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! ♥

Colombo Cookin'

In honour of all the time I have during my week off, I decided to make a new recipe :) I was watching the Food Network this morning, and the Chicken and Coconut Colombo recipe on Ricardo & Friends caught my eye - partly because it looked delicious, and partly because I've had a can of coconut milk in my cupboard for about a year now that really needs to be used!

A trip to the grocery store later, I was all ready to get started. The recipe called for the chicken to be pan-fried, but it was beautiful outside, and things always taste better grilled anyway ;)

The grill station, complete with a beer! I followed the recipe pretty closely - the only changes I made were adding in some carrots, using a jalapeno (grocery store didn't have any habanero), and omitting the allspice (I forgot to pick some up, d'oh!).

The finished product, served with some Japanese rice. I really enjoyed it - the chicken was tender, all the veggies were great, and it had a good amount of spice to it. There are also tons of leftovers, which will make for a happy dad and boyfriend ;)

For dessert I made a delicious ice cream concoction:

S'mores Sundae

• 1/2 cup vanilla frozen yogurt
• 2 tsp chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp marshmallow fluff
• 1 graham cracker

Yum! :) Now it's time to get my stuff together and turn in early. Goodnight!

End of Term

Breakfast this morning was a little rushed because I got up early to cram last-minute for my statistics exam, which is my last of the term!

I had a Crunchy Peanut Butter Clif Bar, which was a little disappointing :( I really enjoyed the Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Almond Fudge flavours, but I found that this one had the same funny aftertaste that the Oatmeal Raisin Walnut bar did. Guess I just have to keep going by trial-and-error.

After our (last!) exam, one of my roommates and I went to get some bubble tea to celebrate :) We went to the go-to bubble tea establishment in the plaza next to the university.

I got a small Jasmine Coconut milk tea with tapioca pearls. I found it disappointing too! Guess I'm just not having a good food day today :( The girl that took my order seemed new, so I think that maybe she missed the "jasmine" part, because I could only taste the coconut. It was still good, but I was looking forward to trying a new flavour combo. At least my roommate enjoyed her Almond Icy Swirls!

My lunch was all over the place - I wasn't sure what I wanted, and I was really hungry after my post-exam run (which surprisingly didn't hurt my stomach after the bubble tea). I ended up just throwing something quick on a plate before devouring it.

I didn't get much accomplished today, but I was a good girlfriend and made Nathan some Japanese fried rice with leftovers I had lying around to help him get through his next exams. I'll be bringing it over to him tonight, but shhh, it's a secret! ;)

While I was cooking I started feeling snacky, so I had half a banana with some chocolate chips stuck into it. Yum!

For dinner I used up the last of my spaghetti sauce with some spaghettini noodles, sliced zucchini, breaded chicken breast and mozzarella cheese. I was so hungry by the time it was ready that I almost didn't want to wait long enough to take a photograph of it. I don't know why I'm so hungry today!

Dinner was followed by a cold beer.

I got the Molson Canadian 67 to try as a more "calorie-friendly" option for when I'm out, but I'm still not sure what I think of it. The flavour is very light (bordering on weak) and it feels like it doesn't have enough body to satisfy me. I enjoyed my glass today though, maybe because I haven't had beer in a while.

Both of my roommates moved out today, so I'm feeling very lonely and sad. I can't believe that the term is already over! I might get out some of the chocolate ice cream my roommate left in the freezer to keep me company ;)

[Edit]: Definitely dug into the ice cream!

Had two spoonfuls like this, plus a little straight out of the carton ;) Mmm, heaven on a spoon!