No Go

It’s official.  My body doesn’t wish to ever work out again.  Yesterday was to be my official return to the gym and what happened?  I woke up with my neck all out of whack.  If it’s not one thing it’s another!

I consoled myself with coffee spiked with light egg nog…

And strawberry Chobani with sliced banana and toasted pecans…

After breakfast I took a muscle relaxant in the hopes of loosening my neck up enough to stretch.  All it did was wipe me out!  I became immediately exhausted and had to take a nap. 

When I woke up I stumbled into the kitchen to make lunch.  Greek-ish salad…

Tomatoes, cukes, red onion, and mixed greens with EVOO, white wine vinegar and coarse salt.  Served up with spanakopita and hummus.

While finishing up work for the day I got the munchies and went cupboard surfing. Seemed like the right time to break into the Trader Joe’s Flattened Bananas…

It’s like fresh banana fruit leather! I pulled apart about five “sheets” of banana and rolled two of them up with almond butter as my snack.

Hours later I was still trying to kick the effects of the muscle relaxant while dozing on the sofa watching back to back episode of SATC.  A dinner requiring any work was soooo not happening…thank gawd for soup in the fridge.

Corn chowder with chicken, and squirrelly toast on the side.

Followed by a little dessert…tiger butter fudge. nom.

Brunch with a View

This weekend was supposed to be a girl’s weekend…a girl’s weekend away. Unforeseen circumstances and a fortuitous situation with our vacation rental led us to cancel, but we still wanted to spend some girly time together and planned a lovely brunch instead.

We took a trip up to the top of Chateau Victoria to Vista 18.

It was so nice to spend a few extra dollars to enjoy brunch somewhere other than one of Victoria’s 1001 diner style breakfast restaurants.

Since it wasn’t a normal Sunday out in my yoga pants I decided I shouldn’t just order my normal bacon and eggs.  Instead I opted for the West Coast Benny with Dungeness crab and chive hollandaise…

It was served with pan fries and fresh fruit…and I added a side of bacon (which was substantial!).  I barely made it through…leaving most of my potatoes behind.  Yum.

Afterwards a couple of the girls and I headed over to the same artisan fair I was at on Saturday.  Now that I’d been through, I knew exactly where I wanted to go back and buy things. :)  I’d like to say I was Christmas shopping but that would only be true if I said I was buying myself presents. :)

When we finished up there I ran a few more errands and then came home to rest my tired shoulders.  Far too much sitting at restaurant tables and browsing with heavy bags this weekend.  So glad I am officially going back to the gym this week!

With December 1st looming just a few days away I decided tonight would be a good time to festive-up the apartment.  No tree this year (I gave away pretty much all of my tree decorations and my old artificial tree when I moved) but green garland and lights went up on the deck!

I kept things Christmassy with Candy Cane Lane tea and fresh fudge from yesterday’s trip to the fair…

Dinner was another soul warming bowl of homemade chicken soup.  For a soup I threw together with no recipe I’m quite pleased.

And now…I see popcorn and a made for TV Christmas movie in my future.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. :)

Coffee Crafts Cocktails

Saturday morning my friend Laura and I made plans to meet for coffee and a chat at what might be my new favourite little coffee spot…The Parsonage Cafe / Fernwood Coffee Company. I’ve actually been there once before but for some reason never blogged about it…I should have because my latte was perfection and the quiche was to die for.

This weekend I ordered up another fabulous latte…complete with coffee art…

For food I opted for a simple sesame bagel with cream cheese…

And they offered me homemade preserves…I chose strawberry rhubarb.

When we finished up our coffees we decided to hit up a couple of the local Christmas fairs.  A small craft fair followed by a large artisan fair.  We kept our blood sugar up with samples of antipasto and organic chocolate while we wandered.

No Christmas prezzies were purchased but I did walk out with a knit neck warmer for myself…um, and fresh fudge. :)

After we went our separate ways I headed to the mall to cross a few errands off my list.  While I was there I decided I might as well pick up a bag of Starbucks Christmas Blend and since I used my registered card I received a tall reduced fat egg nog latte at no charge.  ho ho ho!

Spelled my name right!

Back at home I was very glad for the homemade chicken soup in my refrigerator. A bagel and coffee definitely wasn’t enough food for the day!

After a few hours of relaxing on the couch it was time to head out for a couple of casual cocktails with my friend Nicole at Clive’s Classic Lounge.  I opted to enjoy our visit and skip playing food paparazzi for the night.  The cocktails and company were worth the break from the camera. :)

Bicycle Bison Burger

Originally I had booked today off work but plans changed so I decided I might as well do a bit of work…but took it easy, ran some errands, and had a delicious dinner with friends.

Coffeeeeee, Squirrelly toast, flaxy almond butter and nanners…

My fave Chobani thus far.  Straight up pineapples yo.

Clif Mojo bar featuring Sweet & Salty goodness.  This was supah yummy and shockingly only 170 cals.  If someone would like to send me the pretzel version of these I wouldn’t send it back. :)

Since I actually had time to wash, dry and properly straighten my hair today I decided I might as well finally drag my behind to the DMV and get my BC driver’s license.  I’m a tad overdue.

Too bad BC is still behind the technological times and I have to wait 2 weeks for my ID to arrive in the mail.  Here’s hoping for a decent photo!

I would like to send a heartfelt thank you to Costco for serving delicious spinach dip on rippled Kettle chip samples.  Sorry I didn’t actually buy any but you saved me from eating my own arm before dinner.

Dinner tonight was with friends Charmaine and Greg (hi guys!!).  They were unable to attend any of my birthday festivities so it was nice to get together for a meal and a chat.  We decided to hit up The Pink Bicycle for gourmet burgers.

I ordered a Phillips Longboat Chocolate Porter…not realizing how large it was.  Whoops.  Oh darn. ;)

Pink Bike is known for it’s collection of extravagant and tasty burgers.  I couldn’t just order the beef burger on my first visit so I opted for their BBQ Island Bison (to which I added caramelized onions) with 1/2 onion rings and 1/2 truffled fries (thanks to our server for suggesting the halfsies).

Now THAT is a substantial meal.  Holy moly. 

The bun was fan-freaking-tastic.  Soft, chewy, crispy, sesame seedy, deeeelish.  The burger itself was huge and messy and totally yum.  I found their BBQ sauce to be a bit too sweet but the bison patty was awesome and my addition of caramelized onions was pretty smart if I do say so.  The onion rings and fries were crispy but I think I’d pass on the “truffled” next time.

*ahem* I do hate to say it…but my burger at John’s Place was better. 

There’s an actual pink bike! :)

The rest of my rocking Friday night included a trip to the supermarket, taking out the trash, and picking out a movie.  Expendables anyone?

Tea time. Night!

One Two Three

A few things of note that just haven’t fit into any blog posts lately…

1)  CSN Stores contacted me MONTHS ago about doing a review.  It was in the midst of the break-up and prepping for my Colossal Cross Country Road Trip so I never got the chance to take them up on their offer.  I meant to do it as part of my housewarming, but here we are and I still haven’t acted on it.

Now is the time!  CSN Stores is made up of 200+ online stores offering pretty much anything you can think of.  I’ve been totally distracted by the Cookware sections but I am now leaning towards maybe trying to find something unique for my apartment from the Art section or maybe I will get sucked into the Holiday Decorations.  Hmmm…but maybe getting one of these new luggage sets would help push me to save up for a real vacation! OMG, the choices!!

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2)  I cannot believe I never showed you guys this cool as hell addition to my Starbucks mug collection (yes, I am aware the collection is getting large!).  My friend Nicole recently went to Germany and while there she asked if I would prefer a Germany mug or a Berlin mug.  I opted for Berlin because that is the city where her visit actually took place.  When she went back to get the mug they were sold out. :(  But…that ended up working out because she got this instead…

Mini collector set including both mugs. Loves it!

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3)  Every year I usually cash my Air Miles in to buy a few gift cards to help with Christmas shopping.  I never really have enough to buy anything substantial but it always help the pocketbook to some degree.  Due to my big move and all household related expenses making their way through my MasterCard this year I actually accumulated enough to buy something for myself.  I don’t have enough for an iPod Touch like I wanted but I do have enough for a food processor! :)

My choices…

• Cuisinart 12 Cup
• KitchenAid 12 Cup
• KitchenAid 7 Cup

Although the 12 cuppers are appealing I am sort of leaning towards the smaller 7 cup. It’s not like I require daily use of a food processor and I can’t think of even one time this past year (or more!) where I made anything that made me wish I had one that big.  But…since it’s technically free my gut is saying maybe I should just go big or go home.

Recommendations?

Snow Found

So it appears that the snow I was trying to entice into town last night did arrive.  It just needed a bit of overnight help.

Technically it is still a work day for me (seeing I did not have to venture out in a vehicle like most of Victoria) but because the majority of my day to day coworkers are American I really only had my daily tasks to perform.  Happy Thanksgiving BTW! :)

I took the opportunity to treat the day a bit like a snow day.

Made a big pot of coffee instead of my usual 1.5 mugs…

Filled my tummy with toast and almond butter with banana…

Then set out with my boots, gloves, toque and James Dean for a walk to the park down the street…

Back in the warmth of my apartment I got a bit of work done then set to pulling the meat from the leftover roasted chicken to make soup.

Soup #1: Corn Chowder with Chicken

Totally cheated using this soup mix I received from Low Fat Kat eons ago…

Just add water…and some chicken…et voila…lunch!

Baked up a side of yam chips to go alongside. 

After lunch I got to work on making the chicken stock for soup #2…

I saved you from the picture of the chicken carcass.  You are welcome.  Simmered the bare bird, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, rosemary and s&p for four hours.  The house smelled fabulous all day.

While the stock simmered I finished work, ran a load of laundry, snacked on a new Larabar flavour and watched Eat Pray Love.

During the movie I heated up a Chicken Enchilada from the freezer.

I don’t know about you guys, but I really enjoyed the movie.  Maybe it’s because I’ve never read the book but I thought it was quite well done!

After the show I got to work on soup #2 but it’s still simmering so the recipe will have to wait until tomorrow.  I think the perfect way to complete this relaxing yet productive snow day is with a couple of hours of reading and maybe a crunchy snack.

Popchips and Kindle.  Sounds good to me!