Double Class

Whew, today was a long day! I was up bright and early for work, and I threw together a nice mug of oats before I had to go.

In the mix:

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 small banana
• 2/3 tbsp peanut butter
• 4 pecans
• agave nectar
• cinnamon

I've made a bunch of changes to my morning oats lately - some that I think I'll keep, and others that I don't think I will.

Quick oats -> Old fashioned oats: The texture is really different and I'm not sure how I like the extra chewiness, but I have a jumbo bag so I'm sure I'll like it eventually ;)

Almond milk -> Soy milk: I'm not sure I like this change. Soy milk has far more protein, but almond milk adds a nice nutty flavour for only half the calories, so I think I'll be switching back as soon as my carton of soy milk is gone.

Sweetener -> Agave nectar: I read a lot of research about the negative effects of agave nectar and it's high fructose content, but in the end I decided that it had to be better than chemical sweeteners, so I decided to give it a go. I really like it - it kind of tastes like a less intense honey.

I wasn't very diligent today, because I forgot to take pictures of both my lunch and afternoon snack :( Neither were overly exciting - we had lunch ordered in from a nearby chinese place and my meal ended up being Bombay Chicken, which was so spicy that I barely ate any of it. I felt bad for wasting so much food, but my mouth was on FIRE! I did eat the apple I brought (as well as my entire water bottle lol), and for my afternoon snack I had some baby carrots and snap peas.

After work I had planned on going to my first BodyFlow class. I joined Goodlife Fitness this week, but I ended up hurting my shoulder/neck/back while I was moving, so I've been unable to do anything active with it for the past few days :( Today I felt well enough today to try something low impact, so I was really excited to finally get out to the gym!

BodyFlow was nice, although I think I want to check out the just-yoga class another night. I felt so good afterwards that I decided to just stay for the following Zumba class, which I had also never tried! The time did seem to fly by, although I'm not sure it lived up to the sky-high expectations I've developed after hearing everyone rave about it. If I'm not too sore tomorrow I might check out another Zumba class at a different location, and see what it's like with a different instructor :)

Dinner was a big, protein-filled salad with spinach, salmon, egg whites, asparagus, roasted broccoli and mayo+dijon dressing. Yum!

You can also see the new placemat I bought from Loblaws for only $1.97!

Pretty nice for such a low price, eh? :) I might go back tomorrow and trade my second green one for a yellow, so I have one of each colour because I'm so indecisive, and matching is overrated.

Dessert was a random mix that I threw together in my mug:

• 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
• 6 vanilla meringues
• 1 tsp chocolate chips
• 3 Lotte chocolate pie treats

It was so good! Definitely an interesting mix of textures and flavours that I would eat again. Well I'm absolutely exhausted, and I can hear bed calling me. Have a good Friday everyone!

What's your favourite way to exercise?

Long Time No Write

Sorry I've been missing for a while folks, I've been really busy with life, and haven't managed to find the time to blog my food :( Today will be different though! Before work I threw together a quick bowl of oats topped with some crunchy peanut butter and peanut butter puffins:

Then for lunch I ate the lunch I actually made myself for the day before, but didn't get to eat because I ended up going out for lunch. It was an apple, granola and spinach salad with balsamic+honey dressing, banana with nonfat yogurt, a mini Luna bar and some baby carrots and grapes for a snack.

The salad was a little wilty after sitting in the fridge for two days, but it looks really nice in the picture because it was taken yesterday when it was still fresh ;)

Dinner today was special! Nate and I were supposed to be going out to a nice sushi place before a concert, but because of time constraints we ended up grabbing some takeout sushi from Sushi Marche, because I've read great things about it and wanted to try it anyway, so it seemed like perfect timing. I ordered the Maki Moriawase Dinner with salad, and some fresh fruit.

First off, the salad was very nice, and came with sesame dressing, which is my absolute favourite!

The sushi was gorgeous and really fresh! The kamikaze roll (salmon, tempura flakes, fish roe and spicy sauce) was definitely my favourite, even though it was a little difficult to eat because it was so large. I loved the lemon that was in the roll too - it was a really pleasant surprise and made it taste really different! Kind of like really fancy "fish and chips" ;)

The fresh fruit was also great, and was pretty good value for $3 (the amount pictured was after Nathan had already eaten a fair bit of it). I was also excited because it had a piece of dragon fruit, which I'd never tried before. It turns out it doesn't really taste like anything, but I'm still glad I got to try it!

I would definitely order from here again! Next time I think I would try the Sushi Dinner, which comes with 5 pcs sushi and a kamikaze or california roll :)

After dinner we went to the Angels and Airwaves concert at The Sound Academy in Toronto! It was my first time seeing them live, so I was pretty excited! We parked by a T&T so I ended up buying an almond cookie on the way, but I only got to eat half of it before it got confiscated by security on the way in :( Boo.

The concert was great! I was disappointed that they didn't play my favourite song (Start the Machine), but they did play a lot of my others and I was happy I finally got to see them, especially because it was with Nathan ♥

I'm exhausted now, hopefully I'll have more time to get caught up tomorrow. Goodnight!

Trip Recap (Take 2)

This was a very busy weekend for me! I went on the trip to Buffalo with Nate, and then packed up all my things and moved to Toronto the day after we got back. Needless to say, I haven't really had the time to blog, or do anything else!

Buffalo

The trip was very nice - I started off the day with a bowl of oatmeal, and the weather was beautiful and sunny, which is my favourite weather to drive in. The ride didn't seem to take that long, and we enjoyed a healthy packed lunch in the car.

We spent the day shopping at the Walden Galleria, and I went a little overboard at Urban Outfitters (my favourite store!). I got a few nice pieces of clothing there, and I can't wait to wear all of them :) After the shopping, we went for dinner at my favourite restaurant:

The Cheesecake Factory! They don't have these in Canada, and I love the extensive entree and dessert selections - especially for such a reasonable price. I also love their tropical iced tea, and the brown oat bread they serve! I definitely ate our entire serving ;)

I usually get the Sweet Corn Tamales as my meal because it's my absolute favourite, but this time I decided to try something new. I got the Chicken Bellagio special, which was basil pasta in a cream sauce with breaded chicken, topped with prosciutto and arugula salad. I was a little disappointed because there was almost no cream sauce. Everything else was very good, though, especially my White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Caramel Cheesecake ;) Yum!

Niagara Falls

We spent the night in a cheap but relatively nice hotel and headed back home the next day, but not before stopping to walk the main strip in Niagara Falls. I love going to the Hershey's store, and looking at all of the attractions. It seems like it's always busy there! We stopped at a Starbucks along the way for some passion tea.

Dinner at EJ's

When I got home that night I planned on spending a relaxing night in, but ended up going out for dinner with some family friends at a pub in a nearby town. The food wasn't very good (we ordered the crab dip and I got a Southwestern Chicken Salad, as well as had a few bites of the M&M Mud Pie that was ordered for dessert), but I did enjoy a few beers.

Moving Day

Today I spent the whole day packing up all my belongings and driving them out to Toronto, where I'll be working for the next few months. I'm really excited to be back, but I'll be even more excited when I'm done with the hassle of living out of boxes. I celebrated with a fancy dinner for one, complete with wine:

I'm so exhausted! I'm ready for a good night's sleep~

Trip Recap

I'm back! I spent the last 2 days shopping, moving, and enjoying all kinds of food - definitely a successful trip.

Wednesday

I was really impressed by Whole Foods, although I can definitely see why some people would call it "Whole Paycheck". I almost had a heart attack when I saw some of the prices lol. I was very selective with the groceries I bought, but I still managed to get some nice things - Peanut Butter Puffins, unsweetened soymilk, Maranatha Almond Butter, blueberry spread, agave nectar, unsweetened shredded coconut, bulk pecans and walnuts, and a loaf of oat bran bread. Can't wait to try everything :)

After my shopping, I got the most delicious lunch EVER. I wish I lived close to a Whole Foods just so I could come for the lunch!

I got Asian Pear & Ginger Kombucha tea thinking it would be really good, but it was just okay -nothing spectacular. :\

Here's a closer view of all the food I got - I basically tried a little bit of everything, and it was all fantastic! My favourites were the hummus (bottom right corner), the chickpea and date couscous (top left corner), and the cauliflower bistro dish (right below the couscous). Hands down the cauliflower was my favourite of the three, but at the bistro bar it was missing the tag that lists the name and ingredients, so I guess I'm destined to not know what was in it. I'll have to keep an eye out for it next time!

Last piece of cauliflower :'(

For dessert, I enjoyed a sample of some endangered species chocolate.

Yum!

(You can also see my favourite painting in the back of the car where I ended up eating the chocolate - I love the deer!)

After my amazing trip to Whole Foods, I met up with my mom for dinner at Canyon Creek. I was in the mood for a glass of wine, and my mom recommended the Peller Estates 'Heritage' Chardonnay, which was excellent and was exactly what I wanted. Thanks mom! ;) She ordered the Peller Estates Cabernet-Merlot, which she said was also good.

I helped myself to the multigrain bread and honey butter before the meal. The bread basket is definitely my weakness!

I had been all set to order the Seared Tuna Salad that I wasn't able to try the last time I was at Canyon Creek, but I just wasn't in the mood for it, so I changed my mind last minute, and instead ordered the Pan-Seared Halibut:

"Thick cornflake and Parmesan-crusted fillet on a bed of sautéed baby spinach and peppers with tomato-caper hollandaise. Served with sour cream ‘n’ chives mashed potatoes"

I decided to substitute seasonal veggies for mashed potatoes. My mom ordered the Simply Fish:

"Fresh grilled fillet marinated in extra virgin olive oil, citrus and white wine, seasoned with smoked Alderwood sea salt and lemon pepper. Served over sautéed spinach with cipollini onions, peppers and a mixture of seasonal vegetables"

My meal arrived looking delicious.

The meals were both excellent, but my mom was disappointed that "seasonal veggies" meant "one giant piece of broccoli", because she hates broccoli so she ended up just eating her fish, while I got double broccoli.

We passed on dessert because my mom had a Terry's Dark Chocolate Orange waiting for us at home, most of which disappeared without getting photographed :( Oops.

Thursday

Today was just a random shopping day spent bouncing around random locations in the GTA. This morning when I woke up I had some of the bread I bought from Whole Foods with my new Maranatha Almond Butter, and it was AMAZING. I'm now converted! I wish I had the jar with me right now so I could have some more!

After lazing around all morning, I made my way over to J-Town in Markham for some grocery shopping and lunch.

The bento I got was very simple, but it was actually really good. I must've really been craving some old-school Japanese food pretty badly, because I've never really been a Japanese pickle-person, but I was really enjoying the flavours of everything, even the umeboshi (pickled plum). I also had some Milk Coffee Pocky and oolong tea with my meal.

I spent the rest of the day driving around and shopping a bit - mostly just looking, because nothing really caught my attention. While at Vaughan Mills I ran into my favourite smoothie place ever, Jugo Juice. There used to be one right where I live, but it was bought out by one of the employees and turned into an independent smoothie store I didn't like as much, and now the closest one is an hour drive away :( Now whenever I see one, I always feel like I have to get a smoothie, just because I can!

I usually get their Green Tea Buzz smoothie, but their current featured smoothie (Blind Date - bananas, dates, non-fat milk and low-fat frozen yogurt) sounded so good I decided to try it instead of my regular.

It was amazing! I really liked how the chunks of date were chewy, so the smoothie felt more like a real meal because there was actually something to chew on. It was very sweet, probably because the fruits in it are naturally very sweet, and it just tasted great! I would definitely get it again.

After the drive back home, I met up with Nathan and a friend of ours for beers at Morty's to celebrate being done with exams. I got a glass of Rickard's Red, and we enjoyed a couple plates of wings and fries, mmm :)

Nathan enjoyed the wings ;)

You'd think after all the food I'd be absolutely stuffed, but I'm actually still hungry! Weird, huh? I'm also exhausted, so I think after a few snacks it's bedtime for me. Tomorrow I have to be up nice and early, because Nathan and I are going on a romantic overnight trip to Buffalo before we both begin work for the next few months. We're going to visit my favourite restaurant while we're there, so I'm really excited!

Wonder what it is? ;) Guess you'll just have to wait and find out!

Goodnight, and I'll see you all after my trip! ♥