Birthday dinner at Kindfood

It is my birthday in two days. I am turning 24 in two days. I am almost 25, and therefore almost 30, in two days. Ahhh!

But I'm not going to think about that. Instead I'm choosing to surround myself with delicious food, family, and friends throughout my birthday week. It started over the weekend with my family birthday celebrations involving the most glorious cake I've ever feasted on.

Then yesterday I met up with one of my best friends Lauren for a birthday dinner at Kindfood.  I ordered my favourite dish - their Buddha bowl. It has so many good flavours in it (Sweet potato, avocado, cilantro... How can you go wrong?) and always tastes so fresh. It never disappoints!

It was a gorgeous evening, so we ended up sitting out on the patio and chatting for hours. Shortly before they closed our sweet tooths demanded dessert, so we split a vegan brownie and proceeded to shovel it into our faces in record time. It was one of the best brownies I've ever had.

Thanks Kindfood for another great meal and wonderful customer service. Something tells me I'll be back very soon for another one of those brownies!

Have you ever freaked out about turning a certain age?

Best brownie you've ever eaten?

My rice bowl phase

I tend to go through serious phases with food. Not just fleeting obsessions that last for a week, but long phases that can stretch on for years.

When I was a kid, it was potatoes. I begged my dad to make his leek and potato soup all the time, and if I couldn't have that, I wanted baked potatoes. My parents always joked that I must have a lot of Irish in me.

When I was a teenager, it was sandwiches. Without fail, I packed a turkey sandwich for lunch every day. And when we went to eat out at restaurants, you can bet I got a sandwich. I still remember my favourite: it was the Mediterranean chicken focaccia sandwich with goat cheese, spinach, and aioli from Jack Astor's. I must have ordered that sandwich at least 10 times.

These days, it's rice bowls. I have come to believe that everything tastes better over rice: stir fries, tacos filling, sushi filling, you name it. Even if you just take your average dinner with chicken, rice and broccoli and throw it in a bowl together with sauce, I think it tastes so much better than if it were eaten on a plate!

These are three of my current rice bowl obsessions:

1.The burrito bowl

The layers:

a. Brown rice
b. Black beans simmered with onions, cumin and chili powder
c. Chopped tomato
d. Shredded romaine lettuce
e. Sour cream or 2% Greek yogurt
f. Guacamole

2.  The stir fry

The layers:

a. Brown rice
b. Vegetables (onion, broccoli, carrots, sweet peppers, kale) stir fried in canola oil
c. Tempeh marinated in sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar then pan fried
d. Sunbutter sauce

3. The Buddha bowl

Recipe here.

This post is part of the What I Ate Wednesday link up on Peas and Crayons' blog. Go check it out!


Do you go through food phases?

What's your favourite kind of rice bowl? 

Chelsea lately

Hi everyone! I've spent so many posts recapping my road trip that I haven't had a chance to post about anything else lately. But some exciting stuff has been happening ever since I got back:

I. A few weeks ago when I asked mom what she wanted to do for Mother's Day, she responded "Clean the house". She wasn't joking. So we spent the day sorting through our closets and getting rid of old junk, but for dinner we all sat down to a crab legs feast (my mom's favourite).

II. My parents surprised me with a brand new 2013 Honda Civic for a graduation present!!! For the past 4 years I've been driving a 1992 Dodge Shadow from my grandma, and although I love that car, it was on its last legs. The paint was coming off, there was a dent in the side, and the passenger mirror was dangling off. I swear I'm a good driver... I've just had a few unfortunate encounters with the metal poles in my old apartment's parking garage!

III. Last week I made my friend these coconut lime cupcakes with coconut lime cream cheese frosting for her birthday. I'm not usually a fan of citrus flavours in cakes (I'm a chocolate girl all the way), but these were so good.

IV. My mom and sister have gotten me hooked on Game of Thrones. I'm still on the first book, but I'm loving it so far. And I'm excited to be getting into a good series - the last good series I read was Lord of the Rings back in high school.

V. I've gotten back into making my own hummus instead of paying $3.99 for a tiny tub at the grocery store. 4 cups of smooth, garlicky hummus that's ready in 10 minutes and costs less than $1.50? Heck yes!

VI. Even though my birthday isn't until next weekend (May 25 baby!) I celebrated my birthday with my extended family on Sunday. You might remember that my mom and sister decorated my cake to look like sushi last year. This year they planned something crazy again and made me this stove-shaped cake - with three layers of delicious carrot cake and mascarpone cream cheese frosting underneath the fondant!

What are your favourite kind of cupcakes?

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