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]

Coffee Talk

Not being able to face another day of weak instant coffee (even if it is VIA it’s just not real coffee to me) I trekked on over to the mall for a cup of bold to start the day yesterday.

Sitting through my weekly teleconference without coffee would have been torture!  (See below for how you can help me avoid this happening again.)

Breakfast was quickly prepared while my headset was on mute. :)

Liberte Svelt vanilla yogurt with 1/2 banana, 6 almonds, hemp hearts and chia seeds.  Light but totally delicious.

Last week I bought some chicken to boil for Chibi’s upset tummy.  Turns out it didn’t matter what she ate so I had leftover chicken to use up.  I grilled it up the other night and turned it into chicken salad for lunch yesterday.

Nom nom nom.  All stirred up with green onions, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, olive oil mayo, Dijon, and dill.  Rolled up with lettuce and light Laughing Cow.

Afternoon snackeroo was cooooookies…which apparently went straight into my piehole before getting photographed.

The evening was dedicated to catching up on a few more episodes of The Walking Dead now that my friend Ray is back from his vacation.  Always the great dinner guest he arrived with crusty rolls and flowers. :)

And took on my role as food paparazzi while I cooked.

“Fancy” hot dogs for dinner.  Those yummy, fresh Sooke pork sausages from The EdGe…grilled up and served on the crusty rolls with old white cheddar and condiments of choice.

I like ketchup, mustard and a smidge of mayo.

Salad and baked fries (potato & yam) on the side.

We made it through episodes 4 & 5 before calling it a night.  Only one episode left!!  Hopefully there’s a Season Two peeking around the corner soon.

After he left I was feeling snacky and grabbed an Altaulfo mango from the fruit bowl.  I don’t even generally care much for mangos, but after learning about this Philippino variety I am a little bit addicted. So deeelish!

And now…a very important question for my coffee loving friends…

As you know my coffee maker bit the dust the other day.  As you also know this is a TRAGEDY around here.  It owed me nothing so instead of trying to repair the old gal I’m shopping for a new caffeine maker.

Via Airmiles (ie: FREE coffee maker!) my choices are as follows:

• Krups Thermal Precision Coffee Maker – 1300 points
• Cuisinart Coffee Maker with Hot Water System – 1100 points
• Cuisinart Fully Automatic Burr Grind & Brew – 1900 points
• Delonghi Exclusivo Coffee Maker – 1050 points
• KitchenAid Architect Thermal Coffee Maker – 1450 points

Do any of you have one of these? 

OR… I can just cough up some of my hard earned money and buy something at the store (and use those Airmiles for something else…food processor?  espresso machine?).

OR… Tiffaney has a very nice coffee maker she has generously offered to lend me because she never uses it (how is that possible?!) but with the amount of coffee I make I just think I should have my own.

What the heck should I do?  Opinions please! :)

Two Dolla Tacos

Awwww….my memory mug.  Makes me miss my girls more than I already do every day!  Remember when Angie and I travelled to Toronto from Halifax to meet Jen, Amy, and Cat for the first time?!!  Seems a lifetime ago.

Breakfast was really more like lunch…I wasn’t hungry at all until well after noon.  My hunger cues are buggered.  Strawberry Banana Smoothie full of green goodness did the trick.

More Impromptoup for lunch.  English muffin with light Laughing Cow and tomatoes on the side.

Delicious strawberries for afternoon snackypoo.

For dinner tonight my friend Ray offered to treat me to a meal out (because I’m so totally awesome I have completely deflated my entertainment budget until payday!!).  We hummed and hawed for a while before deciding to finally give The Oyster a try.

As we walked up at 6:15 we were excited to see we made it in time for Buck-a-Shuck!

We scooted inside and sat down right away so we could get in our order for a dozen lovely little oysters on the half shell.  Tonight’s featured oysters were Little Wings.

They bring a variety of sauces…Thai (which was surprisingly good!), a verde, cocktail sauce (with fresh horseradish) and a red wine vinaigrette.

We opted for beers to go along with our fishes.  VI Brewery Sea Dog was on special.  Sounds good to us!

I figure since we seem to go for food a lot that it was high time Ray got his face on the blog.  Clearly he’s thrilled.

After perusing the menu we decided the best way to go would be to share a few of the small plates.  The crab enchiladas called out to both of us…

Quite yummy, but when our second dish arrived I almost completely forgot about those enchiladas.  Today was Taco Tuesday…meaning all fish tacos were on for only $2 each.  We ordered four to start.

Today’s featured fish was Red Snapper…served in browned tortillas and topped with fresh salsa made with pineapple!  I was in LOVE. 

We actually ended up ordering two more.  I suspect I’ll be dragging everyone I know there for Taco Tuesdays in the future.  Deeeelish.

After dinner I suggested that we take a quick trip over to Beacon Drive In for ice cream cones.  Spring is here and even though it was pretty cold today I think it’s pretty much soft serve season, no?

The whole point of getting together tonight was because we’ve decided to watch The Walking Dead.  Every time I recommend a show to someone lately, they turn around and ask me if I’ve seen The Walking Dead. 

We tried sharing this beer I’ve had in my fridge for ages, but neither of us liked it. Highly possible it’s been waiting far too long to be opened.

We got through the premier and second episode of the show and both enjoyed it.  Kind of reminds me of Stephen King’s The Stand…which I think I watched at least a half dozen times back in the day.  Sadly I now have to wait over a week to watch any more episodes because Ray has to go away for his brother’s wedding.  Damn timing.

Good thing he bought me dinner cuz otherwise I might not be all nice and wait for him. :)  Mwahahaha.

Family Jules

Yesterday seemed to be a mad dash all day long.  Well as much of a mad dash as can be with a bad hip. :)

Typical of all Wednesdays my day started out with a conference call.  Instead of trying to sneak off my headset for a second cup of coffee I just poured the whole Bodum-full into my Ireland mug.

So big you can’t even read it.

After the call it was time for breakfast. I headed into the kitchen to make oatmeal but when I opened the fridge I spotted the Liberte Coconut Yogurt and couldn’t resist.  Then I saw the big container of fresh dates on the counter.  We have a match!

Coconut, chopped fresh date, sliced banana and warm toasted walnuts.

Hell yes. Soooo good! 

Pretty decent staying power too.  It was ages before I thought about lunch.  After a while I thought I should probably eat even if just to make sure I’d digested before heading to my afternoon massage appointment.

Enchilada fixings make excellent salads!  In the big silver bowl: fresh spinach, black beans, tomatoes, orange peppers, shredded chicken breast, shredded cheese, salsa and sour cream.

After hustling to get as much work done as possible, I headed off to see my friend Laura for a massage.  When I have seen her in the past she really understood the issues I’m having with my back and nerve pain so I knew she would be able to work around it without messing up my physiotherapy progress.

I just really needed my shoulders and neck worked on…everything has been devoted to my stupid pain in the ass for so long my upper body has been neglected.  I’d been sporting a headache for like 5 days!

Laura fixed me up fabulously. :)

I had to race home from my appointment to finish work, make and eat dinner, plus shower and redo my hair and make-up to head out for cocktails.  I had about 2 hours to accomplish this all.  Thankfully dinner was supah easy…

While my hair started to air dry and I tackled my last 20 minutes of work, I reheated another enchilada and steamed up some broccoli.  (And took time to freeze the remaining enchiladas…three days in a row is my max!)

Admittedly this plate moved to the bathroom counter and I ate as I blow-dried.  Managed to eat about half before I had to race out the door.

Couldn’t possibly be late for cocktails you know! :)

Two drinky-poos out on the town, then back home and tucked into bed with a midnight bowl of Kashi cereal to calm my hungry tummy.  I can’t sleep when my stomach is reminding me I didn’t finish my dinner.

Who’s watching Cougar Town?  Have you noticed how each week they add to the title of the show poking fun at their own stupid show name?  Love it!

[source]

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.