Green Living Show highlights

The Green Living Show is back again at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and I checked it out on Friday afternoon.  Here are some of the highlights of the show and a few things I picked up.  I wasn't planning on doing any shopping,  just lot's of sampling and seeing what's new.

When I first got there I decided to start at the Food End of the show of course and walked by my friend Richa's booth for Good food for Good but she wasn't at the booth so I walked through the aisle and stumbled on one of the stages and who was on stage doing a presentation but the energetic and funny nutritionist Julie Daniluk.  I always learn something new every time I listen to her speak so I plunked myself down in the front row so I wouldn't disturb anyone since she was midway in her talk.  Julie was speaking about hugging and the power of touch and walked over to me and said hi and used me as the example to connect to someone.  I think she knew I would be a safe bet to get her message across but it was nice that she used the moment as the perfect time to say hi.  She had talks scattered throughout the weekend.  As I write this it's the last day of the show. I wanted to write this post earlier to get the info out but didn't have a chance to.   I hope a couple of you get a chance to stop by before it ends or plan to go next year.
The show did seem a little different this year. It was very quiet on the friday and it seemed like there were less food companies this year.

But returning again with a huge booth were my other friends at Organic Garage.  They have the best booth at the show since they have a whole bunch of their vendors set up sampling.  I liked a couple of the samples so much that I bought them.  I picked up Organic Garlic Coconut Oil which they sampled on popcorn.  It was amazing and I think it would be amazing for bread dipping or garlic bread or in dressings.  No more garlic hands from peeling garlic.  I also picked up Organic chocolate covered almonds because they were just so good.

I wandered around by myself for a while then a couple of my friends joined me after they finished work.  We saw Chef Rodney Bowers and my friend got excited and got a selfie with him.  He was in the ticketed food section.  We didn't end up getting anything there and just tried a lot of the samples around the show.

This year they were giving out Powerbars and free entrance to attendees that brought in e-waste.  You know if everyone at the show brought in e-waste or walked away with an eco power bar that would make a huge difference in energy and also in landfill waste.  Great initiative.

Besides all the food products including food using insects as the protein ingredient, there was also beauty products.  I stopped to check out one booth and was impressed by the creator who said she created it for her own use.   I was struck by the packaging.  I saw Mature to Dry Hotty Balm.  When do you ever see that stand out on a beauty product?  They always cater to young skin even though everyone wants anti ageing which is usually what it says.  But I liked the idea of a balm for your face because my skin has started to lose it's youthful glow. Yeah I know I lost it a long time ago but let's see if this can bring some of it back.  It made my skin feel soft without being sticky or smelly.  It's made with beeswax and jojoba oil and shea butter and host of other natural ingredients. I like that it's a balm so that I can carry it around in my bag without worrying about a mess.

This show is all about Eco in any area of life.  There were sections for kids with a sandbox even.


There was a row of wood home decor products, jewellery, clothing, cars, bikes, healthcare products, suppliments and beauty products and even things like a lightbulb that lasts for 40 years.  So while everything might not interest everyone, there is something that will help everyone that attends.
My friend picked up hot/cool silicone packs for himself and his mom.

If you are interested in finding products to swap that help the environment instead of harm it then this is a good place to check it out.  And even if you don't want to buy products it's a great place to listen to people like Julie Daniluk and other health and business experts speak about interesting topics.

Go Green.... save the planet and check out the Green Living Show.

Food Revolution Vegetarian Cooking Challenge

Who:  Dorothy Pang Food Revolution Day Ambassador
What: Vegetarian Cooking Challenge for Food Revolution Day
Where: Nella Cucina on Bathurst Street
When:  Sat. Apr. 24, 2015
Why:  Getting people back in the kitchen to cook real food and raise awareness for Food Education.

Dorothy Pang one of the new Food Revolution Day Ambassadors for Toronto, organized a Vegetarian Culinary Cooking Contest for her first ever Ambassador event.  She organized about 30 young adults into about 5 teams of 4-5 people.   The event was held at Nella Cucina a large Culinary store with a cooking demo space upstairs.

The teams arrived and after registering and getting some information about the event they were treated to some Rawlicious Collard Wraps and Rise Kombucha beverages and coffee from Boxcar Social and cookies from Sweets from the Earth.

After getting their teams organized and having a quick bite for energy they broke into their teams to start formulating their creative plans starting with the basic mandatory bowl of ingredients:  kale, lemon, garlic, beets, and a bottle of Good Food For Good sauce.

They were then allowed to choose ingredients from a pantry of various vegetables, pastas, canned beans and herbs and spices which were generously provided by Sobeys, and a few from Fresh City Farms.

There was a lot of excitement as the teams hustled to get their dishes together.  A lot of high energy buzz in the room.  A lot of people had never met and had to come together as a team to create original dishes from the challenge.

Let's just say they pulled out all the tools that Nella Cucina had in their kitchen.

They had just over an hour or so to complete their dishes before presenting them to the judges who were myself, fellow Ambassador Carol Harrison and Tanya from Nella Cucina and Dorothy's boyfriend as the added judge because he was dying to try everything.

Richa, Dorothy, Carol, Linda

Good Food for Good's creator Richa was on hand to assist the teams in choosing the sauces and providing suggestions and Carol tried to assist in answering questions while I was busy taking these photos.  After they completed their dishes the presented their dishes to the judges one team at a time. They all tried to one up each other and there was a lot of thought to their presentations.
A lot of colorful dishes and unique combinations.

 

We had a score card for each team and it was almost unanimous that we chose the last team who produced 4 dishes including 2 desserts, one of which was the chocolate covered beets. They also made a beautiful fresh chopped salad and a pasta dish and phyllo wrapped bananas. Their team was called "REVOLICIOUS"  kind of appropriate don't you think.

The winning team won Sobey's gift cards, Aroma Espresso Bar Gift Cards and products from The Detox Market.

Dorothy also raffled off some other prizes including limited edition chopsticks from Chef Susur Lee.

Everyone said they had a great time and they would do it again.  We were all please with the outcome.

We all have to thank Tanya for letting us extend our time and one of the participants Henry who was a champion for sticking around to help us tackling the massive quantity of pots, pans, dishes and utensils.  He helped clean up for about 2 hours.    Maybe next time we should say it has to be a one pot wonder as part of the challenge.

We encouraged everyone to go online and sign the Jamie Oliver petition for Food Education and we took a great group photo at the end of the night.  I am hoping they all spread the word about Food Revolution Day and go to other events in the future.

Great job Dorothy.