Pineapple Express

Too bad I didn’t have any pineapple to eat!

I don’t know if anyone else has heard this weather term – I think it’s a west coast thing. But this monsoon we’re having is what we like to call a Pineapple Express. Warm, moist air comes up the coast, usually from Hawaii, resulting in warmer than normal temperatures, and torrential downpour. I tried to get some photos of just how wet it is out there, but none of them do it justice

Ah, the wet west coast. I know some people find all the grey skies and rain depressing, but I grew up here. I find the rain so soothing. Plus it’s a good excuse to stay indoors and eat things like soup and stew

Fortunately, I managed to not drown while outside today, so I’m able to bring you my day’s worth of eats. I know you are excited.

On the unfortunate front, I had another middle of the night (3:30 am) random wake up, resulting in a sleepy Marianne who was running behind, trying to get out the door. You know what that means.

Good ol’ cereal for breakfast. I went with Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal with a smattering of pomegranate arils.

A glass of juice – cranberry.

All on my mom’s Christmas Kitty quilted tablecloth.

I also had to pack a bit of a lunch – my Mondays have officially gotten busier, so no time to eat at home.

There was some leftover apricot bbq chicken from dinner last night, so I made myself a sandwich on Silver Hills bread, with chicken, avocado, and Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus.

Class was class, then I was off to my volunteer shift at Sprouts. Per usual Monday tradition, I nabbed a tasty baked good. And boy, did I pick a good one today!

This is a Qunioa Blondie. It is completely gluten free, which made many of our customers happy, as often we don’t have any gluten free baked goods. It had all sorts of good stuff in it like honey, cinnamon, chocolate chips, and raisins.

Let me tell you, this was insanely delicious. To all my fellow UBC’ers – get to Sprouts and buy one. They are moist, flavourful, and decadent. I’m tempted to go back and pay retail for one tomorrow!

I also purchased a new fruit to try out while I was there.

Any clue what these are?

 

Guesses?

 

Come on….you know you want to.

 

They are quince!

And no, it’s not moldy. They have this weird furry coating on them, but it just brushes off. They have the most fragrant smell. A great addition to your fruit bowl, if only for the smell! I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do with them. My understanding is they really need to be cooked to be enjoyed, so perhaps I’ll make a little quince paste/jelly? Suggestions?

After I gobbled up that blondie, and got changed, I was out the door on my way to my newest volunteer position (do you think I have enough of those yet?) – working at the Diabetic Clinic at my local hospital. It wasn’t overly thrilling, but I didn’t expect them to give me any amazing projects on my first shift. I spent alot of time stuffing envelopes to go out to patients to attend workshops, putting together new files, and stamping envelopes. They are checking into some confidentiality issues, and hopefully I’ll get to do some more work with actual patient files (hello, experience to help out in clinical settings!)

I found my way home, and decided I was done with going outside in this rain and wind. Therefore, I passed on going to cardio kickboxing with my sister (at least the gym is open again). Instead I had my ass kicked by Jillian and her No More Trouble Zones. I even had to open the window to let in some fresh, cool air since I was sweating up a storm.

A shower later, and it was dinner time. Mom cooked up some hot Italian sausages.

Let’s be honest – there is no way to photograph a sausage without it looking a little phallic.

There was also roasted red potatoes, which I enjoyed with some sweet chili sauce.

And steamed broccoli & cauliflower, kicked up a notch with some parmesan.

There was alot of spicy going on in this meal.

I did a little prepping for my presentation tomorrow (I’m so over these presentations), watched a little TV (Battle Of The Blades! The best of both my favourite ice sports!), and played with the cats. Then it was time to snack.

Another score from Sprouts! This yogurt had just reached its expiry date, so we couldn’t sell it, but since it had never been opened, there was no point in throwing it out. They offered it to me, and of course I said yes. I’ve never tried this brand – Avalon Organic Yogurt.

This one is a little different from most yogurts out there, because it is fortified with Vitamin D. Usually only fluid milk gets fortified, not milk products. Plus they have added inulin, a prebiotic to work in conjunction with the probiotics in the yogurt.

 

It has 2% milk fat, hence the trace amounts of trans fats (naturally occurring, not the same as the ones from hydrogenated oils). What you can’t quite see in the picture is the Vitamin D amount – 35% of your daily value. Awesome for a yogurt!

So what did I do with my yogurt? Made a yogurt mess!

I topped my yogurt with peanut butter, apricot jam, Nature’s Path Pumpkin Flax Granola, and some shredded coconut.

And because it was rainy and cold, I ended up with a giant mug of Ecuadorian hot chocolate. I added a splash of coconut extract for fun.

If you got through that marathon post, props to you! If you aren’t completely spent, head on over to Miss Gliding Calm’s blog to check out Earrings of the Blogworld  Yours truly is modelling her ear bling for all to see. Night!

Here Comes The Rain Again

Oh, what a wet and rainy Sunday. Typical fall weather here in BC. And they are calling for it to rain all through the week. I think we are supposed to get something like 30 – 40 millimetres (or 3 – 4 cm, around 2 inches) of rain each day for the next 3 days. Better get out your umbrellas!

I enjoyed my usual lazy sleep in morning, then got up to have some breakfast.

It started with a bowl of Kashi Honey Almond Flax cereal with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

A piece of Silver Hills “The Big 16” bread toasted, and topped with peanut butter and grape jelly.

And a glass of cranberry juice.

Cereal and toast reminds me of breakfasts as a kid.

This completely satisfied my breakfast wishes, but I probably should have had a smaller bowl of cereal. I’m off to a lunch at my cousin’s house in a little while, and I have a feeling I’ll still be full from this! Oops!

Time to go make myself presentable.

Time To Relax

I’m almost positive I will get to enjoy a truly relaxing weekend. I have minimal school work that needs my attention, no definite plans other than a lunch tomorrow, and hockey on TV tonight. Sounds lovely to me.

I started off this weekend right with sleeping in and chocolatey oats.

Not just chocolatey, but chocolate peanut butter banana oats to be exact.

• 1/2 cup oats, almond milk, water
• 1 banana, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• splash of vanilla
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• peanut butter
• chocolate chips
• 2 crumbled peanut butter covered pretzels

With a glass of cranberry juice.

Chocolate oats just seem more appropriate on weekends, no?

The addition of the peanut butter covered pretzel bits was fun. I found them in the back of the cupboard. How sad I had forgotten about them for so long.

I think I’m going to head out for a walk, seeing as the gym is out of the question. Plus there seems to be a break in the rain, so now’s my chance! Later.

Friday The 13th

OOOOoooooOOOOoooooOOOO!!!

Is anyone out there superstitious? Do you believe in the whole Friday the 13th stuff?

I can’t say I really do, although it could be the reason I slept in this morning. I woke up at 3:30 am, convinced it was time to get up. Of course, I fall back asleep, and don’t wake up until my mom wakes me up at 6:10. Oops! This left me super rushed to get out the door.

I managed to chug down a glass of the juice – cranberry.

And I packed up a peanut butter, banana , and honey sandwich (on my favourite Silver Hills bread) to go.

Even though I was late getting out the door, I should have been on time for class. The trains (or was it Friday the 13th again?) were against me. We pulled into one station, and the train stopped abruptly, then sat there for 10 min. The doors didn’t open, no one came over the PA. Finally, it moves forward maybe 5 feet, and then stops again, doors open, and we’re on our merry way. If it wasn’t for those 10 mins, I would have sauntered into class right at 8 am! ARGH!

Did I also mention it is W-I-N-D-Y!!! The leaves are just whipping around out there. This, of course, means it’s freakin’ cold as well. Since I’m staying on campus to meet with my group, I knew I needed something to warm me up. I bet you can guess what that was.

It’s true. Another Starbucks Green Tea Latte (non-fat, half sweet of course). I had actually planned on making my own at home this morning to go with my breakfast, but time didn’t allow it. That’s my justification. Really.

So now I’m sitting here in the library, waiting for my group to show up so we can quickly meet (hoping it’s quick, I want to be out of here by 11:30). I have some resume flogging planned for the trip home (gotta pay for this green tea latte habit). I brought along another snack in case I get hungry before I get home.

The new (to me) Tropical Fruit Larabar. I have high hopes – it has coconut, so it has to be good, right?

Time to read some blogs until my peeps are here. Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

Double The Breakfast

…double the fun!

Well, okay, let’s be real here. I’m not sure my fun was doubled today in any way by having double the breakfast. But it sounded catchy

I was up bright and early for another riveting biochemistry lecture. I wasn’t feeling anything in the oatmeal/cereal family today, so I went with pb + b+ h. Or peanut butter, banana, and honey on toast, in case that wasn’t clear.

With the ever popular glass of cranberry juice. And a side of soon-to-be jack-o-lantern

After learning the wonders of glycolysis, I made my way over to my volunteer shift at Agora. I set out to bake today, taking on the infamous Agora granola bars. They looked so good, I had to purchase one myself.

It was still a little warm, so the chocolate chips were still a bit melty. Mmmmm.

I even got compliments on how well they turned out. I’m just a baking pro, dontcha know?

I finally found my way home, which was no small feat, since they were finally repaving our road today. Then it was time to squash the lunch hunger.

I just went rummaging in the fridge for some randomness. Like leftover tofu sticks.

Leftover salad, with dill dip used as dressing.

And some wasa crackers with havarti cheese.

Word to the wise – tofu sticks don’t keep. I think even if I went to the trouble of reheating them in the microwave, they wouldn’t have been as good as just cooked. Fresh is best when it comes to the ‘fu sticks!

I did some work on all of my projects due tomorrow, then decided to catch up on the PVR, in hopes that my group would have their stuff complete as well. It did eventually iron itself out this evening, but I swear, working with a group of 7 people is no easy task.

When dinner time rolled around, mom decided it was a “breakfast for dinner” night. Fine by me On the menu – blueberry pancakes.

Too bad they photograph horribly! I topped mine with more blueberries, and some maple syrup. Nom nom. I may have snagged a 4th one. I may have not. You’ll never know

More time was devoted to group work, then I relaxed with some more tv. I had plans for a workout with my cousin’s wife, but it fell through. In some respects, it was a good thing, because keeping my eyes open today was a challenge! I probably would have injured myself if I’d attempted any physical activity.

Later on, in hopes of combating the cold temperatures outside, I had a giant mug of Stash Coconut Mango Oolong tea, with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

And another one of those damn brownie cupcakes. Here you can see the chocolate filling forming a nipplesque shape on top of the cupcake.

Now that my school obligations are complete, I think I’m going to spend the end of my evening reading blogs. I purged my Google Reader a couple days ago, and damnit, I’m already back up to 190 posts. People! Don’t you know I have school work?! Ah well, whatcha gonna do?

Chillaxin’ time. Night!

Information Overload

I am so over homework today. And yet, my homework is definitely not over

I’ve spent an excessive amount of time cramming psychology information in there, mixed in with some food ethics readings and discussions. But I finally dragged myself away from my workspace (the dining room table, much to my mother’s dismay), and down to my other computer, which I am keeping free of anything homework related, at least for the time being. That way, blogging is more fun

After some much needed sleep this morning, I got up to make breakfast brunch. Alas, all the decent sized bowls in the house were in the dishwasher, not clean. Bah! So I had to revamped my breakfast plans for a big bowl of cereal.

Instead, there was a little bowl of cereal – Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise, craisins, and unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

And a slice of Silver Hills “The Big 16” bread toasted with peanut butter & raspberry jam.

Plus the usual glass of juice – still on the cranberry.

A very red breakfast, completely unintentional.

Yes, I was even studying at breakfast. Or maybe that’s what I want you to believe. Only I know for sure

There was some definite studying after that though. I did take a short break to do some yoga. My cousin lent me a DVD with some short 20 min yoga sessions on it, so I figured I’d try one of them out. Rodney Yee was the instructor in this one. Can someone tell the man to put on proper shorts or pants though? I felt a little violated watching him in his weird yoga underwear.

There was more psych studying, and then I got hungry. It was too late to have a real lunch, so I just grabbed a larger snack.

Some sort of grainy bagel with herb & garlic cream cheese. Not my favourite bagels ever, but it was there, and made the perfect vehicle for the cream cheese.

Uh…more studying? Probably. And important email writing with my group members. Then dinner – which was take out Chinese, because no one felt like cooking tonight.

All the usual suspects here – chow mien, fried rice, sweet & sour pork, beef & broccoli, breaded almond chicken, spring roll. You know how it goes.

We got fortune cookies with our order this time. Mine had two inside!

Yes, that is a diagram of a nerve cell off to the left. At least I sat at the kitchen table, text book free, to eat my dinner!

So then there was more homework, with a hockey game (we won), and SYTYCD Canada in the background. Once those finished, I declared homework time officially over, so I could bring you my ever exciting day. I’m all about my readers

Now I’m off to find sleep. Mostly so I can get up tomorrow, and do this all again. Night!

Homework Hell

Ugh – this weekend has turned into my homework weekend from hell. I have a midterm to study for in Psychology on Tuesday, and two group assignments due for my Land, Food, and Community class on Thursday. It would have only been one assignment due that day, but alas, the schedule for our presentations puts my group on the same day, so we are scrambling trying to get it all sorted out. And to think, I only have 3 classes. I don’t know what it would be like if I had a full courseload!

So, other than a crapload of school work, what was I up to yesterday? Obviously, I started with some breakfast.

I spy some matcha green tea oats!

• 1/2 cup oats, milk, water
• 1 small banana, sliced
• 1 tbsp Ruth’s Chia Goodness cereal
• coconut
• splash of coconut extract
• 1 tsp matcha powder
• Artisana Coconut Butter

With a glass of plain ol’ cranberry juice. I like it so much better than the ones combined with other fruits.

Yummy in my tummy!

I did manage to get in a little figure skating viewing on tv, as well as a quick trip to the gym. It’s all about balance – you can’t study 24/7.

Lunch hunger eventually rolled around.

I saw that my mom had made some soup – not 100% sure on the recipe, but I know it include butternut squash, red pepper, white kidney beans, and onion.

I also found a cheese kaiser that needed to be eaten. Since it’s my self-imposed duty to make sure food doesn’t go to waste, I sliced it open, and added a little aged white cheddar.

The cheesy bun was the perfect accompaniment to dip into the soup

I then set to work on some psychology reading, which led into a quick nap on the couch. Something about textbook reading just puts me to sleep! I should try that at night when I can’t sleep. HA!

I got up, and figured a snack would help energize me.

A sourdough rye Wasa flatbread with Maranatha Peanut Butter and chocolate chips. I’m pretty sure this is my favourite new snack.

There was some important hockey to watching while I worked through more psych – Canucks vs the Toronto Maple Leafs. I’m proud to say, my team was victorious! WOOT!

I threw together a quick dinner at the end of the game, as I was heading out for the evening. It all started with a hot dog, dressed in ketchup, mustard, faux cheese, and red onion.

Some dippables – carrot & cucumber with dill dip.

And a few chunks of fresh pineapple.

It’s always fun when you can put together such a colourful meal.

After I wolfed that down, and made myself presentable, I was off to my cousin’s house for another evening of movie watching and general merriment. I spend way too much time there, but they live close to me, and it means I can get out of my own house.

Now I’m off to hit those books, and write a few pages for our dairy system report. Toodles!

House Bound

This is what my street currently looks like:

Yes, they are finally repaving our section of road. No longer will our cars feel the wrath of the horrid pavement, that has been dug up countless times in the past year to fix water mains, with only a shoddy patch job to cover it up. We’ll have nice, new, asphalt…just in time for winter! What timing.

Oh well. Needless to say, I ain’t leaving my house today, until all the dump trucks are gone. Too much of a pain in the arse.

They weren’t there are 5:30 this morning though, and I was able to make my way to school without a huge hold up. I couldn’t decide if I wanted toast or cereal for breakfast, so I just had both.

Silver Hills Squirrelly Bread with Maranatha peanut butter and raspberry jam.

A small bowl of Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise in milk.

And a glass of cranberry peach juice. Alas, my MPP is all gone

A little bit of everything, to satisfy the tastebuds.

My biochemistry lecture was interesting, because we have a new prof for this section of the course – it is being shared by 3 different professors over the entire year. I swear, the one we have now cannot be older than 18. I know he must be, but he could totally be a Dougie Howser, MD!

And of course, I picked up another lovely baked good after my volunteer shift at Sprouts. Although there were some other goodies I had yet to try, I just couldn’t pass up the vegan brownie today.

That photo is totally misleading. I swear, it was bigger than the palm of my hand. And you wonder why I’m not hungry now for lunch. I also got to sample a white carrot from the UBC farm, which was rather tasty. I just think they look cool, because they aren’t the usual orange colour.

I think it’s time to get in a little nap. I have some journal writing to tackle today, as well as a hockey game to watch tonight, and I’d like to get ahead on some other school projects, or start studying a little for my next midterm. Hope you all are enjoying your Mondays!

Bring On The Bagels

I have had a serious love affair with bread over the past 24 hours. Not just my beloved Silver Hills bread, but also bagels. My sister picked some up the other day, and they have come to the rescue as I have been hungry and strapped for time.

Last night I didn’t get home from school until 10 pm. Is that not ridiculous? We had out training session for Nutrikids, and it went until 8:30 pm. By the time I packed up, walked to the bus loop, and caught a bus, it was 8:52 pm. I don’t think I have ever been at school that late in my life. Frankly, I’m not a fan. Good thing this isn’t a regular occurrence.

My Coconut Cream Pie Larabar did an okay job of keeping me from eating my own arm, plus one of our training activities was a “yogurt sundae” bar, so I had a little taster there, but this girl was in need of some serious sustenance when I dragged my butt in the door.

I hummed, and hawed, and pouted that there wasn’t any dinner leftover from the family. Then I saw the bagels. Those big, round, delicious bagels. Mmmm…bagels

I toasted up one of the whole wheat/multigrain bagels, and found a few tasty ingredients to add to make my bagelwich.

One side was spread with chive & onion cream cheese and topped with cucumber slices.

The other half got a good coating of Sabra Roasted Garlic Hummus.

And I finished off the few slices of harvest garlic sausage, because my meal was obviously lacking in more pungent garlic/onion flavours.

All with a bottle of the bubbly water.

I must remember the cream cheese/cucumber/hummus sandwich combo to use again. It’s up there with my favourite avocado/cheddar/hummus sandwich. Yum!

All I wanted was to crawl in bed, but I had some important emails to attend to, and ended up settling in far later than I planned. Which is why I totally slept in this morning, and had to throw together breakfast-to-go.

Bagels to the rescue!

Another bagel, topped with Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter and raspberry jam, which I then sandwiched and chowed in transit. If you look closely, you will also see my morning glass of juice hiding in the background. I made sure to chug that before I ran out the door.

One biochemistry lecture, and some quality time on transit later, I was back at home, ready to start my long weekend. Which I did by watching some PVR’d shows. I am a party animal! Then it was time for lunch. And yes, I was completely breaded out by then.

Leftover roasted kabocha squash and Lundberg Garlic Primavera Risotto with broccoli & shaved parmesan.

Such beautiful squash.

And yes, I took these photos after I started eating. Only because I decided I didn’t like how the first ones I took turned out

Speaking of emails – I’ve noticed that WordPress has changed they way I receive your comments on my posts, and that when I email responses, they are now posting directly into the comment thread. I’m curious though – are you also receiving these responses through email? If not, I’ll have to figure out why. I can’t seem to find a way to change the setting in my control panel, so if any other WordPress users out there know, please enlighten me! And in the mean time, if you’ve had questions lately, check back on those threads, as I have been trying to answer them

Time to go do something productive like nap study

Where Are My Zzzz’s

Seriously people! Why can I not get enough sleep at night to actually feel awake during the day? My morning classes are killing me. This holiday long weekend cannot get here fast enough, that’s for sure. If only I survive today…

I was up at the ass crack of dawn, and set to work making breakfast. I wanted banana and pb, but wasn’t in the mood for oats.  So I went with pb + b on toast.

One slice of toasted Silver Hills Squirrelly bread was topped with Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter, banana, and organic honey.

The other with Artisana Cacao Bliss, banana, and honey.

With a glass of juicy juice. Cranberry, if you couldn’t tell.

Look at all those banana slices, all neatly lined up in rows.

*insert public transit + psychology lecture here*

After all that nonsense, I found my way to my favourite perch looking over campus to settle in with some blog reading, emailing, and lunch.

Does the addition of my spiral notebook make me appear studious?

I’ll admit it – I basically brought the same lunch to school as Tuesday. My options were limited, both by what was in the fridge & time. Plus it tastes good.

My current sandwich of choice – hummus/avocado/cheddar. Apparently it’s fibre day – at 5g fibre/slice of that Silver Hills bread, my system should be working just fine! TMI? LOL.

The produce section - carrot, cucumber, concord grapes.

Lunch dessert – two of mom’s homemade cookies.

The gala apple that I’m saving for later this afternoon.

And because I have a Nutrikids training session AFTER my 6 pm class, I also grabbed a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar to avoid a rumbling belly (I have a feeling dinner is going to be L-A-T-E tonight).

Time to go prep myself for my 4 hour class – I’m hoping I haven’t missed any of the readings I’m supposed to have done. You may or may not see a post tonight. I may just crash when I get home from school. Later gators.