Photos by Jess Baumung.

Let’s not kid ourselves, joining a book club is as much about the experience as it is discussing books. Without good food and delicious drinks, a person might as well be back in school. I wasn’t going to tolerate any dropouts on my watch, so I knew the first Lit Squad meeting had to be perfect.

Yet hosting was easy. Armed with some beautiful decor from Indigo‘s Fall 2016 collection, I immediately knew I would serve a healthy charcuterie board complimented by a ton of fruits and vegetables. I picked everything up from Loblaws, including these standouts: San Daniele’s prosciutto, Boursin’s cranberry and pepper soft cheese, Boom Chicka Pop Popcorn and seasonal cherries.

We washed everything down with a pretty decent sangria, if I do say so myself, featuring a base of Apothic Red Wine. So it wasn’t long before we cracked open an Apothic White. At this point, the conversation really began to flow.

It’s safe to say the first Lit Squad meeting was a success. If you weren’t able to follow along as we live-Tweeted and Snapchatted away, the video will be out soon — stay tuned! Until then, visit The Lit Squad on Indigo’s Reco app for a list inspired by Shoe Dog and so much more.

One of my favorite things about travelling in Spain is the food — and the experience that comes with it. Estrella Damm is again bringing the Spanish tradition of tapas and beer to Toronto with its Tapas Journey. Nearly 40 restaurants across the city are participating between now and August 21st, offering three dishes and a pint of beer for only $20.

A few friends and I visited three of these restaurants, which may be the best way to do it. After all, what’s a journey if there’s no real legwork? We stuck around the Queen West neighborhood, but this is one way to enjoy an area of the city you don’t happen to visit very often as well.

Photography by Jeffrey Chan courtesy of Estrella Damm

First, we hit up Lamesa, a tropical spot inspired by Filipino cuisine. Chef Daniel Cancino prepared ceviche, octopus and pork belly to perfection, each better than the next. Fresh and savory, I’m never disappointed when I dine here.

SCALLOP KINILAW

ESCABECHE

LECHON LETTUCE WRAP

Next up was Milagro, a short walk from Lamesa. This Mexican eatery is not afraid of spice, which complements a cold glass of Estrella beautifully. There we enjoyed another octopus dish along with quesadillas and three incredible, saucy meatballs. It’s clear that Chef Arturo Anhalt knows his Mexican food — he was born in Mexico City, after all.

QUESADILLAS DE FLOR

PULPOS EN ESCABECHE

ALBONDIGAS EN CHILE ANCHO

A little further down Queen Street was our third and final stop, Nuit Social. My first time there, I was immediately attracted to its bright neon sign outside and its minimalist decor inside. Known for its social environment, it was the perfect place to end our #TapasJourney. Chef James Dearham capped our evening with a fresh tomato salad, stuffed olives and, wait for it, pig’s head with fruit.

TOMATO SALAD

STUFFED OLIVES

TESTA

I honestly couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Friday night. You can’t go wrong with good company, good food and a little bit of adventuring.

Photography by Jeffrey Chan courtesy of Baro

I don’t know what had me moving more, the fiesty Latino music or the delicious morsels being served out of Chef Steve Gonzalez’s new food truck. It was the Latino Street Party of the year and everywhere I turned there was something better to take in. Nestled in a spacious alleyway off of King Street West, the festive air was not random. Something big was about to be announced.

After three successful years, Gonzalez was forced to close down Valdez, a King Street staple. But that wasn’t about to stop Gonzalez. Instead, he decided to throw a big party to announce his latest venture — Baro. Set to be an impressive multi-storey space complete with a second floor raw bar, 2,200 loft space for events and private functions as well as an all-season patio, it will reimagine traditional latin culture and cuisine.

Until Baro’s doors open, people will want to keep their eyes peeled for #GonzalezonTour. The food truck will take the party on the road, bringing delicious dishes to such destinations as Toronto Taste, The Stop’s Night Market and The Neighbourhood Festival by Luminato.

About this new venture, Gonzalez shares, “I’m very proud of what our team accomplished at Valdez. We gave Latino culture a home on King West. Baro will take that vibe to the next level and give us an opportunity to share a bigger melting pot of unique Latin American flavours. Being on tour this summer will allow us to reach more audiences and get the word out on the street about latin food — we want everyone to discover their inner latino in our neighbourhood at Baro. There really is something for everyone and every occasion.”

Sit at a restaurant, coffee shop or any place with food and drink long enough and you’re bound to witness a group of millennials standing around a table shifting plates, artfully arranging sunglasses and snapping photos of whatever they ordered. Thanks to social media, everyone’s a food photographer these days. Including me (insert the blush emoji).

But until recently, I just went with my gut when it came to taking these kind of photos. The Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers, a not-for-profit organization representing approximately 220 members who grow greenhouse tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, invited me to a food styling event in which I learned some key tricks of the trade to make my imagery significantly better.

We focused on two #SpringIntoFlavour-themed recipes (a chicken fajita and a soba noodle salad), both of which highlighted the organization’s incredible selection of produce. Below are the three main takeaways that stuck with me:

1. Keep your ingredients looking fresh by brushing them with glycerin. For vegetables in particular, a spritz of water on top of this layer will make it look as though they were just washed with the water droplets will stick more stubbornly.

2. Manipulate the lighting. First of all, natural light is the best kind of light to take such photos in. Yet sometimes due to poor timing or the lack of an ideal space some reinterpretation is needed. To manipulate the light, all a person needs is a white board to bounce lighting, black board to absorb it and foil to illuminate specific areas. All of these can be affordably purchased at an art store.

3. Tell a story. It’s important not to just take a shot of a well-styled plate of food. By placing ingredients or other objects like menus, books or even those sunglasses around the dish, more context is given to the image. This encourages viewers to connect to the image even more.

The latter was made easiest thanks to the inclusion of such delicious, colorful and local vegetables. I used them both sliced up artfully in the dish and whole around it. But my favorite was creating a deliberate mess that made my images look more approachable and, strangely, beautiful. It didn’t hurt that I was able to snack on them throughout the session.

Don’t be afraid to visit your favorite farmer’s market this summer to stock up on local produce. You never know when you might want to style your own mouthwatering photoshoot. Visit my Instagram page to learn how I can help get you started!

(This blog post was sponsored by the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers but the opinions are all my own.)

I’ve been to Mexico before, but it was only after visiting Mexico City that I truly began to appreciate everything the culture had to offer. From the architecture and art to the street vendors and friendly faces, it wasn’t what I’d expected at all. But I loved it all.

The food was one of the things that stood out the most. So when I was invited to sample Fonda Lola’s lunch menu in Toronto, I was 100% down. The newly opened Mexican restaurant might have some surprises up its sleeves, but it looked more authentic than most with its mismatched furniture, subtle but still vibrant colors and welcoming atmosphere.

For the lunch menu, the owner essentially turned some of the most beloved dishes into incredible sandwiches and even added a few unexpected options diverse Torontonians would appreciate. This included a Filipino-inspired sandwich of adobo chicken and rice. Yes, it was stuffed with rice.

Although the food is enough to keep people coming, the atmosphere and service is just as noteworthy, making the entire experience great from beginning to end. I can’t wait to check out Fonda Lola for its weekend brunch, especially now that the weather’s getting nicer and strolling along Queen West is always a great way to spend a weekend morning.

Up until recently, I’ve never experimented with supplements. But the more active I’ve become, the healthier I behave and the more research I pore into what I should be doing to stay as optimally fit as I want to be. Short answer? You really are what you eat.

When I was first introduced to Genuine Health‘s products, it was to try out its greens+ Extra Energy line just before a tough workout. I genuinely loved it (pun intended). So I was excited to try out its newest line, fermented Greek yogurt proteins+.

On the technical side, Genuine Health’s fermented Greek yogurt proteins+ packs in 25g of protein, but in a way that is more fully digested and absorbed by your body. The fermentation of this particular supplement promotes just that. The first of its kind to be made out of Greek Yogurt, the supplement is also very tasty. Stay tuned for my own original recipe soon!

In the meantime, Genuine Health has also created some delicious fermented Greek yogurt proteins+ bars for those who really need to grab and go — my favorite being the Cinnamon Pecan. I swear by these. With 15g of protein — also harnessing the power of fermented foods for better digestion and absorption — the bars are coated in vanilla, making them seem more like a treat. There’s really no reason why you’d choose, say, a chocolate bar over these. They’re that good.

Overall, my experience with fermented Greek yogurt proteins+ has been positive. As someone who leads a very active lifestyle, it’s important for me to fuel my body properly. Genuine Health helps me do that.

Photos by Kailey DeRubeis

A tea drinker all my life, coffee wasn’t something I really thought about as a staple until just a couple of years ago when cute cafes like Pilot Coffee Roasters and its sister shop Te Aro started to pop up more and more around the city. Now I have a full-fledged love affair with lattes. But I’ve been determined lately to expand my caffeine experiences. With spring finally in the air, I decided “coffee alfresco” was a great place to start.

So I picked up the famous Aeropress Coffee Maker and a few other camping items from MEC along with a bag of quality Pilot coffee beans and trekked to the Scarborough Bluffs for a sunny Sunday afternoon with one of my oldest friends, Paulina.

Paulina and I met at my first full-time publishing job. We unfortunately (or fortunately) bonded over our mutual hatred of it, often escaping to the nearest coffee shop to lament over the (now hilarious) dramas of working there. Thankfully we both left unscarred, able to drink coffee peacefully in the great outdoors.

Paulina and I prepared everything on the beach, from grinding the beans to boiling the water and then “pressing” the coffee. Making fresh coffee without a kitchen was easier than I thought and I couldn’t have asked for better company.

Using the GSI Javamill

Using the SBIT Solid Fuel Stove & Cookset

And I couldn’t have asked for a better backdrop. I grew up in Scarborough and was also astounded that such a place existed so close to the suburbs. A lot of Torontonians don’t realize that there are so many amazing pockets like this all around the city. A day trip to escape the hustle isn’t as tough as it might seem and a place like the bluffs feels like a true getaway.

Where is your favourite place to enjoy a cup of coffee?

Every time I visit my Nana, she pulls me into a kitchen and tries to force me to cook. Or simply calls me up listing all of the family recipes that will disappear if I don’t learn them. The thing is, I’ve never had an interest in cooking. My brother loves it — which I remind my Nana every single time, but I, sadly, do not.

At least, I thought I didn’t.

A while ago I started seeing ads for Chef’s Plate pop up in my Facebook Timeline. I was instantly intrigued, but again, my impartiality towards it made my attention waver immediately as I continued to scroll down the page. Then I went to an event that offered me a discount on the service and I signed up for one week instantly.

The experience was amazing and I’m basically a chef now. Just saying.

When Monday rolled around, I got the delivery in a box insulated and iced to keep the ingredients fresh. The ingredients themselves were measured out perfectly and conveniently packed in ziplock bags that I would eventually use for all the waste as well.

As for the directions? While the recipes themselves seemed complex, making the dish was so much easier than I could have expected. AND FAST. Before I knew it I was eating Mango Chili Chicken and it was good. Like, really good.

Overall, Chef’s Plate gets a 5 star rating from me. It might seem pretty high, but at its cost and convenience, not to mention variety and ease to make, it’s hard not to fall in love with the service.

This is a tale about two boyhood friends who, in spite of being on two very different paths, came together to change the landscape of salad bars in Toronto forever. A little dramatic? Maybe, but their menu is worth the dramatization — I promise you.

And it’s true, beyond the business itself, the story of how John Gaganiaras and Billy Angelopoulos created what they called The Baro — which is a shortened take on ‘koumbaros,’ meaning ‘best man’ in Greek — will tug on heartstrings around the city and beyond. In all honesty, I don’t even want to tell it. It’s one of the reasons why you need to stop into the latest Queen West addition. You’re bound to find one or both behind the counter to get their story in person.

While you’re at it, you might as well order one of their soon-to-be-famous chopped salads. I recommend the Avotaco, which I think is a fairly self-explanatory name. Of course there’s a salad for everyone since The Baro also has a custom menu.

In addition to the amazing menu these besties created, they also built the space with their own two (or should I say four) hands. From the wooden bench to the kitchen and even the branding, it’s impressive how much time and effort they put into The Baro. And how Instagrammable it all is. So there really is no reason why you should wait on it.

Without a doubt proper nutrition is the end all, be all of a healthy lifestyle. A strong body will only take you so far if you’re not fueling it with the right foods and liquids. In the past I’ve been very diligent over my eating habits. Once a chronic sugar addict, my diet changed significantly after cutting it out.

I also experimented with being vegetarian for a year and then going gluten-free for another year, both of which taught me a lot about how I ate and what my body needed. After that, I decided restrictions weren’t necessarily what worked for me, but simply finding a balance between eating clean and indulging once in a while.

That said, over the last few months, I’ve been extremely negligent about my nutritional intake. My once atrocious tendency to eat like a financially- and food-challenged college dude has reared its ugly head once again. And now I’m not recovering from my workouts as quickly as I used to and I’m sleepy…. All. The. Time.

…proper nutrition is the end all, be all of a healthy lifestyle…

I was never one for supplements, mostly out of ignorance and a bit out of laziness, so I was happy to learn more about them from Genuine Health. Specifically their own greens+ Extra Energy line. Perfect for pre-workout fueling, it’s an all-natural combination of herbs, plants, vitamins, amino acids and minerals that, thankfully, avoids the crash typically associated with caffeine and sugars.

Although I haven’t tried it consistently just yet, my own trusted sources swear by it and so I’m giving it a shot. It doesn’t hurt that Genuine Health has provided some great recipes to make the experience even more enjoyable.

Double Chocolate Frappuccino

Get your morning off to a sweet start with this chocolatey frappuccino that has a natural energy kick from greens+ extra energy.

Serves 1

1 ½ cup almond milk
1 scoop of vegan proteins+ chocolate or 2 scoops proteins+ chocolate
1 scoop greens+ extra energy cappuccino
1 medjool date, pitted
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp cacao powder

Add all ingredients to blender and blend on high until smooth

Strawberry Frappuccino

Fruity and sweet, this smoothie is the perfect way to start your day and give you the energy you need to get out the door!

Serves 1

1 banana, preferably frozen
1 cup frozen strawberries
½ cup full fatcoconut milk
1 cup almond milk, or liquid of choice
1 splash vanilla extract
1 scoop greens+ extra energy orange
1 scoop fermented Vegan proteins+

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth.

Mighty Mousse

Nourish your body with this decant mousse, filled with healthy fats, natural sweetness, and the energizing kick of greens+ extra energy.

Serves 3-4

1 ½ ripe avocados
1 banana
4 scoops proteins+ peanut butter chocolate or ½ cup cocoa
2 scoops greens+ extra energy cappuccino
½ cup natural peanut butter
~1/3 cup maple syrup (more if using cocoa, start with 1/3 cup and increase to desired sweetness)
1/8 cup unsweetened almond milk
coconut whipped cream or Greek yogurt, optional for garnish

1.Blend everything except whipped cream/yogurt together in the bowl of food processor until smooth and creamy.
2.Divide amongst bowls. Top with whipped cream/yogurt if using.