Living raw bliss at Organic Lives

I’ve wanted to visit Organic Lives for a long time and especially since food blogger Mijune Pak highly recommended their Coconut Cream Pie… after all, Organic Lives is said to be the city’s best raw vegan restaurant, and desserts recommended by non-vegans are all good in my book.

The main location is at Quebec Street and 2nd Avenue, but I planned out my Chinese New Year to eat with company downtown, so ventured to the brand-spanking new location at the Chopra Yoga Centre on Granville of Hastings.

At the downtown location, it’s more of a take and go. There are seats, but no tables, so unless you’re having a quick bite, it’s probably best to take your meal with you. I ordered the Pecan Sushi, Pad Thai, and Ridiculous dessert to share with my sister. The menu is definitely more limited than the main location’s, but some of the selections are the same. The counterperson was still getting used to the computer payment system and the order took about 10 minutes to make, but good god, was it worth the wait! I wasn’t even going to take photos, but I had to show you how beautiful this stuff looks, even in to-go boxes. Great photos is one reason why people should convert to vegetarianism!

Pecan Sushi: Pecans, alfalfa, cucumber, carrots, mango, tomato, seaweed, wasabi 

There was also a side sauce with the sushi whose flavours I can’t identify, but it was more on the sweet side. The sushi didn’t taste like your average Japanese sushi, as there was no rice. This baby is all good stuff and I was even ok with the dash of wasabi, which I normally don’t like. The mango was also a nice punch of sweetness.

Pad Thai: Noodles, peanut sauce, spinach, cabbage, carrots, cilantro, parsley, red chili sauce, nuts

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2nd Hot Chocolate Festival + Bella Gelateria

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a Chocolate Festival in the Lower Mainland? Well, there is one called the Festival of Chocolate. However, the events last year were just too far from Vancouver for me to bother going. So, in 2012 I’m gonna be an active member of the next best thing: The 2nd Annual Hot Chocolate Festival.

Put on by City Food Magazine, this is the perfect solution to those winter blues (yes, there are active snow haters out there). Last year, this event didn’t get quite enough traction for me to really get out there, though I did see the awesome Rachel Sawatsky of CocoaNymph Chocolates & Confections cooking up some hot chocolate on Shaw Urban Rush. So when I saw the Tweet and the webpage announcing that there were twice as many participants with a chocolate grand prize ($300 in gift certs or a 2013 festival pass) to be awarded on Valentine’s Day to the winner of their Tweetup contest, I said to myself, to hell with Dine Out Vancouver. (Don’t get me wrong, I wish I could do Dine Out, but the choices are way too many and I’m just too busy to get organized and schedule out all of my dinners.)

The Hot Chocolate Festival started last Sunday and runs for four weeks until Valentine’s, so there’s no excuse to try out at least one vendor. So with my boyfriend in hand I went to one place I’ve always wanted to visit in the summer: Bella Gelateria.

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate with Biscotti

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Self-therapy with chocolate: My Therapy Bar

I saw My Therapy Bar at an event one day… the packaging looked super interesting and I was dying to try the chocolate but it actually wasn’t set out for people to eat… so I forgot about it, until I started working for the West Coast Christmas Show (Dec 2-4).

Shadi Javadi runs a company called Deliss Chocolate, and their bar is the My Therapy Bar. Interesting title eh? Makes us think about all those tubs of ice cream and XL slices of cheesecake we had during those not so great times. What’s great about My Therapy Bar is that you can turn to them in those times too, but you’ll be sure to feel a lot less guilt-free.

First of all, look at the red Dark Chocolate Bar. It says “I love you…” Now, it doesn’t really matter who’s saying it. The point is you’re loved. Period. And the “…” makes you wonder what’s next. What’s next, you ask? Well, you open the box, of course.

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