Category: travel plans

Edmonton – Farmers Market, Clever Rabbit, West Edmonton Mall. Where else?

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Yesterday was our first full day in Edmonton and we filled it up with a whole bunch of Edmontonriffic activities. Starting the day off bright and early (or just normal in Toronto) we went over to the City Market Downtown / 104th Street Farmers Market to take a look at what’s changed (and what’s stayed the same.) It seems to have almost doubled in size since I was last here, (and can I say how cool it is to be able to look back 2 years and see when I was here last… nearly exactly 2 years to the date) and even though it was a rainy Saturday morning, there was a decent crowd. Many of the same vendors were there, but just as many new-to-me ones. The one vendor that had really sparked my interest in going to the market this weekend – the cookie lady, Bloom Bakery, that oh-so-many people recommended wasn’t there today. But on the bright side, I got to see a friend working at the market I might not have seen otherwise.

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Soon to be in New York City.

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I’ve never been to New York City in December, but I’ve been told it’s the time to visit. I’m being whisked away from rainy Toronto, to the arty vegan food haven in the south (which is hopefully less rainy than it is here at the moment.) As with most trips, I feel compelled to make a list of possible sights and eats, but this time around, I’m not nearly as concerned with getting to it all, since after a few trips, I feel like I’ve gotten a rich NYC experience. I’m most excited about introducing my partner to the various galleries and restaurants that I’ve loved on past visits to the big apple. We’re staying in the Lower East Side (LES), conveniently located near Lula’s Sweet Apothecary (maybe a bit too conveniently) as well as places I haven’t tried yet, like Babycakes (248 Broome Street between Orchard and Ludlowm, NYC), Tien Garden (170 Allen Street, New York, NY) and Pala (198 Allen Street New York, NY). Once place I’m very curious about, but haven’t heard too too much about is Yonah Schimmel’s Knishes (137 E Houston St, between Orchard and Allen, New York, NY), knishes sound like the perfect food – mashed potatoes, with a little bit of dough, fried or baked. I’ll find out what’s in those little knishes and hopefully eat them. Other Food Places to visit Franchia (12 Park Ave, New York, NY) Candle 79 (154 E 79th St, New York, NY) or Candle Cafe (1307 3rd Ave, New York, NY) The…

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Boston Bound – PAX East

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Well, I’m heading to Boston, MA for the first time, and I’m really excited about it. I found putting together a guide really helpful for myself when I’m running around in a city that’s unfamiliar, and this way I try not to miss anything fun going on. Things that are helpful for me, and so maybe they can be useful to someone else: The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority – Day passes are $9, Weekly passes are $15. You can buy them at transit stations and various other locations. Yelp Boston – Vegan Listings – A good collection of rated restaurant options that are exclusively vegan or have vegan options. VeganBoston – local boston vegan group. They hold events and provide information and support. I’m going to Boston for PAX East, so that’s my primary activity this trip, but I have a feeling I’ll be back again some day. Food Options: I hunted around on twitter, yelp and the rest of the internet to find options that sounded interesting or delicious. There are quite a few places to eat veganly in Boston, so this is by no means a comprehensive list, but these are the ones that caught my eye for one reason or another. I’m excited/curious to try the Vegan Lobster from Grasshopper Restaurant (1 N Beacon St, Allston, MA), which looks to be a mostly asian fusion vegetarian restaurant. Pizza from Peace O’Pie Gourmet Vegan Pizza (487 Cambridge St. Allston, MA) To be entirely honest, my favourite reviews are the ones that…

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Philadelphia Day One – eating in a very wander-able city.

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I had planned on doing a blog post planning out my trip to Philly, but here I am in Philly, and no nicely organized trip plan was written up. Besides a scratched up piece of notebook paper, I didn’t do much planning at all. Although I’m regretting not writing one up during last years Vegan Mofo, it’s nice to just go with the flow. Oddly enough, I’m actually doing some work here, so there is more to my time in Philadelphia then just eating great food, visiting old historical sites and art galleries. The only plan I have is to do plenty of everything. We arrived yesterday afternoon after a 10 hour drive from Toronto. My original idea was to head through Baltimore and Washington DC, but due to Snovereaction in Toronto, my bus to Baltimore was cancelled. Luckily some friends were heading down for the Philly Tattoo Convention and let me join them on the road. After checking into the hotel, I figured it was about time to start exploring the city with the goal of finding some food. I was happy to see the vegan options at seven eleven I had heard about, but decided to skip those in favour of some New Harmony Vegetarian Restaurant (135 N. 9th Street, Philadelphia, PA) in Chinatown. Gave me the opportunity to walk through some interesting statue gardens and old beautiful buildings. When I walked into New Harmony, it was kind of on the empty side, but it didn’t matter. When I…

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Vegan Mofo The End: Saskatoon, SK – The Land of the Living Skies. aka, The Passage way to Elsewhere.

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Once upon a time I lived in Saskatoon, SK so I’m ending MoFo where I began writing this blog. Parts of me hated living there (the parts that don’t like to be cold) and parts of me loved it (the parts of me that loved finding fun stuff to do against all odds). People tend to pass through Saskatoon on their way to somewhere else. While I get it, Saskatoon has a surprisingly large amount of things that are actually pretty cool, so maybe you’ll consider sticking around for a day or two on your way to elsewhere. Resources: While I’ve written most of this from experience and memory there are quite a few resources you can check out if you want to learn more. Planet S Magazine – If you’re in town for a while you can check out the special events happening online or in paper form on every street corner downtown. Happy Cow Saskatoon Vegan Saskatoon Meetup Group Raw Food Potlucks: where you can eat stuff like this:

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Montreal, Quebec – La Belle Province – Vegan Mofo: 30 days of vegan travel: Day 13

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I haven’t been to Montreal in a few years, but I spent a month or so there in the summer of 2008 and remember it fondly. Had I not been in university at the time, I would have moved there. It had a vibrant nightlife and cultural community, the food and people were lovely, the parties, the weather (of course… I was there in summer!) and the festivals, just made me feel at home. Unfortunately, my ability to speak French is lacking. 7 years of schooling (two of those at the university level), and while I can understand a conversation, I don’t feel comfortable participating. Anyway. In Montreal, while the primary language is French, you can get by with English and not have much of a problem. I’d like to head over to Montreal in a few weeks, so I might make use of this little guide for myself. The vegan options are amazing and there is always something to do. Merely walking down a street can be interesting since Montreal is full of old architecture and very taleneted graffiti artists! You might occasionally get the feeling you’re in Europe (especially if you head over to Vieux-Montreal). I know I did. The Old City in Poland really comes to mind. Resources and sites to check out: Vegan Montreal/ Happy Cow/ Mallory’s Vegetarian Guide to Montreal Montreal Vegetarian Association (Default in french, with English option) A Vegan Mofoer in Montreal and you know… AHEM: BIG VEGGIE GATHERING – DECEMBER 4th 2010…

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Vegan MoFo: 30 Days of Vegan Travel – Day Ten – Warsaw, Poland – Wegańska Warszawa

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Well I’ve been slacking on this whole MoFo thing, I’ve offered up enough excuses in my last post, so it’s time to just get on with it. 🙂 I’m hoping to get back my MoFo mojo. I’m jumping across the sea today. It’s just a short (well, okay, it’s short to a girl who takes 12 hour bus rides for a weekend trip) flight away (10 hours! yeah!!!). I’m first generation Polish and it’s been much too long since I was last in the motherland. Next year in September, I have a wedding to attend, so this is much less hypothetical than some of my other posts (will be). Plus it’s the perfect time to visit Poland, before they start using the EURO in 2012 and everything becomes extremely expensive with the exchange rate. For other Polish Vegan options and ideas, I’ve veganized a few traditional dishes for the holidays last year, and WiecejYofu a bilingual blogger from Poland is doing a daily veganized traditional Polish recipe, so that’s pretty exciting. I’m heading towards Warsaw (Warszawa) in the region of Masovia (Mazowieckie). I was last there over a decade ago, and it’s changed A LOT since then so I am really looking forward to seeing what’s new, and to see all my relatives again. Resources: (Most of these are in English) Lonely Planet Restaurant Guide Happy Cow Veggie Heaven WikiTravel Warsaw Life Tripadvisor Forum Veg (Polish) Some helpful phrases: While many people learn English in school these days, not everyone…

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Vegan MoFo: 30 Days of Vegan Travel – Day Ate – Washington, DC – Looking for The American Experience

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This last summer I met a girl from France, while I was in San Francisco. She was au pairing in Washington, DC and we got to talking about travelling. She told me that the museums in DC were free. See, this is why I love hostels, I never would have met this random girl over breakfast, and learned this delightful piece of information. For whatever reason, this blew my mind. It didn’t make any sense. Free museums? And why hadn’t I been there already? Anyway, ever since that moment, I’ve been plotting to go to DC so I can satisfy my hunger for both delicious vegan food and delicious free information. How can I go wrong? That’s right, I can’t. After a very depressing search for flights, bus rides, train rides, etc, I know it will be a while before I head over there, and it will probably coincide with some kind of NYC/Buffalo bus trip, because taking a flight out of Canada can really stink. Resources VegDc – The Vegetarian Guide to Washington, DC and surrounding area. Yelp Search The Smithsonian Institute Another MoFo’er ACTUALLY in DC A Blogger’s Vegan Visitor Guide to DC (from 2008, still good info though) Transit The Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority. A day pass for the MetroRail is $9 and a weekly pass (there is no day pass) for the MetroBus is $15. They don’t seem to be cross functional passes. Each bus trip is $1.70, but the fare is good for 2 hours.…

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Vegan MoFo: 30 Days of Vegan Travel – Day 5 – Charleston, SC – The Holy City

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Today I’m feeling like taking a vacation somewhere lowkey, warm and relaxing, but still with a rich history and decent arts community. So I decided on Charleston, South Carolina. It is a cloudy 3C (37F) in Toronto this morning and Charleston is much warmer. I want to be somewhere where I can say “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” It’s known as The Holy City because of a large number of churches dotting the lowrise cityscape. Another thing I found interesting about the city is that it’s been billed as “the best mannered city” in the United States and won a lifetime achievement award for manners. Resources Forbes – The Best of Charleston Charleston City Paper – A good place to find local events and information. Happy Cow Things to eat. The Sprout – Organic Cafe and Juice Bar – They have one heck of a delicious looking menu. I’d be very excited to check this one out. They have entrees and desserts. Yum Fast and French Gaulart & Maliclet French Cafe (98 Broad St, Charleston, SC) – Ah, a french restaurant with vegan options! The O’Vegan Sandwich sounds yummy (Tapanade on Toasted Canadian Rye bread. With soup or tossed salad) Brent’s On Broad (19 Broad St, Charleston, SC) – There are hummus and veggie sandwiches, I like this place primarily because it’s very close to Waterfront Park, and I imagine I’ll wander there at some point. Daily Dose Cafe (1622 Highland Ave Charleston, SC) – Word on the…

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Vegan MoFo: 30 Days of Vegan Travel – Jour Trois – New Orleans, Louisiana – Eating Vegan in the Big Easy.

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First of all, I want to say that the majority of the pictures in this blog post were not taken by me (hence why they have names other than MeShell on them.) They are taken from the pool of creative commons license photos on flickr. If one of these is yours and you don’t want it used on my blog, please let me know and I’ll take it off right away (and please remember to change your license settings on flickr). Yesterday my roommate was cooking a spicy gumbo that filled the condo with the heavenly aroma of spices and slowly simmered vegetables (including okra, one of my absolute faves). Today I feel like going to New Orleans more than ever, I wonder if it is just a coincidence… Worst of all, I checked how cheap a bus ride would be from Toronto… sigh. Or even a direct flight… Mardi Gras in New Orleans 2011… A girl can dream right? Knowing me, I think pretty much anything is possible at this point. On surface, New Orleans seems like an unideal destination if you’re vegan or vegetarian, and in a lot of ways… it is. Especially if you want to actually eat something at a restaurant, which as it happens, I enjoy doing a lot. I’ve heard from a variety of sources that there are next to no options in the French Quarter, but I am pretty stubborn, and I always like to hold out hope that I’ll hunt something down.…

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