Tag Archives: shopping

A Plethora of Pictures Post coming at you.

The maximal amount of food (etc) pictures I have just chillin’ in my “Camera” folder from the last ten days is causing me stress sweats. The minimal amount of thoughts of a unique, dynamic and thrilling nature roaming my mind is also causing me stress sweats. I’m gently knocking to the ground these two birds with this one ~~stone~~ post by throwing down a lot of pictures from the past weekish without too much (or any) deep, insightful thought to accompany them. Bare with me.

Today we’ll start with the product pictures edition. Next post will be the plates edition so as to break up the insanity and not completely overwhelm you. I tend to be a little overwhelming.

And GO!

Products

I’ll never stop loving on Mr. PC and his presidential choices.

Such as this new awesome salad dressing. Take ranch. Combine it with SALSA. What’s not to like?

(No I did not put the Salsa Ranch dressing on the peanut butter cookies behind it. Nor on the kiwis. It’s good but I do have boundaries)

Instead – Salsa Ranch on my salad. That seems about right.

This dressing may single-handedly be the reason my shorts are snug. Though it probably had a little help from Mr. Peanut Butter Jar.

I don’t think it was his white corn & black bean salsa that made it into the salsa ranch dressing since there were no bean nor corn chunks to be found in said dressing. There were plenty in this jar though, making it an incredibly satisfying topping for my rice crackers and tortilla chips…and also making it disappear in one day. This house likes its salsa.

Back in the day (maybe two years ago now) I used to buy this PC Vanilla Soy Protein Powder. Then I eventually accumulated others to try and stopped buying this one. I recently remembered its deliciousness and let it into my life once again. This stuff is so good it can be eaten dry and straight from the container. Not that I’d ever do that or anything…ehem.

It’s also excellent in PUMPKIN. So good stirred into pumpkin.

But mainly it does a mighty fine job in smoothies (duh) – Chilled tea, almond milk, ice, gums, stevia, vanilla soy protein powder and some poor teddy grahams crumbled to their doom.

Products You (Probably) Don’t Want To Eat

My new purple shirt from Costco (they always have some great cheap workout swag) and my new shades from Winners. Both noteworthy because I’m kind of in love with this purple hue and because I’ve been (casually) looking for new sunglasses forever and I finally found a pair that don’t make me look like a dork. First pair I tried on too. Win!

(I’m happier about the purple than I pretend to be)

NEW SHOES. Oh how overdue I was for a new pair of running shoes.
Out with the old (Left), in with the NEW (Right). I don’t even want to talk about how overdue these were. But let’s just say it’s been a while… and considering I run most days… my poor little Asics sure didn’t have much “kick” left in them.

Might partially explain why my runs have been so. darn. exhausting. lately. I have high hopes for my new babies.

I also bought about 900 other things in the past two days and now my wallet aches. The main NEED was the running shoes though, so checking that off my list dried up a small patch of my stress sweats.

Barney. Okay so he’s not quite a product but I have been catching up on the most recent season of How I Met Your Mother since it’s one of my favourite shows and I so rudely threw it to the wayside during school. And then forgot about it.

So that was only a mini plethora. I spared you a hundred pictures of raw vegetables covered in salsa ranch and me looking rough and tough flexing in my new hot pink workout top (one of those other 900 purchases I mentioned above). The former you will get to see in my next post though. I know you’re excited.

What is your most recent purchase?
And your favourite salad dressing?

It’s a Cozy Kind of Day

May 15, 2011

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A chilly, rainy weekend we’ve had at my neck of the woods. Upset, however, I am not as I’m soaking it up with stretchy pants, a muffin and a mug of hot tea.

Would someone care to join me?

How about Amanda and Heather, since they’re the winners of the Lipton Tuesday Tea Giveaway! Congrats Gals! I’ll be emailing to get your info.

Thanks to everyone who entered! A spot of virtual hot tea to all of you.

(weheartit)

The few days preceding the weekend were hot and sunny. Perfect conditions for smoothies, salads and shopping.

Care for a little behind-the-scenes peak at smoothie making in action?

Lately I’ve been putting Barley Grass powder and cinnamon in almost all of my smoothies. An extra nutrient kick? Why not.

We haven’t reached the part where it looks appetizing (or even drinkable) yet.

How about now? Is it strange that I’ve considered topping a bowl of spinach with a spinach smoothie? I honestly don’t think it would be that bad…I’m now probably going to have to prove myself right. Stay tuned…

Voila. Alright so it’s still not exactly beautiful but at least it looks drinkable.

I also savoured a bowl of overnight oats one day in amongst the smoothie drinking – 1/3 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp chia seeds, frozen banana and frozen peanut flour chunks.

C’est l’amour du jour.

Sometimes I eat cabbage slaw salads in the backyard while still rocking my flannel pant pyjamas, no big deal.

And sometimes I spare the neighbours and keep my consumption indoors.

Salsa has also been making frequent appearances as my all-star condiment this week. What can’t it go on? (Maybe bananas. Or ice cream)

There’s that salsa again, alongside some tofu shirataki noodles I found hiding in the back of the fridge. If you rinse them well you can eliminate almost all of the fish smell. If you coat them with a mixture of hummus and pasta sauce, fish smell be gone.

You could also try coating them with avocado, though the sliminess of the tofu noodles paired with the creaminess of the avocado was almost too much even for me, and I’m all about the creamy.

Just make sure to have extra fresh and crunchy vegetables on the side to balance out the creaminess.

I eat my veggies, but I also never forget my fruits.

Especially when they’re berries, the most beautiful, juicy, sweet, flavourful fruits out there. Delicious on their own but decadent when paired with raspberry yogurt mixed with coconut flour and cocoa powder.

Dessert is served – strawberries, blueberries and blackberries topped with Greek yogurt and muffin slices.

I also mentioned having done some pre-weekend shopping. I saw a flyer for a big six-day sale event at a local arena and, being the sale junkie that I am, I obviously had to check it out.

Loaded with reduced price perfumes, makeup and beauty products, jewellery, household goods, candy and shoes, I was in my element.

I came home with a few goodies:

Genisoy treats

It didn’t take me long to dig into the Chocolate Mint Sweet Crisps. Minty, chocolate-y and crunchy, they get my compliments.

Revlon Nail Polish – I have a slight nail polish addiction and when you put large bins of nail polish bottles at 3 for $5 in my face, I am guaranteed to leave with a handful. Side note – I own a ridiculous number of pink shades.

Guess shoes – There was a rack of them for $40 each. The catch? Size 6 only. My feet are small but not that small. Luckily they fit quite nicely into this open-toed, open-backed pair.

A quick stop on the way home at my favourite home goods store, HomeSense, found me walking out with a bottle of Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste, “a convenient, versatile alternative to whole vanilla beans.” I’ve seen it make a few appearances around the blog world (I know Janetha’s raved about it before) and I’m looking forward to giving it a try, especially since it’s apparently comparable to real vanilla beans, which I have yet to try out. Ever tried it? Any must-try ideas?

After all of the above was said and done, the sun faded, the weekend hit, and the clouds rolled in.

What else is one to do on a rainy Saturday than head to work to staple, stamp, and eat Pita Pit?

Whole wheat (6 inch) ‘Petita’ with babaghanoush, honey mustard and a garden-load of vegetables = Lunch of Champions.

The rest of Saturday continued without a hitch, leading into sleep, wake, eat, run, eat, blog –> You Are Here. Now I’m still sitting, soaking up the rainy day in my stretchy pants, with an empty tea mug at my side and nary a muffin crumb in site. This scenario shall eventually conclude with either another round of sleep or a night out of dancing. I’m on the fence with this one, as I feel I’ve pretty much outgrown tonight’s site of choice. Decisions, decisions. Only the next few hours shall tell.

But first?

Dinner time.

Happy Sunday to all, and to all a good night.

The Sore Leg Mystery: Solved

October 25, 2010

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A little while ago I had a mystery on my hands. My legs were constantly sore, running was suddenly nearly unbearable, and my flexibility was completely shot.

I wasn’t quite sure why but I had a very strong inkling that the ridiculously cheap and completely unsupportive runners I had been wearing for the past several months leading up to such pains may have been the culprit.

So nearly one month ago I decided to buck up and buy lovely new gel-cushioned Asics runners in the hopes of solving my sore leg mystery. And I think it’s now definitely safe to say – Mystery Solved. Within a week my legs were much less tight and now, with a month of running in the new kicks under my belt, my legs are virtually never sore, my flexibility has completely returned and runs are SO much easier and SO much more enjoyable.

Moral of the story: Invest in GOOD runners. And replace them regularly. I know we all hear this and many of you do it already but if you happen to be slightly cynical like me and think you can beat the system by getting away with running miles and miles in cheap runners… you can’t. You will suffer. You will burn out. And you will have to go and get yourself good quality runners anyway to reverse the damage.

(vi.sualize.us)

So do yourself a favour, buy some nice cushy kicks, and fly through every minute of your sweat session.

On another consumer goods note, remember when those Honest Foods Granola Planks were all over the blogosphere a little while back? Well with the chance of finding those in Canada pretty slim, I never got to jump onto that trend.

At least not at the time…until I stumbled upon some this weekend at Winners! It’s a random store like that. Which is why I love it. So better late than never, I now get to finally try an ~~Honest~~ apparently renamed to Earnest Eats granola plank. It shall be cracked soon. Clearly I also picked up some Blue Agave Nectar. They had several different varieties. I don’t know the difference. Wikipedia has a nice little sum up of flavour differences. Anybody ever compared these?

Winners also has a lot of pretty cheap perfume. Not gonna lie, I bought this mainly because I liked the packaging.

I didn’t really take any food photos this weekend. Mainly because I was either at work, snacking, eating too many burnt cookies or feeling out of sorts (which may or may not have been due to a slightly overindulgent Saturday night out).

But today I did!

Exhibit A: Bowl of cottage cheese, grapes, Vector cereal, flax & grocery store brown rice California rolls. My taste buds clearly craved intense variety in taste and texture today.

Exhibit B: A fully loaded salad: spinach, cabbage slaw, cucumbers, pickle, baked potato bits, spoonful of brown rice, spoonful of tzaziki, drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette and a mini pita with tuna on the side.

Exhibit C: Defrosted homemade rice veggie burger on mini pita with garden vegetable cream cheese, mustard and Frank’s. Side of kale chips dipped in Ketchup.

Exhibits B2, B3, C2 and C3 (aka snacks, bites, and munchers) are not for the viewing public (aka didn’t get photographed).

Now I need to get down to work. Aka school work. Which will actually end up being Halloween costume research first. I still don’t know what I want to be, but my at home resources are pretty limited so I’m thinking I might have to run out and try to find something… before it’s too late! Throwing together a last minute costume is not fun.

What are your favourite runners?
And your plans for Halloween?

Time Flies

July 8, 2010

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It’s July 8th already?
Time sure flies when you’re having fun… and when you’re not having fun.

It flies when you’re having a crappy week and feeling like a bum and your car has lame issues and the heat is constantly sweltering and the tears are frequently flowing. – Not fun.

It flies when a new month hits and you celebrate by watching fireworks and try to take pictures of said fireworks with your mediocre camera ‘fireworks’ setting and even more mediocre steady hands and you end up with mediocre fireworks pictures. I tried. – Fun.

It flies when you go for walks and try to distract yourself with pretty sights to take your mind off of less pretty thoughts. – Would typically be fun unless you’re in a really rotten mood, which in that case isn’t nearly as fun as it could/would/should typically be.

Time flies when it’s so hot that your appetite and taste buds are out of whack you never know what you want to eat anymore but you just want to eat so you grab things and through things together and inhale things and never quite feel satisfied. – Not fun.

But sometimes you DO know what you want and in those cases it flies when you make delicious coconut flax pancakes inspired by these (umm YUM?!) with 2T coconut flour, 1T flax, 2 egg whites, ~1/4 cup apple cinnamon yogurt, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon all dipped in sugar free syrup. – Fun except that these were gone way too fast. Want. MORE.

Um actually, time just flies through breakfast in general. Much faster than it should, because ideally breakfast should just last all day. Because we all love a good breakfast don’t we? – Fun fun fun.

Like overnight oats soaked in almond milk, plain yogurt, cottage cheese and jam’; topped with peanut butter and strawberries.

And those breakfasts are especially good when eaten outdoors.

And then they involve secrets hidden underneath piles of yogurt and strawberries…

Time flies even when you try to slow it down by using chopsticks to prolong the length spent at the table consuming your butter chicken, stir fry veggies and quinoa but are just so mad skilled at using chopsticks that you breeze through the task. Or just throw in the towel and dig in with a fork. – Fun/not fun. It’s a toss up. Fun for the taste, not for my lack of eating slow skills.

It definitely flies when you try to casually sip away at your iced coffee smoothies and instead end up inhaling them in 5 minutes flat. They’re just so good… – Fun.

Times flies when you go shopping and buy things like a pimpin’ new lunch bag, water bottle and a campfire scented diffuser. – Fun.

And time DRAGS when you discover a never before seen chocolate soynut butter at HomeSense and are desperate to get home so you can get sampling. – Fun once I actually did get home because of all the deliciousness that this jar offers.

It flies when you order books on amazon.ca and they arrive on your doorstep days before you thought they would. – Fun.

It flies a little less quickly when you’re chomping down on large amounts of vegetables…

whether raw…

roasted…

or paired with pasta and sauce. – Veggies are always fun.

And time flies when your friend comes over for a girl’s night where you become culinary experts while making Rachel Ray’s Chicken Parm Sliders…

…watch ridiculous yet genius movies like Hot Tub Time Machine

…and become rock stars. – Funx10.

(Playing around in Photoshop to make really cheesy rockstar compilation pictures with your minimal graphics skills also makes time fly quite rapidly)

And that would be my first week of July in a very large nutshell. I’ll bet time didn’t quite fly getting through this doozy of a post. Or it did if you skimmed(Don’t worry, I don’t blame!). It’s been up, it’s been down, it’s been a bit fun and it’s been not so fun. But overall it really has flown right out from under my feet, hence my delayed update. I need to get with the program!

And with that, I’m off to a local concert tonight. It should be another ‘-Fun’ to add to the list. I’ll be back before the month is half over, I swear!