New Year's In Ottawa

G and I decided that we didn't want to spend New Year's in Toronto, so we forced ourselves upon our friends P and M in Ottawa.

Fortunately, they are good sports. Unfortunately, P had to work the entire time we were there. We still managed to fit in a trip to the movies to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and also had a lovely dinner at Beckta. But during the day, M played tour guide and took us on a beautiful walk in Gatineau Park.



After that icey walk, we went for a BIG breakfast at the Empire Grill in the Market area.

I had steak and eggs...


M had the Empire Breakfast... which I didn't get a photo of...

And G had the breakfast poutine. G had a lot of poutine that weekend!


It was basically home fries topped with bacon, eggs, cheese and hollandaise sauce. Heavens!

However, when we got to Ottawa, P treated us to a specialty item she had picked up...


What are mini truffle peaches? Well they taste like heavily truffled olives. The smell of the oil they were packaged in was just so musky that it was hard to sit right next to it!!!


They were delicious, though, but something you could only eat in the most serious of moderation. But that being said, I do have to confess that I am not a huge fan of truffle. It's very overpowering. I am sure with a very light touch, it would add amazing things to food, and these peaches-that-tasted-like-olives had just the slightest taste of truffle, but an overwhelming smell! Thank goodness for bubbly to wash it all down!

A great time was had by all. Well, I suppose I shouldn't speak for P and M, but a great time was had by G and I. Dinner at Beckta was really nice, but I didn't take any photos. It was a quiet night and I just wanted to sit back and relax and enjoy dinner. Now to be honest, the only thing I really remember about the meal (besides the astronomic cost) was the disappointing (and frankly gross) starter of fried ravioli and the HEAVENLY smore I had for dessert. Please sir, can I have s'more? Actually, I may have taken a picture of that smore on my phone, and if so, I will post later. But the restaurant is nice and the food was decent. I probably would have to say that I enjoyed the overall experience at Benitz Bistro more, but I have been really surprised by how cozy the restaurants in Ottawa are overall. It's quite enjoyable!

We took the train to and fro, and on the way home, we stopped at this sandwich place that specializes in Montreal Bagels (WAYYYYYY TO GO) called Kettleman's. WOWIE.


This was my delicious chicken breast toasted bagel sandwich.

THIS....


was G's HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK montreal smoked meat sandwich. It was probably one of the most delicious sandwiches EVER and the next time we are in Ottawa, I am going to have one ALL TO MYSELF. G was gracious and gave me two big bites of hers. (I didn't share my chicken one!)

Ottawa is a great city and I'd love to live there. It's so beautiful and calm and green. Well, it would have been green had it not been absolutely POUNDED by snow while we were there. If you haven't been, you should go. Who knows, P and M might let you stay with them, too!

(I don't know why I am all about the all CAPS tonight. Must be the migraine medicine kicking in!)

What was that, was that me?

Oh, tee hee! There's Mii and YES YOU READ IT RIGHT my BMI is officially (or as official as the Wii Fit is) NORMAL!!!!! NORMAL!!!!! It's been awhile since I've checked it, but I did this morning and that right there is the look of normal. NORMAL. Not overweight, just plain jane blink and you'll miss me NORMAL!

Bragging done. Thanks for rolling your eyes in the privacy of your own home (or office or computer lab or whatever). LONG LIVE THE WII!

Give to Haiti.

I have made a donation to the Haiti earthquake- Canadian Red Cross to help those suffering in Haiti, and I urge you to do so, too.

The Canadian Red Cross can be found at: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=000043&tid=016

Doctors Without Borders can be found at: http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

UNICEF can be found at: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/haiti_52474.html

Feed the Children can be found at: https://secure.csfm.com/canadianfeedthechildren/index_haiti.php

Or give to any other charities that you like. But do give, every little bit counts.

Oh yeah... Dinner Fit for a Queen!

So normally I am weeks (months, even) behind in posting about meals, but tonight's meal was so rock awesome and so right on the Weight Watcher's points that I had to turn on my computer, out down the book I am reading (what am I reading? well, since you asked, Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde), and blog this bad boy.

It looks like a right mess, but it was a right mess of DELICIOUS! It's what I am calling "Fast Huevos Rancheros". For those of you who know me, or read my blog like the Bible (that's right, every night before bed), you may have picked up on the fact that I love Huevos Rancheros in all it's many forms. From my first taste in Santa Fe, to the many many many versions I have made at home, I think it's one of the overall best meals on the planet. But, alas, G is not keen. *Sigh* So, which G is away tonight being all Board of Director-y, I made up a mess of dinner.

Apparently, Huevos Rancheros (Or Ranch Eggs) was essentially a meal served on the farm to fill up the men-folk who were working hard and burning a kajillion calories. It's really caught on in America (I went to an Ihop once that had a version on the menu!) and is something that I rarely order out since I really like my own. However, I've only recently started eating fried eggs on mine instead of scrambled eggs (ooh, radical!), so my new version is currently my favorite!

It's basically this: Three of the baked tostadas that we've been using (1 pt for 3)... wowie, really crunchy, really corny, hold their shape, delish; topped with 1/3 cup of low-fat refried beans (I only had 1/3 cup left... we've had lots of mexican food, you'll see in upcoming posts) (.5 points), two eggs fried in only a smattering of cooking spray (4 points), topped with two tablespoons of ready made enchilada sauce (mine was from the freezer, a batch I made months ago. .5 points), and sprinkled with 2/3 ounce of cheddar cheese (2 points), and some chopped fresh tomato (0 points). If I had been more patient, I would have put the plate under the broiler to melt the cheese, but I knew the eggs were just the perfect amount of runny yolk and done-ness, so I didn't dare! Really a fantastic dinner!

(I've had people question the eating of 8-10 points for dinner, and I have to say, it's how I function. I like having big filling dinners, and regularly spend 10-12 points on dinner alone. It works for me, I am a big fan of three meals a day.)

(And the picture, I am in a low-lit room and can't tell if the picture is really dark or if it's just me... sorry if it sucks, but I know you are used to it by now!)

Matzoh Ball Soup.

Some times you just want some comfort. Matzoh Ball Soup provides that comfort. Well, specifically, G's matzoh ball soup provides that comfort! This is so great, chicken stock that G made from scratch, with some carrot mixed in because it's my favorite, and big fluffy matzoh balls. The balls are from a mix, but were really fantastic. I am not a fan of soup for dinner normally, but really enjoyed this warm soup!

2010 -- New Me!

I can't believe that it's the year 2010. I don't have a flying car and I can't teleport, but I never legitimately imagine something as huge as the internet, or as awesome as my iPhone, so I suppose it's a fair trade. An enormous amount of info all at our fingertips is incredible, and something I can't believe I used to live without.

What I am MORE THAN HAPPY to live without is the 26 pounds I have lost using Weight Watchers and Wii EA Sports Active! I don't tend to post photos of myself on this blog, but I think it's funny that so many of us take photos of ourselves in the mirror and I admire those who post them, so here goes...


This is one of my new size 8 suits and the first shirt I have worn tucked in since the 7th grade, so yippie!

I can't really express how thankful I am about the whole weight loss and sticking with the diet and everything... over the course of the holiday's, my exercise became sporadic and my eating not much better but I still tracked every single day and realized that if I was able to keep tracking with all the crazy going on, then I would definitely be able to keep doing this. And I do believe that I will continue with Weight Watchers for at least the nearest long future, and I have kept with the Wii for longer then I would have ever thought possible.

So I've met my goal weight, which is awesome, and I might eventually lose more, but I might not. So far, this is really good, and I am really happy with where I am. So yeah, 2009 was a weird year, and it's the very futuristic sounding 2010, and it's all pretty dang good.

Christmas!

Christmas was a bit stressful in my old hometown. There was a blizzard. Yes, a blizzard. In northeastern Oklahoma. A BLIZZARD.


And then, there was the not so added joy of my brother falling on the ice while trying to clear the snow from the car and breaking his knee cap. There was the no joy adding long drive to the hospital, the no joy there sitting around in the hospital waiting to see what's what, and then the long slog home and the joyous task of getting my poor percocet laden broken knee brother through the ice and up the stairs to his room! We made it!!!!!!

From there, though, all things being equal, Christmas kind of rocked. I got some great presents (OU Snuggie, oh yeah!) and everyone seemed to enjoy what I got them. My family was impressed by my 26 pound weight loss (oh yeah yeah!) and since my brother broke his knee we spent the rest of the time that I was home cooking meals and being home together. Which was awesome. I think it was a bit of a reminder for all of us to slow-down (though I am sure D wishes he could get going faster). Most of the time when I am home we end up spending so much time running around trying to fit in all the restaurants and shopping and stuff that we want to do, that we don't get to just hang out together. So this was a very mixed blessing, but also a really nice time with my family. (Silver lining, indeed.)

Work Potluck Party.

The week between Christmas and New Year's was very short this year. Monday and Friday were holidays, and my boss graciously closed the office at 1:00 on New Year's Eve, so the work week was short and sweet. A couple of years back, I organized a potluck that occurred during this week, and it was such a success that this year, I brought the tradition back. Everyone who was working that week was asked to bring a dish to share. It was great!!!

I brought a Greek Orzo Salad.

This is a GREAT salad, oddly low-point, and delicious. It's basically just a mix of cooked orzo, cut-up cooked chicken breast, feta cheese, veggies such as olives, roasted red pepper, and artichoke hearts, stirred with some sort of oil and vinegar sauce. Spice and herb it up as much (or as little) as you like. Really easy, but I made WAYYYY too much.

One of the other lawyers made a delicious scalloped potato dish in her new slow cooker, but had a slow cooker accident and it broke! But the scalloped potatoes were saved!! Yeah!


Really delicious.

We also had some pad thai...


Which was fantastic. We also had amazing spring rolls handmade by one of the paralegal's grandmother (they own and operate a Chinese restaurant)!


We also had absolutely FANTASTIC bourek (both meat and cheese) that were hand-made by one of our paralegals who SHOULD have a restaurant (at the last potluck she made the most wonderful cabbage rolls!).


Look at those lovely bourek! Such a wonderful treat for us.

The paralegal I work with brough amazing Russian meatballs.

These were really different tasting meatballs. I am not certain what type of meat they were, but the sauce was really unique. O said that the sauce is basically a sour cream and ketchup mix that was kind of sweet, and totally moreish!

One of the other lawyers brought a great fruit salad...


This was good because we had a lot of heavy dishes, so having something sweet and fresh was very nice.

And then, there were DELICIOUS homemade custard tarts...


But wait, there's more...


These were homemade and absolutely amazing. Way to go, C, these were a total treat!

It was a great potluck, lots of fun and I really appreciated that everyone participated.

The Macaron Hunt Continues.

As those of you who read my blog regularly may know, I fell in love with the traditional French macaron when visiting Laduree for the first time in Paris. Amazing experience, and one that I think of to this day.

Whenever I see them, I have to try them, and during a recent shopping jaunt through Yorkville, G and I took a detour to MoRoCo Chocolat. This place is fantastic! It has a gorgeous little cafe that G and I are going to go back to when we are in the mood for brunch, and stunning white and glass cabinets filled to the brim with the blessed Macarons.


I couldn't wait to get home to break into the package. The white are vanilla, the green is pistachio, and the purple is lavender cassis. I am a purist, I love the vanilla. In fact, Laduree vanilla is the benchmark that all other macarons must meet.

Sad to say, this one was not quite there, though they were lovely. First, the vanilla was not nearly pronounced enough. Second, the filling was too light, almost more of a whipped cream. It was lovely, too, but just not quite there. That being said, I'd eat another one and would go back in a second to try the cafe.

If you've not been there and you find yourself in Yorkville, give it a go.

Breakfast of Champions!

Fried eggs, fried okra, grilled halloumi, and half an english muffin. Bring it!

Hamburgers!

I often read WW blogs from the US with envy. There is so much access to low-point substitutes in the States that we don't have in Canada. So you can imagine how much I rejoiced when I saw the one point Pita Break sandwich thins! I snapped them up and headed home to try out a great hamburger idea!


Yippie! We took the hamburger buns and toasted them in the oven, cooked the hamburger patty (just super lean meat with a little salt and pepper) in a very hot pan on the stove top, mashed up some avocado with a little bit of chipotle hot sauce, sliced some tomato, and grabbed some fat free cheese slices from the fridge! It was very filling, totally delicious, and really satisfied my hamburger craving.

The hamburger buns were brilliant, though because of the holes, the toppings ran out a bit. But I really enjoyed it, and G actually ate all of the bun, which she never does with traditional hamburger buns!

I've been seeing these buns all over, so run to your neighborhood Loblaw's and get some!

Sunny Days.

Bean and Bello relaxing in the sunroom. Ah. They have a hard life!

Two Dinners -- Delicious and Low-Point!

Look at that pizza! It's probably been one of the most difficult things to lighten, especially since I can't seem to find any low-point pizza base ideas that I see on other blogs (other than tortillas and english muffins, neither of which I like as a pizza base)... I tend to save about half my points for dinner each day, so I often will have a 9 or 10 point dinner without any issue, and I am more than happy to give an extra point or two from my weekly allowance for such delicious indulgences.

For this pizza, I used a pizza crust that Whole Foods makes, thin crust, whole wheat and really delicious IF you spray the crust with cooking spray and sprinkle on a bunch of herbs before making the pizza. If you don't, it's a bit bland. Anyway, half of that comes out to be about 6 points. I added low-fat moz, turkey pepperoni, some low-point sauce and a TON of veggies. Really delicious and well-worth the points.

Another good alternative for a full-fat dinner? Healthy fish and chips!


Look at that! We used the President's Choice Blue Menu Haddock fillets, and I oven baked some potatoes. Look how brown and crisp they are! I have to give a huge THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to the You Tube video's that the WW Chick puts up. Her chili cheese fries was inspiring. I make the fries by cutting up the potatoes, spraying liberally with cooking spray and adding about 1 teaspoon or so of oil and salt and pepper and chili powder. Put on a well-sprayed baking pan, put in the oven (450 degrees) initially for about 5 minutes then put in the pan about three ice cubes. Close the oven and cook for another 10 or so minutes, flip over and cook for about 15 more. They get super crispy. Our nod to the Brits was to include peas, though they weren't mushy. I love this canned pea, Lucerne Canned Baby Peas. I have eaten them since I was a little girl and I really really love them. They don't really taste like peas, but they totally hit the spot.

Two great dinners for reasonable points. G loved them, too!

Dinner -- Chicken Fried Rice

I have no claim to making authentic Chinese food, and I am sure that people would scoff at the lack of authenticity of this meal... but, it was great for us and pretty low-point, too!

I basically took some While Foods frozen brown rice and cooked it in the microwave per the instructions. While that was cooking, I quickly scrambled two egg whites and set aside. Then I cooked an onion with some garlic, chopped cooked chicken and peas with a bit of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. I then stirred in the rice and a TON of freshly cracked black pepper. Tossed in the egg, and served. It was really fast, really delicious, and the points can vary depending on the ingredients you use. Just use the Recipe Builder on the WW Online site to figure yours out!

Merry Christmas!!!

Look at that face. Buddy is here to tell you that we take Christmas very seriously in this house, and so should you!!!

I am home for the holidays and glad I am. We're having a pretty serious blizzard outside, and so we are all huddled in, watching holiday movies, eating pie, and basking in holiday cheer. Buddy on the other hand wants to know what all the hoopla is about! Wait til he gets his present tomorrow, he'll be impressed then!

My family bought me a new Christmas ornament this year...


It's a skinny reindeer (to celebrate my hitting my goal weight! go me!) who's making what I can only assume are light but delicious cookies. G's ornament is a penguin, celebrating her love of the animal...

Cute!

We also had Christmas dinner today -- most of the pictures turned out to be kind of crap, but never fear. In addition to the two photog classes under my belt, I have now also purchased a Nikon D60 guide! (Thanks Aunt Linda for the Barnes and Noble gift card!!!) We'll ALL benefit from my taking better pics, no two ways about it!

But, I liked my photo of the dressing...


Yum! My brother makes AWESOME dressing. And this year, I decided to make stuffed mushrooms. I used an onion, celery, mushroom, and sausage mix to stuff. I finally convinced my brother to try it, and he LOVED it, so we mixed the leftover mushroom stuffing into the regular stuffing that David had prepared. It was FANTASTIC!

Also new this year was a proper holiday ham cooked on the bone and glazed...


YUM. Mom and I really liked it. D felt it had too much of a smokey smell. But man alive, it was so meaty and juicy and sweet. I really really enjoyed it.

And then we had to partake in D's pumpkin pie. Amazing.


It was so delicious.

And, I have a confession to make. We have pecan pie most years and I have always just hated it on principle. I don't know what principle that is, really, but I have never been interested in it. But, this year, I tried a bite of my mom's. OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS. Really, I could have lived my whole life NOT knowing how delicious that pie is because now I just want to go in and eat the remaining pie with my fingers! Wow.

If you are in the midwest/southern US right now, stay safe on the roads. Just looking out the windows here, I am so glad that I don't have anywhere I need to be and that we're all safe and sound inside where it's warm! :)

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While J is away G will play

J is in OK so G is guest posting!

From my research, I see that Jamaican goat curry is a special dish that is made for the holidays. Well being neither Jamaican nor celebrating the Yuletide, I thought I'd give it a go.

The goat meat has been in the freezer since the end of our meat CSA a few months ago. J is not keen to eat it, so I thought I'd make some goat dishes while she was in OK visiting her family for the holidays. So goat curry it is.

Note: You need to start this process the night before!

First of all, I realized that Jamaican curry powder is not the same as regular Indian or the high-test Sri Lankan stuff we have in the cupboard, so I had to make my own. Happy to report that I had all the ingredients on hand so no troubles putting together this brew late at night. The main difference is that Jamaican curry powder has allspice (or pimento as it's called on the island). This is a mild one because you add scotch bonnets to the sauce later for heat. So I gathered all the indredients:

• 2 tbsp coriander seeds
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp fenugreek
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tbsp anise/fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1/2 tbsp allspice seeds
• 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
  
• 1 tsp ground ginger
  
• 2 tbsp ground tumeric

Toast all the seeds in a dry frying pan.


Let them cool, then grind them in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle. Add the ground tumeric and ginger and stir it up so you have a nice fine powder.

The next step is to create the marinade. Take the following ingredients, cut them up and throw them in a blender.

• 2 onions
• 2 green onions
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers (or more if you're feeling extra bold)
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp of chopped fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 cup of water
  

Waz it all up. Add more water if you need it to make a nice paste. Then add 2 tbsp of the curry powder and stir it all up nicely together.

Now add 2 lbs of goat meat to the marinade. Ours had no bones, which was lovely for eating, but generally it actually tastes better if you cook it with meat on the bone. I put it all in a baggie and got the marinade all over the meat and then slapped it in the fridge overnight.


Next day when you're ready to cook it up. Take the meat out of the fridge and scrape off the marinade. Put it in a bowl and save for later.

Then put some oil in a large frying pan and brown the meat.

Once it's good and brown add the marinade, 1/2 lb of chopped up carrots and 1/2 lb of chopped up potatoes (use WHITE potatoes as they don't fall apart when you cook them for hours on end).


Cover the whole lovely concoction with water and simmer for 1.5 hours or until the meat is tender. Add more water if you need it as you go along. I added it a few times so the lovely sauce didn't stick to the bottom.

It's okay to make this well ahead of time. It gets more delicious as it sits. I made it in the morning (and the whole house smelled very fragrant all day!) and ate it with my dad that night. Went out and bought some roti from the local Jamaican restaurant because even though I'm energetic in the kitchen, making the breads does not appeal to me. The dude behind the counter also pointed out that making the roti would probably have taken longer than making the curry, so I was glad not to have gone down that road!

So I served it up with roti, some chopped up banana (weird you say, but the bit of sweet is delicious with curries), rice and peas, and some raita (yogurt, chopped up carrot, onion, tomato, salt, pinch of garam masala). It may not be pretty but it was DELICIOUS!!!

Cooking Class #3 -- I feel like chicken tonight!

My third cooking class (in SEPTEMBER! How slow am I in posting?!) had one of my favorite starters.


YUM! Cheesy toast with basil and a lightly lightly seasoned cauliflower. I was probably about four weeks or so into Weight Watchers on this one, so I made myself eat the veggies (I loathe cauliflower) but the bread was wonderful!

We started class by making a bread pudding... with full fat cream. Which meant little ol' me ate a little ol' bit and threw the rest away... but look at it...


I packaged it up before taking a photo, so there is it with the lid lifted for a photo op!

Here's the starter plate...


A chunk of bread, eggs, cream, nutmeg, booze, butter... it had the works. The recipe was pretty easy to make and Ian told us of a bunch of good alternatives to sweet bread pudding, like savory bread puddings such as breakfast strata's, etc. It was delicious!

We also made a chili shrimp...


This was so easy... we put in shrimp, chili sauce, oil, citrus... and then quickly fried it up into a delicious amount of goodness. am not a huge fan of shrimp, but this was pretty good.

We also made baked chickens...


Here it is all gussied up and ready for the roasting tray. Taking a fancy cooking class has its perks... the chicken was already all clean! There were some errant feathers, but overall, it was pretty easy breezy.

And here are the chickens cooling their heels after a sauna...


(This is probably my favorite photo from all of my classes... after I took mine, a few others took some as well!!!)

And here's my individual bird, all ready for eatin'...


That is a good lookin' bird! I brought it home with whatever else we made that night (the photos don't tell the complete story!) and G and I feasted!

As I mentioned many posts ago, I accidentally deleted cooking class 4 when I go my new camera, so nothing but the memories on that one. I highly highly highly recommend the Calphalon cooking classes. It was so much fun and I really did learn a lot about how to cook using a variety of different techniques.

Links!

I realized that I haven't updated my links section pretty much since I started this blog. And that's a shame. There are lots of great blogs out there that I read religiously, and I think most of them are now in the list! You'll see some that are Weight Watchers related, some are related to my home state, and some are from the UK which I read in order to live vicariously, but they are all food related in some way or another and are written by people I feel like I know. Enjoy!

Good Day at Chez HungerOverThirst.

Food is a feature in my life, no doubt about it. But today was a triumph of a different sort. I packed away my suits that no longer fit. I folded them up, gave them a pat and stuck them in the giant tupperware container that will be going down to the storage locker to sit until I know for sure they can leave the building. But having them out of my closet is an amazing feeling. As I get nearer to my goal, I can't believe that it's really happened. (And that I bought jeans on sale at Old Navy yesterday THREE sizes smaller than the jeans I was wearing over the summer AND on sale for $15 a pair!)

And so you don't think I've completely lost it... a random dinner from the last few weeks featuring lovely roasted ontario beets. I think I could honestly eat roasted beets every day.


The steak was from out CSA, the salad was just salad, and the potatoes were my attempt at a cross between potato salad and mashed potato. They were delicious. I just boiled the potatoes and then drained them, added a bunch of salt and pepper, some light mayo and mustard, and just stirred/squished it all around. Good times!