Aussi belle

Sam and Jess take over Victoria (Pt. II)

2012-02-16T11:12:00.001-06:00

Monday afternoon, we made the trek to Sidney for a walk down memory lane. Jess grew up in Sidney and hadn't been back since our trip a few years ago, so she was super stoked to see everything new and old. We started off our walk down Beacon Ave. at Alexander's for some coffee. I got some crazy concoction of espresso topped with coffee, while Jess opted for a London Fog. Hers was deliciously sweet, and mine was more of a palate cleanser it was so strong! In a good way of course. We completed walking down Beacon Ave. shortly after (it's very, very small), and spent a little time by the ocean at the marina. The funniest thing that I find living in Victoria is that I somehow manage to NOT see the ocean very often even though I do in fact live on an island. It is definitely something that I take for granted, so being down at the marina was so nice. On the way back up Beacon we had hoped to stop at Lunn's for some pastries, but they were ever so sadly closed that day. We peered through the window though, and the items that were in the cases looked devine. Sidney bakery was open (shown above), but we chose not to get anything from there. One of the coolest things that we saw that day was something that Jess and her dad had done many years ago. On a pathway they had carved their initials into wet cement and it was still there! The letters were quite worn down, but you could definitely still make them out.

I can't quite wrap my head around growing up in such a small city, but the trips back with Jess are always nice. She gets so excited about everything and has lots of stories to share about her childhood. Next time, perhaps I'll give in and we can go to Mineral World.

Sam and Jess take over Victoria (Pt. I)

2012-02-15T12:26:00.002-06:00

Habit and Floyd's Diner

As I mentioned, my friend Jessica is currently visiting me in Victoria. She's the first one to visit me since Gabi came during my first month here. I've had plenty of time to adjust and discover my favorite spots, so it added a whole new element to the visit. Not only that, but Jess grew up in Sidney, BC, so she's well versed on all of the tourist activities. We spent our days doing non-tourist things, which mostly involved eating and drinking a lot of coffee. I have yet to figure out what else there really is to do in Victoria OTHER than eat your face off and spend time outdoors (too cold!).

Shortly after Jess flew in, we made our way to Habit, which is my FAVORITE place in Victoria to get coffee. Before moving to Victoria, I was well versed in all things Starbucks. I even liked to claim that they made good coffee. I spent most of the last three years working full-time in a mall that (until recently) only sold Starbucks and Second Cup coffee, so I really didn't know any better. It breaks my heart a little bit (and my taste buds, blegh) to drink Starbucks these days when I know that there are so many better options out there. Habit is one of them.

After coffee we did some roaming around downtown. This doesn't take a whole lot of time, as prime downtown shopping is essentially two streets with a lot of cute boutiques that for the most part sell the same things. I'd been meaning to go into Sitka for ageeees. The most alluring thing about it before walking in is that they also have a cafe in the store. That and the windows are all rugged and earthy - totally alluring. Well, we finally went in and it did not disappoint. I'd been wondering where everyone had been getting their Hershel bags as I'd wanted one forever but didn't want to order it online. Surprise, Sitka sells them! This was a sad moment for me, as I'd bought a MEC bag a few weeks earlier. Jess ended up buying the shirt shown in the second photo above. This place carries LOTS of cool stuff, and the staff seemed pretty hip and cool as well.

Skrillex, is that you?

Lucky Bar and Floyd's Diner

That evening we ended up going to Lucky Bar. I've lived here for six months and I've been out dancing only twice, both within the first couple months. I'd been to Lucky once before, but it was a couple of years ago when I'd come to the island to visit friends. They're most known for 90's night on Monday's, which is what I'd previously gone to. After much debate and input from many, we decided to go against the grain and head to Lucky. It was a pretty good time! I'm not really one for getting slammed these days, nor am I one for dancing (Re: I can't), but overall it was a pretty stellar night. Plus, we managed to find ourselves at the grocery store at 2:30 AM buying candied salmon. I always wondered who really went to the grocery store at that time of night, and I now have my answer.

The morning after, a hangover breakfast was in order. Come to think of it, neither of us were really that hungover (one of the biggest reasons why I choose not to drink often anymore is because my hangovers were so brutal - that, and at 20 I somehow manage to feel too old to party my ass off anymore). Still, grease is really the only thing that seemed very appealing, so it was grease we got. Floyd's diner is by far the best place for this. Jess informed me that it had been featured on You Gotta Eat Here, a television show on the Food Network. I didn't know this, so it was kind of cool. We started with orange juice, which is the only thing (besides shitty diner coffee) that I'll drink after a bender. It's also the only time that I'll drink orange juice. However, this morning I neglected to ask if the juice had pulp and ended up with a huge mouthful of it. Ugh. I opted for my usual meal of half order scrambled eggs (instead of tofu this time), a side of hashbrowns (possibly a little too many), and half a bagel. Jess went for the breakfast sandwich.

Mug cake!

The rest of the day was spent watching television and napping, followed by a simple supper and mug cake for dessert. I used this recipe, and omitted the sugar and oil in favor of stevia and applesauce. I also made some soft serve banana ice cream. I LOVED both of them, but I think that I was the only one. I scarfed mine down, and the girls had ended up tossing a good portion of theirs. Sad. Not for me though!

Mixtape Monday V6

2012-02-14T00:24:00.001-06:00

Mixtape Monday V6 (Jessica) from aussibelle on 8tracks.

A Mixtape Monday so late that is barely made the cut.

1. Cactus in the Valley (Acoustic) - Lights
2. 1000 Ships - Rachel Platten
3. Cry (Just A Little) - Bingo Players
4. Rien - Elephant
5. Don't Stop - Gin Wigmore
6. Punching in a Dream - Naked & Famous
7. Somebody That I Used To Know - Walk Off the Earth
8. Feel So Close (Extended Mix) - Calvin Harris

This weeks playlist was made by my friend Jessica. She's staying with me this weekend (explains why I've been so MIA around here) and is big on music, so it just seemed fitting that she make the playlist. When I say she's big on music I really mean it. This girl has got mad skill. You can check her out here and here. For Canadian readers, I'll also note that Jess will be on tour with Michael Bernard Fitzgerald for the next month. Make sure to head on down to a show for an AWESOME time (Michael doesn't disappoint). Dates are posted here (with more to be added later).

What I Ate (and Chai Oatmeal)

2012-02-10T11:58:00.000-06:00

This weekend I bring you quite possibly the most boring What I Ate ever. Pretty, but boring. Tasty, but still boring. My mornings consisted of oatmeal and two days of Flax Plus waffles. I learned that my toaster is even worse at making ~~oatmeal (woops, oats on the brain)~~ frozen waffles than it is toast. Thx mom for the cheapest toaster we could find. I LOVE my toast burnt. Post-workout snacks were green monsters or plain yogurt with fruit and nuts. Lunch was almost always an egg white wrap, and dinner was this yum curried tofu quinoa bowl with Mmmm Sauce and broccoli. A new favorite for sure. I’ve been using pre-marinated curry tofu, but I would really like to branch out, buy plain tofu instead and season it myself. Suggestions for tofu marinades are greatly appreciated!

This morning I did the most amazing thing. So amazing that I am now considering myself an oatmeal connoisseur.

Yesterday, my mum sent me a recipe for Chai Oatmeal, claiming that even SHE was going to try them. Two things about this: (1) My mum has a weird intolerance to oats, grains, some would say gluten (the doctor seems to think it’s all in her head, but I get this way with pasta and some grains too - sigh)...so her proclaiming she’s going to eat this means a morning full of bellyaches. (2) Whenever we’d make morning stops at Starbucks (infrequent, but still worth mention) my mum would only ever get a Chai Latte. It makes sense that she would take the bellyache for some yummy chai oatmeal.

When I saw this recipe I instantly knew that it’s what I would be having for breakfast the following morning. I then checked my spice rack and realized that I don’t have cardamom or turmeric. UGH. Bye chai oatmeal. It was nice knowing you. I slept on the thought of these oats and had a EUREKA! moment this morning. Tea, my friends. Decaf Chai Tea. I jumped out of bed as soon as it came to me, boiled some water and let the tea steep for a half hour. I wanted a really heavy chai flavor in my oats. The result? Total yum. I made my oats with the usual 1:1, water : almond milk ratio. In hindsight I would have used entirely chai-steeped water to really give it a kick. The fragrance of these oats bubbling away is enough to steal your heart. I still added my usual banana and peanut butter mix-ins, but I really don’t think that these oats needed the peanut butter either. You need to make this.

Happy weekend!

Self Photo Challenge

2012-02-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

Chelsey over at The Paper Mama is doing a Self Photo Challenge. I love, love, love the idea of this, so here we are! Also make sure to check out this post about the importance of sharing photos of yourself. Really loved them both!

shirt, Zara; pants, Urban Outfitters (you need these).

Obsessing over…
The Draw Something app for iPhone. There’s a free version. Get it. Now. And let’s play a game! My username is setrudel.

Working on…
I’ve been doing a bunch of reading up on exercise theories and eating pathology for my Wellness Potential class. It's surprisingly interesting. You know what else is interesting? EVERYTHING I'm learning in Nutrition. I’ve also been relearning geometry (ugh) for Math. I'm not too sure how I'm going to manage having a full course load. A years worth of 3-class terms has been treating me pretty well.

Thinking about…
Meal plans! I made myself a nice little plan for this week, but I’ve been so horrible at following it! This is kind of silly since I just finished saying that my meals go a lot more smoothly if I have a plan. I’ve been getting weird cravings for the same food every day, so I haven’t been switching it up at all! I’m currently trying to figure out some better plan for tomorrow...

(Also wondering why my neighbours are sawing and hammering things at 9:00 PM on a Wednesday night).

Anticipating…
The weekend! And all of next week. It’s reading break. I can’t believe the term is already half over! I'm almost done my first year of university!

Listening to…
Season 2 of Misfits. If you haven’t heard of this show, make sure to go check it out! It’s like Skins but with superpowers.

Eating…
Nothing at the moment. I had another tofu, quinoa and broccoli bowl with Mmmm Sauce for dinner. It’s my favorite dish right now (besides oatmeal). Oh man, and now that I've mentioned oatmeal I WANT SOME RIGHT NOW. Time for bed so that breakfast is here sooner!

Wishing…
That it’ll be April already! More big changes are coming.

Clean Eating Challenge Wrap-up

2012-02-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Clean eating went to hell about as soon as it started. Well no, about a day later. I started to really look at the ingredients in the food I was eating, and I by no means eat entirely whole, clean foods. That isn’t to say that I don’t eat pretty healthy. Actually, I eat really healthy.

My first alarm was my almond milk. There are a lot of added whatever in it, so even though it’s pretty healthy, it’s still...not. I’m intrigued by the idea of making my own almond milk, but I’m not sure how good it would actually be. That being said, I don’t drink it anyways. It goes in my oatmeal and smoothies, so I guess it wouldn’t really matter too much if it wasn’t all that great. Buying it from the store is so much more convenient though.

The following day I made an egg white wrap with a whole wheat tortilla. The tortilla wouldn’t have been considered clean either. I DID end up getting a loaf of Ezekial bread though, and I am seriously hooked. I had a sandwich on Tuesday, and a slice with a homemade black bean burger on Wednesday (and Thursday) night. It reminds me a lot of homemade bread, which is a seriously nice change from the crappy Weight Watchers stuff I’ve been eating for the last two years. I don’t eat a lot of bread as it is, so I feel like this loaf will go a decent ways. I’m interested in trying the tortillas as well, but I really do need to finish the ones that I have first.

I’m really interested in eating clean and cutting out a good chunk of sugar, but I can’t but think that it’ll be such a hard, expensive thing to do. There are bad chemicals and alternative sweeteners in EVERYTHING. It seems relatively impossible to eat completely clean in todays society.

The Nutrition course that I’m taking is both helping and hindering my food choices. The amount of information that I’m receiving is great, and I feel like I’m slowly but surely becoming a more informed consumer. However, it’s also A LOT of information, and it can definitely make things a lot more overwhelming. I’m hoping that by the end of it things will be a little less confusing.

As for my diet here on out, I think that for now I’m going to give FULLY CLEAN EATING a rest. I’d like to do a little more reading about it and figure out what kinds of things are aloud to be eaten, which kind of additives (if any) are AOK, and whatever other pertinent information I can get. I’ve started to spend a lot more time reading the ingredients list instead of just the Nutrition Facts table of the food that I eat, and I’ve downloaded a couple of cool apps that check and tell you about the weird ingredients in your food.

I think that I went about this challenge in the wrong way. I got a start reading a lot of websites that advertised clean eating to an extreme. NO PROCESSED ANYTHING, NO REFINED SUGARS, so on and so forth. In a way, I suppose that I set myself up to fail. Looking back on the week, I don't think that this was entirely true. I ate pretty healthy the whole week through. I didn't eat out. I didn't eat any processed foods besides by tortillas. I don't have any fun recipes to share or anything of the likes, but I have learned a little bit about my eating habits, and that I do eat pretty AOK on a regular basis. I'm going to say that this challenge was successful!

Thanks Danielle for hosting such a wicked challenge!

On that note, here's food from today...

Morning oats! The usual peanut butter banana this morning...

I don't even like Starbucks coffee, but I had to get one of these cute Valentine's cups. A mid-morning americano, and an afternoon green monster...

... and for lunch I had a quinoa bowl with tofu, broccoli, and Mmmm Sauce.

Mondays are rough because I have class late (leave home at 3:30, don't get back until 8:30), so it's really hard to eat supper. I had a teeny-tiny hummus wrap at around 6, but that's it. It's something I'm going to have to sort through, because I ALSO have class pretty late on Thursday. On that note, I have a question for you! I know that eating late at night isn't that great for you, but are there things that are acceptable to eat that won't make your system go a little crazy? For me, this will mean getting home from class at 8:30, eating shortly after, and hitting the sheets by 10:00PM. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Mixtape Monday V5

2012-02-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

Mixtape Monday V5 from aussibelle on 8tracks.

The Future - Nada Surf
Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club
Simple Song - The Shins
As Life Found You - Tim Neuhaus
Human Qualities - Explosions In The Sky
Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Rey
Codes and Keys - Death Cab For Cutie
MOMS AWAY! - Miracles of Modern Science

I've been working away on schoolwork all weekend... tucked away in my little office. I did manage to sneak out for a long walk on Saturday, and a trip to the mall and the gym yesterday. It's been way too nice here to spend all of my time inside. I'm hoping it stays this way! I've got a bunch to get done this week, and then next week is reading break! I can't believe the term is halfway done already. Time flies!

Jan Photo a Day

2012-02-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

you / breakfast / something you adore / something you wore / makes you smile

favorite / your sky / daily routine / childhood / where you sleep

close-up / in your bag / something you're reading / happiness / morning

water / something you bought / sweet / someone you love / reflection

your shoes / something old / guilty pleasure / something you made / color

lunch / light / inside your fridge / nature / you, again.

Sample Saturday (Meal Planning)

2012-02-04T21:55:00.001-06:00

I was thinking of cancelling this feature for now on. How interesting can it really be to read about what I plan on eating for the following week? The point of posting this little bit of information was not only to keep me on track, but also for me to get a little more adventurous in my cooking. What it really did was make me spend a lot more money than I normally would to make a few extravagant, yummy meals a week. After not really having much of a solid plan last week, I discovered that posting my meal plans here did a lot more to keep me on track than I thought they did! I've decided that I'll keep posting for this reason, but I'm going to try to make things in large batches and eat leftovers throughout the week. A few days ago I made black bean burgers that I've nommed on two days this week, and I have a few frozen for next week. I also cooked up a big batch of quinoa early in the week that has been handy for lunches. I'll do that again next week too!

This week I've also been playing around with meal times a little bit as well. I've been trying to eat when I'm hungry instead of eating on the clock, but I don't think this method works for me. It results in either skipping meals entirely or grazing throughout the day. I've set meal and snack times for next week, which I'm hoping will also keep me on track.

Guest Post: Gabi of Burning My Travels Clean

2012-02-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

I'd like to introduce one of my best friends Gabi who also happens to be a blogger. Gabi writes over at Burning My Travels Clean about her life in Ottawa, ON. She's currently working on a years worth of goals and resolutions, and is here today sharing her strategies to keeping them. Her method of breaking things down into small manageable goals throughout the year instead of focusing on huge unattainable goals is absolutely fantastic. Give Gabi a nice warm welcome!

Making Goals and Sticking to Them

If you're anything like me (and apparently the rest of our society), you make New Year's Resolutions. Wait. You're probably thinking, it's February, why are we talking about New Years Resolutions now? That's over… Well, you're right. The New Year's celebrations have come and gone, and what's left of it for some, if not most, are some unused gym memberships, some too-small clothes, and a list full of goals and resolutions you haven't even looked at since you wrote them.

Right now, I am going to encourage you to take those lists out. I'm going to assume that you made some very, very lofty goals or some very specific goals. For example, "Lose weight" could be one of them, "Be the best person I can be", and things like "Go to the gym every single day". I'm going to assume again, that you have already broken these resolutions. If you're anything like me, that probably depresses the crap out of you, and you really just want to give up and think to yourself, "Well, I've always got next year".

Not this year - make this the year that you STICK to your New Year's Resolutions. Studies have shown that the only way goals can be achieved are if they are specific and manageable. They need to be small, and get straight to the point. It may seem strange to write extremely specific goals, that seem like absolutely nothing in the great scheme of things - but the thing is, you're getting things done and are slowly making your way to the bigger goals you have set for yourself. Since the goals we usually make are so extreme, and so vague, this is why we can never achieve the resolutions we set for ourselves.

The first step is to examine your resolutions. Determine what seems attainable, and what seems totally outrageous. If you have a goal set saying you are going to give up sugar, but you're a huge Starbucks fan and love getting a pastry with your coffee… that seems a bit far fetched. This might be a resolution you want to scrap entirely, or something you want to modify. If your goal is to lose 15 pounds, this is attainable, but you need to set specific goals in order to achieve this goal. Seems easy, right? It is.

Write it down and check things off as you get them done! I am an obsessive planner, and it really keeps me in check!

The second step is for you to decide what is going to be achievable for you. Is your schedule really hectic? Is going to the gym every single day before work or school feasible? Especially if you've never worked out a day in your life. A way that this could be modified could be setting a goal to hit the gym twice a week before work. And slowly make your way from there. Increase the goal week by week. Start small! It's gonna feel so great when you achieve the little things - it means that you CAN make your goals, whatever they may be.

Track your progress! Since I'm training for a run (which ended up being an add-on to my resolutions!) I love to keep track of everything through my phone. There's lots of apps available - especially related to fitness and health - which can incorporate social media and your friends. What better way to keep on track with your goals if your friends know about them too!

The third would be to set specific goals in order to achieve the bigger picture. Make a goal to set new goals every month. Always go back to your bigger list, and examine things that are currently going on in your life, and how you might want to improve them. For me, I made some specific resolutions (go to Europe in July, maintain at least a B in each of my classes) for the year, and made a resolution to make smaller, more attainable goals every single month. How am I going to get to Europe? By saving money - which I set a goal of. To save X amount of my paycheque every time I get paid. As for my grades, I set a monthly goal to set aside specific time each day to work on my homework in order to make sure that I keep on track. Some other things I intend to set month to month have absolutely nothing to do with my resolutions. Things change!

Reward yourself! If there's something you want, promise yourself you can buy it once you accomplish your goal. I like to do this with clothes, or a nice meal out with friends

Which brings me to my next point. It's okay to have your goals change. Which is why if you set your goals monthly, it gives you a better chance to cross more things off of your list. Not to mention, new things always come up - and you should strive to do your best in them. What a better way than to set a goal? If you break it down, and make it easy for yourself - step by step - you should be able to achieve your goals in no time! If worse comes to worse, and you are unable to hit your New Year's Resolutions by December 31st, you can at least look back at the year and look at the smaller goals you've achieved. Lots of little things add up!

One of my smaller goals is to finish reading this book… One of my bigger goals is to read at least 20 books this year

My last, and most simple tip would be to write everything down. Either write it down in a Word document on your computer, in your journal, on your blog… anywhere. Write it down so you can track your progress, and to make changes as you go. If you break anything down you want to achieve into smaller steps, the easier it's going to be to get them done. Share your progress with your friends! Remember that it's okay to still set lofty goals, you just need to take the steps to make them achievable.

Clean Eating Challenge

2012-01-31T12:09:00.001-06:00

Hey there.

Last week, Danielle of Sometimes Sweet (love her, seriously) challenged her readers to eat clean for a week. Since I've been trying to clean up my diet anyways, this seemed like the perfect time to give it a whirl.

Yesterday was a bit of a write-off, so I'll be extending this challenge until next Tuesday. I've only had one meal so far, and I'm already hurting a little bit. MY OATS! I recently added a bit of No Sugar "Maple" Syrup to my oats, as well as a little granola on top. It's so good. It also doesn't follow any clean eating guidelines... well the syrup definitely doesn't. I gave them both up this morning and I was a little disappointed. That being said, it's oatmeal, and there are about a zillion other BETTER-FOR-YOU toppings that I can add. Or maybe I'll give up oatmeal for a bit and head back to eggs...

I think that I need to do a little bit of reading up about clean eating and what qualifies as a whole food. You'd think this would be easy peasy stuff. Just check the label for chemical ingredients! I think that I am mostly just confused about things like which sweeteners are considered AOK. Molasses? Agave seems to be find on everyone's list, as well as brown rice syrup and honey. Maple syrup? Are these not all just different forms of processed sugar? What about store bought grains like tortillas, pitas and bread? Do I REALLY have to buy a $7 loaf of Ezekiel bread/tortillas in order to avoid the processed crap?

The more I think about it, the more difficult it is going to be for me to immediately make the transition to an entirely clean diet. As much as I would love to throw out my remaining not so clean foods (like that syrup), it's not exactly feasible on a student budget. I'm definitely going to have to finish off what I have before even considering stepping into Planet Organic to get the proper replacements.

Wow, this sounds so negative about the whole thing. I'm really not. I'm actually stoked on the whole idea and am going to give it my all this week. I'm curious to see if there will be any changes in my mood or how I generally feel by not eating yucky chemically charged foods. This challenge is going to force me to really think about what I'm putting into my body. I'm also hoping that I will find some really yummy recipes that'll continue to make it into the rotation.

My solution to clean eating meal woes (or my confusion I suppose) was to cook up way too much quinoa for the week and incorporate it into a ton of meals. While I do like quinoa, I don't eat it very often, because I find it to be a bit bland. Right, of course it is when you don't add anything to it. Some really good quinoa recipes would be greatly appreciated, as well as any other clean eating and vegetarian recipes.

If you haven't already, make sure to head over to Sometimes Sweet to read all about the challenge. I think it would be really great for everyone to try to clean up their diet in one way or another!

Mixtape Monday V4

2012-01-30T12:06:00.000-06:00

Mixtape Monday V4 from aussibelle on 8tracks.

This weeks Mixtape is a little bit of what I was listening to over the weekend. My iPod and I got real personal over the four hour trip to Vancouver (and back).

How was Vancouver? It was pretty awesome. I just need to get off the island sometimes, y'know? Lately it seems like I've been needing to get away more often than last term. It hadn't even been a month since getting back from Calgary, and a few weeks later I was already itching to get away again. Vancouver is the perfect cure. I hung out (and stayed) with a few friends and family, met some pretty cool people, went for some unreal meals, spent too much time (and money) at Whole Foods and did some partying. It was a solid weekend, and I'm kind of sad to be back in Victoria.

I threw all of my schoolwork aside while I was away, which means I've got a TON to do this week. I start another class tonight as well, so I'm definitely going to need to organize my time a bit better.

Happy Monday!

outfit of the day

2012-01-25T16:36:00.000-06:00

shirt, H&M; jeans, J Brand; boots, Joe; jacket, Zara; hat, Club Monaco.

My uniform as of late. It's so easy to throw on a shirt, button it high and call it a day. Maybe throw a sweater on overtop, or a necklace to dress it up a bit. I've spent the better portion of Sunday to today either at the gym or at home, with only a couple of hours at school. It's meant that I've had to reason to really get dressed in anything other than Lululemon-whatever. I'll be away for the weekend though, and while I'm very limited on space for things to pack, it'll be nice to have a reason to look at least somewhat put together for a few days.

Mixtape Monday v.3

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

Listen here!
1. Shadow People - Dr. Dog
2. The Cure - Tegan & Sara
3. Audience - Cold War Kids
4. Lofticries - Purity Ring
5. The Sound - Human Highway
6. Travelling - Paper Lions
7. Hypnotized - Fleetwood Mac
8. As Tall As Cliffs - Margot & The Nuclear So And So's

This weeks playlist isn't anything themed or particularly special. Just a random mishmash of really great tracks.

Enjoy.

Sample Saturday

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

My meal plan for next week is far from interesting. I wanted to keep things as simple as possible and use up a lot of ingredients that I already have around the house. I'm away for the weekend, and would rather have a little extra cash to spend there, rather than spending it on elaborate homemade meals here. This week I learned that when I don't have oatmeal in the morning, I end up wanting it for the rest of the day. I had may as well just have oatmeal to start my day every day. Blueberries snuck into my oats this past week, and I'm really open to adding some other mix-ins this week as well to shake things up.

Next weekend I'm leaving the island to spend a few days in Vancouver. I'm really stoked to see a couple of my friends! It'll be really great to get off this crazy island for a few days and take in the big city. I'm hoping for a trip to Whole Foods and Thomas Haas for a macaron or two. I think we're planning on going out for dinner one night. I really want to try out either Foundation or The Eatery (for their veggie rolls!). I'm so excited. I can hardly wait!

What I Ate

2012-01-20T08:30:00.000-06:00

The weekend started off with a roommate waffle date at West Coast Waffles.

The next day I had a yummy Goat Cheese and Blood Orange salad for lunch...

... And Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos for din.

Monday night was Bin 4 with a friend.

The rest of the week held some yummy salads and lots of oatmeal.

I've got to remember that taking photos to post with my iPhone are far from acceptable... It's just such a hassle to pull out my Nikon! I'm usually too distracted by the food and ready to chow down.

This week has been pretty low-key. My wish sadly did not come true, and snow has graced the island. A PILE of snow actually. It was really pretty at first, but now I feel as if I'm still in Alberta. The only really horrible difference is that no one here shovels their sidewalk, so everything is slippery as can be. Wednesday I had a real snow day! My class was canceled, and I was snowed in for the day. This is strange because it was hardly cold and there wasn't THAT much snow.

The guidelines for the six week challenge for my Nutrition class have finally been given out, so I've been doing a little bit of planning for that and my Health and Wellness assignment. Big changes are gonna have to happen over the next three months.

So winter began

2012-01-17T23:09:00.000-06:00

blouse and pants, Club Monaco; sweater, Urban Outfitters; boots, Joe Fresh.

Well, I most certainly did not get my wish of no snow this winter. Sunday morning I woke up to discover that snow had fallen the previous night. Not that this is exactly a bad thing. It all melted Sunday, and then fell again Monday night only to have melted again by mid-afternoon. It's still relatively warm all things considering (um, -30 in Calgary?). I can't complain. I will say that it's confusing as hell for me, as I'm used to those treacherous Calgary winters. Confusing in the greatest way though.

This was as warm as I needed to dress in order to go to class on Monday. I ended up switching out of my blouse to a pullover sweater on my lunch break, not out of need for warmth, but out of comfort.

I'm working on a few fun assignments in my classes. This term most of my required classes have been put on hold, and I've ended up taking only two courses - both of them having to do with personal wellness. I think that it was an excellent decision to take these courses, and I'm hoping that spending three months focusing on MY health and wellness will set me up nicely for the Fall.

Mixtape Monday: Running Playlist

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-06:00

When I first started doing a lot more exercise last year, I spent most of my time on the elliptical. I occasionally ran outside, and until I moved to Victoria I never used the treadmill. Now it's pretty much all that I do (my gym doesn't have the ellipticals that I prefer). I find that it's way easier to not get bored on the treadmill if you have a good playlist to groove to. My music choices at the gym are nothing like what I would typically listen to. I'm not a big fan of dubstep and electronica, but when I'm running it's all that I want to listen to (with a few exceptions of course). This weeks playlist is a short (but sweet!) version of what's been driving me lately.

P.S. When the bass drops, sprint.

Running Mix
1. The Seed (2.0) - The Roots
2. Pyramid Song (Zeds Dead Remix) - Radiohead
3. I Know the Truth - Pretty Lights
4. Crave You (Adventure Club Remix) - Flight Facilities
5. Young Blood - The Naked and Famous
6. Paging Stereophonic - Bassnectar
7. Here Comes the Boom - Zeds Dead
8. How You Like Me Now - The Heavy

Enjoy!

(Meal) Sample Saturday

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

A few Instagram photos from the last week...

My hastily planned Meals for the following week. I didn't have oatmeal once this week, so I'm making up for it next week. This week has been full of egg wraps and pancakes, which are great, but boy do I miss my oatmeal. In addition to the things listed above, I'll be nomming on almonds, apples, celery and baked yams for snacks.

My school schedule has been ever changing since the term started. I've added and dropped way too many classes to count, but I have finally settled on what I'm taking. This will hopefully make planning proper meals and scheduling workouts a lot easier, not to mention leave me loads of time to get my school work done. As you'll notice from this weeks meal plan, I have a bit of a hard time coming up with what to eat for lunch. I am definitely a breakfast girl. I love that there is a definite choice between sweet and savoury, and for the most part there isn't for lunch. I don't want a sandwich, soup or a salad for lunch! No, I would rather eat fruit and yogurt, but for the most part my choices are usually not substantial enough to count for more as a snack. Perhaps if I found something savoury and totally yummy for lunch I'd be more down for it.

What are your favourite things to eat for lunch?

Meals in Review

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, my meal plan went to shit this week. It was all going so well until I made Overnight Oats. This wasn't my first time making Overnight Oats, but it may very well have been the first since I've lived in Victoria. Most of our appliances are a little off. For example, our dryer eats our underwear. Our fridge is very, very cold, even when it's as warm as it can go (I dread the thought of how much energy it chews up). We used to have a glass pitcher of water in the fridge at all times, but had to stop using it because it would turn into an ice block. Well I forgot about this and left my Overnight Oats uncovered in the fridge... and they turned out like this:

It was a bummer to say the least. I flipped it over to the underside and scraped off the pieces that weren't frozen. They were very tasty. Double bummer.

I made pancakes twice this week. I had planned on making them once, which are pictured below. Those babies are Blueberry Cocoa Vegan Pancakes smothered in natural organic peanut butter. They were delish and relatively low calorie and low-fat. Another morning I was feeling pretty blah and had neglected to eat anything even close to substantial the day before... So instead of waiting a half hour for my steel cut oats to cook, I made more pancakes. Banana Oatmeal Pancakes. They were even better than the blueberry ones and I didn't have to put anything on them. They were so good that I didn't even manage to snap a photo before devouring them.

I've really been enjoying eating egg wraps lately. They're quick and easy to make and I love having fruit on the side. I had two of those this week... and since I finished all of my almond milk in my smoothie today I'll be having another one of these babies tomorrow. Yum.

I had some pretty yummy dinners this week too, but I seem to always neglect to take photos of supper. My favorites were Wild Rice with Shallots and Cranberries, and Roasted Broccoli with Peanut Sauce and baked yams on the side. I had that two days in a row, and I think that I'll make the rice again tomorrow. Hey, I had may as well keep it consistent until the week ends.

Meal planning this week was only half efficient. I managed to only have to go to the grocery store once this week, which is what I was hoping meal planning would do. My ability to follow along with what I'd planned did not really happen though. It's a good start!

Lazy Days

2012-01-12T22:53:00.004-06:00

t-shirt, American Apparel; shirt, H&M; jeans, J Brand; boots, Urban Outfitters; bag, Zara.

I'm getting preeeetty lazy about dressing myself again. Since getting back from Calgary my uniform has consisted of dark jeans, a t-shirt, cardigan and boots or flats. It's easy. It keeps me warm. But it's ohhhh so boring.

This glorious bag is on its last life. Actually, it's was passed its last life. I did an ok job of concealing it in these photos, but the straps are wrapped in duct tape... I suppose that I could go try to have it fixed, but I'm lazy. Instead, this bag spends most of its life tucked away. Sad, but true.

I say that this uniform keeps me warm, but in reality it's been pretty toasty here. Well, toasty in comparison to Calgary or elsewhere in Canada. I was checking the Weather Network this morning and apparently were getting snow next week. Snow?! Please, no. I managed to avoid a snowfall while I was in Calgary and I'd like it to stay that way. A full winter without a snowfall would be a serious miracle for me.

Fingers crossed for continued warmth and the avoidance of a real winter. I hear Victoria pretty much shuts down when it snows.

Mixtape Monday

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a bit of a music snob. I know what I like and what I don't like. I have a definite opinion about what makes music good and am quite vocal about it, even if I know that I'm probably not right. I definitely have a bit of a one track mind when it comes to the music that I listen to, but I feel like lately I've been branching out a little bit. Another fun new feature that I will try my very hardest to keep up with is Music Mondays, where I'll be posting a weekly (or perhaps every other week) playlist over on 8 tracks.

Ogden Point, Victoria, BC

My very first mix can be found here.
1. Lovesick Teenagers - Bears in Heaven
2. Fresh Blood - Eels
3. Velvet Elvis (RAC Remix) - Alex Winston
4. King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1 - Neutral Milk Hotel
5. Coffee - Rock Paper Safety Scissors
6. Better or Worse - The Bird Day
7. Beach - Boy And Bear
8. Vapours - Islands

I post a lot about school and working on school work, but I don’t think I’ve ever posted about what I’m actually studying. That would be because for most of first term I didn’t have a clue. When I initially applied for university two years ago I applied (and got into) Art History of all things. The plan since I was old enough to have a plan was that I would get a BFA in who knows what when I went to university. I decided that I didn’t want to pursue Visual Arts and ended up landing on Art History. After deferring my acceptance for a year, I finally ended up at the University of Victoria last fall. Over the course of the deferred year my interests changed drastically and I started becoming increasingly interested in health, fitness and food. I took an assortment of random classes last term including Environmental Studies. The class was obviously an introduction class and it focused on food and food sovereignty. I thought that I might be like to major in ES, but decided that I couldn’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life. What had really been in the back of my mind for the entire term was Dietetics, but I’d pushed it aside because I knew it involved a lot of math and science. You see, I decided not to take anything other than general science and applied math in high school BECAUSE I had planned on getting a BFA and nothing more was required. After much deliberation I realized that getting a BSc (at least) and becoming an R.D is what I want to do. I have a bit of upgrading to do before I can start on my science courses (I’ll start them next fall), so in the mean time I’m completing my electives, upgrading math and taking my first nutrition course! I may have spent the latter portion of Saturday night reading my textbook - I’m THAT excited. I’m nervous, I’m excited, and I’m really just happy that I’ve figured this out. This term feels much different than last year in the sense that the courses I’m taking now are actually going to get me closer to a degree and a career.

My Nutrition text book that I might have spent the weekend flipping through.

For my first assignment, I'd love YOUR input. We're instructed to conduct a dietary analysis on ourselves and then come up with a 6-week diet plan. It can be anything from following a vegetarian diet to trying out s fad diet like South Beach. Since I'm already a vegetarian and eat pretty darn healthy, I'm not too sure what I should do! I was thinking of following a vegan diet again, but in the back of my mind I remember that the last time I tried it I was not very healthy and ended up getting quite sick. Your suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Psst. Everyone stop on over to wish Gabi a Happy Birthday!

Recipe: Oatmeal

2012-01-08T08:00:00.000-06:00

I've head a lot of horror stories about oatmeal reminding people of a gross, stick-to-your-gut meal that they were force fed day after day as a child. For real, these stories exist. Personally, I didn't grow up on homemade oatmeal. Nope, my mama made Cream of Wheat, which I think that I liked, so long as it was coated in a heaping tablespoon of brown suga'. Mmm, come to think of it, a bowl of Cream of Wheat wouldn't be so bad right about now. The extent of my oatmeal adventures as a kid was the instant stuff. Pour it in a bowl, add a little water (not milk - I never liked milk) and zap it for a minute. It wasn't until last year that I discovered my love with home cooked oatmeal. The first bowl I made was from a recipe courtesy of Emily Levenson, and despite tweaking a few things I haven't looked back since. It was a match made in heaven. I'll be the first to say that I haven't been very adventurous in my oatmeal endeavors. I've strayed a bit from my preference of Peanut Butter Banana a few times (Pumpkin Pie, Apple Cinnamon), but haven't been WOWED by anything else. I'm hesitant to stray from the original. That being said, this year im'ma try some new flavours.

Considering I eat oatmeal nearly every morning, it's a wonder that I haven't posted a recipe yet. The thing is that oatmeal is kind of boring even though it's so good. Not only is it boring, but it's really straightforward and pretty difficult to screw up. As I've already said a gazillion times though: it's really good.

*Note to self: Stop taking food photos with my iPhone.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal
1/4 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup almond milk, or milk of your choice
1/2 small banana, mashed
2 tsp peanut butter
1/2 TBSP ground flax
dash cinnamon

In a small saucepan, add oats, cinnamon and almond milk. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and let cook for 5-7 minutes, depending on how thick you like your oats. Make sure that you're stirring the oats every once in a while to make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. *I tend to let mine cook for a while, but it's usually just because I'm not paying enough attention to catch 'em before they get really thick. The longer you cook them, the more they turn into "stick-to-your-gut" type oats.

Once desired consistency has been reached, turn off heat. Stir in mashed banana and flax. You can also add in the peanut butter at this point, or you can smear it on a spoon and have a little peanut butter every bite. Both ways are super good.

That's it, that's all my friends!

You can also use steel cut oats, which is my preference. These oats take quite a bit longer to cook, but I think it's well worth getting up a little bit earlier to make! They have a very different texture than plain old rolled oats. They're chewy, nutty, and soso nice.

Steel Cut Oats
1/4 cup steel cut oats
1 cup almond milk, or milk of your choice
Other ingredients are the same as above

The cooking procedure is the same as well, except for the cook time. Once you've brought the mixture to a boil and reduced the heat, set your timer for 10 minutes. Give the oats an initial stir, and then you can leave them to cook until the timer goes off.

After the first ten minutes, I like to add on another 10, but I make sure to watch them this time. If you don't watch them they start to stick to the pot, which is no good at all. Again, it's a matter of preference as to how long you cook them, but I would definitely not recommend anything less than 15 minutes.

Once they've cooked, you can go ahead and add the banana and flax.

(Meal) Sample Saturday

2012-01-07T14:42:00.003-06:00

This month (and year, ideally) is all about keeping goals and resolutions. Taking a cue from Gabi, I plan on breaking my goals down into weeks and months instead of big, unachievable year long ones. A reoccurring goal of mine is to spend more time posting here, but it never seems to happen! Another goal is to make weekly meal plans, so as to 1) make sure I'm eating properly, 2) switch up what I'm eating, and 3) not spend money on ingredients that go to waste. What better way to execute both than to post my weekly meal plans here?!

My meals got so boring by the end of last term. I had class early in the morning, so I'd get up and make some time to make a bowl of Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal. I'd get home from class and find myself grazing for the better portion of the afternoon or not eating anything at all. Dinner was curry tofu stir fry every. Single. Day. In December when I made the decision to switch from vegetarianism to pescetarianism, I added a spinach salad and salmon fillet. Not to say that all of this wasn't good. I really enjoyed the meals, but it definitely all got very boring after eating them almost every day for four months. By planning out my meals each week, I hope to be able to make my diet a bit more interesting. I won't be eating different meals every day as I'm sure I'll have leftovers from the day prior, but there will definitely be some variation. Another big goal of the ENTIRE year is to increase my calorie intake significantly. The first couple of weeks of my meal plans may not seem like a whole lot of food, but even getting in three solid meals will be a huge improvement for me.

An old bummer meal plan from last year. Gotta do better than this!

This week, I've pulled a lot of recipes from some of my favourite food blogs. I'll link back to these fabulous blogs as I go along. As time goes on I'll be working on my own recipes, but for now utilizing the creations of others will do. I'd also like to note that these are being posted on SATURDAY for a reason. It gives me some time to fix things up before the week begins. Obviously I'll need to add some meals here and there, but it gives me a good idea of where to start.

Sunday
Breakfast: Overnight oats
Lunch: Green Smoothie with an apple
Dinner: Wild Rice with Caramelized Shallots, Cranberries and Pecans

Monday
Breakfast: Blueberry Cocoa Pancakes
Lunch: 1/2 grapefruit, Broccoli salad
Dinner: (to be determined)

Tuesday
Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, egg white wrap
Lunch: (to be determined - in class)
Dinner: Broccoli salad

Wednesday
Breakfast: Parfait
Lunch: (to be determined - in class)
Dinner: Tuna pita

Thursday
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: 1/2 grapefruit,
Dinner: (to be determined)

Friday
Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, egg white wrap
Lunch: (to be determined - in class)
Dinner: Cranberry, Almond, Apple Quinoa

Saturday
Breakfast: (to be determined)
Lunch: Cranberry, Almond, Apple Quinoa
Dinner: (to be determined)

First recipe of the year: Kale Chips

2012-01-05T22:29:00.003-06:00

One of my resolutions was to blog a bit more this year. It was also one of my resolutions last year, and I didn't really keep to it. I'm trying to work on a few weekly features to keep me in line, so fingers crossed that I get it all sorted and spend a bit more time around here! The very first one of my resolutions this year is to stay healthy and get very fit. A while ago I mentioned my "return to healthy living," but as I'm sure you can imagine, it got slightly (and I do say slightly as I wasn't THAT bad) out of control over the holidays. That being said, now that I'm back home in Victoria I've been getting things back on track and I'm already feeling better both physically and mentally.

I'd like to kick off the years recipes with a nice, light snack. I had quite a bit of kale left over after making this soup (so good), so I decided to make some kale chips. I left them in the oven for a liiiiittle bit too long, so some of them turned out a little crispy. Only some of them though. The rest were pretty tasty. The roommates approve.

Kale Chips

2-3 cups kale

3 TBSP lemon juice

2 TBSP olive oil

lemon pepper

salt and pepper to taste

a shake of garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375F. Toss everything in a bowl, making sure to coat the kale. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and lay out the kale in a single layer. Cook for roughly 10-12 minutes - WATCH THEM! I left mine in for 15 minutes and as I said, some of them were worse for wear.

If you manage not to eat them all in a single sitting (I imagine it would be easy as they're pretty light), store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

best of 2011

2011-12-31T12:00:00.000-06:00

2011 has definitely had it's ups and downs. It's been a year of firsts, new friends, and letting go of old friendships and feelings. I've been doing a lot of figuring myself out this year, and certainly a lot of growing up. Here are some of the highlights of the year that I've shared.

My passion for cooking and baking grew quite a bit, starting with my first attempt at macarons early in the year.

My friend Meagan and I headed to Washington in May for our first time at Sasquatch Music Festival. We can't even WAIT to go back in 2012.

I ran my first 10k with Gabi over the summer! We ran the Stampede Road Race, and it was awesome.

In August, I bided Calgary Adieu and moved to Victoria, BC for University.

To start off the holiday season, my roommate and I hosted a cocktail party. It was so much fun! There were a slew of other parties this year as well...

A yummy Spring brunch
Sunny Canada Day dinner with a few lovely ladies
And most recently, the usual Christmas dinner with my cross-country pals.

It's been a pretty solid year. 2012 is going to have a hard time topping it! Next year is going to bring about a ton of changes once again that I'm already anticipating. The ball hasn't even dropped and I'm already arranging some things that are going to set the beginning and mid-2012 in motion. I'm both excited and nervous for these changes.

See you in the New Year!

christmas: calgary holiday party

2011-12-30T12:12:00.003-06:00

I’ve been back in Calgary for a little over a week now, and boy have I ever been busy. It wasn’t until two days ago that I had a little time in the morning to sit down, kick back, watch a little TV (some French movies that we watched in class in Jr. High) and catch up on everything Internet-related. Until then, I had been running around either baking, going to the gym, planning parties or working. It has been insane to say the very least.

My Christmas party went quite well, all things considered. I managed to get all of the baking done, and most of the actual cooking for the dinner itself. Decorating was way above me, and I ended up leaving things as my mother had done before my arrival. I had planned on setting up a sort of photo booth, as they seem to be popping up all over blogs, and seemed like a lot of fun. This too, was left until the very last minute, and I had a couple of my guests set something up literally minutes before everyone else’s arrival. Little nit-picky things like this are what I consider to have gone wrong for this dinner, but of course they are no one’s fault but my own. The dinner itself went quite well. It was really nice to see everyone again. It’s nice to know that even if it’s proving to be difficult to keep in touch while we’re all away at school, we still have this dinner to look forward to in order to get us all together again.

Guest post: 5 Steps to Keep You Trim Throughout the Holidays (and the Rest of the Year, Too!)

2011-12-26T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today I have something a little bit different to share. It's the very first guest post featured on aussi belle! I'm so excited to share this piece of writing with you. I feel it's the absolute perfect timing what with the full-on gluttony of the holidays upon us - Christmas may be over, but there's still New Years - eek! This comes to you from Mela of MELAvonD. I've been following her along her personal journey to health and fitness for a good couple of months now, and I think it's safe to say that she's a force to be reckoned with. Her drive and commitment are nothing short of inspiring. On top of all this, the girl has some pretty cool style, which is not something to be forgotten. All of this said, today she'll be offering up her five steps for fat loss to keep everyone trim not only through the holidays, but the rest of the year and even the rest of our lives! I know that I'll be keeping these pointers in the back of my mind. Enjoy!

Five steps for successful fat loss

So let’s say that you already have started or know that you need to start an exercise plan that works for you and gives you the ability to lose body fat gradually. We all know that exercise is number one in losing weight and majority of people know that it involves a healthy diet as well. Your diet should be 85%-90% quality health foods and 10% foods with less nutritional value. Making the right choices with your diet involves learning how to eat those calories appropriately. Here are 5 steps for successful fat loss.

Write it down
Keep accurate food records of every morsel and drop for three days, if not more. People who keep records tend to lose weight effectively. A handy place to keep food records is on the Internet. There are many platforms such as my favorite med help diet diary. It is an integrated app with Google Chrome. It will not only help with recording your food but also calculates calories and nutrition.
If you eat for reasons other than to obtain fuel, you need to recognize that food should only be fuel. Like a drug, food should not be abused.

Eat slowly
Overweight people tend to eat faster than their normal weight counterparts do. Because the brain needs about 20 minutes to receive the signal that you’ve eaten your fill. slow eating can save you many calories. No matter how much you consume during those 20 minutes, the signal doesn’t move any faster. Try to pace your eating time so that you eat less and void discomfort that often occurs after rapid eating. For example, choose a broth soup for a first course before dinner at a restaurant. Hot soup takes time to eat and decreases the appetite for the entrée. You’ll be content to have a lighter meal.

Eat your favorite foods
If you deny yourself permission to eat what you truly want to eat, you are likely to binge. But if you give yourself permission to eat your desired foods in diet portions you will be less likely to blow your diet. If chocolate glazed doughnuts are among your favorites, than have one once or twice a week. Simply determine how many calories are in that doughnut and spend your calorie budget accordingly. When eating your treat, remember to chew slow and savor the taste to fully enjoy it. You’ll free yourself from the temptation to devour a dozen doughnuts in one sitting.

Avoid temptation
Out of sight, out of mind and out of mouth. If you spend a lot of free time in the kitchen, you might want to consider relocating to the den when you want to relax, where food is less likely to be available. I live in an apartment with an opening living and kitchen floor plan. When I’m really feeling tempted, especially by whatever my roommate may be baking I go straight to my bedroom in the back of the apartment. Another very simple tip on this would be avoiding the candy and cookie aisle at the grocery market.

Schedule appointments for exercise
If you are serious in trying to lose weight, you may be having trouble following a consistent program; you might be helped by scheduling the time to exercise in your appointment book. You want to exercise regularly to tone muscles, relieve tress, and improve your health. But you should not over exercise. Exercise should be for fun and fitness, not simply for burning off calories. Be sure to enjoy yourself.

All writing and photos courtesy of MELAvonD.

"Home" for the Holidays

2011-12-23T09:59:00.004-06:00

I'm home.

Well, as home as Calgary is home I suppose. The last few days have been a whirlwind. I don't remember the last time that I was this tired, and the holidays have hardly even begun. On top of that, I start work on Saturday, so there really is not time to catch up on lost sleep and relax. I'm not sure why I thought this was going to be a vacation, but I was sadly mistaken. As unbelievable as it is, I think I'm ready for this holiday to be over and to ring in the new year. This is my first year in a long time being unemployed and broke around Christmas, and it really, truly does change the whole thing all together. I want to get my family and friends nice gifts, but I can't afford really anything at all. The handmade gifts that I started in Vic and brought here to finish have gone untouched because I've been so busy, and will remain so until their due date, Christmas Day. I want my party to be so good, but I can't afford pretty decorations or even the ingredients for all of the dishes that I wanted to make. My parents have been helping me out, but I feel that it's definitely not their responsibility to be feeding my friends. They have their own expenses to make. As absolutely horrible as it is (and I really truly hate this about our society, and especially my large role in it), money really does make the world go 'round.

I think that I just need a nice long snooze to make me feel better. In a couple of days perhaps I'll find time for a cat nap.

Despite all of these bad feelings I've been having since getting here, it's been really nice to see my family and some of my friends (friends from work - I haven't seen any of my bff's except for one). My family has been getting along better than we have in years, which is so refreshing. I've been hanging out with my brother a bit too. This in itself is absolutely crazy, since we usually spend most of our time bickering. The highlight of the trip so far was going to the Calgary Flames game last night with my dad! As much as I enjoy catching our games on TV (easier said than done when living in Victoria), it's a zillion times more awesome in real life. The energy of the crowd is fantastic, not to mention the added "Dome Foam" (shitty, overpriced Budweiser), oh and the hockey of course. We had pretty sweet seats in the second tier behind the away net. And we won! All in all, it was a pretty sweet evening. I wish that I had photos to share, but I have unfortunately been having issues with my cellphone and all of my photos were erased last night (ugh - technology!).

I'm hosting my second Christmas dinner tonight, so I had best go start preparing! Here's a few photos of an outfit with a little shine for the holidays.

top and tights, Zara; shorts, UO; shoes, Dolce Vita.

Happy holidays everyone!

christmas: ugly sweater cocktail party

2011-12-20T20:30:00.000-06:00

This post is late. Weeks late. I promised a video would be made before writing this up, but it's just not going to happen. I've let myself down a bit in terms of my aptitude with technology. Unfortunately, I can't figure out Final Cut for the LIFE of me, and I haven't had time to reaaaally immerse myself in it. For now (at least), the photos will have to suffice.

What a gloomy way to start a post about something that was so much fun! My roommate and I spent the day doing a bit of Christmas decorating around the house. Everything that we used was either homemade or from the dollar store (we tried to find the least tacky decorations). I baked up some treats for our guests. This time around I decided to keep things classic and simple by making cupcakes: Gingerbread and Peppermint, plus a whole whack of gingerbread cookies and icing to decorate during the party.

As it was a cocktail party, we had each of our guests bring a different type of liquor to mix some drinks. On the menu were Peppermint Martinis, "Green Elf's" (the seasonal variation of a Grasshopper), Cran-Vanilla Martinis (cranberry instead of raspberry, as shown in the photo) and Black Velvet. They were all really yummy, although some more than others. I really enjoyed the Peppermint Martini, which was VERY strong, but super yummy when paired with a candy cane rimmer. I heard the Black Velvet was pretty darn smashing too.

We spent the evening listening to Christmas music, decorating gingerbread cookies, playing silly drama games and laughing away. In a way it felt a bit like a PG evening, but then of course I had to remember that it was actually a cocktail party. Not so PG. I'm so used to party's being big and extreme, so it was really nice to host and partake in something a bit more intimate.

All in all, the party was a huge success (I would say). It was so nice to meet my roommates classmates and friends. They all seem like amazing people! So much fun, for sure.

I wore a skater dress, polka dot tights and wedges from Urban Outfitters, sheer vintage blouse and holiday vest, and a bow headband from Le Chateau.

Mindful Eating

2011-12-17T12:16:00.003-06:00

Source: Chapters

A couple of weeks ago in my Intro to Environmental Sciences class we did a section on Mindful Eating. I thought okay, we’ll be going over making smart food choices. Being mindful, aware. Well, I was wrong. What Mindful Eating really means is actual meditation and heightened awareness while preparing and consuming food. I didn’t do the readings before the lectures, so when I got to class I was surprised by the true meaning of Mindful Eating, and quite frankly put off by it. I am the least Zen person. I respect that people practice meditation and all of that, but I just don’t buy into it, especially not when it comes down to something as simple as food. To say that I was put off by the lecture would be a bit of an understatement. I scoffed at the whole thing and decided not to attend the second part of the lecture, and to instead work on a paper that was due for the class. That was that, or so I thought.

I’m not sure why I thought that I could get away with not having to review the material on Mindful Eating. I suppose it’s because I thought of it to be so insignificant and unrelated to our course. Well, I’ve just spent the day going over it, which meant having to read the material. We were assigned to read the first and last chapters of Jan Chozen Bays, Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food. While I still don’t fully buy into the hype, I was a bit more intrigued after reading the characteristics of a “healthy relationship with food.” According to the list provided, I definitely do not. This is not something that particularly surprised me, but I had never quite thought of in quite the way that was described. I’m interested and open to correcting my apparently unhealthy relationship, and perhaps being a bit more mindful isn’t a bad thing.

The meditation process that you’re instructed to do while eating is time consuming. You’re told to access all of your “seven hungers,” which engages all of your senses, so that you can have a truly satisfying meal. We did this exercise in lecture, and it really pained me to do it. I could not for the life of me wrap my head around the process.

Although I’ve only read two chapters of the book, I’m considering picking it up to read the rest and give this Mindful Eating thing a try. I’m totally guilty of not engaging with my food. I mean, I love the process of preparing my meals (as I’m sure you could guess), but when it comes to eating I tend to prefer eating alone, and am almost always doing something else in the process (like writing this post while munching on breakfast...). It’s going to take a lot to get me to be a true believer in this process, but I am definitely open to trying it. I’m hoping to pick up the book sometime after Christmas (money’s tight y’know) and get a start in the New Year. I’m also hoping to pick up a few other books about eating mindfully to do a bit of a comparison on methods.

What do you think about the idea/process of Mindful Eating? Is it worth giving a try?

sooner or later they will find out what you're made of

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

Despite not having gone grocery shopping in a while (I refuse to buy more food before I fly home), it’s been a surprisingly good couple of days as far as meals go. Saturday morning, I cooked up some oatmeal banana waffles for my roommate and I before we headed out to Moss St. Market. It was SO busy that I unfortunately didn’t get to snap any photos (even though I had my camera strapped to me). I also didn’t have any cash on hand, so I didn’t end up buying anything at all. Such am amateur mistake. I had planned on going back the following day, but decided against it, as it’s roughly a two hour round trip from my house. Next time I suppose.

I’ve been spending so much time inside studying that I haven’t really gotten the chance to appreciate how lovely it STILL is outside. The last two days I stepped away from my books to take my roommates dog for a walk. Having the ability to go outside and not be cold this late in the year is something that continues to astound me. Not to mention that everything is still pretty green and completely unfrozen... It’s weird. It’s really, really weird.

Another thing that I find so strange is that I can walk to my school and back and barely clock in 10km. I think it’s closer to 13km, BUT STILL. I don’t live close to the school at all. It takes a half hour to get there by bus. On mine and Toby’s walk today, we went aaaalllmost to school and back, and it was a completely effortless, easy walk. To walk anywhere in Victoria and back on the same path it seems to be pretty near impossible to clock in more than roughly 15km. Where am I going with this right? When I was training for my 10k in Calgary I could get in a 10km run by starting at my house, running to my friends house a few communities over and running home. Calgary is freaking HUGE compared to Victoria, and I don’t think that I really realized it until today. Now you’re thinking that I’m a little daft right? I know that Victoria is significantly smaller than Calgary, but I think that being so unfamiliar with this place makes it seem a zillion times bigger. Today was very eye opening. If the weather continues to stay nice, I’m going to be spending a lot more time walking instead of taking the bus.

Walking Toby is...interesting. I do a lot of bitching about this dog. As far as his obedience goes...Let’s just say that while we’re away for the holidays my roommate is sending him away to be trained. He’s 4 years old. Walks are a good ol’ fun time because he’s not leash trained and really, really unsocialized. He barks at EVERYONE who goes by and lurches at them as well. It’s even worse when other dogs are around. Despite all of this I still think that it’s very important to take him out for walks. I’ve taken it upon myself to try to leash train him and correct his behavior at least with people going by. Let it be noted that I’ve never tried to train a dog before, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading on the internet. I implemented a few things today that I think he started to take to by the end of our walk, which is such a nice start. As great as this is, I can’t help but wonder why I’m the one doing it... In a way it feels a bit like I’m overstepping, but at the same time someone needs to take him out without getting completely frustrated, turning around and going home. I’m hoping that this trainer will be able to work some magic.

toque, Club Monaco; blouse, vintage; sweater and necklace, Urban Outfitters; dress and boots, Zara.

This is what I'm talking about - I managed to get away with walking around outside wearing this and a semi-warm jacket today, and wanted to strip off some layers. What a great way to confuse an Albertan!

the christmas waltz

2011-12-09T00:38:00.001-06:00

I went downtown today as a little break from studying. My intent was to shop for Christmas gifts. I did... Well, I tried to. I ended up going home with some Lush soap for myself (I was out) and some restocked acrylic paint. I’m really only shopping for one gift to give, but it’s proving to be really hard. This is the first year that I am included in my extended family’s gift exchange, and I want to make sure that what I give is really, really good. I’m sucking pretty bad at it so far, and I’m running out of time. I’m banking on the Moss St. Market this weekend.

jacket, shirt and boots, Zara; vest, Club Monaco; skirt, Talula; necklace, Urban Outfitters.

It astounds me that it is the second week of December and I can still get away with wearing things like this and managing to stay warm. The Alberta-BC transition never gets old. I’m looking forward to going back to Calgary for a bit though, even if it does mean embracing the cold and snow. I think that it is for sure going to be a shock though.

As much as I enjoy dressing up when I go out, when I’m at home it’s an immediate strip down to light sweaters, leggings and cotton shorts. No shame in being comfortable around the house.

I’m intending on writing up a post about my holiday party last week. It went really, really well and was loads of fun. I shot a bit of footage from it and am trying, very unsuccessfully, to put it all together. If ANYONE is fluent in Final Cut, please help me. You’d think that I’d be a little bit better at this after having taken three years of Film Studies classes in high school. Granted, we didn’t use the same program and I was always a lot better at the film writing as opposed to the actual filming and editing.

I have ONE more exam to get through before I get to go home. I’ve planned it so horribly, and will be flying out the same day as my exam. It’s going to be a very close call, so fingers crossed that it doesn’t snow in Victoria, or else my chances of making it to the airport that day are slim. I’ve got over a week to study for this thing, so hopefully I keep myself concentrated and get through the exam without a hitch. I’m so ready to go home!

christmas: calgary winter fun

2011-11-30T15:56:00.001-06:00

My last post was heavy. I know. It was written late at night. I was tired. I was frustrated. I take back nothing of what I said, but I would like to add that I could very well be wrong. In my experience I'm not, but I could be. As broad as I may have made Calgary's fashion blogging scene seem, it's not exactly as cut and dry as that. I have definitely met some amazing people that I am so grateful for. On the other hand though, I've met equally as many (if not more) not so great people. People that put themselves up on a pedestal and literally gloat about how freaking great they are. I'm simply trying to send a message that hey, maybe they need to have the pedestal kicked from underneath them. Congratulations on your success, but stop acting like you're a celestial gift to the world.

Equally as comical is the fact the post preceeding my rant was going on about the joys of the holidays. What a switch in tone, hm? I would now like to make a return to that seeing as we are officially twenty-five days from Christmas. It's not even the day that matters so much. I think that Christmas Day gets so my hype, but ultimately when it comes down to it, the day itself is really kind of boring. It is for me at least. It's exciting because we get up early. Not too early mind you. It's more of a sleep in, and seems to get pushed further and further into the late morning as we age. We start with our stockings, followed by a nice Christmas morning breakfast (I'm planning this out already). After this we'll slowly make our way through the gifts under the tree. After this we don't really do anything though. We usually all go our separate ways, only to meet up later in the afternoon to head out for Christmas dinner with our extended family. It's nice for sure, but it's nothing too exciting or too special. We don't spend the day as much of a family.

For me it is the events leading up to Christmas that make me have such a crush on the holidays. Annually, I release a Christmas playlist to my friends. Years prior I've put a lot of effort into it, right down to personalized artwork. This year is a little different as I've been away from home, in school, and surprisingly busy. There will still be a playlist, but a lot less thought will be going into it, and it will be available online. It's a little sad for me to change this tradition, but it had to happen. Other traditions include a holiday dinner with my friends, which I've mentioned plenty of times before. We've been doing this for... well a good number of years actually. I believe that it began in Jr. High, but at that time we would go to a restaurant. This means that this has been going on since 9th grade, so wow! Six years!

This year I would like to do more in both Victoria and Calgary.

1. Getting my family gifts this year seems like such a silly thing... I am unemployed. Any money that comes my way is money from my parents that I should be using to eat (or do frivolous things like party my life away). REGARDLESS of where that money may be going, it seems so ridiculous to be purchasing gifts for them when it is really ... them buying themselves gifts. I have a little project started instead, but leading up to it involved scouring for family photos. This was way too difficult. There are no photos in existence of my mother, father, brother and I dated any later than when we went to Barbados for my Aunt's wedding... I think I was in 10th grade. This is bad. This makes me kind of sad in some warm place in my heart. I plan on changing aaall of this come late December though, as I will make a solid attempt to involve my family in a photo shoot of sorts. Oh hey there, Calgary photographer friends. Make my dreams come true and take pictures of my silly family (my brother will most likely be making a face or giving you the finger the whole time - be quick with the shutter).

2. I haven't been ice skating in years. I'd really like to go to Olympic Plaza to skate! I have this wonderful image of warm jackets, scarves, mittens and drinking hot chocolate while gliding along the ice. Laughter and happiness will ensue. In reality, I'll probably spill the hot chocolate all over myself when I fall and proceed to find myself a chair to hold onto while I desperately try to keep myself on my feet. Regardless, it will be hilarious and so great.

3. TOBOGGANING! One of my dearest friends moved to Calgary from Victoria many years ago and has never been tobogganing. I promise her every year that we'll go, but I myself haven't even been since 10th grade. This year it's gotta happen.

4. Random 'open house' type events with my friends at my place. Impromptu brunches/casual dinner parties...cheese plates and wine. Sitting in the living room with hot toddies and eggnog over dim Christmas tree lights, chatting away until late in the eve.

5. Zoo Lights. 'Nuff said.

I don't even know what else there is to do in Calgary during the holidays. If anyone has any ideas of fun holiday events, please, please, please let me know. I'm down for anything.

Elsewhere... I'm only now beginning to realize how much I miss these shoes. It's a shame that they fell apart.

there's a special place in hell for fashion bloggers

2011-11-29T01:24:00.001-06:00

Fashion blogging makes me hate the world in all sorts of ways. “Wait, what am I reading then?” you ask. Pretty sure I just posted some outfit photos the other day. Pretty sure if you look waaay back to when I first started this blog (up until recently, actually) all that you would find were outfit posts. With little to no text. If there was any text it was stupid and contrived. Pointless. Just something to fill the space. Make me look like somewhat of an iNteLlEcTuAl. I’m not even gonna try to bullshit you here. When I started aussi belle I was young, kind of dumb, but thought that I was the greatest thing to walk the earth. Hey news flash, I most certainly was not. This space was created for attention, not that I was lacking it in real life, but it seemed like a great place to get more in a bigger way. It happened in one way or another. This blog isn’t anything big, and I’m not claiming that it is, but it has generated enough visits to warrant being called out in public by readers. That’s about as far as my claim to fame goes, and that is so totally AOK with me. I’m really, really happy to say that this blog is no longer my teenaged cry for attention. It slowly but surely progressed into something more after I started considering advertising space and some sponsors sought me out. Obviously, I turned this down. I didn’t know what I was doing here. I was stuck in some weird life transition between high school and ‘The Real World’ (uh, are we there yet), and so was aussi belle. As a person I was changing in just about every way, and since this blog had become a big part of my life, it would have to change too. I would like to consider my little corner of the web a ‘lifestyle blog.’ I could be wrong. You tell me. Is it the food that brings you here? My occasion outfit posts? The writing (which mind you is still not great)? My great sense of humor and wit? By the way, that last was a joke. My posts are sporadic at best. I know, I know. I’m an irresponsible blogger. I said that I would post more about my return to a healthy lifestyle. That hasn’t really happened yet. It’s not because I’ve forgotten about the blog. I’ve been busy. Not to mention that I’m really trying to put something on this space that matters not only to me, but that will matter to you. It kills me a little bit to make silly little posts about ‘my week in instagram photos,’ because the content is so dead and uninteresting. On the other hand, that’s how I feel some of the time, and that’s real. This is real.

You know what’s not real though? Fashion blogging. Oh man, I’m gonna take so much shit for this. Let’s get a little more specific here so as to reduce the Haterade. Calgary fashion blogging really makes my blood boil. I think it’s solely because I’ve lived it - granted on the verrrrrry outskirts of it, but still enough to understand the logistics. And you all, minus a few exceptions, suck*. You are sucky people with sucky personalities (wait, WHAT personality?!?!). Tough love, hey? GOD, I MUST BE sOoOoO JEALOUS OF YOU! Not. Get your head out the clouds. Let me elaborate a little bit before you tear me a new one. I was curious about other fashion bloggers in my area way back in the day when Lookbook was still a private community (ah, those were the days) and Chictopia was the sh*t. I don't really remember how I ended up coming across some, but all of a sudden a whole lot starting popping up (riiight, I turned 18). Like, a lot. Calgary's fashion scene started to have some significance in my life (let me reiterate that I made a point of keeping a good distance from it), as did these bloggers. These bloggers who's lives revolved around being seen at events and getting mah-jor hits on their blogs. Networking, ladies! Then I went to a blogger meet up. For some reason I thought this was going to be like the meet ups that I've seen on other (inter)national blogs. You know what I mean. They all get together and go on fashionable outings in their respectable cities. No, instead this was How-To-Sell-Your-Soul 101 over single cocktails (keep it classy!). Like, hours of this. I sat in the corner and made fun of them. Yeah, I'm that girl. It was that day that made me reaaaally sit down and reflect on 'the scene' and how much I really, truly hate it. I wanted nothing to do with networking. With making my blog reach more people, and be waaaay great. Nah, I just wanted to hang out, get some drinks with the gals and chat it up.

It would be way too easy for me to keep going, to keep providing examples of the true suckage. I'll refrain.

The strangest thing is that I feel like this isn't the case for anywhere other than Calgary... Please, correct me if I'm wrong, because clearly I have not played a part in any other community. I've stumbled upon quite a few Vancouver based fashion bloggers who seem like really genuine, totally sweet women who just so happen have cool style and post about it. For the most part their blogs offer some other insight into their real lives, and their pretty faces are clothes are just kind of a bonus. I would be overjoyed to meet any of them in real life. Now, now, now, for as much as I love Vancouver, y'all have a bad rep for being snooty. You'd think their blogs would come off this way, but they don't. In fact, they seem to constantly reiterate the fact that they are so privileged to have been given opportunities due to their fashion blogs (eg. attending events), which is so, so refreshing. Calgary bitches flaunt it. "Look at what I've got and you don't. Don't you wish you were me?"

Now although I may have moved to the coast, I am a Calgary girl through and through. That would be why I have such an issue with these ladies. Go right ahead and call me a hypocrite for posting outfit photos here and yet having so much contempt for these poor souls. You know what? If I'm feeling especially good some days, perhaps I'll take some narcissistic selfies and post them all over the web: Lookbook, Tumblr, Chictopia, here, perhaps even Facebook. The difference here is that I totally get how disgusting a practice like this is, and don't take myself seriously whatsoever. The bottom line is that hey, I felt pretty good and decided to take some photos. This is not my life. I do not get up in the morning, put on my face, dress myself up in an outfit to photograph, get changed, sit down to go through the photos, write a post, add pointless text that half of my readers will probably skim over or skip all together, etc., etc.

Not anymore anyways. Don't get me wrong, I follow a ton of fashion blogs. A ton. I enjoy them for the most part, but find myself drawn to the ones that offer that everyday life insight as opposed to just some smokin' photos. You're hot. We get it. Is there a brain inside that bangin' bod too? I want to see real lives, not fantasy.

Get ahold of yourself people, and stop taking yourself and your blog so damn seriously.

That being said, as this is my corner of the web, I've chosen to change my content to something that is hopefully a little less about the vanity. Do with yours what you wish. If you are fine with being perceived in a not-so great light, keep on keeping on. I'm sure you've got loads of fans anyways, right? All I really ask though, is to keep your narcissism on your blog, where it belongs, and off my Facebook feed.

* Let's also note that I haven't actually met a whoooole ton of Calgary fashion bloggers, but those that I have... you know who you are. And you're not necessarily ALL bad. I've met some pretty genuine people among the Calgary crew. That being said...

christmas: music, sweaters, parties

2011-11-28T00:11:00.001-06:00

Christmas is less than a month away. Are you excited? I'm freaking excited. I've been changing the date on our chalkboard countdown every day... I think my overexcitement about the holiday is driving my roommates bonkers. I just can't help myself! I've been quietly listening to Christmas music since the beginning of November, but only as of this weekend have I made it a public thing. Saturday morning I was to be found in the dining room nomming on my breakfast, doing a little reading for Women's Studies, and listening to Christmas music. One of my roommates came in the room, stopped dead in her tracks and said "Oh god, are you listening to Christmas music?" Oh yes, my friend. The time has come.

(shirt, Zara; scarf and leggings, Urban Outfitters; socks, Topshop.)

In addition to the addition of a two-month long annual soundtrack (anyone checked out She & Him's Christmas album yet?), we headed down to Value Village last week to hunt down some 'ugly Christmas sweaters.' Now, I'm a little biased about what makes an ugly Christmas sweater ugly. I bought three last year, and I wear them regularly year round. Granted, they don't have reindeer or santa or what-have-you on them, but they are pretty bedazzled, and I get a lot of weird looks whenever I wear them. I, however, think they are beautiful. When we went to Value Village I definitely had my doubts. They had created an 'ugly Christmas sweater' section, which took a lot of the guess work out of it. Still, I tried on something like two dozen rockin' sweaters and would have worn the grand majority of them year round. I ended up leaving with two that, while I would still not consider ugly, do have a significantly larger Christmas theme, and I therefore will not wear them past the holiday... okay, New Years.

I am desperately trying to get my roommates to accompany me to some sweet ass winter events around Victoria. There's the lighting of some Christmas tree and the parliament buildings this week, skating, wreathmaking (C'MON, so much fun!) and the Santa Shuffle. I'm so sold on doing the run... It's only 5km - easy peasy. There's not a chance that my roommates are gonna want to do it though, so I sadly will probably not be partaking. I'm gonna work on it though.

Four days away from my first final. As of this morning I've officially finished all of the readings, so it's time for a few days of heavy review. I've been keeping up with the latter part of the course a lot more than the first bit, so I'm feeling pretty solid about these test already. After that test is over, I'll be spending the rest of Thursday slaaaaaaving away in the kitchen prepping for our Christmas party the following evening! I think that i'm even a little bit confused about this party. When I think party my mind either goes to a rager or to....what I'm good at hosting, which would be dinner parties. This is neither I don't think. We decided to invite only chicks, so there are 15 or so girls coming. A fair number. Not too-too small, but also not overwhelmingly big. We've decided on four drinks that we'll be mixing up, and I'm in charge of treats (quelle surprise). But what is one to do if there is no meal involved? Mingle? Is that what this is? Should there be activities? I think that this is mostly throwing me off because I've only invited one of my friends. When I host soirees it's obviously my pals, so mingling isn't a big deal. I don't fare well in social situations, especially when it comes to meeting new people. Regardless, I'm sure it will be fine. I'm just stoked to bake, listen to Christmas music and wear my sweater.

my day in food

2011-11-26T23:19:00.001-06:00

I unintentionally did a sort of 'day in food' on Instagram today. It was a really yummy and totally satisfying day.

slice of toasted raisin bread, plain organic yogurt with grapes, coffee with chai soy milk

hard boiled egg, fiber crackers with hummus, cottage cheese with apple

spinach salad with cranberries, cherry tomatoes, hazelnuts and goat cheese, salmon with agave-Dijon glaze
I have a tendency of posting a lot of my meals on Instagram, so if you're into that follow me here.

I've officially finished all of my assignments for the term, so now I just need to get through exams. I have my first this Thursday (yikes!), and two others that'll keep me busy up until December 19th. Besides doing a bit of studying I've slowly begun to become a slave to the gym, and the rest of my time has been spent planning out my upcoming Christmas parties. There is SO much to do. I'm hosting my first of the season this coming Friday. It'll be the most low-key seeing as we've decided not to decorate our house here in Victoria. Considering none of us will be here any later than the 21st, it just didn't seem practical to be blowing our cash on decorations. I've made a few cheesy snowflake ones, but that's about as far as it's going to go. Instead of focusing on decorating, my energy has been going into planning out some goodies and drinks.

Lots to do!

nostalgic saturday mornings with stuart mclean

2011-11-19T11:36:00.001-06:00

Yummy, yummy oatmeal waffles. I tweaked the recipe a little bit by substituting coconut oil for butter, molasses for sugar (I like the strong flavour) and the addition of ground flax. So, so good.

The last two Saturdays have brought on a strong sense of nostalgia and longing for me. I've been missing Calgary quite a bit as the temperature has been dropping and the holidays grow nearer. Every Saturday morning I sleep in until 9, just in time to catch Vinyl Cafe on CBC Radio 2. I head down to the kitchen and whip up waffles (I've been trying a few new recipes found on the Internet) while tuning into the programming. This simple act reminds me so much of growing up. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house, and many of the weekend mornings that I can remember went exactly like this... my grandpa making waffles while we (my grandparents, my brother and I, and occasionally my mum) listened to the show. It was never something that really mattered to me at the time (of course). In fact, I don't think that I really listened half of the time. I was probably fiddling with my GameBoy playing Pokemon... or arguing with my brother, or complaining about something (I was a bit of a twerp). For some reason, this memory sticks out so clearly for me now, and it's something that I hold so near and dear to my heart.

One month until I fly home.

life lately, according to instagram

2011-11-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'm still alive! Last week was reading break, but I got so sick. I spent most of my time in bed, and when I wasn't in bed I was at the gym. Yes, I joined a gym! I'm so excited about it, and have gone a handful of times already.

Besides being at the gym, I've been spending a lot of time catching up on school work. I've got a few papers to write before the end of term, which is in just under two weeks. Then comes exams. Eurgh! I'm expecting that my posting is going to be pretty sparse for the next little while... Stay tuned!

recipe: banana nut muffins

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

What to do with overripe bananas ...? Make banana muffins of course.

My roommates are hilarious. The second their bananas start to get spotty they immediately think that they are “rotten” and unusable. Despite having told them numerous times that they are in fact ok to eat, they continue to pawn these bananas off on me. As much as I would love to just toss these bananas into a steamy bowl of oatmeal, it would feel wrong not giving them back some kind of product from their bananas. My go-to for overripe (although these are really HARDLY overripe) bananas is muffins. I know, I know, we did plenty of muffins just a little while ago. These are good enough that I couldn’t help but share.

Instead of adding granulated or brown sugar, I chose to use honey. It adds a whole other level of sweetness in combination with the applesauce and bananas. The carob chips gave it a completely different flavour than chocolate would: a bit more bitter and nutty, but absolutely delectable.

No photos today... just a recipe.

Carob Banana Nut Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons ground flax seed

1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
3 bananas, mashed

3/4 cup carob chips 
1/2 cup walnuts

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl, omitting carob and walnuts.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine wet ingredients.
4. Add wet to dry and mix until just combined.
5. Fold in carob chips and walnuts.
6. Cook for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Thank me later.

What do you do with your bananas?

a return to healthy living

2011-11-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

It's time for this blog to undergo a biiiiig overhaul. The content, at the very least. With this comes the return to a healthy lifestyle for both me and my roommates. Before moving to Victoria I (would like to think) that I was the picture of health. I ate incredibly healthy, balanced meals. I was at the gym every day, perhaps twice a day working on sculpting my body to be fit and toned. This wasn't always the case. I was never very active growing up, despite my mum being very involved in health and fitness. I liked to think that by not living an active lifestyle I was in a way rebelling against her. Of course, that was silly, because being healthy and active are so vital. Last year (or was it two years ago) I started changing my diet and working out, and it is seriously the best thing that I ever could have done for myself.

One of the reasons why I was so skeptical about moving to Victoria was the disruption that it would make to my fitness regime and diet. Before moving here I had trained myself to rarely indulge and really enjoyed creating healthy meals. I prided myself on silly things like apples being my version of a really great dessert, which, ok I know what you're thinking: what kind of life is that? We should indulge a little right? Except that it didn't bother me that I was missing out on the so-called "better" things in life in regards to food. I was content with my dietary choices and how they made my body feel.

It was easy enough to bring my diet along with me to Victoria, but it all went to shit when I started to eat out with my roommates. This reintroduced all of the bad foods that I had managed to ween myself off of, and now I feel clogged, gross and unhealthy. This isn't even to say that (for the most part) I'm eating terribly unhealthy, but I'm definitely not eating well either. For breakfast I'll have steel-cut oats with banana and cinnamon. Lunch is usually a pita pizza. Dinner is always tofu stir-fry. Toss in random crap that's lying around the house (like the bucket of candy bars left over from Halloween - we only got 6 kids) and my diet goes from bad to worse. While initially my healthy diet was not a hard thing to bring from Calgary it was all too easy to severely screw it up.

What I was most concerned about when I moved was where exactly I was going to work out. I had done a little bit of running in Calgary - I completed my first 10k earlier in the year when I was at my fitness prime. I hadn't really done enough running to have really gotten into it. Working out at home has never worked for me. Sure, I'll do an abundance of crunches of all sorts, leg lifts, and other relatively mundane exercises at home, but I've never been able to start and keep up with an at-home fitness routine. At home my gym was conveniently located within a 10 minute walk from my house. I liked how large the facility was and that I was familiar with the equipment. My mother is the assistant manager at the facility as well, so I liked knowing the staff and really feeling involved within the facility. I did a lot of bitching about the place at the time - it was SO busy unless you managed to get there at all the right times (which I did once I had gotten a routine down). Come to think of it though, I really did love going there and am seriously longing to go back right now. My problem in Victoria is that I don't have anything like I did in Calgary! I've heard that the University's gym is pretty good, but that it's always busy. That alone makes it a no for me, which is unfortunate because it's the cheapest option (besides working out at home) on a modest student budget. I have yet to check out any of the facilities around town, but am going to take advantage of the five days that I have off school this upcoming week. Again though, it's expensive even to try out. I want to find somewhere that has an abundance of equipment, preferably things that I am familiar with. This is a lot to ask, but I'm so shy when it comes to using strength training equipment - I avoided it all to death when I first started going back to the gym in Calgary.

What does this mean for the blog? Well, for starters it means no more cakes and cookies featured here, except for special circumstances like birthdays or uh, Christmas. I want to shift my focus entirely to healthy meals. As time goes on, I'd like to somehow incorporate the fitness aspect into this space, but I'm not quite sure how just yet. I would really love to have some guest bloggers feature some good-for-you meals and wellness tips. If interested in blogging on Aussi Belle, please send me an e-mail at samanthatrudel@gmail.com

What better way to get started than to feature a recipe for a spinach salad and warm vinaigrette. I made this earlier in the week as a quick and easy dinner for myself and my roommates. For the croutons, I used 4 slices of Weight Watchers whole wheat bread as opposed to a think sliced bread, and omitted the vegetable oil entirely from the vinaigrette. Even though this salad is incredibly simple, the abundance of flavour that it packed made it a huge hit for myself and my roommates. You'd be doing yourself a disservice by not making it!

outfit: blue jeans

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

blouse and boots, Zara; cardigan, Joe; shorts, Urban Outfitters/Levi's.

recipe: muffin mania

2011-11-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

I read a post on someone's blog (bless my soul, I can't remember who) about making a bunch of muffins, individually wrapping them and chucking them in the freezer for a good on the go surprise meal. The surprise being that because they were wrapped you wouldn't be too sure what you were getting. I was trying to think of some meal alternatives that I could make (I live off of steel cut oats and tofu stir-fry), and muffins seemed like such a great idea. I made three variations: Quinoa Lemon Blueberry, Raisin Bran and Chocolate Zucchini. I had my roommates taste test all day long, and now my freezer is stocked full of yummy, relatively healthy muffins!

Quinoa Lemon Blueberry Muffins (from Quinoa 365)
1/2 cup golden quinoa
1 cup water
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda*
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 banana, mashed
1/4 unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut yogurt
1 flax egg
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup frozen blueberries

1. Add the water and quinoa to a small pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the covered saucepan rest on the burner for an additional 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 400F and line or grease a muffin pan.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in the cooked quinoa.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together banana and applesauce. Next, add in the yogurt, egg, lemon juice and vanilla, stirring until fully blended.
Stir the frozen blueberries into the flour mixture, and then fold the flour mixture into the sugar mixture. Fill up muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Note: I omitted the sugar from the original recipe entirely. I added a banana instead to substitute some of the sweetness, but as you can imagine, I’m sure they were not nearly as sweet as the original recipe. If you’d like to use sugar, the recipe calls for 3/4 cup cane, or white sugar. I also omitted the egg, vegetable oil and sour cream, instead using a flax egg, unsweetened applesauce and coconut yogurt. I’ve made these muffins once before using the original recipe, and I remember them being quite a bit more moist than what I made this time around. However, the adjustments still made them quite good. Fill those tins all the way up! There’s no soda in this recipe, so these babies don’t rise.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
My grandpa got my family started on these muffins (I do believe that was the origin). Over the years the recipe has been modified. My mother has been experimenting with recipes on the web and makes these muffins quite frequently. They’re a fav around my parents house and within our entire extended family. I’m not sure of the original origin of this recipe, but today I tweaked it a bit for my own use, and incorporated a bit from the recipe my mum has been using.

I've substituted carob chips in place of chocolate chips because of the great health benefits that they provide. Carob is an non-dairy, non-caffeinated alternative to chocolate. Carob is actually a kind of pea, or at least it's grown in a pod on a shrub. It's a good source of calcium, fiber, protein and potassium. It helps with digestion. Besides these benefits, carob is just as sugary as chocolate is, so for that I would still recommend not consuming too much!

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 flax eggs
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup almond milk
1 cup applesauce
1 small zucchini, grated
1 cup carob chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Mix all dry ingredients (except carob) together in a large bowl.
3. In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients, including zucchini.
4. Add wet to dry and combine until just moistened. Fold in carob chips.
5. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 25 minutes.

outfit post: all the same

2011-11-06T08:00:00.000-06:00

jacket, Wilfred; shirt and skirt, TNA/Talula.

I’m trying to put more effort into getting dressed in the morning. Really, I am. This means that I’ve put away my sweatshirts and leggings. For the last couple of months I’ve felt a bit like I was having a ‘blast from the past’ of my junior high days. People, this is not a good thing. At some point during ninth grade my friends and I all gave up on life and wore sweatshirts, thrifted graphic t-shirts, leggings and lazy jeans every day. No more of that! I guess this isn’t much better, but hey - I’m not giving up my flannel and cozy socks entirely.

*Please note that I was carrying around my coffee because I was in a rush to go to school. What's a day without a caffeine fix?

cooking inspiration of the week

2011-11-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

I did recipes from The Healthy Foodie to death last week. I've been perusing Sonia's corner of the web for a while now, but have been reluctant to try anything because of the intimidating ingredients list that most recipes require. However, this week was different. It started off with the Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats, which was a great change to my usual peanut butter and banana oatmeal. I will note that this recipe says that it serves one, but it lasted me three days. After that came Creamy Mushroom Hazelnut Barley Risotto and Healthy Pumpkin Pie. ALL of these recipes were really great and I suggest that they be added to your lists of things to cook. I suppose I could offer a bit of a review of my experience with the dishes.

Creamy Mushroom Hazelnut Barley Risotto: I'm not sure why I decided to make this in the first place. I'm a bad, bad vegetarian and am so picky about the fruit and vegetables that I like to eat. Mushrooms, especially cooked, are not something that I particularly enjoy, but I've been trying to re-train myself to like them.What better way than by making a risotto PACKED with mushrooms? I omitted the portobellini mushrooms entirely, but used the accurate amount of the others. This dish took me FOREVER to make. I'm talking like two hours, and I only added about 4 cups of water to it to achieve the desired doneness. I'm not sure how you can go about changing this though. Overall, it was really good. We have loads of leftovers and it was split between three people, so I would suggest at least cutting the recipe in half unless you have a ton of people to feed.

Healthy Pumpkin Pie - YUM. I'll admit - I was hesitant to make this. Pumpkin pie with no white sugar, hmm? Won't it taste heavily of pure pumpkin? It didn't though. It was really good. I suggest adding a little less cottage cheese (although I do understand that it provides a lot of the creaminess of the pie), and use real maple syrup.

I also made pumpkin scones and pumpkin swirl brownies (it was a pumpkin kind of week).

This was a hit with the roommates.

Spiced Apple Cider
2oz whiskey, chilled
6oz sparkling apple cider
cinnamon
cinnamon sticks

1. Add whiskey and apple cider to a cocktail shaker and mix it up.
2. Strain into a glass.
3. Add cinnamon and cinnamon sticks to garnish.

outfit: halloween

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

shirt, vintage; dress, BCBG; tights and socks, UO; shoes, Zara.

I ended up being a cat. Surprised? No, me neither. I tried to switch it up. I really did. I went back to the costume store so many times and tried on the same things each time. I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything, and it's probably good that I didn't. Damn this student budget and not having a job (or any real desire to get one). I think the cat costume was okay this year though. I took it up a notch by drawing on whiskers and a nose. That's about as far as I'll take it.

What did you dress up as for Halloween?

And my favorite Halloween posts so far:

Poranne Inspiracje's apple chocolate oatmeal

Jen of Her Waise Choice's trip to the pumpkin patch puts mine to shame.

Pumpkin carving with Michelle and Anna.

Pumpkin Everything Now, Please

Danielle has the sweetest little family, as does Naomi.
Katie and Matt truly took the cake for great Halloween costumes.

trips to the farm

2011-10-31T09:32:00.000-06:00

I’m trying to squeeze in the last of my Halloween related posts... I’m sure after that things will start to get real quiet around here again. Regardless, last weekend I went to a Galey’s Farms with some friends to pick pumpkins. The whole thing was pretty legit as far as the actual patch goes - they had hay rides to take you out to the patch and pumpkins as far as the eye could see. This particular day it had been raining all morning, so things were quiet wet and mucky. The rest of the farm was a little bit of a tourist trap I found, but I suppose that’s what it’s meant to be. They had a miniature train ride around the farm, face painting (I sadly didn’t get anything done), a haunted house, etc. We got out pumpkins and were on our way. After visiting the farm, we went to Ross Bay Cemetery as per my roommates request. We were discussing “Halloween related things to do,” and somehow visiting a cemetery in the middle of the day seemed to be the operative choice. The actual cemetery was really pretty, as far as they go. I was entranced by all of the cool ass trees. The cemetery is located just off Dallas Rd., and right next to the ocean. I often forget that I live on an island and that the beach is so incredibly close.

This weekend we got down to carving our pumpkins. Time with the family! I made dinner (I'll feature later this week), we watched Rocky Horror and Hocus Pocus and carved our pumpkins. I did mine of Dr. Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror. See a resemblance? It's the first pumpkin that I've ever carved, so I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

outfit post: the size of the eyes and the flies in the sky

2011-10-29T11:10:00.000-06:00

dress, flats and headband, Zara; vest, Club Monaco.

I was goofing around a couple of weeks ago trying to figure out what I could use from my own closet to make a Halloween costume. I put this dress on thinking it could be used as some kind of fairy princess dress, and ended up just trying it with a bunch of other things in my closest and falling in love with it all over again. I wish I had the guts to wear it out in public (I did one time to work in Calgary), but alas, it will probably not make any appearances except for (maybe) Halloween or some fancy party.

recipe: halloween inspired gingerbread cookies

2011-10-28T08:00:00.001-06:00

Two recipes in one week... does this make me a food blogger or what? Hmph, not sure if I'm okay with that.

I got the idea for these cookies from Kraft, although I didn’t use their recipe*. I’ve been in a bit of a pickle as to what people bake around Halloween time. Easter is easy. So is Thanksgiving and Christmas, but what in the world do you make for Halloween? This is usually the one time of year that I simply allow myself to gorge on mini chocolate bars. This is the closest that I could come up with for Halloween themed baking. The shapes not be spooky, but I think the skeletons give them a bit of a twist. These cookies are chalk full of sugar and goodness, and I don’t feel the least bit bad about it.

*I’m not too sure where I got this recipe. It’s been sitting in my recipe box for a while. I’ve never used it and neglected to put down the source. I will not that you should definitely refrigerate the dough overnight as I found it super difficult to work with. One should also note that I don’t actually own a rolling pin and have been rolling out all my dough using the empty wine bottle of the day...week. This may have a lot to do with the difficulty of rolling out the dough.

Also, this recipe makes a very soft cookie. It is definitely gingerbread and not gingersnap, which I suppose is what I was after. However, if you’re after gingerbread these are tasty and very spicey. Plus, who doesn’t want to snack on cute little skeleton animals?

Gingerbread cookies
Ingredients
3 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 TBSP ginger
1 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup earth balance
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 flax egg
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses

Preparation
1. Sift flour, spices, baking soda and salt into a large bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl for about four minutes.
3. Add in flax egg and molasses while beating.
4. Add wet to dry. Mix until blended.
5. Divide dough into three rounds. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least three hours or overnight.
6. Roll out rounds on a lightly floured surface.
7. Cut out cookies.
8. Heat oven to 325F. Bake not longer than eight minutes for soft cookies.

Frost and enjoy!

recipes: vegan pear muffins

2011-10-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

I’ve been a vegetarian on and off since junior high school (roughly eight years). Recently I’ve grown increasingly interested in following a vegan diet. I’ve been trying to do so at least four times a week. It’s actually been pretty easy to do, mainly because I find eggs to be a nuisance to buy and carry home, and I’ve never been a huge fan of dairy products to begin with. I find that my downfall is eating out where unless I’m going to an establishment that caters to vegans I can’t be entirely sure of my foods contents. I also really like sweets (as I’m sure you’ve figured out), and most bakeries in my area don’t focus on vegan alternatives. If I do eat out then it’s no more than once or twice a week (Tim Hortons egg asiago bagel and orange juice is my go to hangover food as of late), so living la vida vegan is pretty manageable. I suppose the real question would be if I’m getting adequate nutrition while following this diet.

This brings me to the bulk of this post, which is about vegan cooking! Baking to be more specific, seeing as that is what I do best in the kitchen. One of my friends texted me the other day asking if I knew of any good websites with vegan cake recipes. The context was for a school assignment, but he was set on the idea of making a vegan cake. After the completion of making the cake he posted a funny Facebook status about how “vegans must hate themselves” because his product seemed so darn healthy. I of course had the audacity to disagree with this statement (much to my dismay). As much as I wish all vegan cooking could be considered healthy thanks to the lack of animal byproducts, this is obviously not the case. It should be noted that he made a chocolate zucchini cake that imagine was more like chocolate zucchini bread, so I guess in a way this could be considered healthy in contrast to, oh, I don’t know, perhaps this.

I’m always really impressed with people who come up with their own recipes. I definitely am not skilled enough to do this. In fact, I tend to freak out when it comes to even substituting ingredients. In a way, the recipe that follows is my first attempt at “coming up” with a recipe - even though it’s mostly just substitution from the original recipe. Today we’re making pear muffins! Pears are in season right now and are grown locally in BC. Not only am I trying to follow a mostly vegan diet, but I am also trying to follow a seasonal, moving diet as well. For this recipe I added in coconut flour, which is high in fiber. I also significantly reduced the amount of sugar (the original recipe calls for about a cup). With the modifications these muffins turned out really great.

Pear muffins

Ingredients:
50g coconut flour (1/2 cup)
200g whole wheat flour (1cup + more or less 1/3)
2 tsp baking power
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger

2 flax eggs (2 tbsp whole flaxseeds + 8 tbsp water)
1 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 tbsp agave
1/4 cup grapeseed oil (optional)

2 pears, chopped with skin

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl combine all dry ingredients.
3. In a food processor, grind whole flaxseeds until they reach the consistency of meal. If you don’t have a food processor you can also put the flaxseeds in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Add water to the ground flaxseeds and mix until combined well.
4. Put the flax eggs in a smaller bowl and add apple sauce and agave. Mix.
5. Add wet to dry and mix until just combined. If mixture is too thick add the oil. Add pears to the mixture.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

If you’re not concerned with vegan cooking, there’s always the option of using the original recipe.

Happy cooking!

thanksgiving: calgary pt. 3

2011-10-20T18:55:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving. Canadian Thanksgiving to be more exact. A time to celebrate a bountiful harvest by stuffing our faces with dead bird, starchy potatoes and tasty, tasty pumpkin pie. ...Or something like that. This year I learned (or relearned - I’m not too sure) that the Canadian Thanksgiving actually began when some explorer dude accidentally ended up in somewhere in Greenland and was greeted by some friendly indigenous peoples known as Inuits. He held a celebration to give thanks for the food and the safe journey. While this may be the origin of Thanksgiving, I’m pretty sure I’ve never celebrated it with the colonist in mind.

What is it then that I celebrate every year? To be honest, up until this year I’ve only recognized Thanksgiving for the meal. Boy oh boy do I ever love Thanksgiving dinner. Growing up it was the turkey, my Grandma’s stuffing and cranberry sauce that really got me. Since I’ve made the transition to vegetarian I haven’t gotten to enjoy any of those things (except for the cranberries) for many years, but I appreciate all of the other things on a whole other level now. Squash of every kind in various different forms, Tofurkey, pumpkin pie...Mmm. Thanksgiving dinner is a good’er for sure.

I feel a little guilty for having thought that of Thanksgiving as just a really great meal (or two, or three depending on the year). This year was different though. I imagine it has a lot to do with living away from home for the first time. It’s made me really, truly appreciate my friends, and definitely my family. Growing up I never got along very well with my family. My brother was an annoying little twerp and my parents were a barrier in my teenage quest of rebellion. I made a point of distancing myself from them. Now that I am so far away from them I am realizing how much I appreciate them! It’s a strange thing I suppose, because of course you care for your family even if you do have some problems, but often times you don’t realize just how much. This goes for my extended family too. Family dinners were never really my thing. It meant a lot of being drilled about school or work or sitting in silence for a couple of hours, which as a teenager who thought she was pretty cool and important, I was not too down for. The last year or so that sentiment has completely changed as well, and now I’m more bummed if these gatherings aren’t held and I don’t get to catch up with my family.

A new addition to my family’s Thanksgiving celebration is that of my cousins birthday! Little Maya turned two this year! Two may not be a very big number, but I still can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. We started off the day at Heritage Park. We spent a few hours there before heading home to cook (two apple pies and a butternut squash salad), and finally going to my grandparents house for dinner. It was really great to spend the day with family. I am definitely thankful.

lights out, words gone: calgary pt. 2

2011-10-14T14:59:00.001-06:00

While in Calgary, I got to truly celebrate the season. Fall in all it’s magnitude. Although Fall is my favorite season, I suppose the idea of “Fall” is somewhat romanticized. I’ve got this great image of the season turning and taking long walks in the brisk outdoors sipping Pumpkin Spice Lattes as the leaves change colors and cover the ground beneath you. Being surrounded by friends - or lovers, the whole season gives off a notion of warmth whether it’s in your clothing, food or simply the closeness of your loved ones. In this utopia, the hustle and bustle of summer comes to a halt - life as a whole comes to a halt. In reality this is definitely not the case. It seems that once Fall has arrived things actually get busier and there’s less time to really...enjoy the change.

Ramble, ramble. None of this really makes sense.

What I’m getting at is that although I love this beautiful season, I have never really had the chance to truly appreciate it. Right now I’m busy cramming for midterms. I’m spending most of my time indoors huddled around my heater (curse old houses and bad insolation) rereading lecture notes. The most time I’ve spent outside enjoying the change has been walking to classes or catching the bus. For this reason, my trip to Calgary was quite nice. I spent a lovely afternoon with one of my best friends at the Corn Maze just outside the city limits. It was the perfect day for this trip, excluding the muckiness of the area due to the torrential downpour the day prior. The Corn Maze is primarily meant for children, so we were a bit outnumbered in that sense, but it was so great nevertheless. Pumpkin Spice Americanos really kicked off the adventure, and were followed by two corn mazes, a petting zoo, potato shooters, a pumpkin patch and face painting. It was fantastic to experience a “real” Fall event with a great friend.

Now that I’m back in Victoria, I’m making an attempt to bring a little bit of this back with me. I’ve done some homework on u-pick pumpkin patches and corn mazes in the area, and am planning a trip with my roommates once our exams are over next week. We have big plans of carving pumpkins (saving the seeds for baking of course), decorating the house, baking, etc.

The first task is getting through these pesky midterms...

How are you enjoying the season?

(Are there) Ways to come home?: calgary pt. 1

2011-10-10T11:07:00.002-06:00

This weekend I had the opportunity of going back to my hometown of Calgary, AB to spend Canadian Thanksgiving with my family. I’ve only been living away from Calgary for two months, but boy did it feel strange to be back. The first thing that struck me, of course, was the weather. The air in Calgary is so crisp, and it seems as if they are just about ready for their first snowfall (sorry guys). On the bright side, it also looks like they had a real Fall there, which is something that happened really occasionally. Most of the time it went straight from a super warm summer to freezing cold winter. It was great to see mountains and prairies. Living in Calgary you don’t really appreciate them, but they really are majestic. My trip was very short lived, but incredibly packed. I got to see most of my good friends, we went for awesome dinners, the Corn Maze, celebrated my adorable cousin’s second birthday at Heritage Park, and finished off the weekend with Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family. It was nice to visit Calgary, but I’m thankful to be going home. I’ve only lived in Victoria for two months and I was so homesick!

Current state of things

2011-10-02T21:40:00.000-06:00

Let's face it, I am a bad blogger. In my defence I really don't have that much to blog about. I did go to Vancouver last weekend though, but I left my camera at home and relied on my iPhone. This was a bad idea. I've been keeping busy with school work and hanging out with friends, which is a pleasant change from my first month here in Victoria. I'm loving every minute of being here, and I seriously can't imagine myself anywhere else right now. I am going back to Calgary this Thursday to spend Thanksgiving with my family (however, I'm flying back to Vic for the actual day). I'm excited to see my family and friends, but I could really care less about being in Calgary. I plan on taking advantage of the serious lack of tax and will be hitting up UO and haunt Zara, my old workplace. Fingers crossed that the weather in Calgary stays in the 20's, although I'm pretty sure that's doubtful. While I'm there I'll also be hitting up Heritage Park and hopefully the corn maze. I'm bringing my camera along for this trip, which seems a little silly since I'm from Calgary, but still.

I got my hair cut. Dark, dark, dark and bangs. And quite a bit hacked off. I still get a little weirded out when I catch my reflection. It's not really what I wanted, and as per usual I'm slightly regretting getting bangs. I also never want to get my hair actually cut ever again. Aaaaall that I want is long, luscious hair and it's seriously never going to happen.

On another note, Fall is really starting to show in Victoria. It's gorrrrrgeous. I love this season.

Cheers

J'aime les poptarts

2011-09-03T23:11:00.000-06:00

Roomie and her cousin are off to Vancouver tomorrow and Monday. They’re leaving early tomorrow morning and likely won’t have time to make or grab breakfast, so I made them a little treat! I’ve been interested in making pop tarts for a while now. I was never big into pop tarts as a kid, partly because my mum never bought them, and party because pastries have never really been my thing. However, this didn’t stop me from wanting to make them, and it means everyone else gets a huge helping of them!

Pop Tarts
Pie crust
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour
8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
4 TBSP ice water

Preparation
1. In a bowl, whisk flour, salt and sugar.
2. Cut butter into cubes and place in bowl. Using fingertips, combine until resembling coarse meal.
3. Add ice water, 1 TBSP at a time until combined. Split dough into 2 disks, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Apple Pie filling
Ingredients
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tsp butter
2 TBSP brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation
1. In saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter until golden brown.
2. Add brown sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice to sauce pan. Follow with apple.
3. Cook until liquid reduces, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

Makes enough for 5 pop tarts.

Cinnamon glaze
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp almond milk
1 TBSP cinnamon

Blueberry filling
Ingredients
2/3 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp flour

Preparation
1. In saucepan over medium-low heat, combine first three ingredients. Cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add flour and stir constantly until combined and mixture thickens.

Makes enough for 4 pop tarts.

To assemble pop tarts
1. Remove disks from fridge.
2. Roll out separately and cut into fairly even rectangles. I suppose the size is up to you. For me, 1 disc yielded 9 rectangles/9 tarts. It’ll vary however thin you roll out your pastry, but I wouldn’t do it too thin.
3. Add 1 TBSP filling of your choice down the center of the pastry.
4. With remaining rectangles cut out from the other disc, top with the second piece of dough. Gently press down the edges of the pop tarts until closed. Follow up by edging with a fork. Create vents on the top of the tart. You can make a fun little design if you wanted to! I stuck with a classic “V” shape.
5. If you choose, wash with egg bath (1 egg white, whisked) and cover with sugar.
6. Refrigerate tarts on greased cookie pan for about a half hour.
7. Heat oven to 350F and cook for 25-30 minutes, rotating about half way through.Let tarts completely cool before adding glaze.

sugar shack

2011-09-02T11:55:00.002-06:00

A couple of weeks ago my roommate asked me to help her make a cake for her cousins birthday, who’d be joining us in Victoria for the weekend. After much debate and much foodgawker surfing, we (excitedly) settled on cute little burger cupcakes and fries. We got the idea from a Father’s Day post on Bakerella where boxed cake, brownies and sugar cookies were used. At first we decided to save ourselves some trouble and do this as well. We picked up two organic cake and brownie mixes (on sale), but couldn’t find any sugar cookies. I made the brownies the night before the cake, and was a little confused, because the instructions were to add BUTTER and eggs. Not even oil! I subbed oil anyways, but it made the brownies super elastic and didn’t make nearly as much batter as box brownies usually do. They ended up hardly filling an 8x8 baking pan, but did turn out relatively fine. They were a bit chewy, but otherwise okay.

The following morning, Jenna made vanilla cupcakes from the box mix. It was a bit of a disaster. The cups were filled too high and consequently spilled over the rim and made an interesting type of cake. We did a little taste test to see if they were even remotely usable, and they were AWFUL. We scrapped those and I took over and started from scratch. I made plain vanilla cupcakes using a modified version from Ming Makes Cupcakes and sugar cookies cut thinly to make fries. There was also a template on Bakerella for baskets and fry holders, so I made a few of those to up the presentation. I think it made the whole thing.

They were a hit! I never actually tried them, but I heard nothing but good things. They sure looked pretty, and that’s all that really matters to me.

Vanilla Cupcakes (Adapted from Ming Makes Cupcakes)
Ingredients
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup almond milk

Preparation
1. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
2. Beat in applesauce and agave nectar. Mix thoroughly.
3. Beat in eggs, vanilla and milk. Mix until just combined.
4. Full cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

gabi and sam take over victoria

2011-09-01T19:24:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was without a doubt the best day I've had so far in Victoria. Why is that so? Gabi was on vacation with her parents and stopped in Victoria to hang out with me! I had been anticipating seeing her all month, and thankfully she got to come. The original plan was to spend the day together on Wednesday, but she ended up staying five minutes away from my house, so we got to hang out for a bit on Tuesday night as well!

There are a few activities that I consider things that Gabi and I do, and those are going for shisha, eating a lot of fro-yo (usually at Spoon Me in Calgary), as well as wine and cheese nights. When I was visiting Victoria a couple of months ago I found out about Qoola Frozen Yogurt, and was super excited to find out that I lived fairly close to the only (currently) open Victoria location. I've been a number of times with my roommate and my parents, but have been holding off buying any for myself in anticipation of Gabi visiting. Well, we went on Tuesday night and I was not disappointed. I got a little mix of NSA mint, cookies & cream and coconut. After fro-yo, Gabi and I walked back to my place where we chatted for a little while and she put some feather extensions in my hair.

The next morning we went to West Coast Waffles for a late breakfast, and then spent the rest of the day wandering around downtown Victoria. Some highlights were going to Street Level Espresso for an Americano and Espresso, Fol Epi where Gabi got a very average macaron, Hernandez for black bean tacos for CHEAP, and uh, really just getting to hang out.

Graffiti in Esquimalt, Gabi @ Street Level Espresso.

Cute cups @ Street Level Espresso in Downtown Victoria.

Macarons @ Fol Epi in Esquimalt.

Bridge to Esquimalt.

Taco time at Hernandez (Photo from Gabi's iPhone).

The last photo may look like a burger and fries, but don't be fooled! It's actually a cupcake and sugar cookies. Expect a post on the how-to coming up soon.

the show must go on

2011-08-27T19:54:00.003-06:00

I’ve been wasting my days away watching silly romantic comedies and perusing the Internet. Yep, quite literally wasting away. Today I went down to the beach for the first time since I’ve been here. It took me a month to go look at the ocean! I’ve been feeling a little bit down about being here, because I haven’t been doing anything, and couldn’t afford to leave the house much (no job - that’s been taken care of as well!). Things seem to be looking up a bit though, and going to the beach reminded me why I love this place so much.

While I’ve been bored, I’ve been playing dress up a bit. Occasionally I miss my days working at Urban Outfitters, because I more often than not made an effort to look good and keep in style. I even wore a pink tutu one day! Victoria fashion is very...original, I suppose you could say. It’s either very lazy and unkempt or quite hippie-esque. I don’t really know how to explain it, but it doesn’t quite work for me. It’s going to take some getting used to, a bit of adapting, and um, not dressing like the below.

hat, Urban Outfitters; jacket, vintage; pants, Rock & Republic; shoes, Topshop.

It’s a bit of a shame really, because I’m quite enjoying the retro vibe right now. While I enjoyed sticking out like a sore thumb some days in Calgary, I’m trying to lay low here as far as crazy outfits go, which means none of this. Maybe the shoes on their own with something simple. Maybe the pants with a lazy shirt. I’m still on the fence about wearing fur here. I suppose you could say that now that I’ve moved, I’m a little unsure about fashion as a whole! This is proven by the reality of what I’ve been wearing most days...

sweater and pants, TNA/Talula; shoes, vintage.

Here’s to hoping that I get my groove back at some point here.

If you have yet to notice, I've added a Recipe Index page to my blog! I'm slowly but surely adding recipes to all of the "food posts" that I've previously made. It's a bit of a slow process, but it's getting there. Keep checking back for new additions! Now that I'm living on my own, I've been focusing a lot more on healthy recipes (the baking has slowed down now that I have no one to feed my creations to), so stay tuned for some of those as well!

brief update

2011-08-22T14:07:00.003-06:00

Potential breakfast smoothie, dressing up (seriously, I’ve been living in shorts and t-shirts) for a job interview, a Starbucks run that ended up in stumbling upon the Galloping Goose, blueberry crumble bars for “blender drink” night at a friends.

It’s been a relatively slow, unexciting two weeks here in Victoria. I’ve done a whole lot of sitting around in the house, completely unmotivated to get off my ass and explore. I did have the itch to get out today (after finding the Galloping Goose yesterday, I wanted to go for a run this morning), but of course it is the one day that the rain has reared its head. Gone are plans of my lovely little run and the possibility of a hike. Instead is another day of sitting at home, maybe going to a movie later this afternoon.

Last week I went to a friends house for “blender drink night,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Too-sweet alcoholic blended drinks. As I am already taking up the “starving student” “penny pincher” persona, I was not inclined to go out and buy alcohol to contribute to the mixes. Instead, I raided my fridge only to find a ton of blueberries on their last leg. It’s been interesting trying to make any dishes, because I find that I am always mixing at least one crucial ingredient. This was not the case here! I made Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars, featured on pink-parsley.

Berry Oatmeal Crumble Bars
adapted from Baking Bites

Blueberry Filling
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 Tbs lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 Tbs cornstarch

Crumble and Crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened and cut into 7-9 pieces
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
To make the filling, combine the berries and the lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the berries are soft and tender, 8-10 minutes. Add the sugar and cornstarch to the berries, and bring to a boil. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

To a food processor, add all the ingredients for the crust and crumble topping. Pulse in 1-second intervals until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Reserve 1 1/2 cups for the topping, then press the rest of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

Use a spoon to drop dollops of the berry filling over the crust, and use a spatula to spread the mixture over the entire surface.

Use your fingers to squeeze together clumps of the remaining crumble topping, and sprinkle evenly over the berry filling.

Bake until golden-brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely before slicing and serving, or serve cobbler-style by scooping with a spoon.
Original recipe found here.

They were a hit at the soiree, so give ‘em a try!

On a relatively more healthy note, I'm trying to do more exercising at home, but am drawing a bit of a blank! I'm so accustomed to having a really great gym within five minutes of my house. The Y in Victoria isn't really cutting it, and is also pretty far away from my house. This means I'll hopefully start doing a lot more running to cover the cardio, but I still need some great exercises to do at home! Any suggestions?

for the love of the mixtape

2011-08-20T19:27:00.001-06:00

I like to think that I have very good taste in music. No, I do have very good taste in music. A lot of what I listen to sounds kind of similar (same genre - the more “indie-alternative” the better), but hey, I know what I like. There’s nothing wrong with that.

The number one way to steal my heart is by making me a sweet mix cd. I LOVE a good mix. Not something that is just thrown together with some mediocre artists and no real thought behind it. Nah, there’s gotta be a little bit more to it than that. I happen to pride myself on making mix tapes. There’s a definite thought process that goes into selecting the tracks as well as the placement of them on the playlist. Set the mood. Get excited. Tone it down. There are happy moments, as well as sombre tones. And there’s artwork. Make me a great mix, and I’m yours forever.

Since moving to Victoria, I’ve been working on a mix for my dear friend Haley. I’ve finally finished it, and it’s in the mail on it’s way back to Calgary (Haley - don’t download any of this!). For the rest of you, take a listen! Do it from track one to 18 - DON’T mess it up. Do it right. Live it. Love it.

The booklet is pretty funny, because you can totally tell that I worked on it over the course of a few days. It’s pretty simple to tell by the wavering amount of effort put into the pages.

Hope you all like it! What are some of your favorite artists right now?

xx

The move - according to my iPhone

2011-08-09T18:41:00.008-06:00

Well, I have officially moved! Last Friday I headed out with my parents, my roommate and her dad to Victoria, BC. We spent Friday night in Kamloops and got here Saturday afternoon. It's been a crazy few days trying to get settled into our new place (which is a total gem, by the way) but it's finally starting to feel pretty homey. Today we finally got our Internet and cable hooked up, and uh, thank god. It kind of grosses me out how much I missed going on the Internet. My parents left this morning, so I am officially on my own! I haven't shed a tear yet, but I also don't think that the situation has really hit me. Since my parents left this morning I have quite literally spent the whole day on my computer. I'm starting to go a little stir crazy in this house, but I don't have a clue where I should wander to! Jenna and I are going to take a quick little stroll to the grocery store later, pick up a bottle of wine and settle in for some True Blood tonight. Way to get out and explore our new home, hm?

Suggestions on hotspots on the Island are MUCH appreciated.

steal my sunshine

2011-07-29T15:15:00.003-06:00

Well, it's official. I move in a week! My basement is filled with boxes and my room is slowly starting to get packed up. I've begun scouring all around the house for things that belong to me, and I've started to do a little bit of home shopping. Next week is going to be the big haul, and I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time at home furnishing stores (Bed, Bath & Beyond anyone).

A couple of nights ago I had some of my friends over for a (rained out) barbeque. It was definitely the most low-key dinner I've had, but it was good all the same! It was so nice to get them all together one last time. My oh my am I ever going to miss them!

Race Day

2011-07-10T19:31:00.005-06:00

A couple of months ago when I was in quite possibly the best physical shape of my life, I suggested to Gabi that we run a race while she was back in Calgary this summer. She agreed, and we were both pumped to train. Well, of course life got in the way. I went on two trips and she was busy with school/work etc., so we both did quite little training. We ended up deciding to do The Stampede Road Race (Stampede being the Calgary Stampede - hooray 10 days of drunken cowboys and skanks running around the city, not). Today was the big day! We got up bright and early to be at the track by 7:30 (my mum started her half marathon at that time), and Gabi and I started our 10k at 8. I had a lot of fun with it! I'm excited to do a lot of running once I move to Victoria and hopefully even run some races there (with more training)!

This photo doesn't really have anything to do with OUR race (although my dad took this photo and I am apparently somewhere amongst the runners), but I sure do like it anyway.

I keep getting asked what I listen to when I’m at the gym or on a run. Last night I made up a wicked playlist for my race. It’s four hours long, so I only got to listen to the first portion of it, but here’s an idea. A lot of it is definitely not the most upbeat music and it’s definitely not Top 40, but it gets me going.

Workout Playlist

Codes and Keys - Death Cab for Cutie
Changing - The Airborne Toxic Event
First of the Year (Equinox) - Skrillex
Meyrin Fields - Broken Bells
Dystopia - YACHT
Go Home, Get Down - Death From Above 1979
Black Night - Dodos
Underneath the Sycamore - Death Cab for Cutie
The First Single - The Format (album version)
Crushin’ - Police Academy 6
Cinema - Skrillex (Benny Benassi Feat. Gary Go)
Rocketeer - Far East Movement
Your Love - Youngteam
Will Do - TV on the Radio
Young Blood - The Naked and Famous
Sister Wife - Alex Winston
Grounds For Divorce - Elbow
Miss You - Foster the People
If We Don’t Make It We’ll Fake It - Death From Above 1979
Rock N’ Roll - Skrillex
Pickin’ Up the Pieces - Fitz & The Tantrums
Lotus Flower - Radiohead
Le Deux - Hollywood Undead
Second Chance - Peter, Bjorn and John
The Pedestrian Boogie - The Bloodsugars
Audience - Cold War Kids
The King And All Of His Men - Wolf Gang
Fader - The Temper Trap
My Body - Young the Giant
Staircase - Radiohead

I would be lying if I said that I listened to all of this on my run today. In fact, the entire hour consisted of solely Skrillex with the addition of two DCFC songs at the end. Hey, it’s good pump up music.

Canada Day

2011-07-05T20:33:00.007-06:00

Alright, this post is a little bit delayed. Instead of getting drunk or going to see the fireworks like everyone else in our age demographic, Haley and Gabi came over to my house for some eats. I made grilled pizza (Sauteed corn, fennel, onion and goat cheese & pesto, mozza, prosciutto and arugula), peach and red onion salad & sangria, as well as some banana ice pops for dessert. We spent the evening out on my back porch chatting and smoking shisha. Haley got a little camera tutorial from Gabi and took the grand majority of these! All in all, it was a good night and I'm super glad that we decided to chill out instead of go out.

It's starting to heat up like crazy here in Calgary. It was my first day sitting out in the sun today, and of course I burned. Surprise, surprise! I'm excited to be able to spend more days outside (with my friends hopefully) once I'm finished work! Who knows if I'll even have time between packing. Fingers crossed!

I am mildly obsessed with charts right now. Here's a few silly ones:

The debate between over and under.

That's What She Said

There are some more on my Tumblr as well!

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

1 cup (110F) water

2 1/4 tsp yeast (1 packet)

1 tsp honey

3 cups whole wheat floue

1 TBSP olive oil

1 tsp salt

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, add water, yeast and honey. Let sit 5 minutes until foamy.

2. Add flour, olive oil and salt. Add water as needed.

3. Oil a large bowl. Place the dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap and/or a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm area for about an hour or until doubled in size.

Prosciutto Grilled Pizza (Adapted from A Zesty Bite)

Ingredients:

Olive oil

Pesto (store bought is fine)
1/4 lb Prosciutto
1 cup arugula
Mozzarella cheese

Preparation:
1. Heat barbeque on MEDIUM.
2. Roll out the dough so that its nice and thin and drizzle some olive oil on the top. Brush so that it covers the entire pizza.
3. Cover the grill with aluminum foil and coat with olive oil.

4. Lay the dough on the grill, oil side up.
5. Let it cook until it bubbles up and is slightly brown. The bottom should have light grill marks.
6. Remove dough from grill. Change grill heat to LOW.

7. At this point you'll add your toppings. First spread on your basil pesto, leaving about a half inch for the crust. Top with sliced mozzarella.
8. Put back onto grill and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes.
9. Once the cheese has melted, remove from the grill and top with long strips of the prosciutto and arugula.

Corn and Fennel Grilled Pizza (Adapted from Honest Fare)

Ingredients:

1 can whole kernel corn

1/2 red onion

1 fennel

Reduced fat goat cheese

Preparation:

1. Dice onion and fennel.

2. Saute corn, onion and fennel over MEDIUM heat on stovetop until veggies are cooked through (this shouldn't take long - just eyeball it).

3. Heat barbeque on MEDIUM.

4. Roll out the dough so that its nice and thin and drizzle some olive oil on the top. Brush so that it covers the entire pizza.
5. Cover the grill with aluminum foil and coat with olive oil.

6. Lay the dough on the grill, oil side up.
7. Let it cook until it bubbles up and is slightly brown. The bottom should have light grill marks.
8. Remove dough from grill. Change grill heat to LOW.

7. At this point you'll add your toppings. Spread the goats cheese first, followed by your veggies.
8. Put back onto grill and cook for an additional 5-8 minutes.

grown ocean

2011-07-02T11:44:00.004-06:00

Fathers Day breakfast (chocolate mascarpone stuffed French toast) and dessert (banana puddin')

My dearest friend Meagan when we went for dinner at UNA a while ago.

Last week I went to Victoria with my soon-to-be roommate to find a place to live. We drove there over the span of two days (it's a 12-14 hour drive, and I don't have my license) with a stopover in Kamloops. I brought three cameras with me in anticipation of taking a whole lot of photos, but ended up only taking a few, mostly of my new house. It took us three days of looking at shitty houses and being completely disappointed and stressed out before we found this gem. We really lucked out - it's such a gorgeous place. I now have a month to pack up all of my things here in Calgary before officially heading out to Victoria at the beginning of August. It's SO strange to think that I am moving so soon. This is finally starting to feel real.

Chocolate Mascarpone French Toast (Adapted from Tracy's Culinary Adventure)

Ingredients:

Filling
1/2 cup mascarpone, at room temperature
1 TBSP heavy cream
1 TBSP orange zest
1 TBSP sugar
1 oz semisweet chocolate (1 square Bakers chocolate)

1. Add the chocolate to a small microwave-safe bowl and heat in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.

2. Combine the mascarpone, heavy cream, orange zest and sugar in a small bowl. Add the cooled chocolate and stir to incorporate.

French Toast
4 slices bread (the original calls for Challah, but I couldn't find any. I used cinnamon bread from Cobs), cut 3/4-inch thick
1 large egg
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Take one slice of bread and turn it so the bottom edge is facing up at you. Cut a pocket with a sharp knife, leaving the edges and top of the bread intact. Repeat with each slice of bread, then fill each pocket with about 1/4 of the filling mixture. (You could probably stretch the filling for 5 or 6 pieces of bread if you wanted.) If your slices are too thin (like mine were), this step will be a bit tricky. You want to cut directly down the bread, leaving no holes for the mixture to seep out of.
2. Set a large skillet over medium heat. In a bowl, whisk the egg and milk together. Whisk in the melted butter and vanilla then the flour and salt, mixing until smooth. One at a time, add the filled slices of bread to the mixture and soak for about 30 seconds per side. Let the excess drip off, then transfer to a plate. Repeat for all slices of bread.
3.Spray the heated pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the bread to the pan in a single layer and cook until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes per side. Repeat with the remaining slices of bread.

Disposable Camera

2011-06-17T14:43:00.004-06:00

I am now the proud owner of a bag full of boxes. Shoe boxes that is, and sixteen of them, as well as around fifteen flat bags. I’ve asked my boss to leave all of the packing things that would normally be tossed for me. It’s about time that I start thinking about what to bring to Victoria and what I’ll be leaving here (most likely in the trash OR in your closets). I’m definitely going to need more shoe boxes, but this is a good start.

I bought a disposable camera a year (or so) ago and finally finished it and had it developed. Although I wish that I had gone through it a lot quicker, it’s sort of nice to look back on the old photos that I forgot I had taken and places I’d forgotten I’d been.

One of my favorite places in Calgary.

Vulcan, AB car show.

The edge of Downtown, more specifically Eau Claire/Connaught.

My friend Jessica, who was first seen on the blog here, and then here and here.

Rocking out to Death From Above/the view from the Gorge.

Like I've said before, things are getting pretty crazy around here! Right now I am in the process of finding a house in Victoria, BC. I'll hopefully be moving at the beginning of August, and in a week I will be driving out there to look at some potentials! I'm excited, but I'm also stressing out quite a bit. I've never had to move before, at least not when I was old enough to remember. Moving tips? Toss 'em my way!

Have a good weekend!

Banff

2011-06-16T11:13:00.001-06:00

While in Canmore, we of course had to make a stop in Banff to walk down Main. The grand majority of the stores found here are gift shops, so once you’ve been into one you’ve pretty much seen the gist of what’s to offer. However, Gabi and I were on a quest for really rad (and inexpensive) dreamcatchers, so we went into pretty much every gift shop on the strip. We ended up buying the ones that we saw in the very first store we went into. Banff also has a lot of really sweet restaurants to eat at (although we didn’t) and a wicked candy shop filled with just about anything you could possibly be looking for. I snagged some coke balls for my brother, Smarties fudge for my dad and some Bottle Caps for a good friend of mine. Who can forget the amazing view in Banff? You’re surrounded by mountains. It’s very picturesque.

After Banff we headed to Grassi Lakes Trail for a nice little hike. There are two trails that you can take - easy and hard. We opted for the hard trail on the way up even though Nicole was wearing flip flops! Thankfully it wasn’t too challenging, although we stopped a couple of times on the way up (and a couple more to take photos). The trail was rad! You go straight up the mountain and over little streams to reach these gorgeous little lakes with the most pristine green water. It was very cool. On the way down we took the easy trail. It was boring, but I’m glad we did that instead of the hard way! It would have been a definite challenge getting down (I am prone to falling a bazillion times).

Back at the condo, Gabi and Nicole put together a nice little dinner for themselves. We then went hot tubbing, and came back for another evening of cards and shisha.

I am always so thankful for my weekends in Canmore! It’s so nice to get away (even for a short while) and relax in good company. Come to think of it, this may have been the last time that we have one of these weekends! Next year we will most likely all be spread out across the country. How bittersweet! That just makes me appreciate last weekend even more.

What have you been doing now that the weather is warming up (sort of - it’s been raining in Calgary)? I’m looking forward to summer hitting hard and spending my days picnicing, taking in Calgary for the last time, doing some more hiking and spending a lot of time with my friends.

Communitea Café

2011-06-12T15:42:00.004-06:00

Life has been crazy chaotic since Sasquatch. It’s amazing how difficult getting back into routine can be after only one week of breaking it. It’s amazing how a week of partying can throw things so off track! Not that I am complaining or have any regrets about my music festival jaunt (it’s a definite highlight of the year), but I am having a very, very hard time re-adjusting to a life of work, good eating and top notch fitness.

After a couple of crazy weeks of being back at work, I finally got a weekend off for some much needed chill time in Canmore. My good friend Gabi has a condo in this small town in the mountains, and we’ve spent a couple of weekends there over the last year. This time we went with Nicole, one of Gabi’s good friends. The past couple of times we’ve been there we’ve been focused on heavy wine drinking, having a good rowdy time, sleeping in late and lounging. This time around though, we spent our nights nursing our glasses of wine, playing cards, smoking shisha and our day taking in the sights. We all felt like we’d grown up a lot this year!

Communitea. It’s this great café in downtown Canmore with a menu that’ll make you salivate (and keep you wanting more for months and months after). Their mission is “To be a positive impact. In someone’s day, in our community, and in the world,” and they do just that and more. The vibe of this place is so cool. The café itself is super inviting with it’s heavy natural lighting. It boasts cozy couches and a wall full of board games to keep you entertained while drinking your tea or waiting for food. The walls are filled with beautiful local art for purchase.

I’m not gonna lie to you - this place is good. It’s really good. That means that it’s more often than not very busy, and you will probably be waiting, either in line to order or a great deal longer for your food. Don’t let this throw you off though. It’s worth the wait. When I visit Communitea I tend to treat it more as a restaurant that your run of the mill café. What’ll throw you off from this way of thinking is that you’re ordering and paying at the till, but they bring your food and drink to your table. What makes the wait worth it (besides the food, of course) is the staff who are always super friendly and manage to keep calm despite the constant rush.

The menu is pretty awesome too. Communitea offers a ton of fairly healthy choices like salads, a daily soup, noodle and rice bowls and paninis (as well as a nummy quesadilla). This weekend I also discovered that they have a great looking breakfast menu, but I also didn’t get to try any it. I’m gonna dream about the organic yogurt with granola or the apple, almond butter and maple panini for daaaays. What I like best is that they have a ton of vegetarian (or pescatarian like Gabi and I) options, so it’s super easy to find something to eat. This time around we also tried their coffee (I got an americano and Nicole got the house blend) and were really stoked on how great it was. Usually we indulge in a rasperry Steaz soda that they serve in tall cups with ice and straws, which is exactly what Gabi stuck to this time around. I’m a little ashamed to say that I haven’t actually tried the tea here, but they do have a huge selection of delectable flavors.

Oh! Also, there is live music what seems like every week at the café. I also haven’t been to any of these shows, but totally want to.

If you’re ever in Canmore this is definitely a great place to stop in for a bite. Check ‘em out!

Sasquatch

2011-06-02T16:18:00.004-06:00

The gorge

Foster the People

Chromeo dance party

Sea of tents

I spent the last week hanging out in Washington at Sasquatch Music Festival. I went down with my good friend and a couple that we met 24h prior to leaving. It was our first year going, and my oh my was it ever unreal. It was five days of mad partying, good laughs, dancing my ass off, new friends, and of course AMAZING live music. I cried to Death Cab for Cutie (twice - big crocodile tears), tripped to Iron & Wine, threw down to DFA (and have an abundance of bruises to show for it), and got nice and heavy for Skrillex. The list goes on and on. Some standout surprises for me were the Antlers and Storonway. What an unreal experience. I can't even wait for next year. Everyone get your ass down to a music festival this year!

Lately

2011-05-25T20:03:00.005-06:00

A few weeks ago I had some friends over for a nice Spring Brunch. We dined, we caught up. It was lovely.

Baked Eggs With Spinach and Mushrooms

Creme Brulée French Toast

Potato Latkes

Banana Bread (Adapted from Joy the Baker)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar, plus 2 TBSP

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp plain yogurt or unsweetened applesauce

1 beaten egg

2 egg whites

3 large bananas

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1 TBSP butter

Preparation:

1. In a saucepan over MEDIUM heat, add butter. Slice bananas and add to saucepan. Cover with 2 TBSP brown sugar. Cook until bananas are slightly mushy and caramelized. Transfer to bowl to cool and set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a loaf pan and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, stir together all dry ingredients, including oats, excluding chocolate chips. Mix well.

4. In banana bowl, add yogurt/applesauce and whole egg. Mix well.

5. Add the wet to the dry and mix.

6. In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold the whites into the batter in three additions. Add chocolate chips as well.

7. Pour matter into loaf pan. Cook for 40-45 minutes.

A friend from work was going back home, so I made her cupcakes (Oreo and banana).

Oreo Cupcakes (Adapted from Baker Girl)

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1/3 cup cocoa

3/4 cup hot, strong brewed coffee

3/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat, but then again I use that for everything)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 TBSP unsweetened applesauce

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Put chocolate and cocoa in a large bowl and pour the coffee over it. Whisk until smooth and let cool in refrigerator until cooled, 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Whisk flour, sugar and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.

4. Whisk applesauce, eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Add flour and whisk until smooth.

5. Divide between muffin tins filling 3/4 full. Bake until set, 17 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool in pans.

Frosting

Ingredients:

2 cups whipping cream

2 1/2 TBSP stevia extract

1 tsp vanilla

6 Oreos, crushed

Oreos to top the cupcakes

Preparation:

1. In a bowl fitted with electric mixer, combine whipping cream, stevia and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold in Oreo crumbs. Chill before serving.

Last, but certainly not least, my little brother has been growing a playoff beard. THANKFULLY, after last nights game he had to shave it off and wanted some photo evidence of it's existence (why I don't know - I swear it looks like this most of the time). He looks like he's about twelve now. It's all very funny. Gee, I hope he never sees that I posted this. I'll be in trouble!

Tomorrow I am off to Washington for Sasquatch music festival! I am super stoked despite the nearly twelve hour drive I'm about to partake in.

Presentation of Myself

2011-04-19T18:39:00.003-06:00

Edmonton was nice, as far as Edmonton goes. I’m a typical Calgarian - I have a general distaste for Edmonton, except for maybe the mall. Even at that, we’ve got most (if not more) of the stores in Calgary now. Still, it’s pretty freaking cool that they’ve got a huge wave pool and amusement park in the building. I was stoked that it wasn’t snowing for the 24 hours that I was there and WAS in Calgary. Ha! I did a bit of shopping. It was actually more than a bit, I spent six hours in the mall, alone, but didn’t spend a lot of money anywhere other than Victoria’s Secret. It sucks that I am being so frugal these days.

To start off my Easter cooking I made hot cross buns today. They are brushed with an orange marmalade glaze. The crosses are piped with the traditional flour mixture, but then I did some cream cheese ones over top. I just couldn’t resist. I using a revised version of a recipe from Citrus & Candy, and ended up adding a shit ton more to my dough. It was pretty unworkable before reworking the recipe (not a clue why). Thankfully they turned out pretty well. I dare say I’m getting good at improvising.

Hot Cross Buns

Buns

Ingredients:

4 tsp yeast

1/8 cup sugar

1 1/3 cup warm milk

4 cups whole wheat flour + more if it's still too sticky

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 TBSP coconut oil

2 cups raisins

2 eggs

Preparation:

1. In a bowl, whisk together sugar, milk and year until sugar has dissolved. Cover and set aside until it becomes frothy.

2. Mix the flour and spices in a bowl. With your fingers, rub the coconut oil into the flour until crumbly. Stir in the raisins, egg and yeast mixture.

3. On a floured surface, knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth. Grease a bowl and place the dough, turning to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towl. Leave to rise for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

4. Punch down the dough, knead and divide into 12 rounds.

5. Place buns in a greased baking tray, cover and let rise for 15 minutes.

6. Heat oven to 350F and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Glaze

Ingredients:

60g flour

60ml water

2 TBSP no sugar orange jelly

Preparation:

Combine all in saucepan until warm. Strain.

Icing

Ingredients:

1 egg white

2 tsp + add as needed almond milk

1 cup confectioners sugar

Preparation:

1. Mix egg white with confectioners sugar. Add almond milk as needed.

2. Add icing to piping bag, and pipe crosses onto cooled buns.

Look at me go - I posted a blogging challenge for myself on the weekend, and have already failed to keep up with it. Oh so typical!

Day 01 - Presentation of Myself

Where to begin? I find that this is a hard thing to post about, because I don’t want to go on about my two parents, one brother, Noah’s ark, living in the suburbs BLAH BLAH garbage. Yet at the same time, it’s hard to find something interesting about myself to say.

Well, alright. If you haven’t figured it out already, I’m Sam. I’m born and raised Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and although this place is my “home” I’ve never really felt at home here. I’ve always dreamt of bigger and better places, and this dream will become a reality this coming Fall. Although it may not be bigger, I’ll be moving to Victoria, BC in a few short months to FINALLY start my post secondary education in Art History. Why Victoria? Because it’s everything that I love summed up into one destination. J’adore.

Speaking of French, my fathers side of the family is. I get asked a lot about my blog name, and that would be where it comes from. I feel a bit inclined to talk about my blog. I’ve been writing on here since ... Oh lordy, early 2009, but it’s always been a bit sporadic. The actual blog title doesn’t have much meaning or brilliant story behind it. Actually, if I do recall I was very stumped for a name and ended up landing on this because it was available. Yeah, that’s how brilliant I am. It’s a little bit funny now, because it’s something that I totally identify with and wouldn’t consider changing if I do continue to blog well into the future. I thought that the idea of blogging was a cool way to get your style out there and identify with stylish people. Overtime I got a bit absorbed in it being a numbers game ... How many people are reading? How can I increase that number? How can I be more interesting? Thankfully, this ideology came to a halt, and Aussi Belle has become more of a way to chronicle my life. It’s first and foremost for me, but of course I adore those of you who take the time to stop by.

Enough about the damn blog. It’s enough that you’re here - you don’t need to read about WHY you’re here.

I always thought that I wanted to have a career in the fashion industry. Maybe something involving writing. Something along those lines had been my dream from quite a young age. Over the last couple of years that dream has died, and I think I can blame it on too much time working shitty retail jobs. While I will be going back to school to hopefully make this whole starting a career thing easier, I’m going into it a bit blindly. For some reason I feel like at 20 I should have a good idea of what I want to do for the rest of my life, probably because up until the last year I did have a good idea of this. I’ve been asked a lot why I don’t get a job in a bakery or go to cooking school or something in that field, and my answer is always that I would never want to turn the hobby into work. By doing so I’m sure that it would take most of the fun out of it and I would not longer enjoy doing it.

Baking. I definitely relate more to the term “baker” rather than “cook.” I don’t know how this little obsession of mine got started. It happened sometime last year. I made something relatively difficult, succeeded, received praise and haven’t stopped since (except for a brief hiatus). I choose to do more baking over cooking because making sweet treats is simply more fun. The time and effort that goes into making bread. The kneading. The risen dough. The smell of yeast. Macaron making and all it’s glory. Stiff egg whites have got to be my favorite thing in the kitchen. Perfect feet. Decorating cakes. ALL OF IT is just so good. I get more thrill out of making these things than I do actually eating them myself. A good portion of the time I don’t eat anything that I make. I’d rather other people enjoy them. That’s half the fun, isn’t it? People’s reactions when it turns out well. In the future I hope to continue baking (and do a lot more cooking), but find healthier methods of doing so. Recently, I’ve cut out butter and things like vegetable oil in my baking, and have opted solely for yogurt or applesauce. I want to discover more substitutes like this that make my recipes healthier.

Good health is something that is near and dear to my heart as well, but only as of the last year if you can believe it. I have never been into sports, working out or eating well. I’ve never really cared to be honest. It’s hard to believe, because my mother is the picture of (mostly) all around good health. Thankfully she’s finally rubbed off on me and I have learned to love spending time at the gym, getting in shape and treating my body right. I seem to be on a constant strict diet and exercise plan (except for this week!) that most everyone I know call me crazy for. I’ve been told time and time again that I am not enjoying life or indulging by restricting things like sweets and excessive amounts of carbohydrates from myself. But I am, enjoying life that is. It makes me feel good to treat my body right, and eating healthy and working out do that.

My family and friends are super important to me of course, but that’s something that we’ll leave for a future post.

I think that’s all that’s super pertinent. Of course, if there are things that anyone is interested in, drop me a question on my Formspring or leave a comment here!