After completing a business degree, traveling around Asia for a brief stint, and taking some time to familiarize himself with the French language, a young British Columbian by the name of Sean Aiken decided to not decide. On a career, that is. Rather, taking his obvious love for travel and meeting new people, he set out across Canada and the United States on a treasure hunt to find a job he could engage in passionately.

After working one job a week for 52 weeks, and being picked up by major broadcasting giants such as CBC, Rachel Ray, Good Morning America, Sean scored a book deal with Random House, has a documentary in the making on his experiences, and has achieved what practically every Generation "Y-er" has to come to terms with - the capability to deal with constant and rapid change.

My boyfriend is a friend of Sean's, from fall 2007, when they both spent their time romping around Quebec City, singing Bob Marley in the Francais Langue Seconde chorus, and making a concerted effort to learn Quebecois French.

At some point last May 2009, while I was interning with a diversity expert in Toronto, and Dan in a music classroom back in Quebec City, Sean gave Dan a ring to see if he would proofread all the bits and pieces he had tied together from his yearlong experience. Of course Dan agreed and took great pleasure in editing and making commentary on the new author's work. For his labour, Sean told Dan to take his lady friend (that being me) out for a meal the next time I came up to Quebec City for a visit.

Seven months after the Mediterranean burger (gluten-free with no bun), fries (with no flour coating, and no contaminants in the oil), pesto mayonnaise and garden salad at Chez Victor, complimented with a half-litre of red and a conversation about self-discovery and fulfillment, Dan showed me the cover of One Week Job - 1 man. 1 year. 52 jobs, which is due to be released this spring, 2010. Of course, this got me thinking about creativity, challenges, and optimism in a world where most youngsters in our generation have between 7 and 12 jobs over the course of their lifetime.

The aforementioned adjectives are crucial to remember when cooking gluten-free cuisine.

Creativity, the ability to be clever and imaginative, unique and inspirational, bold, keen and passionate while pursuing the task at hand is what motivates me most when it comes to food. Trial and tribulation has taught me that when you're confused as to what to make for dinner because nothing in your fridge and cupboards seem to match up that well, you survey your options, think about flavour combination, and dive off the deep end. Sure, 9 times out of 10, your creation is kinda gross (place the leftover thai tofu soup, bitter because you accidentally added too much lime rind in the freezer, along with the dry banana buckwheat muffins and send away with long-distance boyfriend when he visits. Make sure to add some good homemade pesto so he doesn't think you're dumping all the reject recipes on his pallet) - but the 10th time, you've succeeded and it's AWESOME! Note to generation X-ers - apply this formula to school and employment. If we switch programs a few times, don't blame us. If we can't figure out what we want to do work-wise, it's not our fault. If we emerge in our mid-thirties a little weary, with some debt and no children, but our tummies are happy and full, we're still looking brightly forward.

Kristen's "I don't have any tomato sauce, but I just bought a pepper grinder" Pasta:

2 cups of gluten free pasta (spirals work nicely)
1 box worth of mushrooms (the fresh ones, people. Don't think I mean from a can)
1 red bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 red onion
three cloves of garlic
4 cups fresh baby spinach
Feta Cheese
A handful of chopped green olives
5 diced sundried tomatoes
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of one lemon
LOTS of coarsely cracked pepper

Saute all the veggies together, on a medium heat, starting with the onion and the garlic. Add fresh pepper as you go along, as well as a little olive oil and a quarter of the lemon.

Cook your pasta, insuring that you add a bit of vegetable oil so it doesn't stick together. Gluten free pasta is sneaky, appearing uncooked, uncooked, uncooked and then suddenly overcooking when you're not looking. After about 6 minutes of letting it boil, be sure to check it every minute.

Toss pasta in with cooked vegetables, remaining olive oil and lemon juice. Add generous (copious, even) amounts of feta cheese. Add olives and sundried tomatoes. Crack desired amount of black pepper over the pasta, and serve.

This dish is really excellent if you make it 24 hours in advance, and let it sit before heating it up and serving it. All the flavours make love to one another, and pick your tongue as an alter for their marriage.