New Adventures to Come

Hello! This was meant to be posted a few days ago, but the internet at work was being frustrating.

After a busy few weeks, I’m moved out of my apartment in Vancouver and all of my stuff is now being stored in Prince George. I’m back at work now too. I had told you before that I was cooking at a coal mine in Chetwynd, however, I have switched over to housekeeping now. The catering company I worked for was a sub-contractor of the mine, but unfortunately we get different days off then them. My boyfriend (Josh) works for the mine, so I decided to switch over so we could have the same days off together every time – instead of once every couple months. Housekeeping also pays better, so I’m not complaining too much. I also can’t say that cooking in camp is exactly my passion.

I have done so much since my last post. On the 10^th, Josh flew down to Vancouver to spend time with me and help pack. I had done the whole drive there by myself, so I was excited to have someone for the ride back. His sister was already in the city for a conference. I got to stay at the Westin Bayshore Hotel with her for a couple nights. It was much better than staying on my pullout couch at our apartment – as I mentioned in my last post I was subletting my room. I fully enjoyed the super comfortable beds and double headed shower. I also managed to make it down to the gym. There was also a Starbucks located in the hotel, which was perfect for my mornings. I gave up coffee at work, so I’ve been enjoying it a bit on my days off.

We went out for food quite a bit. I figured I would enjoy all the wonderful food in Vancouver while I could. The first night we went out to Hapa Izakaya which is on Robson. I do believe there are other locations as well. It’s a Japanese Tapas place and it’s absolutely delicious. We also went to Richmond to Bubble World. They have the best bubble tea I’ve ever had – I was in heaven. I had a seafood hot pot which I really enjoyed. My mouth was on fire from not only how hot it was, but the spiciness.

Josh and I went out to a few places too. We also managed to make dinner a couple nights. We went down to Granville Island and got a couple good quality rib eye steaks and grilled those one evening. It was a pleasant reminder of summer.

One of the things I’ll miss about Vancouver is the availability of products. There is so much to choose from and it’s all within a reasonable distance. I definitely spent my time wandering around Whole Foods and other health food stores. Prince George has a couple health food stores, but nothing like Whole Foods. I was quite surprised at what they do have available.

One of the foods I miss most when I’m at work is avocados. I ate a lot of those on my days off too. Unfortunately, there is not much of a demand for them up here and I’m sure they would be a little out of the budget. Another thing we make sure to bring here is real maple syrup. I just can’t justify eating the Aunt Jemima stuff. I love drizzling it in my oatmeal, organic Greek yogurt (which I bring up here), or the odd day we enjoy some French toast for breakfast.

I’m at work now for the next 20 days. On my next post in a few days, I’m going to share with you other things I bring here to stay healthy. As I said before, I’m also going to keep filling you in on all my fun adventures. Josh brought his four-wheeler up, so we plan on going quite a bit. It’ll be fun going through all the mud!

P.S. I had a few pictures for this post, but I will have to add them when I find a better internet connection!

Back in Action

Hello friends! Yes, it’s been quite a while since my last post. A lot of you have probably been wondering where I’ve been hiding. I’ve definitely missed writing, and it was my New Year’s Resolution to start again. This blog post will update you on my life over the past bit.

Well, for the past six months, I’ve been working in Northern BC in a coal mine (yes, very random, I know). I decided to make this decision half way through the summer. I was working and going to school full-time, as well as trying to keep up with my blog and have a social life. I had student loans that seemed like I would be paying off forever and it just felt like no matter how much I worked or how well I tried to budget, I still felt completely broke.

I have a few friends who work up north that make a good amount of money and I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to pay off my loans and save. I found a job cooking at a mine in Chetwynd. At first, it was definitely a little different going from Vancouver to the middle of nowhere, but I’m a small town girl at heart, so I quickly made myself at home. I usually work four weeks straight and then have two off. The first time was probably the hardest, but it’s gotten a lot easier to work that many days in a row.

The food up there is a lot different from what I was used to. There’s a lot of processed food, so it’s not the healthy holistic lifestyle I was used to. There are options to be healthy though. There’s a lot of fruits and vegetables available and as well as many options at every meal. I bring a lot of my own food and supplements there to try and be as healthy as possible. There is also a gym located at the camp. The camp is located outside of the mine, but is also very isolated. Fortunately, I made some amazing friends who brought me around on some adventures. Most recently, a few of us went snowshoeing. I had bought them on my days off. Climbing up a mountain with those things is definitely a work-out.

On my days off I’ve been travelling a lot. It’s nice to have that amount of time to do whatever you want. My boyfriend (yes this is fairly new) and I took a road trip in October which I will be blogging about very soon. We went to Ontario and Quebec to visit my family in January as well. We’re hoping to make it up to Alaska and a bunch of other places this summer. I’ve been craving adventure! This job gives me the options to do all the things I want because I have the time off, I’m paying off my loans and saving money for fun things at the same time.

Right now, I’m on my days off and spending it in Vancouver. I’ve been enjoying the luxury of having everything close by, and of course I can be caught wandering around Whole Foods nearly every day. I’ve been subletting my room in my apartment for a few months to one of my friends to save on rent. I think in the last six months I’ve been here for maybe a total of two weeks. I’ve also decided to move out. I plan on doing a lot of travelling this summer, so it seems a little pointless to have a place and never be there. I’ll be storing my stuff in Prince George until I figure out where I would like to live.

Oh, before I forget, I have not given up on school. I decided to take a break from it, but I’m finishing the rest by distance. From being away, I’ve realized a lot about who I am and where I would like to be. As much as I love Vancouver and what it has to offer, I would much rather be off adventuring somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

This is all the updates I have for you right now. I’m going to try and post something every couple days while I am off. The internet isn’t very reliable where I work, but I’m going to try my best to post a couple times a week while I’m there. I’m really looking forward to sharing all my adventures with you and posting new recipes. Hope you’re all doing fantastic!

Below are a few pictures of the surrounding area where I work.

 

My Secret Indulgence and Collage Making

Hello friends! Monday was my day off and guess what? The sun actually came out in the afternoon! We`ve been so deprived here; it was finally nice to get some quality vitamin D. I had class for a couple hours in the afternoon, but luckily we finished early and I was able to get outside and enjoy it.

I must tell you about what I had Monday. My roommate was telling me about this ice cream place in Vancouver where you pick out an ice cream flavour, a bunch of toppings, and they mix it all together into this beautiful masterpiece. This place is called Marble Slab and it’s a five minute walk from my apartment – this I was not aware of and I kind of wish I still didn’t know about it. I don’t eat ice cream often at all or dairy for that matter. The only dairy I consume is organic yogurt. But, the odd time here and there I like to indulge. When I do, it has to be something completely satisfying and worth every mouthwatering bite. I chose peanut butter ice cream and they put it on this ‘marble slab’ and I got them to mash chocolate chip cookie dough through it. There were a million other things I could have added like skor bits, a whole reeses cup, some nuts and other stuff, but I stuck with the one (it also costs more to add). It was unbelieveably good; I was in heaven. I know it was probably horribly bad for me. I eat well, exercise and work hard; I totally deserved it. 80/20 rule! I didn’t take any of these pictures as I forgot my camera, but I got them online and this is exactly what it looks like. I felt like a kid again! My plan is to make “Oh She Glows” cookie dough balls and make some peanut butter banana soft serve to make a healthier version of this. I may have become addicted and this is definitely a once in a while indulgence.

I have more to tell you. I’m currently taking a Body, Mind and Spirit course at school and it’s been really interesting so far. There are so many ways of connecting to our body and our spirit. I wasn’t really sure how much I believed in this sort of stuff before, but it’s starting to make a lot of sense to me. I`m going to do a post on it at the end of the course. Yesterday we were given a bunch of stacks of magazines (I forgot mine at home). We had five minutes to tear out any pages or pictures that caught our eye; this is not very much time at all. At the end of the five minutes, the magazines were taken away and we had to make a collage with what we had gathered. I was kind of upset that I had no food magazines. I found one food picture that I put on it. It was awesome to see how everything came together as I was cutting out pictures and words from the pages I had ripped out. I definitely recommend trying this sometime. It was such a fun exercise, and it’s a great way to show your creativity.

Yesterday afternoon Andre-Anne and I went to Gorilla Food Restaurant. I did a post on when the girls and I ate there back in February. We shared the S’weed as Green Curry Veggie Maki and the Rawmein “New”dles. They were both delicious! I love this place! It’s a raw, vegan and organic restaurant. The food and atmosphere are fantastic.

Well that is my adventures from the past couple days. I hope everyone’s week is treating them fabulously!

Apple Pie Oatmeal

Hello friends! Back on the weather, I still cannot believe we’re the only ones in Canada not enjoying some hot weather. Check out this picture I got off the weather network this morning. You can see poor little me in Vancouver with no sunshine! So unfair!

Yesterday it poured – all day! It stopped later in the evening when I got off around 11:00pm. I’ve been walking to and from work for the past few days as it’s only a 20-25 minute walk. It’s absolutely gorgeous walking across the Cambie Bridge and then along the seawall to my apartment. The air is somewhat warm, the water is calm and the city is lit up.  I only had my work dress and a light sweater on and I was perfect. It seems to be warmer at night then during the day lately. If it’s nice again tonight I might sit out on one of the benches for a bit with a tea. It’s a good way to wind down after work before I come home to sleep. Working evenings is hard sometimes, especially because I can’t always go to bed as soon as I get home. I’m definitely a morning person!

On that note I made myself quite the comforting, warm breakfast this morning. I made a few modifications on Oh She Glow’s Apple Pie Oatmeal. Breakfast sets my mood for the day, so I always like to have something healthy and satisfying.

“All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.” — John Gunther

Apple Pie Oatmeal

Ingredients:

1/3 cup regular oats

1 tbsp. ground flax seeds

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 + 1/4 cups Almond Milk

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 tbsp. pure maple syrup

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla
extract

2 tbsp chopped walnuts, for sprinkling on top – I didn’t have any, but I know they would be good!

Directions:

1. In a medium sized pot over medium heat, mix  together oats, peeled and chopped apples, and almond milk.

2. Continue cooking over medium heat for  about 8 minutes, stirring often. Stir in ground flax, cinnamon, pumpkin pie  spice and vanilla.

3. Pour into a dish and sprinkle with chopped walnuts, a pinch of cinnamon, and a drizzle of pure maple syrup. Add a tiny bit of almond milk on top.

So far my day is looking like:

-         Run on seawall

-         Laundry

-         Homework (2 more weeks until summer vacation – wait what summer)

-         Groceries

-         Relax on the balcony with a good book and cup of tea

-         Work at 4:00pm

I’m off tomorrow, so I want to try and get most of my house chores done today so I can have fun tomorrow. Have a fabulous day!

Morning Walk in the Rain…is it Spring Still?

Hello! How’s everyone doing this weekend? This morning I gave up on the weather and decided to head out for a lovely walk in the rain. It truly felt like a spring morning. I woke up, made myself some banana pancakes, which were also gluten-free. I followed this recipe from Joyous Health. I love breakfast, it’s my favourite meal of the day and it’s never skipped. We’ve all been told how important breakfast is, so I won’t get into those facts today!

I walked along the seawall and headed towards Granville Island Market. I love living right along the seawall. It’s so beautiful and I’m close to just about everything. I had jeans and a hoody on – I seriously don’t know what’s going on with this weather here in Vancouver. It’s smoking hot everywhere else in the country! I was also rocking my cute pink and black umbrella and some music on my iPod. The rain was quite relaxing and I felt at peace this morning. When I arrived to Granville Island I decided not to go in the market as it would be swarming with people. I walked around a little and got a tea from one of my favourite coffee shops. I eventually made my way home to do a little cleaning and some more relaxing.

Earlier this week, my friend Andre-Anne from back home was visiting. She’s doing a little travelling around BC and has been staying at my apartment on and off. On Monday we got up and went out for breakfast at the Elbow Room. Apparently you go there and the servers are actually mean to you. I’ve heard some stories, but we thought our server was quite nice. We went there hoping for the full experience. We both got a dish called the Thelma. It’s two poached eggs on top of sourdough english muffins, with spinach, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and avocado, topped with camembert and feta cheese. It was definitely delicious, although I thought it was a bit pricey as this place was more diner-style.

We then went to the Vancouver Aquarium. It was my third time going there, but I have fun every time. After we walked around Stanley Park and made our way downtown to get a bite of sushi. The weather wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t raining! We had fun though; it’s always nice to catch up with friends you haven’t seen in a while!

Those are some of my highlights this week. Hopefully this weather clears up and I can get some beach time in before Fall gets here. People bragged to me all Winter about how amazing the summers are here and so far it has not been so nice. I have somewhat of a tan from the few times I went to the beach at least!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Random Creations

Hello! Sorry for the delay on the blog post, I’ve been slowly settling into my new apartment, but luckily we’re finally unpacked and organized. The walls are a little bare, so we’re in the process of getting some pictures and art up! I’m loving every minute of living here. On our first night we sat on our balcony with candles lit all over, sipping on wine, listening to music and overlooking city. I could hardly describe how happy I was in that moment; I was in complete bliss. As I write this post I’m lounging on my balcony sipping on a smoothie. Blue skies and a warm breeze coming off of the water – how could I possibly complain?

On Tuesday, Marika and I went to the beach. It was gorgeous. We lounged out, did some reading for school, did some napping and just enjoyed the fabulous weather. For those of you who are in Vancouver, are you as relieved as me to see that summer has finally come? It’s about time – it took long enough!

I’ve also been doing a bit of cooking since we’ve moved. I think Marika has been very happy about it as well. On Sunday I made us brunch. I made a delicious omelette packed with veggies. It was the perfect fuel for the unpacking and cleaning we were doing that afternoon. I have also made us a few dinners, a salad to bring to school with us and some smoothies for breakfast. I think I’m a pretty awesome roommate (I hope so anyway)! What do you think you would find in the cupboard and refrigerator of two holistic nutrition students? We had a great laugh of all of our random health products, superfoods, and veggies. I love it!

As a busy working girl and student, I often try and prepare something quick and easy for some meals. I love cooking and enjoy spending time in the kitchen, but sometimes I need some down time to do other things I enjoy. Last night I made a “what’s in your fridge” salad for dinner. It was a little lacking in the colour, but tasted great. It had a lot of green veggies in it, which is very nutritious! I’m going to do some groceries tomorrow, so I’ll have a little more selection for my random creations.

This is what I put in my salad:

Cooked quinoa

Broccoli

Bean sprouts

Green pepper

Alfalfa sprouts

Avocado

Cilantro

Cucumber

Spinach

Sliced apple

Maple balsamic dressing:

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Drizzle of maple syrup

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Looking at this, it sounds kind of weird, but I’m telling you it was good! Got to love those nights where you just throw random things together and hope for the best! It’s how you invent new dishes. Anyone have any random recipes to share?

I’m off to school for the day! I hope every one’s week is going great. I plan on trying a new recipe tonight, so check back in the next couple days. Now that we are settled in I’m definitely going to be back on track in the blogging world.

Moving and More Fun

Hello! How’s everyone’s week going? Mine’s a little busy that’s for sure! I’m finally moving into my new apartment tomorrow and I’m beyond excited. I’m moving in with my friend Marika from school. We have been looking forward to this for the past two months. I had to work all weekend, but I have the next three days off to get everything done. I did a lot of packing over the weekend, so today I’m finishing the rest and doing all the cleaning. I’ll be moved in by tomorrow afternoon! It’s going to be so much fun living with another Holistic Nutritionist-to-be. I’ll be documenting (and taking pictures) of our process of moving in and will do a post on it when we get our internet set up – which hopefully will be Friday morning.

Today, on our break at school, I went next door and test drove a bike. This was not just a bike, but a beautiful pink one! I’ve been passing by it quite a bit and finally decided to give it a try. It was love at first site. I really want to get a bike, so I’m going to start saving up for it. It had a big seat and drove beautifully. If I never told you before, my favourite colour is pink. I own a lot of pink things and my friends are always pointing out fun things in that colour that they know I would love.

Oh! More exciting news is that I got two flavours of Vega Shake N’ Go protein powder today. Kris from I Heart Wellness keeps incorporating it into her recipes and I realized I hadn’t bought any in a while. My friend ordered some for me for a bit cheaper than retail price too! I love these powders because it’s such an easy and delicious way to get protein. Having protein at every meal helps improve your metabolism and helps you feel fuller longer as well. I know if I don’t have some sort of protein in the morning (protein smoothie, eggs, oats with some raw nuts, or sprouted toast with nut butter) I feel hungry shortly after and am not very satisfied. I’m looking forward to trying some of her recipes and making up some of my own. I think having these shakes will be important for me in the next few days of moving and being a little busy for cooking. Also, a lot of my kitchen equipment is packed and I’ve been trying not to buy a tonne of groceries.

Last for dinner I had an egg scramble. I haven’t had breakfast for dinner in a while. I sautéed broccoli, mushrooms, peppers (red and jalapeno) and red onion and then made myself a delicious scramble on top of two mini corn tortillas, served with sliced avocado and some salsa. It was delicious, satisfying and didn’t use very much dishes! Bonus!

Do you eat breakfast for dinner sometimes? What are your favourite quick, easy and healthy meals?

Hope you’re all having a wonderful week so far. I’m so excited to show you guys my new place! Wish me luck!