Monthly Archives: September 2011

WIAW # 6

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hi lovies.

Can you believe it’s already Wednesday??
This week is just flying by!

Wednesdays are more than just hump days.

They’re WIAW days!
[all thanks to Jenn! :) - so, THANKS Jenn!]

Peas and Crayons 
This morning I started off with what I’ve been eating every morning for breakfast since I made those lemon poppyseed muffins.
1 Barbara’s shredded wheat puff + 1 fig + 1 mini lemon poppyseed muffin
 

 And a handful of blueberries, which I decided to add at the last minute
[yep, thats right. I'm livin on the edge! ;) ]

Then I was off to do some cardio. Today’s class was INTENSE. but in a good way.
I just couldn’t feel my legs afterwards. No big deal.

Then it was snack time. Or 2nd breakfast time.

I picked up a new protein powder yesterday to try.

Spiru-tein High Protein Energy Meal
Chocolate flavor, of course.

I mixed 1 packet of the powder with 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk and 1/2 cup water.

I couldn’t get the lumps out of it, but it was still good.
I just had to chew.
Which was actually kind of like drinking a malted milkshake.

I’m sure putting it in the blender would’ve done the trick.

I have to say, this powder rivals my all time favorite true vitality protein powder.
I’m just not sure about the ingredients of Spiru-tein yet since I couldn’t pronounce half of them.
I think some decoding may be necessary.

Then it was time to try a new bread I picked up from Costco this morning.

Best way to try it is obviously with butter. Almond butter.

<3

+

a cup of coffee

I approve.

A shower and some errands later…

It was lunch time!

I had my go-to lunch. Egg white + veggies.

Today’s looked more like a pizza. An egg-white pizza?

Spinach + mushrooms + egg whites + tomatoes + cayenne pepper + garlic powder + smoked salt

And some diced avocado.

So since I had something savory of course it was time for something sweet :)

Pineapple to the rescue!

And 2 slices of freeze-dried mango

This stuff is amazing! It’s crunchy like chips.

A little later it was snack time. Again.

I got really hungry when I was driving and I made a sensible choice to find a place where I could find a banana. Then I drove past Yogurtland and the banana went out the window.

Dark chocolate + coconut + oatmeal raisin

Oh.Em.Gee.
The oatmeal raisin was amazing! It tasted JUST like an oatmeal raisin cookie. No joke.

For dinner I had a simple plate of veggies and brown rice.

eggplant + a chinese veggies [the green one on the left] + pickled cabbage + fish [in the middle]

And because I apparently haven’t had enough sweets in one day…
I had a bite of a new chocolate bar I bought today


I have to say I prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate.  It’s ok though because I totally bought a dark chocolate bar too ;)

And now I need to do some school work.
And pack! – I’m leaving town tomorrow morning and my suitcase is still empty.

Have a good night!

What’s your favorite snack?

Milk, White, or Dark Chocolate?

Any fro-yo lovers out there?

Is It Fall Already?

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Apparently I’m a bit seasonally-challenged.
If that’s a word.

It’s officially fall and everyone is breaking out the pumpkin and enjoying pumpkin spice lattes.

I, however, decided yesterday was the perfect day to bake up a batch of lemon poppyseed muffins.
Not so fall-ish, huh?

Originally, I had intended to make them back in April when it was actually spring.

But staying true to my usual procrastinating-self, I’m about about 5 months behind and finally made them yesterday.

I spent most of the morning recipe surfing looking for a good recipe and when I came across Katie’s I was more than excited to get baking.

I pretty much followed her recipe and just subbed a few things depending on what I had in my pantry:

- 1.5 tsp lemon zest instead of 1 ( i lovee the taste of lemon!)
- 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk instead of 1/4 cup
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour instead of 1 cup spelt flour
- 3 T blueberry honey instead of 3 T maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut oil instead of 1/4 cup vegan butter or applesauce
- 1.5 T sugar instead of 2T sugar

And I decreased the temperature from 355 F to 350F since coconut oil can only reach a max temp of 350F. It didn’t really mess with the bake time and took about 11 mins to bake up.

I wanted to make big muffins, but who was I kidding. I tasted the batter before spooning it into my muffin cups and there was no way I could wait that extra 5 or 10 mins for them to bake. Yes, it as THAT good.

So mini muffins it was! :)
[plus one regular sized one since I had leftover batter]

The moment they came out of the oven there was already one making its way to my mouth. It didn’t matter how hot it was…I’ve been waiting 5 months for that lemon poppyseed muffin!

Hot, room temp, or cold – these things are delicious.

Then I proceeded to eat about 3 more.

After all, 3 mini muffins equal’s one regular size muffin, right? ;)

So of course, I already knew what I wanted to eat for breakfast this morning.

2 Barbara’s shredded wheat puffs soaked in unsweetened almond milk + a fig + the one and only regular sized lemon poppyseed muffin I had

Then I had a mini one as dessert.

Because apparently my breakfast wan’t dessert enough already…

[please ignore the horrendous polish on my nail - I will be wiping it off today. Or at least that's what I've told myself for the past week..]

I’m down to four mini muffins so I need to get baking again.
Must replenish my muffin stash!

I’m thinking orange poppyseed muffins, but we’ll see how that goes.

And lastly, a fun fact – The largest pumpkin ever weighed more than a horse!!
Just imagine how many bloggers that would feed ;)

Make it a great week all!

au revoir bordeaux

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On my last day in Bordeaux we visited two last wine houses.

Chateau Latour:

Where everyone was outside harvesting.

I felt like I should’ve been picking grapes too.

We actually had the opportunity to see them truck in the hand-picked grapes to be cleaned.

It was interesting to feel the excitement of the workers.

First the large pieces of non-grapes were picked out.

Then the grapes moved up a machine where they were de-vined.

Lastly, these ladies were in charge of picking out anything the machine and first batch of people missed.

Check out their intense concentration!

Then the grapes were crushed and moved into these stainless steel vats.

And eventually into french oak barrels.

Tasting time!
[the tasting room almost looks like a science lab, no?]

and lastly,

Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte: 

They were also harvesting their grapes during our visit.

The neat thing about this chateau was what was under their tasting room.

A hidden cellar!

Where they kept all their vintage wines.

Something else that was special about this house was all their art pieces outside.

This particular one is a crumpled piece of paper.

and
I had to take a picture of this one since it’s currently the year of the rabbit!

- – - – - – -  -

After our visit at Smith Haut Lafitte, we spent some time shopping in the city and then headed to our last dinner in Bordeaux.

The restaurant was right by the river and gave us an amazing view of the city.

Appetizer:
grilled cuttlefish with smashed potatoes

Main:
Sea Bass with savory soufflé 

I was shocked at how large the portion was!  I liked the citrus over the fish, but the real star of this plate was that soufflé pictured in the back left. I’m still not sure what exactly it was, but it was basically some sort of warm savory soufflé filled with gooey cheese in the middle.
It was SO so good.

And lastly this is another reason why I love this city.

It lights up at night. Literally.

Au revoir Bordeaux!