toronto, running, swimming, i found money

wow i'm losing followers. i felt a little pang of sadness but it's over now.

another quick list:

1) my potato salad recipe for the potluck turned out pretty well. everyone enjoyed it thoroughly! it was more work than i thought because i had to boil eggs and potatoes first and cool them before even starting. it's fun to separate the yolk from the white in cooled hard boiled eggs. the yolks look so funny. like little shiny orange fun balls. there was so much yummy food at the potluck ... it can all be yours in the fall for the low low price of ... um ... i don't know yet!

2) this morning i woke up super early (5:20 am) and ran four miles. i have to be at work at 8 am and i commute so i have to leave at 7:20 am and i have to shower after a run (obviously ... don't want to stink) and realistically i need 20 minutes or so after waking up to get dressed and ready to run. it was hard to wake up and i really thought about going back to sleep but once i got moving it was fine AND the city was cool and empty! AND i found a loonie and a tcc token (toronto transit $2.75) my lucky day. i went to bed last night at 10 pm to prepare for this big event.

3) last night i went swimming. at first i didn't want to, even when i got into the pool. but then i thought to myself - remember when you loved swimming? where did the love go? and i realized my problem was (and is) that i'm always trying to squish a workout in, instead of enjoying myself. so i said NO RUSH, slowed it down, and really had a great swim. i hate feeling like i have to do this, got to do it right now, right now before my next pressing activity! i need to calm down. after my swim i showered and had a steam in the change room - very luxurious. i am pretty luck to have a pool and a steam room in my building!

4) tonight is date night. we are watching canada's next top model and make me a supermodel which i taped last night. i am also lucky my "main squeeze" likes watching model shows with me.

5) good places to shop in toronto:

number one: queen street west (if you start at yonge and queen - the bay at eaton centre) go west past bay and it's awesome store heaven. and you'll get to see city tv/muchmusic building which could be cool if you've never seen it. speaker's corner is also there. good shopping goes a bit past spadina road - there is an urban outfitters and american apparel and then it dies out before bathurst street.

number two: yorkville (yonge and bloor) go up yonge to bloor and walk west on bloor - the shopping here is amazing! there is holt renfrew which carries top designers, on bloor street there is a tiffanys, a louie vuitton, a chanel... etc. obviously i don't shop there but it's nice to look. go all the way to avenue (where the royal ontario museum is) and turn north because one block up on your right is ... whole foods market! yippee! there is an awesome cheap but nice restaurant called hemingways here.

number three: kensington market, this place is a world in it's own. i love it.

making food now for later

this week i'm trying out something new. on friday at lunch i went to the walmart supercentre by my office. there is a lot of great shopping by my office - this could lead to problems down the road as i tend to get carried away and spend money like a drunken sailor. that's not true, but i do buy myself a lot of things.

anyhoo, at the walmart supercentre, they had boneless skinless chicken breasts, unfrozen, on 5 big ones for $9. to me that's cheap, so i bought a pack. i also bought a package of ground turkey. except it wasn't "ground" it was "minced" - which basically means that it looked like sick turkey worms in a package. i just held my breath and put it in the cart.

i decided to do some cooking in advance to see if it would make my dinners and lunches easier during the week. on saturday i used one chicken breast between my bf and i, and he still complained that there was "so much chicken!" i think he doesn't appreciate chicken as much as i do. i think he would prefer a steak. well - since i know the nutritional value of both, i prefer chicken and that's what i'm cooking. this is besides the point.

moving on, on sunday i made the remaining four "chicken boobies" as bi0nic would say. i chopped them into cubes, and just cooked them on a skillet pan on my stove. i used some of the meat in a wrap for lunch, with avocado and spinach, except i didn't get to eat it because i FORGOT MY LUNCH AT HOME. yes, i'm still bitter. i brought it today though.... relax... breathe deeply... ok. i figure they will be good in wraps, on sandwiches, or just thrown in salads.

i used the "minced" turkey to make turkey taco meat, for taco salads. i just browned the turkey, then added a low-sodium taco seasonings package et voila! dinner for four. i'm not sure i would do this again because although it's tasty, each serving is four points and not very volumous, if you know what i mean. i had it for dinner tonight but it got lost in the shuffle - i added too many different vegetables and it dwarfed the meat. live and learn. i have three more portions so i'm sure by the fourth i'll have perfected my taco salad masterpiece.

eat and sleep and swim

last night i went for a 40-minute swim, and then this morning i went for another 40-minute swim. it's just so easy and painless. by the end of it, i feel like i've worked hard. i am not dead tired, not really that out of breath, but my muscles are sore. i'm mostly just a bit cold and sick of being wet, if that makes sense.

check out this crazy picture i found of a white tiger swimming:

looks just like me. grrrrrr. how would you like to run into that beast in the deep end? yikes!

in other news, tonight for dinner i am making chicken enchiladas. it's date night and i am in a date cooking rut. my boyfriend is easy to please with the stupidest foods. he is polish and grew up with his mom cooking gourmet meals all of the time so he missed out on things like hot dogs and macaroni and cheese and now it's a big novelty for him. i have never made chicken enchiladas before but i'm ready. i'm looked up a few recipes and have the gist of it down: roll up filling, place in tomato saucy pan, cover with more sauce, some cheese, bake. i think i will fill mine with onions, red pepper, chicken, a bit of cheese, and green onions. i'm starting simple with things i know i like and can experiment next time. i'm serving the enchiladas with a side of zatarain's red beans and rice which i have never made before but seems to be pretty popular based on my google image search.

i'm going to try and squeeze in some yoga before my boyfriend comes over. in other news, i downloaded the new lily allen CD, "it's not me, it's you" and it's amazing. loving it! i got the explicit version but it's also available without swearing on iTunes.

cutting corners

last night i was feeling really sick. my throat was hurting and i felt really weary, so i got into bed around 10 and read until 10:30. i should mention that before i went to bed i slathered my head in olive oil. my hairdresser said i should do this for the good of my hair and my scalp. i put on one of those head towels but took it off halfway through the night because it was stifling me. my hair was dry by then anyway.

i got up early and went swimming. i wet my hair in the shower, put on conditioner, wet the new swim cap i got yesterday, and put that on too. hopefully it made a difference. they didn't have any silicone caps at walmart, only rubber ones and fabric ones, so i got a fabric one. it said it blocks out the chlorine. i can't imagine it blocks out all the chlorine, but i mainly just want something to keep the conditioner on my hair for as long as possible. afterwards i used my new violet shampoo. it was sort of expensive but i got a really big container which was more economical than the little ones. i didn't buy the same brand of conditioner because i thought the shampoo was more important.

since it's still sort of early, i am going to make a to-do list and get things done. i am going to clean and vacuum my apartment, put on tunes and really get in the swing of things, then apply for some more jobs. in the afternoon i am heading to the burbs because tonight i have plans with my mom to bake chocolate chip cookies. my mom makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. no cookie rivals her cookies. and i am not just saying this. everyone who tries them is hooked. if her neighbours hear that she is baking cookies, they come knocking on the door asking for a plate. she uses both dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips, and the cookies stay chewy forever. forever! you can break a cookie in two and there will be no crumbs, just two delicious cookie halves. anyhoo. we are making cookies because tomorrow night is my boyfriends birthday party and i thought having cookies would be an excellent party addition. and because i have nothing to do tonight until late and i thought it would be a good opportunity for some mom time. since i have been eating these cookies since the dawn of time i'm not as tempted by them as newcomers. all i need is one or ten still warm and gooey from the oven. i kid!

i am also making egg salad sandwiches for the party, but i'm doing that tomorrow. the thought of serving day-old egg sandwiches is pretty raunch. i personally, don't think egg salad sandwiches are that great, but i made them for my party and they were gone so fast, and my sister raved on and on about them. it was my first time making them too. all of those eggs and mayo... my points tracker shudders at the thought. the trick is to add a dash of curry powder. and omit the chopped celery because celery is sick.

i forgot to ask this question: does anyone feel when they are counting points that they are cutting corners? for example, eating 1/4 cup of 3 or 4 different veggies, all 0 points each, or adding 1/4 cup all bran to your cereal for 0 points (it really is 0 points... but not 0 calories!).

and finally, yesterday at walmart i bought a value pack of 80-100 calories chocolate bars. there are six of each of aero bars, kit kats, and coffee crisps. i'm thinking that if i allow myself one every day, it will reduce my cravings, and i will be less inclined to act upon my cravings since i know i can have another one tomorrow. hopefully this plan works!

it's wednesday

last night went by too fast. i got home from work, cleaned out the food cupboards and the inside of the fridge, behind the fridge, the floor, etc. i re-organized the cabinets and now it seems much more organized... not necessarily spacious but less cluttered with that things-thrown-in-randomly look.

then i made myself another gigantuan salad with spinach, a chopped roasted sweet potato (one of the biggest i've ever seen), spicy thai flavoured shrimp (15... they are little), roasted almond slivers, baby tomatoes, frozen peas (cooked), and honey mustard dressing. sound weird? it was delicious!

and THEN i went down to the gym, did a quick 15 minute walk on the treadmill, did some upper and lower body strength training, sit-ups, and then 15 minutes on the stationary bike.

my pants are feeling tight today and i don't like it. it's also chilly willy nilly again and i don't like that. however, today is wednesday and date night and antm night which is alright with me. my bf is sick so i am going to make a nice warm dinner tonight: mrs. furious's turkey and meatball soup. i have the soup, noodles and turkey meatballs already so it should be really easy and quick. i will probably add more meatballs and noodles... maybe. it depends on how lonely they look in the pot. i have never made this before but hear wonderful things about it.

a quick thing about meatballs. i have been making my own turkey meatballs with ground turkey, egg, bread crumsb, some parm... rolling up that gross raw meat with my bare hands... all in the name of health. i thought these meat balls were the bomb diggity. last friday i walked home from work and passed an m & m's meat shop. i went in to see if they had turkey meatballs and they did, so i bought them. anyhoo, my bf must have said a thousand times how tasty these meatballs are—he never said anything nice about the homemade meatballs i SLAVED over. actually i'm sure i asked him how they were and he said, "good" but that is a big diff from raving on and on about them. so - no more will i put my hands in that meaty goo. i'm going to buy the m & m's meatballs and be done with it.

i forget what else i was going to talk about today. this morning i ran for 4 miles... it was not the most fun but i'm more than halfway to my goal of 15 miles per week. i've added a summer challenge sidebar. today's menu is:

1/2 banana with pb
1/3 fibre source bar
coffee

regular quaker instant oatmeal with flax
added 1/4 cup shreddies
clementine

source yogurt
strawberries

cinnamon spice oatmeal with pumpkin and 1/4 cup shreddies
sugar snap peas with hummus

turkey meatball soup
whole wheat roll
salad