weekend.

it was a great one- after an awesome saturday the fun continued.  starting with a gorgeous sunday sleep in and awaking to the beautiful sunshine I had a busy but fantastic day.  had a father daughter date at neck point and then D and I had a date with our books and the beach.  it was perfect!

then I got busy in the kitchen..

first a recap from saturday nights dinner.  pasta with slow roasted vodka sauce

this meal actually turned out quite well considering I didn't follow the recipe exactly.  it took forever to make because the sauce roasts in the oven for an hour and a half.  but overall definitely worth the time! I have never attempted to make pasta sauce from scratch before so I was quite impressed with the result :)

last night, I decided I wanted to make a simple and easy apple crisp because we had some old apples hanging out that were perfect for baking.  so I hunted down a simple recipe and went to work in the kitchen.  and the result...

sunday night dessert!

mmm it was yummy. hit the spot.  while it was baking I whipped up a homemade pizza crust, decorated it with veggies, threw it in the oven and dinner was served.

also, picked up these today..

gotta love farm fresh eggs :)

off to work!!
--m

my happy place..

pennys palapa.  the best outdoor restaurant in all the land.  mexican goodness (and margarita goodness of course) with this guy..

can it get any better?

right on the water.

happy camper

what a lovely day it was.. and also extremely productive! this was our mid afternoon pit stop that we just had to make.  we adore this restaurant and as soon as the sun made an appearance we made our way down to the waterfront.  the food never disappoints- derek said his meal was the best meal at a restaurant he has had in a long time! and he can be a harsh critic! my meal was amazing as always.. chipotle shrimp burrito with the palapa salad. I was so content sitting in the sunshine with my margarita and my fabulous company.  we caught some more rays after lunch while we walked around downtown and then continued with our day.  needless to say, this was a great saturday date with my darlin'

in other news- it was also very productive as I mentioned.  I have crossed several things off my to-do list for the weekend.  most importantly, the dresser is built! thank goodness and it wasn't TOO much of a pain.  I enjoyed an awesome yoga class this morning, followed by several errands and a nice visit with the beaus after lunch! also had a visit with my parents and saw ange and abby getting ready for abby's kids yoga class.  she LOVES yoga.  and I love that she loves yoga :) 

finally, here are a couple photos from one of D and I's many walks.. this is one of our new favourite routes.  

wishing everyone a lovely weekend!
--m

tgif.

happy friday! what a busy week it has been.  one of the things I missed the most while being away was yoga- I got back to it this week! monday I went to a yoga for athletes class(I am by no means an athlete but I find this class a nice challenge) and then did a vinyasa flow yesterday.  it feels so good to be back at it! I am either going to do a yoga class tomorrow morning or a jazzercise class!

I am looking forward to having some time off this weekend.  some of my plans for saturday and sunday include:

*yoga/jazzercise

*farmers market

*a couple nice long walks(hopefully in the sunshine)

*catching up on my book- I'm just finishing up "the book of negroes" and I can't wait to start "left neglected" which I bought on monday

*put together a dresser from ikea.. so SO not looking forward to this task.  but it needs to be done. seriously.  

*baking up some sweet treats! 

I made some guacamole yesterday.. mmm it hit the spot.  I used a recipe from eat, live, run.

I used my trusty avocado peeler which I absolutely LOVE! what a handy tool.

this avocado peeler is the jam!

guac for one!

I leave you with a weekend thought.  I feel so strongly about little motto.  

"the cure for anything is salt water- sweat, tears, or the sea" --isak dinesen

tofino 2011.

workin' girl.

so as most of you know I landed myself quite a fabulous job for the summer.  in previous posts I discussed the field work I have been doing but I thought I would give you an update as to what I have been working on while I'm in the office.

currently I am doing some lab work on scallops.  scallop surveys were completed earlier this year and the samples have just been kept in the freezer because nobody has had a chance to take all the biological measurements. (insert-ME!) I am actually really enjoying this work- to most it would probably seem really tedious and repetitive.  a couple other biologists that were in and out of the lab today looked like they were doing some interesting work so I asked them what they were working on.  one of them was working with six gill shark pups and the other is doing her masters which is focused on reducing the pollution and emissions generated from aquaculture.  so cool! I loved being surrounded by lots of science nerds! I find it really beneficial to learn about all the projects going on because it exposes me to many other departments and opportunities that I otherwise would have no idea even existed.  the work being done is so diverse and I look forward to hopefully being fortunate enough to work in one of these departments when I graduate. fingers crossed!

so I have been struggling to come up with creative lunch ideas.  any suggestions? while I was in the field all of my meals were prepared for me :) but now I have to get back to prepping lunches to take to work each day.  yesterday I used some leftover pasta and cut up lots of veggies and topped it with balsamic vinaigrette.  this was actually really tasty and filling! I packed in some extra nutrition with an orange and strawberries.

today I made a taco salad(minus the meat) as well as a fruit salad and a muffin! hope that keeps me going until 4.  wishing everyone a great day!

--m

overnight oats.

so with my work schedule now being 8-4, my mornings are quite early.  my usual breakfast is oatmeal but now that I am a bit more crunched for time I wanted something quick.. overnight oats save the day!
I have seen several fellow bloggers brag about overnight oats so I thought I would give it a try!

last night I combined:
*1/2 cup rolled oats
*1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
*1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

after leaving it sit all night, in the morning it looked like this..

this morning I added a banana, a tsp of peanut butter and some flax seed.

and shortly after, my bowl was empty! these were a hit and exceptionally quick! exactly what I was looking for.  it took a few bites to get used to cold oats.  these are definitely going to be a weekday breakfast staple in my house.  I am going to try some different variations including nuts, berries and cocoa! delicious!

off to work!
--m

decisions, decisions.

so recently I have been exploring vegetarianism and have excluded meat from my diet for almost a couple months now.  I took the time to educate myself on animal agriculture as well as fisheries and aquaculture.  after doing my research, I think I have made my decision(at least for now).  my main concerns with farmed animal products are of course, the way the animals are handled but also the hormones and antibiotics that the animals are treated with.  while reading eating animals I learned SO much. I have decided to still eat chicken(but less frequently) and only non medicated chicken that I get locally.  these chickens are fed a plant based diet and obviously are not medicated.

being that I am such a "foodie" I feel this is the right choice for me, at least temporarily.  I definitely imagine that I will cut chicken out completely when I am ready.  for now, I feel content with my decision :)  I will continue to not eat red meat, which I excluded from my diet almost 2 years ago.  I feel this is a good balance for now!

that being said! I was dying to try out this new recipe, so here it is.  I got the idea from julie at peanut butter fingers

bbq pulled chicken sandwiches:

this was incredibly simple! I put two chicken breasts (local organic- yay me!) into a crock pot with veggie broth.  I let them cook for 6 hours and then pulled the chicken apart with two forks.  we tossed the chicken with bbq sauce and toasted a couple buns and there yah have it! simple and delicious! the crock pot is my new best friend! and my first corn on the cob of the season was fantastic! 

also, I made some delicious muffins yesterday. check out the recipe- the strawberries kept them so moist and the combination of strawberry, banana and chocolate hit the spot! I love making muffins- so easy and a nice snack to have around the house.

in other news, forks over knives is a documentary I have been meaning to see.  it emphasizes the importance of a plant based diet and looks incredibly interesting.  can't wait to watch it :)

off to work!
--m

cash wedding.

court and ash(cash) tied the knot yesterday and we had such an amazing time celebrating with them! I couldn't help but cry(numerous times) during the ceremony and reception. the wedding was exactly how I would have imagined it. simple but elegant. you could totally tell they were so ready to make the commitment of a lifetime of happiness together and their vows were so genuine. I love these two.

here are a few photos..

what an amazing day! now they are off to bali for 3 weeks! I'm slightly jealous..  can't wait to hear about all the adventures they have on their honeymoon.
--m