Keri Cronin

Category Archives: Niagara


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Niagara VegFest News

Great news on the Niagara VegFest front! We have received funding from the City of St. Catharines. This will help us continue to build and promote the festival for 2013. A huge thanks to the City’s Cultural Investment Program for this grant.

It may be a cold and gloomy day in Niagara today (apparently it is Blue Monday), but before we know it, Niagara VegFest will be upon us! We are working away getting things ready–much excitement here at Niagara VegFest headquarters! Registrations are starting to come in, the list of speakers is nearly finalized, and we are busy working on other plans for the festival. Stay tuned!

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Happy Birthday, Rise Above!

Rise Above, Niagara’s only fully vegan restaurant, is now two years old! For two years Kyle Paton and his staff have been serving up vegan goodness in downtown St. Catharines. Rise Above started off selling vegan doughnuts out of a small location on Summer Street, but quickly expanded to a full-service restaurant over at 120 St. Paul Street. (don’t worry, you can still get the famous vegan doughnuts that put this place on the map!)

Kyle and the Rise Above team have become a fixture in downtown St. Catharines, participating in everything from a fund-raising Chili cook off to our very own Niagara VegFest. Rise Above’s presence in downtown St. Catharines has had a ripple effect, with several other restaurants, bars, and cafes in the neighbourhood now boasting vegan options.

One of my favourite things about Rise Above are the “tasting menu” evenings, special events where diners are treated to a 5 course meal comprised of dishes not found on the regular menu. These are gourmet courses, edible works of art. These dinners sell out within hours and are among the hottest tickets in town. Keep an eye on Rise Above’s Facebook and Twitter feeds to catch wind of when the next one is happening. (I hear there are 3 slated for early December)

The regular menu at Rise Above is pretty spectacular too. I’m particularly partial to the gnocchi (served with a cashew cream sauce that will blow your mind). And have I mentioned brunch? The brunch menu changes regularly, but is always incredible. With options like banana bread french toast (pictured below), you won’t be disappointed!

Congrats on this anniversary, Kyle, and thank you for making downtown St. Catharines such a great place to be a vegan! May there be plenty more Rise Above goodness in the years to come!

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Niagara’s First VegFest

Saturday June 2nd marked the first ever VegFest in the Niagara Region. I was part of the organizing committee for this event and while we were hoping the day would be a success we simply could not have anticipated the overwhelming response to the festival. Doors opened at 10 am and by about 10:30 we realized that we were going to be seeing some pretty large crowds during the day. The final attendance tally was 1250! This completely exceeded our expectations and at times things got a little crowded. However, everyone was in good spirits and took it in stride. As one of my colleagues remarked, “yeah, it was a little crowded, but it was exciting! It made you feel like you were really part of something.”

We had 30 fabulous exhibitors and vendors who ended up selling out of most everything by the end of the day. We had 4 generous sponsors who stepped up and took a chance on a new festival–a huge thanks to Kindfood, Sestres Coffee Shop, The Naked Sprout, & Bamboo Natural Food Market for their help in making the Niagara VegFest a reality. Thanks also goes out to VegFund for awarding us a grant to help put on the festival. We also were incredibly grateful for the assistance of Niagara Action for Animals and all our fabulous volunteers. What a day! I think more than anything what I took away from Niagara VegFest is just what an amazing community we have here.

I was also so impressed with all of our speakers. Marni Wasserman kicked off the day with a session on green smoothies, and even made enough to give samples to the audience. After that we had Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan from Our Hen House speak on the subject of food activism (one of my favourite topics!). Our third speaker was Chef Douglas McNish who talked about the path that he took to become a vegan chef and cookbook author. (note: Doug sold out of books at the festival–they are a huge hit! Make sure you order one!) Our fourth speaker was local athlete Jennifer Hintenberger, who just happens to hold some world records in kettle bell and who also happens to be vegan. She talked about how she overcame numerous illnesses because of her plant-based diet and I love how people like Jennifer help to shatter the myth that vegans are weak–she is one of the strongest people I’ve ever met! (for more on Jennifer’s story, check out her appearance on this week’s Our Hen House podcast). All of these speakers were so compelling and talked about the many benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. They were funny, engaging, and informative, and I was so honoured that they all so enthusiastically agreed to be part of Niagara’s first VegFest!

We closed the day with a screening of Vegucated, a fabulous film that is getting great reviews all over the world. We had a great audience for the screening and many people have since asked me where they can get a copy of the film for their own collection. It is a must see!

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to the festival and helped make it the success it was. Plans are already under way for the 2013 Niagara VegFest. Stay tuned!

Update: check out Our Hen House’s episode featuring Niagara VegFest!


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Niagara VegFest

So, I’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus. Life is busy.

One of the things that is keeping me busy is planning (with my awesome VegFest planning team!) the first-ever VegFest in Niagara.

Mark your calendars for June 2nd and come celebrate the many wonderful things about a plant-based lifestyle at the Niagara VegFest. There will be delicious food, workshops, vendors, exhibitors, prizes, a film screening, and some absolutely amazing speakers!

Jasmin Singer and Mariann Sullivan of Our Hen House were recently named “Indie Powerhouse of the Year” by VegNews, and you can catch them at the Niagara VegFest!

photo by Jo-Anne McArthur

We are also so excited to welcome Douglas McNish to the festival. In addition to speaking about his role as a vegan chef at places like the Windsor Arms, Douglas McNish will also be doing a signing of his new book, Eat Raw, Eat Well.

Douglas McNish

We will also be joined by the ever-amazing Marni Wasserman. You don’t want to miss her healthy living, plant-based demo.

Marni Wasserman


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A Bridge to Port

I am so excited that the new pedestrian bridge between Port Dalhousie and Jaycee Park is now open! I went for my first walk on it the other morning and was just grinning the whole way across the bridge.

When I lived in Port Dalhousie, I found it so maddeningly car-centric. There are no stores in Port–I mean, there are gift shop-type stores, but nowhere to, say, buy bananas–so one must leave Port Dalhousie to get basic provisions and run errands. I found biking along the main roads in and out of Port to be rather treacherous. Walking along Lake Ontario and/or Martindale Pond was, of course, lovely but running a few errands on foot could take most of the day.

The addition of this bridge allows people to easily walk and cycle over to Ontario Street without having to negotiate car traffic and will make Port Dalhousie an infinitely more liveable and enjoyable community. Huge congrats to all who helped make it a reality!


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Lemon Tree!

This is Victoria, my new lemon tree! Isn’t she beautiful? She also smells amazing!!

I’ve wanted a lemon tree for ages and picked this little beauty up at Rice Road Greenhouse in Niagara. The plan is to keep her on the deck in the summer and then winter her inside. I understand she needs lots of sunshine and lots of water, but other than that I’m still learning what makes a happy, healthy lemon tree. Anyone have any tips?


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Enjoying Vegan Food

If you had told me a few years ago that I would be blogging about food, that I would be interested–really, really interested–in trying new recipes and that kitchen gadgets (hello Vitamix!) would be on my “wish list” I would have laughed. For years I was a pretty lazy vegetarian — frozen pizzas, lacklustre sandwiches, cereal. Whatever. As long as it wasn’t made of animal flesh I was ok with it.

Being vegan has brought many changes to my life – all of them positive. This weekend I was thinking a lot about how I’ve begun to pay more attention to what I eat, both from a nutritional and ethical point of view, but also from a taste point of view. I’ve been thinking more about flavours, textures and how different dishes go with one another.

We cooked up a storm this weekend. First up: White Bean and Kale Soup and Biscuits. Then Carrot Raisin Muffins from my all-time favourite vegan cookbook, Vegan With a Vengeance.

We took a trip to the market on Saturday to stock up on greens and goodies. (veggies for us and for Jill the rabbit!) While we were there we stopped at Rise Above Bakery’s booth and got some fabulous chocolate croissants – yes, they were vegan! Oh. My. Goodness. So delicious! Then we stopped at the Truly Organic Foods booth and had a great chat with Lee-Ann. We bought some Salad Booster and some Coconut Oil from her. Both sounded amazing, but while I was pretty confident that I knew what to do with the Salad Booster (“sprinkle on top of salad”), I was less certain about what to do with Coconut Oil. Turns out there is a whole world of Coconut Oil goodness just waiting to be created! Marlie sent me a recipe for a Granola made with coconut oil so I had to make that today. The whole house smelled like toasted coconut goodness.

For dinner tonight I finally got to try a recipe I’ve been dying to try for ages, Tomato Basil Cream Pasta from Vegan Yum Yum. Wow. Just wow. (please note, I’m complimenting the recipe, not my cooking :) ). This will be a go-to favourite from here on in. I’m still always amazed at the versatility of nuts. (I’m also discovering, much to my delight, that businesses like Truly Organic Foods sell raw nuts that have very likely not come into contact with peanuts. I know that it is pretty difficult to guarantee this, but by virtue of how these raw nuts are acquired, packaged and sold the risk for someone with a severe peanut allergy is pretty minimal. This makes me very, very happy.)

We also were invited to a fabulous vegan brunch on Sunday morning. (thanks Crista & Dylan!) What better way to enjoy good vegan food than to share it with friends?! I’m seriously thinking we should start a vegan brunch club, moving the feast from house to house each month. Anyone with me?


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A “Baker’s Dozen” at Rise Above

So, I was among the fortunate few who scored a seat to tonight’s “Baker’s Dozen” event at the new Rise Above Bakery in St. Catharines. Now, I’m not one to gloat, but I have to say that if you weren’t there you missed out in a rather epic fashion. Amazing! An amazing 5 course vegan meal in a funky new downtown venue. Fan-flippin’-tastic!

To start, we had a delicious celery-pear soup.

This was followed by a potato and heirloom beet salad.

The next course was tofu in shitake dashi with sesame vegetables.

Next up was gnocchi in a cashew cream sauce. Amazing!

Dessert was a cinnamon bun with vanilla “ice cream” – seriously one of the most delicious desserts I’ve ever had in my entire life.

A great atmosphere and a great night – excellent food, wine, chai tea, art, etc.

Even Jenny (the cat) and Jill (the rabbit) approve.

Word on the street is that these events will take place on a semi-regular basis. If I were you, I’d be sure to sign up for the next one. Seriously.

Huge congrats to Kyle Paton on this new business adventure. I smell success!


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Solstice Breakfast at Pan

To celebrate Winter Solstice we had breakfast at Pan, one of our favourite downtown restaurants. As usual, the food was spectacular! I had the “Eggs Bryan,” a vegan version of Eggs Benedict: toast, spiced tofu and an avocado-based hollandaise sauce. So yummy and it is especially nice with a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice.

Niagara folks – if you haven’t been to Pan lately (or at all, for that matter), you are missing out! Great food made with local ingredients – the menu is veggie-friendly, but there is something for everyone! A great downtown location, neat art on the walls, “Baby Hour,” a new dinner menu on Thurs, Fri & Sat, and some pretty fabulous beers and wines – what’s not to love!? (and, no, I don’t work at Pan, I’m just a Pan fan!)


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Guru Goodness

Last night we were in Niagara Falls and ended up having dinner at Guru (thanks to a number of my vegan friends + Happy Cow for the suggestion). I’m always on the lookout for vegan-friendly places to eat, so I was delighted to learn about this restaurant.

It was a brutally cold night in Niagara, but the atmosphere and yummy food at Guru warmed us right up. Our server was very knowledgable about the vegan options and seemed really happy to help us pick out vegan options and/or veganize other options on the menu. We had vegetarian pakora, aloo gobi, channa masala, prantha bread (more than one order – so good!) and rice. Very delicious and reasonably priced — all this + a couple of beers for about $60.

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