Our Experience at Valarie in the X Hotel

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Bhanu Misra Marya

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to check out the fantastic roof top patio at the X Hotel.

Valarie is boasted as Toronto’s newest nightlife concept with an innovative Japanese menu, inspired cocktails amidst unparalleled views the six.

What we ate:
Cocktails: Single Malt on the rocks, Espresso and Cosmo Martinis
Food: Truffle Fries, Maitake Mushroom (bowl) & Truffle Teardrop (sushi roll)
Food Menu

The mushroom item was delicious. Crispy and with a truffle flavour.

And the martinis were perfect (flavourfull and strong!)

The entire rooftop is lined with a glass balcony – so you get views of the lake, Mississauga, the downtown core and the lake of course.

And of course I only got pictures of the CN Tower.

The views and cocktails really made it for me, although I wish they had more food items.

Over all it was a great experience (we tried to ignore the early 2000s clique vibes between patrons and the restaurant staff).

We got reservations through OpenTable, but I think a walk in is worth a try!

It’s time for another chocolate cookie recipe

Posted on January 9, 2022 by Bhanu Misra Marya

It’s been 3 days of “back to remote” learning. 3 days too long!

Sending good vibes to all the parents who are finding themselves in the 3rd lockdown (which means doing everything all of the time).

With that said – I’ve got a few things to share 1) an amazing new cookie recipe and 2) a few things that are keeping me focused.

I’ll start with what’s keeping me focused:

My morning routine! Meditate & Journal – helps to get my mind right and even if the days goes to sh!t, at least I took some time to set up my mindset
A daily walk: I try and go in the morning but if meetings don’t allow for it, I get my dose of vitamin D and forrest vibes in the mid afternoon
Daily workout: Whether it’s a fully body releasing stretch or a heavy lift day, workouts are a way to increase movement in my day after sitting at my own work desk or hunched over a JK’s desk
Prioritizing a personal goal: whether it’s reading for 10 minutes, making some art or making progress on a project – making time for myself makes me feel good

And for the days when even the above doesn’t work, we will always have a great cookie ;)

Sharing a new recipe I tried: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie (because sometimes making cookies does WONDERS for the soul)

Tropical Smoothie & Life Changing Habits

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I read this recently and had to share! Insanely easy habits that will change your life!

♥ Make your bed every morning

♥ Make to do lists based on your life goals (fail to plan or plan to fail!)

♥ Eat more spinach

♥ Get up & Move

♥ Read more

♥ Ask for forgiveness instead of permission

♥ Sit up straight

♥ Take the stairs more often

♥ Mute or unfollow (most) social media accounts

♥ Avoid decision fatique

♥ Sleep more

PS: you gotta try this EASY tropical smoothie bowl!

Add to a blender: Frozen Fruits (strawberries, mangos, pineapples, mangoes), banana, almond milk and a shot of lemon juice (very important as it adds to the tanginess) – soo good!

Once blended well, transfer to a bowl and top with your favs! Blueberries, almond slivers, granola, coconut flakes & chia seeds (other options include: walnuts, hemp hearts, kiwi, blackberries/raspberries or chocolate chips!)

5 Ingredient Vegan Cookie Dough Bars

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Bhanu Misra Marya

OMG! This FIVE clean ingredient INDULGENCE is so good and addictive. I’ve made this recipe several times, rounding measurements up and by half – each time it turned out equally good. I’d even think it would taste amazing with a sprinkle of flaked sea salt!

The texture is so incredibly like raw cookie dough but without the butter, eggs or white sugar. The coconut oil helps everything stick together perfectly. But the real star is the almond flour (I used the Kirkland brand blanched almond flour from Costco).

You could definitely make this for a potluck by swapping the 1/3 cups for 1 full cups, all other ingredients would be to taste.

Want more cookie recipes? Check out this vegan, gluten & guilt free cookie, granola that tastes like cookies, 3 ingredient breakfast cookie or this chickpea chocolate chip cookie (ha! don’t knock till you try it!)

Reviving our vegetable garden

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I’ve been day dreaming about writing this post of weeks! But with the current state of affairs, it’s been impossible for me to find the time to complete it. I’ve started this draft, added to it, left it for days and then back to it over the last several weeks!

This actually sounds very similar to the relationship I’ve had with our garden this year.

Celery, Regrow, Start Your Own Garden, Backyard Garden

It’s been even harder to give our garden the same amount of attention it has received in previous years.

Celery, Regrow, Start Your Own Garden, Backyard Garden

(That being because most of my energy is divided between the family in my home and myself. #PandemicLife)

I had big plans for last year. I wanted to have a new layout and really try NEW things. But that unfortunately just didn’t happen.

Thankfully, the girls and mister have really pulled through and kept up with the harvesting, watering, pest watch and overall love that a backyard garden requires.

Ontario, Start Your Own Garden, Backyard Garden

Before the weed clean up!

After cleaning out the weeds, turning the soil and adding fresh earth.

You may already know that we had planted garlic last fall and then at the beginning of April we made an order for several plants from a local nursery, we picked them up mid May and planted them May 20th!

So initially we planted garlic in the fall. Then in the spring, we planted: tomatoes (2), eggplant, cucumber, zucchini and sweet bell pepper in the garden bed. Later in the summer we added long green beans and radish seeds! In pots we have a celery, mint and green onion. We received our plants from a nursery and planted them in our garden bed on May 20th.

The harvest was slow! We didn’t receive our first tomato until sometime in July (I think because we planted so early and because there was a few very cold days that happened between May and June. But here we are and our garden is in full swing.

Read more about my gardening adventures! Starting tomatoes in pots, lessons learned and other herbs.

Our first ever garlic scapes

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Bhanu Misra Marya

I am a HUGE fan of garlic. The aroma and the smell and even how they look get me very excited. I am definitely that person who sees a recipe asking for 2-3 cloves but add 8-10 instead LOL!

So last summer, after closing up the garden I realized that I wanted to expand into new herbs and veggies. And on a whim, we received some backyard garden garlic from a co-worker and right before the 1st winter storm we planned 6 cloves!

So these cloves have been in the garden since NOVEMBER. And we won’t actually know if the clove have turned into actual bulbs, but we’ve already reaped some harvest from the labour: scapes!

Now if you haven’t heard of scapes before it’s because they are very rare and hard to find at your regular garlic stores. They are usually the first produce found at farmers market and aren’t in season for very long.

We only got 5 scapes at the first harvest, but they were ahamazing! We grilled them with a little bit of EVOO and salt. They tasted really fresh, consistency of asparagus and onion with a hint of garlic.

I will definitely plant more garlic next year just for the scapes!