Bad Blogger, Bad!

I know, I know.  MIA is no way for a good blogger to act!  Did you miss me while I was off visiting and camping out with friends? ;)

I swear I started out all good on Friday… pictures all the livelong day…

Until around 5pm when I was still racing around packing up my stuff for the weekend, taking a last minute trip to the mall for a totally necessary new white tank top and a not so necessary taco dinner, and finishing making potato salad for Saturday’s cookout.

Not even a picture of the finished Twisted Tater Salad!  Duh.

I even had “what I did today” photos to go along with Friday’s food stuffs!  Cleaned up my poor, poor strawberries again (and decided NOT to put them back up on their shelf) and smiled at Chibi enjoying the sun and my fan.

Even Stoopy got in on the action!

I’m a bad, bad girl.  Sorry y’all.

I can however offer you this photo of the awesome brunch omelette Michael made on Saturday before we headed off for the campout.

I missed everything that went into it, but sauteed onions, peppers and prosciutto definitely made the pan.  With lots of cheese!!  After broiling to finish it off he topped it with avocado….deeeeeelish.

Burl approves.

Cute dog photos trump food porn any day anyway, right?! :)

Aussie Encounter

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ANY MOM’S OUT THERE!  ENJOY YOUR DAY AND BE LOVED WHOLEY AND HUGGED COMPLETELY!  :)

I can’t believe I’m a full two days behind on posting.  I guess I’ve been busy!  The condo search is at pretty much a standstill so I decided to just turn off my brain and enjoy a few days stress-free.  I am up island at my Mom’s now anyway, so even if I want to see something I won’t be back in Victoria until Tuesday night. 

<<rewind to Friday>>

Continued my love affair with a Cafe Fantastico latte…

And Fol Epi pain au chocolate…

It was a gorgeous day!

Back story:  My ex-boyfriend and I travelled Europe in 2002.  We did one of those Trafalgar bus tours where we hit 9 countries in 14 days.  During our trip we became buddies with an Australian mother and son, Julie and Michael…and spent pretty much our entire trip hanging out with them.  I have kept in contact with Julie since then…and now Michael too because of Facebook.  One day I shall visit Oz and have a place to stay!  :)

Anyway…so Julie messaged me about a week ago to let me know she and her hubby were coming to Canada on vacation and would be in Victoria for only two nights.  Conveniently I was actually there!  So she called me when they arrived in town and we met for lunch!

Quick visit and catch-up, but how fun!!  They are now off for a trip to Whistler and then an Alaskan cruise…and then a trip out East to Niagra Falls and such. 

We ate at Sam’s Deli…a popular lunch spot on Government Street in Victoria where they make sandwiches fresh to order.  I ordered a turkey sammich on whole wheat with havarti and lotsa veggies and it was fan-freaking-tastic!  Enjoyed with an iced tea…and I only managed to eat half.

 

After I left Julie and Shane to wander the waterfront and take in the beautiful sights of downtown Victoria, I wandered off to do some shopping.  Stopped at Roger’s Chocolates for some treats and enjoyed a tiny peanut butter truffle right there on the spot.  :)

When I left the mall to walk back to Tiffaney’s I grabbed an Iced Soy Latte from Starbucks…refreshing and refuelling…

What a freaking gorgeous day!  Just confirmed in my mind that I’ve made the right decision in choosing to move back to Victoria…and that I need to find a place that is within walking distance to a few of my favourite places.  I can walk for miles with shopping bags if I like where I am and where I’m going!! :)

For the evening we were off to our favourite pub to visit with good friends, have a few drinks, and cheer on our beloved Vancouver Canucks.  Unfortunately this may have been the Canucks worst game all season, but we still managed to have a good time and enjoy ourselves!!

Sadly, our bar no longer carries Strongbow (seriously, we may have to find a new bar people!!) so I created a modified Crown Float from Rock Creek Cider with a Guinness float.  Not perfect, but it did the trick.

x maybe 4?  hehehehe. 

We also had shooters.  Bottle Caps to be precise.  So tasty!  um, and dangerous.  If you’ve never had one…do it!!

And food…Tiff, Jill and I shared the Eight Layer Dip and some Onion Rings.  I intended to order more food, but well…um, I didn’t.  Thankfully my head wasn’t mad at me in the morning!

 

Tiff and I headed home around midnight like good little girls.  Drank some water and snacked on some Cheetos and then slept solidly…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I apologize for the lack of healthy balance lately.  You all know that I’m already planning the return to the track when I get home right?  In the meantime, enjoy my indulgences…haha…pleeease!!

Manzana

Hi again!  I know.  I’m early.  But I actually finished work somewhat on time today and I want to blog now so I’m not racing to squish it in before I head off for the evening.  :)

Has anyone ever even heard of a Piñata apple?  I never had until I picked up a couple at the store the other day. 

They fall into the same flavor/texture category that I would put Galas and Fujis in.  Me likey!

Sprinkled with a dust of cinnamon and drizzle of honey for an afternoon snack.

Actually I ate kind of backwards today I guess.  Had that snack at noon and lunch wasn’t until around 3pm.  I got caught up in some work things so I didn’t get to do my Booty Boosting until a bit later and didn’t want to do it on a full tummy. (It’s only 15 minutes, but activity and my belly don’t get along too well.)

Lunch was leftovers.  I love leftovers.  Last night’s Annie’s Mac & Cheese with broccoli topped with a couple of Pioneer Woman meatballs…

Honesty:  Annie’s mac was a little lacking in the cheese taste.  Anyone else notice that?

I might have zipped it up with some ketchup.  :)

And a glass of skim milk.  My dairy consumption (and therefore my calcium) has been way down since it got really cold out (less yogurt & cheese, more oatmeal) so I’m going to start including at least one glass of milk per day. 

My poor fingernails will thank me. 

Tonight I’m off for another girl’s movie night.  I plan to eat a salad with a hard boiled egg for supper, then grab some sort of snackie to take with me.  I’m thinking Skinny Sticks or Popchips.  We shall see!

Happy Weekend, kids.  I’ll see ya after my glorious (yet painful) massage tomorrow.  Buh-bye!

Bye Bye Brookies

Well, I only got about half way through the things I wanted to do tonight.  Decided to take on tidying my office first, and by the time I finished that FH had actually come home.  I brought the plants back to the living room and moved a few things around but lost interest in digging out the Christmas boxes and packing away the last few ornaments and such.  Maybe this weekend…

The other thing that sidetracked me was making homemade soup!

FH often talks about his love for Corn Chowder so when I happened upon a recipe in one of my new cookbooks I decided I should make it for him. 

I was a little sceptical because the recipe seemed WAY too simple.  Not that a simple recipe is bad, but just looking at the short ingredient list made me think it would really lack flavor.  That’s the thing about these “healthier” recipes…sometimes the flavor misses the boat.  I modified the recipe a teeeeny bit and I’m happy enough with it to share.  :)

Creamy-ish Corn Chowder

adapted from Cook Yourself Thin Faster

Ingredients:

• 2 slices bacon, chopped
• 1 cup chopped potatoes (I used mini reds)
• 1 small chopped onion
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups chicken stock (I used low sodium, but then had to add salt)
• 3 cups frozen corn, thawed (or fresh corn if you are so inclined)
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/4 tsp dried)

Directions:

• Brown bacon in large soup pot over med-high heat until crispy.  Remove from pot with slotted spoon, leave renderings behind.
• Add onion and sautee in bacon grease until browned and soft (about 5 mins).
• Add potatoes & half the thyme.  Let sautee for a couple of minutes to bring out the fragrance of the spice.
• Add water & chicken stock.  Bring to low boil and let simmer about 10 minutes until potatoes are soft.
• Add corn and simmer another 5 minutes.  Add remaining seasonings and taste.  Adjust taste as needed.

The original recipe states to remove 3 cups of the soup and blend until smooth and add back to the pot.  I used my new Cuisinart hand blender and just pureed until the texture seemed right to me. 

Let simmer to thicken for 5-10 minutes.  Then serve!  Use the bacon bits as garnish.  I also used a bit of light sour cream on top, which I then stirred into the soup for added creaminess.

Tasty!  But admittedly I do miss the real cream usually found in Corn Chowder so I will probably do some tweeking with the leftovers.  I will let you know!

For dinner I enjoyed a bowl with a whole wheat bun with Becel.

And then killed of the last of the Brookies.  nom nom nom.

Happy Friday y’all!

Friday Food Porn

I have a whole lotta food porn from yesterday so I’ll get right to it.

Breakfast:  quick and easy…the last of the Lemon Liberte sprinkled with hulled hemp seeds…served with a chopped up white nectarine…juicy and deeelish.  The only decent nectarine I’ve had all Summer!

Lunch: completely random salad.  Romaine, yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes, leftover roasted veggies, leftover rice.  Ranch dressing and salsa.  Plus leftover guacamole and tortilla strip salad toppers.

Cookie Friday:  thanks to Tina and her Tweets about “cookie Friday” I couldn’t resist the two last chocolate chip/pecan/raisin cookies sitting on my counter.  nom nom.

Dinner:  surf and turf! 

A while back I put together a bunch of scallops & bacon and froze them…so I popped a few in the oven last night and let me just say…deeeeeelish!!

FH cooked us up a couple of sirloin steaks on the BBQ, and I made a basic spinach salad to go with.  Spinach, mushrooms, red onion, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheddar, and balsamic vinaigrette.

  

There was yet another trip to DQ after dinner too.  Yes, that’s two nights in a row!  I’m a machine apparently.  Thankfully I had my noon workout! 

At the gym: 20 minute treadmill run + upper body + mini abs.

I proceeded to go into an ice cream coma and fell asleep about 20 minutes into the movie we were watching.  I was exhausted…but of course when we went to bed I couldn’t sleep.  After 45 minutes of staring at my pillow I got up and read for an hour…then slept but kept waking up every half hour after 6am.  Not exactly how I like to start my Saturday!!