When you’re 22, living in a big city is the perfect thing. There’s a seemingly endless array of things to do, people to meet, jobs to apply for, and restaurants to eat poutine in at 4 in the morning. It’s an indecisive time of life, so being constantly surrounded by options is the ideal scenario. But, skip ahead a few years, living in a city starts to feel a little different. The options are there but you know yourself better so you don’t always feel the need to take advantage of them. Tuesday night gallery openings might sound cool, but in reality they’re awkward and boring…plus you have pilates that night. And all those people? Who has the time? You barely see friends you have and they are cooler and better than everyone anyways.

With the honeymoon period of big city living over, the daily grind of doing “adult” things in an urban context (commuting, grocery shopping without a car, finding a non-sketchy family doctor, etc.) can start to get you down. And if you’re like me living in Canada in the middle of February, the whole experience can be pretty isolating….

So I thought I’d start a little series where I share some of my strategies for surviving city life as a responsible(ish) adult.

Survival Tip #1: ESCAPE

It’s easy to start feeling like your neighborhood is the centre of the universe. In my case, living in Toronto’s West End, all my favourite bars, coffee shops, restaurants, food co-ops, yoga studios, terrarium designers, artisanal jam shops and literally every person I know are within a stone’s throw of my apartment. Escapes don’t necessarily need to be “vacations” but they need to take you out of context. Here are a few examples of mini-escapes I’ve taken, that have really helped to broaden my perspective during my down times.

– Check out a new neighborhood : escapes don’t have to take you far from home. Hop a bus across town and explore what your city has to offer you beyond your own backyard.

– Go to the country: If you’re anything like me, the mix of consumer culture, jam-packed schedules and non-stop screen time can leave me feeling drained and disconnected. One of the best remedies for this I’ve found is to visit a smaller community where people do things a little differently. Good people, slower pace, tight knit community and rural life are just a cure all if you ask me.

– Hang out with munchkins: Full disclosure I am definitely a “kid person” but honestly I feel like one of the biggest things that gets me down about city living is how self-focused it all starts to feel. My apartment, my job, my hobbies, my gym, my friends, my plans, my needs, etc. It’s easy to feel purposeless or worse selfish and vain. And while I genuinely don’t think everyone in this world is meant to have kids themselves, I think we undervalue the restorative and frankly existential value of having children in our lives. So Skype your niece and nephew or take the bus out to the suburbs and hang with your married friends. As long as you don’t go comparing your own life to theirs (never a recipe for success) you might just find the boost you were looking for.

– Staycation: Not every weekend you have needs to be chock-full of social plans and to-do lists. Sometimes you need to kick back, relax and get some much needed R&R. Check out a new yoga studio. Go for a walk. Take a book & read/people watch in a cozy cafe (preferably NOT your local spot). Bake something tasty. Stretch. Marathon episodes of Empire…ahem. Whatever you do to relax and get your mind off the hectic world around you.

There’s a lot of talk in the wellness world about “gut” health. People cutting out gluten, chowing down on probiotics & eating foods in specific orders with the goal of improving their digestion/life.

But if we dive a little deeper, what is our gut really? It’s the part of our body that helps us process. That separates good and healthy from bad and toxic…It filters out bullshit that doesn’t serve us.

Lately I’ve been making an effort to be more attentive to my gut…and not by cutting out dairy. I’ve been listening when it twists into knots. Am I anxious? Stressed? When it feels like its moving up from my belly into my throat. What am I feeling? Do I have emotions I need to identify or express? And especially when it feels like it’s sinking or dropping. Am I afraid? Is my fear rational?

This weekend I decided to follow my gut and found it brought me exactly what I needed…

Slow mornings.

Yoga.

Fresh air.

Fresh food

Long nights.

It might sound hippy dippy but I encourage you to listen to your own gut and to think about what it’s really got to tell you. What that gurgling is actually all about. Was it really that gluten-bomb you ate for dinner or is there something more? If you put down the kefir water and gave yourself some R&R time, saw a friend for tea, marathoned some Broad City or drank a glass of wine with dinner….

It might just do the trick.

I’ve never been one for Valentine’s Day.

When I was in 10th grade my boyfriend made me a hand welded amethyst ring and I told him it “looked hard to make” then walked away. In 12th grade my boyfriend and I ate our first chocolate fondue over a delicious Valentine’s Day dinner then proceeded to amicably break up. College days are a blur in general, though I do remember one where me and my partner at the time got A&W burgers and went to a black and white movie…I guess they weren’t all bad.

No matter what your feelings are about the love-centric aspects of Valentine’s Day, I think we can all agree that a day celebrating chocolate in the middle of February is a universal good.

So with that, here’s a recipe for some. And it’s kinda healthy, but not too healthy.

Healthy Homemade Chocolate

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 1 heaping tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp good quality cocoa powder

Directions:

1. In a medium sized bowl mix together melted coconut oil, honey and almond butter and stir until smooth.
2. Add in cocoa powder and mix until well combined.
3. Line a shallow bowl with saran wrap.
4. Pour mixture directly onto saran wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.
5. Remove bowl from freezer, peel away saran wrap. Use a sharp knife to chop chocolate into 3 inch squares (mine made about 16).
6. Store in freezer until ready to eat.

Enjoy!

Hey pals.

A while back I posted a recipe for what I boastfully called “The Ultimate Cookie” that’s been one of the most popular recipes on this blog. It was my own take on Bunners’ (a gluten-free vegan bakery based in toronto) gypsy cookie. And I must say that even after all this time, this recipe keeps me coming back.

But there’s a new cookie in town.

These days when the weekends roll around and I find myself hunting for a treat, I’ve been finding myself reaching for another Toronto baker’s fare – a local raw vegan kitchen called Earth & City, and more specifically their INSANELY delicious “Cowgirl Cookie.” I’ve been obsessed with these babies for years but the price tag (about $3 a cookie) has kept my cravings in check…until now. Today I decided that rather than springing the $3 for my favourite treat, I’d whip up my own version and see how things went.

All I can say is “Holy Cowgirl.”

These guys are naturally sweetened (for all you folks cutting out sugar this month) plus they are full of fibre and healthy fats so they won’t leave you craving more sweets after eating them. Perfect for kicking your sunday afternoon cookie craving. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

The Weekend Cookie

Ingredients: 

150 grams dates (around a cup) – if they aren’t soft I’d recommend soaking them first
150 grams ripe banana (about 1.5 bananas)
2 cups oats
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 oz good quality dark chocolate, chopped coarsely into chunks
1/4 cup coconut oil
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to just under 300 degrees.
2. Place bananas in a food processor and blend until they are smooth.
3. Add dates and continue blending until the mixture is thick and smooth. Add 1/4-1/2 cup of water if necessary.
4. Pour date/banana mixture into a big mixing bowl, then add oats, coconut, oil, chocolate chunks, cinnamon and salt. Mix until well combined.
5. Use a 1/4 cup measure to scoop mixture and your palms to form it into medium sized cookies.  The dough won’t stay together like regular cookie batter but it should stick when you press it. If not, refrigerate for an hour or so and it should be easier to work with. Place on parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Keep forming cookies until you’ve made about 18-20 cookies.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at low heat – I suggest 275-300 degrees.
8. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool completely (this will also keep them from crumbling) before removing.

These store in the fridge for 5-7 days or in the freezer for as long as your will power allows.

Don’t ask me to explain it, but hipsters love to ferment things.

Beer is a given. But also tea (kombucha). Soy (tempeh). Milk (kefir). And now…vegetables. Yes, the rise in “craft” vegetable production can be seen across the urban landscape – from every food truck serving up kimchi tacos to every hippie grocery store hocking $10 juniper-scented saurkraut.

And they’re not wrong. Fermented foods are incredibly good for you. Something like 80% of your immune system exists in your digestive system and fermented foods are the fastest way to load up on all those probiotics you’ve been hearing about. They’re also delicious and are an easy way to add loads of flavour to any sandwich, salad, soup or bowl of bibimbap.

So…while you might feel like the whole thing is a little “trendy” or even a little gross…Here’s a super easy recipe for those of you who might be feeling just a little curious and are interested in taking a step into fermented waters.

RECIPE: 4 Ingredient Fermented Coleslaw

Ingredients:

• 1 large head of green cabbage
• 4 carrots
• 1 tbsp course pink salt
• 2 cloves garlic

Directions

1. Remove outer leaves from cabbage and set aside for later.
2. Shred vegetables with a knife, grater or food processor.
3. Combine shredded carrots and cabbage in a large metal bowl, then sprinkle with salt.
4. Using your hands, massage salt into vegetables for 3-4 minutes until cabbage has wilted. Vegetables will release water as they wilt.
5. Pack coleslaw mixture into several mason jars or one large jar (like the one pictured above), making sure there are no pockets of air and that vegetables are submerged in their own liquid (you can add the remainder from the bowl to each jar).
6. Cover coleslaw mixture with reserved cabbage leaves (these keep air from getting in and help keeps vegetables submerged).
7. Leave the jar out for 3-4 days. Open the jar daily to ensure vegetables are submerged and to relieve any air pressure that may have built up in the jar. When packing down vegetables, always use a wooden utensil rather than metal as this can affect the fermentation process.
8. After 3-4 days, taste the mixture. If it tasty sour, bubbly and a little spicy it is perfect! Just refrigerate and the coleslaw will keep for 2-3 months in the fridge.

Note: if this is your first time fermenting, you might want to check out this video, this kimchi recipe or this safety guide.