Edmonton

I say my final goodbye to Edmonton this weekend. Here are the top 5 things I will miss:

5. Lululemon, Joe Fresh & others Canadian retailers
Contrary to popular, Canada produces some amazing clothing. We all know I love Lululemon, I do not think I need to express how much I will miss it since they do not have a store in Baton Rouge. On the other hand, I  really will miss stopping by the grocery store and coming home with clothes. Oops. "Chelsea, what are skinny cords on the grocery receipt?"  Lol. Did you know Joe Fresh is designed by the same person who does Club Monaco? No wonder both are my go-to stores for new clothes! I know I will find replacements (i.e. J Crew and Loft) but these stores will always have a place in my heart.

4. Famoso & Spartacus Pizza

I love pizza. Anywhere. Anytime. And leftovers for breakfast are even better! I cannot decide which pizza I like better. At Spartacus we always got the spinach supreme and barbecue chicken. At Famoso I think I have tried everything on the menu! The prices are great and the service is excellent. I think my fave there is the fire-roasted tomato bisque and a gorgonzola walnut salad pizza!

3. boutique gyms and fitness classes

Its not secret, I love fitness classes. I have discovered so many great classes while in Edmonton and so many amazing boutique gyms and my gym. They keep me challenged everyday. I also fell in love with reformer pilates so much that I became a certified Stott instructor while I was here (thanks to some encouragement from a few instructors of mine!). If you are looking to change up your routine, go check out some of my fave classes on my fitness page or click on the links above!

 

2. the Italian Centre

Such wonderful ingredients! We have made some amazing dinners from things we have purchased at this store. I love their meat and cheese counter, their frozen stuffed pasta, and canned/ jarred goods like tomatoes, EVOO, vinegar, and foie gras! Yes people, they have foie gras! Its not longer my little secret since I am leaving so you should go buy some and enjoy it on fresh baguette! Almost as good as what I ate in France this summer, its so nice to be able to find rare ingredients.

1. my bestie and all the other wonderful friends I have made

You have accepted me into your lives and your families and been such a wonderful support to me in good times and sad. I do not know what I would do without you these past 5.5 years. Wow. I cannot believe it has been that long. I will miss you, but don't worry, I will see you again. I am just not sure where or when yet!
Please keep in touch!

Next on my Canadian tour: Regina, Montreal, Regina, Montreal, Regina... then hopefully my new home! Let the travels begin!

InstaFriday

Its been a crazy week! Here's why:

1. We have been busy packing. Hence the lack of  photos. We have been getting rid of lots of things we don't need as well. 2. I love the brick walls at Sugarbowl. I want a house with a brick interior someday! The plant is pretty cute too! 3. We ate at the Sicilian Pasta Kitchen this week. B has always wanted to go there so we finally went. And we have no food left! The service was amazing, the atmosphere inviting, and the food delicious. 4. I had a calzone with a Mediterranean salad.The calzone will last me 3 meals, it was huge!

5. I got sent a Christmas gift from the co-chairs of the executive I am part of. They got everyone a chocolate bar that represents them. I got smarties! Thanks ladies. Your kind words are greatly appreciated. What a nice gift to receive. Its always nice to know someone thinks you are smart. 6. I got my hair colored this week! Darker than usual but I like it. 7. no food left = sushi for lunch. Thank goodness I have a Sobeys in my office building. 8. I hope to see this hanging on the outside of my condo soon!

I hope to see you next week! We will be with my family for Christmas so my blogging schedule may be off.

The Sugarbowl

This past Sunday, we went for breakfast at Sugarbowl. I had a gift certificate I was given by Defining Eve we needed to spend before the move. We got there bright and early, it was about half full when we arrived but the tables filled up quickly.

They have old earl grey tea at Sugarbowl. By old, I mean the old version from Tazo. This is hard to come but amazing. It is so much better than the new tazo teas at Starbucks. Just ask E about her thoughts on this topic!

I had the Sugarbowl Benny for breakfast. It comes on corn bread and the sauce is bechamel. What a great variation on a classic. I also love the potatoes and homemade ketchup. I could eat this everyday... too bad it is not healthier!

B ordered a cinnamon bun to supplement his breakfast sandwich.One word = todiefor. Okay that is three words typed together. I love their buns! They get my vote for best in Edmonton.

Thanks for an amazing date B. I hope there is a Sugarbowl in Baton Rouge!

InstaFriday

Welcome to my past week. It was busy, fun filled, and very productive! I am also trying a new format this week for my photos.

1. pate = amazing 2. I have been trying to use up the bananas in the freezer like a mad woman. Thank goodness B like banana muffins. These are my usual recipe but I used oat bran instead of flax as its all I had. 3. After dinner with friends last weekend we helped their boys make a gingerbread train... so much fun, especially when H tried a peppermint then called it spicy! 4. Trying to use up all the food in our house means random but delicious meals. This was a doozie.

5. Did you know they now have bottles of Mt. Boucherie reserve wine at Famoso? It was delish with our pizza...  and $25 off with the redemption of 100 wine club points. 6. I have been knitting like a manic lately. I started a cream colored cowl upon completing of the purple scarf for my colleague. 7. And it was done 2 days later. Here is the pattern. 8. I am usually not a fan of caesar salad but the one at Famoso is amazing... and great for sharing. Good choice boys.

9. I saw these cookies on my friend Hailey's blog. They looked simple. Not so much, but maybe I just added too many dry ingredients. A wise baker once told me to measure accurately! They still turned out delicious but they are not as nice to look at. Go check out her blog for some great baking recipes! 10. Still using up more bananas and making more muffins. This time I added blackberries on top for something different. I do not think we will ever gets sick of these muffins. On the other hand, we only have 3 frozen bananas left so I will only be making one more batch in Canada. 11. How is your Christmas decorating coming long? My only decor has been red and green M&Ms. Moving at this time of year really throws you for a loop! 12. Oh and I also had Canadian maple gelato at Famoso. It tastes like the donut at Timmys.

See you next week!

InstaFriday

I love InstaFriday! Its a great way to talk about my week without writing long blog posts... especially when we have been so busy lately.

I love popcorn on Sunday evenings. We make ours in the whirley pop... so much better than microwave. 

Along with moving comes selling lots of furniture. We sold our bed frame earlier this week. My feng shui in the bedroom was off. I barely slept the first night. I am back to normal now. It is kind of weird sleeping on the floor but it is only for a few weeks.

Birthday flowers I received from a colleague in March. Just call me Mrs. Green Thumb as it is still growing flowers! I love the crisp white of this one. I am so ready for year round gardening in Baton Rouge.

I have been so busy lately I have not even perused through the latest j Crew catalog. Must get to this soon...

Had the feature salad from The Greenhouse this week. Delish! I cannot remember exactly what was in it (spinach, onion, mushroom, shrimp, cheese and an amazing dressing). Have you even been?

I have been working on a scarf for a colleague this past week. I hope to finish it this weekend. I am loving the pattern and color.  Also, I just read on Only Here for the Food that there is a fabric store downtown called Sig Plach Couturier & Fabrics. I hope to go there this weekend to find buttons for my creation.

Had to run to SB this morning. All Christmas blend coffees are on sale, today only! The 12 days of holiday gift giving are here!

We are having dinner with friends tonight. I am bringing a blueberry saskatoon crisp. I have a ton of frozen berries we need to eat before we move! Anyone have any other ideas of things I could make with berries?

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the abnormally warm weather if  you are in my neck of the woods.

P.S. I take all my photos using the instagram ap on the iPhone 4S.

Always busy

This weekend was busy but fun filled! We had guests all weekend and we spent lots of time packing up our stuff.

Some interesting notes from this weekend:
Saturday night we went to Tres Carnales. Remember when we went a while back and I forgot to take any photos? Not this time!

I had the fish tacos! They were amazing but I would not expect anything less at this restaurant. I must comment on the customer service as well. We arrived just after 6pm on Saturday night so we expected a line up. There were 2 other large groups in front of us and they said to expect a 45 minutes wait. We were fine with that as we'd just be chatting in line anyways. After waiting patiently in line for about 35 minutes, the manager bought our group of 6 a round of drinks since it was taking longer than expected. We stood in line with our bevies (sangria for me!), ordered our food when our table was ready, and were eating guac and chips within 5 minutes.Our meals arrived 10 minutes after that. Is was very quick! Thanks Tres Carnales for showing us a great time and being so great at what you do! If you live in the Edmonton area, I highly recommend you try this place!

We also did lots of packing. 17 boxes, 1 trunk, 4 duffel bags, and 2 backpacks inventoried and packed! Success! We still have quite a bit to pack but it is nice to have a big chunk of it done. I really should take a picture of the boxes soon. We still need to sell our sofa and bed frame then the rest is going to Goodwill!

Things I should do this week:
1. workout
2. finish my last Christmas gifts
3. deal with bill cancellations and all that other stuff that goes along with moving
4. continue to clean out my pantry and freezer by cooking random items that end up turning out amazing

Time to start my work week! I hope its a productive one.

A date... or two

Thursday of last week was full of dates with B. I would have posted about it sooner but we were away for the weekend (more about this tomorrow)! Thursday morning my winter tires were being put on my car so we went for a breakfast date at Starbucks while we waited. We enjoyed breakfast sandwiches and tea.

I loved the vegetable sandwich with cheddar and egg.

Thursday evening we had free tickets to the Oilers game. For dinner we stopped at Sugarbowl for some delicious eats. B had beer and soup and we shared hummus & pita and a lamb burger with sweet potato fries.

If you are ever in Edmonton near the university, I highly recommend Sugarbowl. We have also enjoyed breakfast here... along with their delicious cinnamon buns!

The hockey game was excellent. The team played well even though they still lost. I got to see Hallsy, Neug, and Ebs play so that was the excitement of my night! Here are some of my fave shots from the game:

 too many men on the ice?  kidding! this was during warm up

 self portrait... missed B

can you see E & T across the arena?

the kid line!

I love date night! And date morning! I can't wait for our next date.

How was your weekend?

Mine was good, thanks for asking. Here is a summary of our weekend:
worked out x3... my lats and triceps are still killing me, that means I worked hard!
went on a date to the new Crate & Barrel store!
worked on our to-do list
worked on my knitting project for the United Way auction
made and ate some good food, such as:

 fish tacos with roasted broccoli

 Mediterranean black bean meatballs from the Peas and Thank You cookbook

 friday night's leftovers with salad and mashed sweet potatoes

 Chinese food from The Boss... amazing!

 roasted mushrooms

shrimp and mushroom risotto

I had full intentions of making Tortilla and Black Bean Pie but on Friday afternoon, a friend emailed us a coupon for $10 off at Billingsgate! Dinner plans changed very quick when we knew could get a deal on seafood!

Did you notice my photos became much less grainy half way through the weekend? My camera fixed itself! I was so excited as I did not want to spend money on a new camera right now. That definitely made my weekend.

Finally, my wedding band and engagement band are getting saudered together tomorrow... I feel slightly naked without them!

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!

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.