Showing posts with label dinner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dinner. Show all posts

August 6, 2011

Gluten hates me

I am stealing the lovely Marlow's blog title for this post!
I have been gluten free for 5 years now and have been amazed at how much better I feel. But gluten got me this week, it snuck into my fridge and attacked! Maybe attacked is too strong of a word...
We had a crazy weekend- Shannon came into town for a surprise visit on Friday and we hit up a karaoke bar with my cousin. Once the bar closed down we came home and played board games (yes, we're that cool!) We ended up climbing into bed around 5:30am. We slept in a bit and then Shannon and I hit downtown for some girl time and shopping (including trying on ridiculous sunglasses!) She had to be up-island for family dinner so once we explored the market and I brought her to my favorite places in Victoria she dropped me off and headed back.
I made a quick dinner and then had an early night. We had an amazing wedding anniversary....a nice relaxed day together. We went to Sauce for lunch, wandered through the Miniatures Museum, took a horse & carriage ride through Beacon Hill Park and then went to Blue Crab Bistro for dinner. Both restaurants were awesome- Sauce sources all their food locally so it's always really fresh and they are really conscious about gluten allergies. Blue Crab was also awesome, a bit pricey, but I had a gift certificate from the Tourism award and some anniversary money from my parents. We had a huge seafood platter for dinner along with a bottle of wine.

So much food! But it was so good and all Kelly friendly. The gluten monster got me on Monday night. I was still really tired from the weekend so by the time I got home from work all I wanted to do was order takeout. We decided on Thai and we searched online for a place that delivers. We ordered our two standards- Pad Thai & Tom Yum and then tried out a pineapple and chicken curry. It was all really good but I woke up feeling even sicker and more tired than on Monday. By Thursday I wasn't feeling better (but was diligently eating the leftovers which usually go bad in our fridge) It was only when I went to the Doctor and he said it looked like strep did it register that one of the first clues of a reaction for me is strep symptoms. I called the restaurant back and apparently they use wheat noodles for their Pad Thai (which is traditionally rice noodles) Today is the first day I've felt human this week...although I am still a bit wonky.
So that is my week. An amazing weekend and then an evil gluten ninja attack.

January 15, 2011

Dinner and a Movie....

Today the store was insane. Not too busy, but everyone who came in seemed higher maintenance than they usually are. I think it was a slight sense of entitlement, they drove all that way to my store, how dare I not sell exactly what they were looking for and have it in stock!  So, needless to say, I spent most of the day looking forward to the evening. 

I went on a date....not with Jonathan (who got in some gaming time) but with Shannon. Dinner at The Local and then a movie. Dinner was awesome! We had minor heart attacks last fall when we learned that one of our favourite restaurants was turning into a sports bar. Really? Does Edmonton really need another sports bar? OPM was so yummy, kinda asian fusion, and a great decor. It's gone now, it turned into the Local. Why did we go there if we are so bummed out about it's name and menu change? Well, thank you for asking! They kept our favorite thing on the menu! Here is their description!!! 
Seven Flavoured Beef- Marinated in the fragrant blend of lemongrass, 
peanuts, wheat-free soya sauce, fennel, garlic, ginger & sweet thai basil.
Oh man....so good!!! I could live on it. I think in the short time I have had this blog I have already talked about it once. I can almost guarantee it will be in here again! Lots of good girl talk, trying to figure out my 27th birthday party, her 30th birthday party, both of our moves (she's heading to Kamloops in the spring) and debating throwing a joint going away party. She even braved a sip of my caesar, which was quite funny as her three least favourite foods are tomatoes, anything spicy and vodka. It was awesome...

If you have time to go to a movie, GO SEE THE KINGS SPEECH!! It was amazing! Such incredible casting and a storyline that literally took our breaths away. It is based on the life of George the 6th and the start of his reign as king. Amazing stuff, so empowering. Someday soon (possibly tomorrow evening) I will have time to sit down and do the research it made me crave! I knew that He was the first king to take over because of a scandal, and knew that he was one of the few kings to come into power and replace someone who was still alive and well (his older brother was king, caused a scandal and abdicated the throne) But I never really knew the rest of the details of his life. So good! I want to learn more about him and his speech therapist Lionel Logue.

January 1, 2011

The Holidays (only a bit late...)

2010 went out with a bang! So many things to do, so little time to sleep. I looked a my computer each night and said tomorrow I would post. So here I am, a week and a half later, with only one post up.
So....Here is the last two weeks in a highlight reel:

December 24th: Christmas Eve
After a short day at work I went home to get ready for the evening. Our family goes to church every Christmas Eve and then we all head back to Mom & Dad's place for games and way too much food! The church sermon was awesome, the message was great and lots of beautiful music. The organ always blows me away, but it is spectacular when combined with a clarinet, tuba, violin and drums! We arrived at Mom & Dad's and spent the evening eating, drinking and playing Christmas themed Charades. It turns out I am a really, really good guesser, but an awful actor! I blame it on my luck when grabbing things like Holiday Affair out of the bag. Really.... I meant to have my camera out (I am usually the family shutterbug) but it spent the evening in my purse....

December 25th: Christmas Day
We woke up early to head over to my sister's house for brunch and gifts. It was fun to see her little guy open presents and play with all his new toys. Last year he was still a bit too young to really understand. We spent a lazy morning there and then went back home for presents and late lunch with the Latours... 

We opened up our stockings and then our gifts. Tons of fun, and we were all very, very spoiled. I got the  mitts that I subtly blogged about earlier this month, along with a pair that were hand knit by my Mother in Law and a few pairs of long warm ones from my Mom. I gave Jon the ornament that I ordered from Etsy. It was a big hit! I think that is going to turn into a yearly order for the very talented painter! 
After a quick nap we went over to a friend's house for dinner. We have done Christmas dinner with my family for the last 2 years, so it was the Latours turn to have us for the feast. They moved to Edmonton from Montreal and created themselves a new family here. Dinner at Barb & Raymond's had been the tradition for the last 22 years, and now that I have been there I see why. Great food, great company and some very strong Pictionary rivals. Raymond is also celiac, so there was lots of gluten free goodies for me to snack on! I, once again, decided I need to learn french asap! I had to draw a stork, and I did a pretty good job, but they took forever to find the word in English for me. My team was shouting the answer in french, and the men weren't going to help us get the point by telling me that they were right. 

December 26th: Boxing Day
We woke up early and went over to Grandma & Grandpa's house for a drop in brunch. She made a ton of food, and we all stayed for a visit and to see who would drop in next. It was the first year in a long time we haven't had a family gift exchange on boxing day, so after the visit we went boxing day shopping! Kingsway mall was a zoo, but less crowded than I was expecting it to be. I picked up a few great jackets and some new work clothes, so overall it was a great shopping trip. I kept laughing at Jonathan, he likes shopping (in small doses) and insists to be my packhorse while we walk around. All the women in the stores were fawning over him as he carried my stuff, they kept saying how they wished their husband would do that. It inflated his ego a bit, but it was fun! We picked up season 1 of Glee, which I have seen bits of and loved. After shopping we came home and started watching it. So good!! 

December 27th: The Spa Day and Wedding Day
In November my gel nails suffered an unfortunate run in with a dresser at work and a few split off. I got impatient and filed them down so they could all grow out a bit. The longer they were filed, the more impatient I got and eventually I just pulled them all off. That was not an easy task! Those buggers really are on there! My thumb nail was the worst, the gel was not leaving. Eventually I coaxed it off, but it took half of the real nail with it. Suddenly the gels that I have had for the last 5 years weren't a possibility until it grew back in. A month and a bit later I finally could get a new set put on. I was at the salon at 10am to get them attached, they are so pretty! Purple and sparkly with pretty blue and white designs painted on my ring fingers. While I was there I got a pedicure and then headed home. I had just enough time to eat lunch and then it was time to head to Southgate
Jonathan and I were, against better judgement, in matching outfits. I usually am very adamant about not matching, but his Mom always tells me the photos will be better. I may have to start listening to her, all the shots of us together are cute. We both rocked the black and red outfits!

December 28th: The Hangover Day
Lots of Glee and couch time. In fact, the rest of the Glee season 1 and cuddling on the couch. That is all. Such a good day!

December 29th: Saying goodbye to Rocket
We spent a lazy day at home and spent some time cuddling Rocket before bringing him to the vet. He was very loved and is very missed. Our poodle is still running around the house looking for him, and our cats still pause when coming up the stairs to see where he is. We spent the evening talking about him, and I got to hear a bunch of stories about him as a puppy. One great one about when the Latours took a road trip across Canada and had him with them. He really, really liked the fish nets in the Maritimes, much to the dismay of his car mates!
After dinner I introduced Jon to Gilmore Girls. He has seen snippets of the episodes over the years of girls nights and couch days that we watched the discs over and over again. I figured it was absorbing enough to distract him a little bit, and that it would help explain some of the quotes Shannon and I use. He says it's a chick show, but is still willing to watch the seasons with me.

December 30th: Work Work Work
After a quick stop at Transcend coffee I went in to work for the day. It was insane! The boxing week shoppers were out in full force and we were crazy busy. The day flew by and we had a blast! Jonathan spent the day at home doing errands for his Mom, who was busy preparing for her annual New Years Bash. Four Gilmore Girls episodes after work and then bedtime for us.

December 31st: Work and Party
Thursday was nuts at the store, so I was fully prepared to run around like crazy on Friday. Apparently all the shoppers were at home getting ready for parties. The store was so slow! Fortunately my Dad came in and we got a bunch of the tedious accounting stuff done. We went home as soon as the warehouse guys came back from delivery and got to work helping with the party.
Sylvie does a theme party each year, and this year's gala was Glitter and Glitz. She spent the morning covering the house with silver organza and white twinkle lights. I got there and helped out with food preparation and more setup. Soon it was time to get ready for the party. The only catch after all that setup? We weren't staying at our house. So, while everyone came here we went to our friend's place which is just down the street. We have a very friendly block, and while the parents all went to the lovingly named Geezer party, us members of the younger generation also all got together. Tons of food, jello shots and board games filled our evening. We did the countdown, the kisses and the hugs and then ran over to crash the other party for more hugs and wishes. Such fun!

January 1st: Yay! Today! Couch Day!
Wow, you stuck through this post all the way to today! Look at you go! Thanks for reading! Today was another relax on the couch day. We watched a bunch more Gilmore Girls and Karate Kid (apparently we were lacking in the testosterone friendly viewing)  Breakfast, lunch and dinner all consisted of New Years platter leftovers. I capped off the evening with a bath in one of my Lush Christmas present goodies. For those of you that don't know me, I am totally addicted to Lush. I love pretty much everything they make, and this beautiful gift box was under the tree for me this year! All of their limited edition Christmas goodies in one big pretty box. I used the bubble bar that looks like Santa Clause tonight. Yay!
Now that I am done this mammoth post it is time for me to go to bed! I promise tomorrow won't be so long winded!!! I hope you all had great Christmases and fun New Years Eves! I am so excited to see what 2011 is going to bring!!

Goodnight!


November 20, 2010

Cleaning and such

Yesterday was an amazing day. Here is the highlight reel for you:


I had some great girl time with my best friend, went to see the new Harry Potter (go see it, it's amazing, just don't hold onto your pop, you WILL jump a few times in the movie and spill it!)  I am a book lover, so usually movies made from books irk me a bit. This one had a few moments that made me twitch- they could have done exactly what the book had, but approached the conversation backwards....but for the most part, worth the money! It's also being shown in 3D, which blows my mind.
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 After the movie we went to Edmonton's Homes for the Holidays tour. They take 5 character homes in the beautiful Glenora neighborhood and decorate them for Christmas. Local stores and flower shops work with interior designers to dress up the spaces and the families get to relax in a hotel for the weekend while people troop through their newly dressed up homes. Shannon and I spent as much time looking at the layout of the homes as the decorations, the 'curse' of interior designers. One had a particularily odd layout, the staircase to the basement was in the middle of the house, cutting off the main spaces from each other and turning the main floor into a series of strange hallways. Despite the oddity, the house was done beautifully and they worked the corners into the decorating scheme. It was a blast to go see, and is such a fun charity event to support. All the proceeds go to Kids' Help Phone. Click here for the ticket information!
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We stopped off at the Mongolie Grill South for dinner, and Jonathan met up with us there! Amazing hot and sour soup and make-your-own stir fries were the perfect dinner for us undecided eaters. You just walk along the buffet, put whatever appeals to you in the bowl and then they cook it up!


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 After dinner Jonathan I headed home for a relaxing evening of cleaning. Yup, I know, it was just as exciting as it sounds....The only highlight was the strange yellow goo in this photo. We ordered it off of Think Geek (one of Jonathan's favorite websites ever!) It cleans the keyboard for you using it's strange gooey texture. You roll it along the top and it seeps between the keys, picking up dust, crumbs and kitty hair as you go! It's name is Cyber Clean Electronics Cleaning Putty and it is amazing.