an entire leek. I support that.

Big fan. Would go back. A lot.

(This gluten free menu has two sides. Big fan.)

[Riz is located in Toronto, Ontario at 1677 Bayview Avenue - 416.487.8388]

A Vegiac Visits.. Kensington Market in Toronto, ON

Early on in our stay in Toronto, we asked my favorite front desk guy what he recommended we do on days off. His first recommendation was a visit to Kensington Market. Why? "Because everything there is awesome." How so? "I don't know, it just... every single thing is awesome."

K. Well.. sure, why not.

It is, indeed, awesome for lots of reasons, mainly it's an extremely eclectic neighborhood with lots of cool shops and restaurants, full of immigrants, stoners, hipsters, elderly Jews.. seriously, it's like if all of Brooklyn converged on itself and shrunk to a few blocks.

Happily, there's quite a few places in Kensington Market where I can eat! One such place, Omnivore, offers muffins. I haven't had a chance to try them yet, but I really want to. Muffins were my meal of choice in college, like those giant bran muffins with the fruit on top? Yeah. They're a perfect food and I miss them...

A few great health food stores, too. Great selection, reasonable enough prices.

We've eaten at two restaurants:

The first, Kensingtons, was.. well, it's a cute place. And I applaud them for having a LARGE gluten free menu. However..

I ordered the All Day Breakfast, which is normally $3.99 but effing $10.99 for gf. I mean.. I get that the bread costs more, but really? Are you charging me for requiring a clean griddle? Plus, the regular breakfast includes meat and the gf doesn't. I don't eat meat, but shouldn't something with meat cost more than something without?

Price aside...

Kinda lackluster, no? Really, really basic. And the potato and veggies weren't particularly tasty. And it took 45 minutes to get 2 orders of eggs. Blah.

They also have a large sign in the window claiming to have the best coffee in the city. I realize that isn't like a legal claim or anything, but they're on crack.

A plus? Their sugar, salt and pepper packets are adorbs.

My favorite? The sugar, boasting that it is without equal (see what they did there?), and the pepper, which is just olden-timey cute.


Ugh, I love that everything in Canada is in French as well as English. It's just so charming.

Far more successful than Kensington's is Kensington Cornerstone, where EVERYTHING IS GLUTEN-FREE.

Let me make sure you got that:


I love you, Kensington Cornerstone.

The good news is that the food is also delicious. We've had brunch and dinner here- no pictures of my dinner (mushroom melt with fries) because I was just too hungry and didn't think about it. It was delicious, though. Promise. And I realize it is a strange life when fries are a luxury food, but mmm. Fries. Such a treat to be able to eat you. We also got pecan pie, which was also delicious.

Brunch:


That's the "Big Breakfast Bowl" aka 2 eggs, 3 pancakes, pancakes and veggies. Hello, pretty. Hello.

I scarfed the hell out of that.

I hope Toronto celiacs know what a great restaurant they have in their backyard- Kensington Cornerstone has been open since the Spring and I wish it a long and happy life. It definitely improved my quality of life here, and I would absolutely be a regular if I lived here for real.

[Kensington Cornerstone's website]

Bikram: Day 5

It is not getting any easier, but I REALLY like it.

Have I learned anything new? I don't think so.. I mean, I'm learning more about the postures, obviously, but in terms of revelation or self-discovery or whatever.. nah. I'm not at the point yet where I can push myself without getting a violent head rush, so I continue to do what my body (and occasionally screaming brain) tells me is possible, rest as needed, and drink. The very nice people I've taken class with assure me that it is normal to feel like you are dying, and one of my teachers told me that she actually threw up on her mat the 3rd time she took class. I mean... at least I haven't done that.

I also haven't managed to do anything other than Bikram since Wednesday for fear that I will not manage to stick to my drink-all-the water-in-Canada-and-eat-healthy-but-stop-eating-3-hours-prior-to-class schedule. The idea of being ill-prepared for class hydration-wise leaves me panic stricken. And yet, there are people who take class at 7:30 am, and you KNOW they aren't up 4 hours before so that they can guzzle water and make scrambled eggs with spinach. So maybe it's something my body will allow/adjust to as this progresses? Maybe?

Today I am taking a morning class for the first time (not 7:30, but before noon). This scares me, but I want to get some stuff done during the day and then- wait for it- actually eat dinner with my boyfriend for the first time this week. And maybe see a movie.

As such, I began planning last night so that I could eat reasonably quickly (I allowed that I would stop eating 2.5 hours before, not 3.. hope I don't die)- I bought a banana at the market and hard-boiled some eggs. Or rather, in extremely typical me behavior, I forgot that I was making hard-boiled eggs and only remembered when the water had all but boiled out of the pot and the eggs were way the hell overdone. Like maybe 40 minutes later. Great. So I ran cold water on them and then threw them in the freezer for a bit to try to salvage them.

And then I forgot they were in the freezer. Did you know eggs could freeze? I didn't. They can. So.. I guess that's a new thing I've learned from doing bikram. Hard-boiled eggs can fucking freeze.

Project Bikram, you are a constant adventure.