W-T-F

Not that WTF… :)

It’s been a busy time getting caught up after my extra long weekend.  So rather than bore you with a lengthy recap I thought I’d just slap it all together into a few collages instead.  Everyone loves collages! 

Tuna Noodle Casserole, Big Brother, and a pretty fantastic sunset made for a relaxing Wednesday night after spending the day playing catch up.

Those amazing little tomatoes are what I hauled off my patio planter after the hot long weekend.  Nom.

Missing from Thursday’s collage is what might have been the last iced coffee of the Summer season and the first Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffin of the pending Fall season.  Both were enjoyed while I blonded up my hair for Greece(!).

More Big Brother required popcorn.  I hate to say it, but of the final three I hope Rachel wins.  I bet none of us thought we’d be saying that!

Today’s menu involves making sure I’m full up with filling and healthy eats.  Missing are the three cups of coffee I’ve consumed knowing I will be needing the energy this afternoon.

I’ve packed my dinner and water bottle and I am ready for my volunteer shift for The Great Canadian Beer Festival.

Today I take your tokens.  Tomorrow I drink the beer.  Glug.

Happy weekend kids!!

PS:  There was just an Earthquake here!!  I didn’t feel it but according to Twitter everyone else around here did.  Be safe.

Almost There!

…almost caught up to where I’m supposed to be on blogging that is!

Tuesday was Mom’s first full day here.  I’m working while she is here, but just sort of messing with my schedule here and there so we can still get out and do stuff.  She’s happy just being on vacay and being able to read her book in silence anyway.  :)

Breakfasts and lunches are basically still my usual…whatever is on hand. 

Coffee and a blueberry scone (had a few left in the freezer)…

For lunch I recreated the gorgeous salad from the dinner party. 

In the big bowl: local greens and spinach, tomatoes, carrots, Sunrise apple, blueberries, goat cheese, olive oil, honey, squeeze of lime, fresh cracked salt & pepper.

It’s nice to have someone to cook for.  FH and I haven’t really been eating the same meals the last month or so, so some of the joy of cooking has been lost for me because I like being able to share.  I have lots of chicken in the freezer so decided to break out a favorite WW recipe…Balsamic Chicken & Mushrooms.

Served with steamed asparagus and rice.

I didn’t make any dessert, but we might have broken out some treats in the form of Bridge Mix.  Mom has always liked Bridge Mix and as a kid I didn’t…but now I do, so I always associate it with her and feel the need to get into it when we visit.  nom nom nom.  :)

Oh and now I’m on to yesterday!  Good sign.  I might actually get caught up on all of this today…if I do indeed blog tonight.  There hasn’t been any good reason for skipping my evening posts, other than I just plain haven’t felt like it.  Sometimes a girl just needs a break from the computer, ya know.

Breakfast yesterday was just meh.  We are eating up the yogurt FH didn’t get a chance to finish before he went away, and it’s definitely not my favorite.  I’m so used to thick and creamy Liberte, that this Silhouette just seems watery and fake to me now.  But I hate waste so I had a serving with the last of the fresh blueberries and a big sprinkle of rolled oats.

With coffee of course.

And the big news is that I did go to the gym yesterday!  I haven’t been since last Thursday I think. Partially because I was lazy and partially because I wanted to see if my bum pain would subside without a workout.  It didn’t so I’m pretty sure the two aren’t related.  Had a great 20 minute treadmill run, followed by a solid ab/core workout…including back and side extensions, butterfly kicks, scissor kicks, reverse crunches and regular crunches.  It’s been a long time since I actually felt the pain in my abs while working out which reminded me that I need to be working harder more often!

I had to race home to shower and make lunch before my weekly conference call. 

Blue Menu multigrain flax bagel with light herby cream cheese and sliced tomatoes.  Served with incredibly juicy local canteloupe.  Deeeeelish.

 

I traded Larabars with Mom.  She got to try my much talked about favorite…Coconut Cream Pie (I forgot to ask if she liked it!) and she brought me a Cocoa Coconut Chew.

Verdict is that I’m not a fan of the chocolatey Larabars.  They fill the void but the taste isn’t my thing.

And since I had such a busy day, we decided to head out for dinner.  Mom didn’t care where we went and I gave her a few ideas, then we chose The Armview.  Seriously, I’d pick that place like every time I just want a simple, tasty meal.  Yum!!

I had my usual dinner favorite…the chicken souvlaki with fries.  So good!  and a diet Coke.

  

Mom had one of their amazing burgers.  Made me think I should have one next time I’m there. 

Afterwards we just puttered through Walmart for a couple of things then came home to hang out watching TV again (thankfully Mom is a SYTYCD fan too!).  Treats in the form of jujubes may have made there way onto the coffee table… :)  Funny how I don’t seem to have pics of the treats lately, eh?  hmmmm…almost like I was trying to hide them!!  bwahahaha.

Playing Catch Up

Holy moly.  One little long weekend and all of a sudden I’m behind by like 6 posts.  Well, I’m here now!  Be prepared…this could get long!

When last I left you I was settling in for a night of Weeds Season 4 and some treats.  I ended up staying up until like 3am watching every episode.  :)

Amazingly enough I didn’t sleep the day away on Sunday…although I didn’t really do anything super constructive either. Puttered around the house making sure to be ready for Mom’s visit and picked up a last few groceries and such. 

Coffee and a Kind Bar for breakfast (this is my second one of these bars that was stale…)

Another delicious sammich made with the leftovers from our Eat Atlantic dinner party (only ate half the sammich…)

Discovered a dangerous new treat at Bulk Barn…coconut cashews…they are like honey roasted cashews, only coconuty instead of honey.  Crazy good!!

  

The other half of my deeeeelish sammich with the last of the awesome farmers market cherry tomatoes and some of Lynn’s roasty spuds (which I baked up in the oven so they were crispy and awesome…)

I was aiming to be in bed at a reasonable time because I was supposed to get up extra early to pick Mom up at the airport, but as I was getting ready for sleep she called to let me know that her flight had been delayed so much that they had to put her on a different flight and she would be really late.  Poor Mama sitting in the boring Victoria airport for like 5 hours!  ewwwww.

When she did finally arrive at 10:20 Monday morning she was tired and hungry, so we headed for Cora’s.

I got the bigass waffle because I haven’t had it the last few times I’ve been there.  With yummy coffee and a small OJ.  Unfortunately our service sucked (our waitress was on us like crazy until our food arrived and then after that we never saw her again).  I ended up getting annoyed enough to ask someone else to get our bill, etc (seriously I never even got offered more coffee and both of our plates were empty, and our waitress looked right at us at least twice but never got to us).  We did get some coupons for next time though because they felt bad, so that’s something.

After that Mom needed to sleep to sort out her internal clock and make up for the 12+ hours of travel time and lack of sleeping on the plane, so I just spent the day reading and watching TV.  I was bored, but also completely unmotivated to find anything to do.  My gym was closed and I just didn’t feel like walking or anything.  You know those days.

For dinner I took the opportunity to make some yummy fish.  FH is away (he doesn’t eat fish so I don’t usually bother making it when he’s around) and Mom requested haddock while she was here, so I used the same recipe as last time for some easy pan-fried haddock.  I added dill and a sprinkle of cayenne to the egg mixture just for something different.

  

Served with fresh green beans and the fingerling potatoes I got at the farmers market.  For the potatoes I just left them whole, tossed with olive oil, garlic powder, dill, and s&p.  Roasted on a baking sheet at 400 for about 20 mins…shaking them around about half way through.

Fish n chips!

And some quickie tartar sauce…light mayo, relish, minced onion, dill, lemon juice.

And for dessert, I used up the leftover ice cream from the dinner party and served it with some sauce made from frozen local raspberries and blueberries…simply heated on the stovetop with a sprinkle of sugar.

 

Along with a couple of new cookies I found the other day…Vanilla Bean Latte…how could I pass those up?!  :)

Hmmm…I had planned to post everything up to and including yesterday but this post has taken way too long so I guess I’ll have to recap some more later!!  After all, it is a work day and I do have a run to fit in here somewhere!  :)