Sturgeon Falls- Evening Rituals

So ladies and gentlemen.... this is what you do at night in Sturgeon Falls.  You PARTY at McMacken's Pub!

Ok, well, it could be that our lovely little host has his first job there working as a restaurant helper. So we made the treck to their downtown and of course, I had to make Melanie pose in front of the sign!

So Nicolas said he would take care of us if we went to his restaurant. Well, if you saw a joyful young man like this, all dressed in his Pub workwear outfit, wouldn't you go ahead and venture in?

WE DID!

...and his mom and dad did as well, here's a little bit of a decadent spinach dip thingy he made for us.

...and this was my own little bit of decadence. A delightful pulled pork naan pizza with some peppers and a side of greek salad. Ooooooh, it was good. Pub food up north is delicious!

then when we got home Gaetane offered us a pedicure/foot soak/foot scrub.

...ok, my turn, look at her face, it's like... this is serious business Chantal... your feet need some work!

It was an awesome long weekend with great friends, great food, great movies and foot massages and look... we even got to take home some delicious 'loot bag'. Paul sent us home with his own preserved banana peppers, sweet pickles, pickled beets and fresh veggies from his garden, awesome!!!!! I know!

Tangerine Dreams- trying to find healthy alternatives in the restaurant world

We recently celebrated my friend and colleagues birthday by visiting a local restaurant called Tangerine Asian Cuisine.



Nice close up, eh! Here's the link for more dets. http://www.tangerineasiancuisine.com/
There's the girls, birthday girl Nancy, there in green!

Nancy ordered the Pad Thai. Real good, portions are ginormous!!!!

Here's what I did... I really wanted the General Tso (you know fried crispy golden nuggets of chicken in a spicy tangy sauce)... but I know how big the portions are here and having a giant plate like that in front of me might be hard to resist. So instead, I opted for a dish that had lots of vegetables. Just look at my Chicken and vegetable dish. It was fantastic and sooooo huge that it doubled- as my lunch the following day. Love those big bold broccolis!

Here's another, green cury chicken, it was sooooooo  spicy and creamy (coconut milk), so I was glad to accept a bite from a friends dish.

Here's another plate of crispy fried chicken love... Spicy Manchurian Chicken. Again... had a little bite.

There you have it, a snipet into our Tangerine dream birthday lunch. It's great to go out and celebrate, it's great to order yourself the healthiest, greenest dish... and it's also great to have a little bite of your friend's dish to spice it up!

New favourite Panera Salad

Check this out... it was like a giant bowl of healthy delicious salad... perfect for sharing, right Melanie?

It's Panera's  Strawberry Poppyseed & Chicken, it's All-natural, antibiotic-free chicken, romaine, fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh pineapple, Mandarin oranges, pecans & fat-free poppyseed dressing... and I love those pecans! The whole salad is only 340 calories- you could eat it all- if you don't get a little bread on the side to fill you up.

But here's something I won't share with my daughther...

My big bowl of Cafe Latte... ooooh, I just love it, but you know, if I sprinkle cinnamon on it, she likes to put her fingers through the foam!

Neighbourhood Paninis- Fresh homemade goodness!

We had seen this new restaurant go up in our neighbourhood- diSavino's Panini-Bar and wanted to give it a try one weekend. Well, what a great discovery! It's located on Winston Churchill close to Dundas and I really recommend it!

I love Italian food!

These are all fresh, natural, homemade ingredients and sandwiches. They also have pastas and such. But look at the prices!!! So affordable!

Look, the portions are huge, we should have shared one. But I know Mella would prefer the breaded chicken cutlet... and she loved it!

.... that amazing fresh-made marinara sauce was soooo good!

I had a grilled chicken panini with roasted red peppers- my favourites!  It was awesome... so we ate half and brought the rest home in a doggy bag for Daddy!

Me and Sue and our Big Salads- Magic

What a pleasure to reconnect with my dear friend Sue. We met, wayyyyyyyyyy back at Univeristy and have kept in touch throughout the years. But recently, we found we had something in common... we both started reading The Magic by Rhonda Byrne and started living with gratitude.

Oh what an amazing gratitude-filled dinner date we had! We met at Casey's in Brampton and shared a really good healthy Asian salad- she had it with shrimp...

I had mine with grilled beef tenderloin. Yum and health all in one!

But the best part of our dinner date was talking about all the wonderful things we are grateful for in our lives and how we recognize all the special people and events that we have brought all around us. It was awesome... Thanks Sue!

Sushi Sushi, Thank You Thank You!

I love the friendships I have with the people I work with. Kelly and I who share birthdays 3 days apart decided that we would take each other out for our Birthdays- our favourite little Sushi place... then it grew into May, April and July Birthday friends too. Check out the fun we had below!

Here I am (with my camera case) with Lily (May) and Nancy (April).

And Kelly (June)- the master mind behind the plan, Iain (July) and Kim (May). So we went and ordered lots of food... and good healthy choices were part of it too.

All you can eat at Sushi Sushi- Yum Yum!

I had to take a picture of the ginger because I have friends who are crazy for it. Kim and Kelly love it so much we had to order 3 extra servings of it. Not me though, to me it burns my month.

Ok, this was not a healthy choice, but when you are sharing it with 6 others, a bite is all you need. I think it was called a Sushi pizza, but it was a fried rice cake with crab on top with spicy mayo and little veggies. Delicious new favourite.

Here's a healthy choice I always love- steamed and salted Edemame.

Ok, now back to the not so healthy tempura plate. My favourite is the sweet potato- just had a few.

My friends enjoyed some imitation crab and salmon sushi... me not so much- I like the rolls...

... and I love these. They are beef wrapped asparagus - grilled and drizzled with teriyaki sauce.. awesome creation!

And here is there little sister, Miss Salmon wrapped asparagus spears!

Ok, now, here come the action shot. Here is one of my favourite pictures ever. Lily inhaling a tempura shrimp... she looks like the poster girl for the restaurant!

Oh yeah, these friends like the raw stuff.... the best though, is that they all 'pose' for me and pretend while I take the perfect shot. I am so grateful that they support my passion... and I have even inspired Iain to start taking pictures of his culinary adventures. He comes back from the weekend and shares with me his photos and stories about the fantastic food he created or enjoyed out in the big city.

Ok, here's Kim enjoying her mango a little too much...so happy she could make it to our lunch after her busy morning appointment.

Here's me devouring my favourite little nugget- beef wrapped asparagus. Loving it so much that my eyes are going to eat it!

Here's Nancy who is more used to a North American palate. So here she is enjoying a spring roll, but wait...

... we convinced Nancy to try a California roll... and she did it... and of course- we had to capture it! Good job Nancy!

Here are some of my fav's - California Rolls, Tempura Spicy Tuna...

Tempura shrimp rolls... for the whole table of course.

These were my favourite though- with the seaweed on the outside.

So I got a real close up picture for you... I forget the name, but I think it was Dynamite Roll. Oh yeah baby, that's what's fun... going with all your friends for a little bite of everything. That's how I roll... get it, roll??? Hahaha.

Healthy Lunch Experience-Teriyaki Style

Want to know what one of the best presents were for my birthday? My husband and I spent the whole day together. I was off on my birthday and he said he was my ‘driver’ – your wish is my command- type of thing… So I said, well I have some gift certificates to spend and I have to get some ‘skinny’ clothes… so he came with me. To some this is not unusual, but you have to understand, Brent has never gone clothes shopping with me …. ever. This day was special, he came in, and acted all ‘girlfriendy’ and gave me advice and said ‘oh, yes, that top looks fabulous on you’! It was so much fun… then we had to go to the mall for other things … oh yah, bags… will show you those later. But the dilemma was … what do we eat- we need to keep it healthy, so he introduced me to Teriyaki experience.

It was great! Real delicious and they but lots of veggies, a little bit of chicken and lots of rice ( I didn’t eat all the rice though). The whole bowl has about 500 calories (if you leave half the rice). Hot and tasty Birthday Lunch!

Birthday Dinner Date- Greek it is!

I recently celebrated my 45th birthday.... You say 'What?', a woman admitting her age??? Well for me, I can't wait to get older, wiser and richer (in so many ways). I'm looking forward to getting to 50, it's the beggining of the rest of my life- my best half century, slimmer, healthier, faster, athletic, and most of all... spiritually awake and living a life of unlimited, never ending abundance and joy.... and I am on my way there folks.

To celebrate, Brent wanted to take me to dinner and a movie. I suggested Crazy Sushi, but it was under construction... so the only other choice we had with the time limit was Souvlaki Hut.

Kind of a little low key Greek place. But since it was a celebration and I had been craving a 'no so healthy' Greek meat product... Gyros. So that's what we did.

Look at that.... so much Gyros- way too much, couldn't finish it all though- and guess what, that's part of the new me... you don't have to finish your plate... and it's OK to have a 'special' treat once in a while... As long as I log it on myfitnesspal.com... I know I am on track... and guess what, after losing 65lbs, I know I'm doing something right.

Oh, and I also fill up on lots of veggies... do you know that your plate should be 1/2 veggies, 1/4 carb and 1/4 protein. I love Greek Salad! It's the feta, but not goat feta, I don't like goat cheese or goat feta, tastes like the farm to me.

And a sexy new can of Diet Coke. I prefer water usually, but you know- it's my birthday... so I enjoyed the bubbles.... Oh, are you wondering what movie we saw? It was Moonrise Kingdom and it was good and quirky and off beat. We liked it... here's a little about the movie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonrise_Kingdom

Making Subway a Healthy Alternative

What? You say. Well, out and about doing errands and Mella wants to go to her favourite. Subway- so here we go... but this time it's different.

I had a turkey sub with lots of veggies and light mayo... but this time, I put it on a 'Flatbread'. It was nice... but I think I would enjoy the whole wheat bun- better for my health. When I went back home and did the research on their website for the nutritional information I found that this flatbread has 10 more calories than the whole wheat soft bread, has 2.5 more grams of fat, and has 2 grams less than the whole wheat bun. But heck, you live and learn. And as my daughter told me the other day- YOLO Mom, what??? That means 'You Only Live Once'. She's so cool right?