Oh Hello

Where did the week go?

I love a holiday Monday as much as the next gal but I have realized I didn’t use it to it’s full capacity and now I feel like my to-do list is a mile long and it’s not getting any shorter!

Monday

1. Coffee with almond milk.

2. Peach-Blueberry Crisp with non-fat vanilla yogurt.

3. Almonds.

4. Focaccia sandwich with ham, tomatoes, and melted cheddar.

5. Watermelon.

6 & 7. Shrimp salad sandwich with mayo, fresh chives, tomato and cucumber slices.  Served with corn on cob.  If that dinner doesn’t say Summer I don’t know what does.

8. More Crisp.

9. Revello.  Because long weekends can’t end without ice cream.

After two of the hottest days of the year things decided to cool down some for the return to work.  It was perfect for taking Chibi for a good, long power walk between jobs.  We even took the opportunity to rock a mini-workout on the bleachers at the park.

Tuesday

1. Coffee with almond milk.

2. Breakfast on the run: sweetened plain yogurt, blueberries and Kashi Honey Almond.

3. Tide me over: 1/2 multigrain sandwich thin with cheddar cheese.

4. Mall sushi.  California Roll.  Remarkably it was AMAZING.

5. Smushed peppermint patty.

6. Homemade iced coffee with almond milk.

7. Bigass dinner salad topped with an ‘everything’ turkey burger patty.

8. Watermelon.

9. Revello.  Because storm watching needs ice cream.

I totally love the amazing thunder storms we’ve been having here this year!

And then all of a sudden today is Wednesday.  Sitting in my weekly meeting for Job #1 I perfected the art of putting on make-up and getting ready for Job #2 while chatting on a wireless headset.  Multitasking for the win.

Wednesday

1. Hey look!  Coffee with almond milk.

2. Cherry Crisp (homemade last night!) with sweetened plain yogurt.

3. Hard boiled egg.

4. Lunch salad: romaine, carrots, celery, blueberries, watermelon and Mandarin Sesame dressing topped with half a turkey burger patty.

5. Kashi bar.

6. Banana bites with almond butter.

7. Dried cherries.

8. Red wine.  Oh yes please and thank you.

9. Personal sized poutine a la Clive’s Classic Lounge.

For a bright note in my busy week a few of my girlfriends decided we should go out for a drink to celebrate my new job.  Yay!  I’m so grateful for such thoughtful friends.  I’m a lucky girl.

Happy Hump Day!

Parmanfest 2011

This Saturday I had the opportunity to finally meet up with some very important long lost friends.  High school friends.  Easily some of the best friends a girl could ever have.

{bill, me, donnie, julie, dan, and christine – JBSS classes of 1992/1993}

Our friend Donnie’s family has been hosting BC Day reunion campouts on their property for the last four years, but of course prior to now I wasn’t living here and could not attend.  When this year’s invite went out I made sure to RSVP that I would definitely be there!

His folks have a gorgeous piece of property with acreage to host multiple campers…including beautiful landscaping, a massive tree fort for whatever kids happen to stop by, a hot tub, a soft sided pool, and for this weekend a freaking stage!  (Don’s a technical director and thus has connections for stage-type things!)

Oh right, don’t forget the horses.  :)

After a couple of Facebook messages it was clear that our whole little high school crew would be making an appearance.  So I combined my visit with my Mom with a day at the reunion.  Most of the day I sat in the grass catching up with everyone while kids played and dogs chased each other around.

Little did I know, Donnie’s Mom was putting on a whole dinner spread!!!

Sex in a Pan.  Need I say more?

Around dinner time, the band took to the stage.  They warmed up with a few songs to earn their dinner then after we’d all eaten they launched into their first set. 

They totally secured the under 3 years of age rock n’ roller vote.

Sadly I had another obligation back in Victoria that night so I couldn’t stay and party into the wee hours with everyone, but clearly I’ll be keeping the August long weekend free for this next year!

Good times.  Great to know that some friendships really never change.

side note:  if you’d asked me in high school i never would have guessed that i’d be the only one that isn’t married with kids at this stage in life!  Funny how things actually turn out.

Simple Stuffed Peppers

Fresh raspberries > jam any day. :)

Yesterday’s morning coffee courtesy of Tiffaney.  That girl cannot let me do her a favour without buying me a gift card.  Seriously woman! 

Speaking of gifts…  Chibi is spoiled by her Auntie Jamie.  Fancypants bison & quinoa doggie treats.

More raspberries making themselves at home in the big silver bowl.  Simple mix today with just the berries, spinach, pecans and fresh mint from my patio planter.  Drizzled with canola and lemon juice.

Busting out a new-to-me TJ’s treat care of Alecia.  20 cals per serving!  Oh yes.

Snackeroo…

Highlight of the day was for sure my dinner experiment.  Being that I thought I hated peppers for the majority of my life I’ve never attempted making stuffed peppers before.  But now that I’ve done it I can’t believe I waited so long.

In an attempt to not buy groceries unless absolutely necessary I’ve been taking inventory of what I have on hand.  Fresh peppers and Sooke sausage caught my attention first…as did a box of couscous.

Since the couscous is seasoned the recipe came together very easily.

Ingredients:

• 1 box couscous, cooked as directed
• 1 large fresh pork sausage, removed from casing, crumbled
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1/4 cup tomato, diced
• fresh basil
• fresh parsley
• drizzle of olive oil
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 bell peppers, caps cut off, interiors cleaned

(If I were using a non-seasoned couscous I would add fresh garlic, more herbs, and maybe salt if needed.)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover the bottom of a small baking pan with water, place both cleaned peppers in pan (caps on), cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  This will help speed up the final product.
• While the peppers pre-cook, prepare your filling.  Drizzle olive oil into a skillet over med-high heat, add onions and cook 2-3 minutes.  Add sausage and cook until no longer pink, breaking up with spatula as it cooks.
• Remove from heat and stir in (still warm) couscous, tomatoes and herbs.  Taste, then season with pepper as necessary.

• Remove pre-cooked peppers from oven, drain water and pat dry.  Dry the pan and spray with cooking spray.  Fill each pepper with as much filling as you can (I actually had enough for three peppers), place them baking in the pan, put tops on, then return to the oven.  Bake uncovered for an additional 20 minutes.

I served my stuffed pepper a la carte but this would be good served next to grilled or roasted veggies, or a side salad.  It turned out really good, was super easy to make thanks to the seasoned couscous and amazing sausage.  The combinations are pretty much endless…so let me know if you have a favourite combo I should try!

After dinner the other Jamie and I went for coffee then I came home to chill out with Miss Chibi for a bit.  My sweet tooth got the better of me, but thankfully was the end of the Ikea crack candy and it will no longer be a temptation!

Can’t be snacking on crack while trying to get ready for Greece!! :)

Curry Partay

Staying up until 6am is not necessarily the best idea I’ve ever had.  Nor is following up a few glass of red wine with a few too many glasses of vodka/cranberry/soda.  Needless to say most of Saturday was a write-off.  A lot of sleep, a very patient dog, a gigantic Coco Cappuccino and deli-made pasta salad saved the day.

As did my friend Laura.

My friends Jamie and Chris decided to throw a potluck with an Indian curry theme.  While this sounds like an amazing idea I realized that I have really never ever cooked anything Indian!!  Oh nooooooes!

Thankfully Laura came to the rescue with one of Chef Heidi Fink’s recipes!  North Indian Tomato Curry (with Cauliflower and Chickpeas).

My biggest concern was actually cost.  I was very worried about having to purchase many spice ingredients I didn’t have on hand to make the homemade curry powder and garam masala.  Thankfully Laura had very recently made fresh batches of both and brought me a spice gift package!!

Including fresh curry leaves!

And black mustard and whole cumin seeds…

Due to my super duper late night I pretty much slept the day away on Saturday and thanks to some glitches with my Blackberry I wasn’t hearing text messages or phone calls and actually slept right through the time Laura and I had planned to get together to work on the recipe.

Doh!

She was a superstar though and still met me later in the day to help walk me through everything.  Honestly, she pretty much cooked the whole thing…but seeing the few tricks up her sleeve make me confident I’ll be able to do it myself next time!!

I am very pleased with how this turned out.  So flavourful! 

Along with this I also did a fresh and simple Kachumar Salad.  Sweet onions for the win!

The veggie slicing took some time but I arrived at the dinner party just in time to eat!  We had such a beautiful variety of contributions and everything was delicious!

Dinner Guests:  I want that Butter Chicken recipe!  Um, and the naan while we’re at it.  Oh, and the tandoori.  Ah well, throw in the raita recipe too please!  :)  and Alex:  What was your dish with the egg??

Admittedly I avoided the cocktails.  One night of drinkin’ is enough for me this week.  Lordy.  I did indulge in a second serving of almost everything and two too many cookies though.  Fooooooood.

Some sort of ridiculous Wii game kept us all rather entertained for the remainder of the evening…

…before I brought myself home and tucked into bed for a much needed 12 hours of sleep.  Major props go out to Chibi who totally let me sleep as much as I needed.  My dog is clearly a rock star.

I’m teaching her well.  zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Daim You!

Where did today go?  Holy moly.  I didn’t think I was busy but all of the sudden the day ended and I felt like I’d accomplished nothing.

Even my pictures are rushed and haphazard!  Maybe not enough coffee this morning…

Lemon yogurt with fresh strawberries (I bought a 2lb box…I sense a recurring breakfast theme this week!) with a homemade Sticky Bar.

Greek Salad for lunch…but where’s the after shot with the hummus and pita?  Maybe I ate it.

Chibi and I went for a lunchtime walk around the block.  The skies were blue and it was chilly out! 

I like having a dog to walk again!

Hot tea to warm my freezing hands.  Note to self: blue skies do not mean you can leave your coat and mitts at home.

One of the many coooookies I ate today. :)

For dinner my friend Ibby and I opted to get together at The Pink Bicycle for cheeseburgers with bacon and onion rings.

Deeeelish.  Much more my scene than the bison burger I had there last time.  Still pretty much in love with those buns!

I promised Ibby a batch of chocolate chip cookies over a week ago and then this weekend I jokingly left him a Facebook message to bring me Ikea candy during his trip to Vancouver.  When he said he would I knew he’d be a man of his word and got right to baking him his cookies in exchange. 

I couldn’t be the girl who cried cookie!

Not only did he bring me the oh-so-delicious bag of Daim (think mini Skor bars…nom!) but also bigass Ikea chocolate bars.

I think he’s trying to fatten me up.  Now I’ll have to do double cardio tomorrow dammit!  Will run for chocolate!!  and bacon.  and cheeese.

After dinner I delivered another batch of cookies to Bachelor #1 and had a quick cup of tea at Starbucks.  I might have used him as an excuse to “sample” the Daim.

Um, quadruple cardio it is.