Christmas Part 1

This evening my family came over for Christmas dinner.  

We enjoyed turkey etc. and then opened gifts and had dessert.  As usual, my nephew Giovanni scored big time in the gift department :-)

He is such a sweetheart, and the most polite little guy.  I am looking forward to spending a day with him while I'm off on holidays.  

I'm now looking forward to a relaxing few days, as we visit, eat and drink with Chris' family and then spend boxing day doing absolutely nothing.

Are you cooking Christmas dinner?  How do you split time between the families if you've got a significant other?

On Holidays ... and Getting Ready for Christmas

I am officially on holidays for a couple of weeks.  It's weird, because this is the first year I don't really feel like I need the holidays.  I haven't been taking classes all semester (for the first time), so there was no studying or final projects or any of that junk.  It's been a more relaxing December than I am used to.  I plan to spend the two weeks doing some writing, and hopefully finishing my thesis.

Last night we went out for dinner to Four Seas.  This was my first time at this restaurant, and I was really impressed.  

We shared some fried tofu, and I ordered the wor won ton soup.  

It was really thick and delicious!

This morning Christopher made waffles while I made cranberry sauce for tomorrow's Christmas dinner.

 

 

My family is coming over for turkey dinner tomorrow night, and then we'll spend Christmas day with Christopher's family.

Hello turkey!

What are your plans for Christmas dinner?

10 on Tuesday

1)  Three more days of work and then I am on holidays for a couple of weeks!  I am looking forward to sleeping in and having the time to try some new recipes.

2)  I've had a couple of meetings with my thesis supervisor lately, and things are moving along nicely.  I completed the statistical analyses for my study, and did it correctly on my first try!  I also wrote up the results, and was told that that section was good too :-)  I am now in the home stretch, with only the conclusion/discussion left to write.  This makes me very happy!!  Let's get this degree done so I can move on to the next (more exciting) one!

3)  It snowed all day today, which meant it looked pretty outside, yet I had to shovel when I got home.  I figure I've done enough shoveling for one winter!  Haha, too bad winter isn't even close to over.  That hot vacation this March is looking better and better each day.



4)  I got most of my Christmas shopping finished up today.  While I was in the mall I grabbed a tea from David's Tea.  I love this place!  I got one of the new winter blends, cookie dough!  It actually tasted like cookie dough - I was impressed. 



5)  Breakfast this morning was smoothie with blueberries, 1/2 banana, 1 T Almond Butter, and 1 package Amazing Grass.  I forgot how much I like a smoothie for breakfast!  They are a great way to get some greens in in the morning.

6)  We've been watching a lot of documentaries lately.  In the last couple weeks we've watched: 

- Vegucated (excellent)
- The Secret (just okay, I've been following this idea for years without realizing it was "The Secret")
- Flesh & Blood (not for those with weak stomachs, not for kids, interesting, engaging, entertaining)
- DMT: The Spirit Molecule (really interesting, gets a little bit long)
- Maxed Out (okay, didn't learn anything new)

My favourites were probably Flesh & Blood and Vegucated. 
Have you seen any of these?  
Do you have any documentary recommendations? 

7)  Dinner tonight was quinoa with spinach, peas and piri piri spice, as well as some sweet & sour meatballs.



8)  I might be weird, but I absolutely love buying Christmas gifts and wrapping them.  Tonight I spent a good chunk of the evening wrapping gifts for my family. 



9)  If you've seen the artwork in my house, you might have gathered that I love trees.  I was pretty pumped when I found this wrapping paper on sale after Christmas last year. 



I am not a fan of boxing day/week shopping, and refuse to go to any malls during this time, but I will stop by Chapters and Hallmark just for the paper.

10)  I'm craving a corn dog.  Don't judge.  Come over and make me these. 

What are some of your Tuesday things?

Festive Weekend

As mentioned in my last post, I was up early on Friday morning getting things done around the house.  This was all in preparation for a Christmas party that I hosted on Saturday.

Because I was so busy Friday morning, I didn't have time to make breakfast.  I stopped at Robin's for a bagel and coffee which I took to work with me.

A friend on staff had made a neat looking cake!  It was chocolate cake with white icing, surrounded by Kit Kat and topped with Smarties.

 

Lunch on Friday was at work, and we had turkey with all the fixings. 

On Friday evening Christopher and I went out for dinner to India Curry House.  

I loved that they had paneer in the buffet, as well as samosas and pakoras.

Saturday morning was another early one.  I was out of the house by about 7:30 a.m. to run errands.  First stop - Starbucks.  

After a quick oatmeal and coffee I was ready for the day. 

On Saturday I hosted a Christmas party that has become a yearly tradition with one of my oldest groups of friends.  There is always plenty of food, and lots of laughs.

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, Christopher and I spent the day eating leftover food from the party and watching Christmas movies.  Ahhhhhh.  It was a relaxing day after a busy start to the weekend.

Next weekend should be a busy one too, with Chris' work Christmas party on Saturday and my families Christmas dinner etc. on Sunday.

How was your weekend?  Do you have a busy weekend coming up?

Dinners Lately and NuNaturals Giveaway Winners

On Monday evening we enjoyed some of the perogies that we made on Saturday.  We also had kielbasa that I picked up at the Ukrainian Co-op.

 

On Tuesday we made a moose calzone, and today we used the leftover moose meat to make tacos.  The meat is very similar to ground beef, but much, much leaner, and I think it has a milder flavour.  We spiced it up a bit, cooked it with onion and garlic, and threw it in the taco shells with shredded cheese, avocado and salsa. 

 

In other news, the winners of the NuNaturals Liquid Stevia Giveaway are:

Alex from The Run Within
Lindsay J.
Joanne from Mostly Fit Mom
Becky S.

Please email me at everydayfoodie@hotmail.com and provide me with your complete mailing address which I will them pass on to Ron from NuNaturals.  He will be mailing the prize directly to you :-)  Enjoy!

Although I hate getting up early, I do what I've got to do!  Today I got up early to do laundry, make caramel popcorn twists, vacuum the basement, dust, cook 1.5 packs of bacon, and blog!   Later today I get to enjoy a turkey lunch with all the fixings at work, and then dinner out somewhere.  Happy Friday!

What do you have going on tonight?  This weekend?

Wednesday Fashion Fun!

As my long time readers might know, in addition to food, I also love fashion.  Tonight in between making spiced nuts and trying to fix my car warmer and dresser drawer (ughh Ikea, you suck!), I put together a few outfits, choosing items that I would wear and combining them for complete looks.  I had a lot of fun and now I kind of really want all of these outfits (and a winning lotto ticket)!

Here are a couple casual looks I came up with:
 

 

First Outfit (To see a larger image of it, click here):

Owl Sweather - Pinterest - Not sure where to buy :-(
The Rolled Skinny OTTE - ($235 CAD)
Smoked Trench Check Cashmere Cape BURBERRY - ($1315 CAD)
Isabella Ballet Flats WITCHERY - ($105 CAD)
Bridle Leather Cross Body Bag BURBERRY - ($740 CAD)

Second Outfit (To see a larger image of it, click here):

Baddies Tank by KSUBI - ($79 CAD)
Sequin Print Wrap by TED BAKER - ($180  CAD)
Paige Denim 'Jimmy Jimmy Skinny' - ($325 CAD)
TOMS Cotton Loafer - ($88 CAD)
Aperture Pedro Black Slouch Beanie - ($17 CAD)

And a couple for a night out on the town with someone special:




First Outfit (To see a larger image of it, click here):

Red Cashmere Coat ETSY - ($125 CAD)
Contrast Side Detail Dress - ($230 CAD)
Gold Tone Black Rectangular Drop Earring - ($28 CAD)
Red RGB Nail Polish - ($16 CAD)
Yves Saint Laurent Pumps - ($785 CAD)
Jimmy Choo "Canisa" Gold Sequin Clutch - ($755 CAD)

Second Outfit (To see a larger image of it, click here):

Peplum Scuba Pencil Dress TOPSHOP - ($95 CAD)
Chanel Vintage Clip-On Earrings - ($550 CAD)
Chain Sphere Necklace - ($320 CAD)
Christian Louboutin Suede Pump - ($735 CAD)
Louis Vuitton Croc. Bag - (So expensive I couldn't even find a price :-( )

Which look is your favourite?

Do you like to put outfits together?

Giveaway: NuNaturals Liquid Stevia

I've worked with Ron from NuNaturals numerous times, and he is always very generous with me and my readers.  He sent me an email the other day offering to do a stevia giveaway with my readers again! 

For those who don't know about stevia check out the facts:

- It is a 100% natural sweetener that doesn't contain any Aspartame, Sucralose, sugar, Saccharin, or any artificial sweetener. 

- It contains no soy, yeast, gluten, wheat, milk, MSG, synthetics, artificial colours, artificial flavours or preservatives.

- It has a non-bitter taste, and zero calories. 

- It does not affect blood sugar, so it is safe for those with diabetes.

- It dissolves instantly.

- NuNaturals stevia is stronger than most stevia on the market so you need less.

- Stevia is much stronger than sugar, so again, you need less.

My favourite NuNaturals products are definitely the flavoured liquid stevias.  I use them in smoothies, juices, oatmeal, etc..  It was even used in the orange sauce that we ate on our duck tacos a while back.

Ron is offering four (4) of my readers the chance to win one (1) of each of the following products: 



Orange Liquid Stevia
Lemon Liquid Stevia
Peppermint Liquid Stevia
Chocolate Liquid Stevia

There are 2 different ways to enter the giveaway and you can receive one entry for each one that you do:

1)  Leave me a comment telling me which liquid stevia you'd try first
2)  Visit the NuNaturals Facebook page, and "Like" them.  Leave a comment letting me know if you did this

Also, for those who want to buy products from NuNaturals, you can can receive 15% off of your entire order until the end of the month if you use the Coupon Code:  BLG1212

The winners will be selected using a random number generator and you have until Thursday December 13th, 2012 @ 11:59 p.m. to enter.