Excellent Culinary Creations!

Evening, all! Graham and I have just finished dinner, so I thought I’d recap tasty meals over the past two days!

Penne a la Vodka with Salmon 
Cooked by Graham
Salad by Sarah

French Toast and Fruit Salad by Sarah
(Heart-shaped) Coffee by Graham

Lamb Burgers by Graham

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Hope you’re having a great weekend! 

Daring Bakers January

Daring Bakers January was a nice, light recipe!

This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

I made the mistake of waiting ’til the last minute this month. The days just got away from me, after getting back from vacation on the 10th, then going back to work, then just getting caught up in day-to-day life!

I think I will try these again and make the butterfly shape! The black food colouring turned a little purple, so I decided to add a few blueberries with a splash of cream.

Check out Daring Bakers’ blogroll for all the great creations!

The way pancakes should be!

Enough said. TGIF!

Serves me right

I had a boring dinner tonight (salmon again, with salad), so I was going to skip right to dessert… banana bread! I just discovered Vanilla Bean Cafe and thought this recipe looked good. Plus, I had three bananas just calling to me… please, Sarah, we want to be baked into bread!

But then this happened…

Oops. There’s my impatient streak! And, even though I tested it with a toothpick, it wasn’t done. I ate some of the crusty outside pieces, but had some undercooked bits too and my stomach is feeling it. Ayayaye, the crusty pieces were good, too! Guess I will try again another day. 

I’ve watched two Gossip Girl episodes and I should probably get ready for bed. I’m going to do 30 Day Shred in the morning, so will be up at 6…

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Here was a recap of the day with the most meetings ever!

8:00-9:00 – worked at my desk
9:00-1:00 – plan presentation meeting * had two cups of coffee, fruit at 9 and then fruit and cheese & crackers (3) at 11:15
1:00 – grabbed lunch * salad bar and a raisin tea biscuit * but only had a few bites before…
1:30-2:10 – meeting with project stakeholders
2:10-3:00 – worked at my desk * finished lunch
3:00-5:30 – 2008 recap & 2009 goals meeting

=

no workout 

=

bad Sarah

Ah well, tomorrow’s a go for sure!!

Just call me the stripper

Paint stripper, that is!

This is the very ugly before! Sorry about the junk on top, too. My dresser’s getting a make-over and I can’t wait!

Ok, but back to breakfast. Inspired to get back into oats, I had a satisfyingly tasty bowl!

Here was my bowl:

• 1/3 c. oats, 1/3 c. water, 1/3 c. milk
• 1/2 small banana, stirred in while cooking
• 2 tbsp. Maple Pecan Granola
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• some frozen blueberries, heated first

YUM!

We had a budget conference call ’til 5 today and none of my colleagues were going to the gym. I couldn’t find the motivation myself, so instead ran errands (bank, grocery store), started the dresser and worked ’til 7:30.

Dinner was fast and used up some nearly-wilted spinach…

Again, YUM! I love a sandwich dinner.

Of course, I needed something else…

This was sort of a big dessert, considering I didn’t even work out today. Ah well, that’s ok. There’s always tomorrow, right?

Speaking of tomorrow… we’re supposed to get 15cms of snow, so that’s kind of exciting. I have a day jammed with meetings… 9 to 1, 2 to 2:30, 3 to 5. Eep, I will need a run at the end of that. 

Night, all. Sleep well!

One Photo Monday

Hello my loyal readers,

Hope you all had a lovely Monday. We had some more ups and downs at work today – seems to be a weekly occurrence! Overall, I had a fairly nice start to the week.

After work, I knocked out 8k (7 run, 1 walk) and then some weights, basically simulating Jillian Michaels’ routine, but at the gym. 

I made a trip over to Shoppers’, then perused the magazines at Chapters. Nothing like reading for free!

Dinner was easy tonight – maple salmon and leftover roasted veggies.

Hence the title – easy meal, easy post!

I had a little dessert (sin bowl with gummi bears and Nibs, amounting to 150kcal) while watching streaming Gossip Girl. I’ve found a great site and I’m excited to try the show! It’s the perfect pastime for Graham-free evenings! Oh, well, except that I’m supposed to be stripping the dresser and bookshelf, in preparation for painting this weekend. And there’s Daring Bakers to finish. And skis/snowboard to pick up. And ironing napkins. Ah well, guess that can be done tomorrow!

Night, all. Sleep well!

Sarah’s Resolutions

Finally! 26 days into the New Year and I am ready to put my resolutions into words, beginning today.

1. Food: I would like to try one new recipe per week. I would also like to stop my grazing habit. To do that, I’m going to write down everything I eat in my Moleskine until I get tired of writing down all those little bites and just stop doing it!
2. Exercise: New PBs in the 10k and half-marathon. Exact races TBD.
3. Personal Goals: Learn more about wine and photography. Read from the Modern Library 100 Best List.

So, there you have it. Deliberately a little vague. These are the things that are important to me, so I figure as long as I keep these ideas in my mind, I can change course as I go. I know this is late into the beginning of the year, but again, these are not new ideas to me. Just ones that need tweaking.

I’ll keep you updated on my progress

I’m baack!

Sorry for being MIA this weekend. We were busy and I just didn’t take too many photos… Here’s a recap!

Friday

Started the day with 30 Day Shred. Excellent kick off to the day! 

Changed up breakfast, with PB toast!

Lunch was nothing special and no picture

After work, I struggled through 7.2km (6.4 run, .8 walk) because my legs were too sore from 30 Day Shred. Curse you, Jillian Michaels!

Once home, Graham and I lounged a little, then made a quick stirfry using all the veggies we had, as well as leftover spaghetti. Graham makes the best stirfry and we ate in front of the TV, with a bottle of wine. Cookies (3… oops) followed later when I was a little too into the wine…

Saturday 

Graham wanted pancakes to fill his tummy before a half day of skiing and snowboarding, but we were almost out of AP flour. I mixed whole wheat and they were ok. Not great. We also had to rush, so it wasn’t the most enjoyable breakfast. They were a little misshapen, so no photos will appear. Sorry!

We went to Mount St. Louis Moonstone for a half day with Graham’s dad. For lunch, I had a slice of leftover pizza. It was soo cold… I wore my normal ski clothes, but was cold all over all afternoon. The skiing was great, though – hardly anyone was there! We stopped in for hot chocolate and gummi bears mid-afternoon.

Dinner was at Graham’s parents… beef fondue with salad, garlic bread and wine. Excellent meal! We also saw his sisters, brother-in-law and 2 of 3 nephews, so it was a fun evening.

Sunday

This morning we had a simple Cream of Wheat breakfast, with fruit salad on the side. I seem to want fruit all the time these days, which is definitely a good thing. I cut up whatever we have (today – clementines, apples and kiwi) and then add a splash of OJ.

We were busy bees this morning – laundry, cleaning, banking. Graham wrapped up lots of small things that he had on his list. After that was dropping an envelope off at his accountant’s office, taking skis/snowboard in for tuning, groceries, the bank. While out in the car, I had a Kashi Peanut Peanut Butter bar and an apple. 

I needed another snack when we got home because it hadn’t really been a real lunch. I had Kashi crackers with hummus and a few cherry tomatoes. Oh – also stole some of Graham’s popcorn. Maybe a cup? He (sadly) went back to Sarnia around 5 o’clock. He’ll be back for the weekend, but I’m still sad. I liked having him home all these weeks!

I went down to the gym, hoping for a run, but the treadmill was busy. I hopped on the elliptical instead. I haven’t done that in probably a year, but knocked off 20 minutes quickly! Next time, I’ll set it for a little harder, I think, but it was a nice treadmill break. I did some abs down in the gym, but then came back upstairs for another 30 Day Shred session. 

Dinner was easy and perfect for a cold winter’s weekend… roasted veggies and butternut squash soup.

Looking for a way to spice up this week’s lunches, I thought granola for my yogurt might be good. I remembered Kath’s granola… Here it is pre-bake:

I’ll show you a post-bake photo when I have some!

I guess that’s all for this evening. I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow We had a great weekend and I always hate when it ends. Especially when I have to sleep on my own for the first time in 5 weeks. I think I’ll be lonely! I have the SAG Awards on in the background right now, so I think I’ll blog a little longer. Stay tuned…

Celebrations all around

Says it all…

***

Had a company lunch today at a fantastic restaurant – Terra. They pre-ordered the appetizers – mixed plates of tuna tartar, quail, scallops, tomato & mozzarella… everything was delicious, but I tried not to overload. I also had two pieces of bread. For my meal, I had shrimp and scallops (2 of each) on thin noodles with julienned veggies. I didn’t eat all of the noodles, but the scallops were amazing. Afterwards, there was cheese. Yum, to all of it. Oh, and a small glass of red. Yum to that, too.

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It is my dad’s birthday today, so we had a pizza party! I had two and a half fairly large slices, with Caesar salad. I ate way too many (homemade) croutons right from the salad bowl. You can see dessert above. Oh, don’t forget about the glass of white and the glass of sparkling wine. Yum to that, too.

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I feel like a blimp. My toes are a little swollen (the wine, I think) and I have had my fare share of big meals this week. Lots of wine, lots of dessert. My workouts have been lacking, too, which is a bad combo… This is why I haven’t posted my resolution post yet. I had some things in mind, but I feel a little down on myself. Maybe a resolution post is exactly what I need to get things going. 

***

Ending on a positive note… 30 Day Shred was great this morning! I did level 1 to the end, then rewound and did the last three minutes again (just to add a little more to the workout). The plan tomorrow is Shred in the morning (level 1 again), then run after work. 

Time for some Google Reader – got to see what my favourite bloggers have been up to on their Thursday. Night, all!

Happy hump day

Started today off with the last muffin of the bunch, as well as fruit salad from last night’s dessert. The frozen blueberries turned everything… BLUE!

I had a massage after work today. Now, you’d think that would be relaxing, soothing. However, I am the most ticklish client my therapist has ever seen. She wonders if I enjoy any of the 45 minutes because I am giggling, flinching. I do enjoy it. It’s a nice way to just relax. Sort of. Anyone else have a love/hate relationship with massages… erm, being touched in general…? lol

I previewed last night’s purchase after I got home.

Note: I didn’t actually do a workout… just watched it to see what it’s like. I have been a little lazy the past few days! But, tomorrow we have a work lunch, and then it’s my dad’s birthday dinner, so I need a workout to burn off some of those good eats. I plan to do two sessions back to back – 2 x Level 1, or else Level 1 and Level 2. Full verdict tomorrow night! I’ll be up at 6, so I should really get going.

I made chocolate chip cookies for my boss, who is going away for the weekend on Friday. I’ve put together packages for my grandparents, Graham’s sister, for my other colleagues and the last one has a sticky note that reads “Graham – eat”.

Quickly to dinner: a repeat of Monday night.

And dessert

Bonne nuit mes amis.