Posts from our 2014 roadtrip
Madison, Wisconsin – The Green Owl
Road Trip 2014: Nosh Eatery & Tap – Saskatoon
Arriving in Edmonton – Roadtrip 2014
Roadtrip 2014 – Yellowstone – The beginning
The drive to Yellowstone from Glacier National Park, and through Montana was lovely. Possibly one of the most remarkable drives we’d taken on this road trip. We started out on US 89, 287, 191 and worked our way up through several National Forests and historic sites, stopping occasionally, but mostly just pushing on, enjoying the rich diversity of terrain and elevations between Glacier and Yellowstone. We stopped in Helena, Montana to pick up a few provisions and grab a bite to eat and drove on. We also, as tradition dictated – stood beside the Continental Divide sign. This time at an Elevation of 8391. We arrived in Yellowstone, through the West entrance, in the late evening just a few hours before sunset. The whole length of the road has inviting signs sending you on to different sites and drives and campgrounds, so we stopped to take a look at Fountain Paint Pots, and Old Faithful before heading to our pre-reserved site in Grant Village Campground. Fountain Paint Pots was a great walk through with amazing colours, bacterial mats, springs, mud pots, steam vents, geysers, and a long stretch of boardwalk. I was happy we ended up there in the evening, in the rain, because the steam was even more dramatic in lower temperatures, and it was just nicer to be outside in the sunset than the sunny +30 C temperatures we’d experience during our subsequent days in Yellowstone. It was our first taste of the incredible alien wonder that Yellowstone…
2014 Roadtrip – Helena, Montana
It wouldn’t be my first visit to Helena, Montana, but it had been at least a couple of decades since my last time there as a kid. We had left Glacier National Park, and were heading to Yellowstone National Park for that evening. Helena is conveniently located right between Glacier and Yellowstone so it was the perfect place to stop, pick up some food, and ideally grab something to eat. On the way there we visited a couple of scenic rest stops, one of those was the Missouri River Canyon. One of the cool things about our road trip is that occasionally we followed along the path of Lewis and Clark’s expedition – there are the occasional highway markers indicating this. “The Lewis and Clark Expedition pass through this canyon of “nearly perpendicular rocks during its journey up the Missouri River in July 1805.” We were hungry and wondering if there was anything vegan in Helena- according to happycow we had a couple of natural grocery store options, but I had a suspicion that there might be a Taco Del Mar there. And thankfully, I was right. So we went to the one and only at 3215 Dredge Dr, in Helena. Taco Del Mar is the proto-Chipotle. They started in the west coast and spread around offering a variety of tacos, burritos, and Baja Tex Mex cuisine. They were also one of the first fairly mainstream chains I can remember that had “vegan” right on their menu. So when I found…
Roadtrip 2014 – Glacier National Park, Montana
Driving away from Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada – we passed through Chief Mountain Border Crossing, it’s an incline to get up there, followed by some rolling roads. It’s a lonely looking station, but one fits in with the surroundings with stone and wood accents, and a gruff agent was working the booth. He asked us what our destination was – which was hard to pinpoint really depending on how far in the future we wanted to look – but more immediately our focus was on Glacier National Park and Yellowstone National Park. He told us to have a good time and sent us on our way – we would not be back in Canada for a bit over 3 weeks. Yes, here I am continuing my series of posts from our Summer Roadtrip in 2014, in the belief that it’s always better to be late than never, you can see some of the past posts on this helpful board on Pinterest, or just click on the Roadtrip 2014 tag to peek at some of our past summer adventures sightseeing and eating delicious vegan food across Canada and the USA. I have some stories to tell, and at bare minimum I want to write them out so I remember them a few years down the road. Once you’re in Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park – there are so many different activities you can do. We ended up buying a season’s pass for all of the National Parks in the USA, America The Beautiful pass and…
Sorelle & Co. A New Vegan Gluten Free and Nutfree Bakery in Vaughan
Just north of Steeles and west of Yonge Street is a beautiful new bakery called Sorelle & Co in Vaughan. It was started by a mom with 5 daughters with food allergies – you can read the story on their website, but I loved the little mural on the wall on the main floor depicting what I imagine is the family. They have a lovely variety of baked goods, including breads, donuts, cakes, tarts, macaroons, and more, drinks like coffee, tea, and smoothies, and more substantial eating options like soups, salads, and sandwiches. You can find a menu of their full offerings by the cash register (or check out their website), but when we walked in we saw the bakery case and started ordering (and planned to take more with us later.) The interior is unique, with a colour scheme of teal, gold, white, and silver, with plump chairs to sit on (and regular chairs), and several tables. It’s located in a historical building (formerly Carrville Post Office & General Store built by Thomas Cook in 1845.) I can’t get over the polished brand strategy of this place. Everything overlaps and is connected in some way from interior, to packaging, to website, to social media. I had been invited to their media pre-launch event a few weeks ago, but I realized I had no idea how to get anywhere effectively with the Sapling beyond my small TTC comfort zone – but we’re learning and getting betterat it. We went up the…
1 Day of Vegan Hospital Food
Well, nearly 4 months ago I wrote a big long piece about the birth of our new baby, and since I spent about 24 hours in a hospital, that meant that they also tried to feed me a few meals at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Toronto, and since some folks were curious what vegan hospital food looked like… here it is! The first night, right after surgery, no one got the vegan memo, and to be fair, the hospital stay was unexpected (by me and them) Sadly, there was some kind of icky chicken thing waiting for me, so I passed on it. JC had brought over some baked goods from TBC before we even knew we’d be meeting the baby that day, but he also made sure I had lots of buckets of ice water afterwards. I was too busy basking in the afterglow of meeting our little sapling anyway (plus it was super late in the evening.) Breakfast In the morning I got oatmeal, and the person that brought me my tray said she had been vegan for a year or so and congratulated me on my long term veganness. She was also impressed that JC was also vegan since her partner and son would not do it. Despite that, I did however end up with a carton of (dairy) milk on my tray, but obviously skipped it (I think we’d all have a bad time.) I was quite surprised there was no soy milk offered at any meal. At a hospital stay in Edmonton, AB…
Montréal 2016 – Café Dei Campi
One of my favourite surprise finds in Montreal was Café Dei Campi. It was one of those times instagram really paid off and connections were helpful. I posted a picture from Cafe Venosa (a vegan cat cafe) and a friend tagged one of their friends (@odilejp on IG who also happens to write a great vegan food blog in Montreal called La Végane D’à Côté.) It was our last few hours in Montreal, and we really wanted to check this spot out, so a quick hotel check out, we jumped into a car2go, and drove out to Café Dei Campi. It’s in a totally unassuming location in the Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie neighbourhood, in an industrialish block. But there is was Café Dei Campi. We were enthusiastically early, and they weren’t open yet, but I paced back and forth until they did. The Vegan Word wasn’t around anywhere, but all of the homemade baked goods and treats are vegan. They had beautiful chocolate-filled cornettos, apple tarts, pizzettes on the way, and other things coming out warm and cozy (come early, enjoy warm baked goods – my favourite.) You can choose between almond milk or soy milk for your coffee, and the latte we had was magical. We’re going back to Montreal again soon and I’m very much looking forward to going back there again soon. Café Dei Campi 1360 Boulevard Rosemont, Montréal, QC (map) facebook | instagram
Montréal 2016 – Sushi Momo
We were in Montreal a few months ago before Simon was born, and visited the old location of Sushi Momo, since our visit they’ve moved to a much bigger location on Rue Saint-Denis, and so this post is just an excuse to share delicious food porn and talk about what we ate. Their original location was a cozy hole-in-the wall spot just off of St. Laurent. There was room for 15-20 people at most, and it was not the space for a large pregnant woman (me), but we went in there anyway, and I squished myself behind a small table with a comfy cushion and looked at their fabulous menu. For once I was happy I was so hungry, because everything looked awesome. The first night we tried to walk in was disappointing, because they were very busy (and we knew they were popular), and we couldn’t even wait around in hopes of a table, so we came back the next night after calling for a table (like we should have done the first time around.) (make reservations for maximum happiness) We started with bowls of flavourful miso soup and edamame. Next came the “poutine,” which was phenomenal. It had fried sweet potato hosomaki, cheddar cheese gratin, and a shiitake teriyaki sauce. I can’t recommend this dish enough – and I can’t recommend you get your own. Sharing with JC was nice and all, but oh I have some regrets about not getting my own bowl of this one. We ordered…
Montreal – Cafe Venosa
Update: June 14, 2017: Sadly, Cafe Venosa has announced they are closed and declaring bankruptcy. So far, I’ve written about our most recent visit to Aux Vivres and Sophie Sucrée, but Café Venosa has been on my list since they first appeared. A few months ago JC and I were in Montreal, wandering around. I was still pregnant and we were taking our final vacation as just the two of us. It was nice to visit and knock off a few places on my “To Visit” list. It was March, and there was still a bit of snow on the ground. One of those stops was Cafe Venosa (of course) since it combines a few of my favourite things – vegan food, coffee, and cats. (and also wifi.) We walked in, and to the right there was a board with some of the adoptable cats. We saw a few cats wandering around, a case of sweet treats from a couple of vegan bakeries, and friendly staff waiting to take our order. They told us to take a seat and they’d be right by to grab our order. We started out with some hot drinks – I ordered a hot chocolate, JC got a soy latte. Then I got a soy latte, and JC got a hot chocolate. Then we alternated for the rest of our visit and confused everyone including ourselves. They brought me this beauty of a hot chocolate. It was as good as it looked! Though I’m not going to lie – I wish it looked…
Montreal – Sophie Sucrée
A few months ago we were in Montreal, gallivanting around. I was still pregnant, and we were taking our final vacation as just the two of us. It was nice to be there, and I had amassed a decent list of “To Visit” spots over the year or so since we’d last visited the city. It was March, and there was still a bit of snow on the ground. One of the newer spots on my list was Sophie Sucrée – an all vegan bakery. We decided to go there for breakfast our second morning, and it was our first experiment with using Car2Go in Montreal (which turned out great, since I was walking around with a heavy 37 week pregnant belly.) JC dropped me off in front of Sophie Sucrée, while he found parking, and I got to soak up the baked goods and the atmosphere of the space. If you’re feeling a bit more mobile than I was when we were visiting, you can catch the Metro to Station Sherbrooke. It’s only a 7-8 minute walk to the bakery. There are a few tables inside, but it’s more of a small cozy space with most of the focus on baked goods. The case had several delicious looking cupcakes, pastries, pies, and cakes, to choose from, so we tried a little bit of everything. We decided to follow the advice of the sandwich board outside inviting us to try the spinach and feta puff pastry (feuilleté aux epinards et…
Montreal 2016 – Aux Vivres
As part of our pre-baby adventures we visited Montreal. I was about 37 weeks pregnant when we went, so it was a bit of a nervous trip (because going into labour in another province where people speak French, scared me a little), but it also felt like a necessary one (at least from a wanderlust perspective.) We took the Megabus down, which seemed like a good idea when I booked the tickets, but less of a good idea when I was trying to arrange myself and my belly behind the table we had reserved. It was much too crowded – live and learn. Much like some of the other cities I keep returning to, Montreal is very familiar. There is always something new, but ultimately the city still has the same energy, the same streets, the same language. I went to the University of Montreal during a pretty formative year one summer, so our visits are usually a blend of some of my old favourites and trying to visit whatever is new in town. Aux Vivres is one of my old favourites since my first time in Montreal, and it’s been incredible to watch them grow from a relatively small restaurant & cafe to doubling in size and adding a grab and go deli/grocery area. I still remember the first time I ordered the BLT sandwich on chapati from them. It was 2007 – and coconut bacon wasn’t a thing like it is now and it was mind blowing. During those two…