The Sokanu team has a habit of getting wood-fired pizza from this food truck about 3x a week for lunch. It’s…just so good. And it’s about 20 paces from our office. How could we not?
By Jocelyn McLean
Anyone who has met me for five minutes, regardless of the season, will learn quickly that Christmas is my favourite time of year. I buy in to every aspect of it. I am an advertising executive’s dream. I’m obsessed with the music, the food, the traditions, the shopping, and of course, spending time with the family. Naturally I’d like to share the holiday joy, so here’s a collection of some of my favourite things.
MUSIC
Anyone who says they don’t like Christmas music is probably just looking in the wrong place. This is why, every year, I take it upon myself to make about 5 Christmas playlists so that I can instill Christmas spirit in every Grinch. 8tracks is a particularly great place to find these gems. One of these playlists should do the trick for you: there’s a jazz playlist for a nice relaxing evening by the fireplace; a pop Christmas for those of you who secretly (or not-so-secretly) love Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey; an indie playlist for those of you who are just too hipster for the mainstream; and of course, a classic playlist for all the traditionalists.
TV & MOVIES
My family and I literally have to schedule our time down to the hour sometimes so that we can fit in all the Christmas movies and TV episodes we watch every year. Some of my family’s favourites include It’s A Wonderful Life, Love Actually, and all the Christmas episodes of The West Wing. I also love the abundance of Christmas specials that take over my television.
DELICIOUS TREATS
I don’t mean to brag (except I totally do), but earlier this month I made candy cane brownies for the office and they were pretty much a work of art. For a long time my favourite part about Christmas food was eating the Christmas food, but it turns out making it can be just as much fun. Here are some tasty recipes for you to try over the holidays:
FUN FACTS
I don’t think a holiday is a holiday without some obscure facts, so here’s some fun information to send you off – Merry Christmas, everyone!
- In Canada, Santa Claus has his own postal zip code, H0H 0H0.
- Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold. Approximately 30-35 million real (living) Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S.
- The world’s largest Christmas stocking was made by the Children’s Society in London in 2009, and measured 106 feet and 9 inches long, and 49 feet and 1 inch wide. It weighed as much as five reindeer and held almost 1,000 presents.
By Sarah Halickman
You’ve likely gathered from my last blog post that food makes up a very important part (or parts) of my day. I’ve found that what I eat really affects the way I feel all day long; there’s nothing worse than being too full from lunch and too sleepy to work, or having a salty lunch and being thirsty all afternoon. As a result I’ve made a point to stick to a food routine for most workdays, and pick foods that will boost my energy and keep me feeling fresh. I’ve found a few things that work, and a few that don’t for workday lunchtimes.
1. Pack ahead: I always pack my lunches the night before. In my experience if you leave it to the morning of, you end up being in a big rush and not having enough time and surrendering to a food court lunch.
2. Bring plenty of snacks: snacks keep me going and I always bring an assortment to work. Yogurt, fruit, veggies, and nuts are all great options and they are perfect for in between meals to keep energy levels high
3. Make extras: something I like to do is make a few things on Sunday to have ready to go for the first few days of the week. One of the easiest recipes is a quinoa salad; they’re easy to make and very filling. You can find one of my go-to recipes here. It keeps for a few days in the fridge and is great cold. The same can be said for dinners; if you add a bit to whatever you’re making for dinner you’re sure to have enough for the next day’s lunch and the work is already done.
4. Keep spares: I keep some extra granola bars in my desk drawer just in case. It’s a great solution on days where there weren’t any snacks that excited me for lunch at home. It also gives you the opportunity to be a savior for a hungry coworker!
5. Tomatoes on the side: I absolutely hate soggy sandwiches. When I make my sandwich I pack sliced tomatoes on the side in some tin foil so my sandwich isn’t wet by the time I eat it.
6. Be adventurous: I often put almost anything I can find in my salad; canned corn, chickpeas, sundried tomatoes, tons of vegetables, olives, tabbouleh, and anything else that may be in the fridge. It keeps my meals from getting boring and makes each lunch a little bit different. Don’t be afraid of strange combinations; you might be pleasantly surprised with what you come up with!
By Sara Halickman
Anyone who knows me knows I love to eat and cook (also a reason why anyone who knows me also knows that I am a very regular gym-goer). I’ve always been an adventurous eater thanks to a pact my parents made with me at the age of three when I swore I would try everything once and only once I had could I decide what I did and didn’t like. I have to say it worked; there are very few foods I turn my nose at.
Lately I’ve become more and more aware of how important what I eat is during a workday; it dictates how tired I am, how productive I am, and how well I feel. There’s nothing worse than feeling sluggish after a big lunch and too tired to get anything done all afternoon, or being distracted by hunger and on a hunt for food (which generally doesn’t end well). I’ve found that it is incredibly important to eat properly for a workday to make sure I have enough energy.
I have always been a huge proponent of breakfast being the most important meal of the day. I can’t understand how people go through an entire morning without eating anything and somehow muster up the energy to get a morning’s worth of work in. I love breakfast. I have been one to admit that upon finishing dinner I start looking forward to the next morning’s breakfast. I’ve gone through a lot of breakfast phases, and the meals that stick tend to be ones that actually keep me full from breakfast until lunch .
A vegetarian friend of mine introduced me to a website devoted to vegan recipes over the summer and recommended something called Vegan Overnight Oats. I was intrigued. I’ve always been a fan of oatmeal in the morning and once I tried VOO (as the website’s creator affectionately calls them) I was immediately hooked. The recipe extremely filling and is one of the few breakfasts that can get me all the way through until lunch. It’s made with rolled oats, almond milk, chia seeds, and a variety of other ingredients that can be used to customize it to your tastes. The secret is in the chia seeds; they act as a binding agent and by some miracle of chemistry absorb the milk into the raw oats and make everything moist but not soggy.
You can find my personal favorite VOO recipe here; along with a number of others that are based along the same premise.
It is my current favorite breakfast to start a workday with, along with a nice cup of coffee. I usually prepare mine when I make my lunch the night before, which is not surprisingly when I start looking forward to eating it.
