Cheers to you my Dears!

Hola amigos! :o)

Tonight I was thrilled to discover that the wonderful Mara of "What's For Dinner?" awarded me the Beautiful Blogger Award:

I admittedly felt all warm and fuzzy when I received this award! Thank-you Mara!!!

As a recipient of the award I have to name 7 things that my readers may not know about me and then pass it on to 7 other bloggers. Here's my list of 7 things I'm sure you've been dying to know about yours truly! lol :o)

1) Technically I speak French fluently (I've lived and studied in Paris - twice). Unfortunately I live in a part of Canada where no one speaks French. Once in a while this will lead to me freaking out about having forgotten everything. Then I'll have a dream. Completely in French. And all will be right with the world again.

2) This blog has helped me reconnect with a childhood friend. Some 20 years later and it's probably only now that I realize how much we really have in common.

3) Although I pretend I'm not, I'm a sentimental and romantic sap at my very core. In fact I love the feel of an old book with slightly weathered pages, the unexpected surprise of a letter from a far-away friend, and cuddles. Lots and lots of cuddles.

4) When I was in my late teens and early 20s "City Dance" by Renoir was my favourite painting. I loved the detail that went into the skirt. I used to think I could almost hear the subtle rustling of the crinoline.

5) While I still love "City Dance" I would have to add something by Van Gogh to my list of faves. The paint in a Van Gogh work lies on the canvass in clumps. Frenzied. Manic. Emotional. Riveting. Clumps.

6) In my lifetime I want to travel and experience as many places as possible. "I want to know that the world is round. Not just believe it."

7) I believe in miracles. Small and large. Whether in grand Biblical events or the kindness of strangers.

In all honesty I wish I could give the award to everyone who reads this blog. I can't emphasize to what extent all of you constitute my support system. I'm grateful that you choose to follow along with this journey that is my life. Thank-you friends!

Now since I have to choose 7 bloggies, I choose the following:

My sister - Cookbook Fixation

CarolynM - Esprit d'escalier

Andrea - Off her Cork

Jocelyn - Running with High Heels On

Marianne - From French Fries to Flax Seeds

Sarah - Run Sarah

Kelly - She Wears a Red Sox Cap

Marlene - Mission to (Another) Marathon

See you in the morning amigos!!!

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)

25 Random Things About Me

Surely most of you have heard about the note spreading around Facebook like wildfire! You write a note telling your friends 25 random things about you and then 25 of your friends have to reply with their random things. And so it goes!

Well last night I finally wrote my note so I thought I would share it with you and call it my morning post. :o) For the most part it's the exact same note I wrote on Facebook with a couple of slight modifications.

25 Random Things About Me

1) In my first week of articles (working as a Junior lawyer in training) two stun grenades were detonated mere feet from my office!


2) When I eat pretzels I scrape all the salt off of them, then I eat them


3)I got my driver's license at the ripe old age of 27


4)I was born in El Salvador


5)My family left El Salvador because of the civil war


6)It was all on the up and up - I was never an illegal immigrant


7)My favourite place in the whole world is a small mountain town called Gimmelwald in Switzerland


8)I think God must have taken an extra long time when making Switzerland - it's THAT beautiful!


9)Three years ago I weighed 215lbs


10)I will NEVER weigh that much again


11)2009 is the year I hope to run a half-marathon


12)The thought of running a marathon kind of terrifies me


13)The first thing I ever cooked/baked/made was a recipe for scones. It came out of an old Canadian Living Cookbook. It was from the page that featured Victoria (B.C.) and high tea


14)When I ended up in Victoria (B.C.), I remembered that cookbook and it made me smile :o)


15)When I was 22 I lived in Paris


16)I lived in Paris again a few years later


17)Those were the good old days


18)I love to stalk wedding photography blogs


19)I don't trust hairdressers in my current city - I'm not sure they should be allowed to wield scissors



20)My maternal great-grandmother is still alive - she's almost 100 and healthier than most 25 year olds



21) I lost several pounds during my crap-free week



22) I once went bungee jumping - but didn't know it was naked day (you got to do it for free if you jumped naked)



23) I saw more naked people than I ever wanted to see in my life that day



24) I paid $100 for the privilege of retaining my dignity (!!!)



25) This one is an addition recommended by my trainer: Several years ago I was running with my trainer and I tore my ankle ligaments two-minutes into a run. I pushed through for another half an hour. Because I'm that hard-core! :oP

So now you know a bit more about me! How about you? What are 25 random things about you? I think it would be fun for bloggers to play this so I am going to suggest that whomever writes the note tag five more bloggers. They then have to write their notes and tag three more!

Got it? :o)

TAG you're it:

Runner's Rambles

Tales of Expansion

Daily Goods

Healthy Lawyer

That Pink Girl

Friday Eats and a Quinoa Tabbouleh Recipe

Time to play catch-up! Today's post will feature my account of my Friday eats and the recipe to my Quinoa Tabbouleh.

Breakie was another batch of my oatmeal cookies. For some reason these took a bit longer than cook than usual. But they were still yummy! I added some flax seeds to this new version and I think I'll stick to that practice.


For lunch I once again met-up with the boy for a meal out. I ordered the house specialty - which amount to about half a grilled chicken breast with some shrimp and scallops on top in a bit of a pico de gallo type sauce. I ordered the side salad with this meal. It was pretty good but nowhere near as good as the quesadilla! lol I think I'll be hitting-up that other place again!


For dinner I made another batch of my quinoa tabbouleh-style and ate it with a portion of meat which I seared one my stove-top and finished off in my oven. It was delicious despite the fact that I over-cooked the meat a little. Want to see? Voila!


Note the complete absence of snacks. Good idea? Not so much! I was starving come dinner and narrowly missed a 3 PM slump (must have had something to do with the fact it was a Friday).

But I bet you're thinking "Enough about the food! Where is the recipe?" Fret not! :o)

Toronto Girl Out West's Quinoa Tabbouleh Recipe

Quinoa is very yummy and incredibly complex carbohydrate. In fact it has more protein than any other grain out there! Made from the seeds of the goosefoot plant it was traditionally eaten by the Incas (who clearly knew a good thing when they saw one). Today it's available in bulk food sections or at many grocery stores. If you can't find them there then head to your local health food grocer.

1. Grab your quinoa and measure out a cup of the grain

2 - I have read that depending on the type of quinoa you buy it can have a bit of a waxy build-up. If you cook it like that it will produce a slightly bitter end product. To be safe I washed my quinoa in water for about 10 minutes. (Steps 2-4 are optional but recommended)

3 - Once you have finished washing your grains strain them using a fine sieve or a cheese-cloth. If you're slightly less well equiped, like moi, use your hands to prevent the little grains from sliding out.

4 - I chose to toast my quinoa next. I cooked the quinoa, stirring frequently, over medium heat. Basically I was looking for a slightly golden colour. It took about 10 minutes for me to reach that point. Toasting your quinoa will increase the nutty flavour of the grain. If you want you could toast quinoa ahead of time and store (when cool) in a sealed glass jar. Or you could omit this step all together and your grains won't suffer too much.

5 - Cook your quinoa using 2 cups of water in your rice cooker. I like things easy like that! :o)

6 - While the Quinoa is cooking prep your ingredients. Take about half a cucumber and chop it into nice small pieces.

7 - Take a large tomato (or more if it's summer time and tomatoes are inexpensive to come by - the more the better) and cut into small pieces.

8 - Take a small handful of parsley and mint and chop both the herbs finely. These are going raw into your quinoa so make sure they're small enough to eat easily.

9 - When your quinoa is done let it cool slightly. Put quinoa in your bowl of choice. Add all your chopped ingredients into the bowl.

10 - Take half of a large lemon and squeeze into the ingredients. Try not to drool!

11 - Take 1.5 tablespoons of olive oil and mix it into your quinoa. Could it use more? Yes. But I'm trying hard to be good so I limited myself.

12 - Now this is the part that takes the recipe from good to am. az. ing. Take some goat's milk feta or goat cheese (goat cheese is naturally lower in milk fat percentage than cow's cheese). Cut a chunk of the cheese, I used about 1/3 of a cup of feta, and toss it into your quinoa. The heat will melt your cheese ever so slightly and make it happy, happy, happy!

13 - Stir all the ingredients and season with salt to taste. Enjoy!

This recipe takes a minimal amount of prep but yields delicious results. I was able to get multiple servings out of this one recipe. And I can't wait until summer when I can make this with beautiful ripe tomatoes.


Contest Alert: For a chance to win the 2nd Strawberry Shortstuff Contest head over on over here!

Day Seven the end of Crap-Free Week

I did it!!!!!!!! CFW is over! I successfully completed a week of crap-free eating. Before I get to the re-cap let's go over what I ate on the seventh day?

Breakfast was a couple of my oatmeal breakfast cookies with some Yogi green tea. The tea comes with these lovely little sayings on the tea bag tag. Sometimes they're silly and sometimes inspiring. This was the saying on my day seven morning tea.


This one said the following:


"Let your manners speak for you" Kind of like a tea-based fortune cookie!

On day seven I decided to skip my morning snack. I was actually good for pretty well the whole morning but I was kind of mungry (mad + hungry = mungry) come lunch time. Lunch was a cup of whole wheat elbow pasta and about a cup of lean ground beef meatballs in a homemade tomato sauce with mushrooms and olives. It was yummy!


Post lunch dessert was a banana Larabar knock off courtesy of Angela's recipe at Oh She Glows. It turned out yummy but I still think Enlightened Cooking's Very Cherry bar (cheery pie Larabar knock off) is my favourite. They are wonderful bars though. They really fill you up. In fact if anything I think I may have eaten a tad too much at lunch. I felt too full - kind of weighed down afterwards.


Dinner consisted of a fist-sized portion of extra lean beef grilled on my stove-top, 1 heaping tablespoon of hummus, and steamed broccoli. Funny thing is I didn't realize until now that I doubled up on beef yesterday. Mmmm must try to avoid that. 'Twas yummy too!


My evening snack consisted of one banana sliced-up with one tablespoon of all natural almond butter on the side.


I didn't get a picture but I nibbled on a handful of dates while I prepped dinner. And that was what I ate on my last day of CFW! Woohoo!!

So now for the recap! What did I learn from Crap-Free Week?

1. Trying to eat "clean" forces you to be more creative in your food choices
2. I developed a deeper appreciation for almond butter (so much so that I would now love to try
the famed Barney Butter)
3. Oatmeal in the morning doesn't take very long to prepare and it's super yummy!
4. Portable oatmeal (via an oatmeal breakfast cookie) is a good thing! In fact today I left some
regular stove-top oats for the boy to eat when he woke up (he works varying hours).
He didn't eat them!! Why? Because he looked at them and thought I forgot to make the
cookies! :oP lol
5. A handful of sliced blanched almonds, chopped up dates, and dried cranberries makes for an
awesome snack.
6. Almond Breeze is a thing of beauty!
7. I CAN do this! I CAN eat crap-free! And in fact this has renewed my commitment. It
shocked my system and now I think I'm ready to stick to this new way of eating.
8. Food blogging is FUN! :o)

So that was my week! How about you . . . will you try a crap-free week? It's all the rage!!


See you tomorrow!

Day Six and Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

It took some uninstalling and reinstalling of Picasa but I'm now ready to show you what Day 6 of CFW looked like!

Shall we?

I started today off with a new concoction, an Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie! This was something I had seen on other blogs but didn't really know how to make. I figured there had to be a healthy low-fat way to make a morning cookie with all the goodness of a bowl of oatmeal.

To figure out how to make this cookie I scoured blogs and recipe sites and adapted them to come up with my own version:

Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie Recipe

1. Preheat your oven to 350F

2. Take whatever would be your usual serving of oatmeal in the morning (feel free to double it or triple it up if you want some leftover cookies).

3. To that add a mushed up banana (very ripe ones are best). I used one banana for 2 cups of oatmeal.

4. Add in a teaspoon of vanilla, some freshly grated nutmeg, a dash of cinamon, and a couple of tablespoons of honey. I'll leave the amount of honey up to your individual taste. The first time I made this I also added in some sugar-free syrup to make it tastier.

5. Then add whatever else you would put in your oatmeal - my cookies contained slivers of blanched almonds and a small handful of dried cranberries.

6. To all of this I added a splash of boiling water and mixed it all together until it kind of came together. I used water but you can use Almond Breeze, or soy milk, or even milk. Make sure it's hot though!

7. Then just spoon these little babies on to your baking pan. I used two tablespoons to round mine out into little oatmeal cookie blobs. Choose whatever size you'd like as they don't really grow while cooking.

8. Bake them for approximately 20 minutes. And enjoy!

In the end my cookies looked like this:


And that was my breakfast! A couple of oatmeal cookies with some water. They were quite filling and really why shouldn't they be - they're essentially oatmeal in a portable form. I think they'll become a staple in the TorontoGirloutWest kitchen!

For a mid-morning snack I had one apple and a handful of dates. I've developed a love of dates since CFW begun. They're like nature's little brown sugar nuggets.


For lunch I decided to keep things low key and just have a sandwich. I had two slices of oven roasted turkey breast in between two slices of sprouted grain (no flour!) bread. I smeared the bread with a tad bit of hummus (as mayo replacement) and added ketchup and mustard. I also filled my sandwich with cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes.


Come dinner time I wasn't very hungry so late in the afternoon I toasted one more piece of my sprouted grain bread and smeared it with some almond butter, topped off with one sliced banana.


BTW - that little guy in the background is Mukmuk; one of the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Olympic mascots. He's supposed to be a Vancouver Island marmot. Since the boy is from Van Isle I gave him that stuffed cutie as one of his Valentine's Day presents. Awwww . . .

I don't think the banana-ab-bread combo did the trick 'cause a while later I nibbled on one slice of oven roasted turkey breast and a small handful of Kashi crackers.

And that my friends was Day Six of CFW!!! Woohoo!! Can you believe this week is almost over? I can't! To be honest I think I'll stick to eating like this. If anything I think I could still eat better! Over all I would say Day Six was too carb-o-licious. Hopefully I'll get better at that.

On the fitness front . . . I've decided I'm going to start logging my physical activity. After all you can't achieve a well balanced lifestyle with diet alone. So this is what today's gym schedule will entail:

1. 40 minutes of moderate intervals on the treadmill
2. 30 minutes of circuit training weight work
3. 15 minutes of streching

Hasta Manana!


Editor's Note

The cooking time for your cookies will vary based on how big you make them. To get them to cook a bit faster you can press them down slightly once you've put them on the cookie sheet. But overall 20-25 minutes is a pretty safe bet. Wait until the edges start to turn a golden brown.

Roses are red . . . . (and day five)

So I'm happy to report that all the loveliness from our early Valentine's Day celebration carried over to the actual day. The boy still had to work but we took a bit of time in the evening to have a little bit of the dessert we didn't have after our sushi dinner.

But more on that later . . .

First I thought I would show you a better picture of the roses the boy gave me. I kind of love them!! I've never had roses with such long stems. In fact I had to go buy a whole new vase for them at my local Superstore.

Happily, I headed home with my purchase and proceeded to fill it with water. I kid you not it's so huge and so heavy that I was afraid I might break the table. But it's still standing!


As for what I ate - I have to admit I was still thrilled from my previous day's sushi. So much so that I decided to revisit it again. And again. Instead of having a normal breakfast I had some salmon sashimi style with a couple of slices of avocado and some pickled ginger:


I'm sure this kind of breakfast is acceptable somewhere. And it should be! It turns out that when you eat a breakfast like this you're not hungry at all . . . so I actually didn't really have lunch. I nibbled on a handful of dates but that was it. I just wasn't hungry. Besides I was too busy running around doing errands. And so when I came home I repeated the exact same meal for dinner.

Eventually I got to arranging our dessert. I decided that rather than make a cake or something baked I would instead pull out my trusty fondue pot and melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips for dipping strawberries. I also bought a bottle of Martini & Rossi Asti; it's my go-to sweet sparkling wine.


I ate three chocolate dipped strawberries and two champagne flutes. So clearly, I've decided Valentine's Day is my exception day during CFW. Maybe my week will have 7 days in it. And yes that is "The Notebook" playing in the background. Could it be more perfect with it's ugly cry inducing mushiness!? I think not!

So that was CFW Day Five. So far so good. It's getting easier. I occasionally find myself wanting to reach for cheese but overall I'm alright. Plus I'm learning new things!! Stay tuned for my attempts at oatmeal breakfast cookies and my attempt at replicating Angela's Banana Bread Larabar knock-offs.

Now it's off to do some chores, do some yoga, and then off to work for a couple of hours. Yup, that would be work. On a Sunday. It turns out that some kinds of trials get priority over Sunday afternoon R&R.

See you soon!

Day Three of CFW

On the whole I think today went much better than the other two days of CFW. I think I'm getting the hang of this. More than anything I think it's forcing me to be creative about what I eat.

Let's see what today brought to my tummy - shall we!?














Breakfast was my overnight oatmeal (basically I left oatmeal soaking in soy milk in my fridge overnight) with some cinnamon, apple slices, a couple of dried cranberries, and a couple of almonds. I accompanied this with a banana and a glass of water with a splash of POM.

Mid-morning snack was a small bag full of almonds, dried cranberries, and chopped dates. I also ate half an apple (not pictured).




















Lunch was rather uninspired. Two slices of turkey, some garlic stuffed olives, and Kashi crackers. I originally meant to eat two small cubes of laughing cow cheese but decided against it 'cause that would have violated the rules of CFW.














This was my snack when I got home and was getting ready to make dinner. I ate a small bowl (shared with the boy) of Mrs. Palmer's whole wheat pita chips. They're made in the Rockies and they are AWESOME! Highly recommend them!














Finally dinner was a cup of whole wheat rontini pasta, some lean beef meatballs, mushrooms, olives, and basil. Yummers!

So that was my numy numy food for today! Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings? Neither can I! :o)

My Blogger Interview and Day One

A short while ago That Pink Girl sent me a blogger interview. I'm excited to finally get to play along?

What's that? You want to play too!??! Okay here's how you participate:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by sending you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.


Now on to my interview . . .
1. What is your ideal meal?

My ideal meal is one that has a variety of textures and taste dimensions. Ideally it would be uber yummy but leave me feeling relatively light. Which basically means meat and potatoes are out but sushi is in!!! My favourite kind of sushi? Spicy tuna rolls! Mmmmm . . . especially if they come from my favourite sushi restaurant in the whole world - Tamami!

2. What is your earliest memory as a child?

It comes from when I was just shy of two years of age. I was playing hide and seek with my cousin. Somehow he accidentally closed the door on my finger. Boo! Apparently I cried and said "mi dedo!!!!!" (translation: my finger) and ran to my parents. They think it's a tad hilarious that this is my first memory.

3. If you were taking a visitor on a tour of Toronto, what 3 places would be on your "must not miss" list?

Front Street - I would tell a visitor to walk it from the CN Tower to the St. Lawrence Market. In doing so they would get to pass by the CN Tower, the SkyDome, beautiful Union Station, the Royal York hotel, the architectural marvel that is BCE place, the Hockey Hall of Fame, some beautiful heritage buildings, and then finish off at the foodie haven of St. Lawrence Market.

Kensington Market - Next I would tell them to visit Kensington market. Not so much for the food (it's a bit of a mix of an outdoor market and a lot of small colourful shops) but more for the cultural diversity. Toronto is the world's most multicultural city and in Kensington market it shows! It's where I go to get my ethnic hit!

Niagara Falls - while technically not in Toronto it's a MUST SEE! Besides it's basically a tradition. Visitor to Toronto? Head to Niagara Falls!

4. Name one thing you would like to accomplish in the next 3 years.

Run a half marathon, reach my ideal weight, hike up a mountain

5. If you won a round trip ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

Oh this one is a toughie. I LOVE to travel!!! I would probably choose the most remote and expensive trip I could come up with - just to make it really worth-while. I've always wanted to take an expedition to Everest Base Camp (I figure it's the closest I'll ever get to the top) so I'd probably go there.

Oooo those were some great questions!! Thanks That Pink Girl! :o)

Now for what I ate today - I thought about telling you but decided to show you instead:














Breakfast was 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, some veggies, a turkey nibbler, and a handful of Kashi crackers.














Lunch was one tofu square (I cooked two but only ate one) marinated in terriyaki sauce with 1/2 a cup of brown basmati rice and some sauteed veggies.



Afternoon snack was one whole wheat waffle with a smear of pure almond butter (unlike mass market peanut butter it doesn't contain chemicals, so it doesn't spread as well) and one apple. When I ate it I sliced the apple and put the slices on top of the waffle. Favourite food all day long.



Dinner was a big salad with some incredibly low fat vinaigrette, tomatoes, apple slices, sunflower seeds, red onion, lettuce, and one serving of baked salmon with pesto on top.

Verdict after day one? I want bread!! I'm SUCH a carb-o-holic!

The Great $1000 Fitness Dilemma

So I have a bit of a $1000 conundrum. Well actually, $939 to be exact. But close enough!

You see, I recently started a new job and it turns out that one of my benefits is an annual allowance that I get to develop myself professionally. That can either mean conferences and books I can use for my professional life or health and wellness stuff that also serves to make me a better lawyer! Yaaaayyyy for progressive work policies! :o)

Anywho - the catch is that I just became aware of the allowance and I have until the very end of March to both spend and claim my reimbursement or I forfeit my allowance for this fiscal year! EEEK!!!

What is a girl to do?

My first thought was to use it to subsidize myself a treadmill. It's early on in the New Year and there are still plenty of sales to be had. In fact I was terribly tempted by the idea of having my own souped up Nordictrack treadmill at home. In particular, I was drawn to the Commercial 1500, currently on sale for a very lovely price at Costco.

I spent quite a long time trying to convince myself that this was the best option. I was lying. A treadmill is not feasible for me at the moment. I rent a home for the time being and although there are quite a number of rooms the layout makes it so there is not much extra space. I tried to convince myself I could put it in my library (what I like to call the room filled with an endless amount of bookcases). But really there's not enough room in the middle to put a treadmill. Ditto for the bedroom, in fact I think the doors would get in the way. And the living room only allows enough room for my furniture.

No treadmill for me.

And therein is the true dilemma. How to spend nearly $1000 in such a small amount of time. For now this is my plan:

1) Try to have the Bodybugg . This is that little gadget used on The Biggest Loser. You wear it on your arms at all times and it measures a whole bunch of things to come up with an accurate amount of calories burned during the day (not only while exercising but also while sedentary too!), you then feed that information into their online program and also add what you ate on the day. This effectively gives you either a deficit or a surplus of calories consumed (vs. those burned). The goal is to create a deficit and thus lose weight. In fact you can even tell it how much you want to lose and in what time period and it will calculate what your deficit needs to be each day.

I figure if I can get the Bodybugg approved then that will take care of a good chunk of change in terms of my allowance (I'm Canadian so I have to allow for the conversion rate in any of my U.S purchases). But what to do with the rest of it?

2) Buy health and fitness DVDs and books. Right now my Amazon cart contains all of the following for a total of less than $100: Jillian Michaels' Making the Cut, South Beach Diet Supercharged, Six-Week Bikini Countdown, Total Body Power Yoga DVD (with Rodney Lee), Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred DVD, Workout One-on-One Training with Jackie DVD.

So that's my list for now, I suppose I could also use it to pay for gym membership for the next year too. That's always an idea.

Do you have any suggestions for me? Who knew spending this money would cause such a dilemma? Makes you wonder what I'd be like if I won the lottery one of these days! :oP

Blogroll

In my quest for wellness I employ many resources - some are obvious (like a gym and a trainer) and some not so much.

Like me, there are others out there who write blogs dedicated to health and fitness. These can often prove to be a great resource and help to foster a sense of community. It's kind of nice to remember that I'm not alone in my struggle.

And so today I present to you some of my fellow soldiers in arms - enjoy:

Crankyfitness

Mousearoo's Mumblings

Back in Skinny Jeans

Sister Skinny

the Chic Runner

The DIY Diet

Amy's Quest to Skinny

Elastic Waist

fitsguar


Happy Reading!!!

Food Related Amnesia

This evening, after 13 hours of travel I returned to my humble island abode. Unfortunately, I am still working on my opinion letter. In fact, I fear I will opine through the night and that consumes my every thought.

So much so in fact that I don't remember what I ate yesterday and can scarcely remember today's consumption. That's right - I have food related amnesia.

I have no intention of fighting this oblivion today. Instead I will succumb to it and go back to opining. Perhaps it will all come back to me in the morning.

Wish me luck! Say a prayer (or ten!)!

I Can't be Held Responsible for what I do in 42 Degree Heat!!! (That's 108F for you American Readers!)

And that pretty much sums up my eating experience yesterday (and may end up summing up that of today). I woke up pretty determined to be relatively good and found myself sucumbing to ice-cream in the midday sun.

Do you have any idea what it's like to be trapped in a home with no A/C in 42 degree heat, while you're trying to work on an assignment, and your lap top sits there humming only contributing to the heat? It's pretty horrible. And I have to say - I don't recommend it! Instead I recommend going to a place with A/C on a day like that or perhaps even taking a dip in your nearest and coldest body of water. Unfortunately, I could do neither. And so I found myself eating ice-cream. Again:

Yesterday's Breakfast

• Crystal Light iced tea
• Two pancakes made from whole wheat mix
• One tablespoon of syrup

Yesterday's Lunch

• Half a Spanish Chorizo satueed in 1 cup of veggies (red and green peppers, onions, and mushrooms)
• Half a cup of Pasta
• Crystal Light iced tea

Yesterdays "Someone save me from this heat!" Snack

• One cup of oreo cookie ice cream - the boy bought it at the grocery store

Yesterday's Dinner

• One ham sandwhich with fat-free cheese made on sprouted grain bread (no flour!)
• One Source fat-free yogurt
• More Crystal Light iced tea

Back to work............

A Loss of Control

On this short vacation I have discovered a couple of things:

It is difficult to control your eating when you don't buy the groceries. Let's face it - if I were in control all of my bread would be whole wheat stone-ground bread, all of my cheese (if any at all) would be goat cheeses or fat-free, and any fruit spread would be artificially sweetened. That's not always the case when someone else does the grocery shopping. Especially boys - boys usually aren't prone to buying things like that. At least there is no junk food around or yummy white bread - I can't be trusted around yummy white bread!

On vacation I tend to want to splurge a little more with my calories - and then I end up regretting it. Take ice cream for example - it's been really hot here this weekend (in the 90s for the Americans reading this, and in the mid-30s for everyone else). The heat has been intense and we've taken quite a few country drives. Along these meandering mountain roads one finds creameries that have the most beautiful freshly made ice-cream. Perfect for hot summer days - sigh.

Because I don't see the boy very often when I do see him, I tend to cook for him the things that spoil him. The kind of things he likes but doesn't really cook on his own. And that stuff is not always the healthy stuff. And of course I end up eating some too. I anticipate, however, that this problem is merely temporary.

And on that note - here is what I ate yesterday:

Yesterday's Breakfast

• Two scrambled eggs
• One piece of whole wheat toast with one teaspoon of huckleberry fruit preserves (it's a local specialty)
• One half of white bread toast plain (I stole it from the boy)
• Crystal light iced tea

Yesterday's Lunch

• Water
• One grilled turkey breast "burger" on a white bun with no mayo and no cheese (only ketchup)
• Side salad with unidentifiable dressing - it came pre-tossed

Yesterday's Afternoon Snack

• Half a praline and cream ice cream cone (shared with the boy then I felt SOOOO guilty!)

Yesterday's Dinner

• Home-made stove top pork short-ribs (only ate a small amount)
• One good sized bowl of mixed greens with 1tbsp of calorie reduced ranch dressing (35 calories, 2.5 grams of fat)
• Crystal light iced tea

Let's see what today brings . . .

Two Days Worth

I presently find myself in a beautiful mountain valley in British Columbia, Canada. I am tired, suffering from a slight degree of heat exhaustion, but over all very happy.

Yesterday was my travel day and it was busy to say the least. It involved waking up to pack, going to my licensing course, running to the gym for quick intervals, running back home to pack up my school stuff, taking a ferry to seattle, taking a taxi to Sea-Tac airport, a plane to Spokane, and finally being picked-up by the boy at 2 minutes before midnight.

Today, we took our sweet time making our way north into Canada. It was a fantastic day but blistering hot! So hot that I ate some stuff designed to cool me down - things that I probably wouldn't have eaten under other circumstances. This is a bit of a vacation after all!

Tomorrow will probably be a bit more of a stable eating day but as those of you who travel know eating on the road, cheaply, and conveniently does not always go hand-in-hand with healthful eating. I still tried though - believe me, I was beyond tempted by the fair in Spokane today!!!

But enough of that, on to my food diary:

Yesterday's Breakfast

• Protein shake made with water

Yesterday's Lunch

• Ham and cheese sandwich on whole grain bread
• One Granny Smith apple
• Water

Yesterday's Dinner (on the ferry - it was the healthiest thing they had and was sold as a combo)

• Thinly shaved turkey on a white bagel (in retrospect I should have only eaten half) with mustard and cheddar cheese
• One lemon lime sparkling water (no calories, no carbohydrates)
• Two Milano Pepperidge Farm cookies
• One unsweetened apple sauce

On the Plane (I was starving again by this time)

• One small bag of low fat, trans-fat-free pretzels
• Water

Things I didn't Eat Yesterday

• The mayo that came with my bagel sandwich on the ferry
• The cheese crackers that came with my dinner combo on the ferry
• The pop that was offered to me on the airplane

Today's Breakfast

• One sushi roll
• Tea

Today's Lunch

• Half an order of spicy BBQ pork with sauteed vegetables - cooked Korean style
• One side order of seaweed salad
• Miso soup
• Tea

Today's Hydration/Caffeine Break

• One small skim milk sugar-free vanilla iced latte

Today's Afternoon Snack

• Half an order of gelato (shared with the boy)

Today's Dinner

• Half a glass of home-made Huckleberry Lemonade
• Two slices of thin-crust wood fire oven pizza with no mozzarella but a small amount of smoked goat cheese, caramelized onions, and a couple of morsels (really almost none at all) of Spanish chorizo
• Half a small cardamom, orange, oatmeal, raisin cookie

Things I didn't Eat Today

• The funnel cake that was calling my name at Spokane's Riverside Park
• The ice cream that was calling my name, also at Spokane's Riverside Park
• The white sticky sushi rice that came with the order of spicy pork at lunch
  

Until tomorrow . . .

Yesterday's Food Journal

Yesterday I was dead tired and slept my evening away. I've been studying like mad (I'm in a licensing course for my profession) so I've had a lot of 3-4 hour sleep days. Not good and it finally caught up with me.

Today, I'm going to go away for the long weekend (Canada Day). I'll be flying to the mountains to go see the boy. I'll also be spending the weekend working on an assessment that I need to complete successfully in order to be called to the bar. In short, my food journal this week will reflect the hectic nature of my life and the fact that I won't be at home and will have to rely on whatever food we find on the road. And let me tell you, in small mountain towns there isn't a lot of healthy stuff to go around.

Anywho . . . to yesterday's food:

Breakfast (post-workout)

• Gatorade (30 calories)
• One slice of whole wheat flax blueberry bread
• Small fruit salad

Lunch

• Water
• Ham and cheese sandwich on brown bread (I don't know that it was whole wheat - it was the healthiest thing they had at the University cafeteria)

Dinner

• Medium home-made turkey chili
• Home-brewed iced tea (no sugar)
• One serving of Fat-free chocolate pudding made with 1% lactaid milk (they don't sell it in skim form)

Today I will also eat mostly out.....Mainly because I can't leave left-overs behind in my fridge as they will be growing things when I get back. Haha!

Until next time.....

Today's Lesson: Eat more

Not at all hours mind you - just for breakfast.

In fact, today I made the mistake of eating very little for breakfast (and an early one at that - 5:30am) so that left me hungry at irregular times and I ate what I shouldn't have. Today's Meals were as follows:

Breakfast

• Three Wasa fibre rye crispbread, each with one teaspoon of raw almond butter and one teaspoon of E.D. Smith no sugar added (sweetened with sucralose) raspberry spread
• Chamomile tea

Midmorning Snack

• Sugar-free jello like snack pack (no carbs, only 5 calories)

Lunch (which I ate at like 10:45 am because I was positively starving)

• One small bowl of home-made turkey chilli
• Water

Snack (eaten when I was visiting the boy's parents - I was starved and they offered)

• 2 home-made cookies

Dinner (eaten at about 5 pm)

• One large bowl of chilli
• Chilled mint green tea (I brewed it myself so no sugar)

Snack (because I was still hungry - at 7 pm)

• Three Wasa fibre rye crispbread, each with one teaspoon of raw almond butter and one teaspoon of E.D. Smith no sugar added (sweetened with sucralose) raspberry spread
• Water

Clearly, I should have had eggs for breakfast. That way I wouldn't have been starving at strange times and resorted to eating stuff I would normally stay away from. I also think I may have to throw away those Wasa crispbread things because I've liked them MUCH too much for my own good! It's like you give me a little bit of carbs and I lose all self-control.

I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can do better. Part of the problem is that lately I don't much want any chicken/pork/or beef. On top of that I wake up so early (5 am) that by the time I get to school at 9 I am starving.

Must find a solution.....

My Online Food Journal

I think I have mentioned it here before but I have a wedding coming up in September. Nope, not my own (yet :oP). It's one of my best friend's wedding and I'm one of her attendants.

For the wedding, my friend purchased a beautiful dress for me to wear as a gift. I love it! But it is a tiny bit small for me. In particular it's riding up a little around the waist area. Which definitely calls for some action, Bulging Bride Style!

And so to that end, my trainer has asked me to document my eating habits in a food journal for the next week. So I will do that here because what better way is there to keep track of your noshing than being publicly accountable to the world!

So after my afternoon workout this is what I ate:

Post-workout snack:

• Two Wasa fibre rye crispbread, each with one teaspoon of raw almond butter and one teaspoon of E.D. Smith no sugar added (sweetened with sucralose) raspberry spread
• Chamomile tea

And for dinner I had:

• One small bowl of home made turkey chilli (with black beans and soy beans)
• Water

Let's see what tomorrow brings!

NOTE: Picture credit goes to http://www.runnersworld.com

My Christmas and Road-Trip Survival Guide

Tomorrow morning I am California bound! That's right...it's road-trip time baby!

The BF and I will be spending this Christmas down in LA with my grandmother as well as my aunt and her family. We're driving down from the beautiful shores of BC to the also beautiful (but decidedly) warmer shores of Southern California. We hope to hit up some of the usual tourist spots and also make it out to some more far-away and unusual places too - like Baja.

Along the way we'll also do some eating. Not so healthful eating I'm sure. Anyone who has ever gone on a road trip knows that inevitably you end up at fast-food restaurants. And then there is all the Christmas eating itself......mmmmm......Christmas dinner!

All of this eating means that I'm going to have to come up with a way to weather this storm without managing to gain any weight. Recognizing, that this will be somewhat tough (especially since I'll be away from my beloved gym), I have come-up with a survival guide full of tips for making it through this Christmas/Road-trip season:

1. I will take public transportation as often as possible. It's easy when you go on a road-trip to spend too much time in the car and consequently, too much time on your butt!! Lucky for us we'll be based out of my aunt's home in LA and so we will take public transportation as much as possible. Forcing us to get up and move!!

2. I will indulge while still continuing to make smart choices. Usually I don't eat carbs. But carbs are what Christmas is all about!!! And so I will have those cookies but limit myself to a reasonable number. If there is eggnog I'll have one cup and drink something less evil the rest of the time. And if I don't like something I simply won't eat it. Because if I'm going to expend precious calories on a treat, it better be worth it.

3. I will get away from the usual indoor attractions and hit the outdoors - nature's gym. California is a beautiful place! And it's blessed with some amazing parks and beaches. At any of these places you can get in a good hike or beautiful walk with stunning scenery. The same holds true for most road-trip destinations. So instead of spending all of your time indoors, make sure you go outside and take-in the beautiful sights while getting in some exercise too! Bonus!

4. I will pack a picnic. Picnics are great fun and a good way to make sure of keeping your calories in check. Instead of buying some take out go ahead and stop by the local supermarket on your way out - buy yourself some fruits, cold beverages of the H2O or sucralose variety, some protein, and perhaps a little treat. Bring along a blanket and you have a yummy and calorie conscious meal!

5. I will stop when I am full. Too often, we get lured into eating for the sake of eating. This Christmas, I'll try to listen to my stomach and stop when I'm full. To make sure I get to sample everything I want, I'll have smaller portions too. That way I won't miss out but I won't over-indulge either.

6. I will make good choices at fast food joints. One of my favourite sites on the web is FitSugar. It's full of great healthy lifestyle info. One of their features which I LOVE (particularly in the context of this survival guide) is their Fast Food Breakdowns. You can refer to those handy little guides at any time. That way when you walk into your nearest (and maybe even dearest) fast-food joint you can be aware of what you're putting into your body, and plan your day accordingly.

7. I will relax, rest, and return happy. Too often, Christmas is a stressful time. This year I'm going to go out of my way to make sure that I relax and enjoy every moment. Whether it be the beautiful sights I'll see on my road-trip or the random little things that will make me smile. I'll enjoy it all. Because after all a happy person is a healthier person. A stress-free me, is more likely to be able to return (on January 2nd) to my job and give it my all. And more importantly, I'll be more prepared to tackle the inevitable New Year's resolutions that are to come!

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, my Christmas and Road-Trip Survival Guide. Not everything in the list will be applicable to you, but chances are you can take something from it and incorporate it into your holidays!

And so I bid you adieu - and wish you and yours a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!