The Milk Debate, Buntzen & Lovely Lilacs

Bitter Preface:

I just spent 1.5 hours on this blog, only to have it mysteriously deleted by trying to maneuver some pics.  GRRR.

Okay, so now I'm irked.  But I do want to share some of the details of my last couple of weeks.  Since coming back from Vegas *sigh*, I feel I could easily use another week off asap.

Food venture of note, I've decided to try and go off the cows milk.  Because we are the only species that consumes another species' milk, I guess this isn't good (except for cheese, still LOVE cheese). I am a tea drinker and this is how I start my day, and sometimes end my day- my routine.  And I enjoy my tea British style, milk and all.  I have removed refined sugar from my tea and moved from honey to Agave, quite successfully.  This attempt at trying new 'milk' is actually #4.  I have tried: soy milk (yuck & estrogen), vanilla almond milk (just wrong for tea), rice milk (EWW), and now, almond milk unflavoured:

Look what it did to my tea! So sad! Not only does it look wrong, it did not taste good at all, bitter and grainy.  Nothing worse than your morning routine tasting like funk (not SATC funk).  Enter round two....

MUCH better! Surprisingly all I had to do was shake the crap out of the carton- guess there's some serious settling.  But not only did my tea look better, it did taste better.  So I shall give the almond milk continued fair chance with my precious morning cuppa. And I can't argue the viatmin benefits.

The saving grace in my morning routine, is my new favourite meal:

Awesome vanilla yogurt by Astro, organic strawberries (so yum!), blanched almonds and cinnamon.

Since I have been working crazy and finally unpacking, dinner "inspiration and motivation" decided to go on vacation.  This is when brown rice, steam veg & soy sauce seem like divine dinner fare:

Meh, but not aweful.  But also not fab.
I did follow up on Friday with a fave dish of mine, brown rice pasta with sauteed veg & feta, just olive oil & garlic for 'seasoning', topped with walnuts:

 Now for Buntzen Lake.  Over the last month or so I've attempted doggy adoption twice, only to be too late :(  I truly am ready for bringing a dog into my life, I really want to give a deserving poochie a great life!  I am all about going to the beach, hiking and anything in between for some family bonding time.  But for now, I digress.  And so, the loooong weekend came, and I decided to check out Buntzen Lake, finally, since I hear so much about it, but really it is quite far from Abby.  But WOW! I will absolutely make the trek back here for a more lengthy hike, not alone...

Now since I've been in BC, 9 years almost, I've definitely been in the mountains a number of times.  But I was pleasantly surprised to venture into a mystical backwood that I'd not visited.  I cannot express the beauty or air that I experienced here.  I truly love the natural fragrance of the mountains, and funny that I can recognize the 'notes' from our fragrances.  Being in the fragrance industry almost 2 years now, my nose is developing better at juice than wine (cruel irony).  I could not get enough of breathing in the mountain air.  Seriously I took as many deep nose breathes as I could get ~ without passing out and rolling down a cliff into the lake.
Going to try to upload a video.....

Hmmmmm.....wonder if it actually works....

Anyhooo......Fast forward to this weekend.  I was warmly invited to visit a wonderful new friend, Toresa's, yard in Vancouver, as we 'watched' the C'Dar Wolves win their championship - way to go boys!  Both my Dallas and Toresa's Fred are on the team, and it was a nice surprise to spend some time with her at the game.
Today I made my way to their place to see their spectacular garden.  WOW What great work they have both put into the beautiful landscape of their modest, and super cute property.  So lovely!  Very pretty flowers, an amazing veg garden, and of course the 'man-pond'.  Toresa had graciously offered up some clippings from her Lilac bush/tree (not sure which is the proper term??).  And I LOVE lilacs, because I grew up with a huge lilac bush/tree on Egerton Street in London.  Great memories, and most of course of my mom.

Toresa, thank you SO MUCH:

They are being lovingly cared for (in a new vase) and thoroughly enjoyed!  I will savour the short days ahead ~ I can see them from most every angle of my small condo :)  I kinda wish I grabbed more!  

So now, off to another week of work, and back to business for the boys:

My broom is set to sweep the BB's!!!
Night all
XO H.

New Attitude on an old favorite

The yearly pilgrimage to Vegas has come and gone.

Before our flight to Sin City, we always trek to Bellingham WA and visit Silver Reef Casino for some fun and relaxation, there is also a fantastic deli there.  And history has always repeated itself here for me and Dallas = Boars Head Turkey Sandwich.  Over the last 3 years I have salivated for this sandwich.  And always looked forward to it.  And since I've dedicated my diet to become a lacto-vegetarian and sometime pescetarian (I am always off eggs), this favoured sammy was now officially off my list. However, I thought I would allow myself one cheat for this divine taste sensation that I'd come to yearn for and had not eaten in months.

Left hook!  Didn't see it comin'....This time, I was not enamoured with my turkey delight as I had once been.  Not sure if it was my conscience that disliked the sammy or if it truly didn't tickle my taste buds as I remembered so many times that it had.  But either way, I am not sad to say goodbye to this once-upon-a-time indulgence.  So au revoir turkey lurkey, you may run free and gobble gobble a long happy life!

I bet you didn't know you could get turkey-face thongs!  See how sad he is! 

Don't eat turkey, get sexy in turkey-face undies instead!

Well after this enlightened meal, off to Vegas we flew and happily enjoyed a vegetarian/pescetarian vacation.  I know it is possible to go vegan and full on vegetarian in Vegas, but we didn't venture too far off the strip this trip.  But I do wish I had entered the pickle eating contest at Mirage, because  

I       

Just a couple of pickle-heads.

So I didn't take any food pics while on vacation, because I was on vacation.  RELAXING :)

But when we returned, we met our friends Freddie and Toresa at Wallflower restaurant, before the  Canucks game naturally.  This is a super cute resto with a variety of options for foodies:

> Vegan

> Vegetarian

> Gluten Free

> Regular eating shmoes

Fun atmosphere and great eats.  I ventured into the "Freddie -Recommended" vegan mac & cheese, because, as everyone who knows me knows I still enjoy cheese, the real kind, no tofu-wierd-simulated creations.  I am choosing organic now, and I know that's just wise and tasty.

Honesty moment : does not taste like cheese, not exactly- at least not the cheese flavour I'm use to, but still has a cheese-esc taste.  However, it is very good!  Texture is all real cheeziness as one would hope for from this comfort food, and really the taste grew on me, kinda like a nice brie rind would grow on a gooey wheel of brie goodness (organic of course).  Next visit I will go for the veggie burger, because so far I've only got one favourite, from White Spot, and they're hard to come by.

So for this blog that's alls I got.  It's been a crazy week since Sunday, working on the Miss World Canada 2011 pageant and I am officially exhausted.  But before I sign off, Yola, as requested here are the pics from gnocchi night last month.  Looks so good, think I'll make again soon 

 Gnocchi from Whole Foods, and marinade, Everything Done Right, from Marketplace IGA.

 Add some sauteed veggies of course, topped with natural cashews, to compliment the cashew marinade, and sprinkled asiago.

And congratulations to Miss World Canada 2011, Riza Santos!

MSG?? Seriously!!!???

Ever since I noticed my most favourite dip has MSG in the ingredients, a 'flavour enhancing' chemical - I've been both conflicted and on a mission so suss out other 'foods' with this ancient additive that I thought to be extinct.

Because of course, all the chinese food restaurants advertise that they don't use it - I was under the impression that they started a movement decades ago!  But oh no, I am wrong.  Sadly this is a chemical not at all needed in our diet and 'food' - I am using quotations because MSG is typically added to processed foods, which as we know are not suppose to be part of our regular diets- but have lovingly become our serotonin-inducing comfort foods whilst watching the Canucks win or lose.

Pikka Rinne....grrrrrrr

This is my favourite dip because it tastes so damn good, and I eat a giant plate of veggies with this stuff as dinner on MANY occasions.  Hence my displeasure to find MSG is in it.  Essentially, there are many reports to the 'effects of MSG consumption.  Click on my links for both the truths and they myths if you wish.

Seriously so good, and veggies love it too!
And you may want to take a look at your pantry goodies - most flavoured chips and such will have this MSG added.  Snacking on MSG, not cool.  But I have decided not to give up on Heluva, because this is a meal I so enjoy, so simple to eat a colourful plate of veggies with some kick ass dip.  But I am keenly aware of this MSG guy and his whereabouts - I'm always reading labels, and more so now I am reading ingredient lists too.

I found last week at Whole Paycheque , in their deli case of course, little quinoa and sweet potato with cranberry bites.

Wow these were good!  I pan seared them with, what else of course, Little Creek dressing!  And drizzled some more once they were heated through.

Yummy tummy symbol

Delish!!!  And highly recommended












Lastly, since this week was about polishing off my first bottle of Little Creek, I decided to put together a cabbage salad.  I had picked up a head of cabbage last grocery shop, figuring I would like to try and make some good ol' fashioned cabbage rolls a la mom.  Not so; hard to do without meat.  So I shredded the cabbage, shredded some carrot and shallot and doused in Little Creek.  WHOA, so dang good!  So silly simple.  I will be making another version of this salad for this week, but with purple cabbage and adding navy beans and some sunflower seeds.  YUM!

My kind of lunchtime grub:

Clearly I had to pick up another bottle of the Little Creek dressing (worth every penny), I was enticed to grab a new flavour, Spicy Strawberry.  Are you kidding me?  This is too good to be true.  But I think I will save it for my return from Vegas- I need to decide how best to enjoy; probably a spinach salad, but could be good on an angel hair pasta with roasted tomatoes too....

Time to get out into the warm 19 celsius Sunny Sunday!

Tonights din din.....  whole wheat gnocchi with roasted veg & cashew marinade.

Yummy Things I like to share & Friends from That Cold Province next door

So I have to say, as always with 'long' weekends, they go by way too fast.  Another holiday without family, kind of a drag, but managed to get some boyfriend-family time.

I picked up the divine bread from A Bread Affair and if you should find yourself in downtown Langley, make sure go in and get a dozen loaves.  For reals.  Especially the garlic/asiago, ridiculously awesome.

Somehow we made our way to West Van after meeting friends, Mark and Amee for a great lunch at Yaletown Brewery. What a great Vancouver day! The sun was shining, the wine was cold, it was perfectly warm on the patio- was great to see them since they moved to chilly Edmonton.
                                        
                                        But we definitely missed Kerri & Lars :(

Naturally, when one is in West Van, one must go to Whole Paycheque.

Since I couldn't go broke on this visit, I picked up only a few things.  One of my new favourite things is Little Creek vinaigrette.  So dang awesome, you would have NO idea it is Vegan!  Adding to the awesomeness is that these are made organically and within our very own kick ass province; Okanogan Lake, Kewlona!


PS: I recommend you pronounce it KAY-Lowna... with some silly voice of your choice.

You MUST buy this. Today.

Some other yummy goodies I grabbed were the grilled veggies from the stupendous selection in the deli case.  I always look forward to shopping the pre-made salads and such because they are so darn good!  They have an amazing macaroni summer salad but unfortunately they haven't started making it yet.  Maybe by this weekend????

So for dinner, since I was lazy and had a nice wine buzz, I thought I would go all Mediterranean: grilled bread with Earth Balance - I choose the soy free because frankly, the jury is still out on the advisable amount of soy one should have:

This stuff is beyond better than butter.  Butter now tastes weird to me.
And my colourful finds from Whole Foods deli, paired of course with some nice BC wine:

Warm bread, roasted potatoes, grilled veggies: 

This is my kind of dinner, so easy, yummy and fresh. 

On to Easter Sunday, also known as Game 6 day.  I was perplexed as how to make a warm traditional Easter meal, since now I am meat free.  No glazed ham (apparently piggies are as smart or smarter than dogs dontchya know....http://www.relfe.com/pigs.html ).  No tender roast in the crockpot :( , no painstaking long turkey prep :).

So what is a vegetarian to do?  I searched online of course for suggestions, and really came up with most things I could have figured out on my own, like "festive risotto" and 'easter' lasagne.  Really?  Come on, it is SO not the same.  Since I was under the impression we were having the boyfriends' nephews and sister over, I thought I would pick up some goodies and have an Easter BBQ instead, with the veggie burgers I grabbed in West Van, and veggie dogs for the boys.

I was mistaken.  Since this was Game 6 day, there was only going to be the nephews and festive PIZZA!  *sigh*

Since I was already uninspired by my internet search for amazing Easter recipes for the veg-heads, I succumbed to the delivery of greasy grub.  And because we were in Surrey, and not my hometown of Abbotsford, we couldn't order the world's greatest pizza from AhBeetz.  Therefore I did not partake in photographing the Panago dinner.

And we all now know that Game 6 day is but a mere memory, thankfully, now onto smash the Thrashers!!!

My First Post!

First things first:  Happy Easter!  Happy Birthday to my dearest bestie, Julie!  And of course Happy Earth Day!

Since I haven't entirely decided what my blog will focus on, I will say that I am inspired by fellow blogger and friend, Yolanta:  http://flirtingwithkind.blogspot.com/ who is attempting The Kind Diet.
Therefore, since I have become a vegetarian I will certainly share my adventures with veggies.

I couldn't go whole hog (pardon the pun) vegan.

I must have cheese.  And there is no way that soy cheese is cheese.  I was raised with an appreciation of amazing cheese, and happily my palette is diverse.  And since I'm up against a newly minted hunter-sister who happens to be a Chef du Fromage, I would hate to visit her and my brother in law and miss out on some serious cheese tastiness.  I will happily continue to stay true to my animal loving ways though- but I will enjoy some organic cheeses.  I'm saying 'cheese' way too much here.

And really....I LOVE Mac N Cheese.  There's that word again.  But for the most part, I try not to overdue the cheese because of the calories and fat.  Another adventure I'm constantly enduring: weight loss. UGH.

So for today, since it's noon and I've been absolutely unproductive, I will drag my behind out into the sunny world and head to Langley for some life changing bread from A Bread Affair.  You must get there if you have not already- artisan, healthy, organic loaves of divine heaven.  Low carb diet?  Not here!  www.abreadaffair.com

And off to get some groceries for tonights' dinner with 'the man' > organic ravioli with gorgonzola and walnuts.

Caio!