A few short days ago the second anniversary of me moving to Vancouver Island came and went. May 28th, to be precise. The day itself was damp, cloudy and cool (like most days this spring) so I didn’t do too much to celebrate. But TODAY my friends, was another story. Sunny and 20C by 9 in the morning?! I was off like a shot, to Neck Point Park…one of the first places in Nanaimo my daughter and son-in-law took me to, two years ago.
I know I’ve shot this view many times already, but I just never tire of the composition…
I should probably mention that I injured the IT bands on both legs a few weeks back, and am seeking treatment from a physiotherapist to help resolve the issue. The issue being burning pain on the outer sides of each knee area when I kneel down, and just very grouchy “touchy” knees in general. Knees that tire quickly and ache, especially after a hike. I am getting “dry needling” done as well as ultrasound treatment, and I am doing daily exercises at home, to help strengthen my knees and heal my IT bands. I’ve had to stop my exercise program as well as working towards the deep squatting goal (the most likely suspect) for now. And, also this –
Physiotherapist: You need to avoid walking on uneven surfaces for the time being.
Me, today:
I’ve tried to be good, I really have! But. The. Weather!!!
And this:
The “neck” of Neck Point, revealed by the outgoing tide. I really shouldn’t walk on all those slide-y stones and I really, really shouldn’t climb the rocks.Umm. Somehow I managed to end up here, anyways. 🤷♀️
Other cool stuff I saw this morning:
I seal you! Lots of these guys basking in the sun and slowly cruising the waters today.So many shades of blue.Thimbleberries in flower.Native trailing blackberry too.Salal is flowering.Blue camas is almost done flowering for this year.Saskatoon berries still need some time. Rocky shores.A mackeral sky speaks of rain on the way. Quelle surprise!Looking south.I was enjoying the fine views and weather. Knees be damned.Nootka rose and bee.Poppies.Typical Vancouver Island east coast shoreline.One of the stunning views from the trail.I might be icing my knees tonight, but I’m all smiles for now. Please don’t tell my physiotherapist.
It was so worth it, to get out to Neck Point Park today and check on all the plant life I encountered on my very first visit. Because of the cold spring, the berries aren’t ready for eating yet like they were two years ago. But I remembered where they all are, and will be back again in the weeks to come.
You might not be able to count on my knees, but you can count on that!
Gentle readers, do you remember our last Snack Box adventure? The one where Donna treated me to a wonderful chicken shawarma lunch? I enjoyed that lunch so much that I decided I had to try to recreate it at Chez Badass. There was just one teeny tiny problem. I couldn’t ask Donna for the recipe she used to create her slow-cooked shawarma because…
Waiting for the ferry to take them to the airport
…I had recently dropped Donna and Richard off at the ferry terminal, where they were about to start their journey to Prince Edward Island for their Canadian Camino adventure! You can (and should!) read all about it at Donna’s blog, here.
So I scoured the interwebs (as one does) for a suitably similar recipe. I didn’t find the exact recipe (it’s here , I found out later) but this one caught my eye and I had all the ingredients already in house so I was off to the races. I prepared the chicken in its spicy yogurt marinade and let it do its thing overnight in the refrigerator. Then the next day I slow-cooked it for 4 hours on low…counting the minutes until I could shred it up and assemble my pita!
Ready to go! I decided on only one condiment to go with the chicken and the veggies: my new favourite – baba ganoush. Hummus or tzatziki would make delightful additions as well.
I had spent the previous week scrubbing down and tidying up my balcony so I was ready to enjoy a meal outside at the first opportunity. And this was it!
So lovely to be able to comfortably sit on my balcony again. It’s been such a cold, damp spring here on the island.Closeup of all that fresh deliciousness!
It’s hard to say which version of the slow cooker chicken shawarma I prefer, dear readers. They each have their merits. The yogurt marinade made the spices more mellow (I decided not to add back in more dry spice blend after cooking as the recipe suggested) and the chicken was very moist. Donna’s recipe had more of a punch, spice-wise…and was dairy-free (for those that would prefer this). Whichever recipe I use again, I think the next time I make slow-cooker shawarma I will make a double batch, and portion some out for the freezer as it is a quick and easy fair-weather meal. And very portable too!
I’m all by my little lonesome this month for WOYPBC as my co-host Donna has gone walkabout (see above!). Please let me know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments section. InLinkz hates doesn’t like me or my blog so I am not even going to try to set that up, for this month. Sigh…I am sure it is a case of user error again. Isn’t it always? 😉
Last week, Donna and I got together to sample the next box in my Universal Yums gift subscription (thanks again, Kenn and Jonathan!). I had meant to post this earlier but – as I explained to Donna – feeling sorry for myself for injuring my IT bands in both knees was taking up all of my time, doncha know?😉. I’ve seen my nurse practitioner and my chiropractor already, and I am seeing a physiotherapist tomorrow with hopes to resolve the problem as fast as possible. I am mightily miffed that I have had to curtail my exercise program for the time being, lest I make things worse. All those hard-won meagre gains will be lost! ARGH! OK, Pity Party over…
Donna decided to make us a delicious chicken shawarma lunch to accompany our sampling of Israeli snacks, and I decided to make an Israeli drink to go with our lunch (recipe included in the box) so we were all set for another fun morning.
Box contents
First up: Falafel sticks
These really captured the flavour of falafel, nicely although they did not contain any chickpeas whatsoever. I guess it’s all about the spices.The only issue I had with them is that they reminded me of something I have fed to a pet in the past (I think it was my hamster). 😂
This was followed by another savoury snack.
Lemon flavoured corn snacks? Sounds good!These were a hit with the both of us as well. Not spicy at all, despite the chili pepper depicted on the bag.
Next up – a sweet candy bar.
The name of this bar means “Time Out”.White chocolate, milk chocolate, caramel wafers and milk cream. Very rich and very sweet.
Back to savoury (and sweet) with some pretzel bites.
These tasted and looked exactly like what you can get in North America. Nothing unusual about these.
The next sampling was also nothing new – marshmallows.
Your basic marshmallows…Israelis apparently eat more marshmallows per capita than Americans. And the package proclaims they are made with fish gelatin. Maybe to keep kosher? Although there is no dairy listed in the ingredients…hmmmm, a mystery.
Another sweet offering was next on our agenda – grape toffee sticks (found in the Yum bag).
This was interesting. Nice grapey flavour I remembered from grape candies in my childhood.
Our last Yum from the box (and the Yum bag) was the Strawberry Banana Swirl soft candy.
Neither of us like these types of candies. Flavour was good though, and candy interior was pretty.
Another delightful box. Our scoring:
No surprises here…
Now on to the Israeli drink – Limonana!
IngredientsAssembling the LimonanaThis drink was absolutely delicious and refreshing, as promised. We couldn’t be bothered to separate out all the membranes from the lemons so our drink was cloudier than in the recipe (bonus fiber!😄). I will be making it again this summer – you can count on it! I bet it would go great with gin or vodka.
We capped off our tasting session with a delicious lunch prepared by Donna. Thank you again, my friend!
Wow! What a beautiful spread.Slow cooked shawarma-spiced chicken with veggies and a liberal helping of baba ganoush, in a pita. Amazing flavours!We didn’t try to dress like Israelis because a) we didn’t know how and b) we had to skedaddle immediately after lunch to an outdoor class on trees (where we were rained upon, per usual 🤣).
I wonder where the Universal Yums box will take us next month…Any guesses?
Note: none of the sea life depicted here was harmed in any way during our class observations. We were observing and listening to our knowledgeable instructor, retired marine biologist and author Rick Harbo. All flipped over rocks were carefully and gently replaced to protect the wildlife revealed.
A windy but dry and sunny day for our field trip to Lantzville to explore the intertidal sea life.Overturning a rock revealed this pair of Plainfin midshipman. The female is upside down because……she was depositing her eggs on the underside of the rock. Once done, she leaves and the male stays behind to guard the eggs until they hatch.Closeup of the pairPrickleback, found under another rockSea stars found clinging to yet another rockCast-off red rock crab shellLive sand dollarUnderside of live sand dollarNudibranches (dark spotty things) and their egg casings (cream ribbony things)AnemonesMy favourite find of the day…Maggie (the sea dog!). Killing me with cuteness.Maggie coming in for a boop while I was trying to get a closeup of the anemones.
Orange you glad it’s not another Air Fryer post? But it does involve potatoes, again…LOL!
This month what’s on my plate is such a delicious, easy recipe first introduced to me by my darling daughter: The Primal Gourmet’s Greek Potatoes.
You also need olive oil, which I forgot to pull out of the cupboard for this photo. Ronny’s recipe calls for EVOO, but I find regular olive oil is much better for cooking with. Leave the EVOO for bread dipping and salads…
The first stage is to dress the peeled spuds with olive oil and spices, and the chopped garlic. Then plop them in the oven for 20 minutes.
Then remove from the oven and pour over the chicken broth/tomato paste mixture before returning to the oven for the next 20 minutes of roasting time.
It’s starting to smell pretty awesome around here.
Time to add the last, vital ingredient:
Fresh lemon juice!
And here is what they look like, when the roasting is done.
These potatoes are absolutely delicious. And, if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, they make a sublime fried potato…I think I would make extra next time, just so as to have plenty more some on hand for the next day.
Ironically, I never took an actual photo of said potatoes ON MY PLATE. I promise to do better next month!
Please let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments section of either of our WOYPBC posts (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s May post, here where she lets her pictures do the talking on a fabulous curry dish.
Oh, and here’s the Link party button if you’re so inclined (🤞 it works for me again!).
Ye Olde Sigil carved into a candle to remind me of my WOTY: Limber
Waaaaay back in January (late December, actually) I made Limber my word of the year, for 2022. My focus is on being limber not only in body, but in mind. I think most would agree that if we are not actively and continually working on our flexibility and strength (mental or physical), we will surely start losing it. And that has certainly been true for me, mostly in the physical sense…(but I do also worry about getting stuck in a mental rut).
So far this year, I have been sticking with my daily Qigong, and also am still working on my deep squat. In working on the latter I realized how weak and out of shape I was overall, despite being someone who gets “out there” regularly, and walks and hikes whenever possible. Walking is great exercise of course…but does very little for flexibility and strength overall. I was also dabbling with occasional and brief videos involving free weights, but without any real plan. Naturally, I wasn’t seeing much in terms of results or change.
Then I received an email in March from a fitness YouTuber I follow that changed up my Limber plans for this year. Jessica Smith was offering a digital download of a 3 month program called Lift & Shift she designed specifically to help women of any age improve strength, stamina, and functionality in all aspects of their lives. I checked it out, saw that it would help me reach my goals in a way I could never do on my own, and out came the credit card!
The program started March 28th so I had time to purchase the extra equipment needed to begin, in advance. I already had some weights, but I added a heavier set because I am delusional GOALS!
Dumbbells
I also got a bigger mat (yoga mat on steroids, basically), a step, a squishy ball, sliders, and a resistance band. The mat also came with a bonus pair of gloves, for lifting weights with.
At first I was skeptical of the gloves, but they are surprisingly comfortable for gripping weights, and are now a welcome addition to my routine.
So my living room looks like this now, most of the time:
Badass Anytime FitnessTM Home Gym set up. 😉
Before I started the program I gave myself a stern talking to. Self, I said, you are going to do this right thistime.You are going to listen to your body and stop before you injure yourself. You are going to take your time – it’s a marathon not a sprint – and slowly but surely you will make progress.
I knew it was going to be a very rough start, so I thought I should document how each workout went and how I felt during and afterwards, so I could have a record of the progress I was making.
Made a gym journal with some cute stick-on letters from the Dollar Tree.
OMG, the first few sessions were SO. DAMN. HUMBLING. Even though I thought I was mentally prepared, I was not prepared to feel physically ill partway through each workout video. Not only humbling, but discouraging! Starting this routine was way worse than I had imagined. Yet I persevered with the daily workouts even though I couldn’t come close to completing them, and the sick feeling went away as my stamina improved.
An early entry. First time I noted that I didn’t want to hurl partway through or after a session. 🙂Eventually I got strong enough to complete one of the longer workouts.
What I enjoy about this program is the variety of the workout videos and the calendar that tells you what video to perform, and in what order. There are lighter days (yoga-like stretching workouts), medium days (fine toning routines) and heavier days (lower/upper/core days, compound superset days and HIIRT). There are “rest” days each week where there are no scheduled workouts but you are encouraged to remain active and/or do a cardio session of your own choosing. So far the cardio session I choose is NO DAMN WAY as I need those days for my body to recover from all the abuse the challenges I am throwing at it. 😉 But I am getting stronger and my stamina is increasing, so that could change.
It is a 3 month calendar of exercises, and of course you can repeat it as often as you would like. As someone who wants to remain strong, flexible, and independent for as long as my body will allow it, I can see me incorporating this into my daily routine for life.
At the beginning of month 2 as of writing this post, I am starting to see some real results in my day to day activities and Lift & Shift is even helping me get closer to my deep squat goal:
Making progress on my deep squat goal. Could not have done this back in January. Photo taken pre-new haircut. Speaking of my hair cut…I LOVE MY NEW HAIR CUT. Wash and wear hair. Just let it air dry after my shower and then ran a brush through it. Did I mention how much I LOVE it?!? Of course, it wouldn’t be long before THIS happened:Used up the last bit of my Vibrant Magenta Overtone hair colour on my new, shorter hair. 🙂
As for working on being mentally Limber, I have my upcoming move to help me with that. How to make do with a smaller indoor space? How can I make the smaller space I will be inhabiting do everything I need it to do, and still look inviting and uncluttered? Planning, scheming and dreaming about all of this has indeed made me look at EVERYTHING I currently own with a very critical eye. I am suddenly aware of and questioning any assumptions I hold about what I really need, in order to be happy in my new space.
I am loving my new hair, my new workout routine, my upcoming move (challenges and all), and most of all my WOTY. I love how it serves as a touchstone of sorts for me as I journey through 2022. As change happens and opportunities and challenges come up in my life, I can judge them against my WOTY and that helps me to decide if/how it contributes to my big picture for this year, my Limber goal.
How about you? Got a Word of the Year? Doing good things with it? Do tell!
This month I am joining the 2022 WOTY Link Party, from my buddy Donna’s site…maybe I’ll see you there. 🙂
My site is experiencing all kinds of fuckery technical difficulties today. It started yesterday, actually. Won’t let me reply to yesterday’s comments, or only very sporadically. Please know I am thankful for all the wonderful commenting on my post. I am VERY FRUSTRATED but working on it….
Donna and I headed to Qualicum Beach today.We live on such a beautiful planet. We were loving the fine weather!We noticed something strange. Three young deer exploring a spit of land.Now what?Uhhh guys…let’s go back.I mean it. Let’s go back!They all eventually made it off the spit and closer to shore. Then they disappeared into the trees. After all that deer watching, it was time to replenish with a loaded “Big Dog” from a hot dog stand just off the beach. It tasted amazing in the warm sunshine.
Donna sang me this song as we ate our dogs. Now I can’t get it outta my head. Uhhhh…thanks for nothing, Donna!?!
Before heading home, I went to my hair appointment in Parksville. I got my hair seriously chopped! Love how light my hair feels. Sherry did such an awesome job.
This month – instead of visiting just one country – Universal Yums provided me with a “smorgas-box” (their words, not mine!) of Scandinavian countries to sample snacks from.Off we go!
Donna and I had so much fun dressing up and setting the tone for France last month and we wanted to do the same for this (and all subsequent boxes). I had a plan for music and setting, and Donna researched how to dress Scandi-style (lots of black and they love plain white shirts, apparently). We were set to start snackin’!
ABBA was the first group that came to mind, natch.
The box included this cute sticker:
Edvard Munch is probably rolling in his grave about now.
That sticker inspired me to change the artwork on my Frame TV to this:
This painting always reminds me of the scenery around my new home.
Here are the contents of this month’s box:
Looks promising!
The very first item to try was the Danish Yankie bar – a weirdly wonderful pairing of Nougat and (salty) Licorice, in a chocolate bar. I have to say that even I – a salted licorice afficionado – was taken aback by this pairing.
Yep. That is a ribbon of salted licorice, folks where the caramel should be.
We gave this first treat the ol’ college try what even does that mean.
How it started…How it ended…(note IKEA Kallax unit under the Munch artwork…Scandi, Scandi, Scandi!)
As you can tell from the above photos, it nearly came to blows surprise! We both really really liked the damn Yankie bar. 🙂 Oh – and nice gun show, Donna – your online gym sessions are really showing results!
Next up was the Cheesy Corn Puffs, also from Denmark.
Cute packagingNo surprises hereThese were good. Did not leave much of a cheesy residue on fingers, either!
Then, another savoury Danish snack…these tasted like very nice BBQ-flavoured chips:
Lucky potato? WTH?Donna deals out the chips. Mine is the lower right one, according to her.Note to self: Who put Donna in charge of apportioning the snacks, anyways?!?!
After this, it was the biggest package in the box: the Oat Cookies.
Low key disappointed they weren’t heart-shaped like the box photo.I soon got over that, though!These cookies were absolutely delightful! Very crunchy. Bittersweet chocolate filling. Karen Volf, born in 1864, rose from very humble beginnings to become a household name in Denmark for her delicious baked goods. Ms. Volf, we salute you!
So far, so great! Everything we tasted up to now was wonderful. Next up, the Cocoa Mud Cake Balls.
Looks promisingSorry for the blurry photoUhhhhh…not a favourite of either Donna or myself. A bit too sweet for our tastes. Apparently this is based on a classic Swedish dessert called Delicatoboll that is so simple it is one of the first things children learn to make.The guidebook included the recipe, in case anyone wants to try their hand at making Delicatobolls.
Wild Strawberry Toffees (Sweden) were up next in our snack travails travels. Apparently this candy is reminiscent of the start of summer (Midsommar) festival, where locals go “to the countryside to eat strawberries, wear flower crowns, and dance like frogs around an ivy-covered pole called the midsomar staang”. Dance like frogs????
To the point packagingI wasn’t expecting them to be red, but OK.I thought these were quite delicious. Strawberry and caramel pair well together – who knew?
Lastly came another sweet treat: the mixed fruit licorice (again with the licorice???) stick. “Copenhagen’s chewiest, fondant-filled secret” the booklet proclaimed.
Not wowed, so far.PrettyThis one also really surprised me. I loved the chewiness and the bright flavour (thank you, spritz of lemon!)
This Yum package was another winner. It was difficult to pick amongst so many favourites, but we managed to come up with very similar rankings for the Scandinavian box.
Donna’s rankingMy rankingFinished score card.
Thank you for joining us on this snack trip through Scandinavia! From your frog-dancing fools friends…
…Deb and Donna. (If anyone knows what actual frog dancing is supposed to look like, please comment below!)
My love for my air fryer is still going strong. It is a rare day that I do not use this thing to reheat, broil, roast or air fry something. I know (I think, anyways) that I have mentioned on Ye Olde Blogge that I am not a lover of the french fried potato most days. If we are out to eat and you see me ordering a side of fries or a plate of poutine please keep your digits away from my face because clearly I am hungry enough to bite your hands off. That is the only time that fries have any appeal for me now that I am done with PMS forever. Well, that was BTF (Before Truffle Fries)…
On Valentine’s Day of this year, my WOYPBC co-host and I decided to try a new restaurant for lunch (Galentine’s Lunch, we unoriginally called it). So after a very brisk and windy walk along the shore, we headed to the newly opened Fern and Cedar Brewing Company in Qualicum Beach, to fill our bellies.
Obligatory selfie. Little did I know I was about to develop a new obsession discover a new favourite food in just a few short moments…
You know what? I can’t even remember what I ordered. But what I do remember is that Donna ordered truffle fries, and when they came to the table I was immediately taken in by the glorious aroma of her dish. And it didn’t take much coaxing from my table mate for me to try a few of her fries.
Cue the choir of angels. Wow. What have I been missing all of these years?!?!
Little did Donna know she was going to have to keep her eyes on those fries! Thank you Donna, for sending me this picture. Now I remember what I had – some delicious chowder and a very forgettable piece of bannock.
Even though I had had this complete food revelation mid-February, I kinda forgot about the truffle fries (I know, I can’t believe it either) until a few weeks after I got the air fryer. At that point I googled “air fryer truffle fries” and came up with this recipe. It seemed simple enough except I didn’t have any truffle oil. After coming up empty-handed at the local grocery stores, I ordered some from Amazon as one does these days. The first time I made the fries I was less than wowed. So I re-read the recipe and saw that, as an option, one could add truffle salt to the finished fries. Back to Amazon I went. And that, my friends, made all the difference in the world…my world, anyways!
Soaking the sliced russet potatoes in cold water for 30 minutes.Assembling the other ingredients: freshly grated Parmesan, truffle oil and truffle salt.Drying the soaked potatoes carefully and thoroughly in a clean tea towel.Finished air fryer truffle fries.Even more delicious dipped in a little mayo. I’m Dutch. Don’t judge.I would hazard a guess that one could skip the truffle oil altogether and just use this salt on the fries. I haven’t tried it though…
Life ATF (After Truffle Fries)…sigh… I will never be the same again. 😉
Please let my co-host Donna or myself know what’s on your plate at your house, in the Comments section of either of our WOYPBC posts (or both, if you are so inclined!). Please check out Donna’s April post, here.
OK, I am going to try the InLinkz thingy again too…for those of you who want to join the Link Party Donna set up. Fingers crossed it works…
