Hey guys! One day late, as I was celebrating my beautiful country with family, but Happy Canada Day! I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Canada in the past while, dually brought on by our big birthday and my best friend being steps from a terrorist incident overseas. I have always loved being a Canadian, but I think that the feeling solidifies with age as the exotic sheen of other countries fades away and you realize other places are great to visit, but this is home. As kids, our family did not take a lot of vacations. We went camping a lot though on the weekends, and I can’t say how lucky I was to grow up a few hours from the Rockies in Alberta. Beautiful rivers, quiet lakes and majestic mountains are mostly what I remember about those trips. I also remember driving past mines, oil derricks and…
Hey guys! I wanted to share something a little different today, because it’s something I’ve recently started doing again, which is reading just for fun! Most of the past five years I have been reading for research and professional development, as well as my love of cookbooks! Not much else has earned a commitment for cover-to-cover reading since my degree, but recently that has been changing! When I got this house, I loved the front window that looked out over the greenspace between the row homes where I live. I remember thinking… god that’d be the perfect spot to sit with a cup of coffee and read a book. Fast forward almost two years and it’s finally “book” instead of textbook! I admittedly have a couple books I’m reading for research purposes for a class I’m developing, but otherwise… all for fun! There are admittedly a few books I’m…
Hey guys! I’m back with another real girl review today! Recently I’ve been trying out some nail polish options for longer wearing and “gel-like” formulas. In an ideal world, I’d be getting a gel manicure every month or so, but this is not an ideal world and girlfriend cannot afford that. I wish, though! Wanting a similar quality manicure with regards to durability and extended wear time, I have been trying some drug store options that promise lasting shine and long-lasting color. This first post is about the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel line. First of all, this polish is $9.97 for the base color and $9.97 for the gel topcoat. You don’t need a UV light for this product to work. A once-monthly salon gel manicure would cost you around $420/yr, whereas a monthly new shade of this product that promises to last 14 days would cost you around $140…
Hey guys! And Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads and extra dads out there. Often unsung, overshadowed at times by the amazing contributions of our mums, I know my dad has always been there for me to ask for help with a challenge or advice. He’s taught me a lot about life and just like I shared a bit about my mum, I wanted to share a bit about my dad this Father’s Day. He’ll read this in six months and probably make fun of me! It’s not very often that people have the opportunity to share something that they’re immensely proud of about one of their loved ones on a larger scale. When I was completing my degree, a friend of mine that I worked with as an editor for the Canadian University press asked if I’d be willing to work on a project with him. The project…
Hey Guys! I was strolling through Sobeys the other day with my mom when she called me over to tell me about how good of a price the pork shoulders were. She was right, and the butcher assisted us with picking one out for me, which cost a whopping seven dollars. It was supposed to be super hot the next few days so I knew I needed to figure out some way to cook it in the slow cooker that was still fun but didn’t require an oven for side dishes (because I loooove oldschool hashbrown casserole!). So, I took inspiration from the awesome roasted meat dishes in Pati Jinich’s Mexican Today cookbook (you guys should check it out!) and decided that this pork shoulder should be slow cooked with a chipotle adobo sauce. This was 100% an experiment. It could have been a 10$ total fail. But, I lucked…
Hey Guys! I’m back with a fun and easy meal idea! This was a total salvage use-up, with wrinkly tomatoes I stole from my mum that were headed to the garbage and some fennel she had laying around! With some other bits and bobs it became a perfect bit of sauce for penne. I love fennel, it has this flavor profile that reminds me of the spice blend in mild Italian sausage, just without the meat! The natural sweetness comes out as you cook it down. This dish is naturally vegetarian, and vegan if you omit or swap out the parmesan cheese, so this is a perfect dish for when you don’t know all of the food preferences of a guest. Tomato- Fennel Penne $5.32 for 4 or $1.33 per serving (but really… 59 cents a serving if those tomatoes were going in the trash) ~15 wrinkled tomatoes (salvaged from…