Tag: Apiecalypse now

Things I Love Thursday – Cats, Having the Right Name on Envelopes, Zevia, etc.

, , , , ,

I’ve been having a very good week this week. And probably last week too. It’s one of those weeks where things are going so great, and I felt so positive and optimistic, that I simultaneously felt myself bracing for something bad to happen. So, yesterday, something sort of bad did happen. Our newest rescue cat, Marmie, escaped from our front door. We’ve had Marmie in our house since sometime in October, before JC and I got married. Initially she was feral, initially we were just fostering her briefly for a friend, initially we weren’t sure if she would be sticking around. But at some point along the way, she warmed up to us, and we warmed up to her, so the arrangement became more permanent. So now, yesterday she escaped for the second time. And this time all blame was firmly planted on me, which might be worse than feeling mad at someone else. I hadn’t locked the door & the wind blew the door open, Marmie took her chance, and left before I could do anything. I spent at least an hour afterwards beating myself up over it. It was one of those terrible cycles of should haves and would haves that aren’t constructive at all, and it wasn’t going to bring Marmie back home to me. Once I realized it wasn’t a very constructive cycle and wasn’t going to solve anything, I shut it down and tried to spend the rest my day as normally as possible. On the bright…

Read more

6th Annual Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake Off in Toronto

, , , ,

This weekend was the 6th Annual Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake Off, and it was bigger than ever. Every year I go, I have to think about the first one I went to at Harbourfront Community Center (the Third one.) I was so excited, since I had never been to a bake off before, let alone a vegan one at that point. These days, the idea that I only got ONE plate at my first one doesn’t even make sense, but I’ve learned my lesson. This year, the Totally Fabulous Vegan Bake Off was held at Daniels Spectrum in Regent Park. I liked that it got some of us east of Yonge Street for a few hours, and I really like that it was at a venue that was non-denominational and has actively tried to be accessible to people with varying levels of mobility and socioeconomic status, AND has been a great spot for local social and food justice events, meetings, and activities. In a moment of excellent pre-planning, JC and I brought along a blanket to sit on, and I purchased the maximum tickets allowed as early as possible before we even knew if we could go to the Bake Off or would be in the city. Either way, it’s a fun event, and we knew the money would be going to a good cause. We got to the venue early (we thought) but if there is anything I’ve learned – vegans like bake offs, and at around 1:30 there was…

Read more

Things I Love Thursday – APieCalypse, Coffee, Snow, Etc.

, , , ,

This week has just flown by. I’m actually surprised it’s already Thursday, but it’s the time again. Things I Love Thursday! Weeee! APieCalypse Now! If you’ve vegan in Toronto, I’m sure you’ve heard, but in case you haven’t, APieCalypse Now! Vegan Bakery opened this weekend in the Annex. After having some trouble with old pipes and Toronto’s own experience with the Polar Vortex, JC & I finally got to really dig in to some delicious APieCalypse treats on Saturday during their grand opening. My pal Nicole did a great overview of the new bakery and space on her site (and I agree with everything she said), so I wont go into too much detail on the space other than the logo is amazing, and everything looks delicious. I got a bunch of yummy stuff, and was thrilled at the quality and service. (& I reviewed it on yelp) I’m really excited that there is a place that I feel 100% confident that serious thought has gone into making each item ethical, beautiful, and delicious. When I buy things, I spend a lot of time thinking about my purchases and how they impact humans and non-human animals, and I feel like I can really trust the effort that’s been put into making these products happen. One more thing I loved were all the free vegan & animal rights info cards (made & designed by the bakery owner) right at the front by the register. I’m planning on checking it out again later…

Read more

Things I Love Thursday – Local Vegan Toronto Gift Ideas 2013 Edition

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

For 2014 – please go here. There are lots of general vegan gift idea lists out there, so please do check them out (I’ll link to some of them at the bottom of this post), but it’s worth looking locally to tap into the great community of creators and crafters, bakers, makers, and ingenuous entrepreneurs that we have in our city. There are also some wonderful organizations to support this time of year, as well as food and products to buy, made right here in the GTA. So this year, yet again, is my totally biased, occasionally random, list of local/GTA/Vegan Gift ideas. You’ll see some repeat names from last year, because they’re still awesome, but you’ll also see some new faces (because the vegan business community has really grown in 2013.) I welcome your suggestions for other local vegan friendly businesses and organizations to support, please add them in the comments. Vegan Food Apiecalypse Now! With exciting news just around the corner, there are also APieCalypse Now!’s mega awesome gift baskets to take advantage of. Available in both gluten free and glutenlicious varieties, in large baskets and in small, you have a lot to choose from. The baskets are full of almost entirely hand-made things, made with organic locally grown flour, fair trade sugar, and horizontal trade chocolate from ChocoSol (They’re even on the Food Empowerment Project’s Chocolate list.) Check out what else is on offer in the ApieCalypse Now! online store. (you have until December 15th to pre-order the big stuff…

Read more