All About the Comfort Foods

So we survived Hurricane Bill. It was windy and pouring but that’s really all that happened. Pretty much every Winter storm causes the power to go out so I thought for sure we’d lose it but nope, not even a flicker. Was a perfect day of relaxation though – the house was tided/ chores done in anticipation of not having power, so all I did was blog/tweet and watch tv. I needed the rest though.

In exciting news, Jen, Cat and hopefully Amy (plus spouses) will be coming to Halifax in a little under 7 weeks! The Halibloggers have been making some pretty fun plans for their trip including a Thanksgiving Blogger Dinner. Not sure if you know this about me or not but Thanksgiving is my absolute favourite holiday and I’m so excited to be having such a special dinner with everyone! I’m really looking forward to their visit, I missed out on the TO trip this past June and am really glad they decided to come to the East Coast.

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It was still pretty gray/misty out this morning which lead to a day of comfort foods. Breaky was a organic free range egg fried in a little evoo with a slice of ezekiel toast and the last of the fresh blueberries. Flipped though the latest issue of Best Health mag while I enjoyed my meal. Really like this magazine, mainly because it’s Canadian and showcases products, people, places that I know. ;)

Like every morning, I had coffee. The pic is always the same and not really worth showing. It really hit the spot though because I was not in the mood to be awake at all. Ha, who am I kidding coffee always hits the spot! ;)

In anticipation of Hurricane Bill I’d picked up some non-perishables including a box of my fav Kashi Dark Chocolate Cherry granola bars. Mmm, it’s been awhile…yum!


Moving on to lunch, total comfort food again with a bowl of homemade cheesy tomato soup. Thanks to Lynn for posting this terrific recipe! I made a pot the other weekend and froze it in individual servings.

Along with the soup there was some organic veggie crackers for dipping and a side of mixed greens with french dressing.

Honorary Halibloggers

As you may have noticed, I haven’t blogged in a few days. That’s because I’ve been too busy having an absolutely freaking fantastic time with the Halibloggers and our honorary members – Jen, Amy & Cat!

I just want to say how truly lucky I feel to have such a wonderful group of ladies (and their hubbies) in my life. It’s not often a big group of 17 can get along so well and are extremely fortunate that everyone seemed to click almost instantly. We have developed some life long friendships and being from all over the country makes it that more special. Love you ladies!

Since Angie had to work all week and I had the time off, I ended up staying at her place so that I could show people around and help make sure they got a true Nova Scotia experience. I don’t have as many pictures as I’d like because I spent the past few days having a good time instead of worrying about taking a bazillion pics.

The first night was, of course, a lobster boil. I don’t really have too many pics from that night at all because I was pretty busy cooking the tasty things! Both Jaime and Angie have great re-caps though.

Unfortunately, it has been raining for most of their trip here. Our plans for Thursday were initially a day trip to Mahone Bay & Lunenburg, instead Jen, Amy & I went for some tasty brunch and picked up the Thanksgiving groceries. We spent the afternoon driving around the city and were able to get an hours walk along the waterfront when the rain finally decided to let up.

That evening was our Keith’s Brewery tour. Before we left Jen straightened my hair – I’m in LOVE! My hair has never looked this good. Even in the misty air it held out.

Time of my Life!

Well the G2G is just about over. I am tired, a bit hung over and sick as a dog but am still smiling because this whole week has been just amazing! I never thought a group of 16-18 people could get along as well as we all did, but apparently it can happen. FYI: I’m trying to put only flattering pics of everyone in this post but it might be a little tricky because we were all having quite a “good” time. :)

Our Thanksgiving dinner was yummy, we had a huge 21lb free range, organic turkey complete with all the trimmings – Cat & Jen made the yummy garlic mashed taters, Amy made her famous sweet potatos, Lesley and I both made different stuffing, there was sweet potato casserole and corn, Jaime made awesome roasted brussel spouts, plus mashed carrots & turnip, and Tash brought over yummy pumpkin & apple pies from Pete’s. It was a huge feast! I only have one pic from the actual meal and it’s of the bird. :)


To be honest I can barely remember the rest of the evening. I’m not a big drinker by any means but this was certainly a night of indulgence. hehe. I know I started off with wine but then Jen brought out her the jello shooters and it all kinda went fuzzy from there! Of course you end up with lots of cameras when bloggers unite.





Meanwhile, the men were getting to know each other the usual way – with beer, video games & sports, hehe!


Oh and Lex’s b/f Dave is a rubix cube genius and he spent part of the evening sharing his tricks of the trade!

Saturday we had a yummy brunch – bacon, scrambled eggs, hash & toast then J & I snuck out to attend a memorial service. J was really hurting so I took him home after the service and then headed back into the city to meet up with everyone at the Halifax Feast Dinner Theatre for a hilarious evening of entertainment. We saw High School Reunion - The Musical. I had a blast and can’t wait to go back for another show! After that we wandered up to Maxwell’s for a few drinks (and so the guys could watch the hockey game.) Ang & I got this crazy idea that we needed something to commemorate the G2G. We snuck out and after a bit of running around (there’s not that much open at 1145pm on Saturday night) we got a group shot printed and had everyone write on each other's.

It was another late night with some yummy butterscotch shots and a game of “What.” I think I finally hit the sack around 4am. Eck.

Yesterday we packed up and Jen & hubby were off to the airport, they got their flight info wrong so they made it just in time. It was a short but sad good bye. Miss you already chickie. I headed home sick and in desperate need of sleep.

One finally gathering this morning at Cora’s for brunch where I said my goodbye’s to Amy & Cat. Really can’t believe it’s over already. Can’t wait to see what we come up with next though.


I’m not even sure how I managed to drive there to be honest. My body is simply going through the motions and I plan to spend the rest of the day on the couch getting some much needed rest.

Once again ladies, this was truly one of those experiences that I will never ever forget. I’m just in awe of it all. I love you all from the bottom of my heart, thanks for some wonderful memories! xoxo

PS. DETOX STARTS TOMORROW!

Healthy Monkeys

In case you didn’t pick up on it from my last post, after our OptiMYz Live adventure we went to the Wooden Monkey for a late lunch. :)

“We are focused on providing local and organic food, while offering fair trade organic coffee, locally brewed beers and wines, and providing a venue for local artists and musicians.”

It was pretty busy when we arrived but luckily we only had to wait a few minutes. We had a corner table and the beautiful, warm sunshine was streaming in on us the whole time.

Free-range chicken, onions, mushrooms, peppers, garlic, melted mozza, mayo, lettuce, tomato. Mmm mmm, I devoured every last bit of this tasty sandwich.

Plus a bowl of delicious maple squash soup.

It was the perfect amount of food, I left filling very satisfied. If you’re from the area and haven’t been to the Wooden Monkey, definitely add it to your list of restaurants to try, you won’t be disappointed.

OptiMYzing Experience

What a fun day! After a wonderful Team Myles run this morning (SLR.com updated with new post.) I met up with Ang, Jaime & Tash at Starbucks for a coffee & gab session. Was really nice to catch up with all the girls and see the Mommy-to-be! ;)

We headed over to OptiMYz Live at the WTCC to spend some time browsing various health, fitness and wellness displays.

One of the benefits of Team Myles was free admission to the show. Sweet!



We browsed around a bit and the lady at the Good Life/Nubody’s both was kind enough to snap a pic of us posing beside this gorgeous set of wheels.


We hit up the Hamachi House booth for a yummy sample of their Miso Soup. Totally hit the spot in this chilly weather.


We sipped on the soup while we waited for Lil MacPherson of the Wooden Monkey restaurant to begin her info session on eating local & organic.



Her wonderful speech told of her experiences in Copenhagen at the UN Climate Change Conference and stressed the importance of buying local to support our farmers and the quality of foods they provide. She is obviously very passionate and well educated on this subject and her speech certainly reflected that.


We also watched a short video clip from Hellman’s Eat Real Eat Local campaign. If you have a second, please take a moment to check it out. I think you’ll be shocked at the ratios of food export/import in our country.



Had a bit of fun with the Queen’s tea…. ;)


And I made sure to stop at the Blue Nose Marathon booth.


Along with a visit to the Canadian Cancer Society’s.




All tuckered out and ready for some lunch….one of the guys at the OptiMYz booth took this cute group shot:

After visiting so many booths, I ended up with quite the information package!


You’ll have to stay tuned to hear all the delicious deets of our lunch… until then I’ll leave you with this little hint -