Things that Make me Smile II

Hello world!

Let's continue with Part II of my Van-city re-cap . . . shall we?

On Thursday morning I woke up bright and early to take care of business (lol). It was a perfect day outside so I basically had to force myself to attend my meeting. The temptation to go outside and play was huge!! Instead I resisted and nibbled on some of the eats I had picked up at the local Capers Market (apparently owned by Whole Foods):


Yeah the pretzel bun is random but I had not eaten one since my trip to Munich in the fall of 2003. It was just as I remembered - yummy!

This trip also marked my first experience with the Bear Naked granola. Overall review of Bear Naked? Not very sweet which is a bonus in my books. Unfortunately, it seemed to be covered in a strange white film. Maybe that was the soy protein. I didn't love it.

And overall review of the KIND bars? Awesome! Not too sweet but chock full of nuts and protein. I loved them. They were however kind of pricey ($2.50/bar on sale) so I probably would not buy them again.

I spent most of my day in work-related activities. Once my obligations were taken care of I ran upstairs to my room, changed into running clothing, and headed out the door.

On three of the four days I was there, I ran . . .


A 6K loop from my hotel to the park and back . . .


I was not alone in my running. Lots of others were running too . . .


And really, can you blame us? These are the routes that make running a sheer joy!

I will miss those runs and I look forward to running the same paths next time I return to Vancouver (for a few days in late April).

While in Vancouver I also indulged in some serious eats!!! Here are the highlights - my tiramisu dessert at Joe Fortes:


The goodies I picked up at Capers before I headed back to the Rockies (special shout out to the my black truffle oil - be still my heart!):


My Cola Champagne at "El Rinconcito" Salvadoran restaurant on Commercial (2062). What can I say? It's all about the little ethnic moments. This was the pop of my youth:


But the ABSOLUTE highlight of my Vancouver eats was Japadog! What is Japadog? Think average North American hotdog meet Japanese ingenuity. The result is a crazy delicious meal that tastes like something from a really amazing Japanese Restaurant. Judging by the crowds, the wait, the media coverage (including in Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations"), and the newly opened second location Japadog is a runaway hit!


The menu is full of creations one would never expect to find at a hot dog stand. Okonomiyaki on a hot dog? Miso? Are you serious!?! I have to admit I was unsure just how yummy this hot dog would be. But all of these people either waiting or ordering (this picture was taken after the rush) couldn't be wrong:


As I got closer I was confronted with a myriad of choices. What was a girl to eat?

Intriguing. But the Okonomidog was not the winner. I found my hotdog on this list:


The Kurobuta Terrimayo had my name written all over it! Japanese pork, terriyaki sauce (which tasted nothing like any terriyaki sauce I had ever had before), seaweed, and fried onions. In the end it looked something like this:


And the taste? LOL Oh man was it good!!! You know in the Simpsons when Homer really likes something and tilts back his head, mouth open, tongue to the side, and makes a sound to indicate the utter deliciousness of what he's about to eat (see picture here) ? Well that was me! I had a little internal battle going on about whether or not I should go back for another one. I didn't but I wanted to. Bad.

Overall review of Japadog? Absolutely recommend it!!! It tastes like a meal, is utterly delicious, and of really high quality. I should mention I never eat hot dogs either. I don't like them. They generally make me sick. Not so with Japadog!

Clearly, I had an awesome time in Vancouver. I can't wait to go back to share some laughs with my girls and enjoy Stanley Park runs. And if you're looking for me you might just find me in line at Japadog.


Hasta luego bloggies!

Things that Make me Smile

So how was my Vancouver trip you ask? Wonderful! Simply Wonderful!

I was fortunate enough to stay at the Westin Bayshore hotel located in Coal Harbour. Directly adjacent to Stanley Park but walking distance to both downtown and Vancouver's West end . . . it's easily my favourite part of Vancouver (English Bay would come in second). Now what is it about this area that makes me love it so?


Views like these just outside my lovely hotel room balcony! And if you look just to the other side there are more gorgeous views. This time a little bit more city-like. Mountains, Ocean, city, marina . . . it's the best of all worlds!

With my lovely view I was able to sit back and enjoy the puffy cloud-filled sky putting on quite the show for me:

It had been a long time since I had been in a big city or near the water. My soul was happy. I have never lived in Vancouver but the familiarity of it all made me smile. It was like the perfect mix between my beloved Toronto and my much missed Victoria.

I stared at the view for a while and finally decided to head out. My plan was pretty clear, I was going to head for a haircut, look for some exercise DVDs, grab a late lunch, and head back to the hotel for a quick run.

First the hair cut. I seldom put pictures of myself up on the blog but I kind of heart it so you're going to have to bear with me. This is my after shot:


And that in the background is my wonderful hotel room! A king size heavenly bed, floor to ceiling windows, and a Juliette balcony. :o)

My first Vancouver city meal was in a small Thai restaurant near my stylist. The prices were extremely reasonable so I never expected to get so much food!


There was some rice, a spring roll, a salad, and sauteed scampi. I barely ate half of my meal. Unfortunately I did not get to have any of my salad. It had a peanut dressing all over it and I'm allergic (hence why I'm one of the few food/fitness bloggies that doesn't indulge in Peanut Butter & Co.).

Overall what did I think of the dish? The scampi were amazing! Perfectly cooked in an oyster sauce and chock full of veggies too. I was a happy camper.

Full stomach in tow, I headed off in search of some fitness DVDs. The deadline for the Great $1000 Fitness Dilemma is drawing near and I still had some money to spend. I bought four DVDs that I can't wait to try and review here!


My haul included three Rodney Yee DVDs (Power Yoga - Strength and Flexibility, Yoga Burn, and A.M. Yoga) and Jillian Michaels' Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism. All of that only cost me about $60! On the same outing I also headed to the Lululemon flagship store to buy a yoga strap that doubles as a mat carrier. Yaaay for dual purpose fitness goodies!

After all that shopping I headed to the hotel for a quick run. The weather wasn't the best that evening so I didn't take any pictures. I would more than make up for it the next couple of days when the sun was happily smiling down on me.

That night I got to meet up with one of my girls. We headed to a local French restaurant where I had the most ridonculously yummy steak of my life. Again though the portions were massive. As in more than double what I thought they would be. A warning - if you're a vegetarian you may want to look away now . . .


My rib-eye steak was accompanied by a Roquefort sauce, creamed spinach, a roasted tomato and a pile of frites. I barely ate half the meat, 1/4 of the fries, and 1/3 of the spinach. Clearly I need to start ordering smaller portions. I would have loved to take some with me but my lovely hotel room was missing a fridge. So I ate what I could and sent the rest away with assurances to the chef that I had indeed enjoyed my meal.

Soon I was off to bed because the next day was the business portion of my trip. I may have spent most of my Thursday in a conference room but I did manage to get out and enjoy my first lovely weather run in Stanley Park. More on that tomorrow but for now I'll leave you a preview of what I saw on my run.

Let's just say the views and the salty air caused me to re-discover a love for running outdoors:


See you in the morning bloggies - happy dreams! :o)

A Vancouver Tease

Hello world! I'm back! :o)

I had a lovely stretch of days in Vancouver. My work meeting went well, the views from my posh hotel room were amazing, the weather for the most part was beautiful, I ran on the sea wall (as planned), I hung out with my girls, and I discovered some new eats. All in all I think my days away were good for my spirit.

Now it's back to my real life here in the Rockies but I feel newly inspired by my sea wall runs and hopefully that will carry through to my treadmill workouts this week. :o)

I have lots to write about but for now I'm just going to be a tease and leave you with this picture of a statue located in Stanley Park - across the water you can see the Vancouver skyline. I've always thought this man looks like he's running quite the spirited race. VERY fitting for all you runners out there!

Here's to a great week!

Running on a Sea Wall

. . . that's exactly what I plan on doing tomorrow and the day after and every day until Sunday! :o)

I'm heading to Vancouver for work and I couldn't be more excited!!!

I've lived in the Rockies since last August and haven't been back to the West Coast since. The purpose of the trip is work-related. In reality I'm only busy with work stuff on Thursday which means I have most of tomorrow to myself, all day Friday and Saturday, and then I leave Sunday morning.

I have plans bloggies! I'm going to enjoy beautiful sights like these . . .


And maybe some like these too . . .


Or maybe some like these . . .


And did I mention I plan on some fantabulous eats?


I'm completely excited!! While I'm in Vancouver I also plan on dropping by Lululemon (which happens to be a Van-city company) for some work-out gear and I hope to pick up some yoga DVDs to keep my 31 Days of Yoga going!

BUT most of all I'm going to laugh and laugh with my friends! :o)

And on that note please excuse me if I'm somewhat absent in the next couple of days. I'll take my laptop with me but I don't know how feasible it will be for me to blog. Having said that I promise to come back with some awesome pics!

Hasta luego!


PS: All pictures taken in previous Van trips

Pho-yum? Pho-Schizzle!

Hahaha please excuse the cheesy title but I just had to! :oP

Let's review today's eats shall we?

Breakfast (which I had at an un-Godly early hour) was another Green Monster. I've been experimenting with the flavours. So much so that the boy even said "You know what I like about these? They always taste different!" What can I say? I'm in an experimenting mood at the moment. :o) I'm sure tomorrow's will be very different too. Mostly 'cause I'm out of bananas.

But on to today's Green Monster featuring one banana, one fat-free peach yogurt, two cups of Almond Breeze, a handful of spinach, a handful of kale, two strawberries, a small bowl of mango, and a sprinkling of flax seeds.


I added a couple of ice cubes to the Green Monster; mostly just to drop the temperature of the drink.


And out came another beautiful morning Green Monster! My ingredients made enough for three big glasses. I had two of them!!! I needed them this morning - I felt icky and thought I could use all the green power they could muster.


Once at work I nibbled on a lovely Granny Smith apple, a handful of almonds, some dried cranberries, and a couple of dates:


For lunch I headed to the local grocery store and picked up a seafood salad. It came with a dressing but I just used it to dip my fork into. Barely made a dent into the little container! I paired this salad with an alpine grains whole wheat roll.


I have to admit I was incredibly mungry ALL day long! I nibbled on an apple (not pictured) and when I headed to the grocery store after work I picked myself up a little indulgence!


A small little serving of Kinder chocolate!!! Super creamy and uber delicious! I have to admit part of the reason I love it so much is its tiny size. Perfectly adorable. That and it reminds me of Europe - they have a ton of Kinder chocolates that we don't have here! Kinder Harvest is a favourite of mine - full of really yummy grains but not available in Canada.

You'll notice I took the pictures behind the wheel of my beloved Mazda3. I kind of <3 it! And I can't wait until spring comes and it can look super lovely again. :o)

Now for dinner . . . oh dinner! It was the highlight of my day! I was inspired to make Pho (a Vietnamese noodle soup). I threw a couple of ingredients together to create a broth, added rice noodles, a bit of cooked sliced beef, mushrooms, tons of bean sprouts, a couple of slices of tomatoes, and a leaf of lettuce. All topped off with some bits of fresh mint and a squeeze of lime!


I love Pho! It's my default cold wet weather food. And today was a cold wet day so Pho it was! :o) Before I moved to the Rockies I used to head down to my favourite Pho restaurant when I get a yankering (sometimes late at night too - nothing like late night Pho). Here I don't have that option so I make my own!

My tummy is very happy! :o) Now I'm going to clean up a bit and head to the gym to knock out a 40 minute run, and then I'll come back for a bit of yoga.

Have a good night bloggies! See you in the morning!


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5) Oh she Glows is giving away a copy of Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred! Link here!


More Free Stuff

And in case all of that free stuff wasn't enough here's more! Go to this link to get a coupon for a free Kashi frozen entree! Unfortunately this is only open to U.S. residents.

Becoming a Runner: Look what I went and did!!!

Hello lovelies!

All in all I would have to say I had a great weekend. I worked out, I cooked, I got to hang out with the boy for two days straight, and I attended my first non-work gathering in this city. All of these go a long way to making this place feel a little bit more like a home. :o)

I also have a little SURPRISE for you - in my evolution towards a half-mary (half marathon) runner! lol But I'll leave that reveal for the end. Let's start with yesterday's eats.

I began my morning with a smoothie blend identical to the one from Saturday. I'm definitely a HUGE fan of mangoes in my Green Monsters. Next time I'm near a Costco I'll have to load up. As I was sitting down to enjoy my breakie I busted out my Rodney Yee Power Yoga DVD (review coming soon) and happily noticed my breakfast and my workout matched! :oP lol


Lunch yesterday was very yummy and surprisingly filling! It also happened to be green! :oP I took one of my whole wheat tortilla wraps and filled it with 1/2 of a small avocado, a smear of hummus, crumbled goat's milk feta, a tiny bit of salsa, lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, cucumbers, and a small amount of chicken and shrimp that I grilled on my stove-top.


See how insanely full of veggies it is?! That wrap and apple kept me full until quite late in the evening. Which is a very good thing because it kept me from indulging in the baked goods I made for yesterday's party, Oh She Glows! baked banana donuts:


I made some modifications to the recipe. To make them slightly tastier I added apple sauce to the batter. I also created a glaze using icing sugar, water, vanilla essence, and a healthy dose of rum. They were a hit - everyone would bit into them and go "Mmmmmm rum . . ."

When I was invited to dinner I was told "Come! There will be ribs! And pizza! And wings!" lol Most people consider that three separate parties. I also noticed that there was no mention of anything with veggies in it. I wanted to make sure there was something I could eat without doing too much damage. So I volunteered to bring a salad.


My lovely salad was made up of multi-coloured lettuce, cucumbers, sunflower seeds, a sprinkle of sun dried tomatoes, strawberries, and whole-wheat croutons. This was all topped off with a fat-free pear vinaigrette that went wonderfully with the strawberries!

At the party I first indulged in a good serving of salad and a small piece of ribs:


I was then offered some of their home-made pizza. So I took a small slice and loaded up with salad on top. I've never done that before but it really got the greasiness of the pizza. Not that it was overly greasy - it wasn't. It just lightened it up a bit! It also filled me up so I would stay away from future slices.

I finished off the evening by enjoying one of my home-made baked donuts. All in all a good night! :o)

Now for today's edition of Becoming a Runner . . .

I have officially chosen my race! On Sunday, October 11th, 2009 I will be running the Royal Victoria Half Marathon!!

Victoria is the home of my fitness journey. I arrived severely overweight and out of shape. I left a totally different person. It's home to wonderful views, a boat load of memories, the place I will always consider my gym home in this big world (Bodhi Personal Training Studio), my trainer (Hi Nick!), and the location of my first race last year (the Times Colonist 10K).

Choosing the Royal Victoria Marathon as my half-mary also allows me to go spend Canadian Thanksgiving, the weekend of the race, with the boy's family. It will be a home-coming of sorts and I'm beyond excited!!

Want to see the course?

Sorry it's all squished but you get the idea! It's a beautiful course with most of it run along the Ocean.

I'm SUPER excited!! This makes my goal all the more real. It gives me something tangible to work towards. And that makes this Toronto Girl out West, a happy camper! :o)

Mid Weekend Recap

I've been having a wonderful weekend thus far! The boy has this whole weekend off with me and so we're spending loads of time together. Hence the lack of blogging since early Friday morning.

And how did Friday go you ask?

I started off the day with a Green Monster. Actually this time it started out kind of purple-ish but as it settled it became greener. lol Kind of like those technicolour shirts of yore. Friday's ingredients were about equal parts of kale and spinach, about 1/3 of a cup of fat-free mixed berry yogurt, a small bowl of slightly thawed mixed berries, and one banana. All of this topped off with a cup of un-sweetened Almond Breeze and a sprinkling of flax seeds.


And here are the results in my protein shake mixer bottle. Note how it's purple but I swear it turned green later on!


Lunch was the retirement celebration for one of my co-workers. It was held at one of the local restaurants which features a buffet on Fridays and Saturdays at lunch. I won't lie. It's a meat-fest! This place is all about the beef, the veal, and the pork. As a result I knew I was going to have to be careful about what I ate. Usually, they have a prime rib so I thought I would have a slice of that. I was actually looking forward to it too because it's pretty yummers. Then we got there and found no prime rib. :o( Instead there were lots of sausages, schnitzel, and ribs. I chose what I considered the lesser of all evils and loaded up my plate with a ton of Greek salad and two rib pieces.


I would like to say that the ribs were meaty and utterly delicious but they were not. They were mostly bony and dry. So instead I headed back and got more salad. The salad was the biggest hit of the lunch!! My co-worker had a lovely time too and I know she appreciated the event. And really that's what it's all about. Not my food. :o)

When I got home the boy wanted to go out for dinner. In fact he wanted to have a bit of a date night - dinner and a movie! I was all over that!! We headed to the only Mexican restaurant in town and I sat down to be faced with my temptation. The uber-yummy incredibly fresh tortillas and salsa. I was good and chose the limited amount of tortilla chips I would have and took a picture of them.


I heart me some fresh tortilla chips!! I followed this yumminess up with a seafood soup and one tortilla on the side. The soup had lots of seafood in it - crab, shrimp, oysters, calamari, and fish! It was worth holding off and not having the usual Mexican restaurant-type meal. Plus because it's technically an appetizer it's very reasonably priced too! Woohoo for cheap yummy eats!


We ended up seeing Slumdog Millionaire at the movies. It was really good! Having said that it was INCREDIBLY difficult to watch! So difficult that I nearly walked out of the movie at one point. It showed the cruel life that kids lead in the slums. It was heart-breaking and times extremely gritty. Good movie? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. Would I watch it again? No. I just couldn't take it.

The boy and I shared a kid's pack of treats at the movies. It's a little box with a small amount of plain popcorn and a small drink. It also comes with a tiny bag of M&Ms. I mostly just ate my half of the popcorn. Honestly it was more than enough for the two of us! Way too much food for a kid if you ask me!

Breakfast yesterday was something new. Recently, I bought these whole wheat tortillas and I decided I would use them for a breakfast wrap. I added a smear of natural almond butter, one banana in slices, a small sprinkling of blanched almond slices and dried cranberries and about a teaspoon of honey drizzled on top. I rolled this all up for an easy no need to do dishes Saturday breakfast. I paired my wrap with a Pom spritzer. Here is it before I rolled it up:


I was really impressed at how well my breakfast wrap managed to hold hunger at bay. Especially because I followed up my morning breakfast with a walk that lasted maybe three or four hours!!! You see it was a fairly nice day outside (sunny and about -3 degrees Celsius) so instead of taking the car to do errands we decided to walk. And we walked and walked and walked.

It was the first time we'd done something like that in this city. To be honest it's not the most walker-friendly city. The cold winters don't help much either. But I think now that the weather is getting warmer we'll be doing a lot more walking.

Eventually we found ourselves in the downtown area and starving. So we headed to one of the places that's a stand-by for the post-court gatherings. The boy had never been there before and I had really been wanting to show him the place! It's a small simple place with a small kitchen. But the food is home-made and honest. It's lovely really.

We both had their hamburgers (no mayo but with a slice of cheese) and a bowl of home-made creole soup. They use home-made patties with really lean meat and no fillers.


We were both really full from lunch so dinner was a Green Monster. I decided to try a new combination of ingredients this time:


For two people I used two bananas, about 1/3 of a cup of fat-free strawberry yogurt, about 1 and a 1/3 cup of slightly thawed mango chunks, one small handful of spinach, one heaping handful of kale, two cups of unsweetened almond breeze, a sprinkling of flax seeds, and 3 ice-cubes (to lower the temperature of the shake).

In it all went and out came the prettiest Green Monster I've made thus far!!


This Green Monster had a decidedly lighter taste. It was fruity and fresh and also thinner than some of my other concoctions. It was a hit!! So much so that I'll be making a repeat this morning. :o)

So that's it for my mid weekend recap. Today will be a busy Sunday:


Sunday To-Do List

1) Do yoga - I'm partaking in the lovely Tina's (at Carrots n' Cake) 31 Days of Yoga challenge
2) Head to the gym for a run
3) Organize my library
4) Do some grocery shopping
5) Bake a batch of Angela's (of Oh She Glows!) Baked Banana Donuts
6) Attend a party (Woohoo!!!)
7) Prep for the week ahead

See you later tonight bloggies - enjoy the rest of your weekend! :o)