MOVING!

Hey all...

I think its about time I move from blogger to wordpress. So please update your google reader with my new website address!

The Optimalist

Check'r out & tell your friends =)

winner winner chieken dinner

Hey all... once again i've been a little off with the posting but I have been reading all your blogs and keeping up with your fabulous lives & eats. This post is dedicated to dinners. I have five off the best, good and not so good dinners and one bomb dessert!

Numero UnA Little Stir fry topped with some Teriyaki sauce. Rating GOOD.

Numero DeuxI got this recipe of Eating Well. Its a bunch of zucchini and mushrooms chopped up and sauteed together with some pepper. Rating NOT SO GOOD. It was very bland. I ate about a third of the serving and had to toss it out because it was very satisfying. I even added in grape tomatoes and parmesan to heighten the non-existant flavour but that failed.

Numero Trois
El Taco SaladThis is always a safe bet for me for dinner. I didn't have any refried beans so the dish was a little incomplete imho but i gobbled it up anyways.

Numero Quatre
This was another recipe I got off of Eating Well. I followed the recipe but then i added in carrots and grapes and used very little of the dressing I had to prepare. Once again i was unsatisfied but this dinner. Plus the dressing used a butt load of mayo and I'm not a fan of mayo. Rating NOT SO GOOD.

I also had a venti iced americano with a shot of SF caramel... not so good either. I prefer the ones I make at my work =) Numero Cinq
Well I saved THE BEST for last. This was last nights dinner and boy was it good. I had some veggies on the side topped with some hot sauce because we ran out of soya sauce.
Then for the main dish I had some bbq roasted veggies (zuc, shrooms and pototo) along side a Yves Garden Veggie Burger. Yeah thats right I used lettuce as a make shift bun because we had none left in my hizzo and i'm not really a fan of buns anyway. I topped my v burger with tomato, grilled onion, pickles, slice of white cheddar andmustard and ketchup. Freaking GOOOD! I didn't want this dinner to end.
and bonus dessert!
Low Fat Vanilla Jello (made from the package! go me!) and a bbq'ed apple that was coated with sugar and cinnamon. I tossed in a few blueberries for some colour to! Holy Yum was this ever good! Rating THE BEST! I see a repeat of this in the very near future

Question... What websites do you girls use to search for cheap flights?
As some of you know I'm going to be an au pair in Italy and I've been trying to find cheap flights there. I have looked at all the typical cheap flight search sites but do any of you have this top secret website you use?

Also 28 days till I'm nineteen.. which for you americans makes me totally legal in canada muahaha i forsee trouble in the future =) Happy long weekend to my fellow Canadians!

EDIT: I got in a nice run today
5.47 miles in 49:35 minutes wooot!
I haven't been up to running much lately since its been ridiculously hot here in vcity... like 30+ degrees (roughly 90 F for the americans out there)

...back from the desert. and then a few days

I got back from Kelowna last thursday afternoon and well haven't had the motivation to do a post. However, I'm thinking of switching to wordpress because I set up an account there a few months ago and well yeah. I imported all my blog posts... soo maybe you'll see a change of address in the coming weeks.

Kelowna was wonderfully awesome. My flight went well - I was scared beyond belief because like I said before I haven;t been on a plane for nearly 7 years! The flight took about 35 minutes so basically the plane took off and we landed haha. Good prep for my flying marathon I'm going to have to endure when I go to venice to be an au pair.

Tidbit on my au pair situ. - I'm 99.9% going. i handed in my visa application last friday and it should be ready on the 24th. SO this cheaply chic biatch is going to be paying one hefty sum for a plane ticket and getting her bootay to italia! I'm so excsatic your have to no idea. I can't believe I'm actually following through with my actions because i hardly ever do. I make all this big plans and well never do them.

Anyways back to my Kelowna recap. I was there for about three days and I spent two days at the beach and got my tan on, saw my family, fought with my mom (boo!), did two 3 mile walk/runs around my aunties neighbs (it was so hard not to get lost - thankfully I didn't!), paid $4.79 for an organic bell pepper (no bueno!) and drove home without getting car sick. Successful mini vacation if I do say so myself.

I got home and the first thing I did was go to see the new HP film with my little sister. Pure amazingness! I'm now on a Harry Potter kick and I'm currently re-reading the last HP book.

I'm now getting into workoholic mode (in my opinion at least). This week I'm working four days then next week is the dreaded five day week. I know I shouldn't complain about working five days cause everyone in the adult world does but working at my coffee shop for forty hours a week isn't good for one's sanity and well being.

Bear with me on this post its almost done....

Yesterday I needed some more exercises after eating to many fatty baked goods from my work so I walked my butt up to the bank & chapters. I bought Julie & Julia and then another little trinket for myself...It was 30% off so I had to get! I can't wait to start reading J &J.

This morning I woke up and got myself reading to go for a run. I cut it in half and I'm going to the other part later tonight because its hot out! I'm actually doing my exercising today in two parts to sort of shake up my current routine. Before I headed it out I had a Fit Collegiate moment and created this bad boy (wrong choice of words..?).I ditched the bread and jsut ate the naner, jam & pb. I did 3.16 miles this morning in 34 minutes then I came home and road my stationary bike for 30 minutes. Then i made my breaky - faux pancakes anyone. (no pic!)

I lazed around painted my toes and made plans to go to the beach tomorrow. Then I did the other half of my bike workout - another thirty minutes on mr.bike. I was one sweaty mess after that session. Then I'm going to go do another 2.5 mile walk later tonight after dinner. Ciao for now girls!

- Congrats to the infamous Jenna from Eat, Live, Run for making it so far in the Murphy Goode job quest. Although she didn't get the job, she did get another job opportunity with another winery!

off to the desert

hello chikitas! How've y'all been the last week. Well I've been wanting time to fast super fast and it has and tomorrow I'm heading to Kelowna (a town in the interior of BC), I'm so stoked! I get to fly up there to - totally beats dying in a Greyhound bus for 6 hours. Its the first time I've been on a plane for almost 7 years. Craziness I'm kinda nervous cause since the last time I went on plane i started getting car sick & motion sickness really easy so we'll see how the situation goes.

Now onto the food... I`ve been a bad blogger and only snapped a few pictures but here we go!
I`m totally in love with the faux pancake recipe - some of you seem a bit skeptical of it but its goood!Veggie Salsa Salad - one veggie burger, refried beans, salsa, sour cream and some bbq roasted pepper. YUM!Just a mixed green salad nothing to specialso i added some zuchini and roasted yam frites on the side.I FINALLY found kale at whole foods the other day so I tested out the kale chip recipe.... I was slightly impressed but I thought these chips were gunna rock my world like the first time I tried sweet potato fries. I`ll more than likely have them again if I can ever find kale!

Update on my au pair news - so i`m 95% sure I`m going. I just need to go back to the Italian embassy and hand it my application again (because i forgot passport photos the last time ugh!).

Hope you all have a good week. I`m going to enjoy my last few days of freedom before I start working 4-5 days a week at my coffee shop (not cool!).

I`ll leave with a picture of my lovely town vancouver! (I love this citttyyy)

step by step recipe

I have no finsihed Bethenny Frankel's Naturally Thin book and I have picked up a few good recipes from that chica... my favourite is her faux pancakes. Now I'm gonna do something a bit different - I'm gunna give you a recipe how to!

So here we go...
--I use 1/2 cup of egg whites, splash of milk, splash of vanilla extract, cinnamon, cocoa powder, shredded coconut and a little bit of oatmeal.
Step 1- Add desired ingredients to a bowl (or in my case mixing cup). You can put whatever you want in these pancakes Bethtenny says to use 2 egg whites & 1 whole egg. Do what your heart desires!

Step 2 - MIX until frothy (you can skip this step but i like the fluffiness of the final product when it is done this way)

Step 3 - Put a non stick pan on a medium heat, spray with a non stick spray or use butter. Pour mix into pan. Step 4 - Let the mix sit for about a minute then start using your spatula to life away the edges. Keep lifting at the edges. Take a peak and look at the underside of the "pancake" and once it turns golden brown you can flip it (carefully!).
Step 5 - Let the pancake cook for about another 1-2 minutes until the other side becomes golden brown then slide the pancake out of the pan onto your plate! Then top with whatever ingredients your craving! PB & J, syrup, honey & nuts, yogurt & fruit... GO FOR IT!

Final product... I used a bit more cocoa powder today cause I had a chocolate craving so its darker than normalHere is Bethenny's recipe so you can try her way out first then make your own modifications!

1/4cup of eggwhites
1 whole egg
1/4 tsp vanilla or strawberry extract
1 tsp of raw sugar or sweetner

1. Heat plan or medium-high heat. Spray with non stick cooking spray.
2. In a bowl mix; eggs, extract and sugar. Pour mixture into pan and stir lightly.
3. When egg is firm on one side carefully flip over. When it is fully cooked and fluffy move it to a plate.
4. Top with fresh fruit or some real maple syrup.

Please try it out! You can have two of these fauxpankes for the price of one very very small real pancake!

Happy Canada Day!

Yes that's right its Canada bday today! Gotta love my country! Representing that red and white.

Last night my sister and her friend went to the Jo bro's concert downtown so i tagged along on my parents date (haha lame!) and we ventured around Vancouver. We went to Kingston Taphouse & Grille. The food was really good and the portions were spot on - none of the six servings to one person junk! I got the Steveston Health Salad which had a nice lemon mustard seed vinagrette with wild greens, artichoke hearts, grape tomatos, pumpkin seeds and onions.

We still had two hours to kill until the concert was done so we went to the Vancouver Convention Centre and wandered around watching hte people set up for the big Canada day festivities. Then we proceeded down to Robson (my favourite street downtonw because it has all the shops). I went into lululemon and bought myself a workout top and a yoga mat! I went into Zara and they were having a wicked sale but they were closing so i may go back today and burn some more cash.

We walked around for another hour then went to GM place to pick up my sister and oh my god it was a gong show girls screaming and chasing tour buses and luxury black suvs trying to locate a Jo bro - madness i tell ya! We went to casa di gelato (it has 218 flavours!!) and i got cappucino flava. But i also tried PB and strawberry, cranbery & rosemary and cream soda.

I woke up today and went and did walking/run interval thingy for 5 miles. I was so proud of how much i ran - it must be the new lulu shirt!

The other day I learned how to make an omelet and well needless to say that has been my breaky for the past few days...Heres my new favourite dinner dish... Veggie salsa salad!one veggie burger, refried beans, salsa, sour cream and greens mixed all together. BUENO!

Then for breakfast today I decided to try my version of the Naturally Thin faux pancakes....
I used half a cup of egg whites, splash of milk, cinnamon, half a tsp of vanilla extract and some coconut. I whipped them in my drink blender so they were all well... whipped! I topped my faux pancake with some yogurt, cherries, strawberries, pineapple, coconut and cinnamon!

Now I'm off to watch the firework show in my town at the park!

a little tardy

I know I said I would update on monday but well its Thursday and yeah... My weekend was pretty great! My friend Nick has a party on friday because he and my other friend are leaving for a euro trip for 2 whole months! It was a total gong show and so much fun! There was way to much alcohol but that lead to some ridiculously good times. On friday i also got my hair cut =) (sorry I dont have good picture yet because I`ve been to lazy to style my hair). You girls seemed to be pretty stoked on the fact that I got to work with hot lifeguards... well so was I!! My coffee shop has a location at rec centre and well I got trained to work there and got to oogle and awe at the sexy boys! Yeah I`m a creep haha. Saturday morning I woke up pretty early despite nursing a bit of an h.o. to workout then make my sister a cupcake cake for her bday! Probably the least organic and healthiest thing I have ever fed to a family member...But the girls at her party enjoyed them! Yay points for being a good sister!

Alright down to the grub... I have no idea when this food is from but it was the best of the weeks eats... Portobello mushroom grilled with garlic, balsamic and topped with parmesan reggiano with some asparagites!
Salad with mango, carrots and romaine dressed with Balsamic Vinegar with a few brocs on the side!
One miniature (seriously dwarfed) sweet potato and some asparagites! Apple & Naner oats with nuts and maple syrup TASTY TASTY!
Salad with shredded carrot (yeah i tried it brooke!), strawberry, chicken, romaine lettuce, parmesian cheese dressed with Balsamic Vinegar! Sundays breakfast a mix of fruit, yogurt, choco chips, special k and part of a homemade crepe! Oh with a little bit of whipped cream =)

So I've been seriously craving the Balsamic this week but its soo good! My dad always tops our salads with evoo & balsam. but balsamic by itself is even better!

On the exercise front I went to yoga again and oh man it kicked my but luckly one of my coworkers was at the glass and gave me a box of Coconut Juice which saved my life! Seriously hardest yoga class ever but my body needed it. I literally had sweat running into my eyes (tmi?!).

I've been reading some good books lately... The time travelers wife.. I'm about 150 pages in and its pretty good so far. I also bought Naturally Thin... I'm just about done so I'm gunna do a review on that once i finish it off! I'm off to watch some wimbledon and eat some breaky!

Oh and meg I use unsweetened Coconut on my oats... i cook it in with it so the flavour has a chance to sweep out!