Singing with Lindsay

Meet Lindsay.

I am so blessed to call this gal one of my dearest friends. We first met through Weight Watchers way back in 2008 and both of us knew that we would fall in love and be great friends. It started with dinner and an Idina Menzel concert and took off from there. 

Lindsay was one of the few people brave enough to cook for me when I started my elimination diet and changed my diet so drastically. She went on a mission to make me gluten free things that were delicious and wonderful, even making gluten free pita one night when I was coming over for dinner. She has since gone on to be a bit of an expert in gluten free bread baking, even teaching a class in Meghan's kitchen (which I was lucky enough to attend in the spring!)

oh yes, that is gluten free

She is the cutest teacher and everything was so yummy. I've made her gluten free chapati quite a few times because they're super easy and delicious!!

I'm also ecstatic to be one of her bridesmaids for her wedding in June!! It was actually at her bread baking class that she officially asked me to be in her wedding party and we certainly lived up to our hashtag of #twosquealingsopranos. Bridesmaid planning has been a blast so far and I'm over-the-moon thrilled for her big day in the summer.

Lindsay is also a beautiful opera singer and voice teacher, and we've had the opportunity to sing together a few times, which is just the most fun. We had the chance to share the stage again this weekend at Buddies for Singing Strong's Holiday Magic cabaret.

I've probably said it before, but singing with people you love is one of the best feelings in the world. This show was no exception. While we didn't do a duet this time around, it was still so magical to be onstage with her and also get to watch her perform. 

Lindsay is such an exceptional person and I am so thankful for the opportunity to sing with her, cook with her and most of all, call her one of my best friends.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween lovelies!!

Halloween is such a wonderful time of year. I celebrated over the weekend with a little costume action (and an appearance by the ever adorable, Rebecca)

and some delicious cupcakes

I'm hoping to score some extra brownie points at my new office by bringing some gluten vegan Twix and peanut butter cups to the office today. Holy. Yum.

Annnnnnnd after today, back to green juice and salads for me. And a little visit to the gym tonight.

Other amazing Halloween fun:

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of my all-time favourite movies, so I'm mega stoked to be seeing (and dressing up for) The Rocky Horror Show tonight! Fallenrock is an awesome company, the cast is AMAZING (including my sweet Ashley as Columbia) and proceeds from the show go to POGO. So. Much. Win. There are $15 rush tickets available tonight's 10pm show as well as $20 seats for the rest. The show runs until Saturday and you can check purchase tickets online. What kind of Halloween is it if you're not doing the Time Warp?! Don't dream it. Be it. 

• Maddie. And her Halloween costumes bring me far too much joy. They're so good.
• More fall and Halloween and pumpkin goodness over on Pinterest
• Roomie pumpkin carving

you are a cupcake pixie from a magic land

pumpkin grunge nouveau

What did you get up to for Halloween? Were there any special treats? Did you dress up?

Keep Calm and Sparkle

Happy New Year!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and so far January is whipping right along. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. As I mentioned in my last post of 2011, I was ready for the year to be over and the was solidified for me in the last chunk of my “vacation”. I did do some really fun things in December though, like hit up the symphony for the Messiah, sing some carols with my dear friend Lindsay, had some gal pals over for dins and made my first ever gluten free vegan donuts.

The donuts were a pretty big success, and I’m excited to make them again. They were another awesome Babycakes recipe!

New Year’s Eve was a blast. I led 3 Weight Watchers meetings in the morning, decked out in a sparkly dress, sparkly nails and tiara

I had a lot of fun recapping 2011 with my members and looking ahead to the year to come. January brings some pretty kick ass energy to Weight Watchers meetings and I’m excited for everyone’s continued success! I enjoyed a great dinner, some Pure2Raw apple pie parfaits for dessert and a really fun party with bubbly and a kiss at midnight.

So far 2012 has been super busy! I’m going to post a food recap later in the week including some yummy restaurant eats and some recipes I’ve made at home, including the delicious dins I enjoyed with my sweet friend Reggy on Saturday night

Some good things coming up on the bloggy – food and fashion! I’m excited about both. Also excited that in less than two weeks, I’ll be nourishing my soul in St. Lucia. Another good thing? My appearance in Hello! Canada this week talking about Weight Watchers.

So far 2012 is pretty okay.

My Favourite Bakery: Babycakes NYC

It’s no big secret that I adore Babycakes in New York City.

I didn’t get to visit for some strange reason on my first trip, but absolutely made more than one stop on my second go round.

What’s not to love about an adorable retro bakery that serves gluten free and vegan baked goods that are absolutely delicious?! Donuts and cinnamon buns and cupcakes, oh my!

I picked up the newest Babycakes cookbook when I was in New York and have been having fun making my own treats since I’ve been back. From adorable chocolate cupcakes _{that I may or may not have made for a boy because it was his birthday}

to sweet snickerdoodles

and oatmeal cookies that my roommates went absolutely bonkers for

So far the book hasn’t steered me wrong and those around me are thrilled at the prospect of delicious baked goods!! It’s a great way to cope until my next trip to NYC.

And I still want to make donuts someday soon. I just need to find an inexpensive donut pan.

Have you been to Babycakes? Do you have any favourite baking recipes?

Expressing My Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! I hope you had a great weekend with your family and friends and were able to find time to enjoy the gorgeous weather and beautiful colours of the leaves that have been changing rapidly over the last few weeks. I had a wonderful weekend and was reminded of all the fantastic things in my life that I have to be thankful for. While different than last year’s list in some ways, many of the elements remain constant.

I am thankful for my beautiful friends and family with whom I had the pleasure of spending a lot of quality time with this weekend. I neglected to take a ton of pictures of my beautiful walk through our neighbourhood with Nicole (my new roommate!), but managed to snap a photo of our delicious almond chai lattes from Broadview Espresso. On Friday I enjoyed a delicious lunch at Fresh with a delightful friend and then spent the afternoon basking in the sunshine on the U of T campus. [insert giddy Ashley here]Friday night also marked the first of two shows I saw this weekend, fuelling another one of the things that I’m thankful for this year: performing and being inspired. I’ve been so lucky this year to be a part of some amazing shows and it’s absolutely wonderful to go see other talented folks onstage and feel inspired. Ashley and I had the pleasure of seeing [title of show] at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. I’m so sad that it has since closed, because I would tell all of you to go see it. It was smart, hilarious and brilliantly performed and both Ashley and I left the theatre feeling inspired. I laughed my face off, left humming the songs and plan to adopt the song Die Vampire, Die! as my new theme song when I’m feeling insecure. I loved the show and was so thrilled that I had the chance to see it.

The Ashleyx2 adventures continued with a matinee of Banana Shpeel on Saturday.

We had a lot of fun at the show. The sets, costumes and lighting were breathtaking, the featured performers were ridiculously talented and the ensemble were awesome too. We had fabulous seats and truly enjoyed ourselves. Cirque du Soleil is pretty amazing…

Both shows left me wanting more and feeling inspired to come home and work on my own art. I want to be performing more and more these days and I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many talented people to influence my art.

It goes without saying that I’m thankful for my health, and one of the reasons for the way that I feel is how I eat! Gluten-free vegan living is so normal to me now and I was thankful to enjoy some delightful fall/Thanksgiving inspired treats this weekend including Fitnessista pumpkin chocolate chip muffins Snobby joe lentils stuffed into acorn squashand my weekend pride and joy – a gluten free vegan apple pie!I’ve never made a pie crust before, so it was pretty exciting that my first one was actually gluten free and vegan! As usual, Meghan’s recipe rocked and the crust was super easy to make. I made the apple filling from 2 lbs of peeled & diced apples (Granny smith/Pink lady combo), cinnamon and agave. It was delicious!! I had so much fun baking, eating and sharing it – I felt so domestic and the house smelled amazing.

It was such a great weekend and demonstrated that I have a lot to be thankful for on top of a pretty amazing year… what are you thankful for?

Superfoods, Super Weekend, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Thinking about all the super stuff in my weekend made me want to sing the song…

I had a fantastic weekend and some pretty amazing eats… Whole Foods lunch including chickpeas, bean medley, quinoa, peas and a mixed salad Green-tea tofu fingers, mango-avocado salad and protein soup at Magic Oven. The soup was definitely the highlight with lots of chickpeas and delightful warming spices. I was disappointed that they forgot the walnuts in my salad, and the waitress forgot to retrieve them before I had finished my salad. I really want to like that restaurant, but I feel that I leave disappointed every time…Unpictured gelato for dessert from Ed’s– so delicious!
Cauliflower – cabbage - cauliflower curry over millet – This is such a simple recipe and it makes so much. I love it!!In the Superfood spirit, a snack of goji berries, cacao nibs and almonds  Shopping and prepping for 5 Days with Superfoods
Broccoli soup and garden salad at Butler’s Pantry in my favourite window booth for Sunday brunch. I discovered that their soups are always vegan – score!! Incredible Hulk bread!!! I used Ener-G egg replacer in place of the two eggs which worked great. The spirulina (a blue-green algae that is a complete protein and contains lots of vitamins, minerals and superfoody goodness!) made it smell like the ocean, but it tasted great once cooked. Even the roommates liked it – success!! Delicious kichade made with mung beans, brown rice, zucchini, carrot and kale paired with a slice of my Hulk-tastic bread. I’m loving my Superfoods thus far and looking forward to a delicious week ahead!

How do you like to incorporate “Superfoods” into your meals?