Lovebot Hunting Success

Robots need love too, they want to be loved by you......

Dan Mangan has solidified my adoration for robots + love, so it was pretty certain that I was destined to fall in love with the idea of the Lovebots.. I sent my boyfriend an article about them with a note that said "I WANT TO GO FIND THEM" and it was decided that a Lovebot hunting date was in our future. Cute, right?

Created by Matthew Del Degan, Lovebots are popping up all over Toronto as a symbol of love, kindness and positivity. Corbin and I definitely did a lot of smiling and laughing as we hunted down 10 of the 2 feet tall little guys, located everywhere from the Junction to the Danforth and many places in between. 

Each Lovebot is created by hand and numbered. Most follow the standard grey with red heart model, but there are a handful of rainbow-hued Lovebots and some with special coloured hearts. (I just found out that the one at Nadege has a pink heart!)

Each Lovebot is being given a special home somewhere across the city. Torontonians can also submit their own Lovebot Invasion story of kindness, love and compassion to inspire potential locations for the Lovebots. It's really neat to see where they're popping up and following the #lovebotinvasion on Twitter and Instagram. 

Since we were out a few weeks ago, more and more Lovebots and stickers have been popping up all over the city, as well as more media coverage and awareness of the project. 

I've clearly been hit with Lovebot fever, having made some sartorial choices based on my grey and red friends. Lovebot tights? Oh yes.

Having seen only about a dozen in person, I'm certainly planning to do some more Lovebot hunting over the next few months as all 100 invade the city. Their presence has definitely made me smile and I hope they're doing the same for people across Toronto!

Have you spotted any Lovebots?

Five Things I've Learned About Hummus

1. Hummus has infinite possibilities
It's been just over two weeks and we've made ten different types of hümmi for Hummus Month. And we've still got a whole Pinterest board of hummus recipes and inspiration. (Hummus cupcakes? Sounds weird, but I'm so into it!) Hummus month is gonna go strong until the end of September and I'm stoked.

2. Other people really like hummus 
Linz and I have been bogged down in hummus, but we've happily shared with our esteemed group of taste testers. Our readers, commenters, Twitter followers and Facebook friends are also really into this hummus domination, which is super cool.

3. Have no fear, hummus is really easy to make

I too have fallen prey to buying hummus in the store with an excuse of "convenience" or lack of time. But really, basic hummus takes about five minutes to make. You could really just go throw some chickpeas, tahini, a couple cloves of garlic, lemon, salt and oil into a food processor, turn on some Robyn and have super delicious, easy peasy hummus in about 5 minutes. (The Robyn is so that you can have a mega fun dance party in your kitchen while your hummus essentially makes itself) In talking about this month of hümmi, I've been surprised by the number of people who ask "how do you make hummus?". It's the easiest. And you'll feel awesome and virtuous. Give it a go. 

4. Linz and I make great collaborators 
We're having far too much fun with hummus. We talk, text and tweet about it daily, and our weekly yoga/hummus dates are the best. We're really silly and giggle about the most ridiculous things, but I think our hümmi recipes are continuing to get better.

5. There is such a thing as too much hummus
Not gonna lie, I was really sick of hummus after week one. We had both made hummus during the week, then collaborated on more hummus on the weekend and sampled one another's. There was hummus everywhere and it was actually too much. And this coming from a gal who LOVES the stuff! This week was a lot better, with only choice hummus opportunities and eating. It also helps that the recipes we made over the weekend are divine!!

In honor of our hummus love, Linz and I are gonna talk about all things hummus at our #hummuschat this Thursday September 19 at 8pm EST! Some of our favourite people are going to be joining in for this chickpea celebration and we'd love for you to be there too. Follow us on the Twitter (@ashleydtl and @kitchenoperas) and check out the #hummuschat hashtag to join in the fun!

Vegan Mofo - Why Hummus?

It all started with a conversation about peeling chickpeas.

Linz and I were at brunch way back in March and started chatting about a blog post I had seen relating to peeling chickpeas prior to making hummus. We both agreed that it would be a fun way to spend an afternoon and that we would have to try it (this is how you know we're meant to be friends).

This led to more talks of hummus and our mutual love of hummus. As vegetarians, hummus is a pretty normal staple for both of us and something we both really adore. We suddenly found ourselves coming up with all sorts of ideas for delicious, creative and magical variations of hummus. We realized that:
a) chickpea sales were going to go up in our neighborhoods
b) we were gonna need more food processors
c) a month of hummus would be a perfect way to celebrate Vegan Mofo

So I guess the question really is, why NOT hummus?!

We couldn't determine any reasons why hummus was a bad idea, so Lindsay is going to be hosting our month of hummus over on her lovely blog in honor of Vegan Mofo. Expect all sorts of chickpeas, tips and tricks, stellar recipes, some extra special guests and all kinds of fun. Get ready, its going to be 'hummazing' with all the hümmi* that we're going dream up!

*we have decided that hümmi is the appropriate plural of hummus