Valentine's Day

The new movie Valentine's Day comes out soon and I'm pretty excited about it. It has the potential to become a girly favourite, joining the ranks of movies like Pretty Woman, Love Actually and The Holiday. I'm hoping it can't fail considering all the star power behind it!

Looking forward and I'll actually review it once I see it.

Spicy Dry Rub

Tonight I wanted to cook a whole chicken but didn't feel like my usual seasoning of garlic, rosemary, thyme and lemon. So, I decided to get creative. I created a dry rub of Ginger Powder, Garlic Powder, Mustard Powder, Cayenne Pepper and Paprika. I poured olive oil over the whole chicken then generous coated the chicken with my new rub. AMAZING!

I also cut up a couple Yukon Gold potatoes 30 minutes into cook and tossed them in the casserole dish with the chicken and mixed a bit of the rub in with them. AMAZING! A bit of heat and a great taste! Love it!

If you want to try: (I didn't measure as I did it so you can play around with the quantities)

Mustard Powder 1 part

Garlic Powder 2 parts

Ginger Powder 1 part
Cayenne Pepper 2 - 3 parts

Paprika 1 part

Start with a tablespoon as your unit of measure if you are coating a whole chicken.

Golden Globes 2010

I watched some of the Golden Globes on Sunday night. I really only watch to see what the celebs are wearing and this year did not disappoint! I have shown some of my favourites and some that should hire a stylist, or another one, or me...whatever.

#1 Favourite of the night - wow! Stunning!

Jennifer never disappoints. What a fabulous dress!

Beautiful and elegant. I love this look!

Such a shame. She is so funny and talented. I guess you can't be good at everything! That's why you can hire a stylist.

Lost - The Final Season

February 2, 2010.

Cannot wait!

What if it happened to you?

The devastation in Haiti after this week's earth quake is horrific. For something like this to happen at all is no less then life shattering, but to happen to a country that is already wrought with poverty and instability is tragic. I can't believe what I've heard, seen and read this week on the affected areas and it is clear that we all need to help.


The Canadian Government has said they will match donations made to Haiti by Canadians up to 50 million dollars. Let's get giving people.

Please donate at: World Vision Canada or Canadian Red Cross

Earth Friendly Fashion Forward Canadian

Today I came across a Canadian designer that focuses on environmental fabrics and production methods to produce her clothes. Not only does she do the environmental angle, but her designs are great! It's nice to see a Canadian doing her thing, doing it well and doing it with the earth in mind.

Check out Nicole Bridger Design

Brogue what?

There is a new shoe trend on our horizon and I am feeling very conflicted about it. I just can't get on board with these shoes. I think there are certain people that can pull off this type of trend, but they are few and far between. I think the Brogue are best suited to stay in the realm of older gentlemen and bowling alleys.

Winter at 678

We have been kind of lucky this year in that we had no snow until January; however, January has come with a vengeance. It would have been nice, seeing as we got so much snow, if we could have at least had it for Christmas. Oh well, we have it now and as you can see, it doesn't look like its going anywhere soon.

It does look pretty even though it is very very cold!

Vega Complete Whole Food Health Optimizer

Zero stars out of 5.

Wow, I can tell you without hesitation that this product is the worst tasting anything I have every tried! I had high high hopes for this miracle powder. The label looked great! This power had at least 100% of everything I need to be healthy each day. 100% calcium (something I'm lacking now that I am dairy free), all the B vitamins, and Iron...lots of goodness. But holy crap this tastes so bad! I mixed it with water like the instructions said = terrible; I mixed it with soy milk = terrible; I mixed it as a shake, with yogurt and blueberries = terrible.

I wish I could get my $25 bucks back considering after I sign off of this post I will promptly throwing this powder in the garbage.

Metallic funness from a favourite store!

How great is this Banana Republic dress?!?
Cute, simple, catchy! Love it!

Now I need somewhere to wear it - I'm sure I'll find somewhere....

When life lost its taste

The Friday before Christmas I was told I have several food allergies. According to my Naturopath I am allergic to Wheat, Gluten, Eggs, Dairy and Sugar. Think about what you eat for a minute, then try and think of just one of those foods that doesn't have at least one of these things in it - now you understand my dilema.

So, what can I eat you may ask! Well, after a few weeks of trial and error and many many MANY rice cakes I am still struggling to find things to eat. My most difficult meal is breakfast because rice cakes and peanut butter only go so far. And I might also add that there is sugar and additives in food for a reason! 100% natural peanut butter - not so good. Without sugar and additives...food holds little joy. Tonight I tried PaneRiso Foods Rice Bread Crumbs and I was pleasantly surprised. I like making home made chicken fingers and I haven't been able to since I found out a can't each wheat (break crumbs have wheat and gluten). So tonight I mixed some herbs into the rice break crumbs and it wasn't terrible! Kind of a weird texture but I enjoyed them!

I have changed over to Brown Rice Pasta and actually don't mind it at all. After you've smothered pasta with tomato sauce you can't really tell what the actual pasta tastes like anyway! So that is one food I have been happy to eat.

One new food to my diet is Quinoa. Quinoa (keen-wa) is a grain from the Andes. Turns out this little grain that you cook like rice is kind of great! It doesn't really taste like much but it is full of protein and fiber. And anyone who knows me knows I love fiber.

Anyway, as I go through my food journey I will post foods that work and foods that don't for people that may suffer from the same allergies as I do. Because one thing I am learning is that there are quite a few options out there for us, but they are expensive and hit and miss when it comes to being worth your money and taste buds.

Quinoa

Megan Young's Wedding

On Somerset, the street I grew up on, I hung around with the Young family. Over the years Stew, Andy and Megan have been as close as family to my family. This past Saturday little Megan got married! I spent most of the night feeling quite old actually. Megan, whom I have consisted a little sister all of these years was getting married! Her husband, Scott is lovely and I am so happy for both of them. It was a fantastic wedding and Megan looked gorgeous. One of the funnier moments of the wedding was their cake topper - check it out! It got a lot of laughs!

Congratulations Megan and Scott! xo

Celebration!

Happy 2010! May this year be the best of your life.