OMFG - Eat What You Love...A Haut Appetit Connection

As Toronto Fashion Week takes over the city, models once again are in the spotlight, ready to be scrutinized by the media, fashionistas and the general public. Whoever said modeling was an easy job has never done it -- only those with thick skin should apply. Thick skin, however, is the only part of a model that is allowed to be thick as rail-thin is still the ideal body-type. I don't care how many fashion organizations vow to use models with body types of a certain BMI, or cast "curvier" models every once in a while: fashion has always featured extremely thin women. Everything else is simply for good publicity or sympathetic smiles from the fashion elite. We're all dying to be thin, thin and thinner.

Well, not all of us! I've been lucky enough to be naturally quite thin (while still being able to eat as much as I please for the most part) and find that the girls I become close friends with in the industry share my view on food: eat what you love, just don't stuff your face. I've never been one for extreme dieting, unhealthy means of staying skinny (read: laxatives and other unpleasant forceful removal..), juice cleanses or anything else along those lines. It's all too impractical for me. Life is for living, and that, in my opinion, includes ordering dessert when out for dinner with your boyfriend, making grilled cheese when you feel like vegging out and doing nothing at home, or sampling all the various gourmet hor dourves when at a party. Anyone who has the willpower to censor themselves every minute of the day with food is probably not the happiest...after all, a starving model is never a happy model. Give me the happy glow of a well-fed woman over the grayish tinge of an emaciated waif any day.

My closest friend from modeling, Elizabeth Minett, (or Minny as I call her) shares a similar philosophy when it comes to chowing down: mainly that we both turn into miserable cows when hungry, and become gentle purring kittens when with a bellyful of delights. Minny and I first bonded a couple years back when we met during a fashion show we were both in....a week later and we were sharing gossip over late-night greasy Chinese food after a night of clubbing. Chow mein? Yes please! Chicken balls? Why not! Fried rice? Of course! It was love at first bite for Minny and I and we've had many a food adventure in whatever city we happen to be in together since then. (Cupcakes in New York, pub fare in London and sushi in Miami, just to name a few!) To know there are other models out there with beautiful figures who enjoy food as much as I do was, and is, refreshing. Minny lands more than her share of jobs making it clear that girls who eat are not just happy, but damn sexy as well!

Minny + cupcake = <3

Minny is a baking enthusiast and has parlayed her passion for all things ooey, gooey and delicious into a blog of her own which follows the world of haute healthy eating from the perspective of a stunning model. We recently took a cupcake tour of Manhattan stopping at several well-known cupcake shops and sampling treats at each one to take tasty notes for her to blog about post-meal....a pumpkin cupcake at Sugar Sweet Sunshine, a vanilla bean cupcake and banana cream pie at Magnolia, a sugar-free cupcake from The Little Cupcake Shoppe...suffice to say it was heavenly!

While sitting around and indulging in cupcakes everyday is not the healthiest of lifestyles, it was a lovely way to spend a day. Don't get me wrong; neither of us chows down on burgers and fries daily, but we do eat when we're hungry and enjoy desserts just as much as we enjoy healthy foods. I feel sexier, happier, and most content when my body is at its natural weight as opposed to being a frail five or ten pounds lighter which would fit industry norms. I don't allow modeling to dictate what I eat, and more importantly how I live my life, and would much rather share a tapas dinner with friends than sit alone at home counting how many grapes I'm allowed that day. Minny and I have gossiped over late night Chinese, chatted over spicy salmon rolls, discussed life crisis's over slices of cheesecake and had girl talk over salads. Food is friendship for us and is part of the equation without a second thought; which is exactly how it is in both our lives. Fashion week, Schmashion week! Girls, once again I re-iterate: eat what you love, but don't stuff your face (unless it's on really good cupcakes..) and you'll be lovely as ever on the inside and out.

For a Minny & Sheilakins approved recipe, Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies (Big. Fat. MMMMM), go to Minny's Haut Appetit Blog here!

Haut Appetit's Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies!

OMFG - Cuppycake Heaven.

There's something to be said about the perfect cupcake. A little piece of heaven made of perfectly dense yet fluffy batter, airy frosting and melty goodness that spreads a sugary warmth when eaten. If it wasn't detrimental to my health and more importantly to my figure, I'm positive my diet would consist entirely of cupcakes.

Something of a phenomenon over the past decade, cupcakes have taken the gastro world by storm and remain the toast of the baking world. From wacky foodie flavors (bacon cupcakes!) to haute couture designs (Louis Vuitton cupcakes!) and everything in between, it seems the appeal of a little loaf of cake is never ending. Later this week my dear friend Elizabeth and I are doing what two fat kids trapped inside models bodies should do: taking a cupcake tour of New York City. So far our stops are set to include the legendary (well to Sex and the City fans anyways) Magnolia Bakery, Crumbs, Sugar Sweet Sunshine, and the darling sounding Babycakes. My poor thighs won't know what hit them.

What is it that attracts the masses to these bundles of baked goodness? There are even cupcake trucks dotted around the city (Toronto, take note!) and any decent deli has a few frosted selections. Surely there's a reason the masses have jumped on board the cupcake wagon. Aside from being scrumptious, cupcakes (or as my sister and I call them cuppycakes...a name we used when we were little that stuck) are small enough that eating one doesn't cause mounds of fat guilt...although speaking from experience, eating 5 does. (Side note: earlier this year I took the bus back from New York to Toronto with a parting gift from a friend: a dozen cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine. Needless to say only 6 survived the ten hour journey. And by 6, I mean 4...it was a long time guys! Don't judge.) For girls, and certain guys I'm sure, cupcakes are an ideal little package. Chic, and easy to dress up in gorgeous little outfits, cupcakes are definitely the most fashionable of anything you'll find in a bakery...delectable and designer? Irresistible.

As a girl, I can say from experience that nothing elicits squeals of excitement quite like a box of pretty cupcakes frosted and decorated to lip-smacking loveliness. There's something comforting about stylish sweets, uncomplicated and complete in their deliciousness and appearance. You know they look good, you know they're sweet on the inside and you know they're going to satisfy you -- which is more than I can say about most men! The choice between sex and chocolate is a question that always seems to pop up when my friends and I are having post-club drunken conversations and the verdict is usually split in half. It seems that there's no easy answer to what's more satisfying for a woman: desserts or sex. (For the record, I choose the former...there are some things chocolate will never do for a girl.) Perhaps if the question had been cupcakes, and not chocolate, over sex, the verdict would be unanimous. I've seen girls who don't eat carbs, girls who have sworn off gluten and girls who pick and prod at single pieces of sashimi dive into cupcakes with the enthusiasm of a fat kid....sex in a box, is basically what cupcakes are to women.

My homage to cupcakes is nothing more than the foodie in me expressing a love for these darling treats. I have not been able to pass a cupcake truck yet here in Manhattan without sampling at least one of the flavors on display! (They have mini sizes, and one bite sizes...genius.) Versatile, trendy, chic and most of all mouth-watering delicious, cupcakes are a single girl's best food friend and a non-single girl's comfort in frustration. Or, if you're just a foodie like yours truly, they're simply the icing on the cake...literally! Bon appetit! x