Blog Archives
Chocolate Tooth
You know how some people classify themselves as having either a sweet or a salty tooth?
Well I have a chocolate tooth.
I love most sweets, and am typically down for a salty snack, but chocolate is my one and only.
I’ve been waiting to pour hot oatmeal into this jar since the day I bought it. I specifically saved the near-empty jar for a treat upon my return from Chicago. Made better only by the addition of even more chocolate in the form of dark chocolate covered edamame from Trader Joe’s.
If you think this is enough to satisfy my raging chocolate tooth, you are unfortunately mistaken. I tear through any and all chocolate at an astonishing rate. I have a piece after every single meal (sometimes even after a chocolate breakfast!).
There’s been an abnormal amount of chocolate in my house these past few days as a result of the stellar swag bag I received at the Healthy Living Summit. These Adora disks are calcium infused hunks of the good stuff. Texture is not quite up to snuff, but I’ll still take it!
When I was a kid, my mom always used to separate my Halloween candy into three bags: chips, chocolate bars, and the rest of the candy. Guess which bag always emptied first?
Adding healthy stuff is really not helping the cause either. As if I need another excuse to eat chocolate!
These Attune bars have priobiotic in them. When chatting with the Attune rep at the Healthy Living Summit, I told her we didn’t get them in Canada and she proceeded to give me a handful of free bars. I think my eyes glazed over.
Of all the food pairings in world, I would have to say chocolate + coffee is my favourite. Yes, even more than banana + peanut butter, or even chocolate + peanut butter. My favourite time to eat chocolate is with my morning coffee. I take a nibble, then let the coffee melt it in my mouth. It’s a near religious experience.
Angela totally got it right with this chocolate and coffee Glo Bar. Of the flavours I’ve tasted, this is so far my favourite.
As a side note, this ode to chocolate was in no way planned. When uploading my photos tonight, I realized that it’s the only food I deemed worthy to photograph over the past few days. Go figure!
I guess we all have a little Homer Simpson in us ;)
Question of the Day: What is that one food you eat over and over and never get sick of??
Bombed
Hiiii! Remember me?? I had a busybusy day yesterday and I’m poking my head in here late to tell you all about it!
Let’s first relish in these photos of healthy food. This was my “balance” for the day ;)
Leftover tofu balls. I really dig these!! Don’t let the term “tofu ball” scare you.
Raw jicama and carrots. Reeeeally loved the jicama cold and in cubes like this. Much better than the cooked version.
All dipped in Averie’s peanut sauce! I added a squirt of soy sauce in there for an extra kick. Dipping lunches are so fun. I munched and crunched till my tummy was ready to burst :)
Shortly after lunch, I set off to work to get in some exercise before my first ever client! The workout wasn’t very noteworthy, I just plugged in the earphones and watched the Food Network for 50 minutes while doing intervals on the elliptical.
As for my first training session – I loved it. I can’t believe how quickly it went by! I lucked out with a great first client, who at one point told me “It’s always the nice ones that get you.” Muhaha. I’ve already got my second client and I can’t wait to get started on a program for him!
I left the gym with a big smile on my face and anticipating the fun evening I had in store. Stopped to fuel up first at Freshii.
This is a chain that I’ve only so far seen in Toronto, but I’m sure is elsewhere.
They do made-to-go wraps, sandwiches and salads. I ordered an albacore tuna wrap with a dill dressing.
Thumbs up on the taste front! Thumbs down on the price – $7 for a small wrap.
Okay, okay. Next I am going to share quite possibly the best and most important recipe ever on this blog…
It was so important, I had to tweet it.
First, you pour Jagermeister into a shot glass.
Then, you put a dash of Red Bull into a glass.
Line it up and admire your handy work. Take a deep breath and get ready for the hard work that is about to follow.
And take an endearing photo with your significant other ;)
Drop the shot glass in, clink the glasses together and let out a holler along the lines of “heyyoooo!”
x3
It should be mentioned we don’t always drink like this.
Okay, we did in university. It was like old times! Except, instead of sitting around and bitching about classes and professors, we sat around talking about work :P
The part I was really excited for though was our ultimate destination, The Horseshoe Tavern.
The Horseshoe is legendary for all of the amazing and famous shows they’ve housed over the decades. Some of the country’s greatest acts got their starts here.
We were here to see We Are Scientists, an indie pop band from Brooklyn (and yes, that’s the audience dancing on stage). Their first album is my running playlist on my iPod. I danced and bopped along to every song and loved every minute of it.
Scuzzy bathroom photos just aren’t the same without my gal Holly.
We stuck around for a while after the band finished. There may have been another round of Jager Bombs, and I enjoyed a couple of my first Steam Whistle beers.
Not bad! I want to tour the brewery here!
Some of our party stopped for street meat…
Some of us made the mistake of putting street meat in our purse. Those keys are looking pretty tasty covered in bacon bits ;)
I managed to avoid the hot dogs, but I didn’t realize we were coming home to chocolate cookies and chocolate cake.
I do not recommend food photography while drinking. And I probably shouldn’t condone eating chocolate cake before bed either ;)
In all, a wonderful day! I feel surprisingly well today so I’m off to get a workout in, eat a spectacular lunch, go to a job interview and get a fitness assessment done at my new gym. Happy Tuesday!! xoxo
Question of the Day: What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to? Mine is probably a Sloan concert I went to with my mom in 2004. They were playing under an alias in a small bar and played all my favourite songs :)
Food. Good food. And lots of it.
Bonjour!! I am in a bilingual city, I can say that here ;)
Wonderful questions and feedback on my last post: Ripped Arms: A How-To Guide. I made some clarifications in the comments section if any of you are interested. In terms of designing an arm workout, 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps of each a shoulder exercise, triceps exercise and biceps exercise, 1-3 times a week, is enough to do it. Got that? Just don’t forget about your other muscles too! ;)
I also got a great comment from Averie:
10 yrs of yoga gave me a foundation for everything, 4 mos of lifting is giving me some size :)
Couldn’t agree more. If you’re already athletic, but still want to see more arm definition, heavy weight lifting will get you where you want to be in no time.
Now this is where I seamlessly transition to talking about FOOD.
I really just want to show this pic of Sunday’s breakfast because my toes are stealing some of the spotlight in the bottom right of the frame :P One of the reasons why I love reading food blogs, as opposed to professional food publications, is the level of “real life” you get from photos such as these. Hello toes!
Rainier cherries are continuing to rock my face off. They taste milder than regular ones.
The last of my homemade rosemary yogurt biscuits topped with eggs and bacon. If it’s been a while since you last had this combination, I highly suggest you get on it. This is the best post-run weekend breakfast. The HEAB-ster just posted an even easier biscuit recipe just in case ;)
Okay, now that we are done ogling at breakfast, I must introduce you to Sunday’s lunch!! Sister Sara had tickets for a play and the theatre is conveniently located across the street from an amazing vegetarian buffet called The Table. I grabbed a little scoop of everything that struck my fancy. I’m a sampler.
Beet salad and carrot ginger salad.
A tofu patty topped with this sweet & sour onion sauce. They were highly recommended.
Some sort of black bean loaf.
Braised onions, roasted mushrooms and a tofu skewer.
As well as a bit of lentil quinoa salad and dandelion greens. The salads were a little lacklustre (surprisingly!). The hot foods were my favourite. Especially the braised onion and tofu patty. I want to recreate both!!
As we were leaving, Sara heard that you get 20% off if you’re going to see a play. We’d already paid, but we wanted our discount!! So we went back after the play for tea and dessert :)
I was still stuffed from my meal, so I stopped myself from grabbing a gazillion cookies and went with what looked unique.
Not your typical coconut pie. It was surprisingly light and fluffy, not at all chewy like a macaroon. A touch bland though, so I topped it with this:
Vegan rice pudding. I’m assuming it was made with coconut or soy milk. Made for an excellent pie topping actually!
Apple & mixed berry crumble with whipped cream. This was my favourite of the desserts. You can never go wrong with cooked apples.
And the tea!
The perfect flavour to pair with the desserts I’d chosen. I love me some chai!
Sara being her usual social butterfly self.
Me, being my usual contemplative self.
Another highlight from Sunday was biking down to one of Ottawa’s beaches. It may take a while for the idea of a beach not meaning “ocean” to sink in.
Sara and her sweet new bike pump. She’s a cycling queen.
Me just looking awkward :P My biking adventures in Ottawa have been my first of the season. It would be an understatement to say they came with a little apprehension. In fact, I had a moment of sheer panic within minutes of being back on the bike. But yesterday I started to feel relaxed again and less like I was chained to a death trap. Also impressed by how strong my legs got over the winter – hills are nuthin’ to me now!
Because of my new-found ease, we opted to take the long way home and enjoy some of the (weird) sights Ottawa has to offer.
Inukshuks on the river!!
Clearly, we had to stop and take silly photos with them.
I just wish I’d read this sign first. I maaaaay have decapitated a statue :\
Today’s breakfast had a significant lack of biscuits.
Eggs and bacon were instead eaten between two seedy pieces of bread with mayo, lettuce and tomato.
I made a fruit salad for us using watermelon, banana, cherries, lime juice and some of this stuff:
Peppermint honey!
From Alberta! It was very pepperminty, but added a nice refreshing kick to the salad.
Let’s see… there was also a notable breakfast dessert.
I love that my sister agrees with me that it is very important to have quality chocolate in the house at all times.
Camino Coconut gets a thumbs up!
It took me a really long time to get motivated to go the gym today. I am having motivation issues lately. I’m thinking it may be resolved once I finally get settled in Toronto (moving Thursday!). Until then, I forced myself to do a full-body lifting workout.
Started with a 10-minute run to the gym. I did three sets and 10 reps of everything. Colour-coded to indicate which exercises were supersetted together (ie no rest in between alternating sets).
| Exercise | Load | Target |
| Sumo squat | 70 lbs | Quads, glutes |
| Wide-grip lat pulldown | 60 lbs | Back, biceps |
| Good morning | 45 lbs | Hamstrings, glutes, lower back |
| Incline push-up | bodyweight | Chest, abs, front shoulders |
| Forward lunge | 30 lbs | Quads, glutes |
| Arnold press | 15 lbs ea | Shoulders |
| Overhead cable extension | 30 lbs | Triceps |
| Seated calf raise | 90 lbs | Calves |
| Incline curl | 10 lbs ea | Biceps |
| Captain’s chair | bodyweight | Abs |
I went up in weight on my squats… yayy!!! Only 60 lbs left to go until I reach my lifetime goal of squatting my bodyweight – ha!
Ohyes, then I ran the 10 minutes back to my sister’s place. Mygosh it was hot by then. Brutal.
Sister Sara said I had to try these tofu cutlets they carry at an organic food store called Herb & Spice.
I cut it up cold and put them on top of a salad (dressed with watered down hummus). I would have to agree with my sister, these are amazing!! It almost tasted like they were baked in cream of mushroom soup, but Sara says the spread vegepate on top. Genius.
Salad also included some wonderful local spinach – yum :)
Late this afternoon I continued my quest to find a decent cottage cheese in Ontario… 
Half a cup of Liberty 1% cottage cheese on top of the leftover fruit salad from the morning.
It was good but still not great. Also, Liberty is significantly more expensive than other brands.
I miss my Scotsburn 50% less sodium cottage cheese!! They need to supply outside of the Maritimes!
For dinner, I made Sara and I bison burgers using my mother’s method of locking all the juices in (start with a hot pan, then lower it down to cook)
Sara doesn’t keep ketchup in her place (the horror!), so I loaded up on the tomatoes, and ate it on pita bread. A Susan version of a hamburger thin if you will ;)
Roasted corn in the oven. So easy. Throw it in, husk at all, and cook at 400F for 30-40 minutes.
Yellow zucchini roasted in rosemary and olive oil. I could never find this anywhere back home!!
All yellow vegetables tonight :)
Sara and I then sat around contemplating what we could do this evening. We both agreed dessert was in order, but I’d already eaten three pieces of chocolate today (as I do every day, fyi).
Somehow we decided it was a good idea to walk 30 minutes to this delightful place called Oh So Good near the Byward Market.
We got a little lost on the way, but the extra walk was worth it. They had a wide array of different cakes and sweets. My eyes immediately set on the white chocolate mousse cake.
Seriously you guys, I’m not a huge cake person, and I loved every bite of this. Incredibly light and fluffy, with shaved white chocolate on the top. Both Sara and I agreed that the small layer of jam in the center made the cake.
Sara got a slice of the chocolate truffle cake. The chocolate was definitely of high quality and fresh because it was the first piece from the cake!
We both enjoyed our cake with a cuppa tea. We briefly discussed the calories in each slice, and agreed it was a pleasure too great to pass up.
That’s why you walk to the cake ;)
See you tomorrow!! xoxo
