Feel Good Guru

I was reminiscing today about the annual Animal Lovers' Brunch I used to host when I lived in Venice Beach. I met the most amazing people and it led to making the food for the hit Netflix documentary Forks Over Knives.

I just dug out the recipes from the archives. If you would like a copy, please dm me your email.

Too cute! Soy is going to be a calendar boy! Free Korean Dogs Adopters Network is putting out a full colour calendar for 2025 in celebration of their 10th anniversary. Soy was one of their first rescues brought to Toronto with his siblings and mother. Life is magic sometimes. Thank you EK Park for all you do. Please support Free Korean Dogs by advance purchasing a lovely doggie calendar with Soy as Mr February 27:)
https://www.freekoreandogs.org/free-korean-dogs-10th-anniversary-calendar/

FGG’s OG grain burger. This veggie burger has been made in all my kitchens and served to countless customers over the years from 1994 through 2020. I’ll add the recipe to the upcoming edition of Feel Good Faves. It’s simply the best.

From the archives Feel Good Guru. We used to feed George every day while he was at CBC. He ordered our kale & quinoa salad combo with a litre of super green fuel - never once changed his order. It became known internally as the Strombo Combo. The sweetest (and easiest) man to feed.

Happy Earth Day! This was our raw organic vegan Earth Burger and Make Kale Not War Salad from our Queen West days. Stay tuned for recipes. 🌱 🍔

Now that two years have passed I can't imagine anymore the heavy lifting in all the commercial kitchens built from scratch, the schlepping by bike in winter with hot jars of soup to the local yoga studios, the racing on two wheels in traffic to four or five downtown offices every day by 11 to set up lunches for hundreds.

I cried when I had to repossess my first restaurant in Banff after the buyer stopped making payments. I cried when a competitor found a hair in their No Bull Burrito on my first day in business at Feel Good Guru. I cried when I got doored on Queen Street on my bike on my way in to the kitchen and broke my hand just before an important catering gig. I cried when my largest client got too large and shifted to corporate catering.

I loved feeding people so much. But that boulder took two and a half decades to shove to the top of the mountain and overnight it was at the bottom. I cried for a year.

I'm so grateful for those years and everyone who was by my side cheering me on and helping with the heavy lifting.

This may seem like an odd pivot, but at its heart, real estate is all about service. It's a joy to nourish people in new ways.

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Ok here we go. The archeological dig has begun. These books and binders date back to 1994 when I opened the first vegetarian restaurant in Banff, through the LA iteration of Animal Lovers’ Brunches, onto West Queen West in 2012 when Feel Good was serving raw organic vegan fare across from Trinity Bellwoods, then into high volume catering through 2020. I saved every menu and all my notes. The pages are kitchen-sticky and sauce-stained, some barely legible, some long-forgotten. I’ll be attempting to make some order of the chaos. You’ll be happy to see all the Feel Good Faves. Stay tuned;)

When you're in your photos looking for one specific pic and you don't find that pic but you end up in a time warp. Circa 2014 Feel Good Guru in the height of cool when Vogue Magazine called West Queen West the "second hippest neighbourhood in the world." Sometime in 2015 the city came by unannounced and chopped down the tree outside our window. For me it was the beginning of the end of that iteration. One day the owner of Clafouti just walked away, leaving the rats to run the place. Then one night while my prep chef was working late a random cyclist came through the window. The universe has a way of nudging us along. That block of Queen Street has never been the same. Though White Squirrel prevails!

The archives of actual recipes will be opened soon and poured out here. In the meantime I’m dwelling savouring + serving 🏡

Lone wolf in Trinity Bellwoods.

My brother sent me a barf emoji when I told him I was making sauerkraut soup.

Old standby almost instant comfort food. Buckwheat noodles in miso ginger broth with matchstick sweet potatoes, turmeric and arame. 🍜

Lone wolf at jardin Jean d’arc 🐕💕

Did not stock up on « storm chips » as so many do here.

Ce n’est pas Paris mais ce n’est pas mal. 💕

Three bean chili con quinoa, it’s been awhile. 🫘

Happy solstice! 🔥

Lone wolf at sundown on the Plains of Abraham.

Discovering why they call Cobourg « Ontario’s Feel Good Town. » Looking for a change of pace? There’s a sweet little cafe here steps from the beach looking for new ownership. Cobourg needs a great vegan brunch spot… ☕️ 🐕 🏖️

Farm fresh produce vending machine.

Peace.

How cute is this place?? Steps from the beach in the heart of Cobourg, “Ontario’s Feel Good Town.” I’m helping a colleague find a buyer and selfishly hoping it will be a plant-based entrepreneur who takes over. 💕Perfect for a vegan brunch spot, a smoothie stand, a plant-based burger joint or an indie coffee & sandwich shoppe. Cobourg is growing and needs your plant-powered creativity! DM for deets💕

Mornings with Soy 💕

Clinging to the season by an heirloom tomato. Smoked tofu made in Quebec, lettuce grown down the hill, vegan mayo, Dijon mustard, seedy sourdough.