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 today when I’m in the Annex. Their facebook page tells me there is a Sea Shepherd Pie that I would like to buy. Also Magic Squares.
Winter hours as of the moment are Thursday 3-9, Friday & Saturday 12-7.
Vegan Bakeries in General
Can I just say how amazing it is to me that vegan bakeries are popping up all over the city? I am just so excited for everyone starting a new business or continuing their business in an ethical and conscientious fashion. We have so many choices, and so many options in Toronto.
Just yesterday I received a delivery of assorted vegan cookies and muffins from the lovemuffin bakery. Vegan baked goods – delivered to my door. It’s ridiculously wonderful, and considering the weather we had yesterday – even more amazing. And on that note…
Snow
There is something in me that gets overjoyed when it snows. I like when it’s cold outside. Most of the time I blame it on being from Alberta, but I’m not sure if it can be summed up with that. Maybe it’s my inner child memories of putting on a bright pink snowsuit and going to “The Bowl” to toboggan down the hill that now seems much shorter than it did then back then.
Yesterday I did the adult version of playing in the snow and spent about an hour or two in the evening shoveling the front of our house and some of the sidewalks in my neighbourhood.
Vegan Tasting Menu at George.
I’m going to have to go into more depth about this dinner at some point, but last week JC and I celebrated our third meet-a-versary at George.
JC arranged everything, and we had an amazing 5-course dinner, great conversation, and the night was one of those wonderful reminders of why we are together and still together. My sweet romantic husband also had a purple flower arrangement from Sweetpea’s delivered, that are still brightening up my days and our living room.
Coffee
JC and I spent Sunday crawling through three of the Indie Coffee Passport coffee stops in Brockton Village. I’m looking forward to posting about them over the next couple of Mondays. BIVY is up already, next up is The Brockton Haunt & The Arrow.
I love going out for coffee because the opportunity for conversation is so much greater than it is with the usual fast paced dinner. I sip on my coffee and words pour out of my mouth. The warm comforting aroma of a finely roasted coffee bean, ground and brewed. It’s slow and thoughtful, even while it makes everything else speed up (thanks caffeine.)
Another thing I’ve discovered is that I really like cold brew coffee. I tried a bottle of Stumptown’s Coldbrew the last time we were in NYC, but didn’t think much of it, like it was good, but ultimately unappreciated. Then I read Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother & Homeland (both are fantastic books), where cold brew coffee is mentioned in detail in a couple chapters. (And I read his article on how to make cold brew coffee I expected to find somewhere on Boing Boing)
I bought one of the Northwood Cold Brew Coffees on offer at APieCalypse, and realized what all the fuss was about. Yum.
I love your excitement re: magic squares 🙂 PS. Pilot’s cold brew is INCREDIBLES, try some in the summer when it comes back. (Or maybe they still have it at Te Aro?!)
I want to do a cold brew coffee crawl when it gets hot out. Want to join me? 😀
Heck to the yes.
I wish there were vegan bakeries in KW! How wonderful to actually have more than one quality vegan bakeshop to patronize. I adore APieCalypse Now, we got to try their goodies at the last two TO food festivals.
Things I love this week…. we tried Lettuce Love Cafe in Burlington, the revamped Kindfood, for Sunday Brunch. They had a wonderful almond banana french toast. We also got our other two favourites: the California Burger and the Caesar Salad, they were amazing!
We are so lucky! I’m so excited for APieCalypse, and their continued success. I feel spoiled by all the goodness (because we all are!)
J & I will have to check out Lettuce Love Cafe, I haven’t been back there (when it was kindfood) in well over a year or so. thanks for the suggestions.
Interesting bakery, love the fact that each item is made ethical, beautiful and delish! I wish Portland has more vegan bakeries like Toronto – seriously they don’t Wicked lookin’’ cold-brew coffee bottle…I wanna try it!