Holy Yum at Hogtown Vegan

On Saturday night I had a couple of hours to kill between shows, so I invited a couple of my lovely castmates to accompany me to The Hogtown Vegan

I had stopped by quickly about a month ago, but was dying to visit again!

The first time around I had the taco salad which was absolutely delicious, but this time I was looking forward to trying out the chickpea salad sandwich

Not a whole lot of colour going on, but this was remedied by the fact that Michelle and I had agreed to do a fry/collard greens combo

Holy yum. I looooooved the chickpea salad sandwich. The filling had lots of dill and the flatbread was spicy, soft and very pancake/dosa-like, making for a stellar combination. The fries were crispy and delish and the collard greens were fantastically garlicky. The gals loved their food too

Michelle was excited for labelled gluten free options and was really happy with the chickpea salad. The sweet potato chips were divine.

Stefne was all over the reuben when she saw it on the menu and said that it did not disappoint!

And of course we had to have dessert

We couldn’t decide so we shared the chocolate mousse with coconut cream and flourless chocolate cake. I think all three of us had foodgasms upon first bite and then had a deep discussion about why people seem to think they need flour or other ingredients to make baked goods delicious.

These were both heavenly.

The chocolate cake was rich, moist, chewy and delicious while the mousse wasn’t too sweet, had an amazing chocolately flavour and the coconut cream was the perfect touch.

We were in vegan foodie heaven and were sufficiently fuelled to do another show!! The Hogtown Vegan has great vegan comfort food. Probably not somewhere I would eat all the time, but definitely hit the spot for a big day. Great service, especially when answering questions about gluten free stuff. I totally want to recreate the chickpea salad!!

That would be me: happy, full of delicious eats and ready to head back Into the Woods. I will definitely be going back!

1 more sleep til NYC!!!

Here Comes (Ashleyx2) Trouble

Was so happy to spend this past weekend back up at Ashley’s cottage for a quicky getaway before a week of insanity with Into the Woods opening. Here’s what happened, via photos and tweets:

• Cottage bound!! #squeeee
• Packed @herbalinfusions minty syrup to make some stellar @tipicularfixin-inspired mojitos for the girls. Cocktail workshop post next week!
• Niagara Falls, why is it raining? Not cool
• I squeal when I go down waterslides #funfactfriday
• Truestory RT @jonkane: @ashleydtl You squealing is not a rare occurrence, waterslides or no #justsayin
• Super fun cottage afternoon/ evening. Can’t wait til tomorrow
• Sleep in / brekkie / nap / beach / mojitos / mini golf. Holy amazing #girlsweekend
• Mmmm mojitos @herbalinfusions @tipicularfixin
• We’re about to watch @johnstamos in the wedding episodes of Full House season 4. Perfect cottage time. Cue squealing.Maybe crying.
• Fireworks = all kinds of awesome
• Ash & I are on our 4th costume… erm… outfit change of the day
• Headin’ out to see a random band and drag the gals on some sketchy midway rides #cottagelife
• Absolutely RT @JosephRanseth: “Nothing is worth more than this day” Goethe #BestDayEver
• I don’t wanna come back to Toronto #pouts #sadface
• There’s going to be a whole lot of nap action on the way back to Toronto
• Hello Toronto

Such a fun weekend away and exactly what I needed before a big show week! Thanks to everyone who came out to Into the Woods! 

Only 2 sleeps til NYC!!

Into the Woods then out of the Woods...

And home before dark! I make this face once or twice in the show...

Watch for some epic sobs around :31 and :42...

We are sold out for tonight and tomorrow, but have shows on Saturday at 2pm and 8pm as well as Sunday at 2pm. Into the Woods is one of my favourite shows ever and I'm having a blast playing Rapunzel. Also excited to have some amazing friends in the audience all weekend.

Grab your tickets on the Stageworks website

I'm also squealing because as of today I only have 7 more sleeps til NYC part 2... Is there anything you think I should do while I'm there? I'm already seeing this and this (starring Bernadette Peters who has also starred in Into the Woods -- see the connection there?).

It’s Too Hot For Anything But Love

Found written in my kitchen and I can’t help but agree…

With that in mind – things I’m loving from the long weekend:

My new crush, Zyz

We totally fell in love over the weekend while I was housesitting for my lovely friends Stefne & John. He is just the cutest thing on the planet.

Multiple meals at Fresh

including their new gluten free vegan banana nut pancakes with tempeh bacon for brunchy on Sunday

I don’t eat pancakes often enough. These were stellar.

Round two involved a delicious cherry blossom smoothie, a baby beach bowl and many giggles with Dani. That girl is all kinds of awesome. Love some things on the new menu. Don’t love the new prices.

Other yummy eats…
including delectable Ontario strawberries

sweet treats from even sweeter neighbours

salads with sweet potato hummus on the run

and dins with a lychee martini at Insomnia.

Also had a ball dancing with my besties at Chronologic, calling out obscenities at Rocky Horror, getting my butt kicked with the new RPM release at Goodlife and loving my hair as Rapunzel in Into the Woods

Okay so maybe Rapunzel’s love of her hair is a little more manic… but you get the idea.

Annnnnd only 22 more sleeps til NYC #squeal

How was your long weekend? What are you loving?

Remember that time I was in the Fringe?

I can't believe Fringe ended over a week ago. Between seeing 13 shows, performing in 7 of my own and spending a whole lot of time frolicking in the sunshine and mingling in the beer tent, I was one busy gal. While I may not have been posting on my blog, I was popping up in various places on the internet, including a piece on Fringe on Photojunkie's blog

and my beautiful & creative friend Stefne’s tumblr

(unrelated -- I've been reading lots of fashionista blogs lately and I want to add a weekly outfit post to my blog. Stay tuned!)

I feel so lucky to have seen some pretty fantastic shows and performances. Standouts included Kim's Convenience, Tiki Bikini Beach Paradise Party-a-go-go, 5th Element, Mickey & Judy, Ellamentary, Infinitum and Hypnogogic Logic. I saw 3 shows on both Fridays and managed to squeeze the others in amid the craziness. Between 2 performer passes, some advance purchases and some comps, I was a very happy theatre-goer. It was really amazing to see so much talent and ended up feeling very inspired by the fantastic work around me. If you missed Fringe or didn’t get to see all the shows you wanted, The Best of Fringe Uptown is happening until August 5th.

Cellar Hotel went well. We had a sold out show on the first Saturday and a nearly sold out house for closing. I received some sweet compliments on my performance and it was an honour to be onstage with such a talented group of people.

But to be honest, I was really thankful when it was over.

Working 2 jobs and doing 2 shows was really taking a toll on me. I developed a cold just before opening and I just found myself exhausted. As per usual when I'm doing a show, I didn't have much time for myself or groceries or sleep or working out. It was really nice to get back to all of those things once the show had its final curtain call.

I'm now only working 2 jobs and rehearsing for ONE show.

From August 18-21 I'll be playing Rapunzel in Into the Woods. I would love for you to come out and see this show, it is absolutely one of my favourites. And playing Rapunzel means I basically stand in a tower and scream as a blonde for much of the show. Why would you want to miss that!? You can get tickets here.

Summer seems to be about seeing shows, which is totally fine by me. I was lucky enough to see Next to Normal last week as it opened at the Four Seasons. What an incredible show with some ridiculously talented performers. I knew a few tunes from the show and the basic plotline before going in, but had no idea how close to home it was really going to be. I did a lot of crying and was lucky enough to be sitting between two of my best friends. It runs until Saturday and I would highly recommend nabbing tickets if you can. I was also really thrilled to see Ashley in A Chorus Line out in Brampton, have been trying to map out some plans to catch some Summerworks shows and need to get to Stratford ASAP.

That should tide me over till I'm seeing Bernadette Peters onstage on August 25?

Oh yes, I'm back in New York City in less than a month. The squeals have already begun...

Coming up on the bloggy -- my final NYC post and some fun summertime frolicking! Also really excited to have a new digital camera (mine died in NYC), which means there will be some foodie goodness pictures coming up.

How is your summer? Did you Fringe? Have you seen any good shows of late?