Good deed = sick Sarah

I gave blood yesterday and had a hard time… dizzy and nauseous after, then sick to my stomach last night. It was not a fun Friday night for me!

We’re off now to do Saturday stuff and I feel much, much better. I’ll post our weekend escapades tomorrow!

Sarah

Choco-Chocolate! (February Daring Bakers)

Wow, this was a chocolate extravaganza!

Here’s the required line:

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I chose to add whipped cream to the top… I’ve never made ice cream before and Graham loves whipped cream. This dessert was for him! On top were raspberries that we bought the day before at Al Ferri’s.

I choose to use a muffin tin and 3/5 of the recipe, knowing that I wanted to send the rest to Graham’s family when we went for dinner on the way back to Sarnia. I had about half a “muffin” as I made Graham’s. I know that the quality of chocolate used is super-important, because it’s the star ingredient. I would make this recipe again, using better quality chocolate and maybe try my own ice cream next time. 

Can’t wait for March!

Bad, bad blogger

Yes, got lazy last night. Sorry about that! I am just so into The Mentalist right now – I have been watching an episode a night.

Dinner last night… well, I had a huge craving for sweet potato fries. I combined those with a few Brussels sprouts. Then, on the side, had a quarter of an avocado with these little chips that I got from Bulk Barn.

One of the benefits to being on my own during the week… random Sarah dinners that Graham would never like.

Now, here is my new favourite… the best way to start my morning! Oatmeal with peanut butter, banana and granola. Yes, I am a total PB convert! At first I thought it was too sweet and made me a little nauseous. Now, I love it!!!

I love this combination! Looking forward to tomorrow morning already… (oh and TGIF!).

Tonight’s dinner was the spaghetti sauce that we made Sunday for Graham to eat during the week. For us, that’s worked out so well. We prep his lunches and dinners on Sunday, buy all his fruits and veggies and he’s good for the week. Well, he might run to the store for something small, but overall, he doesn’t need to buy anything else. I know we save money by buying and preparing together – less wasted food, too.

So, here’s dinner… (really boring pic!)

As for exercise… the treadmills were all busy last night at the gym, so I took that opportunity to come home to Levels 1 AND 2 of 30 Day Shred. I was shredded at the end… so tired! But it was a nice change up from the dreadmill, as I’ve heard it called.

Today… was a date with the treadmill. But because I had an appt. at 6, I needed to be at the gym at 4. Well, something pressing needed doing, so I was at my desk until I had to leave at 5:20. It’s ok… a day of rest is good  

Tomorrow I’m donating blood with my colleagues. We’re going at 3 and I know I won’t be up for running afterwards. I’m planning on getting up at 6 Shredding again… Levels 1 and 2.

Here’s a teaser… come back tomorrow for my giving blood story. I’ve done it twice before and there’s a good story with the second time. Please… come back and read about it tomorrow!

Night all!

Jumping on the Lent bandwagon

Lent, Lent, Lent. I’ve seen that word a few times today!

Here’s what I do… the past three or four years, I think, I’ve given up chocolate and candy. Now, you don’t see candy on the blog. But that doesn’t mean I’m not eating it! That’s definitely my vice! As for chocolate… I don’t eat it often on its own. I do like things that contain chocolate – cookies, ice cream, desserts. I don’t typically eat that stuff on a daily basis, but sometimes.

I’ve thought a lot about giving up desserts (but, what about muffins? what about semi-healthy cookies?) or sugar all together (I think this would just be too hard, in terms of keeping track… and there’s sugar in practically everything!) or … or … or … I had lots of ideas about my sweet tooth, but this is what I’ve settled on:

I’m giving up chocolate, candy and desserts* ’til Easter. 
* Anything that I could possibly eat after lunch or dinner that is sweet (pie, cookies, brownies, cake, ice cream, etc) is fair game! 

Being Pancake Tuesday, I had to make that my dinner!

YUM! Pretty good Tuesday night dinner!

Rewind to after work… another 10k run! I was feeling fairly good and really got into my music. I’ve settled on my spring races… Mississauga 10k and Bread and Honey 15k. Now Graham has to get back into it!! He doesn’t know the schedule yet!

Rewind back to breakfast… had an amazing bowl of oats! 1/2 c. with about a half banana (some cooked in, some on top), a tbsp of granola and a spoon of PB. Simple, but so tasty! I stayed full ’til 12:15! This bowl was quite caloric, though – probably 400 calories?! That’s a lot for me. On most days, I would rather a smaller breakfast and then a snack around 10:30ish. I think if I like this combo, I should do 1/3 c. of oats instead.

Ok, guess that’s all for now. I went on a candy overload tonight with fuzzy peaches, so I am ready to start tomorrow!

Did you give anything up for Lent?

Amazing Race Dinner

Evening, all! Hope your Monday was smooth and enjoyable.

I saw a great idea on Liz’s blog… Amazing Race-themed dinners! Since I was sick-ish last week, I hadn’t made the first meal yet. Tonight, I combined Germany/Austria/Switzerland by enjoying spaetzle!

I made a sauce with garlic, peal onions, stock and apricot jam. I also added some dried herbs. This was a sauce, Graham-style… it wasn’t too saucy, but still good!

I was in the mood for cookies and remembered oatmeal-raisin cookies from a few days ago. Deb does not disappoint!

YUM! I just happen to be enjoying a few right now! I will bring the rest to work tomorrow.

Oh, forgot to mention that I had a great 10k run today! I was super-energized and the time seemed to fly by! I am behind on my February goal, because of being sick last week. That’s ok… I’m going to try to bang out as many kms as I can this week. And… I have started thinking about my upcoming races. I’m thinking Mississauga 10k (early May), then the 15k Bread and Honey (early June). Then… a half in the early fall, I think!

Hope you have a great evening. Relax with some cookies, like me!

 

Time together is the best time

We had a busy two days together! Leaving off with yesterday’s scone breakfast…

WIth Graham’s parents, we went up to Terra Cotta Conservation Area for a hike. We were out for about two hours. Up that way anyway, we stopped at Al Ferri’s to get some frozen berries – raspberries this time. Frozen fruit is so handy to have in the freezer.

We were home around 5 and had to make a quick dinner – we were at the opera last night! We both really enjoyed the performance of Fidelio. Taking the subway down and back, we were home around 11, I think.

Up today to waffles! [Will post the recipe next time, in case you have a waffle iron!] That’s a little bowl of raspberries on the side.

Next, it was off to the grocery store for a quick shop and then off to the basketball game!

My company has a box and this is the second time I’ve gone. One of my team mates was also there with her husband and kids. We had lots of laughs! Oh, and some pizza and a beer, too!

Graham and I aren’t really basketball fans… and Graham also really wanted to go to the auto show. But he was a great sport and came with me and I think had fun!

As is the usual, unfortunate, tradition… Graham had to get ready for Sarnia late this afternoon. We got his food all organized… dry pancake ingredients for Tuesday, spaghetti sauce, fruits and veggies. He went to his parents’ for dinner, but I stayed here for a low-key Oscar night.

Easy-peasy dinner! I really wanted roasted Brussels sprouts and sweet potato… but, the green pepper and cherry tomatoes needed eating, so quesadilla it was.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Lemon Cranberry Scones

I love this recipe from Deb at Smitten Kitchen. I’ve made them three times and they’re a great start to a busy Saturday!

Have a great Saturday!

Joy followed by tears

When we started stripping and re-spraying my dresser, my jewelry had no home. I normally keep it on top of my dresser, in sort of a random way. A few days ago, I looked for my Tiffany heart necklace [high school graduation present from my parents], but couldn’t find it. Last night, I remembered again and hunted hi and low for it. After a really good search, I came to the conclusion that I left it on the treadmill last week. 

With sort of a heavy heart, I stopped into the gym this morning to ask if anyone had turned it in. Well… it was my luck because she had it!

This is my new jewelry storage method…

I sort of stole the idea from Sherry, but her egg carton is so much nicer!

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My workday ended really, really poorly. I’m not really comfortable explaining work things on the blog, but suffice it to say, I was pretty upset. I called Graham, trying to keep my tearful voice low. It was late so many people were already gone, including my manager. She will be 100% supportive when I explain what happened, so I’m anxious to talk to her about it in the morning. I managed to eek out a solid 9k run – time actually passed very quickly!

Home for dinner…

Sorry for the poor lighting… ate at my computer. The Brussels sprouts were tasty as usual – I love roasted veggies!! I also had cherry tomatoes and melted cheese on toast.

I’m now settled in to watch another episode of The Mentalist… love it! I’m on episode 3. 

Finally… I discovered iGoogle again. It’s the best! I only need one window open and can see my gmail, reader, news headlines. Perfect for work.

TGI(almost)F, all! It’s been a rough week, but we’re almost done. Night!

Yay! I’m back!

I feel so much better today! I had a busy, but good day at work and then a great run! [side note: am on track for February's goal!] Ahh, I’m glad to be back! 

Here was dinner…

This was the stir fry that Graham made Sunday night, with some Israeli couscous. I had that type of couscous two weeks ago at Canoe and was anxious to try it myself. I got some this weekend at Bulk Barn. It was really tasty! I’m going to explore more recipes and try it again!

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My Google Reader is my favourite website… it gets me through boring/stressful parts of my day at work and I love seeing all your photos. I read food and running blogs… some are even about both!

I don’t have too many readers/commenters, but I really appreciate each and every one of you. I wanted to take a moment to thank some of you for your nice comments. It makes me feel good about blogging!

Natalie @ Lil Runner (and her new baby blog, too!)

Diana @ Dianasaur

Heather @ Hangry Pants

Foodie @ Fab and Delicious Food

Holly @ Holly’s Recipe Repository

Meg @ Megan’s Munchies

If you like reading about my cooking and running adventures, as well as my mundane everyday life, please leave me a comment and say hi! 

do you want to hear about eggs and toast again?

Didn’t think so! Yes, am still under the weather. How many times have I typed under the weather lately?! That was my dinner tonight – yes, so exciting! I did manage to get my act together with the sugar cookies and royal icing…

Yes, those are Christmas stars and Christmas bells. I don’t have any other cutters! I made a quarter of the recipe from Katie’s blog, who got it from Ashlee! I only baked half of that quarter last night, so I have the other half in the fridge. I’ll take another stab at the icing later this week. For my first real attempt… not so bad!

No gym for me today… I really hope to be full speed again soon. Night all