Thoughts of the week

A couple of blurbs before I get to what I really want to talk about…..

1) Because job apps for law school will be underway shortly, I’ll need to severely tighten up my “online presence”. I will making this entire blog and all past entries password-protected, switching my Twitter and Instagram to followers-only, and probably do that thing where I change my name on Facebook by substituting a middle name for my last name (except I don’t have a middle name so I’ll have to think of something else…).

This makes me kind of sad because I enjoy social media so much, and one of my interests is connecting with others through it, finding things in common, sharing pictures and thoughts, etc. I mean, really, probably only a handful of people keep up to date with my blogs and tweets anyway so it wouldn’t make a big difference, but I kind of like the idea that some random people over the Internet might stumble upon my things and find something they can relate to, in me. I don’t know. Oh well. That’s one of the sacrifices of entering the professional world, right?

2) I friggin’ love biking. I’ve gone on two long bike rides in the past few days.. both times spending over 1.5 hours outside. I didn’t actually cover that much mileage since it IS the city and there are so many traffic lights and people and construction but they were still great rides. I love speeding across a big bridge overlooking the city, feeling the burn in my quads as I’m powering up a hill, riding along the edge of the Harbourfront and feeling like I could flip into the water at any second….you get the idea! I forgot how much I missed biking having NOT biked for 5 months!!

I am going to bike so much the rest of the summer to make up for the dead, horribleness of winter and its non-conduciveness to biking

3) Some general thoughts about other humans that I’ve had lately:
- People should get ticketed for walking too slow on sidewalks when it’s a single-file sidewalk. SERIOUSLY? I usually end up nudging my way past somehow, but come on, why is a perfectly able-bodied, middle-age (I understand if you’re old) person walking 0.0001 km/hour????

- Police on bikes are a great idea. Why? I saw two of them the other day, biking across a not-so-great area of town, and stopping along the way to talk to people. Then, I saw them bike through the park and then stop to talk to more people sitting on the benches, many of whom were clearly homeless or very poor. They were smiling, joking with them, just sort of checking in with them, having perhaps met them before and formed relationships with them.

This to me, is great because so many people living in low-income neighbourhoods do not hold positive attitudes of the police. Many of them distrust the police, feel they are not accessible or helpful, do more harm than good, etc. But when police make active efforts to form relationships with some of these people, get to know the people in the neighbourhood, this completely changes their image. And being on bikes means police officers can have this kind of flexibility, and also of course, appear more “human” and approachable.

- But speaking of police on bikes: they were travelling really slowly along a bike lane the other day, and I desperately wanted to bike ahead of them….but am I allowed to pass a police bike???

- I was lining up at Winners today, and behind me, this lady grabbed a bag of chips from one of the shelves and a bottle of juice, and starting eating and drinking. FYI, Winners line-ups are a bit long sometimes, and they stock the shelves along the line with stuff like food and drinks. But PRESUMABLY, you *pay* for those things before you consume them, and not while you’re still in line. What the hell? Who does that??? That’s not to say I haven’t seen it before…but ok really, are you that dying of hunger and thirst that you can’t wait to buy your things and then eat them? It just feels so…improper to be eating that store’s food while in the store, before having bought it. Also, the hungryass lady wouldn’t stop bumping into my back with the cushions she was holding in her arms. I hate when strangers make bodily contact with me of any kind.

Okay, I think that’s enough for today. I guess I didn’t get to talk about what I originally wanted this blog post to be about……but another day then! I’m off to watch Billy Talent perform at Yonge-Dundas Square!!!! They were my favourite band when I was in high school — I am BEYOND excited

The cohabitation life is tough.

….sometimes.

Having lived with multiple sets of wildly different-personalitied roommates (to put it lightly), I must say, living with your significant other is a whole ‘nother animal.

That’s because living with roommates still, for most people, means living on your own. You have your own space, your own belongings and possessions, your own time, and nobody that you *really* have to be accountable to everyday.

But when you’re cohabiting, none of these things apply. You may still have your own things, and of course your own time, but you also share it all with another person. When you come home from work/school, on the weekends, at night and in the morning — bam, they’re there, smack right in your face.

For me, it has meant a bit of getting used to. All of my weird quirky habits that perhaps my boyfriend knew a bit about now are all aired in the open. Exhibit A: I can be kind of possessive when it comes to my food and drinks. I like to plan my meals a lot, and I like repetition so this means when the last slice of bread disappears mysteriously, the milk carton is empty, or my favourite K-Cup is out, I get a little upset. (Hence, I keep some of these things in the bedroom).

It also means I’ve been pointing to things and saying “mine” a lot in a half-joking 4-year-old toddler kind of way.

(No, but seriously, that fluffy red towel that I brought over from my place is the only thing I will dry myself off with).

But — I’m happy to report that I’m learning a lot. And adapting. Slowly. I’m starting to realize that some things are just not worth bantering over, let alone arguing over. “Compromise” is a much-needed mantra that bears repeating every so often.

And pride? That devilled beast must be tamed. Pride must be sucked up every so often as well. Bad moods, crappy work/school days, traffic jams, fatigue — these are all inevitable things that break up the rosy picture that “getting to see your boyfriend/girlfriend everyday” paints.

Yet, reflecting back, the good strongly outweighs the bad. Amidst the more difficult hours and days are way more happy, best-friend-bonding days. Buying groceries, cooking and eating meals together, going to the gym and on bike rides around the city, lounging on couches and reading/watching our own things, even cleaning the apartment together — these are the things that make this whole experience so enjoyable.

There will be many rough patches to come, I realize. My one-month-and-then-some long of cohabitation really hasn’t been put to any kind of tests yet, and we’re still both young, unmarried, kid-free. I’m kind of wondering if maybe this time window will be the easiest and sweetest of all the stages in life (fingers crossed this isn’t the case).

But there’s nothing wrong with taking it all one step at a time. Nothing wrong with feeling your way slowly through the greyish fog, slipping up and scraping your knees once in a while, then getting back up again.

Hey — I think I’m pretty lucky I have someone to walk through the fog with.

Thoughts on culture and immigration

She was a middle-aged Asian lady, dressed in an odd get-up that included leopard prints and a newspaper messenger-esque hat. She sat down in front of me on the subway, but I didn’t notice her at first.

Not until her hand was waving in my face, trying to catch my attention.

I took my earbuds out of my ears.

Pointing at me, she asked, “Viet-na-mee?”

I wasn’t quite sure what she meant.

“Viet-na-mee?” she repeated, pointing at me.

“Oh, Vietnamese?” I said, a little confused. Nobody has ever really taken me to be Vietnamese before.

She nodded her head in reply.

I smiled and shook my head, “no.”

“Chine-ee?” she asked. I said “yes.” And she smiled and turned away from me. I assume she was Vietnamese herself, and was hoping that I spoke her language.

A few moments later, she picked up an envelope that was strewn across her lap and started to pull something out. She got my attention again, and held up the piece of paper for me to read.

Across the top, it read “Certificate of Canadian Citizenship”. I grinned broadly at her, and tried to motion with my hands something like “congratulations”, and probably didn’t convey it well but I’m sure she knew what it meant.

All I could think about for the next few minutes was how happy the lady seemed about becoming a Canadian citizen. And something about that warmed my heart as well. While I have no personal experience with becoming a Canadian citizen (other than being birthed by my mom), I know my parents did and probably felt a similar kind of joy and relief. The kind of joy and relief that comes with settling into a new country of your choice, acquiring the status and security of becoming an official citizen, and being able to anticipate a (probably) brighter future.

Except. Something inside of me was a bit off. Something about the happy lady made me uncomfortable.

Then I managed to pinpoint it.

This lady couldn’t speak English. I’m not sure what her level of proficiency was, but if she could barely pronounce “Vietnamese” or “Chinese”, it didn’t seem like she could speak it very well.

And the reason this made me sad was because all I could think about now was, “how well-settled will she actually become in Canadian society? Will she be able to find a job? Will it be a job that pays above the minimum wage? Will it at least be the minimum wage?” Up until I was about 13 or 14, I had been naive enough to think that sweatshops didn’t exist in the heart of Toronto, but of course they do. And of course they would likely be filled with older immigrants who don’t speak English or have no formal education.

Then I thought about whether she had any children or not, and how likely it would be that they would grow up with completely different  values than she had, and experience communication problems and culture clash. Whether her children might want to play basketball and take art lessons rather than learn the piano and take language lessons. Whether they would struggle to understand and talk to one another for years, each never having really grasped the other’s mother tongue. The problems between first-generation children and their immigrant parents are not uncommon across the board.

I know Canada is a nation built upon immigrants till this day, but sometimes I’m not too sure how I feel about the people that come over here. If we’re not talking about refugees, and just about immigrants, I feel the only people that *should* come here are those who are surely going to thrive in our society. And of course, that can’t be predicted to a precise degree, but really — I think speaking/reading/writing English or French should be the first prerequisite.

If you take a walk down Chinatown, it’s almost like a part of China has been transplanted into downtown Toronto. The feeling is kind of surreal, for those who have not seen it before. But what you also see is a lot of people living in poverty, struggling to make it from day to day, working long hours and difficult jobs. They probably don’t know a lot of English, either.

Much as I love that Canada is such a multicultural mosaic of different people and backgrounds and identities, the last thing I would want it to become is a place where large pockets of society are completely alienated from the others, made up of large disparities in wealth and cultural values, and never become fully integrated into the rest of the English-speaking population (and I say this not in an “English is the best” imperialist kind of attitude, but I say this because speaking English or French means you are more likely to acquire a better-paying job, have access to government and community services, the ability to navigate the Canadian system, etc.).

Or I don’t know, maybe that lady has nothing to worry about, has been sponsored over here by a wealthy husband, and has much better prospects over here than whatever kind of life she led before. Just maybe. But not likely.

Whoops – #31daysofvegan #day31

And thus, the 31 days of no animals/animal by-products were over.

(Damnit. I used the hashtag #30daysofvegan when actually it was 31 days.)

Like I mentioned in the previous post, I think we experienced quite a few benefits. Whether it was getting to try new restaurants and finding places we would return to even as non-vegans,or  being forced to cook more, bring packed lunches and try new recipes, or feeling more energetic and losing cravings for sugary and high-fat foods/beverages, or just the thrill of having completed a challenge that we initially thought would be hard.

I’m happy we did it I think I will retain a lot of my vegan habits (at least I hope so). I really love the taste of soymilk so I will probably continue to buy that. I also plan to keep making green protein smoothies using our soy protein, and buying Yves vegan ground meat.

However — I cannot wait to eat Korean and Japanese food again. Mmmm some sashimi, or soondubu jjigae would be great (both of which are healthy meals!). The one thing I found it hard to do on the vegan diet was get easy/quick protein. Usually it was either fake meat or beans/chickpeas, which take time to cook or incorporate into a dish. But now, I plan to eat a lot of greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and canned tuna.

Actually.. have I mentioned? Korey and I were talking about another “diet” challenge for the next month. I was doing a bunch of research and “carb-cycling” seems to be very promoted among the fitness and bodybuilding community. It’s apparently very effective for losing fat but retaining muscle mass. What it really just means is eating high carb on training days, and low/no carb on cardio or rest days.

Korey and I both love our carbs. Seriously. PB or cream cheese on bagels, sandwiches, pizza, pita bread, etc. I kind of love that he loves carbs as much as I do, as opposed to big hulking steaks or meatballs. But anyway.. low/no carb days apparently can be really hard at first, especially on your mood and energy levels. I can’t even imagine what a no carb day would be like, hahah, my god. So…..I just eat veggies and meat all day?

We’re both now doing boot camp classes and 5 weeks out from Tough Mudder, so why the heck not? But we seriously just need one weekend to eat without any weird restrictions, so maybe carb-cycling can wait until Monday

Here are some photooooos:

Cat-sitting for my roomie’s cat. I LOVE HER. She is adorable. And she finds the weirdest places to rest.

This was brunch at Live Bar. We liked dinner so much, we brought his mom there when she came into town last weekend. I’ve missed pancakes so I was excited to see it on the menu: raw vegan blueberry pancakes.

OKAY, no. Sorry. This was not good. Well, the first two bites were. It was dense, and thick, and I think composed mainly of ground up almonds. But it was way too much for two pancakes’ worth and just made me miss the fluffiness of real pancakes more

But both Korey and his mom’s meals were great! They had Mexican flavours, with guacamole, sour cream, corn, tortilla shells, etc. They were also both raw but I tried a bite of Korey’s: so delicious. I guess I just ordered the wrong thing.

Mmmmm we bought avocados and I made a simple guacamole with it using cilantro and lime. And then we read The Globe weekend edition

I went back to Lola’s Kitchen for brunch!! Somehow this tofu scramble wasn’t as good as the one I had before, but the sweet potato home fries were better. So I guess, in all, it was good I need to learn how to make my own tofu scrambles.

This was another homemade dinner one night! It looks so bad in a Tupperware container but I like using it because it holds more than most of the bowls we have It’s taco salad, with vegan ground meat and black beans in taco seasoning, plus tomatoes, salsa and tortilla chips on some greens. REALLY yummy, and Korey liked it too and request that we make it again

This doesn’t look too appetizing but I ASSURE YOU, it was gooooood. I made an avocado-tomato-cucumber salad dressed in olive oil and some lime juice, and also a big batch of roasted yams tossed in cinnamon I will definitely be making that again!

My baby girl, in one of her awesome sleeping positions <3

WOOOO, today we went to bottle our 2nd batch of wine — this time, RED wine. We already cracked open a bottle by the way. It’s delicious. Yeah, I usually dislike red wine but this wine, I will seriously drink (not in a substance-abusive way, of course…).

OH, and today was also our last vegan meal and we chose to go to Rawlicious for dinner.

Verdict? BIG mistake. Rawlicious gets 2/5 for me.
1) TERRIBLE value for money. Korey got an appetizer, I got a sandwich — both small portions. And then he got a small glass of juice. Total? Something like $38. HELL NO.
2) They both tasted weird. “Raw” aka dehydrated tortilla chips and onion “bread” are really, really bad. Like, really bad.

I mean, I guess we didn’t hate our meals….. but we will definitely never return. Live Bar is hands down, way better. Also, I find the raw lifestyle just too ridiculous to put into words so I don’t know why I thought going to a raw restaurant was a good idea.

IN ANY CASE, the most important thing is that tomorrow: we feast on meat. Mwahahah. *cue Medieval-esque shouts and hurrahs from big men with burly beards and giant appetites*

#30daysofvegan #day24

Well, well, well. One week out from the end of our vegan month. Looking back, it kind of passed by pretty quickly.

It felt a little slow at first, scrambling to make different kinds of vegan meals that were also nutritious and filling. But now! It seems much easier I guess I kind of slacked on taking pictures of every meal we ate, but we did eat leftovers a lot of the time, and just this past week, I made a simple pasta dish with some Yves vegan ground meat thrown in. Topped with cilantro, it was really good.

To be honest though, I miss meat. Yup. There. Even though I’m not a big meat eater, I would rather have it in my diet than not. Why not? There are some great healthy meat protein sources out there, that are also incredibly versatile and easy to make in bigger batches. The first week after this is over, I plan to make a Costco trip and cook up some chicken breasts and ground turkey Also, those store-bought rotisserie chickens? SO GOOD.

Also: there are eggs and milk in SO MANY THINGS. I’m annoyed about being limited to only a few grocery aisles because of it.

But you know what has been really great about this month? I think it has weaned me off a lot of things I used to like eating/crave. Milk chocolate, ice cream, frozen yogurt, muffins, etc. have all been off-limits this month and even though there are substitutes (soy ice cream, vegan muffins), I decided that that’d be kind of “cheating” on the whole point of getting healthier through this month so I stayed away. It’s true that the longer you go without those high-fat, high-sugar foods, the easier it gets to keep staying away from them. I want a much cleaner diet! I know this is very important because after all, studies have shown that getting and staying fit is attributed to 80% diet/20% exercise.

I think I’ve also convinced Korey that sometimes, vegan meals can beat their non-vegan counterparts. Eggs, bacon, home fries and toast may TASTE delicious, but is the greasy, heavy feeling afterwards worth it when you can have something also delicious but also much lighter?

On Victoria Day last week, we went to Sadie’s Diner to have brunch (a great little hole-in-the-wall with PLENTY vegan options — including a vegan ice cream float).

Korey got a vegan root beer float, made with soy ice cream. He seemed to like it, but it was meh to me. I don’t get the concept of sticking soda with ice cream… it kind of defeats the idea of ice cream to me, which is a lot about texture. I hate when ice cream melts.

We both ordered tofu scrambles! I got mine with vegan sausage (Korey got vegan bacon), and it was so great! I wish I asked them where they got those sausages (or if they made them, HOW they made them). Mmmm huge plate o’ food — but I was so happy to see a lack of grease/oiliness on the plate that non-vegan breakfast plates usually have!

The other weekend we also decided to order some vegan pizza, because for those who know me, I am a big pizza whore. Very tragically, this vegan pizza was disgusting. Maybe because (1) Pizzaiolo has disappointed me once again — UGH they make some shitty pizzas sometimes, or (2) Veggies on tomato sauce on bread is really not pizza at all.

Anyway. I know I will not be ordering that again.

OH and also from last weekend was a *GREAT* meal at Live Food Bar! Someone I know actually works there now so he recommended coming in after finding out about my vegan month, haha. I’ve also heard of it but been kind of apprehensive before but it also serves a lot of “raw” food (yup, stuff that hasn’t been heated above a certain temperature, so it’s either completely raw or dehydrated). I don’t get people who eat solely raw food diets by the way — that is just too extreme.

So anyway, Korey also loved this place and wants to bring his mom and our other friends here

We both got drinks too — lychee/strawberry for me, and blueberry smoothie for him. Delicious but also definitely overpriced considering I was sure we could make the exact same thing in our Magic Bullet for much less

I love the interior of the place too. I WANT WALL ART.

Top: Korey’s black bean burrito with cashew sour cream (he loved this, and said the vegan sour cream was almost indistinguishable from the real stuff! I agreed. Cashews are friggin’ amazing). Middle: My “cheeseburger” which had a chickpea patty, mayo, macademia cheddar (wuuuuut?) on what tasted like a gluten-free bun. So good! I loved mine too! It definitely had a “cheesy” taste to it that I enjoyed. Incredibly filling, too. Bottom: vegan sushi. This was kinda weird. It had a pasty texture and it was big to eat in one bite, so I wouldn’t order it again but it still tasted good?

I definitely would come back here again, even when I’m not being a vegan

And this is the meal I made last night. Vegan summer/spring (?) rolls stuffed with lettuce, tofu, avocado, vermicelli and coriander with peanut dipping sauce. It was pretty good!!! It wasn’t that easy to make actually, haha cause I had to chop a whole bunch of different fillings, and then wrap them individually. Rice paper is not very cooperative sometimes. Oh well, I have a lot of them left so I will inevitably make em again

AHHHHH I can’t believe the Tough Mudder is like a month and 2 weeks away. I’m so excited but really still scared. We need to do some more hill drills this weekend!

My best friend

So.

This isn’t a vegan update post, or a rambly thoughts kind of post — this is a post about my best friend.

Sometimes you forget that your boyfriend or girlfriend or fiance or whatever is actually something more than that: they are also your best friend (or at least, they should be).

I don’t know if it was because of the long weekend and all the time we spent together, or just the fun things we did that allowed us to laugh and have a good time, but a few recurring times I thought to myself this weekend, “wow, this guy is really my best friend.”

I don’t want it to sound gushy or “zomg guyz I have the best boyfrand” but really, he is above all, my favourite person in the whole world to spend time with. Even after over 3 straight days of hanging out with (just) each other, I didn’t feel sick of him at all. I didn’t think “ahh, too much of him, I need to see someone else” or “ahh, I need to be alone now” — both of which happen to me pretty quickly when I spend too much time with other people, haha. It might be because we’re both introverts and don’t have big groups of friends (and don’t generally like socializing with others) that we fit together so well, but then it also kind of surprises me that none of those things apply to us when it’s just me and him.

Whether it was listening to songs on the radio in the car, or throwing frisbees and laughing my ass off when I threw it badly or when he missed catching it, or riding a tandem bike for the first time and feeling like we were both going to fall and crack open our heads — I had so much fun the entire time.

This guy. Sometimes I have no idea how he puts up with me. Either I have to go to the washroom every few hours like clockwork, or I need some water, or I’m tired of walking, or I’m picky about where we go eat — he’s pretty damn patient. If I had found anyone else even *remotely* like my personality, there’s no question our relationship would have long since imploded.

But I think we have lots of fun together. That’s probably one of the best ingredients in a great relationship: lots of laughter. Having inside jokes, being able to giggle and laugh like little kids, playfighting, teasing one another — all of that is so important.

It’s not like it’s always been so light-hearted though. We like to debate and argue — a LOT. Not like fight-argue, but like argue-argue, mostly about politics or philosophies or any kinds of beliefs. We disagree on a lot of things, but also end up disagreeing with each other sometimes just for the sake of playing devil’s advocate. In the first few months of dating, I HATED arguing with him about such heavy topics and always felt defeated and deflated afterwards, feeling like we’d just had a substantial argument.

But he’s shown me that there’s no need to let it get to you. Debating about these kinds of things can be passionate, can be heated, and can sometimes get a bit personal (but we try and not go there) — but at the end of it, what does it matter? Take it as light-hearted fun and tongue-sharpening practice. Now, a year later, I feel like we could be arguing heatedly about Harper’s newest taxpayer-funded government ads for new “services” that haven’t even been implemented by the legislature yet, and the next moment, we could be holding hands and discussing where to get groceries.

Relationships, especially after the “honeymoon” period and at certain formative points in time, are about learning and growth. Whether it’s allowing yourself to learn and grow and change for the better, or helping your partner do so, I feel that that’s when the give-and-take part takes place. I have grown a lot in the past year and am still working on it — still learning to be more patient, to be more understanding and respectful, to be less emotional and more rational at times.

And no one else better to do it with than my best friend.

Summer livin’, summer lovin’ #30daysofvegan #day17update

Time for a vegan-month-update! I’m a bit behind, oh well. Also, I’ve been slacking in cooking department, as I’ve inadvertently been NOT at home for dinnertime nearly this entire week.

Week summary:
Monday consisted of running down to Maple Leafs Square to watch the game and be immersed in Leafs Nation (oh, just for the heck of it. And my roomie wanted to see it.) and then going home after the 1st period to watch comfortably from a couch (OH LEAFS! be still, my heart..)

Then Tuesday was rebounding nicely from the hockey loss by watching a Blue Jays win over the Giants That was fun! It was Caitlin’s first time at a pro sports game! My first time a few weeks ago saw the Jays score ZERO runs so of course, I was absolutely ecstatic when they scored 6 runs in the first inning at this game. GOOD JOB BOYS!

Yesterday I went to a really interesting Asian-geared law firm event that talked about succeeding in summer/articling jobs. There was some talk about how research shows that Asians lag behind in executive positions, senior partners, other top-tier job titles, etc. because of their cultural upbringing. Asian women are traditionally more passive, deferential, “obedient”, etc. and Asian males are similar, and also less adept at emotional and body language.

I agree for the most part, although “Asian” may be generalizing a bit too much. I think in this case, East Asian might be a more relevant description but even so, a lot of people wouldn’t fall into that category. Me, for instance — as part of the Canadian-born Chinese cohort, I wouldn’t describe my upbringing as traditional. In fact, my dad raised me to be incredibly argumentative, confrontational, and to always challenge authority (even though he is one of the most passive-aggressive people I know, funnily enough). None of those things reflect traditional Chinese values.

There will definitely be lots of shifting around in the next few decades as more and more immigrants’ children have children and outdated traditional/cultural attitudes are lost. I can’t wait for that. And also: tons of mixed babies. Can’t wait!

This is a meal from last week: we went out to an Ethiopian restaurant (which had both vegan and non-vegan options, woot!) for dinner and then to play board games afterwards. Of coures Snakes & Lattes had a RIDICULOUSLY LONG LINE-UP (2 hour wait? NO THANKS!) so we went somewhere else instead. Seriously, Toronto, it’s time to open up more board game cafes!!

Injera bread with chickpea dip. The chickpea dip was good, but oh god, I hate the injera stuff. It tastes like wet, soggy, sour pancake. Omg. I need my bread. 

The vegan plate was good, for the most part. The spicy chickpea-based stews, collard greens and cabbage salad were delicious, but the squash (?) and lentils tasted weird. Also pictured: a whole ton more of injera. Euugghhh. Just dip it in enough of the stews to cover up the taste and the texture.

THEN, last weekend I also took a few of my friends to Fresh!!! It was Ken, Jeet and Caitlin’s first time there, and they were all a little hesitant to try vegan food BUUUUUT I think they all liked it They were surprised at least, by how much it exceed their initial expectations. Well c’mon — a vegan restaurant in Toronto? They are bound to be experts at making plants taste good.

I got the buddha bowl which has peanut-sauce tossed with tofu and lots of veggies and peanuts on top of brown rice. SO GOOD AND SO FILLING. I want to recreate this at home.

Then I took my momma out for lunch the other day as a late Mother’s Day celebration at The Hair of the Dog. She got a BLT sandwich with a huge plate o’ sweet potato fries (of which I stole a few from, hehe) and I had a salad (one of the few vegan options on the menu). We also got cocktails (mmmmmm!) even though I had to basically force my mom to get one, hahah. She’s not used to something as indulgent as a cocktail on a Tuesday afternoon lunch but I like treating her when I can!

There is something really fun and exciting about being able to take your parents out for lunches and dinners or other nice things — sort of confirms that you’re an adult you know? And who deserves it more than our parents, who have spent years and countless dollars raising us?

Part of me hoping I will make a decent amount of money in my career someday has to do with wanting to provide for my parents when they are retired and older. I absolutely can’t wait for the day I can get them nice things, whether it’s fancy dinners or new TVs, or a beach house to retire in (clearly I’m very ambitious).

Oh, and overall vegan update: I’M DOING WELL! Little minor cheats like having a small sip of a cocktail yesterday with egg whites in it, accidentally trying some mayo dip, and a potato pancake that may have had egg in it BUT really, nothing big. Korey on the other hand, probably cannot wait till the next 13 days are over We’re definitely eating a burger on June 1st.

Cooking day! More chickpea curry (this time with sriracha sauce, yummmm), marinara sauce pasta with spinach, and roasted baby potatoes tossed in olive oil and lemon-garlic seasoning. So good right out of the oven! Purple potatoes are delicious. We’ve been eating these leftovers the rest of this week

Taking Stock: A New Agenda for Children, Youth and Families in Canada (Pt.2)

There is no better way to sum up the day-long conference other than to take from the list of one-word answers we all came up with at the end of the day. Going around the room, we all came up with one word to describe how we felt about everything, including: inspired, invigorated, motivated, educated, humbled, empowered, well-informed, thankful, privileged, lucky, excited, optimistic, etc.

The day passed by so quickly.

The morning was spent working on an exercise in which we had to come up with policies or issues that affected us in positive or negative ways, recently. A lot of great things came up (things I hadn’t known about) that covered areas from the environment, to youth employment, to the tuition rebate, to Bill C-10, Bill C-45, the recent Ontario teachers’ strike, etc. We got to talk about all of these things, discuss them, learn about them and figure out what we didn’t like or liked about them.

The afternoon was spent going more in-depth into the new agenda for children, youth and families — for the most part, we looked at the position papers that had already been produced and got into groups to talk about what were the strengths, the weaknesses, and what WE would change about them if we could.

One of our last exercises involved coming up with our “own” agenda and picking out which issues we felt were the most important. There was a lot of stuff on there that I agreed with, but our group also made some tweaks to the existing agenda. Going around the room, we heard some great ideas that had me thinking “YES that should be on there” and “YES that should be changed!”

At the end of it, one group came up with a really comprehensive list and one-by-one, each of us got to attach 3 stickers to the top 3 issues we felt were the most important. This was hard to do, because for one, picking just 3 out of all the issues I think are important to youth today was not enough, and for another, because I think people tended to gravitate to the issues that were closest to their heart. For me, this meant prioritizing mental health & well-being, youth violence, and youth employment issues.

Reflecting on the day, the most exciting and most inspiring times occurred when we were discussing things as one big group — 14 (1 from yesterday was not there) of us together — and not in our smaller, more intimate groups. Whether it was bouncing one idea off of another, or responding and disagreeing to something someone else said, the sheer amount of knowledge that the people in our group possessed was astounding. You could tell they came from all walks of life and had all kinds of positive and negative experiences — yet, they weren’t pessimistic in any kind of way. These people, by virtue of the social problems and issues that they saw facing youth in Canada, actually felt empowered to do more.

And that was why each and everyone of us were there in that room.

Even though honestly, I hadn’t known what to expect at all before the conference, I felt myself carried away by all the energy that our group generated and feeling motivated by everybody else’s passions. It was truly inspiring — there is no other word for it.

One of the most rewarding parts of the day was when the NACY vice-chair (who sat in for most of the conference, listening in on all of our discussions) told us how impressed she was with our work, and said that she was going to make a concerted effort to bring us all back together again. This really stood out to me. The thought of carrying forward our group’s efforts and valuing our work so much that they wanted to bring us in again — just wow.

One person afterwards said outloud, “Finally. Finally it feels like someone is listening,” echoing all of our thoughts in unison.

It’s easy to get caught up in lofty ideals and a utopian view of what we’d like our society to look like, and how we’d like to go about accomplishing that though. I kept as rational and down-to-earth a mind as possible throughout all of the exercises — trying to be the “anchor” in the group. But as someone who thinks very realistically and doesn’t prefer to pretend that there is unlimited money in the world or that everyone is as generous as we’d like them to be, more than anything this weekend reminded me of the kinds of ideas and energy and optimism that youth bring to the table. It renewed my faith in youth engagement a little, truthfully. There are youth out there who care deeply about being engaged in the community and actively involved with social change. A group such as ours can and DID bring so many new perspectives and dialogues and criticisms worth paying attention to.

Really one of the most valuable and well-spent weekends I can remember and will take with me for the future — can’t wait to see what the rest of our group members will do in the future, as a group and as individuals (big things, I am sure of it).

Taking Stock: A New Agenda for Children, Youth and Families in Canada

This weekend, I have the wonderful opportunity to take part in a conference organized in downtown Toronto by YWCA Canada and NACY (National Alliance for Children and Youth). It brings together 15 youth (including me!) from all across Canada for a 1.5-day conference designed to craft a new “agenda” for children and youth. This means that our task is to focus on and discuss a number of key issues that children and youth in Canada face today, and modifying/supporting/coming up with some tangible recommendations that can be communicated to our legislators and politicians.

Regretfully, I haven’t been involved with child and family poverty issues as I was years ago, when I was part of Family Services Toronto and Campaign 2000′s Youth Action Committee (YAC). Those were a few really great years of my life, when I was part of this youth-led group of people that were enthusiastic and passionate about advocating and raising awareness about child and family poverty in Canada. I remember learning so much from interacting with other people through street education, or setting up booths in various venues and handing out pamphlets, bracelets, and getting people to chat with us about these issues. I remember really liking the feeling of being part of something — something that was advocating for change, something that was about reaching out to others and spreading knowledge, something that I knew affected so many people and neighbours and fellow citizens around me.

And so, coming from this background area, I hope to find child and youth poverty one of the issues that will be included as part of the new agenda (actually, I already know it will be included in some form, but hopefully it will be highlighted on the agenda).

Today was designed as mostly just a meet-and-greet for the group to play some icebreakers and get to know each other. We had some food, we got together in groups, and then we moved around the room and found out lots of interesting things about the people we would be working with tomorrow!

The first thing I was struck by was just how genuinely warm and friendly all the facilitators were. They took the time to come to each table and talk to us and find out a few things about us individually. From just the 2 hours we saw them today, I can tell they are incredibly “real” people and clearly invested and passionate about the work they are doing.

The second thing I have to note is how warm and friendly all of the other participants are!! I really think perhaps I’ve become too jaded from this past year of law school. Day after day, I got used to a somewhat-hostile environment of high-strung “A”-type students who were all too conscious of the limited number of A’s and B+’s to go around, and the need to work harder than the next student. I hated this atmosphere and I’m glad I’ve left it, but I guess I forget that groups of people around my age can actually be positive forces and do good things (not just one-up each other about how much time one has spent in the library).

I am not usually a very talkative or outgoing person when it comes to meeting new people, but some of the people I met today were just so easy to talk to, and bursting with laughter and happiness that it was hard not to let it rub off on me. Negative atmospheres can be contagious, but happy and positive ones can be even more so!

Just from today, I can tell that our group of 15 from across Canada (literally across the country — they have been flown in from multiple provinces and some just arrived in Pearson a few hours ago!) are from a big, diverse range of different backgrounds, post-secondary institutions, cities and hometowns, cultures and heritages, and passions.

This is the kind of thing that gets me really excited. Social activism. Youth engagement. Cross-sectional issues. Raising awareness. Advocacy. I think when you get a bunch of really engaged, activist-minded and passionate youth together, you can get a lot of amazing ideas generated. I am especially happy that our group is so small — this will make our conversation and discussions that much more productive and on point. Very much looking forward to the full-day conference tomorrow and having some wonderful discussions with my fellow peers!

#30daysofvegan #Day8

I’ve got a backlog of meals I need to post! I’ve just been clearly having way too much fun to keep up with blogging my vegan eats.

So one of the first actual vegan meals I cooked from scratch is this: 
Chickpea, potato and vegetable curry made with soymilk and served on brown basmati rice It was pretty good if I may say so myself! Haha I made a lot so we had leftovers that we ate the next day and enough for Korey to bring some for lunch too. Mmm I love curries All that was missing was some spice so next time I may add in some jalapenos or cayenne pepper!

Yesterday, I spent the day with my mom (some pre-Mother’s Day bonding time) shopping and then helping her prepare a delicious Chinese vegan meal. Mmmmm so good! My favourite steamed peanut butter buns, roasted sweet potatoes, wheat gluten meat substitute (really good), and various salads: wood ear mushrooms, celery-carrot, and tofu-cucumber. Now this is what healthy home-cooked Chinese food looks like I will definitely try and recreate some of those salads!

(I really need to take pics of food NOT in the kitchen — the kitchen lighting sucks!)

This was today’s dinner! Day 8: barbeque sauce-marinated tofu roasted in the oven along with sweet potatoes and balsamic broccoli. The tofu was my favourite Surprisingly “meaty” (well, really firm) and flavourful. I am gonna make it again for sure! But the broccoli was not that good.. I think I crowded the pan and it didn’t crisp up, and I may need to microwave it before roasting next time.

I’m also packing more of Korey’s lunches so he’s not stuck eating fruit and juice I think all in all, we’re getting the hang of this! At least for me, I am genuinely enjoying it and I can’t wait to track how I feel after another week of vegan meals.

This would actually really be a lot different if I didn’t have so much time on my hands. I can’t imagine how hard all of this would be to plan/shop/cook/clean with school going on or a job (uh, as a lawyer? Kiss your free time away). Aggghhh. But it’s not like I plan to continue being a vegan anyway. I really don’t think there’s anything wrong with smaller portions of healthy meats. Plus, I like a hunk of steak every now and then

But I may become more of a pescatarian? Maybe? I love seafood and could see myself eating more fish and shrimp. I guess the only problem with that is mercury levels and I wouldn’t want to end up eating too much tuna (also: my childhood has forever scarred me from liking tuna sandwiches, along with pizza pockets and Lunchables).

WE’LL SEE. For now, I guess I should make the most of all the free time I have and enjoy the outdoors as much as possible. Today, Korey and I ran some hills (yes, RAN…and then walked) at Riverdale Park and just died. Hills are killer. But it was good and I liked seeing all the dogs playing there I can’t wait to bring my dog to a doggy park to socialize with all the other dogs someday!