Weightingfor50's Blog

It’s almost bedtime, so I’ll give you a quick, not particularly point friendly recap of my day’s meals, and call it a night.

This morning was one of those “hit the snooze alarm more times than you should say” mornings, and when I eventually hauled myself out of bed and had breakfast, it was two pieces of Little Big Bread with light cream cheese and smoked salmon.

During the morning, I had a banana.

I met my friend Unita for lunch today.  Unita and I met through our friend Kathy, who wasn’t able to join us for lunch, so we toasted Kathy with tea.

We were in a sechwan restaurant, and split two chicken dishes that came with hot and sour soup and rice.  One of the chicken dishes was spicy chili, the other was cooked with orange.

Speaking of orange, I had two little clementines later in the afternoon.

Cousin Helen came over for dinner tonight.  We were so busy yacking and laughing that I didn’t get a picture of her.  Ooops…

I did however take a picture of the hummus and crackers we had to start, and the red wine we toasted with.

We also had salad with roasted squash, cranberries and pumpkin seeds….

…baked pork tenderloin in bbq sauce, spiced rice and steamed asparagus….

…and for dessert….is it a beaver damn?

…no….it’s a mini lemon meringue pie.

Friday tomorrow!  I’m off to bed now – with a full stomach and no weekly points to spare!   And it’s been a good day…

Being Wednesday, I started my morning off by meeting Michelle and her famous finger for our pre-work coffee.  Michelle’s first photo was this….

…followed quickly by this.  Pixilated to avoid PG13-rating! 

Clearly her famous finger was in a bit of a mood!  HA!

I ate breakfast at my desk, it was some frozen fruit (that thawed) with greek yogurt and 2 tbsp granola.

I had some lunch plans that unfortunately had to be postponed, so I just whipped out and grabbed a turkey sandwich.

While I was out a buddy of mine from another office squatted at my desk and used my computer.  I came back to this note…too funny!  (same guy who emailed me from a meeting he was in last week, saying he’d buy me a coffee and a cookie if I pulled the fire alarm so the meeting would wrap up.  He is very funny, I wish we actually worked in the same office.)

After work, I walked to the vet to get Neva some food.  When I got there, the place was locked up…no note, no nothing.  VERY unlike them, so I walked for 45 minutes each way for naught.  That said, I earned a few activity points, it was cloudy but not rainy, and I took a few fun photos anyway.  No big deal…

Look at this GORGEOUS tulip!  Lori, any idea what kind it is? ….

…speaking of gorgeous, I saw this little kitten in a window and he saw me.  AWWW…..

…the blossoms are dropping like snowflakes, but the trees are still lovely….

…rhododendrons are starting to bloom….

….I saw a piece of public art depicting “Emily Carr and Friends”.   I’m not a big fan of her art myself, but many folks around here love her.  And this is an interesting tribute to her.

…there was some other artwork under an off-ramp on the road above….

…Funky fungus and snappy snails (made that up, the snail didn’t snap) on the side of trees…

…and a very pretty display outside of an Indian restaurant.

When I got home, Dennis and I split a ginger beer….

…and had baked chicken breasts (baked in herb salad dressing), rice and peas, drizzled with a bit of bbq sauce, because it needed a bit of “oomph”.  (how’s that for a technical term? )

Time for me to hit publish and get some sleep.  G’night.

It has been an odd day. Conversations with my co-workers continually turned to the marathon bombing, the major earthquake in Iran, and other events – both man made and natural, current and in the past – that are SO wrong with the world.   And though I am fortunate enough to have not been affected directly by the world’s woe’s, it became a bit of a burden on my shoulders.

So I made a choice.  I chose to acknowledge and accept that I simply can’t make sense of it all, to send wishes out to those directly affected, but to also go on and live my life with joy and laughter.  I may sound selfish by saying this but I chose NOT to let the weight of the world weigh me down.

To me, this lovely sunrise photo that I took off our deck this morning symbolizes a new day.

And with the start of each new day, most of us are lucky enough to have a “do over” or a fresh new start to try and make choices that are right for us, and find some meaning in our days.  Today, the world needed a “do over’.  Hopefully things, like Neva, are looking up!

I decided that I needed to get some fresh air during my lunch time and walk off some thoughts, so I took my camera and found some beauty around me.  I WAS actually on a mission with the direction I walked….a mission to see a beaver.  Laugh all you want, but I’m a BAD CANADIAN….I’ve never seen one of our national symbols in real life.  Not a beaver, not a moose….I HAVE seen (and hugged) a Mountie, and I am very polite, but still….BAD CANADIAN!!!

There has been a beaver spotting in the city lately, which in itself isn’t completely unheard of, but apparently a beaver has made its way to a man made marsh in a park, and nobody knows how it got there.  I think maybe it took the beaver express.  OK, I made that last part up.

Sadly, I didn’t spot the beaver, but I did see:

…ducks……

…a unique gate…

…interesting buds…..

…a cutely decorated power box….

…lots of spring blooms…..

…rowers practicing….

…a swimming dog (doing his best beaver imitation, but he couldn’t fool me!)…

…and (STAR SPY ALERT), Oscar winner and hot headed Australian “Russell Crow”.

And on that silly note, I’ll quickly recap the day’s point friendly menu, hit publish and go and have some couch time with my husband and kitty.

Breakfast was a piece of Little Big Bread with peanut butter and a smoothie made with almond milk, banana and frozen blueberries.

During the morning, I had some grapes.

Lunch was a tuna sandwich (on a piece of persian flatbread), carrot sticks and an apple.   I also had a little piece of Dairy Milk Bubbly.

During the afternoon, I had this sample pack of weight watchers snacks.

Dinner was a “hodgepodge” of leftovers and bits and pieces that needed using up.  I had some tomato sauce leftover from last night’s dinner, a few meatballs in the freezer, some whole wheat pasta and a bit of mozzarella cheese that needed to be dealt with.  I cooked it all together and called it a “casserole”.  Yay leftovers.

Just a quick menu recap post.  There was a whole lotta working and not a lot of playing today.

I do have a new food find to share.  Yesterday, when we were at the farm market we saw this peanut butter with maple and bacon.  We were out of peanut butter so decided to give it a try.

Its more maple-y than bacon-y and the bacon bits are made of soy…but that said, its unique and tasty.  Would we buy it again?  Probably not, but fun to try and tasty nonetheless.  I had 1 tbsp this morning on some whole wheat flatbread.

I had an apple during the morning.

I obviously didn’t have enough protein during the morning because I was starving by lunchtime.  I had a turkey sandwich on Little Big Bread, with pickles, carrot sticks and an orange.

I had a little pack of cheese crackers later on.

We were defrosting some chicken for dinner tonight, but when the time came to cook, it just didn’t appeal.  Maybe because I’d seen Gina of Skinny Taste’s recipe for Eggs in Purgatory.  I’d seen a form of this on the Food Network a couple of weeks ago too, and I decided that since we had eggs that we got straight from the chickens yesterday, this would be the perfect dinner.  I just made an Italian seasoned tomato sauce with chunks of eggplant, red pepper and onion…slipped in 4 of the “Ninja Eggs”…

…let them simmer for 5 minutes…

…and served it with a couple of pieces of flatbread to dip into the runny yolks.

The defrosted chicken will have to wait ’till tomorrow.  And that means I’ve just answered the age old question as to which came first, the chicken or the egg.  For me, it was the eggs…

I’ll leave you tonight with a photo of a strange cloud funnel that is over the downtown core.

That’s it for today’s post.  May the world be a little less crazy tomorrow! 

We had a very chicken filled day.  A chicken mascot stood by this morning’s smoothie (almond milk, banana and frozen blueberries), almond milk latte, and bagel thin with light cream cheese and smoked salmon.

We spent a while this morning relaxing, and playing “Paparazzi” with Neva.

We then ventured about an hour out of the city to spend the day with my work buddy Doris, her husband Ed, kids Andrea and Eric and pup Milo.  Doris lives in a part of the Lower Mainland that has many farms.  Our first stop was lunch at the wonderful Lepp Farm Market.  If I lived out by Doris, I KNOW it would be one of my “happy places”.  (and did you notice the chickens in the photos?)

My lunch was delicious tomato soup and a bun.  (I also had a bite of a pulled pork sandwich and some of Dennis’ sausage.  That’s what she said!  )

I loved this sign hanging in the little cafe attached to the market.

Our second “stop” was a walk through some of the farmland with Milo.  Here are Doris, Dennis and Milo.

It couldn’t have been a nicer day to walk, and the clouds couldn’t have been better for photos.  We were lucky, because we’d agreed to walk “rain or shine”.

What a great way to spend an afternoon!!

THEN, our THIRD “stop” was to visit a little hobby farm owned by Doris’ friends Stephanie and Art.  We met them, their “Ninja Chickens” (all 56 of them!), Benny the cow, Finn the dog and had a walkabout and tour of the property.

Dennis and I were REALLY lucky, and were able to hold chickens for the first time in our lives.  They’re surprisingly light and tame, and didn’t seem to mind being held at all.

Not only did we hold them, we collected a couple of eggs from the coop.  We’ve come home with Ninja eggs, and it’ll be great to try them in the next day or so.

Thank you Stephanie, Art, Benny and all the Ninjas!   We’ll be back soon…with wine! 

Speaking of wine, after our farm fun, we went back to Doris and Ed’s for a glass of wine and some snacks.

Thank you SOOOO much for the great day Doris and Ed.  We loved it, and look forward to more adventures soon!

We headed back into the city, and I couldn’t resist taking shots of this bridge as we drove.

When we got home, we were both pretty full from the snacks.  Dennis had a grilled cheese sandwich, and I had a piece of that.

It’s been a very full and very fun weekend.  I can’t believe the days flew by so quickly, but it’s back to the routine tomorrow.  Hope all of you had a good weekend too!  Hands up, who’s held a chicken??

No, today’s title doesn’t reflect my friends and I!    Not all of us are treasures… HA!

I had a very “scale-loving” weigh in at weight watchers this morning!  Yay!

After my meeting, I came home and made us “birds in a nest” for breakfast.

I’d like to think I was being all romantic by cutting out heart shapes into the toast, but truth be told, I couldn’t find my circle cutter.  Still….these were cute and they made Dennis “awww” so yay, accidental romance for us!  I also made us a smoothie with almond milk, a banana and some frozen blueberries.

After breakfast, I met up with my friend Kathy.  We went for a walkabout of an antique fair here in the city.

It was almost “sensation overload”, there was SO much to look at.  Here are a couple of collages of some of the wares.

I took this photo for my Mom, who is a BIG William Shakespeare fan.  In fact, my parents were married in the church depicted on this plate.

And one of the characters on the edge of the plate, is Rosalind from “As You Like It”, who I was named after.

Here are a couple more collages (I’m loving picmonkey)….

So much to see, and so glad we went together K!

After the fair we had a few stops to make, then went for sushi.  I had a sunomono salad, a spicy tuna roll and eel roll (and I can’t lie, the roll picture is recycled….I was yacking and forgot to take the shot at the restaurant today.  Bad Blogger!! )

Later on when I was home, Dennis and I had a glass of wine, and we split a piece of lemon stilton.

When I pulled “India Pig” out of the mascot box, it inspired me to make Indian food for dinner.  I cooked chicken breasts in tomato puree with curry powder and an Indian spice mix added in.  I served it over steamed asparagus and brown rice and put some shallot yogurt on the side.

The sun is setting on this post, and on our day (this was just taken from our deck) so I’ll hit publish and call it a night.  Dennis and I are having movie night tonight, so I may have some popcorn in a while too.  We’ll see…

OK…question of the day…..I’m named after “The Fair Rosalind” in a Shakespeare play.  Are you named after anyone??  Real life or fictional?

Thanks and kudos to all who offered guesses as to what the structure below is/was, either in blog comments or in my inbox!  I have to give props to my friend Suz, who gave the most imaginative guess by far….no Suz, it isn’t a landing pad for flying squirrels.  Hilarious, but no……

I wasn’t actually sure if I’d be able to provide an update today, as we’ve had steady and solid rain all day.  However, pleased to say….progress is being made, and the structure above is now….

Our neighborhood has a resident sand sculptor.  I’ll post another photo when the art is complete….

AND….regular readers may remember William, our neighborhood tight rope walker.  Dennis and I bumped into him again tonight, he was walkin’ in the rain.  And he wasn’t alone….

I love our eclectic little neighborhood.    We just never know what we’ll come across when we go for walks!

I’ll just give a quick menu recap too….I’m going to preface that by saying, I have stayed within my daily points today, but my “dinner’ is pretty much void of any nutrition.  Just sayin…

Breakfast was full of nutrition though, it was baked oatmeal with sugar-free syrup and a banana.  (packed “to go”, I ate breakfast at my desk this morning)

I had an apple later in the morning.

Lunch was two pieces of Little Big Bread with light cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, dolmades, cherry tomatoes and carrots.  (come to think of it, lunch was pretty eclectic too)

And I had a pack of weight watchers ginger snaps with some tea later this afternoon.

Now comes the “no dinner but points”….Dennis met up with his very old friend Carmen (as in they’ve known each other a very long time, not “OMG Carmen is long in the tooth” kind of old friend) after work today.   They met up with another woman they both used to work with about 15 years ago, Florence.  Dennis hadn’t seen Florence in that long, and there was MUCH catching up.

They asked me and our friend Clint to join them after our work….so we did.   We met at “Biercraft” a “beer bar” in our eclectic neighborhood.  I love the gnome “pulls” on a couple of the Belgian Beer taps.  We’ll just call these two “Roz and Clint” because neither of us were actually photographed.

I had a beer flight for “dinner”.  There are 4 small glasses that add up to the size of one beer.

So that, and the bites of brie with crostini pretty much killed the day’s points.

To be clear, I’m not endorsing, recommending or am proud of beer as a dinner, but because I have my weight watchers meeting in the morning, I’m leaving it at that and calling it a night.  Strangely enough, I ‘m not hungry…guess I haven’t just “rented” the beer tonight.    So far…

I have some fun plans lined up for the weekend.  Fingers crossed these rains stop.  Anyone have big plans for YOUR weekend?   Whether it is plan free or jam packed, hope its a good one for all!

…have a guess as to what this is????   I’ll keep you posted!

And while I’m asking questions, does anyone know “how much is that doggy in the window?”.

Enough questions….this morning, I had 2 pieces of Little Big Bread with 1 tbsp almond butter and a banana for breakfast.  I also picked out one of the cutest mascots in the box.

The mouse sat on my orange for the “morning snack” shot in a very jaunty fashion.  (taken at my desk)

I had lunch with my friend Sally today.  Sally was recently over the border to visit our friend Joe (he’s a Trader!) and look at the present I got!!!  WOOO!  Sally knew I died a little inside (HA! hardly…) when I finished the jar I got there myself a few months ago.  Thank you Sally!!!

I think the words “Refrigerate After Opening” could be changed to “eat the whole jar in one sitting after opening”. 

My lunch was “hollandaise-less” eggs Benedict with a salad and fruit.  As my friend Suz pointed out…it wasn’t eggs Benedict, it was poached eggs on an English muffin.  With ham Suz…it had ham too.  And yes, you are I can be hams ourselves!

Later on, I had 2 points worth of Dairymilk chocolate with cashews and coconuts.  It was a horrible sacrifice, but someone had to have it.

I was snacky when I got home, so had some rice crackers with the last of the weight watchers artichoke pesto.  I also had a little bit of Dennis’ “Cornish Knocker” beer.   And yes, I AM aware that the pesto isn’t pretty.

AHHH, ha, ha, ha…..this label gives a whole new meaning to “tapping a keg”.

Dinner tonight was a pork tenderloin baked in a combination of blue menu plum sauce, soy sauce, some rice vinegar and pomegranate molasses. We had brown rice and steamed asparagus as well.  (and I sprinkled some sesame seasoning on top for the benefit of the photo)

Send me your guesses….let me know what you think the first photo is!!

Today’s post is all over the map….be warned….

I have a dating tip for any single men looking to meet women here in Vancouver.  When I was walking to meet Michelle this morning, there was torrential rain and the wind was REALLY strong.  I have a big umbrella (ella, ella, yeah, yeah – thank you Rihanna) for mornings like this.  As I was standing at a light to cross a road, a very sad, cold looking man was waiting at the crosswalk too.  Being the helpful woman I am, I asked him if he’d like to stand under my umbrella (ella, ella, yeah, yeah – I’ll stop) to be dry.  I’m certainly not in the market to pick up men at stop lights, but I couldn’t help thinking that would be a good way to meet women if you were single.  Find a woman with a big umbrella, look cold, wet and sad and voila….new acquaintance. 

I was also paid a very big compliment from my friend Renee today.  Renee and I used to work together until she moved to a different city in a different province….and her energy is very missed in our workplace.  However, we keep in touch and I’m always happy to get a note from her in my inbox.  Today, she sent this, with the subject line “this made me think of you”.

Some would be embarrassed by being “that friend”….I see it as a badge of honor!  A DIRTY badge of honor!  Thanks Renee, you made my day! 

The recipe I used to make this morning’s breakfast is an adaptation from a recipe I saw on my Las Vegas blog buddy Kristen’s Swanky Dietitian site.   Seriously, she lives in Vegas!  But I don’t know if she’s ever met Barry Manilow!!!    I love Barry Manilow, and if I ever get to Vegas, I hope his show is on.  And I hope to meet Kristen too!  I digress….

I was looking for a new baked oatmeal recipe to have on hand, and changed up Kristen’s recipe just a bit to make it softer.  It turned out really well, thanks Kristen!!  I heated it in the microwave and put some sugar free syrup over top.

PB and Raisin Oatmeal Bars (adapted from food.com)

serves 12

• 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (Kristen mentioned that she would omit the sugar next time, so I did, and it was fine)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup fat-free milk  (you can use any milk you’d like – I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten (I added an extra egg white to soften it a little)
• 1 large mashed banana
• 2 tablespoons raisins (or dried fruit of choice – I used dried cranberries)
• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter (we had natural crunchy peanut butter in the house, but I’m sure smooth would be fine too)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together the dry ingredients first: quick cooking oats, brown sugar, baking powder, kosher salt and ground cinnamon.

Add in the vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix the ingredients together well.

Lastly, mix in the mashed banana, peanut butter, and raisins.

Pour mixture in a lightly greased pan (I used an 8 by 8) and bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes.  If you want a crunchier bar go closer to 25.

After breakfast, and after coming to the aid of drenched men, I met Michelle for our usual pre-work Wednesday coffee.  Nice thumb Mi, this is the better of the two photos from this morning…the other finger you showed, well…

Later in the morning I had some honeydew melon.

Lunch was a bento box of “bits and pieces” that I had on hand, a little piece of leftover chicken, some cherry tomatoes, a few olives, an apple, rice crackers and 3 tbsp artichoke pesto.

The pesto recipe was in last week’s weight watcher’s weekly from my meeting on Saturday.  It’s very good, I think I’ll be making this often.

• 1 1/4 cups canned artichoke hearts (without oil, drained and rinsed)
• 1 garlic clove, quartered
• 1 1/4 cups packed fresh basil
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (I used almonds, we didn’t have pine nuts in the kitchen)
• 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 3 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor fitted with a chopping blade.  Pulse a few times, then process until well-chopped but coarsely grained.  To refrigerate up to 2 days, spoon into a small bowl and press plastic wrap right against the surface to minimize the dip turning brown.  Serves 12, 2 tbsp per serving.

Speaking of weight watchers, my afternoon snack was a pack of ginger snaps I got at our meeting.

After work, I went over to Helen’s place.  She lives about a 30 minute walk away.  Dennis dropped me off, and I walked home for a couple of activity points.  (the wind had blown away the clouds and rain for a while, and though still windy this afternoon, the sun was out)    I was given a good stink eye by this cat who looks just like my friend Suz’s Sootie.  (who has also given me stink eye at times! )

Several people have told me about the free photo editing site Picmonkey.  Today’s collages were created there instead of my usual Picassa.

Helen has got some new plants in her garden.  Today, I took a few “early season” shots, and it’ll be fun to see the garden as it flourishes over the next couple of months.

And because I couldn’t resist, I took a few more “soon-to-be-gone” blossom shots.

I know they are soon to be gone, because sidewalks and grass beside them look like this.

When I got home, Dennis had dinner ready….lean meatballs, peppers and onions in blue menu plum sauce.  Dennis had his on couscous, I had mine “straight up” as I chose to spend a few points on half of his beer instead.  (love the graphic on the label)

So there you have it, my all over the place Wednesday post.  Time to go and check out this week’s Modern Family episode.  Hope your weeks are all going well!!

I have a little story……

Ever had dreams so vivid that you wake up exhausted from it, and the mood of the dream carries over into the next day?  I had that last night….I dreamt I was having REALLY heated arguments with a work colleague (who I get along very well with in my waking hours – and when I shared the story with him today, said that if we argue in dreams, that means we’re friends.  Apparently if we kissed in my dream, that wouldn’t bode well.  Who knew??), my mother (who I also get along very well with in my waking hours), a stranger who was throwing things at me (I bet I’d get along with her in my waking hours if I knew who she was), and a man in a helicopter who was trying telling me off.  I’m sure a psychologist would have a field day with me today!

Anyway, as a result, I woke up “scrappy” and even though I had arguments with nobody, I found myself thinking some less than kind thoughts throughout the day.   And my co-workers overuse the words “stakeholder”, “high level discussion” and “bring it to the table” FAR too often.  Scrappy day or not.     Just sayin….

ANYWAY….before I ventured off to work to discuss stakeholders, I had a high level discussion with myself and decided to bring breakfast – instead of “it” – to the table!  That breakfast?  Two pieces of Little Big Bread with 1 tbsp almond butter and a banana.

During the morning, I had some melon and strawberries.

Lunch was some tuna with light mayo and relish, 3 rice crackers and a salad with tomatoes, fresh basil, balsamic and light feta.

I also had a few little squares of the chocolate with oreos that we started yesterday.

And later in the afternoon, I had a few veggies.  (sad looking carrot in this photo, but it tasted good)

I felt much less homicidal by the time came to walk home.  (HA!)  It’s been VERY rainy here for days, and look what I saw.  Toadstools.  LOTS of toadstools.  Usually these are around in the fall.  Hmm…

I also saw a WHACK of birds, flying, walking, preening…..

And neighbors are still stopping to take photos of the soon-to-be gone blossoms.

I made flatbread/lavash “pizza” for dinner tonight.  Mine was vegetarian with tomato sauce and artichoke pesto (recipe to follow tomorrow), roasted eggplant, peppers and mushrooms, red onions, fresh basil, bbq sauce and light feta.

I’m off to create a little something in the kitchen (recipe likely to follow tomorrow too) then have a MUCH calmer sleep tonight.  What is the strangest dream you’ve had?  (g-rated! )