Supermarket Splurge

The last week does not really warrant more than one posting as I ate rather randomly and not particularly well although I did intend each day to start well of course.
Here are the highlights:
Sunday- I was invited for a BBQ at Ms P and Mr M's place. Originally I had offered to host a BBQ but the invite was reversed which was kinda funny. Ms P made her specialty pork tenderloin with spice rub which was cooked perfectly by Mr M and While it cooked we noshed on bread. I am not supposed to eat wheat but this was irresistible. The bread in question was the Waldorf loaf from Save-on Foods. This is the best french stick style bread EVER. I tried so hard to resist but then Mr M pulled out all the stops and presented me with some amazing EV olive oil in which to dip it and thus the defences were well and truly down. Ms P also prepared a delicious mango avocado salad with a sweet, fruity dressing she made for which I forgot to get the recipe but would like to.
The whole meal was washed down with a very special and expensive bottle of red wine that Mr M purchased in my honor (apparently i'm worth it). I felt well and truly spoiled. And full from all the bread. If I choose to eat wheat, this is the way I do it.

Monday-can't recall what I ate, probably oatmeal, salad, leftovers

Tuesday-Study group convened for our weekly session. I made the black bean mix to go with the chicken and salad. I also somehow found time to make a chicken curry to see me through a few meals in the week. It turned out great and I took leftovers to work for me and MJ the next day and we spent the whole lunch break talking about it. Yes, it was that good.

Weds-worked late as I had a photo shoot to attend for promotional stuff for work. I was in charge of purchasing snacks for about 20 people for the shoot. How awesome is that? I get to spend other peoples money on food that I get to eat and also get paid for my time to eat.I went for fruit and veggie platters, hummus, pita, cookies and 2 bite brownies. Let's just say I was in favour for the evening and maybe longer and have now been appointed the official snack buyer for future events.

Thurs-breakfast and lunch were uneventful but dinner was more exciting. I went to Commercial Drive to meet with Ms A for dinner and a catch up. We haven't seen each other since Jan or Feb and in that time she spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica which I was very excited to hear about. We decided to go to The Reef which serves Caribbean food. Click here to see the menu. We split an order of yam fries because, well, me and Ms A always do that. They did not disappoint. They were big chunky fries with no coating except oil and salt. We also were presented with a Johnny Cake which is basically a deep fried dough ball served warm with a herby flavoured butter. So much for going wheat free this day. Not gonna happen. For my main I went for lighter fare to offset the prior munchings and chose a salad and added jerk salmon to it for protein. The salad was big but simple with pumpkin seeds and a scrummy mango mint dressing but I felt the salmon portion was on the small side at about 2-3oz for $5. Or maybe it just looked small on the huge pile of salad? Anyway, overall a great meal with great company and I have always wanted to go there. It's taken 7 yrs but I can no check it off my list.

Friday-another non-eventful day on the food front, except for mid afternoon when I assisted in serving at the annual Strawberry Tea in the Seniors Centre at work. We dished up mini-quiches, salmon tarts, brushetta, ham and egg sandwiches (which were constructed and cut in such a way that I initially thought they were cakes), chocolate dipped strawberries and mini ginger molasses pancakes served with orange laced yogurt. Oh and then there was the dessert of Strawberry tart. Of course all the serving was hungry work and there were leftovers. I cannot resist free, tasty food and so indulged in some bruschetta and a couple of the mini pancakes, as well as half a salmon tart. I knew I was risking some reactions but I chanced it anyway. I headed straight for the Grouse Grind after work and didn't get home til after 6pm. I sort of grazed eating rice cakes with hummus, some nuts and a banana. Couldn't be bothered to cook and was going over a friends later so didn't have a lot of time. That is what the weekend is for.

Saturday-woke up with a very heavy, cloudy head and feeling of lethargy. Guess I didn't get away with my Strawberry Tea treats yesterday. This type of reaction is related to the egg component of what I ate yesterday and is basically a low level migraine that can last 1-2 days. My energy for the day was low, despite it being a glorious day so I canned my plans for a 2 hour kickboxing class and an afternoon bike ride in favour of pottering around the town and taking it slow. I actually ended up hitting up 4 different grocery stores during the day and stocking up all gaps in my kitchen. I should not need to go shopping for anything besides fresh produce for at least a week. I also discovered something of interest....ginger marmalade. It's made by Robertsons and anything with ginger in it HAS to be good. I bought some and spread it on a rice cake as soon as I got home. It was good, not overly ginger but then I like the hot ginger so anything less seems minimal to me. I also found a great deal on canned salmon at Save-on-foods. Usually a 213g can is $3.99 but they were on sale for $1.69 so over half off. I LOVE canned salmon, used to hate it, but love it now so this was good. I purchased 5, that will see my through a few weeks. I noticed 2 products that seem to be very pricey at the moment. Butter and apples. I don't eat a lot of butter but I do try to have it in the fridge and was surprised to see most packs in the $5 range. As for apples, at the supermarket they were approx $1.60 or more per lb but I held off and went to the smaller New Apple Farm Market on Lonsdale where they were over a $ cheaper per lb.
For dinner I made a salad with pan fried chicken although the pan was a little hot so it was more like char grilled chicken which I happen to like so no problem there. Sorry no pics today...will try to take more next time.

swimming, salad and soy

The inaugural post!

All day I have been thinking about this post and how I want to structure it.
I'm not entirely sure how I want this blog to take shape but I'm sure it will make it's own way and find a nice route to follow.
So this is the plan in a nutshell (pistachio?); to list my daily food and then talk about it as I see fit. I will post recipes as well as reviews of food products, places I ate at and all things associated with food.

Breakfast (part 1): apple Clif C bar
I was due to be in the pool at 7am so grabbed this. It's my favourite current snack bar as it's small, moist and contains fruits, nuts and salt. Shame I have only found it in REI in the States (a huge outdoor/recreation store-basically heaven) so far. I bought a few back on my last visit and only have a couple left :-(



Breakfast (part 2-post swim): Banana with maple almond butter

The swim was not good. It was my last chance swim before Monday's Triathlon but I had a terrible nights sleep and consequently bombed in the water. I hope that means race day will be awesome. I fear not. However, the post swim breakfast was very successful. It's one of my fave breakfasts and it was made all the better with my squeeze pouch of maple almond butter. Again, this was from REI in the states and is perfect for throwing in my bag, although I don't like the wastage from the individual packages. Not quite as easy to throw my jar of almond butter in there with a knife and all that. Can get fiddly and messy with the oil separation and it doesn't mix well with my keyboard when eaten at my desk. The sachets are great for squeezing the butter on to the banana, no plate or utensils required!

Lunch
I have been making this salad all week and I'm not bored of it yet. Spinach, really ripe avocado, capers, Newmans Own Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing, canned tuna and sliced black olives. I'll be honest, it's the avocado I love the most and this particular specimen was at perfect ripeness. The capers go very well with it.

Dinner
Portabello Mushroom Ragu from Clean Eating Magazine

Had not made this before but it was very easy and very yummy. everything I ever see and make from Clean Eating Magazine is delicious. I have decided to subscribe to it as it is just that good. I did throw in some sundried tomatoes to richen the sauce and then added some cheese on top. I served it over brown rice. Due to my dairy intolerance, I use soy cheese. Not all soy cheeses are created equal but Okanagan cheddar loaf is about as close as I have found to the real thing for texture anyway. You can't really replicate the tangy taste of a good cheddar. I have had to accept that and move on. I'm over it now. There are plenty of other foods I love that I focus on.


And if all this sounds dangerously healthy, I will add that during the course of the day I had a lemon popsicle and also went to the movies and ate popcorn and a kitkat bar. No day is truly complete without some kind of chocolate. That's a whole other post....