More vegan adventures in Calgary

This week I tried out the new raw, vegan, gluten free Healthy Delights Living Foods, that just recently opened up at the Calgary Farmer's Market. I picked up the dehydrated 'cheezy' tomatoes, made with nutritional yeast and they were very savoury. I also picked up the lovely raw chocolate cheesecake picture below. It was nice to stumble upon the booth as I was at the market visiting a favourite vegetarian vendor, Hearts Choices. They have many vegan items and my favourite is the frozen lemon grass faux soy product. I use it to make Banh Mi Vietnamese subs. Yum!

Also opening this week is the new organic market, Mrs Greens. It is located in the far South, 130 ave SE off of deerfoot. I won't likely make the trek very often as I am very fond of my close by Community Natural Foods Market. However, it was a fun field trip. The store is bright, clean and the staff are friendly. The space is a bit sterile but that may change as they settle in. Some areas were not yet open, such as the salad bar. One staff stated that they would be clearly labelling vegan items with a special colour, which is a great idea. I did pick up some vegan snack foods that are not commonly found elsewhere (shown in the photo below). 

I tried the Daiya pizza for the first time and I was underwhelmed. It was ok but small with scant toppings. I prefer making my own or ordering from a few spots that have vegan pizza such as Famoso or the newly opened Gordo's Pizza. (Both of these pizza spots offer daiya cheese, and Gordo's also has a vegan gluten-free crust option.) My favourite at Gordo's is the veganized pizza bread sticks, called cross bones.

Back to Mrs Greens; I did take advantage of the opening special coupon for $15.00 off your purchase of $50.00 which was available in the in store flyer. Below you will see a few snaps of some other vegan offerings. Mrs Greens has the largest variety of Gardein vegan foods as well as several Sol Cuisine items I have not seen elsewhere. If you are in the far south Mrs Greens is a good bet for vegan staples and offers a full grocery.

Tesla Roadtrip

During our brief time back in Alberta we drove Joanie, our 2.5 Tesla Roadster, to Edmonton and back. We stopped halfway in Red Deer to visit friends and family. We had intended to charge off of a friend's 220 volt/30 amp compressor plug, however it had a twist lock receptacle and that is the one adapter we don't have! (We ordered the complete adapter kit from Tesla.) However, we plugged in to a standard 110 volt/15 amp plug-in for about 6 hours. We made it to Edmonton with 90kms of range to spare. We would have made it to Edmonton with out the midway charge but since we were already stopping to visit, we wanted to be on the safe side!

Once in Edmonton we had a great visit with more family, browsed the massive Old Strathcona Antique Mall, and drove around. We also had great vegan meals from; Padmanadi, Noorish, & Sweet Mango. We were able to charge via my sister's 220 volt/30 amp dryer plug, by running the cord through the basement window. Once it was fully charged on range mode we maintained the charge using 110 volt/15 amp overnight for the three nights we were there.

On the way back we stopped overnight to visit in Red Deer and charged on 110 volt/15 amp. We easily made it back to Calgary. The total trip was 714 kms, used 115 kilowatt hours, and cost $7.00.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Canadian re-entry

We arrived in toronto on July 30, 2012 for a four night stop over on route to Calgary. We fit a lot in during our few days! The first stop was to stock up on a few our favorite magazines; Vegnews, Bust, Wired, Intersection, & Atomic Ranch. I really missed magazines!

We checked out the Picasso special exhibit at the fabulous Art Gallery of Ontario. It was great to check out the exhibit as it has 147 pieces from the National Picasso Museum in Paris, which was closed for renovations while we were in Paris. I find as I age I appreciate Picasso more. He has a much wider repertoire than I first thought, including a variety of painting styles, sculpture, block printing, drawings etc. My favorite piece was the emotionally charged painting; Massacre in Korea. "Massacre in Korea is a 1951 expressionistic painting by Pablo Picasso which is seen as a criticism of American intervention in the Korean War.[1][2][3] It depicts the 1950 Sinchon Massacre, an act of mass killing carried out by North Koreans, South Koreans, or American forces in the town of Sinchon located in South Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Although the actual cause of the murders in Sinchon is in question, Massacre in Korea appears to depict them as civilians being killed by anti-Communist forces." source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_in_Korea

In addition to Picasso, the AGO has several other permanent and special exhibits including a fabulous collection of works from the Group of Seven, which I adore! "The Group of Seven — sometimes known as the Algonquin school — were a group of Canadian landscape painters from 1920 to 1933, originally consisting of Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Lawren Harris (1885–1970), A. Y. Jackson (1882–1972), Frank Johnston (1888–1949), Arthur Lismer (1885–1969), J. E. H. MacDonald (1873–1932), and Frederick Varley (1881–1969). Two artists commonly associated with the group are Tom Thomson (1877–1917) and Emily Carr (1871–1945). Although he died before its official formation, Thomson had a significant influence on the group. In his essay "The Story of the Group of Seven", Lawren Harris wrote that Thomson was "a part of the movement before we pinned a label on it"; Thomson's paintings "The West Wind" and "The Jack Pine" are two of the group's most iconic pieces.[1] Emily Carr was also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though was never an official member. Believing that a distinct Canadian art could be developed through direct contact with nature,[2] The Group of Seven is most famous for its paintings inspired by the Canadian landscape, and initiated the first major Canadian national art movement.[3]" source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_Seven_(artists) It was a wonderful way to re-enter Canada by enjoying iconic paintings of breathtaking Canadian landscapes.

We also enjoyed a few meals from the terrific vegetarian restaurant Fresh. Fresh is my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Toronto and they also have some good cookbooks. We had a fun meal at the Hogtown Vegan as well. In between eating, we spent a lot of time walking, 7 to 10 kms a day. We checked out some amazing antique shops on Queen Street West, full of midcentury modern items, industrial design and some fun vintage science items. If the colorful, vintage tapeworm scientific poster had been cheaper it would totally be hanging in our our spare room. We did pick up an exquisite art deco glass vase at a bargain price, but I am not looking forward to lugging it home in carry on!

Check out my photos at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/8751723@N02/

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad