Life in Food Pictures

Hello Blog Readers

My life has become a little crazy whirlwind of work/tutoring/gym/life etc.

And because food is a key aspect of my life I will  summarize it in food pictures!!

Since tutoring has taken over my (and Mike’s) free time, we are trying to do all of our food prep on one day. Two weeks ago that was on Tuesday when I went to Costco/did groceries/ made supper/ and made all of this deliciousness to use up the food from Fresh city farm.

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

Bean and Swiss Chard Soup

Ground Cherry Chutney

On Thanksgiving weekend I had a nice surprise visit from my friend Lynsey from Halifax. We hit up Canada’s wonderland for Halloween Haunt. I think because it was the first day (long way from Halloween) the line ups were non-existent. It was amazing! We did every single ride we wanted to do, and did all the scary mazes. We also had the obligatory funnel cake..it was amazing!

We also made a baby thanksgiving dinner: Roast chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, carrots, cranberry sauce and stove top stuffing. All the veggies in this meal were from fresh city farms (Organic non-processed aspect was ruined by stove top stuffing…but it was delicious!)

Chicken Dinner! 

For dessert Lynsey (who is a baker, unlike me) suggested we make Pumpkin Pie Cheese Cake. Due to the lack of canned pumpkin we made it from scratch! Cooked a pumpkin..mashed it in a food processer, had real whipping cream, and cream cheese and the result was amazing mini pumpkin cheesecakes.

I was thoroughly impressed!

After Lynsey went back to Halifax (sad face) I spend the rest of the weekend getting caught up on tv shows and trying to get prepared for  the week.

I say trying because I have no idea what happened. I felt so behind last week (even though it was short). This weekend Mike and I put a solid effort into having everything ready to go for the week. While Mike did 4 hours of ironing (worlds worst washer/dryer..Gah!), I spent some quality time in the kitchen.

I made chicken stock, cut and washed all the kale (so much kale!!), cooked a whole bunch of squash, and made an amazing pasta and steak dinner (it was too delicious to photograph!)

Then I had to do all the dishes, and make lunches.

But after a solid afternoon/evening of all that work I can happily report that all of our laundry is done, the meals for the week are 85% complete, and the apartment is clean!

Not only that but this weekend I went to see Argo (highly recommend it!), went to a Marlies hockey game, hit up the gym, hung out with friends, and watched some True Blood.

Whew. There needs to be more days on the weekend!!

Anyone else see Argo? Anyone else think it is normal to do four hours of ironing??

PS Follow me on Pinterest for Lots of Food Pictures!

My First Burrito..and a 5 km run

This weekend I ate my first Burrito and ran my first full 5km. They are totally related.

On Saturday it was Nuit Blanche in Toronto and we went out to enjoy the art and culture. It ended with  a ton of drunk teenagers at Young and Dundas Square. Best part of the night though was the food trucks. We hit up Gourmet Gringos, and I was hesitant (but also starving) because I am not a big bean fan, so I never had eaten a burrito. I know, this is crazy crazy fact. But then I ated it. And it was so GOOD! It was also ginormous. Now I want a burrito bad.

Anywoo that is totally not the point of that first line.
On Sunday after eating the aforementioned delicious Burrito, I got up SUPER early, and went to Run for the Cure. As I mentioned in this post, since I didn't run the full 5 km last year, I really really wanted to do the 5 km non-stop.

So I did continue with my walk/run training, but I ran out of time to complete the full thing, so on last Tuesday, I did 20 minutes non stop, and that was all I had time for. So I was pretty scurred I wasn't going to meet my goal.

Sunday was a gorgeous day, not at all like last year. I also had a team with me! Some work EITs joined in, some were intense runners, others were like me, trying a 5 km run for personal firsts. Mike was doing the run too!

Nice Sunny Run for the Cure

We lined up with the 15,000 other people doing the race, and once again started timing only at the start line and where we actually started running. 

So many people!

After we started running I was feeling really good! I was going a bit too slow for Mike so he went on without me, so I did the run with a friend at first, then I went off on my own (with the 100s of people at my pace). As I was passing the km marks I was remembering to last year when I stopped running at 2km, then couldn't run the 3-4 km mark etc. etc. And then I realized I was running past all of the marks. 

I was running a full 5 km. I was meeting a goal that I set almost 1.5 years ago. And that was pretty cool. 

I crossed at just under 33 minutes, so that means I had a pace at around 9.1 km/hr, not too shabby at all. 

And the best part, was I kind of want to do it again!! I will actually stick with running until it gets too cold, and my friend and I have agreed to try a 10 km in the spring. 

I think I had success because of the Burrito :)

Mmm Burrito. 

Anyone else try/do anything new this weekend? Anyone else craving Burritos?