Fall semester is in full swing and it’s starting to feel like you’re doing the same thing every week. Class. Study. Drink. Hangover. Poor Theme Party Costume Choice. Homework. Switch things up by taking advantage of a long weekend or your fall break (if you’re that lucky) by checking out our Weekend Getaway guides. You’ve already got a guide to Boston.  Today we’re celebrating Toronto.

For our readers in Eastern Canada, or even in the Northeastern states, Toronto is definitely a city you should consider checking out for a long weekend.  There is a lot to do in the city, and with everything in the downtown close together, you can see a lot in just a few days!  Plus, if you’re coming up across the border, the drinking age is only 19 so you, too, can get a taste of the stellar nightlife.

But beyond that, Toronto is one of the most multicultural cities in the world – you could easily eat or shop your way around the world in only a few hours. It’s also a hub for art, shows, and fashion so there’s something here for everyone. And your money goes a wee bit further than it would in the U.S.A.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your passport and come to Canada!

What to Do

When operational, the Distillery District in Toronto used to be home to the largest distillery in the British Empire.  Now the district is home to 40 historic buildings, making up the most preserved collection of Victorian industrial architecture in North America.  Yeah, I know you might be rolling your eyes at visiting a historic area, but there are lots of restaurants and shops, too!  Like SOMA chocolate – where they sell delicious artisan chocolate. Next I’d recommend checking out the Royal Ontario Museum (commonly known as the ROM). If you’re a shopper, our Rodeo Drive/5th Avenue equivalent is in this area.

Lastly, check out Kensington Market;  there are lots of cool little shops, cafes and bars, making it the perfect stop for an afternoon stroll. If you’re into vintage clothing there also happen to be a TON of shops around there full of fun and funky threads.  Chinatown borders on Kensington so go check it out as well – I highly recommend going to a Chinese bakery while you’re there.

Three places you must eat

1. Smokes Poutinerie
Poutine is a Canadian delicacy, and Smoke’s has quite the variety of specialty poutine dishes

2. Terroni
You have to try pizza at Terroni; it’s delicious.  If you go to the location on Adelaide, it’s in the old Courthouse – a seriously cool atmosphere.

3. Fresh
Want something healthy? Check out one of their three locations.  This vegetarian juice-bar is sure to have you feeling pumped to hit the streets since you’ll be full of nutritional goodness.  And, just an FYI, Toronto is brimming with vegetarian/vegan restaurants for all of you meat-free ladies.

Nightlife

There are lots of places to go out in Toronto.  My recommendations would be to stick these areas, especially if you want to do a little bar hopping: Annex, Queen West, the Entertainment District and Kensington Market.  These neighborhoods tend to skew younger, so you won’t have to worry so much about being hit on by creepy older men. And the Annex & Kensington Market are super close to University of Toronto, so you’ll find lots of students getting their drink on.

Lodging
If you’re looking to save some money, I’d definitely opt for a hostel. Some highly rated hostels in Toronto are the Canadiana Backpackers Inn, Backpackers on Dundas and Global Village Backpackers. If you’re coming up on a weekend or holiday and want more luxurious accommodations, check out the hotels in the financial district – they usually offer reduced rates when it’s not a standard business day.

Water – Water is probably the most important thing you ever put in your body throughout a given day.  Having enough water in your system helps everything run smoothly, including your digestion, thought processes, and alertness.  Plus, it helps flush (read: pee pee) out all of the toxic byproducts of your normal body processes.  This is the part that makes your skin glow, look fresh, and appear more rested.  While how much water you drink is constantly in dispute, my general rule of thumb is to drink enough water to keep your pee light yellow.

Omega-3 Rich Foods – This includes foods like salmon, flax seeds, walnuts, and certain types of beans.  Eating these foods on a normal basis increases your intake of essential fatty acids, which help your skin remain plump and fresh by holding water into your skin cells.  Omega-3s also act was an anti-inflammatory agent, which can improve the blood flow to your face, making you glow.

Selenium-Rich Foods – Studies have shown the power of this mineral in preventing damage to the skin cells.  Foods high in selenium include whole grains, turkey, and tuna.  Selenium can help prevent oxidative damage, which can age and roughen skin cells.  Pour yourself a bowl of whole wheat cereal in the morning to get closer to your daily selenium needs.

Green Tea – Green tea has been tied to a number of health benefits such as decreased appetite, increased calorie burn, and antioxidant properties.  For the skin, what makes this drink important is its anti-inflammatory properties.  Just like omega-3s, green tea may help protect skin cell membranes, making the skin look fresher, plumper, and well rested.

Vitamin A Rich Foods – Vitamin A is crucial to repairing skin cells.  When levels are low, the skin responds by becoming dry and flaky – something I know none of us want.  Many people apply Vitamin A creams topically as a treatment for wrinkles, acne, and psoriasis, but you can still obtain some effects by eating foods rich in Vitamin A.  Some of the best sources of this vitamin include carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and butter.  On second thought, maybe you should refrain from snacking on sticks of the last one, just for your waistline’s sake.

Last Tuesday I saw the documentary Food, Inc. and it changed my life.  Although it had a relatively minimal environmental focus, it still reminded me how important we are as consumers and how much our food purchasing decisions actually make a difference.

Think about it – 10 years ago you couldn’t really find any substantial amount of organic produce in mainstream supermarkets.  Now, due to the demand for healthier and more sustainable products, the supermarkets are flooded with organic products from Oreos to macaroni and cheese.  And for those of you who think you can’t afford eco-friendly foods on a college budget, think again.  I will show you where, how, and what to buy to decrease your carbon “foodprint” while increasing the size of your wallet.

1. Skip the supermarket and head to your local farmer’s market.   By shopping locally, you support your neighborhood farmer and decrease the amount of fossil fuels needed to transport your food.  Most of the food sold at farmers markets is organic, and even if it’s not, you still increase the amount of in-season crops that you purchase.  Plus, by cutting out the middle man (i.e. the supermarkets) you can usually get a better price for healthier foods.  Find a farmer’s market (or two!) in your town by visiting www.localharvest.org.

2. Order delivery. If you don’t have time to hit the farmer’s market, you should check out community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs in your area.  When you subscribe to a CSA, you buy your produce directly from a farmer.  Your produce usually comes in a giant box per week that the farm delivers directly to you or to a pick-up spot near you.  The best part about the box is that all of the produce is in-season, fresh, and organic.  Each week’s box is a surprise filled with vegetables and fruits that you never knew existed.  It’s a great opportunity for you and your roommates to share the expense (and the cooking!) of eco-friendly, healthy foods.

3. Be picky. As much as we’d like to, most of us can’t afford to buy solely organic foods.  Skip the confusion at the grocery store head to www.foodnews.org.  This website lists various produce items in order of their tendency to be contaminated with pesticides.  Some of the most contaminated foods include peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, and strawberries.  These are foods that you should definitely buy organic if you can.  If you’re strapped for cash, don’t worry about onions, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, and asparagus – these have the lowest pesticide load of all produce.

4. Eat your vegetables. It takes far less energy to produce vegetables than meat, dairy, and produce.  Each year, livestock consume about half of the grains and oilseeds grown in the U.S., which requires huge amounts of pesticides and fertilizers to produce.  They are also constantly sprayed with insecticides and injected with antibiotics to keep them healthy despite their too-tight living quarters.  All of this requires tons of energy and produces a huge amount of pollution.  Instead, limit your consumption of meat, dairy, and seafood or buy organic meats and wild seafood if you can’t go without.  Even just adopting a “meatless Mondays” tradition can decrease your carbon “foodprint” by leaps and bounds.

5. Avoid processed foods. If you can’t do any of the above, simply choosing fresher, non-processed foods can do tons of good for the environment and your health.  Processed foods require dozens of ingredients (most of which are artificial and/or doused in pesticides) to produce and preserve the product.  Most of these ingredients are shipped in from all over to a main processing plant before the finished product is even shipped out to supermarkets.  Avoid the “mystery ingredients” and vow to only eat food made with ingredients you can actually pronounce.

Food production is one of the top sources of greenhouse gases and pollution.  Be sure to educate yourself before you put something like that in your body!  If you want more information, check out the documentary Food, Inc., go to www.coolfoodscampaign.org, or check out books like Fast Food Nation and In Defense of Food.

We’re back with another edition of G.W.W.E. (Guys We Wanna Eff)!

Ladies, what do we love most?  Hot men? Looking fabulous? Exotic locales? Yes? What if I told you that you could have all of the above, in one tidy, effable package?

Meet Yigal Azrouël: sublime fashion designer and personality. The Israeli import has been showing his fresh, modern collections on runways since 1998, and is known among fashionistas for his expert draping techniques. His work is well-loved by Natalie Portman, Salma Hayek, and Sarah Jessica Parker. (Hey, if your work gets the thumbs-up from SJP, you’re made like lemonade!)

I know what you’re thinking: he’s a designer, he can’t possibly be “batting for my team,” right? Wrong. Yigal is straight… and maybe single. There have been rumors of him sweeping Katie Lee Joel (wife of Billy) off her feet , though I wouldn’t blame Katie Lee for fleeing the coup. Take a look at Yigal’s rugged mug, and Billy Joel–well, let’s just say he’s seen better days.

To have Yigal around would be nothing short of titilating. Imagine a life filled with frequent travel (New York, Paris, Milan–you know, the usual), a self-made man and a smokin’-hot wardrobe designed expressly for you. Excuse me, I think I’ve just described heaven. Yigal, I heard effing was so in for summer. Let’s pioneer that trend, okay?

The first time I ate in my college dining hall was the first time I realized that putting on that Freshman 15 wasn’t due to just drinking more alcohol. How on earth can I avoid the temptation of returning to the dessert bar…three times?

Never in my life had tons of food been readily available to me and all paid for. The moment I saw the glimmer of that giant soft serve machine was the moment I knew I was doomed. But I’ve found the solution, people! By keeping some delicious (and healthy) snacks in my room constantly, it’s easier to avoid extras at every meal in the dining hall by reminding myself I can healthfully indulge in between meals. Worried about looking like a food hoarder? I’ve included some cute ways to display your morsels of goodness.

1. Hershey’s Kisses

If you haven’t had a Hershey’s Kiss in a while, let me tell you– they last WAY longer than you’d expect, especially if you let them melt in your mouth. At 25 calories each, you could have four or five before you hit the hay. Plus, they look really cute in a curvy apothecary jar, and I promise you’ll have friends stopping by juuust a little more often if the jar has easy access to visitors. Bonus points for buying the red and green foils during the holidays.

2. Energy Bars

I don’t know about you, but I’m a HUGE energy bar fan. I love trying new ones and have found a few winners for both taste and nutrition: Kashi TLC bars, Powerbar Pria bars (110 calories) and Luna Bars (usually around 180 calories– or try the Mini versions at 80 calories!). Try asking around for any old vintage cigar boxes. I have tons of beautiful yellow wooden cases that are the perfect size! Nowadays people are making these cigar boxes into purses by adding a handle, but they’ll fit nicely in your desk drawer or could be displayed on your shelf!

3. Flavored Almonds

I know, I know, what is the flavored part about? If you’ve hit up any supermarkets recently, you may have seen Blue Diamond’s line of Natural Roasted Almonds in colorful cup-holder-friendly containers. But they’re not just ANY almonds– they come in Vanilla, Cinnamon Brown Sugar, Salted and Unsalted. I wanted to incorporate almonds into my diet but couldn’t make myself until I found these delicious things. As an added bonus, there’s portion control markers on the side of the container so it’ll be easier for us to use moderation. The container ain’t too hard on the eyes, either.

4. Fresh Fruit

Try to grab some extra fresh fruit to take back to your room next time you’re at a meal. Apples seem to last a little longer than, say, peaches…but it all depends on your preference. Bananas are filling, apples have great crunch, and oranges improve your mood. Fruit is a great pick me up between class and you can grab one of them on your way out the door. Try to get your hands on a colorful ceramic bowl to keep them in. If you know you love orange fruit, try to get a blue one to compliment the color. Also, if your mother is like mine and gave you a big glass vase for your room (assuming, of course, you’d have time or energy to keep fresh flowers…silly mother), you could easily keep an apple collection in the vase. Spas do it all the time! If you like dried fruit, store them in the apothecary jars as I suggested for the Hershey’s Kisses.

5. Air-pop popcorn, Pita Chips, Quakes, Pretzels

Some of my favorite healthy snacks come in similar size snack bags– Stacy’s Pita Chips, Quakes, Rold Gold Pretzels, and Orville Redenbacher 100-calorie Smart Pop. Convenience, health, and excitement all in one! Stacy’s Pita Chips and Quakes are so good you definitely don’t regret avoiding their greasy counterpart – the potato chip. Orville’s Smart Popcorn is only one hundred calories, and let me tell you– you get a LOT of bang for your calorie buck. I eat them constantly and am pleasantly surprised every single time by the sheer volume of popcorn you get for 100 calories. If you’re looking for a cute way to store them, buy a rectangular, long wicker basket and snuggle all your packs next to each other. You could keep the basket on a shelf or above your bookcase.

So there you have it! Good luck beginning your career as a healthy, chic-ly stocked chick!

To me, these little breads are almost like magic. You roll them flat as pancakes, then they puff up and fill with air. How does it happen? I have no idea, but I’m glad it does.

For two pita pockets, you’ll need ½ cup flour (all-purpose or wheat works), 1 teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon rapid-rise yeast, and 2 tablespoons water.

In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar, yeast, and water. The water should be around room temperature—just make sure it’s not way too hot or too cold. It’s OK if the dough hardly comes together—you’re going to knead it, and it will absorb more flour when you do that.

In the bowl or on a flat work surface, knead the dough for about 5 minutes. You may need to add more flour as you go along to keep the dough from getting too sticky. When you’re finished, shape the dough into a ball, and put it back in the bowl.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set it in a warm place to rise for 2 hours. The oven with the pilot light turned on works well. After those 2 hours, the dough should have expanded. It will look flatter, puffier, and maybe a little darker.

Preheat the oven to 500. Separate the dough into two balls, and sprinkle a little flour onto a flat surface. Roll out each ball into a flat pancake shape, somewhere between 1/8” and ¼” thick.

Here’s the tricky part. When you have your two pancake shapes, place them directly onto the oven grids. The oven will be incredibly hot, so BE CAREFUL! Use hot pads if you’re clumsy or if you think you might drop the flattened pieces of dough.

Shut the oven, and bake the breads for 5 minutes. When they’re done—no joke—they will have puffed up to about 2 inches in height. Awesome—and delicious!

The problem is, making fresh bread usually requires fooling around with yeast. I don’t have anything against yeast, but it’s temperamental. If the water you mix it with is too cold, it won’t ferment. If it’s too hot, the yeast will die. I don’t have time to screw around with that stuff! That’s why this bread recipe is great… if you can get water to room temperature, then you virtually can’t screw it up.

For one loaf starter, you need a cup of water, 2 cups of flour, and ¼ teaspoon yeast (rapid-rise yeast is best). Then, for the bread, you need an additional ¼ cup water, 1 cup flour, 1 ½ teaspoons yeast (again, rapid-rise is best), 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional). If you want to brush something nice over the top so the bread is shiny, you need more olive oil or 1 egg white.

To begin, mix the starter ingredients together. The water should be at a cool room temperature. Once you’ve combined the ingredients and mixed them so that all the flour is absorbed, put plastic wrap over the bowl you mixed them in, and let the starter rest overnight or for 12-16 hours. The dough should rise dramatically and look somewhat bubbly when it’s done.

After the starter has risen, mix it with the ¼ cup water. Make sure it’s combined and smooth. It will reduce back down to its previous size, but that’s okay. Add the cup of flour, the 1 ½ teaspoons yeast, the salt, and the olive oil if you’re using it. Knead the bread on a floured surface for 5-6 minutes until it feels smooth. You may need to add more flour as you go along.

When you’re done, grease the bowl the starter was in, turn to coat the dough with the grease (or oil, or butter, or whatever), cover it with plastic wrap again, and let it rise for 1 ½-4 hours. (That’s why this bread is great—you can totally conform it to your schedule!)

Once it’s risen, it will look all puffy again. Gently take it out of the bowl and set it onto a baking sheet that’s been greased or coated with aluminum foil or waxed paper. Mold it into the loaf shape you want (round, rodlike, braided, whatever)…

… then cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for another 1 ½-4 hours. It should look the same, but puffier.

Near the end of the rising, preheat the oven to 425. If you want to coat the bread with something so that it looks shiny on top, beat an egg white well in a bowl and use a pastry brush to coat the loaf with the egg white. You can also brush olive oil on top. When you’re finished coating it, bake that sucker for 30-35 minutes. When it’s beautiful and golden brown, it’s done and ready to eat!

Here’s what you need: enough dry pasta (of any kind) for two people, about a tablespoon of olive oil, 1 celery stalk, 1 carrot, 2 garlic cloves, half an onion, about ¼ or 1/3 lb. ground beef or ground turkey, about 1/3 cup milk, 2-3 plum tomatoes, ½ teaspoon dry oregano, ½ teaspoon dry basil, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and a couple tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese (optional).

First, chop the celery, carrot, onion, garlic, and tomatoes. That is, by far, the most work in the recipe. Everything else is smooth sailing.

Swirl the olive oil in a pan and put it on low-medium heat. Add everything you just chopped except the tomatoes. Sauté for about 5 minutes.

Crumble the ground beef into the mix and stir for about a minute. Then add the milk, and cook the mixture for another 2 minutes. Most of the milk will evaporate, which is what you want to happen.

After that, add the tomatoes.

Then add the oregano, basil, salt, and pepper.

It should be starting to smell great in your kitchen right about now. Turn the heat down to low and continue simmering the sauce for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, you can cook and drain your pasta.

When time’s up, pour the sauce on your pasta, top with cheese if you like, and enjoy!