SATC2

What better excuse for a girls' night out than a showing of          Sex and the City 2!  Break out the cute shoes and martinis ladies!!

My friend Missy sent out the invite months in advance.  :)  Tickets were bought online.  No line-ups or sold out shows for these girls!!

I had intended on buying hawt new shoes for this event, but honestly with all of the running around I've been doing lately I'm lucky I managed to get there at all!  Instead I was going to wear my cute green dress and white Guess peep toes but the weather was cold and wet so I switched to jeans and snake skin buckled peeps instead...

 

I did break out some curls for the event though.  :)

The movie was fabulous.  Completely campy and over the top, but in a good way.  More outrageous than the first one, and the storyline did come off a bit weak...but still fun and entertaining as all hell.  Some of the one-liners were absolutely hysterical.  I laughed out loud multiple times...and listening to the whole theatre every time there was a hot guy (there were many!), hot shoes (so many it was hard to keep up), or an amazing (or totally out there) outfit totally added to the fun of it all.

Definitely grab a couple of girlfriends and check it out.  Girly entertainment at it's finest!  (and I believe a lot of guys would actually find it pretty funny too....)

After the show we headed out for a lovely dinner at Nectar Social House in Dartmouth.  I've attempted to go here twice before but it didn't work out either time, so I was thrilled that this restaurant suggestion came up for our girls' night. 

The room was modern and gorgeous...and so was the food.  This is the kind of place I wish I could drag my good camera since point and shoot (and low lighting) definitely does no justice.

Drink of the evening...Nectarini.  Tasted like sunshine in a cocktail.

I wanted to try everything on the starter menu...it all sounded fabulous.  I tossed back and forth between the Lobster Spring Rolls and the Greek Style Ceviche Salad.  I eventually decided on the salad...

It was fresh and flavourful.  I love the inclusion of capers and the shrimp marinade was deeeeelish.  I was kind of jealous of the lobster rolls when someone else ordered them though...might be a reason to go back!

For my main I asked our server to help me decided between the Pineapple Lobster Pasta and the Chilli Pork Stuffed Ravioli.  Two completely different options! He talked me into the ravioli because it had...maple bacon cream sauce!!!  Lobster got bumped again!

It was rich and delicious.  The pork was spiced just right, the sauce was decadent but not overpowering and the fresh pasta just about melted in my mouth.  I really enjoyed the new twist on a menu favourite.

Come dessert time you would think I didn't have room but each course was just the right size and when the server mentioned this Lemon Tart I just had to order it. 

Two wedges, so enough to share with a few of the girls.  It was light and tart...like the base of a homemade Lemon Meringue Pie.  Worth every bite.

After dinner the bartender and one of the group's bf's were great sports and played photographer for us.  I think we had 6-8 cameras on the go!  Definitely a fun girlie night.  Would do it again tomorrow!  Thanks gals!!

Girl Date

Yesterday my friend Sarah and I were going to meet for coffee and croissants the size of our heads, but she was busy with apartment hunting so we rescheduled for dinner and a movie instead.

I have a long list of restaurants to get to here in Halifax before I move away, so I suggested one of those for our meal. 

Morris East!

It’s a small, funky little place specializing in wood-fired pizzas. 

I opted for a glass of the wine special for the night, Genesis Syrah…

While Sarah ordered a yummy oatmeal stout…

All of the March pizzas sounded deeeelish, however I was drawn to the combo of blue cheese and prosciutto.  Two pizzas caught my eye, but I quickly settled on the option that included poached pears!

“RED WINE POACHED PEAR WITH BLUE CHEESE, MAPLE AIOLI, PROSCIUTTO, PRESERVED LEMON AND FRISEE”

I am a big fan of fresh greens on a pizza so that was another selling feature.  In fact, I kind of wish they had used more!

Sarah was immediately drawn to the lure of goat cheese so she chose the roasted veggie variety.

“OVEN ROASTED VEGETABLE, GOAT CHEESE, REDUCED BALSAMIC, FRESH BASIL”

I was jealous of her zucchini!

The pizzas were soooo good.  We both opted for the whole wheat crust…which was thin and slightly crisp just the way I like it.  I drizzled a teeny bit of their homemade chili oil on the second half of mine, and OMG it was fabulous.  I ate the whole thing!

But still managed to let the server talk us into TWO desserts!  I really wanted to try the S’more (um, hellooooo…homemade marshmallow toasted in the woodfire oven!!!) but the server also told us that the Salted Caramel Tart is the BEST DESSERT EVER…so we had to order both.

The marshmallow was amazing!!! 

We expected the tart to be warm (or at least warm-ish) but it was chilled so a bit hard…but the salty sweet goodness of the toffee was definitely super deeeelish.

I literally waddled out of there.  So full.

After dinner we raced out to the theatre for Alice in Wonderland.  I really enjoyed it.  The 3D didn’t make me dizzy like Avatar did, the scenery and computer visuals were stunning, and they didn’t go to hog wild with the story line.  For me, Helen Bonham Carter as the Red Queen totally made the movie…hilarious. 

Oh so sexy 3D glasses…bwahahaha…

I’d give it two thumbs up but wouldn’t suggest taking your little kids to this one.  12 and up I’m thinking.

Good news was that I was so full from dinner I didn’t get any theatre treats.  I could barely even sip the water I brought with me!

I might have to try to get back to Morris East before I leave town.  :)  Lynn???

Girls Night In

Last night FH had a couple of buddies over for another rousing round of Beatles Rock Band.  He has now downloaded a couple more albums so they had a whole new repertoire to work from.  I decided to call up the other wives and see if they wanted to get together and give the boys their space.  We opted to grab some snacks and a movie and hunker down over at Cosette’s house.

(I apologize now for the picture quality…I just used my point & shoot and didn’t really worry about lighting or anything.  Sorry!)

Joanne and I hopped in the car and headed over to Coco’s.  On our way, we grabbed some snacks at the grocery store.  We brought the junk food! 

Look out people!  I know you love these!  Broooookies!!  haha.  (For those of you that didn’t see these the last time I bought them…they are half brownie/half cookie…and the comments went wild when I posted about them.  LOL.)

I made sure to leave the leftovers behind for Mark otherwise they might have been breakfast today. 

We also contributed Swedish Berries, Twizzlers, and Kettle Chips.

Thankfully Coco can always be relied on for the healthy snacks!  Veggies, hummus, spinach dip, yummy rustic rye? bread, lavash crackers…

And lots of tea and water. 

I actually brought her this fabulous tea from Silk Road in Victoria.  Super fabulous little store carrying a zillion types of organic loose leaf tea (among other things).  AngelWater has always been my favorite…I really should drink it more often.

We watched It’s Complicated (shhhh…don’t ask where it came from…Thanks Sarah!!).  Soooooo good.  I really didn’t expect much, but it’s a very smart script, well told and really funny.  Let me just say that I truly believe…

Alec Baldwin is the new William Shatner. 

You can quote me on that if you like.  :)

Anyway, Joanne and I didn’t roll home until like 3am.  The boys were still kind of playing but shut it down after a finale encore.  Amazingly, Mark and FH stayed up and watched a movie after that.  Crazy boys!

A Very Good Wednesday

Where to begin?!!  A fab new Halifax restaurant find?  A teen dream movie adventure?  A quick & sweaty workout?  An exciting delivery from Boston?

Yesterday was a grrrrrreat day!!  I guess I’ll tell ya in order…

1) My conference call ended at 3:54pm!  So you know what that means… I finally got to the gym!  (I say finally like it hasn’t only been 5 days…lol).  Time was short so I pushed it hard and got a good workout in.

• Treadmill: warm up, 2 x 10:1, cooldown = 1.75 miles, 225 cals, 25 minutes
• 2 sets of 15: plie squats with 2 kg ball, squats with 2 kg ball, calf raises, deadlifts with 10 lb bar, crunches on bench, reverse crunches on bench, 1 minute plank on bosu.

Admittedly I shouldn’t have used the bench…it’s too hard on my lower back…and I did end up with a spasm on the drive home which is crazy painful today.  Booo.  But whatever, I had a great workout!

2) I received my fun package from Elizabeth.  We did a cross-border product exchange and I was dying to see what she sent. 

I’m going to keep you in suspense so I can write a whole post…but how’s this for a teaser…?  She lives near a TRADER JOE’S!!!

3) Girl’s night out.  What started out as my friend Sarah and I saying “we should do something Wednesday night” turned into dinner and a movie for three Twilight dirty old ladies diehards.  :)

Dinner at Brooklyn Warehouse:

I’ve been hearing about this restaurant since a few months after we moved to Halifax.  For some reason I thought it was only a lunch place, but just recently realized that I was wrong.  We checked out the menu online and were quite excited to try it out.

Thankfully our waitress was incredibly helpful and gave us a couple of suggestions because Sarah and I were both stumped as to what to order.  Everything sounded soooo good!  I had originally thought I would order the Warm Mushroom Salad and an appetizer (mmmmm mussels…) to make my meal, but after listening to our server recommend a couple of entrees I knew I had to order one.

She recommended the Pork Chop, the Fish Dish, and the Rabbit.  She was pretty excited about the rabbit, and since that is something I would never have at home I decided that was the way to go.  Sarah opted for the pork chop, and Joanne ordered the Fatouche Salad.

All of our meals were excellent.  Joanne’s salad was beautiful, leafy, green and bright.  She said is was very good.  Sarah’s pork chop was gourmet comfort food at it’s finest.  The chop is brined in local Propeller Root Beer…how yum is that?!  I tried a bite of her risotto and I was sold.  I loves me a great risotto!

My rabbit dish was lovely and comforting as well.  The leg pieces were so tender the meat was falling off the bone.  I’m not usually a leg fan when I eat chicken, but in this case it was just so meltingly good I really enjoyed it.  There were also a few slices of stuffed loin, which I didn’t like as much but they were still yummy…especially with the au jus on the plate.

Typical of me though, I thought the mushroom mashed potatoes were the best part.  Leave it to me to love the carby goodness!  Loaded with chunks of juicy big mushrooms and mashed with butter…deeeeelish.

With my meal I enjoyed a Brooklyn Dark Ale.  It just seemed like a beer night and when our server described the Dark Ale I had to try it.  Not too thick, but slightly chocolatey and very tasty. 

I also tried a sip of Sarah’s Wasabi Caesar.  Lightly spicy and yum.  I’d want that with a hearty Sunday brunch for sure!

For dessert we haggled over the three choices but in the end I was outvoted on the chocolate so we tried the Scottish Shortbread.  Amazing.  Tart berry sauce, lemon curd, and perfectly flaky shortbread.  A fabulous finish to our meals.

All in all, a great dinner experience.  I only wish I had better photos, but dimly lit crowded restaurants just aren’t good picture taking situations.  Ah well.  Go try it.  :)

4) The Twilight Saga: New Moon!

It’s confirmed.  I’ve been saying for weeks that if I have to pick a team, I pick Team Jacob.  This holds true.  And if the amount of giggling and carrying on in the theatre is any indication I am NOT alone!

In this instalment in particular…if you’ve read the book…Edward is a dirty bugger that leaves Bella in a crazy depression and Jacob is a warm, comforting, supportive friend. 

And yes, it helps that Jacob becomes a buff, shirtless hottie. (Please no comments about his age.  He’s fictional dammit!)

While Edward is a pale, scrawny, sulky, whiner. 

The movie itself is terribly acted and totally campy…but they really embraced the cheesiness this time and made good fun of themselves…so it worked.  You couldn’t watch the movie without having read the books though I don’t think…they really leave a lot to your existing knowledge of the storyline.

It was fun to be in the theatre with other fans. I am not usually a big giggler but because so many other people were laughing out loud and making little jokes we got into it too.  It wouldn’t have been near as enjoyable without that.

We all giggled all the way to the car.

Holy marathon post!! 

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends!  Enjoy your day!!

The End of the World

Angie’s Pampered Chef party was a tasty, fun success.  :)  Our consultant prepared a Mexican Chicken Lasagna for us to demo a bunch of the equipment available for purchase and to show how the stoneware works even in the microwave! 

It was yummy!

And Angie had lots of healthy snacks for us…

Bits and bites served as my lunch.  Handy.  :)

I’ll show you what I ordered when it comes in next week.

When I got home FH asked if I wanted to go to the movies so I decided just to make a salad for supper so I could indulge in movie popcorn!

 

Simply spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms and celery drizzled with grapeseed oil and fresh cracked sea salt…

We saw 2012.  I really only knew it was about the end of the world and had lots of special effects.  I really enjoyed it but admittedly laughed most of the way through.  They really went WAY over the top!  I guess they decided that since it was a pretty impossible storyline that they might as well just push it over the limit of believability.  Twas worth the 2.5 hours though!

On a separate note, why the heck did Grey’s this week jump from Thanksgiving to Christmas already?