Here Kitty, Kitty

I have spent way too much time on my computer this evening. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve turned it off all afternoon/evening. Sad eh? But hey, at least I went out and had a walk, so I haven’t been a bum all day.

At some point in time this afternoon, I had a wasa cracker with peanut butter and honey as a snack.

Then my dad and I contemplated dinner. He was really wanting some baked ravioli, which is so not my thing. I still had a craving for a good burger and fries. So we figured we’d each just order what we wanted, pick them up, and meet back home to watch some hockey

I ordered from my favourite burger place – White Spot. But I did it a little different this time. I placed my order online. How fun!

Good to know!

Because I believe all good burgers should have bacon and cheddar cheese, I ordered the bacon cheddar bigger burger.

With the infamous dill pickle and coleslaw.

Did you know you can order a side of dills? I sometimes like to do that. Mmmm, dill pickles.

I ordered some fancy fries this time – garlic fries.

For some reason they gave me extra garlic. I guess I looked like I needed to scare away some vampires.

The fries also came with a tasty lemon basil aioli for dipping.

With a Diet Coke. You gotta have a soda with your burger & fries!

I would like to announce, my Canucks not only won their hockey team, but they crushed their opponents 8 – 2. Makes staying at home on a Saturday night in your pajamas just that much better.

In an effort to get something healthier into my belly, I made one of my 5 min faux crisps for a late night dessert.

This one contained:

• 1 red pear, chopped
• raisins
• cinnamon
• brown sugar
• Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal for topping

It was scrumptious as always.

And now, as I bid adieu for the evening, I would like to present you with…

 

Sienna’s Small Screen Debut!

I hope you enjoy my silly kitty

(It was much clearer on my computer. Not sure what’s up with that. And yes, that’s my goofy voice in the background…as well as the hockey game)

ETA: Hmmm…now that I see it embedded into the post, the quality is totally there. So nevermind!

Superstitious? Maybe

I know I said earlier that I wasn’t superstitious, but I dunno – I’m starting to think some of the events from today were totally related to it being Friday the 13th!

After my meeting with my group, I made my way home. I stopped off at one place I wanted to put my resume in, but they wouldn’t take it! They told me they don’t take resumes to keep on file, and that I can only apply to jobs listed on their website. What if people don’t have computers, how do they apply? I was a little miffed, but hopped back on the bus to go home. I got the train, knowing I would make my second bus with enough time. Except when I got off the train, I watched my bus pull away from the station EARLY. Are they even allowed to do that?! ARGH. And that bus only comes every 30 min, so I ended up calling my mom to come get me. Not impressed.

Backtracking a bit – I tried out the Tropical Fruit Larabar. Me likey! It was very reminiscent of a pina colada, with the pineapple and coconut. They could probably lose the little bit of orange flavour in there, but I would totally buy it again. I think it’s definitely one of those love/hate flavours though. No “sort of” liking this one.

Once I was home, I set out making lunch. It was such a chilly, windy day that I knew soup needed to be on the menu.

Luckily there was still some avgolemono soup left in the fridge. There was also some leftover orzo in there, so I added it to the bottom of the bowl, topped it with soup, and heated it up. Plus a little sprinkle of dill for that pop of colour.

On the side I had the usual veggies – cucumber and carrot.

 

With some Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus for dipping.

It turned out to be a warming, filling meal.

I considered a nap, or going to the gym, but instead just chilled with some reading. And a little sweet treat – medjool date with peanut butter a few chocolate chips.

I definitely had a second one of those.

Usually Friday night is take out night around here for dinner, but mom wasn’t feeling well, and decided to make oatmeal for dinner. Now, we all know I have nothing against a good bowl of oats, but I just wasn’t feeling breakfast food for dinner tonight. And since my lunch was pretty late, I just wasn’t hungry for dinner. I figured it was a good time to go to the gym.

Too bad I never even set foot in the building. I drive down there, and when I pull up there is a fire truck and 3 police cars, lights flashing. So I get out of my warm car, walked in the frigid temperatures up to the policemen, and ask if I’ll be able to get into the gym. He says they are just clearing the building right now from a gas leak. I figure okay, well, I’ll hang around, hoping it won’t take too long. I wander into the grocery store next door to keep warm and entertain myself. Probably 15 min later, I go back out, and all the emergency vehicles are gone. So I wander up to the front door, and there is a sign on there that “due to a heating equipment malfunction, the gym will be closed until further notice”. Damnit!

Dejected, I make my way back home. I contemplate doing a workout DVD, but all of the TV’s with DVD players are being watched. Grrr. Must be a sign to just make dinner.

I knew there was a piece of butternut squash in the fridge, so I planned to roast it. Too bad it was moldy. See what I mean about this Friday the 13th business?

Eventually I came up with an acceptable substitute, which turned into a full meal.

I still got in my beta-carotene with a sweet potato. I sliced it up and threw it in the oven until I got bored waiting. Plus a little ketchup on the side for dipping.

I also cooked up a salmon burger, and topped it with some smashed avocado.

And made a small side caesar salad.

Looks pretty good to me. Take that Friday the 13th! HA!

After some digesting, I played my older sister card, and kicked my sister off the TV downstairs so I could get at least a little activity in today.

Today I went with Bob and The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga. I did the recommended first session, which works out to about 35 min from warm up through cool down. It was pretty good. Now, I don’t know that Bob has the best yoga voice, but I enjoyed the video, and was definitely feeling it afterwards. Good thing too, since it looks like my newly acquired DVD’s will be my go-to source of activity until the gym is open again.

And I think that about wraps up my evening. Hopefully you all had better luck today than I did. I’m off to get my beauty rest. Night!

Prosperous Pit Stop

Another Monday come and gone. Can you believe we are in November already? Only one month left of classes! Crazy I tell ya. Before you know it, that other holiday *cough* Christmas *cough* will be upon us.

Like every morning, I was up bright and early. I managed to get in a little ab work before even eating breakfast. It’s one of my new things – I’ve been slacking in the exercise department, so I’m trying to make little bits of time here and there so I don’t feel like such a sloth! After my 5 min or so, I wandered back upstairs to the kitchen to try out my new cereal purchase.

Kashi Honey Almond Flax Cereal. Me thinks it’s just GoLean Crunch with a honey almond spin. And since I love me some of the Crunch, I figured I should try this one out.

I filled up a bowl with the cereal, and topped it with some craisins and shredded coconut. They appear to be my cereal toppings of choice lately.

With a glass of the Happy Planet Mango Peach Party on the side.

Not sure what was up with the odd lighting. I may have turned on a different set of kitchen lights or something.

Verdict on the cereal? I like it. It doesn’t have the cinnamon undertone of the regular GoLean Crunch, but has this mellow, very subtle sweetness from the honey. And you can’t go wrong with almond flakes added in. I think it will be nice to switch back and forth between this one and the regular.

Off to school I went, where I had a biochemistry lecture, followed by my volunteer shift at Sprouts. I did snag my free baked good – a peanut butter chocolate chip muffin – but I was hungry, and devoured it before I took a picture. It was tiny anyways – it didn’t stand a chance to get its picture taken. HA!

I decided to make a pit stop on my trip home from school. After seeing that Kristie had found the new PB&J Larabar in Canada, I had to stop in at Whole Foods to see if I too would be so lucky. Turns out, I was doubly lucky!

They had both of the new Larabar flavours! I snagged one of each, to test them out and decide if they are worth buying in mass quantities like my precious Peanut Butter Cookie or Coconut Cream Pie flavours.

The good luck didn’t stop there though. I also ran into London Drugs for something else, and found these babies on clearance.

They were only $1.69 each. Which is a good price for here – the Jocolat bars are usually around $2.49 or so retail, and always more expensive than the regular Larabars. Hence, I haven’t really tried many of the flavours. These were the only two kinds they had, so I grabbed one of each.

My dad picked me up from the train, and bought me lunch – deli sandwich from Safeway.

I had the “California Dreamin’” – turkey, bacon, guacamole, lettuce, cucumber, pickles, onion, ranch cream cheese spread. All on a whole wheat bun.

Always a good day when Dad decides to buy you lunch

I let that sammy digest, then headed off to the gym for some cardio excitement. I made it home in time to clean myself up, and succumb to the Hallowe’en candy.

Damn you Oh Henry bar!

Then I was out the door, as I had my volunteer orientation at the hospital this afternoon. This was the general orientation, where we learned all the policies and whatnot, got our pictures taken for ID, signed all the paperwork, etc. We are supposed to hear back in the next two weeks for our job specific training. I talked to the coordinator, and she’s really trying to get me into the diabetes clinic to work with the dietitians there. Woo!

The orientation went long than I thought, so it was after 8 pm by the time I got home. At least mom had dinner waiting for me

Homemade hamburgers. Mine was topped with cheese, lettuce, onion, ketchup, and mustard.

As well as some carrot sticks and snap peas to go with the Pine Nut Sabra Hummus we got at Costco this weekend.

And since we had that giant caramel apple crumble pie…well, I had to have another little slice. With some cheddar cheese – apple pie & cheddar cheese is such a great combo.

I’m actually feeling pretty good about today. This past week killed me, with school and everything. I felt like I couldn’t get on top of anything else in my life other than school work. My room is a pigsty, I couldn’t get in the exercise I wanted, I chowed on way too much candy, didn’t get enough sleep, and barely had time to blog. Not cool. So I’ve decide that for the rest of the year I’m on Operation: Clean Up. As in, cleaning up everything in my life. I hate when I push everything to the wayside just for one part of my life. It doesn’t make me feel good. But I see no reason for the rest of my semester to be that way, now that I only have one class left that has any assignments/midterms left. I’m making it my focus to get my balance back in my life through the end of 2009. Hopefully it will continue on past then, but who knows what next semester will be like, plus the Olympics will be here!

Since part of my balance involves getting sleep, I should go do that now. Night!

Finally Friday

It’s been a long, tiring week. I think my little trip over to Victoria made it that much more so. I was not wanting to get out of bed at 5:30 this morning, that’s for sure. But I somehow made it out of my warm, cozy bed and into the kitchen for some breakfast.

Our peaches are quickly advancing past their prime, so I knew I needed to save one from the compost bin.

I filled a small bowl with yogurt, Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax granola, half of a peach, and some coconut.

I swear there was yogurt and granola under there. See?!

My mom had baked some whole wheat dried fruit scones last night. Needless to say, I had to test one out, with a blanket of Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter.

And I finished off that damn imposter juice. Finally!

Another orange hued breakfast.

Mom’s scones get my seal of approval   They were quite tasty – I think she used raisins and dried cranberries in them. The peanut butter didn’t hurt either

I was so tired today. I was doing the head bob all the way to school, fighting it all the way through class, and again on the way home. Fortunately, I didn’t miss any of my transfer points. Phew!

When I got home, I needed some grub. I finished off the Terra Blue Potato Chip crumbs someone left in the bag while I surveyed the fridge for options.

Seriously, who does that?!

My fridge searching revealed a lonely bbq’d hamburger. I decided to show it some love with a little Tex-Mex flair.

I toasted a slice of whole wheat bread, them smashed on 1/4 of an avocado, added some salsa, and the reheated hamburger.

To put it totally over the top, I added some jalapeno slices and melty sharp cheddar.

And yes, it was as spectacular as it looks. I had thought about doing some kale chips on the side, but the last of my kale was no good. Booo-urns.

I spent some quality time with the newspaper, then did some research online (with a few mah jong games thrown in for fun). I’ve decided the rest of my evening is homework free, and tomorrow will be a dedicated study day. Now I’m off to figure out what this family is having for dinner – my mom is gone for the weekend, which means dad is cooking. And by cooking, I mean ordering take out. I have to figure out what I’m craving. Later!

Who Likes Burgers?

Apparently my family! Seems like we have them once a week. And tonight was burger night

On my homemade beef patty sits faux cheese, lettuce, onion, mustard, ketchup, and dill pickle relish. Can’t leave out that fluffy white bun either.

There was also salad – romaine, radishes, cucumber, and green onion. My dressing of choice tonight was Annie’s Raspberry Vinaigrette.

And few veggies & dill dip found there way onto my plate as well.

Too bad I couldn’t taste most of my dinner. Stupid stuffed up nose

After dinner I cooked up something (that I hope is) wonderful for my lunch tomorrow. I wanted to make sure I prepared food wise for my 12 hour day. We’ll see how well I survive that with my cold.

I also spent the evening drinking lots of tea with a wee splash of milk & agave.

And had half a bag of microwave popcorn that my sister shared with me while we caught up on some quality television time

 

I also completed all my readings for tomorrow that required books, so I don’t have to haul them to school with me. All I have left are some online course readings, which will fill my 3 hour break perfectly

Now I sleep and hopefully will away this cold. Here’s a little Sienna photo to entertain you – she’s acting like a little princess on my parents’ bed. Night!

First Post

From the new laptop! Finally! I was having problems installing my image editing software on here, but I’ve got it figured out now, so I can blog from where ever my heart desires. Freedom!

So my Sunday started out way later than planned. I guess all those early mornings throughout the week finally caught up, and I slept in until 11:30 am. Oops!

It was rather warm out again today, so I went with a cool smoothie.

Into the cup went:

• 1 rather large, ripe banana
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/3 cup oats
• milk to fill the glass

Alongside, I had one of those addictive Nicer Krispie Treats. No reason you can’t have one for breakfast, right?

Quite enjoyable, if I do say so myself.

After I enjoyed my almost lunch out on the deck in the sun, I went out to do a little clothes shopping again. I actually ended up buying a couple of pairs of jeans, so I could bring them home and get my mom’s opinion as well. Both received a thumbs up, so now I don’t have to go to school naked! Yay! I was also eyeing up a few pairs of shoes, but I really can’t do the whole overhaul of my closet that I would like until I get a little income coming in. Guess that means I should be a little more proactive in my job search, eh?

I threw together a little snack to tide me over til dinner when I got back.

I dished up a little bowl of yogurt topped with some Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Granola and diced dried peaches.

Some juicy red grapes.

And a glass of pomegranate cranberry juice, since I’d missed my morning juice.

I then attempted to get some reading done for my Psychology class, but that turned into an extended nap on the couch. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open! Fortunately I woke up enough to put together dinner.

My parents had gone out, so my sister and I made what we felt like. I went with a salmon burger, with Laughing Cow and ED&BV Lemon Cashew Basil Pesto.

Mom had made some of my favourite dill dip, so I cut up some carrot & cucumber to deliver that deliciousness to my mouth.

And I threw together a little side salad of romaine, zucchini, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, and Brianna’s Honey Mustard Dressing.

Looks so fresh and tasty.

After dinner, I found myself at the gym for a little while, then came home to get some things prepped for my early morning tomorrow. My throat has started to bother me a little this evening as well, so I’m off to have some tea then get some rest. I can’t get sick when we’re only on week 2 of school! Night

This Post Is Brought To You By The Letter “B”

Oh Sesame Street – we had some good times. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen that show. Probably because there are no wee ones in my life (and I am totally okay with that).

Foods that start with B were prominent in my eats tonight. First there was dinner – BBQ beef burgers

Yes, my burger was topped in plastic processed cheese. That’s how we roll here apparently. I also added some mustard/ketchup/mayo to the fluffy white bun, and some lettuce, onions, and pickles so I could pretend it was healthy.

Oh plastic cheese. How can you pass that up, with photos like the above, accentuating the plastic-ness of it. Seriously.

On the side there was a handful of Jalapeno Kettle Chips.

I jalapeno chips. They are totally one of my top flavours. And don’t hurt my tummy like regular old jalapenos can.

I hit up the gym later on with my sister, since we skipped out on kickboxing earlier. I spent some time on the stair climber, then doing some upper body weights. I know I got in a good upper body workout, because my arms were actually shaking as I was driving home. Perhaps not the safest, but girl’s gonna get some rockin’ pipes! I can dream, can’t I?

Dessert time was shortly after I walked in the door and got changed

It started with a bowl of banana soft serve, topped with peanut butter, because really, nothing goes better than peanut butter & banana

What makes peanut butter & banana even better? Chocolate of course – in the form of a Fudgy Wudgy Blueberry Brownie.

It was one beautiful bowl of dessert.

Insert some time wasting activities like TV, Wii, and interwebbing, and that about wraps up my day. Oh, and I finally got a respectable picture for my student ID! Yay. I’m hoping it will be ready to pick up on the first day of school, which is quickly approaching. Ack!

Time for this girl to get to bed. Night!

Droopy Eyed

That would be me all day. It seems like I just can’t get rested, even though I feel like I’m sleeping well at night. I think it’s because little miss Sienna wakes me up without fail, between 5 and 6 am every morning, so I’ll take her downstairs to eat. If only she would get along with my parents’ cats, I would have to keep her locked up in my room at night. One day hopefully!

Needless to say, it was a lazy one today, with a couple of short naps thrown in. I even started it off with some lazy day food – oatmeal.

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• frozen cranberries (maybe 1/3 cup?)
• 1 tbsp Meadowpure Ultra SmoothOmega Flax Seed 
• coconut butter
• shredded coconut
• hemp seeds
• creamed honey

With an Aussie mug full of cranberry juice.

I even sat outside and enjoyed my oats with the newspaper. How much do I enjoy having a newspaper to flip through again? It’s something I would probably never subscribe to myself, but it’s quite nice to be able to read with your breakfast.

My mom and I were on an organizing mission, and stored away alot of my things that I won’t be needing while I’m here. And yet, it still seems like we have a ton of boxes yet to find a home in the garage. The goal is to get the car back in the garage this week, so here’s hoping I get enough motivation to make that happen.

After a quick power nap, I made a little lunch.

I made a sandwich of turkey, sharp aged white cheddar, mustard, dill pickle relish, and a little mayo on some Silver Hills “The Big 16” bread. I only have a few slices left, so I’ll have to add that to the list of things I need to buy so I don’t go crazy living here.

My dad was enjoying a popsicle while I was having my lunch, and it looked like a great idea, since it was quite hot here today. I found myself an orange one

I’m not even really sure what I did the rest of the afternoon. Played around on the internet, worked on my resume (girl needs a job), refereed the cats. Eventually dinner was grilled up and ready to eat.

Hamburgers were on the menu tonight – mine is topped with cheese (yes, it’s the plastic stuff), lettuce, onions, pickles, mustard, and ketchup.

With half a grilled corn on the cob – buttered & peppered of course.

And some pasta salad that mom whipped up this afternoon – I think it contains whole wheat fusili, peppers, carrots, green onions, parsley from the herb garden, mixed beans, and a homemade sweet & sour dressing that is really quite good. I meant to add a little cucumber to mine, but forgot. Perhaps when I eat leftovers tomorrow?

As I was taking pictures at the dinner table, my mom commented that my burger picture would look better if I had sliced tomato on it. LOL. I’m not going to add tomato just to make it pretty – I’m keeping it real here! I did offer to take a picture of her burger, but she’d already started eating it.

I then spent the evening working on my resume some more, and I even applied for a job. Nothing glamourous, just a part-time cashier job at the local natural & organic food market, but really, the perfect job for a foodie going to school to be a dietician, no? Here’s hoping I hear back, and that they don’t think I’m “over qualified” or something.

Eventually there was a need for dessert – namely, ice cream!

I finished off the remnants of a container of Breyer’s Triple Chocolate ice cream. But SOMEONE had scooped out all of the dark chocolate strip. Seriously, who does that? How rude. So I was left with white & milk chocolate. Oh well, it filled the ice cream void.

And now it’s that time again – time to head to bed. I have lunch planned with a friend, so I can’t look like I haven’t slept in years, now can I? Night!

Permanent Vacation

Today I have officially bid adieu to my life as a fish counter. It’s been a bit of an emotional day. I was good up until I was saying goodbye to the last few people at work, then there were some tears. It’s hard to leave something that has been a part of your life for 4.5 years. It wasn’t real until today, when I was cleaning up my work computer, packing up my things, and handing in my key. I must admit, I had a few moments on my drive home where I even questioned my whole decision to leave the working world and head back to school. I know that I’m moving on, and in a few short years, I will be doing something I’m truly passionate about, and that it is the right thing, but you can’t help that little nagging voice in the back of your head that keeps saying “But are you really sure?”

Really though, there’s no reason to be that sad. I don’t live that far away, so I can visit my friends and coworkers for sure. The majority of us are on Facebook and can keep in touch on there. And I may have plans to go in on Tuesday for lunch with some coworkers who were out of the office when I left. I know, I’m so melodramatic.

But enough reflection on the major changes going on in my life. Shall we see some food?

Lunch was some neatly packed leftovers.

More of that lovely fridge-clearing stirfry with jasmine rice.

And more juicy watermelon.

I will admit though, this isn’t all I had for lunch. As it was payday Friday, some of my coworkers were picking up lunch from Red Fish Blue Fish. They twister my rubber arm, and I ordered some tempura dill pickles. Alas, the restaurant was too busy, and when they are too busy, they don’t do the tempura dills. Talk about fail! My coworker figured she couldn’t come back empty handed, so she ordered me some delicious hand cut fries. Although I probably would have just said don’t worry about it, I couldn’t really let them go to waste, could I? So yeah…I polished them off and enjoyed every bite, thank you very much It did mean that I only ate part of my stirfry though. What can I say, I was full!

I also brought in the 9 cupcakes I hadn’t kept for myself, and those were quickly polished off at 9:30 am. Sounds like they were a big hit. I wouldn’t know – I still hadn’t tried one myself!

There was another little present before I left – one of the coveted 30th anniversary metal water bottles.

These babies aren’t given out to just anyone. I feel special

I was emotionally drained, and suffering some horrendous neck pain when I walked in the door, so I crashed on the couch with the news and the cat for a good portion of the evening. Eventually I picked myself up, and walked up the hill to the grocery store, just to get outside and not be a total lump all day. I knew there was no way the gym was in my future with the pain I was (and still am) feeling in my neck. I really hope this isn’t a flare up from my car accident injuries, and I just slept funny last night.

Dinner was a simple affair, as I still wasn’t really that hungry. Again, I surveyed my options, focusing on using things up in the freezer/fridge.

I found one lonely herb cheese bun, and decided to turn that into a salmon burger. Grilled Pacific salmon patty, roasted garlic havarti, avocado, low-fat mayo, mustard, dill pickle relish. There should have been lettuce, but the stuff I bought last week had already gone manky. I hate that!

Also looking lonely was a cob of peaches & cream corn. It was much happier when I steamed it and slathered on a little butter.

It doesn’t look like much, but it was good.

Plus, I had to save room for a little cupcake indulgence. I mean, come on, how long can I go without tasting those 3 gourmet cupcakes in my fridge?! It would be a travesty to waste those, that’s for sure. So I decided on half of the Nuttin’ Butter – fudgy chocolate cake, peanut butter frosting.

I think it’s almost a 50/50 cake to frosting ratio. I’m okay with that, when the frosting is of the quality of this stuff. Seriously, this peanut butter frosting is so good, I would consider eating it by the spoonful. The cake had a great chocolate flavour as well, but was a little on the dry side. I think this may be due to my storage method and that I didn’t eat it fresh. Of course, if you just make sure you have some of the wicked frosting with each bite, it’s perfect. Yum!

It’s been a long, draining day. I think it’s time to make the transition from computer to bed, so I can start in on phase 2 of my new journey tomorrow – cleaning & packing to make the big move. Night.

BC Day Long Weekend Part 1 – Cha-Ching!

Buckle your seatbelts, this is going to be a long, picture filled post!

First, I will let you ponder this.

My sister and I started off our day leisurely, with a little breakfast. I went with a yogurt & granola mix.

On top of some hidden yogurt, you will find raspberries, Saskatoon berries, granola, coconut, hemp seeds, and delicious icing…I mean macadamia nut butter.

With the usual.

Then we were off to the produce market and grocery store, per my usual Saturday routine. After that was out of the way, we wandered down to the mall for a little shopping. I found nothing to my liking, she grabbed a couple things on sale. Then it was time to pick up lunch. Where did we go?

One of the more original fast food places in Victoria – Naanwich. My sister had never been, so we had to go before I moved home. Basically, they take your choice of filling (most options are Indian food based), cook it up, place it in a naan bread, and you add toppings Subway style. I ordered the Palak Paneer (spinach & homemade cheese), to which I added lettuce, red cabbage, cucumber, pickles, mango chutney, and yogurt sauce.

These bad boys are messy to eat! We ate outside, just to avoid spilling on anything in the house. I managed to not end up wearing any of it – talk about skill. They are also huge! See that first picture? Double that, and that’s how much you get. I ate maybe 2/3? Too messy to save the leftovers for later though. Oh well.

After we were properly fuelled, we headed downtown to the Victoria Bug Zoo.

I know, who goes to the bug zoo? But some coworkers said it was pretty cool, I’ve never been, and it was only $8, so why not? There were lots of interesting bugs, but it was alot smaller than I thought it would be. I think my favourite was the leaf cutter ant colony – I love those things Here are a few shots of some awesome bugs – if you don’t like insects, you might want to scroll on through quickly.

We then decided to do some more shopping because well, who doesn’t like shopping? I was on a mission to find new jeans. Alas, that didn’t pan out. If only I had hips & an ass to fill out the jeans – even the sales person said they were all baggy in the bum Anyone know if you can get jeans taken in at the rear? I’m no tailor, and I’m hesitant to spend alot of $$ on jeans I can’t have altered to fit me well.

All the sun, shopping, and walking around led us to our dinner destination – The Pink Bicycle.

You may recall I first went to the Pink Bicycle when my mom visited a few weeks ago. It was that good that I just needed to take my sister there. Mostly as an excuse to eat there again myself

It’s a small restaurant, maybe seats 30 people or so? Only the bar is downstairs with the seating area. The kitchen is located upstairs – you gotta be a good server to not bail with those plates of food!

Every table receives a bottle of water, which is great – that way they are running around, trying to keep glasses full. Plus it’s classy in that old wine bottle.

Neither my sister or I are big drinkers when we go out, so we decided to share a bottle of the bubbly…water that is.

 

I decided to order something different this time, as I would probably love to try every burger on the menu if I had time! I went with the Portabella Burger, with a side of truffle fries and some roasted garlic mayo for dipping (because everything is better with dip).

Yum!

The burger itself was two medium sized portabella mushrooms, sandwiched with the goat cheese, and served with lettuce, tomato (I ordered mine without), red onions, and I believe a little mayo. All on a beautiful sesame seed bun, baked at the bakery next door. I tried to get a picture of the inside of the burger, but it wasn’t the most photogenic.

The truffle fries are crispy, golden fries tossed in a little truffle oil (or at least, I assume that’s how they are made). The truffle flavour is subtle, but a definite gourmet step up on the classic french fry. The waitress suggested I pair them with the roasted garlic mayo, and it was a suggestion well made.

 

We left the restaurant with full bellies and smiling faces. And we were lucky we showed up a little early – there was a huge line up/wait list to get in when we left. Also, I’m almost 100% positive that the writer of the Victoria Burger Blog was dining at the table across from us with a group of out of towners (I overheard talk of ferry rides). Not surprising, as he has written highly about the joint – in fact, I stumbled on his blog when I was searching for the restaurant’s own website.

The night was still young, the sun was just starting to descend in the sky, and there was a nice breeze coming off the water. So we went for a wander along the Inner Harbour – gotta burn off those burger calories somehow

Unbeknownst to me, there is a was a Night Market set up down along the harbour. Being the shopping fiends that we are, we had to check it out.

There was alot of jewellery, some crafts, dishes, preserves, chocolates, and clothing. There was also a steel drum band playing at the far end, lending to it a bit of a festive atmosphere. I stumbled upon one booth with some very cute clothes, screened with awesome animal designs, by a designer named Jadefish (well, that’s her company name – her name is Jade). Of course, it was the fish designs that caught my eye, the puffer fish in particular. What can I say, I have a soft spot for sea creatures? I couldn’t leave without making a purchase.

How cute is this fish?!

I am in love. With a hoodie. Is that sad? Whatever – my jeans shopping mission may have been a bust, but at least I got something good!

What else does one do on a beautiful summer evening on the town? Get ice cream of course!

I have a place in my heart for Marble Slab Creamery, even if they aren’t quite as good as some of the local ice cream shops. When I was living in Australia, we would always go to Cold Rock, which did the whole ice cream mixed with whatever you liked on the frozen slab. When I found this place here, it was nostalgic to that time. I like to visit every now and then.

I went with the cheesecake ice cream mixed with raspberries and graham crackers.

Uh, yeah – we had to devour those cones fast, because they were melting like nobody’s business!

We finally made out way home, watched The Simpson’s Movie on dvd, and now my sister is sleeping as I write this post with only my bedside lamp (transported to the living room) to guide me.

So, do you have an answer to the question I posed to you at the beginning of the post – Can a fish love a bird?

Night