Tea and Wine

Hi friends, hope your Tuesday is treating you well :)

I am trying to stop whining about all of the travel prep that I have to do, and just git'er done. [Yes, I just said that]. I have officially made myself a to-do list (about 15 pages long), and I've started checking things off - feeling good!

Workout

I did the Tone It Up 'Holiday Hotties' workout that I did on Friday again last night, and my obliques are DEFINITELY feeling it today.

I'm thinking tonight is going to be an arm night, so I'm planning on doing a couple of Blogilates routines. I expect my arms to feel like jelly afterwards - the routines seem ridiculously easy at first, but they definitely catch up with you!

I wish that I could go for a run instead, but work continues to be busy, so I can't really sneak out at lunch AND I don't really feel like running in the dark on slippery sidewalks. Safety first, n'est ce pas?

Tea and Wine

I met up with two of my besties last night for dinner at Saigon in the Byward market [I know, I just went there the other day] - its one of my current favs. It is the last time that I am going to see my travel buddy before we meet in Thailand...so crazy to think about!!

Us at the MoMA in NYC, being awesome.

We couldn't make up our minds, so we decided to get green tea and red wine. Antioxidants for days.

I got the sweet and sour soup to start. It is seriously the best thing ever - it is sweet (I even had a few pieces of pineapple in mine, so good!), it is 'sour' (à la hot & sour soup) AND it is deliciously spicy. I would def recommend it ;)

I also got the vermicelli plate, but I was so full from the soup that I got most of it to go. 

 

I added some extra lettuce and spinach to it this morning et voilà - lunch is ready!

Gotta love leftovers. 

Also, I got two of the same , clearly a lot of honour coming my way soon...?

Anywho, hope you all have an awesome day, and I will [hopefully] be back tomorrow with a full day of eats for What I Ate Wednesday! [And, yes, I realize that I promised to do this last week, but things kind of got away with me...]

A demain :)

The Art of Giving: A Soirée

Hi friends!

It's been a while - hope you are all doing splendidly :)

I want to start by giving a hug shout-out to all who were able to make it out last night for Mathare in Focus - it was a huge success! It was a great turn-out, the slam poet ArRay-of WoRds was amazing, my fellow volunteer Jimena did an amazing job of introducing CME Trust to everyone...all around a really inspiring and dedicated group of people - I am so honoured to be able to work alongside you all to raise money for such an important cause, to increase access to education for children who live in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

[Shameless plug: I will be selling calendars, which include the pictures from last night's vernissage - contact me if you are interested in purchasing one or more! $20 each :)]

Bikram Yoga & Workout

I'm probably starting to sound like a bit of a broken record, but I've been a busy beaver lately(!!). What with work, life, and prepping for my upcoming travels - 3 weeks and counting(!!!!!) - my head has been spinning a wee bit.

I actually took a little time out and went to a bikram yoga class the other night and it was exactly what I needed. I forgot how much of a cardio workout it is - it got my heart pumping on top of a full body sweat. I know, it sounds gross, but it is pretty much the most satisfying thing EVER to come out of a hot yoga class. Plus, its good for the pores - a quick way to radiant-looking skin (minus the Covergirl ;)

I am planning on squeezing this Tone It Up workout in tonight after work - let me know if you try it out!

The Art of Giving: A Soirée

I'm heading to the Art of Giving: A Soirée tonight, which is an annual gala hosted by previously-known-as-CIDA-now-DFATD, which is always a fun time to get all fancied up and drink vino with my colleagues. I somehow got suckered into volunteering at the event - I know, volunteering two nights in a row - so you will see me at the drink ticket stand ;)

Here's a group shot from last year, just after the song 'Gangnam Style' played. Turns out government workers LOVE that song.

Hope you all have a wonderful night!

Crustless Quiche with Mushrooms and Kale

Morning friends!

I hope it is as sunny as it is in Ottawa this morning where you are :)

Although it was sunny, it was a pretty frigid bike ride in this morning. From the looks of things, not many other people wanted to brave the cold bike into work this morning. Poor old bluey, all along outside today.

 

Crustless Quiche with Mushrooms and Kale

I saw this recipe on Tone It Up a little while ago, and new I had to give it a try! As I mentioned yesterday, I love it when I can make something ahead of time and be able to just reheat something in the morning for breakfast since I am generally running late...because my snooze button is kind of my best friend these days.

I remember back in the day when I worked at Café Chez Eric in Wakefield, the cook would just whip up a quiche in no time. She always said that it was easy, but I never believed her. I'm here to tell you all - it really is that easy!!

I fried up some onions and mushrooms - although, if you don't like mushrooms or kale, you can use pretty much any combination of veggies that you want. I would just be careful with tomatoes since they might make the end product a bit watery. 

I wanted to use spinach, but settled for kale since my local grocery store didn't have any spinach left. I guess everyone to it faster than I did...

I found it a bit strange to combine greek yogurt and eggs, but it gives the end product a really nice texture.

I threw it all into a casserole dish and then mixed it all together. 

And then baked it for about 30 minutes, checking every 10 minutes or so to make sure it wasn't over-cooked.

Et voila - my first quiche!

I love this recipe since it is super versatile - you can use any filling that you want - AND you don't have to be bothered with making a crust. Even though I've made pumpkin pie with my mom and sisters every Thanksgiving for my entire life (except for this one, for obvious reasons *ahem* my momster is in Egypt) I still have not mastered the art of crust-making. Maybe someday...

...in the meantime, I will avoid crust-making and have a slice of this delicious quiche instead :)

Crustless Quiche with Mushrooms and Kale

Inspired by Tone It Up’s recipe

Ingredients

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

1 cup mushrooms

1 cup kale

6 eggs

½ cup plain greek yogurt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350^oF.

Sauté onions in coconut oil in a frying pan for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add minced garlic and mushrooms and let cook for about 5 minutes. Add kale to the mix and cover until kale is fully steamed.

Place steamed veggies into an oven-safe casserole dish.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs and greek yogurt (optional). Add egg mixture to casserole dish and stir until veggies are mixed in with the egg.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until egg mixture is firm.

Serve warm and enjoy!

Fall into Fitness

Morning friends!

Welcome to the start of a new week :)

To Bike or Not to Bike

My ultimate dilemma this morning.

But, I decided that it would probably be good to warm up my leg muscles a bit this morning and stretch them out at work, otherwise I would be hobbling all over the place. I don't think I stretched enough after the race yesterday, so I was feeling a bit stiff this morning.

It was such a cool ride in this morning with the mist coming off of the Ottawa river, I'm glad I chose to ride in!