I wanted to start the year off right with a 30-day yoga challenge. Yoga was one of the things I missed on the road and wanted to be a part of my return.

Thirty days of yoga, when you have only practiced it three times in 18 months, is ambitious but I have completed two 30-day challenges before when I was a faithful hot yoga student at Moksha Yoga – and then Yoga Tree opened up down the street from work. It was a sign.

Or so I thought

Days 1-13 were amazing. After a week I felt stronger, more energetic and had really focused on becoming healthier. I once woke up at 5:30am so I could go to a class before work as I knew I would working late. I was on such a streak I had no idea I would be blindsided by the great hurdle of all:

A massive hangover

Day 13 was a Saturday night. I chose to drink vodka and water as the healthier solution – after all it was water too! But somewhere along the night doubles seemed like a good idea.

Doubles are never a good idea.

The next day all that water I drank could not save me from the massive vodka hangover. I learned when vodka battles water, vodka wins. I stayed in bed all day watching movies and did not get out of bed until 7pm!

Yoga was out of the question. Then I really fell off the bandwagon and just did not go back for nearly two weeks, but instead of looking at this as a failure I did learn a few things:

1) I need to learn moderation. Doing this challenge was a priority for me and yet I allowed bad habits to rob me of the accomplishment.

It is completely unrealistic for me to say I’ll stop drinking, I socialize a lot and it’s one of the few vices I enjoy. But I need to look at the bigger picture and if something is truly importantly to me I can cut back on the number of drinks – or at least lay off the doubles.

2) I need to be more flexible. The previous 30-day challenges with Moksha Yoga allowed for a few double class days to make up for days I could not go. I was so stubborn that I had to do it every day that I couldn’t bring myself to go back. If I attempt it again I won’t be so strict.

I looked back at my notes from the 13 days when I was so proud of myself for learning how to properly do a shoulderstand or just making the effort to go and I was reminded that simple changes combine for a larger effort:

When you control your breathing you control your mind. When you control your mind you control your life.

So it’s all to say it is about balance. Neither being strict nor being a lush is conducive to meeting goals, next time I’ll be kinder to myself and a less sloshy drunk so I can finish a challenge.

Learning from a failed 30 day yoga challenge is a post from: Bacon is Magic

A lot of people hate beets and it is because their first taste is with pickled beets which are…okay. But I wouldn`t want to eat them every day.

Before I left to travel I would get an organic food box each Thursday and then had to quickly figure out how to cook some of the contents. I was not about to pickle beets so I quickly searched and found a recipe for raw beet salad. I loved it so much I ate 4 bowls that day.

That was a problem.

I don`t want to disgust you but on an innocent trip to the bathroom I thought I was going to die from internal bleeding.

Beets make everything red. Everything.

You are not dying. Your kidney did not just drop out. It`s just the beets. Okay disgusting but necessary warning over. Let`s get to the good part.

If you have a food processor this salad takes two seconds to make and the nice thing about shredded beets is that they actually keep in the fridge for up to a week.

Raw beet salad inspired by my food crush Mark Bitten

• 3 cups of shredded beets
• 3 cups green apple (optional but I love it)
• 1/4 cup goat cheese
• mint

Vinaigrette

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Food Friday: Raw beet salad is a post from: Bacon is Magic

I first met Kaori in Montreal, we were both working an internship at the Canadian Space Agency and both had horrible bosses. We took solace in giggling over terrible stories of my boss Elvira who screamed my name from her office out into a sea of cubicles, fortunately the cubicles were two inches taller than me so as soon as I heard the screeching I started to sneak away in the opposite direction.

Even though we were both from Nova Scotia we quickly lost touch until we discovered, through the magic of Facebook, that we were both in Toronto. We renewed the friendship and started working as a writer/photographer team for food events for Torontoist where we were able to attend so many events I couldn’t have afforded on my own.

Some of my best food memories are with Kaori.

Before I left for Mexico Kaori took me out to a fantastic French restaurant for one of my favourite dishes – steak tartare. No restaurant does it better than Le Sélect Bistro.

So when I arrived back in Toronto I was eager to meet up with her. Of course she knew the amazing place for brunch and promised that if we went early enough Beast Restaurant would probably have some of its maple bacon donuts still warm.

But what struck me the most that day was her positivity. Usually when you catch up with people they tell you everything that is wrong with their life. But on this cold Sunday morning Kaori told me how great her life was, not bragging but encouraging. I left brunch feeling so upbeat, her enthusiasm for life had left me walking away with a smile.

I want to be like that.

And while coming home has had highs and lows, it seems every time I feel a low she pops up. Earlier this week I was sick and had to miss out on a fantastic event with Well Preserved, and she showed up at my door with bacon jam and stayed to talk.

By the time she left I didn’t feel sick at all.

Have you met Kaori? is a post from: Bacon is Magic

I know I share a lot on this site, maybe even too much. But I loathe to talk about my love life. The truth is, I dated while I was away but it is impossible to keep something going, especially when you are traveling farther and farther away from that person.

I can’t stay single forever.

Soon after I arrived home people overwhelmingly suggested that I start online dating. I know it’s their way of taking care of me, they are happily married and want the same for me. But even though I still hadn’t found an apartment apparently I needed to find a boyfriend. Now.

Online dating is fairly common in Toronto, in a city where people are too busy to take a lunch break, online dating is embraced. I know several couples who met online and openly talk about it. So to get people off my back I joined a free site, I had been on it years ago and met some nice people. Afterall I’m trying to jump-start a new life, right?

What I hadn’t realized was that like the city and all my friends, this free site had changed. Nearly everyone who contacted me had XXX in their name.

Really? Who does that?

So finally one nice guy emailed  me, or at least he seemed to be nice until he asked me if I was “looking for fun…” Even though it sounded like he was a creep, I asked what he meant. Guess what, he’s just looking for someone to sleep with.

Dude, I have enough men in my life who want to sleep with me but not be my boyfriend. Girls don’t need to go online to find sex.

Seriously that was my response to him. Not surprisingly he didn’t write back.

It wasn’t so bad that he just wanted to hook up. There are certainly sites like that or cheating sites like Ashley Madison. But the deal breaker was clearly he is so stupid that he doesn’t know women don’t need online dating for sex.

Sigh.

So as I tell my friends this story they laugh, apparently because it’s free you get what you pay for. And over pints one of my male friends tells me I should at least try some of the for-pay sites, after all it would make a good blog post And with that he suckered me in.

If I really believe in 30-day challenges I should do a 30-day online dating challenge, because really there is nothing to lose. Is 30 days enough time to find a boyfriend?

Looking for love in all the wrong places is a post from: Bacon is Magic

I love Saturday mornings in Toronto,  I like to get up early and wander around town food shopping. I’m one of those people who buys food in about ten different places. Mostly because I’m cheap, so I know I can get bulk quinoa in Kensington at one shop but my favourite dried black beans are in another shop. It seems that it would be tedious but it’s my favourite part of the week.

Today I decided I should buy meat, but after reading Eating Animals, I have committed to trying to eat the most ethically raised, organic meat when I have access to it – like when in Toronto. It’s so much more expensive but it just means I eat less meat and more beans which is good for my health and the environment.

So on todays jaunt I headed to a great organic butcher shop, The Healthy Butcher, to buy chicken bones for stock and some meat. As I was waiting for my order I found pavé.

Bacon

Potato

Cream

Cheese

I had to have it. I rationalized that I would write about it so it was worth the decadence.

And oh it was.

Pavé is a French term that means cobblestone but traditionally is also a French dessert with layers of cream and spongecake. I’m sure it’s delicious but it cannot compare to what I just ate, like thinly scalloped potatoes but better.

If you ever come across a potato pavé with bacon on top you MUST get it.

Did you miss my last post asking for readers to vote on where to visit this year, I’m considering a US road trip or running with the bulls in Spain. I’m also tempted by holidays to Florida but then again that should be something done in the dead days of winter.

Food Friday: Pave is a post from: Bacon is Magic

What do you do when you can do anything?

Can you believe that I actually have a problem figuring out my 2012 plans? Where to travel? The problem is that I have two amazing opportunities in July but I have to choose. I think it must be like choosing your favourite child.

Which one is better? They are both great in different ways.

So I’m taking a bold leap of faith. I’m going to let you decide.

It’s reader’s choice time.

Option 1:
Jeannie from Nomadic Chick is planning to go running with the bulls with a few other girls. It’s an adventure of a lifetime and I wouldn’t have it to it alone. I’d also be able to meet up with my blogging bestie Michael from Go See Write and a lot of other European bloggers. And it’s Spain home of the pig - enough said.

Option 2:
I have a ticket for the World Domination Summit in Portland, which is a conference for bloggers, a lot of them are into the same things I am with alternative perspectives on how we should live, judge happiness and success. It would be an inspiring event and my Canadian amiga Jodi from Legal Nomads would be there along with a lot of other bloggers who really inspire me.

From there I’d consider going to Seattle, visiting Andres in Yosemite and finally going to Austin Texas which has been on my wish list for far too long. I really want to see how they are keeping it weird.

So you can see I’m really in a pickle. Both would be amazing life experiences.

But I can only choose one.

So pretty please, tell me where you think I should go. What do you want to hear about? Enter your vote on the poll below and I’ll tally up the votes and finally make a decision.

2012 is a big year, but which one do I choose?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Reader’s choice – where should I go? is a post from: Bacon is Magic

Since I have arrived back to Toronto things have been emotional. The problem with being introspective is that you tend to overanalyze everything. It is not a good thing.

Things are familiar but I am a stranger.

It’s not about going back to work. Examining how everyone interacts with me is problematic; if someone is too busy to meet I jump to the conclusion that they do not care about me.

Though I was gone for a year and a half it feels like no time has passed and I have this unrealistic expectation that things should be the same. It’s like a wrinkle in time, but I have learned something important.

I’m kinda a jerk.

I have been selfish, impatient, trying to slip back into my old life. But that life no longer exists.

And just as I am different so is everyone else.

It is unreasonable to come back after travel for a year and a half and expect everyone to be the same. I changed and so did they – my ex is seeing someone else, my best friend got married, another had a baby, some friends went from voraciously single to committed relationships.

But if I keep saying I can’t go back to my old life isn’t this what I want. I don’t want things to be the same so instead of wasting my time mourning my old life is gone, it is better to focus on the new one.

As much as it hurts to admit I need to stop being so self centered and realize that I’m not everyone’s first priority. Sometimes when you travel for so long and experience sheer selfishness you forget the sun doesn’t rise and set just for you.

It hurts when you realize you are the cause of the problem. But at least now I know and I’m ready to really start from scratch this time.

I just hope my friends have room for me now.

An outsider to my old life is a post from: Bacon is Magic

One of the first things I wanted to do when I got home was invite three friends over for dinner. Before I left we tried to have dinner together once a month, rotating who made dinner. Everyone has their own style of cooking and afterwards we would inevitably share recipes.

And while I don’t want Toronto to be exactly the same, I do want to continue this, which may be more challenging as one friend now has a baby and another is married.

Coming home and entertaining can be difficult, and I put additional pressure on myself to make something different and interesting. So this vegetarian lasagna is perfect because it can be done the night before, thrown in the oven after work while I make a salad.

Don’t be fooled that this is really healthy because it is a vegetarian lasagna, what makes it extra delicious is the butter (not gross margarine) that is used in the bechamel.

This recipe is adapted from KCRW Food, one of my favourite podcasts.

Ingredients
1 medium-sized butternut squash cut into 1″ cubes
500g swiss cheese in slices
Grated Parmesan or Romano
No-boil lasagna noodles
4 cups béchamel sauce (see recipe below)

1. Toss squash with a bit of oil and place on baking sheet. Bake until soft, approximately 45 minutes at 375°-400°.
2. When the squash is very soft, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. When cool enough to handle, put in bowl and mash. It’s okay if it’s not completely mashed. I call that rustic.
3.Place a layer of lasagna rectangles in a baking dish. Dot the cooked squash on top of the pasta layers. Drizzle a healthy amount of béchamel over all. Add a sparse dotted layer of swiss, then sprinkle grated parmesan. Continue layering until you have two to three layers of squash, swiss, béchamel and parmesan. End with a layer of pasta, béchamel and parmesan.
4. Bake covered at 375° for 30 mins. Remove foil and cook 15 minutes more until golden brown.

Béchamel Sauce 
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter
6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups hot milk
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add the flour and stir to form a smooth paste.
2. Heat the milk in a separate saucepan.
3. When it is hot but not boiling pour it into the roux ( the butter-flour mixture), stirring constantly with a whisk. Make sure you get into all the edges of the pan to coax all the roux into the milk. Cook over low heat until the sauce thickens and the flour taste is gone. 4.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also like to throw in a but of nutmeg and cayenne pepper or sriracha – although I throw spice in everything.

My friends loved it but now I need to find something just as simple to make next, any ideas?

Travel Tip: I may be back home but that doesn’t mean I’m not out looking for travel deals. I have big news in the upcoming weeks as I plan to go somewhere sunny for my very first vacation since I have been home.

Food Friday: Butternut Squash Lasagna is a post from: Bacon is Magic

While traveling I must have told dozens of people not to bother coming to Toronto. It is an amazing city to live in but I think the tourism options are terrible. Personally I don’t have any desire to go to the CN Tower or drive out to Niagara Falls and for the ten years I lived here I did neither.

It’s like Auckland: amazing to live, boring to visit.

But coming back to Toronto is a fresh start so instead of jumping back into old haunts I want to discover new ones and I was so excited when I saw Tasty Tours Toronto.

Audrey who runs the tour loves cakes, pastries, chocolates and pretty much anything sweet. I’m more of a savory person but what caught my eye was that the tour is in Chinatown and Kensington Market – two of my favourite neighborhoods in Toronto.

We all met at the Butterfly Pastry Shop in Chinatown and Audrey introduced the first sweet, an egg tart. She shared the history of the tart from Hong Kong and how it was likely influenced by Europeans coming to the area. But then she also shared the history of the shop we were in and how it had grown recently under new management.

Not surprisingly before we left I picked up a bacon and green onion Chinese bun.

We visited 4 more stores but these were by far my favourite.

Chocolate Addict

Now while sweets aren’t my thing I do covet chocolate. And I have scurried down the street of Chocolate Addict so many times to get to my favourite Mexican grocery store. It may have been a good thing because after drinking pure milk chocolate and trying a chili flavoured truffle it was all I could do to only walk out of the store with only 5 more.

Pancho’s Bakery

So it goes without speaking that I am a Latinophile, and I have already spent too much time in Kensington Market in the Latin stores but I had never been to Pancho’s Bakery. Today they made us something very special cake, a rosca de reyes made for Three Kings Day. A small trinket looking like a baby is hidden inside and one of the people in our group was fortunate to find it for he is now blessed, although he is also supposed to throw us a party.

It was my favourite part of the day because I felt like my old life was now in my new one. I only wish I had enough stomach space to eat a churro.

Audrey’s tour is great for both locals and visitors. You see the best of Toronto and learn strange things like where marshmallows come from, how cupcakes got their name or where to find the best chocolate. She gives the right amount of history and facts and whips her iPad out to demonstrate more complicated things. She gave me the tour for free but is worth the $30 price tag.

Frankly Toronto needs more enthusiastic entrepreneurs like her to show you just how great a city this is.

The sweeter side of Toronto is a post from: Bacon is Magic

It was good that I was asked to come back unexpectedly to work. I didn’t have time to plan and prepare other than looking for a last-minute flight.

It also meant that I didn’t really think about what it would be like to go back to the grind. After 18 months of working on my own schedule, waking up when I wanted and doing whatever I liked.

The first week is always the most challenging and I saw how quickly I could slip into old habits.

Monday
Easy and light. Despite leaving my job I was never one of those people who hated it. People are surprised to see me and even more surprised that I am working but I chirp in it’s only for 3 weeks.

I am exhausted that night as I’m not used to living without a daily siesta.

Tuesday
More happy faces and surprises and I have my formulaic ‘what’s next’ response so confidently prepared they must believe it.

I also work on my first piece of strategy and debate it with a co-worker. My brain delights in working in this way again. I forgot how much I missed “thinking” about things that didn’t involve me being so self-absorbed about where my life was going.

Wednesday
Everyone knows I’m there and I have first client call. It sends me toward the vending machine to get a Kit Kat bar. I had forgotten I was a stress eater. Damn vending machine! I fall asleep before 9pm.

Thursday
Realize that all the unhappy people on the subway are so depressing. It’s a low day. I also forgot to make lunch so I ate a frozen entree for lunch in shame. I hate processed food. This isn’t me.

Friday
I remember to take my kindle on the subway, which gives me 40 minutes to read and I learn I could love the uninterrupted time to read.

I get asked if I could work for just one more month. I don’t have any more work clothes but we can wear jeans here so maybe one more month won’t be so bad.

I decide to stay. I know I want to be in Toronto – at least for now. But if I can figure out that a Kindle makes the subway depression disappear I must be able to find ways to make everything else better. I know I don’t want my old life back, it’s up to me to create that.

But I can promise you one thing: I will not eat another frozen lunch entree.

My first week back to work is a post from: Bacon is Magic