Hockey, Nettles, & Trader Joe’s

OK, now we broke the curse I can finally blog about the Canucks!  Jebus that was stressful.  Who gets to the Playoffs as the number one team with the Presidents Cup and then almost gets their asses handed to them in a sweep of the first series?  Oh right, we do.  Apparently we do require Daniel Sedin to save the day.  Good comeback kids! #ReverseSweep

[Thanks to my friend Sandi for the cool photo from Facebook.]

I know what the next reality TV scandal will be.  They are going to dig up Hollie from American Idol’s birth certificate and find out she’s actually 32 years old.  Her look and her voice are so mature.  How is it possible that she is only 18?!  Crazy town.

Did you know that the same Stinging Nettles we all try to avoid touching on our bare skin are the very same Nettles that you can pick and turn into deeelish steamed greens?  I guess I never put two and two together but I’m glad I was clued in!  I made Nettlekopita!  Stay tuned for linky love and photos tomorrow.

This weekend I finally get to go back to Vancouver and visit my darling Catriona!  It’s been almost a year since my last trip.  I know this because it was during Playoffs last year.

The first thing she and I are doing after she retrieves me from the ferry is heading for the border.  Finally!  Our very own cross-border trek to Bellingham to raid the Trader Joe’s!  I already have a list as long as my arm, but pleeeeeease leave us comments here on what we must buy!!

While you are at it, if there’s any other must stop stores, restaurants, or touristy things between the border and Bellingham let us know.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Let’s talk TV

• They cancelled PanAm.  WTF?  Chalk that one right up there with Lipstick Jungle and Cupid for shows I love that the powers that be don’t.  Boooo.  I want to go back in time to 1963 and be Colette when I grow up.  Or at least have her perfectly lined eyes.
• Did anyone see Cougartown last night?  Scrubs reunion!! 
• Now that American Idol has finally gotten to the live TV performances I’ve started watching.  About half of them are really quite awesome (Colton, Skylar) but they should just hand Philip Phillips the title now.
• I didn’t know it was possible for Brendan and Rachel from Big Brother to be any more annoying than they’ve always been, but holy shiz have you guys seen them on Amazing Race?!!  They are ruining my favourite show!!
• Top Chef Texas was my addiction for the last few months.  I was watching it when it started in the US, then watched almost all of it again when it started on Canadian TV.  How awesome was it that they did the finals in Whistler and Vancouver?  I knew she wouldn’t get to the end, but Grayson cracked me up the whole time.
• Oh right.  The Walking Dead.  WTF?  Just WTF?  The season finale had best explain WTF is going on. 
• Twelve days until Mad Men.  The world is right again.
• Thanks to Cely I’ve now fallen into the Downton Abbey haze. I watched one episode to make sure it was something I would like and ended up awake until 3am watching multiple episodes.

 

[source: Hey Lady – because Matthew Crawley is the Ryan Gosling of PBS]

Rescued

Awwww yaaaaa!  My accidentally deleted photos have been retrieved thanks to Tammi and a great program she hooked me up with.  Technology doesn’t hate me!  I will now be able to finish writing my guest post for Dairy Free Betty!

Today was another simple, easy, healthy day.

Coffee with vanilla soy…

Almond butter has returned to rotation, thanks to Mouse. 

A new jar of Crofter’s Supercrack has been opened.

I discovered a new type of sprouted grain bread…Stonemill Bakehouse 3 Grains & Oatmeal…

Chewy & delicious.  Definite competition for my beloved Squirrelly bread…which is still hard to find around here!!

Fruit for a snack…

Veggie sticks and Sabra hummus for lunch…

Alongside a slice of homemade veggie & hummus pizza…

After work I totally hit a wall, so it was good that I had planned a night in.  After tweeting with Lex today I decided to pamper myself with a face mask... 

hahahaha.  Zombie anyone?  My face was hard as a rock!!

Dinner was light.  A simple salad of mixed greens, grape tomatoes, and light cheddar…

Served with a grilled smokie…

And Wheat Thins for crunch.

Can you tell I am working with whatever ingredients I can find in the crisper, freezer and pantry?  I’m determined not to shop this week.  Well…maybe veggies.  :)

No dessert.  I was too busy watching the American Idol finale, trying to win a cute apron in OSG’s Charity Auction, and keeping up with Twitter. 

I think an intervention from TV is in order over here.

And your American Idol is….

 

 

<don’t scroll if you don’t want the spoiler>

 

 

 

… not FREAKING Adam Lambert! (insert jaw dropping here)

I’m sorry, but who the heck was voting? You silly buggers!

Kris Allen is cute and humble and was obviously stunned so I do think he deserves some accolades, but come on! He’s no more interesting than any other mainstream singer. Just once can’t Idol have someone fun and cool and different?! (I know, it’s really a rhetorical question.)

THIS is why I lost interest in the show several seasons ago. The winners are always boring. Even last year, thank God David Cook won…but they’ve damn near ruined him with the sappy music they are making him record. He’s supposed to be a rocker!

Which, I guess, is why it’s a good thing Adam didn’t win. Now he can go on and have a fabulous career without the constraints of being tied to Idol and their un-fun music and lyrics. I read somewhere that the winners are tied to their Idol contracts for either seven years or seven records (unless of course the label cuts them loose). Poor Kelly Clarkson is stuck with them for like another 4 albums! She’ll be a granny!

Ha. So anyway, rants aside…wasn’t that an amazing finale? Even if the outcome wasn’t what I was hoping for, it was an awesome show and totally worth my two hours. (I mean, seriously, they got to rock out with Queen…how friggin cool is that?!) It just goes to show the star power of the final four because look how many viewers jumped on the bandwagon and started watching…and because of that look at the incredible show they were able to put together. No previous season of Idol has ever come close to that. Pay attention voters…the fun rockers made it great for everyone!

I’m still annoyed though! Grrrrrr. :)

OMG OMG OMG

Did I mention OMG?!  Ahhhhhh…I’m dying over here people.  Can’t talk about Idol cuz I don’t want to spoil it for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet.  Damn time zones!!  OMG OMG OMG!!!

So instead I shall regale you with the story of my evening.

It all starts with an odd desire to work in the yard.  Definitely spurred on by the fact that our already sub-par yard seems to have collected ten houses worth of dandelions and the season has just begun!  Instead of tackling the back yard I decided that our little front yard needs some TLC first and if I do well at that I’ll move on to the back (or hopefully FH will get on it when he returns).

Before I took a trip to Rona I snacked on this tasty Clif bar.  Neither my breakfast or lunch contained much protein so this yummy treat held me over until my later dinner.

At Rona (it’s like Home Depot except Canadian!) I got some new lawn soil, a huge bag of grass seed, some environmentally friendly bug killer (little beetles are eating my lilies already!), and a fun weed-puller-outer-thingy.

So I raked and raked, then pulled a zillion weeds, then pulled out the lawn mower only to find we were totally out of gas (honey!!).  Went and got gas (and a 649 ticket…$49bazillion!) but even with gas in it the mower wouldn’t catch.  Grrrr.  It’s brand new so I’m thinking I just don’t know about using it the first time of the year?

Anyway, since I couldn’t mow I couldn’t put down the fresh soil or grass seed.  Pooooo.  Gotta get it all short and pretty so I can see where it needs the leveling and TLC.  I hate when motivation is cut short!

So…dinner time instead. 

 

Thawed out some homemade meatballs, mixed with some veggies, some Smart macaroni, and a can of seasoned diced tomatoes.  Mix in a little parmesan and seasoning…et voila!

During American Idol I broke out a new treat I picked up at the store the other day.  Vanilla Cream Soda!  From the natural foods section.  A bit sweet for cream soda, but still deeeeeelish.  Enjoyed this with a chunk of white chocolate fruit bark I picked up at Just Us! when I went to Cape Split with the blog girls (and friends).

No gym tonight due to the lengthy process getting the yard all sorted out.  Boo to the hooooo.  Maybe it will all work out tomorrow.

Fiddledeedee

For some reason I’ve been craving a smoothie (maybe it’s all the talk about Green Monsters on the blogs lately!) so for my afternoon snack I got out the blender.  Into the mix went 1/2 banana, about 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 tsp ground flax, and 1 cup light vanilla soy milk.  I guess this is a Purple Monster!

Since this was my pre-workout snack I included a Kashi granola bar too.

At the gym:

Elliptical: 20 mins cross-country, variable intensity + 5 min cooldown in reverse

Legs: 2 sets of 15

- squats with 15lb bar

- stationary lunges with 2 x 8lb dumbbell (each leg)

- hamstring curls on the ball

Abs:

- 30 x regular crunches

- 30 x bicycle crunches

- 2 x 30 second plank

- 2 x 30 second side plank (1 each side)

When I got home I was soooo ready for dinner. Fiddleheads!

Cooked them up simply by sauteing with a bit of butter, EVOO, salt & pepper and sliced mushrooms.  Served alongside a maple BBQ salmon filet that I baked in the oven and a small potato I cooked up in the microwave.

American Idol: 

My American readers…please vote for Adam Lambert!! 

I snacked on some Kashi crackers straight from the box while I sat on the edge of my seat watching the final performances.  Although I don’t think this was Adam’s best night I do think his second performance was stellar and he sings circles around Kris.  Kris is a cutey but he doesn’t have the star power or the talent that Adam has.  It’s a fact people!!  Vote Vote Vote!