Chocosol Traders

Chocosol chocolate is AMAZING!!!!!!

Why would you go to a store to buy chocolate, when you could go to the farmers’ market to get it? Every Saturday morning, all year round, my mom and me pick out chocolate at Chocosol. This isn’t any ordinary chocolate, it’s made from real cacao with very few added ingredients, but the ones that are added are healthy and taste over-the-moon amazing. My favourites are Hemp Gold (hemp seeds, maple syrup and sea salt I think) and Luscious Coconut (which says it all in it’s name). My mom’s favourite is Sinfully Raw Vanilla which she gets around 2 bars of every week. This chocolate has no milk and no crappy sugar, and it’s dark – darker than a night time without clouds in the country. I know that dark chocolate is an acquired taste, since the first time I tried it, I thought it was bitter, but now, it tastes very, very, very awesome. My brother who is only 4 loves it too. Because it’s healthy, we even get to have some for breakfast sometimes, and my mom uses it for medicine or a treat when we are sick too (or to bribe my little brother to be quiet). Oh – they don’t use any nuts in their chocolate concocting place.

The people from Chocosol are very nice and so generous. Talk to them about what they do, they always have a good story.

And, if you bring your own cup for their chocolate drink they let you pay what you want. We always bring our own bag for the chocolate bars (they are totally unpackaged) and they give us extra chocolate. Very yummy and no waste.

No matter how many markets or festivals I go to, they always seem to be there. And, that’s another reason I love Chocosol.

Movie Snacks V.S. Homemade Snacks

bleah food at 10 AM?!?!?!?!?!

Reusables at the movies

When I go to the movies I take my own popcorn and other snacks plus my Klean Kanteen filled with water. It just makes sense to do that. Why would you want to eat that fake food and fill up landfills rather than eat real food and save the planet?

This morning I went to see the Green Carpet premiere of The Lorax, hosted by Seventh Generation. The movie was excellent, but the ironic part was that while the movie is teaching us to be green, they served free popcorn and pop in lots of wasteful packaging. One of the characters in the movie even said that scientific research shows that putting something in a plastic bottle makes everyone buy it. People laughed at that in the movie, while they were drinking out of plastic bottles. Very ironic.

Along with my water, we took our specialty popcorn from home in a reusable container. My dad made the popcorn with organic kernels from Nature’s Way Organics (you can buy it at Brickworks Farmers’ Market, but they aren’t there in the winter) and then my mom drizzled a little oil over it, added nutritional yeast, kelp, cayenne, and put it in reusable containers! Try it and bring it instead of buying that movie popcorn which is harmful to us and to our earth!

And, cut! That’s a wrap, people!

Hockley Valley Resort Restaurant 85

Antipasto Platter

After a day of skiing with my family, I was excited to enjoy some real food. You see, where we usually go skiing, the only food they serve is fake stuff including hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries on styrofoam plates and disposable napkins and those awful ketchup packets (we pack our own lunch in our reusables!). The smell alone of this food when I walk in the building, makes me sick. At Hockley Valley, there are many restaurants to choose from with real chefs and real food too – I was excited.

My mom made sure before we went that they could serve us vegan meals and also be nut free for our family – she said they were so nice about it. We got a table at Restaurant 85 and could even watch people night skiing on the hill outside the window.

The first person who came over to our table, our waiter, filled our glasses with water and told us that Chef Alex would be over to introduce our special meal to us (because it was so busy, everyone else was having a buffet). Chef Alex came over and was so very nice and told me that he loved my blog and even had read the article on me in the National Post. He explained that he was going to create an antipasto board special for us with house marinated and grilled vegetables plus Monforte Toscano cheese – I knew it was going to be good (I love that cheese). It was served on a wooden board with really cute little 2 pronged serving forks. We also got bread from Spirit Tree with really great olive oil and 2 gorgeous bowls of salad. There were lots of different types of greens in it – light coloured spiky ones and yellowish, green and purple leaves with some yellow carrots in it too. My sister loved the dressing which was apparently just balsamic and olive oil! Sometimes simple can be the best.

The next person to come over to our table was Michael Potters, the executive chef from Cabin, another restaurant at Hockley Valley, and he also said how much he loved my blog. We both found out that we liked the same cheeses from Fifth Town and that he was even friends with the owner. He said that he was going to make us the “Earth” Platter, and he said it would be a surprise. Then he even took me on a quick tour of the kitchen and introduced me to a bunch of chefs which was so nice – except I was a little grossed out seeing one of the chefs cutting raw meat.

Earth Platter

The Earth Platter had 5 things on it (I forget what they all were in detail, but it included red pepper and cabbage, barley and cranberry cabbage roll and more), but each was very beautiful (you can view picture). We all really liked it, except I didn’t like the parsnip, but I’ve never been a big fan of that root veggie. And my little brother was too busy on the ipod touch to notice – sometimes, it’s the only way to keep him occupied during our meals. We also had an awesome bowl of barley and mushrooms in mushroom broth topped with a  big cabbage roll. This was the best course of the meal. I loved the flavour of it.

Cabbage Roll & Veggies with Barley & Mushrooms

After we finished, we were all ready to leave when the waiter asked us if we wanted some french fries and housemade ketchup. Who can say no to that??? They were amazing and the housemade ketchup was one of the best ketchups that I have ever had. I also got to dip them into Kozlik’s Sweet and Smoky Mustard and some vinegar. Even my brother looked up for the french fries for a minute.

Step AWAY from the french fries!

My conclusion is that these restaurants at Hockley Valley are way better than any ski cafeterias, and even many restaurants. I am going to drive back there someday (or get someone to take me).

Rawlicious on Bloor Street West

When I heard that this restaurant had raw vegan nachos, I had a good feeling about this place. Rawlicious is raw, vegan, gluten free, and organic (as much as possible).

I was a little worried when we walked in on a Saturday night and it was not busy at all, but the space was very nice and we sat down at a table with a bench. The waitress came and gave us our menus with a smile and I didn’t know what to choose at first. There was a winter menu and the regular two sided menu. My parents went right for the large green juices, but I couldn’t resist their mint hot chocolate with almond milk, cocoa and agave (please note that my sister wasn’t with us which is why I could have nuts). It was definitely one of the best hot chocolates I ever had, and we have a Blendtec at home, so I’m inspired to make that recipe (without nuts) at home.

For appetizers we got the nacho platter and a warm miso soup with kelp noodles. I don’t usually like kelp noodles, but in this soup they were amazing. The waitress even told us that the soup was magical. The nacho platter was so good, it included pico de gallo, sour cream made from cashews, guacamole, hot peppers, olives and raw nacho chips. I had a mix of the different dips with each chip and it was a lot of fun to eat and share.

Next up for the main course, I ordered a large caesar salad that was a totally different taste than any “normal” caesar salad you would have in a “normal” restaurant. It was fresh romaine lettuce, dehydrated onion bread croutons and pine nut parmesan. The flavour was amazing and I really enjoyed it. I didn’t eat the whole thing because I had so many appetizers had already had way too much to eat at the Farmers’ Market for breakfast. Seriously. I also tried my mother’s sprouted buckwheat pizza and it was ok, I wouldn’t order it myself, but she really enjoyed it. My father ordered the Pad Thai which I didn’t try, but he loved it.

What was also really cool, was that they let me play their grand piano for everyone in the restaurant. I played two Phish songs, one song that I wrote and Riders on the Storm by The Doors. I hope everyone liked it.

I hope you all try Rawlicious and like it as much as I did. They deserve to be really busy on a Saturday night.

NOTE: If you live in the neighbourhood, I saw a flyer for a piano lesson for 15 dollars and you can have a smoothie at the same time.

Mint Hot Chocolate

Green Juices

Me playing grand piano

My shot of the Nacho Platter