A Slip-Up and Quatchi, Miga, and Sumi!!

This morning I slept in quite a good deal. I was so beat from my workouts that I fell asleep and was out cold. Nothing woke me up. Not even my alarm this morning. So I had scarcely enough time to get everything together and then head to work.

Once at work I neglected to bring in my camera to take a picture of my breakfast. It was my usual oatmeal bowl; this time with pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, vanilla, bananas, and almonds. Filling as usual!

For lunch, the boy and I decided we would meet up for lunch. He and I have very different work schedules so it's not often that we get to spend quality time together. On days when he has the day off and I'm at work, we do our best to meet up for lunch.

Today we headed to a local restaurant where I ordered a grilled quesadilla with tortillas, cheese, tomatoes, olives, and grilled chicken. This came with a side salad that had everything but the kitchen sink in there! It was great!! But way too big so I left 1/3 of the quesadilla and all of the sour cream. The waitress packed it up for me and the boy took it home to snack on later.


A close-up of my incredibly yummy and filling salad:


And then came my slip-up. I headed back to work where there was a celebration going on. A party to welcome some new people to the office. I was at first determined to be really good so I brought some dates, nuts, and dried cranberries into the gathering.


Good start right? Yeah but then I got talked into a piece of cake. In my defence I asked them to cut it as small as possible and they gave me the thinnest piece they could cut without the cake falling apart. So far not that bad. But then I mindlessly ate a handful of chips. I don't even know why! They were sitting there and I ate them. :o( I have to work on my self-discipline. I know part of the reason I'm so good at home is because I control what comes into the house. I need to work on improving my discipline. Next time an office gathering takes place I think I'll bring in a healthy platter. So at least I have an option. I'm also going to sit as far away as possible from the chips.

Dinner tonight was a hit!!! A HUGE hit! In fact I made my first batch of quinoa ever and I was super impressed with how delicious it turned out. First I toasted the quinoa to give it a nutty depth of flavour, cooked it in my rice cooker, and then added some parsely, a teaspoon of olive oil (for three servings), cucumbers, tomatoes, and lemon juice (Editor's note: I also added a small bunch of mint). It kind of turned out like an impromptu tabbouleh. To top it all off I added a bit of goat's milk feta. I think I'll have to measure everything out and post a recipe here soon.


The chicken breast was simply cooked in a dry spice rub in which turmeric features prominently. When it was done cooking I squeezed a bit of lemon juice on it to create a bit of a sauce. But really the quinoa was the star of the show.


But BY FAR the highlight of my day was going to downtown for a 2010 Olympic Rally. We're now a bit less than a year away from the Winter Olympics and Canada could not be more excited!

Today, the Olympic torch (which looks suspiciously like something you'd smoke) and the Olympic mascots came to my town. And without further ado I introduce you to Miga (part killer whale and kormode bear) and Quatchi (he's my favourite and a Sasquatch - like a Canadian Big Foot):


And also meet Sumi (he wears the hat of the orca, flies with the wings of a thunderbird, and runs with the strong legs of a black bear - he's basically a real life totem pole and a tribute to the First Nations of Canada).


Can you tell I was excited!??! :oP Honestly I think I ran to the front of the line when they said you could take pictures with the mascots. They're super cute! And I for one am very excited for the Olympics. The boy and I will be there for at least a portion of the games. We managed to score tickets to the luge semis and finals and the men's hockey semi-final game!!! That's like pure gold to a Canadian.

All in all it was a very good day in my corner of the Rocky Mountains