Vital Planet

One of the things I was missing in my new 'hood were the organic and natural things I buy like hand soap, dish detergent, cereal, oatmeal -- that kind of stuff. I didn't really know where to go for that stuff without trekking back up to The Danforth to Grassroots and The Big Carrot.

I was happy to find The Village Butcher as I mentioned in a previous post but how excited was I to find Vital Planet only a 10 minute walk from my house. I had to drive to the other place in my old 'hood.

Vital Planet on the Lakeshore is one of three shops in the city I just found out from its Website and they are all family-owned.

According to the site: Vital Planet believes in this holistic approach and carries a large selection of quality products. You will never find the staff pushing a particular product line or a company. Some of the products carried include: natural and organic foods and dairy products, vitamins and supplements, as well as homeopathic and herbal remedies. Aromatherapy and natural body products, books, cleaning products, natural candles, bulk herbs, food, teas, organic fair trade coffee, sports nutrition and even pet food can be found.

One of the cool things about this shop is that they sell milk, yogurt ice cream and cheese among other things. And the milk comes in glass bottles. How cool is that? It reminds me of my days growing up on a dairy farm when we used to take apple juice bottles to the barn and get milk straight from the cows (ok it was in the big silver tub thingy but still). The only difference now is that I buy skim milk - the milk from the farm was whole milk that we had to shake to get rid of the milk separation.

Vital Planet doesn't have everything I like, but it has most. It even has my face cream which is pretty cool. I love one stop shops for all the goodies on my list.

you lose some, you win some

(pic source)

It has been just over a week in this new neighbourhood and although I'm really liking the area, I have to say I'm missing many of my favourite spots from my old neighbourhood. The gym over here isn't as nice and I'm a bit too far to go to my Friday noon-time yoga class. But there are many plusses to the new hood. One of them is The Village Butcher.

I've never really ordered meat from a butcher before, but when I heard that this place was just a few streets over from me, I knew I had to check it out. TVB sells only organic and naturally-raised meats, along with some other specialty food items like prepared meat pies, natural soda pop, and delicious mustards and spreads.

The first thing I noticed was how laid-back this place is. Butcher and owner Mark Ali is boisterous and super friendly to all of his clients and it's obvious he gets a lot of regulars because he calls each one of them by name as they get to their turn in line.

After eating out most nights this past week, I had a craving for some good 'ol meat and potatoes for dinner. I told Mark I was new to the whole butcher shop thing and that I wanted a piece of beef enough for two for dinner. Right away, he slid the glass back and pawed a 2-lb cut of prime rib and told me it would be perfect. As he wrapped it up, he told me how to cook it for a medium-rare roast "you can't go wrong with."

When I got up to the cash, there was a nice spread of baked goods to my left and at the back of the display I spotted some date squares; organic of course. While they weren't as good as my grandmother's, they were just what I needed for my three o'clock snack.

There's something about cooking a roast that is quite intimidating. You don't want it to be too dry, but you don't want it too red either. I left the roast in for a bit longer than Mark suggested and served it along-side some roasted parsnips and carrots and smashed potatoes. The verdict? M kept saying over and over how good it was and that it was as good as prime rib he would order in a restaurant. Each bite melted in our mouths -- a true testimate for buying organic/naturally-raised meat. It's a bit pricier than a regular cut that you'd get at the supermarket ($14/lb), but it is well worth it.