Trends that return

My parents always laugh when I obsess over something that was "in style" when they were my age, the most recent of these being moccasins. If there were hoarders in that household I would have been able to inherit some beautiful leather moccasin boots... but because our gene pool loves to throw things out...  those moccasins are no longer possessed by  my parents and I have to go buy my own. This is not a complaint about throwing things away, I hate clutter, but I wish we were able to predict what fashions should have been kept. Moccasins have changed slightly since their time, but that does not mean I could not have worn theirs.

short moccasins - tall moccasins

I can't stop thinking about the short style. I am trying to to buy any new fall/ winter clothes... but shoes don't count as seasonal clothes as they can be worn all the time, right? They would be prefect for traveling... comfortable, warm, and easily removable for security. I think I am sold as I have many upcoming trips in my future!

Interesting fact - I always travel with socks in my purse so I can put them on when I remove my shoes for security. I refuse to walk on the floor in bare feet and for some reason always travel wearing shoes with no socks. People look at me like I am nuts until they realize they have no socks. I wonder when the last time the floor was thoroughly cleaned in security at EIA. Even worse... when security has carpets... I bet it barely ever gets cleaned!

Tres Carnales

This past weekend we joined friends at Tres Carnales. It was amazing. I LOVE Mexican food so this was a perfect weekend treat for an abnormally warm weekend!

The atmosphere was amazing... not totally authentic but better than most Mexican places in Edmonton.

We started with sangria for me and a corona for B while waiting for our table.

Then... I got so busy catching up with friends and enjoying the food that I forgot to take more photos. We enjoyed chips and guac, a roasted corn side dish, and 4 types of tacos... chicken, beef, and 2 types of pork. I highly recommend checking out their website, or even better go to the restaurant if you are in Edmonton. According to their website, all ingredients come from a 200km radius of Edmonton, they do not have freezers or microwaves, and everything is made fresh daily. The fish of course comes from further away but we did not get to try any as they sold out of the red snapper tacos by the time we ordered at 6:30! Next time, I need go earlier to try the fish. I can't wait to go back again and take more photos try the fish!

Mushroom risotto

This weekend when eating breakfast, I was watching Jamie Oliver on The Food Network. He was making mushroom risotto and knew we had to make it for dinner. We have never made risotto... and by we I mean B... so we knew we would need a good recipe. Here is the grilled mushroom risotto recipe we made. We did change a few things as we forgot to buy celery and choose not to include the butter.
There are many steps to making risotto so I recommend following the recipe.

 simmer homemade turkey stock

 measure out ingredients, yes that is exactly 400g of arborio rice

 cook onions

 add rice, wine, and stock to cook

put in a Sophie Conran bowl

and enjoy!

The risotto turned out perfectly, we knew it could not be that hard! It also made extra for leftovers so I will be able to enjoy it all week. To enjoy with the risotto we also made roasted mushrooms

and enjoyed it on fresh olive herb ciabatta with the "leftover" wine from the risotto!

Delish!

Green for fall

Yup officially obsessed with fall fashion... green is a great colors for me and it is everywhere this fall:

 Clearly I need to find a green sweater or coat for fall. I wonder if B agrees?

Fall acccessories

I may not love the idea of fall but I do love new accessories that come along with a new season. Fall  here means winter is nearing...

Here are some accessories I have been eying up now that it is the first full week of fall:

a personalized iPhone case for the iPhone I hope to get soon

 nude nails, I loved this all summer

 a detailed necklace in  a non-traditional fall color... great for vacations too!

 this bag! so cute

 a stacked silver ring

 a colorful silk scarf that could be worn any season

 cord TOMS, you can never have enough TOMS

 and a tortoise MK watch

These would also make great Christmas gifts! Hint Hint!

Workout motivation

Lately I have been loving the TRX since our trainer introduced me to some new exercises with it.

Anyone know of any good TRX printable workouts? I love this one from Self Magazine.

I'd like my eggs... unfertilized.

Whenever I think about how I want to cook my eggs I think of a line I once heard on TV. How do you  like your eggs in the morning? Unfertilized, thanks.

Lately we have been loving poached eggs. Okay, more than loving... obsessed! Its been a staple lately for a quick protein rich meal. We have found many flavor combinations to have with our poached eggs.

on a toasted whole grain bagel with polish edam and proscuitto

on a toasted whole grain bagel with mozzarella, german salami or porchetta, and caramelized onions

on a toasted whole grain bagel with edam, green onions, and charcoal grilled trout

As you can also see by the photos, we have also been eating these for any meal of the day. I picked up a bunch of thin whole grain bagels on sale for 50% off last weekend and threw them in the freezer. Everything else is just a usual ingredient in our fridge or leftovers!

Is anyone else out there obsessed with poached eggs?

Banana bread muffins

I have been wanting to make banana bread for a while as we have over a dozen bananas in the freezer.  I have a fave banana bread recipe that actually turns out much better as muffins. Sometime banana bread does not cook consistently through and I hate the doughy middle.
Here is my fave recipe taken from Power Foods with a few modifications:

Combing dry ingredients:
3/4c whole wheat flour
1/2c white flour
1/4c ground flax seed
1/2t coarse salt
3/4t baking powder
1/2t baking soda

Combine wet ingredients:
1 large egg + 1 egg white
2T melted butter
1/2c brown sugar
1 1/2t Mexican vanilla
3 ripe banana adjustments

Combine wet and dry. Pour into lined muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes at 350. The recipe makes 12. B ate one before I could find my camera.

We enjoy ours with margarine or honey.

Weekend recap

This weekend was excellent! We started off with What The Truck on Friday night. It was packed so we had to be strategic with our food choices. I had kung pao chicken with rice from The Lingnan, a braised beef sandwich from Nomad, and of course a caramel waffle from Eva Sweet! I did not get too many photos as it was very busy!

Saturday included a killer workout, cleaning the condo like a maniac, and dinner with friends. Recently we became obsessed with poached eggs. Breakfasts these days always include poached eggs on a toasted thin bagel with various other toppings.

Sunday was grocery day. It was a successful day as a few items I went to buy were on sale so that is a bonus. Sunday night for dinner included lamb meat sauce on spaghetti squash. It was enjoyed with a glass of home brewed iced tea!

I also made my fave banana bread in the form of muffins. It made 11... kidding. B ate one before I could even take a photo! These muffins are absolutely delicious and turn out perfect every time.

muscle vs. fat

Muscle is heavier by volume than fat... 5lbs of muscle takes up less space than 5lbs of fat. Go lift a weight or tow today (at home or at the gym)! I am off to Force class.

5 lbs of fat vs. 5 lbs of muscle

its getting colder

Our weather here at "the north pole" has cooled off significantly since last week. I am now wearing a jacket in the morning and have been digging my my closet for pants and sweaters to wear to work. Its a sad time of year around here because it means so is on the way (we also had a frost warning this week!). With the changing of the seasons, my clothes must changes too. This weekend we have a few outdoor things to attend, specifically What The Truck ?! 2 and possibly a farmer's market for veggies.
Since I will need to bundle up more this weekend, my outfit may possible include something like this:

with a jacket of course!

My house is my home

I always wonder what out future home will look like. Lately, I have seen a ton of great photos online that have been a great inspiration to me. Maybe someday our fireplace will look like this

and our kitchen will have wood cabinets with stone walls. My Sophie would look great on that island!

This photo reminds me of B's brother but I still really like the print!

Banana Bread

The other day I saw some old bananas in the freezer. Ever since then I have been dreaming of banana bread. I must go find my fave recipe and make some one night this week!

Hopefully I will have time to post the recipe soon.

What to do?

Sundays are a difficult day when making food decisions. We want to make something that will give us leftovers for the week but we don't want to stress too much over cooking. I also had another predicament. What do you do when you ask for hot LEAN cappicolo at the Italian Centre, and they give you hot FATTY cappicolo? I decided to make it into "bacon" bits by chopping it up, crisping it in a frying pan, and draining the fat off on a paper towel. I would not want anything to go to waste and this turned out to be a great option. We combined it with sage butter sauce, peas, and spinach linguini for an amazing dinner... and quick.

What else did we do this weekend? Some killer workouts; we wore our new shirts to workout as we are in a study at the U of A. They are not attractive so A) I do not wear it out in public without a shirt over top and B) you will not see a pic of me in it.

I also got new lenses in my oldest glasses, did some tidying around the condo, ran errands, and watched football. Oh, Saturday was a scorcher so we hung out on the deck in the evening, it was wonderful. I will be so sad when summer is officially over.

Finally, I decided to buy us a treat on Saturday. It was cupcakes from Crave Cupcakes. Delicious! The flavored enjoyed included The Princess, Dirty Blonde, and a Doughnut Cupcake. I just saw on their Blog they make lemon curd! I bet that would be delicious too.

Have a great week!

Motivation

Don't skip your workout this weekend. You will never regret a workout.

Loving Lulu

It is no secret I love Lululemon. Is it the Canadian in me? Or is it that it wears so well and lasts forever? With all the time we have spent at the gym lately, I have been craving some new lulu!

run:inspire jacket - cool raceback tank - astro wunder under crop

The other day I did buy the white cool raceback tank but was able to have some self-control and not make any other purchases.

Today would be Thursday...

Even though I have tried to create a blogging schedule, sometime it just doesn't happen. Sometimes family is more important. Something you have nothing to say. Sometimes life is just too busy. Lately, it has been all three of these. Yesterday was a busy day and I just did not have time to write anything. Well today was more interesting, and less busy, so I you get to hear from me... just later than usual. During Big Brother to be exact... yes, I like reality TV, it's no secret around here.

I have been busy watering E's garden all week. There have definitely been some fruits of my labour.  We harvested today after work and got a ton of tomatoes and one large yellow squash that did not make it into the photo.

Also, one huge tomato that has been ripening on the vine all week! It is hard to tell the size in the photo but it is about the size of two fists.

Thanks E for sharing your garden! Don't worry B watered your flowers too... while he was supervised by a fuzzy creature in the window.

In other interesting news, today was a scorcher again. It has been significantly above average temperatures all week and I have been enjoying it all week. Unlike a certain grasshopper that landed on my car today.

I was at the dentist this morning so I got to work late... and had to park on the roof of the parking garage in the sun. The poor little guy landed on my car and got fried to a crisp instantly!

Finally, we bought a Bodum iced tea pitcher with a wedding gift card on the weekend. We have been making unsweetened iced tea all week including earl grey rooibos! It is delicious! You should try it.

So close to the weekend!

Tomato Gazpacho

This weekend I made a tomato gazpacho with fresh summer ingredients. It was delicious so I thought I would share it. I found it on The Galley Gourmet then made some adjustments based on what I had available.

 

My version:

3lbs ripe tomatoes or varying colours (I used black, red and yellow), core removed and cut into wedges
1/2 english cucumber, seeded and roughly chopped
2 small yellow peppers
1/2 yellow onion
4 green onions, green part only
1/4 c basil
2T oregano
1t nutmeg
10 cloves of garlic
1c tomato puree
1/4c red wine vinegar
3T evoo
1t salt
dash Mexican hot sauce

In large food processor, put everything except the last three ingredients, pulse until desired consistency. Add evoo, salt, and hot sauce, pulse a few more times. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to allow for flavors to blend. Serve in chilled bowls with a fresh basil leaf.

We also enjoyed it with ciabatta, roasted garlic, manchego, and red wine!

Thank you Nicole @ The Galley Gourmet for this great recipe! I imagine I will be making more of your recipes in the future.