Yamamoto Japanese Cuisine (Warden Avenue and Finch Avenue East)

Yamamoto Japanese Cuisine

What do you do when your best friend’s back in The 6ix? You spend hours at an All You Can Eat sushi restaurant catching up, of course. She actually came back last Saturday but because of our busy schedules meeting up was actually such a mission. No complaints though, she just extended her vacation and there’s still a few more days before she flies away.

Dessert

I hadn’t been to Briddlewood Mall in a long time so I was pretty amazed that they had a few restaurants inside now. We ended up going to Yamamoto Japanese Cuisine on a whim because it was really close to her house. The place is huge and it’s different from all other sushi All You Can Eat restaurants because their menu offers a large variety of unique dishes. For example, their dessert menu doesn’t just have the plain old ice cream and fried banana option, there were like 4 different kinds of mouses, Crème Brulee, etc. …Just a little disclaimer though, all the deserts sucked except for maybe the Mango Yogurt and I have to say the Crème Brûlée ...that was exceptionally good. They also have over 40 different types of sushi and 30 varieties of rolls and hand rolls to choose from.

Nova Ristorante (Kennedy Road and Lawrence Avenue East)

439 Oh Oh Oh Oh PIZZA NOVA! …You know you sang that in your head, admit it :P. So today my friend and I kept it in the hood and decided to try out Nova Ristorante. This is the first Italian restaurant to open up in Scarborough as well as the first Pizza Nova chain to open up all the way back in 1963… yeah that’s right 53 years :O.

Blogging over Coffee! Coffee Culture (Markham Road and Ellesmere Road)

So we went here to work on my friend’s blog and Coffee Culture officially has my favourite carrot cake ever… now I’m not the biggest fan of carrot cake in general but when people are making it into a cheesecake hybrid and drizzling caramel all over the place who am I to hate, right? This cake isn't even the weird kind which is basically just carrot cake with cream cheese frosting piled on top. Just two classic cakes made into one amazing dessert. It was really creamy, dense, while being light at the same time. There were pieces of carrot cake throughout but they didn’t even omit the graham cracker crust, which I crave when eating cheesecake! Winner! And being the major cheesecake junkie that I pride myself in being, I seriously don’t know why I’ve never had this before… so many days of incompleteness #regrets. The only negative I have to say is the size of the piece… sure enough they weren’t joking when they literally cut me a 5cm slice…

Brunch at The OMNI King Edward Hotel (King Street E and Victoria Street)

Yesterday was a major food adventure for my family and I. I’m actually getting bloated thinking about all the food we consumed. We first started by going to The OMNI King Edwards Hotel for the brunch buffet. The price of the brunch service is $53 per person (before tax) and runs every Sunday from 11am to 1pm. $53… I know steep… but fortunately for me I have an amazing older sister that foot the whole bill so I’m still going strong with my $53 LOL.

Review and Swatches: Kat Von D Lolita and Lolita 2

Kat Von D Lolita and Lolita 2 Liquid Lipsticks

Hey!

So today I’m just doing a quick review on the Kat Von D Lolita Everlasting Liquid Lipstick and the Lolita 2 Everlasting Liquid Lipstick. You can get these shades at Sephora or Sephora.com for $24CAD each (before tax) for 0.22 oz. There was a special limited edition duo released for the 2015 holiday season but that sold out ridiculously fast so why are we even talking about it right now?

Whole 30/ Paleo Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Doing The Whole 30 Program has had a lot of challenges so far and for me the biggest issue is thinking of different things to eat. When you’re essentially eating proteins and vegetables for every meal, things can get boring and on top of that, finding different recipes that contain ingredients compliant with Whole 30 rules can be a huge pain in the behind. The other day I was coming home late from the gym and I literally had no energy to use my mind and think of something creative. I ended up throwing together a few things and it tasted so bomb dot com I thought I would share the recipe… Its interesting how when it comes to cooking sometimes when you go along with the flow instead of following a recipe or thinking things through you get really surprisingly good results. So yeah, here’s a recipe for a simple Stuffed Bell Pepper that won’t disappoint. Here’s what you’re going to need:

Tea Time! Afternoon Tea at T-Buds (Yonge Street and Snowdon Avenue)

Hey! 

Meeting up with old friends is fun, especially when you’re partaking in a fancy activity while catching up. Yesterday I met up with one of my high school friends for afternoon tea at T-Buds and had a great time enjoying all the tea-time delicacies and reminiscing about how annoying but easygoing high school life was, so bittersweet!

T-Buds is a cute little cafe and unlike a lot of the other high-tea spots in Toronto it’s pretty casual. You definitely wont be needing to bust out the elaborate hats or fascinators for this party haha. As you walk in you can already see the hundreds of different kinds of tea's they offer because they’re displayed on the wall. It's encouraged to go over, open them up, have a whiff and buy some if you'd like. The prices are all displayed so you won't be judged slowly exploring all the teas, unlike at most stores where you have to keep asking for the workers to show you different teas based on the names.  

As for service, we didn’t interact with the servers that much but they were generally pretty nice and informative when we needed suggestions to order.

Oh So You Want to Stay Healthy?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Photo Credits: Cameron Bartlett, Instagram: @snappedbycam

Hey guys!!

New years, new me! Could I have thought of a more cliché way to begin a New Years post? …LOL I’ve actually been saying that quite often and I’m pretty sure people around me are going to start an angry mob if it happens one more time.

But anyways, its time for change! Making New Years resolutions are often criticized by many but I really don’t understand why. Yeah I guess you shouldn’t wait for something to start before trying to live your life or maybe people desire to take life as it happens …but at the same time, I think having goals is so essential for self betterment. And no one should knock others trying to better them selves. That’s just my two cents for anyone that cares.

I do have a really long bucket list of things I want to complete in my lifespan but I find resolutions are more, I guess you could say, urgent and short term. Kind of something you want to work on right away that’s going to add more meaning to your life immediately.  This year I don’t have a huge list of things I want to try and accomplish but I do have one that probably every single New-Years-Resolution-er has as well:

…TO STAY HEALTHY!

Becoming healthy isn’t about loosing weight, I can’t stress how bad of a mindset that is. Looking good is important but feeling good is ultimately what matters. And yes, everyone says that they’re going to become healthy in the New Years but then hops off the bandwagon in February… March at the latest. Making the resolution is the first step and its easy, everyone’s doing it, but the actual implementation part is where people struggle with especially when it involves major health changes. And I don’t think its only because of laziness, don’t get me wrong most people are just lazy, but some people just don’t know how to begin to do those initial lifestyle changes that will successfully Segway them into getting more fit forever. I haven’t jumped on this healthy bandwagon but for about six months now I’ve been trying to get into the best shape I’ve ever been and hope to achieve it in 2016. Here are some of the main tips that have helped me in my journey so far.