FOOD BABY IN MY BELLY!

I ate too much food today. I had the best of intentions when I woke up this morning, but then breakfast manifested itself into this:Olympic organic green tea and vanilla yogurt, 6 water crackers with 1 slice of prosciutto, half a whole wheat English muffin with PB and coconut butter and 3 strawberries, plus a small glass of OJ, unpictured. Breakfast overload! But it was all rather small-portioned stuff and totally worth it!

I wasn't going to eat my usual second breakfast oatmeal but I knew that skipping out on food for a full five hours was not going to be fun. I struggled with the idea of eating oatmeal with chia seeds and ground flax yet again (I actually really hate oatmeal despite eating it every.freaking.day) so I decided to add two squares of Lindt's Sea Salt dark chocolate to my oatmeal this morning. I added it just after adding the boiling water and it melted into a wonderful brown gunk. It smelled yummy! Then I added strawberries and grapes:Tastebuds satisfied? Check. Stomach satisfied for four hours? Double-check!

Lunch was equally delicious:A salad of mixed greens, beans (my dad says they're kidney beans but I don't think they are because they're really light in colour), strawberries and 1/4 salmon filet). I made the mistake of packing this all together instead of packing the beans and salmon separately. I knew I was going to heat the salmon and beans in the microwave before consuming at lunch time so of course, the strawberries and greens were a little mushy upon consumption. It was okay...still delicious, tastebuds rocked!

Snacks included the rest of my grapes and strawberries:And perhaps 2/3 of the following brownies:
Despite hating walnuts in their natural form, I adore walnuts in brownies. Yum!

Came home from work and immediately decided to enjoy leftover orzo with light red kidney beans:Maybe times two--oops! Quite some time after that I had a small bowl of broccoli and mushrooms and then a pickle. It was too much food. Belly is currently not happy with me--double oops!

THREE CHEERS FOR LOBLAWS

I made another trip down the natural/organic section of a chain grocery store today and thank goodness it did not cost me $75. This time the store of choice was Loblaws and the cash out of my pocket was a measly $33, thanks to a $30 cash bonus from my dad. Thanks dad!

Today's buys were not as plentiful...I think partially due to the fact that the natural section of Loblaws is in one section and not spread out like Sobey's and it was far busier than the last time I had been in there. It was actually very surprising! I could not believe the amount of people looking at natural/organic and alternative dairy. One guy was looking at at a soy cheese product, another guy was buying organic frozen meat for him and his daughter for dinner that night. Another woman was checking out rice milks and cereals. Overall it was very refreshing.

The variety of stuff available at Loblaws has also greatly increased as I was able to get my hands on Earth Balance! Yeah, that's right bloggies...I'll now be able to partake in the vegan butter goodness! I can't wait to try it out. I think I'll wait for some bananas to ripen and then hope that my mom's cold has gone away by then so that she can make some of her famous banana bread. Nothing in my mind is better than spreading butter on some freshly baked banana bread. And no one does it finer than my mother.

Other things that made it into today's shopping cart were three boxes of Carr's water crack(ers), a pack of prosciutto (sans sodium nitrate--woot!), Nature's Path Rice Puffs (for some granola bars I'll be making later), Garden of Eatin' Crunchitos (another form of my crack), Wonder+ whole wheat English muffins, organic 2% milk, Olympic organic probiotic yogurt in Green Tea and Vanilla flavour (I can't wait to try this out!) and random stuff my dad bought (a couple salmon fillets on sale, Kashi cereal, Kashi PB granola bars and basmati rice).

After today's super duper lunch with Sean and his folks, I figured a little health and wellness would do me some good. Nice segue way huh? Sean and his parents picked me up and we headed into the city to grab some grub at, you guessed it...Caplansky's! Or maybe not since Sean and I had eaten there just a week ago, hahaha. Funny thing is that once again, I managed to not take a single photo the entire time we were there! I had remembered to charge my batteries and clear up my memory card and pack the camera before I left the house, but for some reason, once we were seated, I just plum forgot...oops!

It was still a good lunch. Sean's parents both had the smoked meat sandwiches while Sean had the Leo (lox, eggs, onions) and I had the smoked meat hash. I was smarter this time around and only consumed half of my all-day-breakfast menu item and packed the rest to-go. I also snagged a bite of Sean's sour cherry pie (I think it was better this time compared to the first) and a piece of Mama Sean's dark chocolate bread pudding (yuuummmm!!!!). The pickles were also extra crunchy and sour this visit and a second plate just had to be ordered. The food definitely made up for the lengthy wait. It took an extraordinarily long time for our food to arrive. Actually, scratch that...it took an extraordinary long time for Papa Sean's soup to arrive. So long in fact, that I had completely forgotten that he had even ordered the cabbage borscht. It looked really good though and both he and Sean seemed to enjoy it. I didn't bother with a taste just in case it was made with chicken stock.

The rest of the day was spent vacuuming my room and cleaning my drum set. It was the first time I had cleaned my drum set since I got them over 11 years ago. Pretty pathetic right? I mean, I've cleaned them rather quickly, like a quick wipe down with a cloth here-and-there, but this time I wanted to do a really thorough cleaning. I ended up Googling how to properly clean my cymbals and the drums and while I didn't have any furniture polish or Windex around, I did have some safe and nonabrasive metal polish for my cymbals so I got to work. I put a LOT of effort into and man, my wrist was killing afterwards. Sadly, I wasn't even done! I wasn't even halfway done when I realized that I was going to finish off my dad's bottle of metal polish so I opted to stop and pick up my own bottle in the city in a couple of days. I know that a trip to one of the city's musical instrument stores will result in a lecture about keeping my drum set in tip-top shape (which I know I should have been doing), but I'm hoping it also results in a giant bottle of drum set cleaner. I have to get my drum set ready for the summer--details later!!

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Saturday eats...I did manage to get something into my stomach:Buckwheat cereal and Optimum Slim with unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze. It was my first time tasting the unsweetened vanilla version. It's going to take some getting used to, hahaha.

I did some intense weight-lifting Saturday night and decided to replenish with this:

A purchase I made at Sobey's a while back...Metromint Lemonmint water. And that was it for Saturday's eats.

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For Sunday, this is all I've got...I have photos of my leftovers, which I decided to eat as an appetizer to dinner earlier tonight...Leftover smoked meat hash (smoked meat, potato matchsticks), one egg, half a slice of rye with butter) along with two garlic dill pickles and a small but very full glass of OJ (unpictured).

Proper dinner was eaten not too much later than that because my dad was in the midst of baking the salmon filet you see below but I was too hungry and needed something to nosh on anyway:Second dinner (oops) was 1/4 of a salmon fillet on top of beans, with a side of sauteed romaine lettuce (don't knock it 'til you try it) and orzo cooked in organic chicken broth. Tasty but too much food. Now I feel a little bit ill.

STILL PLAYING CATCH UP

21st...Sunday (aka Fun Day with Sean!)
The plan was for Sean to pick me up after his 12-hour shift and for us to grab a bite to eat--that's it. It turned out to be a wonderful day together, despite the frigid temperature and the battle within my stomach. Since Johnny's Burger was closed when we drove by, I suggested Caplansky's, a deli specializing in smoked meat. It's about as close to Montreal smoked meat as you'll get so you better get there quickly. Sean and I were there around 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon and man, it was still packed! We waited about five minutes (less than the time our server stated, hoorah!) and were seated. Good stuff so far. Not so good, no photos. At all. My tastebuds took control so no photos were taken.
Sean and I both opted for the sandwich combo (both getting smoked meat sandwiches) but Sean got the matzoh ball soup while I got the fries. You'll have to take Sean's word for it when he says that the soup was good. I couldn't have a taste due to the chicken broth, which I doubt was free-range and didn't really bother to ask about. My fries arrived in a basket shortly after and the server was smart in placing the basket in the middle of us. No way was I going to finish off that entire basket of fries. No way was I even going to finish off that 7oz. smoked meat (I chose "medium" while Sean got the "fat") sandwich but I somehow did it. It was a mistake. My stomach was not thanking me for it later but my tastebuds and the tapeworm were very grateful.
We also got an extra order of pickles (yum) and Sean was practically swooning over his coffee. My water was good (har har) and their assortment of mustards was actually kind of impressive--not that I remember any beyond the one with horseradish and the extra spicy, which our server called "mango" because I think he meant that as being awesome(?).
The rest of the menu sounds amazing (the LEO looks to be right up my alley) but their smoked meat is definitely what everyone goes there for. I would definitely not hesitate to go to Caplansky's again and hey, maybe this time, I'll get a photo or two! Oh, worth mentioning as well...the waiters/waitresses were ultra friendly and not in an annoying way. They were not snobby or uptight or the least bit pretentious. They were totally down with getting into conversation but nothing too deep or lengthy (which was okay) and there was no need to ask for a water/coffee refill (it came right away) which is always a good sign.

The rest of the day was spent spending money, har har! I picked up a dozen macarons at Nadege:



And who is this blurry friend?To be honest, I have no clue who exactly this i but if I had my way, we would have smuggled him into the back of Sean's car. I just about lost my shit (seriously, ask Sean) when I saw this Chow Chow being walked along Bloor St. I had never seen a full-grown Chow Chow that wasn't in a pet store before so this was beyond exciting!

The rest of the day's eats included half a large Greek feta, half a large container of watermelon, a small bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with milk (whatever was in Sean's fridge) and some awesome cranberry apple ginger juice from Wilde, a pure, natural fruit juice that doesn't contain any sugars, preservatives and is not from concentrate. I don't usually go for things with ginger but as I've mentioned a million times already, stomach was a-hatin' this weekend so I thought the ginger would do me some good. It did.

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22nd...Monday (today, hurrah, we did it!)
There was a really gross amount of food in the mini fridge this morning so I made a half-assed attempt at emptying it out. First up, eating this peach danish from Prague:Tasty but the filling was really sweet and my sensitive teeth was not having it. Lunch was leftover orzo salad with half a salmon filet that my dad happened to be pan-frying as I was heating up my orzo in the micro--score!About an hour later my sweet tooth kicked in but remembering the ultra-sweet peach danish, I opted for a bowl of fruits instead:nectarine, grapes and strawberries.

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We're getting our new stove and fridge tomorrow and I'm beyond excited. It'll be the first time my family has ever had major stainless steel kitchen appliances. Woo! I am uber-excited for the new oven. I'm hoping that the temperature has been calibrated properly and that the my attempts at making macarons will not fail me. The first test will be a batch of cupcakes though. I've been wanting to make cupcakes or brownies for a couple of weeks now.

Oh, I forgot to mention the ridiculous weather we had over the weekend. Friday was glorious and I mean, glorious! The high was 18C and boy was I itching to get the heck out of the lab. Every time I opened the door to receive a sample, I'd get a whiff of fresh air, the warm sun and a glimpse of what I was missing out on. It was hard to sit still! But then Saturday morning rolls around and what should greet me as I head into my dad's car? Flurries! It was freakin' snowing. It was cold, really cold. I hadn't anticipated how cold it would be and didn't think I'd need mittens while walking through the woods at Kortright Conversation Area, but boy was I wrong! I could have used my winter coat as well but of course, that was an afterthought.

WHOA, FOOD RECAP!

I cannot believe I'm a full week behind on food recaps. Crud. know that most of you probably don't find it that interesting but it's something that I did on my Facebook page and then transferred over here but I started discussing other things over here too so my food recaps have sort of taken a back seat. (I'm also home from work today because my stomach has not been nice to me all weekend long, more on that later.)

14th...Sunday
I had been craving dim sum like something fierce so Sean and I went out for dim sum in the morning at our favourite dim sum restaurant.

Here's a rundown of our eats. Rice with dried sausage and Sean's chicken feet:

Custard buns (we thought these were BBQ pork buns) and beef rice noodle rolls:

Beef spare ribs in garlic sauce and deep fried squid:

Here's Sean...satisfied with his eats:

Food for the rest of the day was kind of light...I had some strawberries in the afternoonAnd dinner was leftover rice noodle soup and veggie biryani (with some of Dad's sliced beef thrown in):An hour later I had some tea and called the kitchen off limits!

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15th...Monday
I was getting to work about 45 minutes early last week so I ended up packing all my meals for work. First breakfast was a mix of Optimum Slim and buckwheat cereal to be eaten along with some Almond Breeze at work:Second breakfast involved oatmeal and lunch was the baked penne pasta that I had made the night before along with a side of mixed greens:
Snacks were grapes and strawberries, half of which I used in my oatmeal and it was fantastic. Grapes in oatmeal are awesome!And more snackage included this Dark Chocolate Coconut bar from Kashi.

Dinner included rice cooked in the rice cooker along with pork, mushrooms and Chinese dried sausage and a salad of shredded carrots along with half a raisin bun:

Later in the evening I consumed a Ryvita cracker with cream cheese and prosciutto along with a fried egg and a mug of hot water with lemon and honey:

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16th...Tuesday
Breakfast was the same as the previous day. I had actually prepared Monday and Tuesday's meals on Sunday night, which was kind of weird since I don't like preparing food that far in advance, but a great idea because I was really lazy on Monday night. Actually, I just wanted to watch Gossip Girl. Here's the first breakfast cereals:

Followed by lunch and fruits:

And dinner was at the Fickle Pickle in Stouffville with Sean. We both ordered the lamb special, which was a lamb shoulder with rice, potatoes, soup and salad, oh and garlic bread. Yep...lotsa food! I totally forgot to take pics, doh! Even after that incredibly meal, I was still feeling like a little something sweet so Sean and I headed to Metro for some ice cream:

We totally scored on the So Delicious vanilla bean ice cream. The price wasn't coming up on the computer when the cashier scanned the item so he just charged us $1.99 for the whole thing! Normally I see So Delicious selling for at least $4.99!! The Tropical Treets Coconut ice cream was $5.99 though, so everything kind of evened out in the end.

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17th...St. Patrick's Day!
I ended up wearing khaki green pants to wear, but not on purpose. Surprisingly there were a lot of older women wearing green that day, a lot of non-Irish ones to boot! Unfortunately no St. Paddy's Day shenanigans at the lab...we're not allowed--or so I assume.
First breakfast for this past week has been a banana with half an English muffin with natural, organic PB. I've been trying to cut down on the amount of food I eat at first breakfast because for a while there, it was getting a little bit out of control. I miss the scrambled eggs with spring mix and a pear (at least there weren't any carbs involved) but it was too much food considering I was going to be consuming oatmeal just an hour later. Speaking of which...here is a rare photo of my oatmeal at work:

I'm now working through a couple boxes of organic instant oatmeal with flax seeds. This week I've been adding grapes and strawberries. Yum!
Please excuse the terrible lunch photos as they were taken in the car. It was also made really early in the morning, while I was rushing to get out of the house, hence car photos. Here we have some just-made organic, multigrain chicken nuggets:

And grapes and strawberries for breakfast and lunch:

Unfortunately the plan to eat said nuggets never really occured because halfway through the day I got a really severe migraine and had to call my dad to bring me something more substantial to eat. (I had left some salad in the work fridge but knew that wouldn't tide me over.) He ended up bringing me some Chinese take-out (rice with pork ribs/chicken feet--the latter of which I did not consume).

After work I headed to the grocery store to pick up some spinach, whole wheat English muffins and the above-pictured green smoothie. Along with a whole bunch of green fruit (kiwi, green apple, pear), it contained spirulina, which I hoped would help me with this terrible throat problem I've been having. I came home and had some of the smoothie along with the following fruit and bowl of wintermelon soup:

Dinner was a plate of random bites of food:

Whole wheat English muffin with natural/organic PB on one side and Artisana coconut butter on the other. I also had some baby carrots, strawberries and grapes. After that I went to bed and didn't wake up until 11.5 hours later. Migraine gone but not without consuming three different types of medication....ugh.

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18th...Thursday
Thank goodness for that baked penne I made earlier last week. It seriously saved my lunches this week so far. Unfortunately I don't have photos of said lunch for today but we've seen it like three times before so I really don't think it's that much of a loss. First breakfast for the day was one end of an English muffin with natural/organic PB:
Dinner for the evening was basmati with leeks and pork ribs:Dessert, in my new bowl, was grapes and a pear:
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19th...Friday (thank goodness!!!)
I had plans to hang out with Sean after work so I was totally stoked for the end of work--even before it started! I think my excitement led to a misjudgment with time. As a result, I ended up having to put on my moisturizer and makeup (primer and eyeliner) in the car, as well as eat breakfast (English muffin with PB and a banana, unpictured):
Here's a close-up of the EM with PB:Second breakfast involved oatmeal and my toppings including strawberries, grapes and a nectarine:Lunch was the Everything-Into-The-Bowl Casserole on a bed of spinach:Followed by a peach, strawberries and grapes:
After a little bit of confusion, Sean picked me up from home and we headed to the mall but as usual, I was hungry and ate a pastry from Prague, in the car:Behold, a Czech-style sweet cheese danish with raisins:My mom and her co-worker had lunch in the area and stopped by Prague for some after-lunch sweets. She picked me up a couple of treats, including the aforementioned cheese danish.

The rest of the evening's eats included probably the worst meal I've had in ages: 1/2 rack ribs special at Markham Station with fries, salad and garlic toast. I was hungry so I ordered the special while Sean just ordered the (giant) basket of fries. Both our fries ended up cold and stale. The ribs were also chewy and cold. It was almost as if we got the leftovers from everyone's fries. And my ribs were just like the rib nubs, leftovers from whatever everyone else couldn't finish. For a place that usually makes their fries perfectly (Sean and I liken them to McD fries), we were extremely disappointed. I kept eating because it had been 7+ hours since lunch. I highly doubt we will ever be back--unless it's for all-day breakfast, because how can you really screw up eggs and bacon and toast? However, if anyone can do, Markham Station probably could.

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20th...Saturday (Are you tired of all the photos yet??)
I attended the Maple Festival at Kortright Centre Conversation Area with a couple of friends from high school but forgot my memory card in my laptop (duh!) so I only have a few photos with my iPhone. We kind of blitzed through the whole thing, which was a bit of a disappointment since I was really hoping to scope everything out, so I don't have many exciting photos anyway. Before heading to Kortright, I whipped up some orzo pasta with cherry tomatoes, sliced mushrooms and diced cucumber. I dressed it with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper:Things I was able to get photos from at the Maple Festival included this dude, talking about how maple syrup was made back in the old days by boiling off the sap (that is collected from the trees into metal buckets) in giant black pots. And how the maple syrup process in now done in modern times using a tubing method.Holes are dug into the trees and pipes are inserted into the trees:The pipes are then all connected and meet up in a storage tank just outside the Sugar Shack. The tubing was everywhere!

The rest of my day was spent with one of my university friends, Dianne. I met her and her boyfriend at their newly-purchased condo and we made pizzas on whole wheat pita bread. I topped mine with Whole Foods brand roasted garlic pasta sauce (I thought it was just regular tomato sauce, oops!), spinach, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. After that we split a mini tiramisu from Metro that was super delish and dug into a box of Peak Freans tea cookies, which I haven't had in ages. I only had three just in case the refined sugars gave me a headache/stomach ache the next day. It was an awesome evening as I hadn't seen Dianne in months. We spent hours just catching up.

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That's all for now. I want to save yesterday's recap for another post.