Food Health - Natal Day Happenings

Evening everyone, hope you’ve all enjoyed this wonderful holiday weekend! What a great day I had with the fam celebrating my Dad’s B-day. We made some travel plans for next Summer that are going to be a blast, more on that later. ;)

Started out the day with a pot of yummy oats. Organic oats made with almond breeze, sliced banana and flax seed. Topped with more sliced nanner, hulled hemp seeds, shredded unsweetened coconut, mini chocolate chips, a few goji berries, a spoonful of peanut butter & a drizzle of maple syrup.

We spent the morning in cleaning mode – kitchen was sparkling, all floors done, bathroom tidied and laundry done. Plus prepped the veggies and set out the table.

It was quite humid here, so I opted to wear a skirt and flowly top. Was nice to dress up a bit, even if we were just staying home.

Food Health-Shower Fun

Evenin’ everyone.  Just relaxing for the night now, what a terrific day!  When I last left off, I was tidying up and had to get ready for Holly’s Bridal Shower.  Knowing that there would be tons of yummy temptations at the Shower, I planned to have a really filling meal before hand. 

Lunch consisted of 2 very tiny baked potatoes with 1 cup of steamed broccoli topped with homemade cheese sauce.  My belly was almost too full after this.

Shortly after, Holly arrived to drop her fiancé off to hang out with J while we spent the afternoon with all the ladies.  Posed for a quick pic before heading out.  All prettied up! ;)

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.

Part Deux – The Dinner

Hubby’s B-day dinner turned out fantastic! He had been trying to figure out what he wanted me to cook for the past few days and I couldn’t have been more happy when he suggested Indian food.

Eat, Shrink & Be Merry has a delicious Butter Chicken recipe that is always a hit - “The Better Butter Chicken.” Pg 82.

This dish is tasty and fairly simple to prepare, mainly because you use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken.

Dean had been down to tour Domaine de Grand Pré Winery recently and kindly brought over a bottle of ‘08 L’Acadie Blanc for dinner.



I served the butter chicken with basmati rice and warm naan drizzled with a bit of olive oil.

And of course, the most important part – the double layer, double chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter cream frosting topped with mini Reese’s. ;)

Another Year….

Can’t believe it’s our 2nd anniversary already. Seems like just yesterday, seriously where has the time gone? I just went back and read that re-cap post of the wedding/honeymoon and I have to say that this is one of the reasons I’m so glad that I blog, you forget the little details of life. Sometimes blogging is time consuming but now I have that special day journaled forever because of it! :)

This week is really busy for us so we’ve been trying to decide how to best celebrate. It won’t be until Saturday night, either dinner out somewhere or a wine/cheese night in.

A little glimpse back…..

Us at my prom - June 2001. No comments about the jersey please!
;-) We look SO young!


[EDIT] Apparently I wasn’t supposed to post those prom pics. ;)

The Big Day – December 1, 2007

Writing this post made me smile. :)

Hubby’s B-day – Part One

Morning bloggies, happy weekend!

Yesterday was hubby’s b-day so I thought it would be nice for him to wake up to a yummy breaky. I made one of his favs, my mom’s Potato Boats. I had to get up a little early to make em, but I did take the easy way out by microwaving instead of using the oven. Stuffed with old cheddar & real bacon bits. Mmm mmm.

Fresh sliced mango on the side. It was perfectly ripe; very sweet & juicy.

Plus his cute card,

It reads -

Your keys on the table,
Your shoes at the door,
Your pillow on the bed,
Your clothes on the floor,
Your arm around my neck,
Your laugh in my ear,
Your body leaning close,
Our hearts beating near,
It's the little things that combine
To make one big love.

One of my fav snack combos of late is a rice cake with peanut butter.

While I was having my snack, I snapped a few shots of my desk. I’ve basically got a collage of all the important people/events in my life. J & I on our wedding day, a couple from Holly & Dean’s wedding, my stagette dinner, a few different family ones including one from my 10K and a couple shots of the Halibloggers :) It always brightens my day to look up and be reminded of all the fun times.






And this is the where the food blogging ended for the day. :) After work my main mission was to bake J’s B-day cake. He’s a chocolate peanut butter kind of guy and after seeing the cake that Angie made for her hubby I knew that I was going to make something similar. I googled for a recipe and decided to go the easy route and bought mixes instead of making the cake from scratch.

Somehow I ended up buying a chocolate brownie mix instead of a cake mix though. Opps. I mean really, the only words I can see on the box are organic and chocolate… :)


I followed the directions but then also added 1/2 cup of milk and 1 tsp of baking powder to the mix. 2 hours later….I think it turned out pretty well!

This is a double layer, double chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter cream frosting topped with tooooo many mini Reese’s! I’m scared to do the calorie count on this. ;)




Needless to say I need to get in quite the workout this morning so that I can indulge ce soir. Speaking of, I weighed in this morning and am down 2.8 lbs, which is quite a relief :)

I’m off to get prepped for the gathering tonight – we’re having friends over for dinner/cake/drinks.

The Day Has Arrived

Happy Halloween!!!

This evening we’re having Holly & Dean over to watch a bunch of scary movies while we pass out treats to all the kiddies. I’m kinda excited! hehe.

What plans do you guys have for tonight? I’m hoping to see some fun costumes appear in blogland soon!

----

My top secret plan will be put into action in just a few short hours. Full details this afternoon! I’m a bit nervous so that explains the early morning blogging. Am very lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive friend who is part of this plan too. :)

In regards to yesterday's post, I want to thank everyone for their comments. It’s really nice to hear that people appreciate my honesty and struggles. When I write a post it’s 100% me and it’s my hope that others can relate.

So life in general has been good great!

As most of you know, I really enjoy graphic design and social media (LOL, who doesn’t enjoy some type of social media these days?) I’ve recently had the opportunity to take on some part-time work in that field; my evenings have been spent setting up Tweets (Check out Twuffer, it’s a great tool that allows you to set up tweets to post at a later date/time), creating Facebook pages, blogs and email newsletters. Right up my ally!

My full time job is quite rewarding though and definitely not something that I’d leave, but some part time work that doesn’t feel like work can’t hurt! :)

---

I was lucky enough to get two wonderful surprises yesterday afternoon. Fridays + surprises = best combo ever!

The first was news that I won a Bodum French Press from a contest being held by Things To Do For Two. I was so excited to found out that I’d won. I never win anything and it totally made my afternoon. If you have a moment check out their site – it’s a Nova Scotian couple that blogs about fun and budget friendly things to do together. Thanks again TTDF2, can’t wait to get it!

And to top it off, I got another lovely surprise when I opened my mail box. A nice note from Cat (& b/f!).


And last but not least, if you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that I spent Thursday evening baking tasty Brownie Bites for the Bank’s charity bake sale. I made them both iced and plain, sprinkles all around! The only way I can even get away with saying these are calorie friendly is the fact that they are small, ie: portion controlled. Too bad ya can’t just eat one! ;)


There was so much batter that I had enough to send hubby off with loads for his bake sale and still take a tray full into work to share with the guys. All I can say is glad they are out of the house!

Yes, It’s True

The Prince George Hotel self proclaims to “have the best brunch in the city” and I’m not about to argue. We`ve done them all - The Westin, The Delta, The Citadel, The Holiday Inn and up until now The Westin was my venue of choice.


Going for a wonderful Holiday Brunch with the extended family has been become an annual tradition. This year after hearing several positive reviews I knew we had to check out the Prince George!

Their huge spread includes:

a waffle bar an omelette station a pasta station an espresso/capp station sushi station cold meats & smoked salmon variety of cheeses

pastries & muffins fruits seafood variety of salads hot entrees carving station yummy desserts

I phoned about a month before and they were happy to take reservations for our large group of 16. When we arrived, we found out we actually had an area specifically for our group, just off the main dining room. Its nice to have that extra bit of privacy. I really loved the decor too, very modern.

Hubby patiently waiting…


For my first round I chose a bit of everything. Smoked salmon, cheese, pineapple, turkey breast & stuffing, asparagus & a little piece of raisin bread. (I ate about half of everything on this plate.)


And believe me, there was A LOT to chose from:

Of course, I made a big dent into this particular station…………twice. *blushes* It was fantastic sushi and also really easy to track, point-wise.

Saving, the best for last – Dessert. Like the rest of the brunch there was a huge selection; cakes, sweets, mousse, fruits and pastries.



This was Peanut Butter Crème Brule. O.M.G. ;)




Don`t worry, I was a good girl…mostly. It was my birthday after all, so I had a little taste of that divine looking Crème Brule. It did not disappoint.


Finished up with an espresso shot. I left feeling just right, very satisfied and like I’d eaten the perfect amount. :) I love being able to chose from a variety of yummy foods and know that I’m able to to on track too.


The Prince George definitely earned their bragging rights. I will be back.