Technically, this Feature Friday isn't actually featuring a business at all, but I figured why not feature the place where all these lovely businesses stem from (for the most part). Good old London.
Ah, London. You are a city unlike any other. Some people may say you're not really a "tourist destination" while others will scoff at the fact that you have a "party" atmosphere due to your college and university (ahem) reputations. But if you are a true Londoner (third generation right here!) and have been born and raised here, or moved here and adopted this city as your own, then you understand that this city is so much more than "the other London" or "the city between Windsor and Toronto."
As a blogger who strictly blogs about local London awesomeness, I have to say I am a bit biased. But being born here, raised here, educated here, and working here as well as choosing to raise my family here, has made me realize that this is home for me. And I love every inch of it. Of course it's nice to get away (absence does make the heart grow fonder), and even move away for a while. I moved away from the city when I first got married and actually ended up back here by pure accident. My husband and I were SURE we were going to live elsewhere and providence led us right back to my hometown. He is originally a Montrealer, so for my husband it was a little bit hard to get used to the very Southwestern Ontario mid-city feel but he eventually came around and now knows even more about this city than I do in some cases.
This blog post isn't necessarily about all the great stuff that London has to offer. My entire blog is all about that! It's more
about highlighting the fact that London is a great, livable, family-oriented place. Western University and Fanshawe College are two wonderful educational institutions (despite said rumours). Our plethora of neighbourhoods, little villages within the city, are unique all in their own right. Our parks are teeming with nature, fun and lots of activity. Our local London businesses are proud, strong and supported by an amazing local population that believes in our homemade, homegrown ideal.
On the flip side, there are of course, always things this city could improve on. Traffic is, well, sub-par here. Walking score is usually poor to sucky unless you live right in the heart of downtown or in the centre of your neighbourhood village. Public transportation needs a serious overhaul for London to become less car-dependent. Hopefully something good and efficient will come out of London's Rapid Transit idea. London could also use some fine-tuning when it comes to preservation and restoration. Beautiful areas around London have been levelled or replaced whereas some compassion and respect for history could be shown to preserve what London used to be, rather than just wiping out areas and building anew. Speaking of building anew - that's another thing London needs to work on: inviting more people HERE. New businesses could thrive in this city; there are so many opportunities for people here!
All in all, London is my main city squeeze. Being born here (anyone else born at St. Joes? Cool fact: my mom, myself AND my first born were all born there), being educated here (Westdale and Riverside PS, STA and Western shoutout!) working here and raising a family here has made me all that much more aware of how much I appreciate this city. And also how much more I want to be involved with this city. Hence, my blog.
OH, and I need to give a shout out to Tourism London, which is doing a fabulous job of promoting our city. I get a lot of info from their website and they have a great Facebook page as well that promotes tons of awesome neighbourhood fun. Check them out here! So I guess you could say, the Feature Friday is about these guys too, because they truly epitomize what London is and showcase what London has to offer. Kind of like myself, in my own teeny-tiny London Mom way ;) Great job, guys.
Have a great day, London
So, it was late last week, maybe Thursday, when I stared into my fridge and thought "here we go... what's for dinner?" And not in a good way. I wasn't excited at the prospect of rummaging around my fridge and pantry to whip up a delicious and nutritious dinner for my family. I wish I was one of those moms that plans all meals ahead of time for the week, and preps all veg and fruit so it's ready to use when needed, but I'm not. I am that mom that THINKS about doing all these things and gets excited at the prospect of being organized, but never actually gets around to the physical act of organizing my kitchen life. My dad used to call me the "Princess of the Land of Later" and for good reason. I still hold that title today.
Anyway, all this to tell you that, like any other good mom, I sat down and decided to open and peruse Pinterest for ideas of what to make for dinner. Any of you that are on Pinterest know the evil lures of this app. It makes one feel extremely inadequate, but the beauty of "pinning" said "pins" is that you are then made to feel like you are halfway to the "adequate" mark - I mean, I pinned an idea. It's good as done in my head now. I went through my lovely Pinterest board of "Recipes to Try." Once again, this board is meant for good intentional purposes only. It's pretty to look at and mouth watering to read. That's about the extent of my board usage. But last Thursday I was determined to USE one of those recipes! And... I found one! One that had pretty much all the ingredients that were sitting aimlessly in my pantry and I gave it a go. And it was glorious. This fancy food thing isn't so hard after all. I can't take any credit for this recipe, but will post my add-ins or substitutes that I used instead of what was suggested.
The recipe I decided to tackle was a Coconut Lentil Curry Soup dish. Not something my family usually goes for. We aren't exotic eaters. The extent of my exotic eating reaches out to my
traditional family background food of "borscht and cabbage rolls." So this was a new world to me. Luckily, I had the lentils (half a bag leftover from not-sure-when. There was a month left to go on the expiry...score), a can of coconut milk was forlornly waiting to be used in something OTHER than my famous chocolate cake (I'll post this recipe another time), curry powder: check, garlic and oil: check, Fresh ginger: check (although dry is just as good), tomato paste: nope.. "sub with ketchup" it says: CHECK! Veggie broth: I had run out of the veg broth AND cubes I usually use, so I decided to just use water. A can of diced tomatoes. Shoot. Didn't have that. But I DID have some chunky spaghetti sauce, so I figured this was the next best thing. The recipe DID say to garnish with cilantro and add greens at the end. I was going to add some frozen spinach I thought I had in my freezer, but there wasn't any when I checked. I had green onions so I went with those instead. And I went for it.
I pretty much followed the recipe as to how to put it all together. When it came to substituting, I added about a 1/2 jar of tomato sauce instead of the diced tomatoes. And can I just say, it turned out AMAZING! The prep took me maybe 10 minutes. And then I let my stockpot do the rest. It took about 30 minutes to simmer and then I just left it on the stove until dinner.
Here's the thing. This curry soup isn't exactly "soupy." It turned out more like a stew, and I was happy with that. If you want it more soupy, once you are ready to eat add a bit more broth or water to the dish to thin it out. Or even coconut milk. I ladled the curry onto a bed of rice and we topped it with the chopped green onions and a bit of chopped avocado. YUM! The texture was meaty, and the dish left us all full and content for the rest of the evening. I wholeheartedly recommend this recipe. 10 minutes to make and completely worth the effort. And there are tons of leftovers for a next day lunch.
Give it a try. If you like curry, you won't regret this dish at all! Check out the link to this recipe below. Add or take away things to your liking and go for it! If you do try this, comment below with your opinion on the dish.
Have a great day, London!
Vegan Curry Lentil Soup (Courtesy of Vegangela.com)
Ah, London. You are a city unlike any other. Some people may say you're not really a "tourist destination" while others will scoff at the fact that you have a "party" atmosphere due to your college and university (ahem) reputations. But if you are a true Londoner (third generation right here!) and have been born and raised here, or moved here and adopted this city as your own, then you understand that this city is so much more than "the other London" or "the city between Windsor and Toronto." 
