Hungry Groundhog

Furry little creature,
Stocky and round with curious eyes .
Sitting comfortably on his treasure,
Greedily grabbing at weeds,
Those fresh, green delights.

People pass by and stare
But the groundhog doesn’t care.
He just keeps on eating,
Relishing in this new abundance
That comes with spring.

Tiny little hands aid the hungry mouth
In grabbing as many weeds as possible, as quickly as he can
To feed this never ending hunger that has presided over winter.

If groundhogs could talk, he would be saying..

OM NOM NOM!!

Springtime

Sunlight gleams through the trees
Exploding into strong rays
I can barely open my eyes to look
But I know that it’s perfect

I lower my eyes back to the ground,
Little green sprouts push through the hard earth
My arms and face feel the warmth pouring over me
The lowering sun kissing my skin with its glow

This is what life is,
This is what life should be.
I feel alive again,
I never want to leave.

Up, Up

Kensington

Went to Kensington again on Tuesday..love the health food stores there. Aren't these colourful houses just great?

T.O.

Thai Spring Roll

The other night I had dinner at Thai Spring Roll, located at 525 Bloor St. West. The restaurant also has another location at 500 Queen St. West.

The menu is extensive, and had a section dedicated to Malaysian cuisine. I ordered the Malay curry, described as a blend of coconut milk and malaysian spice with vegetables, tomatoes and coriander. You choose between tofu and four types of meat, and each is individually priced which is nice for vegetarians so we don't have to pay the same price as you would for beef.

The sauce was fragrant, flavourful and slightly spicy, and came with triangles of tofu and different types of vegetables, including peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, carrots and bok choy. The dish also came with a bowl of rice.

The restaurant is in a great location to be paired with an afternoon of shopping or seeing a film at Bloor cinema, or to meet up with friends for dinner.

Friendly service, plenty of veg*n options.

Their website, www.ThaiSpringRoll.com features their full menu.

Recipe for Disaster

I saw this film tonight at Bloor Cinema. It's about a family in Finland that decides to give up fossil fuels for a year. This means no cars, planes, and switching to renewable energy (all easy enough, really), and not buying anything made out of or packaged in plastic. That was (in my opinion) the hard part. It seems easy enough to avoid plastic and not buy over packaged goods, but this family gave up all plastic altogether, which proved to be challenging when shopping for toilet paper, toothpaste, etc. There was a Q&A session with the filmmaker via Skype after the film was shown.

They made many changes in their lifestyle, not just for the one year but long term. It was the husband's idea and the wife wasn't as keen, but I liked how they involved the children in the project and were very open with the kids about climate change, doing it in a way that was fun for the kids and not stressful.

They were an example of actually making real changes in your life to reduce your carbon footprint (note that the film is focused on carbon and doesn't really discuss many other environmental issues).

Living in Toronto and getting around fine by bus and subway I personally have an enormous dislike for car culture and get annoyed when people just can't seem to live without cars. I understand that the infrastructure in many areas is so built around driving (which also makes for a very classist system) that it is difficult for people to live their lives without cars. When you're used to driving everywhere its hard to make the decision not to. But if someone took your car away, you would find alternatives, adjust, and do just fine. Yes, some people actually do need their car, but most people don't but aren't willing to make the personal sacrifice to give it up. Anyways, this film is aimed at middle class suburb dwellers, so if you think you can't do it, then watch this film and see people who are. Also, biodiesel itself has led to many environmental problems not discussed in this film, so please do reasearch on that yourself and note that the film maker carefully sourced his biodiesel.

Urban Herbivore

I was at U of T this afternoon for a panel, so I decided to go to my favourite place in the world afterwards..Kensingon Market. I didn't recognize the area where I was at U of T, but decided to just start walking randomly in the direction that felt right, not really having any clue whether I was walking in the right direction, but not really caring since I wasn't in a rush. I later turned onto College, since I knew that bordered on the Market, but still wasn't sure if I was headed in the right direction. Then I started to recognize things, and before I knew it I was there!

The first time I ever went to KM was with a bunch of friends from highschool on my birthday, and I remember we went into this cool Chinese gift store on the way there, but I haven't seen the store since. Well today I noticed it and went in, it felt cool to be back in the same place from a couple years ago. It was kind of nice go there by myself, since I could leisurely spend the day doing whatever I wanted. I bought a couple of Christmas gifts for my family, wandered through store upon store, bought a few groceries and some new kinds of tea, and had dinner at Urban Herbivore.

Urban Herbivore is one of my favourite restaurants, located on the corner of Augusta and Oxford. It is bright and clean inside, with wooden counters and stools to sit at, ferns hanging from the ceiling, and it even has a green roof. The menu is small but healthy. Salads are incredible, you chose which greens you want and then get to select six toppings. Choices are endless with both raw and cooked ingredients of all kinds. Be prepared to have the tastiest salad of your life! They always have some meal of the day (chili, rice bowl, etc.), and have several sandwiches to chose from. Even though I should try something different, I always order the BBQ tofu sandwich, because it is just so incredibly good. I'm not a huge sandwich person, but this sandwich is most definately an exception. I may not be entirely correct here, but I think the sandwich consists of bbqued tofu (of course) on a grilled herbed bun which seems to be homemade, topped with sprouts, tahini, olive spread, pesto, and spinach. The tofu has great flavour and texture, I suggest trying it even if you don't generally like tofu. They also make fresh juices and serve organic teas and fair trade coffee, and sell homade muffins, cookies and banana bread (all vegan). Resusable dishes are used for eat in, and take out containers and utensils are biodegradable. They sell soups and sauces to take home, a large container of pesto is only $3 and is delicious. My Mom bought some once and we were eating it by the spoonful and made an incredible pizza with pesto sauce. I picked up some more today, it fell out of my bag and the container smashed on the sidewalk, but I managed to carry it on the bus and subway without too much leaking out and transfered it to another container when I got home.
Just to warn you, as I mentioned the seating consists of counters and stools, which are comfortable to use as a place so sit and take a meal break or meet a friend, but I probably wouldn't go there for a birthday or formal meal to meet a bunch of people. I give Urban Herbivore five stars for taste, health, sustainability, atmosphere and style.

Day of Action

On November 5th, students from all over Canada gathered in different locations to show that we are sick of paying ever rising fees to get an education, and that we are going to fight back. As over 6000 students marched through the streets of downtown Toronto, many onlookers saw a sea of students holding signs and shouting, showing that the price of tuition fees is a problem and that it is affecting a very large number of people. We passed many construction workers who cheered for us and raised their fists in solidarity. We sat on the road at the corner of University and College, blocking traffic, and then continued on to Queen's Park where a rally took place. A lovely group was giving out a free vegan lunch, consisting of squash soup and pita chips. It is inspiring to be part of such a large enthusiastic group, and I feel it was important to show people that university is not easy for students today, that we are willing to fight back, and are not few in numbers. University students are the professionals of tommorrow, getting a university education is expected of us if we want to be successful, yet the government does not value us. Unfortunately it has become more difficult for people to find a job if they do not have a university degree or college diploma, and education has become increasingly less accessible as tuition fees have been rising well above the rate of inflation. So it has become a no-win situation for people who don't come from wealthy families. I am extremely blessed that I am able to attend university and am able to budget and pay the fees without getting a loan, but education should be a right, not a blessing, and students shouldn't have to be drowning in debt by the time they graduate.