Christmas List con't

I think a chandelier adds such a beautiful elegance to a room. I would like one for my bedroom and my dressing room, ok any room really. This one from Home Depot is cute (not so elegant buying it from Home Depot though :)

Vacation Time!

I'm off to England on Friday to visit my family for a week. I'm going to small town in between Liverpool and Manchester - see map :) I'll post some of my adventures when I return; which, may not actually be too many because I plan to just catch up with my relatives that I haven't seen in years. But...who knows what could happen.

HUNTER WELLIES

There's nothing like the real Hunter brand for wellies. I will have a pair...it's just a matter of time.

View and fall in love.

The originals

The funky Jimmy Choo's - these are so cute!

New Moon

I am a Twilight fan. I read all four in about a week and now I am among the many many teenie boppers anxiously awaiting the release of New Moon in November.

I am on team Edward at the moment, but after watching the preview for New Moon I feel like the movie may sway me unlike the book. We'll see...I'm sure I'll still be on Edwards side when all is said and done. Can't wait!!

Comes out November 20th...save the date!

Trailer...watch and be hooked too!

Christmas with list

I am thinking that I should start a list of things I would love to receive at any point in life. As I shopped a few weeks ago for a gift for a friend I thought how difficult it is to buy for people at the moment you need to buy for them. This way, I can always have a list available to help people along when it is me they are buying for! HA! See...I'm really just trying to make other people's life easier - no self interest at all. I am so thoughtful!

Things:
1) Hunter Wellies - GOTTEM!! Yippie!
2) Watch
3) Lulu GC - impersonal but do you really want to buy me a Tata Tamer?
4) Chandelier
5) Camera - Canon

...its a work in progress :)

Goodlife

I rejoined the life of a gym worker outter today. Back at Goodliife. I asked about membership costs and stuff while I was getting my membership reinstated and I was told the funniest thing. To save some money I can down grade my membership to a "london only" membership, which is fine because I have never used a gym outside of London - let's be honest, it's hard enough getting me to a gym in London- in order to do this I have to sign a new contract for a year - burn! I have been a member forever at Goodlife but that doesn't seem to count for anything over there. Nope, treated just like a newcomer, like I just walked in off the street and haven't paid thousands of dollars to the David Patell Evans retirement fund - no trust. You can catch a break at Goodlife. Then the girl tells me, as if a threat - if I down grade my membership I won't be able to use the fancy new "Platnum" gym out in Masonville. To this I think, wow! cool! the new gym must be something special, olympic size pool maybe? spa? hot tub? squash courts? nice dressing room? hot yoga studio? all of the things most of the other clubs don't have I might add.....to which she says no actually, it is the same as all the others but it's new and has less members. Huh? Honestly, the only redeeming feature of the new club is that they charge you more to go there so that there are less people using the facility at one time. Less people per class etc...ok there is something to that, but ONLY that? Common Goodlife....I reallize you dominate the London fitness market but can you please at least pretend that you're still trying??

sigh...where do I sign?

Cooking a whole chicken!

So the packages of chicken breasts were so expensive last week so I decided to protest the extreme price mark of chopping the chicken up into pieces and bought a whole chicken. Take that Galen Weston! Only the joke was on me because when I got home I realized I didn't know how to cook a whole chicken.

So, I decided to take the chicken by the legs and just do it. So here's what I did and what it turned out looking like...

I boiled a lemon for 10 minutes to heat it up enough to release the flavours and heat the chicken from the inside of the chicken, I then stuffed it inside the chicken.

I made a rub consisting of garlic, olive oil, thyme, rosemary and lemon zest and rubbed it all over the chicken and stuff a little inside too.

Cooked it for 1 hour and 40 minutes, basting it half way and throwing in potato wedges when I basted it.

Amazingly it turned out great! I even have a testimonial to the success! Given she is my sister and given she suffers from a need to encourage me and be positive but still!

Loved it! The potatoes were great too!

So You Think You Can Dance Canada

My good friend Katie called me up yesterday and told me that her and I are going to a taping of So You Think You Can Dance Canada next Sunday! How hilarious is that? She won ticket, I think...so her and I get to go and watch! Fun stuff!! Watch for me on TV! haha

Pizza Review - Papa Johns

Ok so I've heard that Papa Johns is the best pizza, so I felt compelled to try it out for myself. Not blown away! I have to tell you I'm even slightly disappointed. I happen to consider myself somewhat of an expert in pizza; this is purely based on the fact that I eat of lot of it and nothing else and I couldn't even find the mushrooms I ordered on the pizza. Papa, you boast of better ingredients don't you? How are they better if I can't even see them? I don't get it.

I give Papa Johns a 6/10

Pretty good taste, decent thin crust, no whole wheat option and only ok toppings.

Tish pregnant

So Patricia is pregnant and due October 2th - 27th (has changed a few times so I am covering my bases). I cannot wait for this baby to be born! So exciting! I want to buy so many cute little baby things. I am however restraining myself because her lovely husband (Chris I mean it...) won't let us find out what the sex of the baby is so I am restraining myself until I find out.

sigh..... soon....soon

Jenny and Madamba's wedding

This is Den and I at Jenny and Madamba's wedding on July 31st. Den was in Madamba's wedding party so he's looking all fancy in his tux. Well more drunk than fancy in this particular picture.

Newest hobby - Running!

So back in March I took up running -once those of you who know me well stop laughing - I can tell you all that I actually really like it! Now that I am several months in I would say I now consider myself a real runner. I have completed a 5KM Race and and have finished a 10K clinic as well. Next I hope to run a 1/2 marathon, maybe in the spring.

One of my favourite running toys is this Nike gadget that goes in my shoe. Literally in my shoe. I plug the other part into my iPod and it tracks my distance, calories, time etc. Very cool! It also works with your playlist and everything so I can listen to my tunes as I run. Love it!

Check it out here: Nike fun stuff

It's very cool except when I have a crappy run and it tell me so, that's not so fun.

Back!

Long hiatus but I'm back!

Excuses:

1) no computer (biggest reason and most believable)

2) very lazy (also believable and true)

Spicy Garlic Shrimp

While having dinner at a friends house over Christmas I learned a new recipe that is so easy and so tasty it would be a crime not to try it for yourself. However....this recipe is not for the faint hearted. What could I mean? Well for one, you should use the shrimp that are still in their shell, legs, tails and all! And no pre-cooked all cleaned up shrimps - where's the fun in that?? Believe me it will be worth it for taste and culinary fun when you get to eat with your hands!

Here it goes:

Shrimps - depending on how many people and how hungry you are - but make lots
Olive Oil
Garlic - fresh is best and most flavourful (flavorful for my American viewer (Bree that's you)
Red onion chopped roughly
1 tomato/several cherry tomatoes whatever you like
Red chilli paste
Dried chilli peppers
two lemon wedges - skin and all
couple table spoons of water

So combine, oil, garlic, onions, lemon, tomato (chopped), chilli paste, chilli flakes (lots if you like it with a kick) - basically put everything in the pan but the shrimp and let the flavours jive for about 10 minutes while the tomatoes get runny etc. Med-high heat - stir often.

Put shrimp in mixture and move around a bit so that they cook evenly in the pan. About 10 minutes, if that.

Put whole mixture in a bowl, serve with rice. People can spoon what shrimp and mixture they want onto their plate and then you get to pick at them and eat with your hands! SO GREAT!

Let me know how you like it. This meal honestly takes a total of 20 minutes start to finish - or you're slow. :)

Worst blogger of all time

Well, I'm self titled and very disappointed in myself. I am the worst blogger of all time. But on the bright side, the first step is to admit the problem and there I have. Let us say it is a New Year and perhaps I will get better at blogging. Perhaps. I am beyond promises because I am a liar. But I will say I will try.

SB