Category Archives: Snack

Shower Snacks & Fun Friends

Posted on October 3, 2012 | 7 Comments

My weekend of eating did not stop with the Italian wedding. Nope. It continued right until Sunday. It was my good friend Dawn’s bridal shower!

That is Dawn and her beautiful lover Mark, taken when the three of us went to “prom” earlier this year.

Man, that was a fun night.

Dawn and Mark are getting married in January in JAMAICA! Yeahhhh. I am a bridesmaid and let me tell you, I am pumped. My friend Sherrie and I are eachother’s dates, and I know it is going to be a ridiculously good time.

Just a note to people who actually know us, Dawn and Mark’s Jack & Jill is next Friday, Oct. 12 and I am selling tickets, so if you are interested in attending let me know (or contact Emily, Leanne, Julie or Melon, whoever is more convenient for you). It is going to be a tropical party and a half. And Dawn has appointed me MC of the evening, so it should be entertaining to watch me embarrass myself at least. I may even bust out Funky Town. You just never know. And you can still come if you don’t know us and it has always been your dream to party with us, but please not if you’re creepy. I do have a ticket screening process.

Anyway, onto the food, because there was two tables full of it.

Sorry, blurry. This is what happens when you try to take a quick sneaky pic. But you get the idea. Dips, dips and more delicious dips. And cheese, and kielbasa… I love party food so much.

And then there was the dessert table.

Oh, my heart! Here is the reason I love showers. Bridal showers, baby showers, whatever. The food is always dynamite. And I ALWAYS go to town.

Sunday was no exception. I went to town.

Twice.

And then I dabbled in some dessert.

Oh man those marshmellow peanut butter squares. I haven’t had those in so long. My mom used to make them and they instantly took me back to my childhood. Just pure deliciousness. And that chocolate, Skor bar and whipped cream trifle may have been the best trifle I have ever had.

On Saturday night when I was complaining about how full I was from the Italian wedding food, someone mentioned that you don’t actually have to eat everything in front of you. Um, pardon me? Yes you do. It is rude not to. How can you say no to all of those amazing things? I sure can’t. Monday to Friday I usually eat oatmeal, salad/soup/sandwich/some sort of combination of those three, English muffin pizza or some sort of lazy dinner, and then repeat. So when these amazing things are in front of me I take full advantage, because this does not happen every day. Just every weekend, apparently…

After the ridiculous food fest, it was time for Dawnald to open her gifts. She received her dream present:

I am not being sarcastic when I say dream present. She really, really wanted that thing. I have never seen someone so excited about a power washer. Being a grown-up is so much fun.

Gift opening is apparently a very tough job, and Dawn had a lot of helpers.

They were so cute.

Dawn, I am coming over to eat whatever you make in your new dip tray.

Emily and I made friends with one of the helpers.

She was sitting on Emily’s lap and she had her feet on mine, so she just started lightly kicking. Emily was all “Kick her! She likes it!” so she began to kick me as hard as she could. Someone needs to put that girl in karate or something, because she has a pretty good kick. I think I had bruises.

I was going to tell her to stop, but she was just so cute I couldn’t do it.

Plus, she seemed to like food a lot.

She is a girl after my own heart.

I had a really good time catching up with all the girls, and it was a pretty funny shower.

I am seriously sucking it in here… I was so full that if I didn’t I was afraid my dress was going to rip open and I would just bust out all over the place.

I just saw all the girls on Friday also, which was great. We invited a bunch of people to go out thinking that only about four or five of us would actually be able to make it, but somehow everyone was free. So our little planned girls night turned into a massive impromptu one.

Soo many girls. A couple more met us at the bar, so at one point there was 13 of us. We were a force. An absolute force. We didn’t even need props.

My friend Leanne brought her new puppy on Friday also (just to the pre-party, not to the bar), and I need to mention this, because oh man, cutest little puppy in the entire world!

I was in love.

And that concludes my weekend recapping. And hey, this time it’s only Wednesday!

Oh. It’s only Wednesday. Ho hum…

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Posted in Pals, Snack

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How to Gain 10lbs in One Weekend

Posted on September 24, 2012 | 24 Comments

It is very, very easy. Allow me to demonstrate.

I recommend starting your weekend off right with a huge burrito bowl for lunch on Friday.


That was deeeeelicious. And don’t be fooled by the lettuce. That bowl also included rice, chicken, pinto and black beans, corn, cheese, two kinds of salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. So basically everything you can possibly put in a burrito bowl. I do not mess around.

Next, hopefully one of your friends will have a little potluck gathering pre-bar and will make an amazing dip that you can eat for hours and hours.

That was probably the best spinach and artichoke dip I have ever eaten. Huge credit to my friend Lauren for that warm and creamy deliciousness. I couldn’t get enough.

And if you are out with friends who you haven’t seen for six years and you don’t want the party to end, you should definitely hit up a 24-hour diner that serves everything imaginable. And poutine is always, ALWAYS a good idea, no matter what time it is (even at 3am).

I had some help finishing that, because right before I filled up with this:

A chocolate shake and poutine seemed like a really great combination when I spotted them both on the menu. And actually, my instincts were not wrong. No regrets here.

If it’s a beautiful day on Saturday, you should probably take advantage and sit out on a patio. And it’s hard to sit on a patio and not order food when everyone else around you is…

So that explains this:

I’m not sure if you’re supposed to share that, but I ate the entire thing.

And then when the people at the table next to you order the most ridiculous waffle you’ve ever seen and your eyes almost fall out of your head and you start salivating uncontrollably, you obviously have to order it too…

Because not ordering that would have been an absolute tragedy. I would have thought about it and regretted it for at least the next week. Possibly even the rest of my life. But I did split that with my friend Rebecca, so don’t worry, I didn’t get too crazy.

Oh, and you should also go out for brunch.

Twice.

After all, it’s the best meal of the day!

And you should probably drink.

Yeah, definitely need to drink.

Quite a lot.

(Best mojito I have ever had.)

And that should do it. I haven’t weighed myself, but if I’ve gained 10 pounds since Friday because of my gluttonous antics I would not be surprised. Though one of my goals since I moved to the city was to try out different restaurants, so I feel I made a decent dent in that this weekend.

Now please excuse me while I go and lie in my bed of shame. Ohh just kidding! I ran this morning. All good.

I hope you guys had a great weekend, filled with amazing eats. I had a really, really amazing one, so I still have some recapping I want to do. But for now, enjoy the food porn!

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Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, Restaurant, Snack

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Food Lately

Posted on September 21, 2012 | 10 Comments

Let’s talk about food! I have been pretty busy this week and I haven’t been doing anything all that exciting, and I haven’t been blogging a lot (perhaps you noticed), but I have been eating really well and I need to address that.

On Tuesday I got together with my beach volleyball team for a little end-of-season potluck party. Actually, I forgot to mention how we ended up doing in volleyball. Our team came third in the third tier out of six in the recreational league. So not amazing, but not horrible. I am going to say we are exactly average. Hopefully we can step that up in the spring.

Anyway, we met at my friend Laura (that is her in the above pic) and her boyfriend Ryan’s house and I left there pretty ridiculously stuffed.

I brought a layer dip (from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry), which is always a hit and a half. I annhilated my own dip, and also the plain Ruffles chips and dip. I always forget what a good combo that is. I don’t know why I don’t buy it more often. Oh, probably because I would eat it all the time and then be 400lbs.

We also ordered pizza, so I had a few slices of that. And for dessert Laura made these absolutely ridiculous chocolate peanut butter bars.

I was originally hoping for cookies, I cannot lie, because she makes the best ones and I am a cookie connoisseur. However, I forgave Laura as soon as I tasted that chocolate peanut buttery deliciousness. Those bars were so good! I could have eaten the entire plate.

They were so good I brought a few in to work the next day, and they went very well with the impromptu picnic lunch our boss Margaret ended up bringing in for us.

I need to just take a moment and say I really, really enjoy working here. This lunch was ridiculous! Margaret had been talking about bringing in this amazing smoked salmon for a while, but she didn’t mention she was going to bring in all those other amazing things. When she pulled it out of her bag and started spreading it out on the table, I couldn’t help it, I told her I was in love with her.

Meals filled with various different food items are pretty much my favourite, because I love randomly snacking around my plate.

That was my first plate, but I filled it up a few times and was eating well into the afternoon. I can’t even pick a favourite item on that plate. Best lunch ever. I was so impressed.

She also brought in brownies and nanaimo bars for us.

Which we saved for the next day since we had Laura’s awesome bars.

And did I mention we have a snack station in our office?

I am totally going to gain weight working here. I am eating the chocolate covered raisins pretty much all day long.

Also, since I am temporarily still in my old work building, I have been trying to take advantage of Druxy’s being in here while I still can. This means my favourite lunch combo has been making a few appearances.

Grilled cheese with brie (BRIE!!!!), and soup. This soup was tomato mushroom florentine, but when it comes to Druxy’s soup I am not picky. All of their soups are delicious.

And that is basically what’s new with me in the food department. I get so excited about food I’m almost embarrassed for myself. Almost.

Have a great weekend!

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Posted in Lunch, Snack

The Ex Adventures

Posted on August 31, 2012 | 9 Comments

So if you are not from Canada you probably would not know this, but every year in the few weeks leading up to and including Labour Day weekend, there is a huge event downtown Toronto called the Canadian National Exhibition, or the CNE, or just “the Ex”.

It is basically a fair on steroids. Actually, it is exactly like the Calgary Stampede, only without the cowboys. And without the stampede.

I have not been to the CNE for years and years. The last time I was there I think was about 20 years ago when my cheeky little nanny took me. But earlier this week my friend Hannah texted me and asked me if I wanted to go with her, and we lured in my friend Joanna as well. So yesterday we hit up the Ex.

Let’s just get the food thing out of the way first because hooooooly crap. The food was ridiculous. One thing I regret about visiting the Calgary Stampede was holding back in the food department. I made a pact with myself to make it up at the CNE. There were so many choices that I was legitimately overwhelmed.

There were a ton of food stations throughout the grounds.

And THEN there was an entire building just dedicated to food. Every food imaginable. Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Indian, European, Canadian, American, Thai, Greek, Jamaican, Mexican, just everything. All the food in the world!

My senses were on overload. I didn’t know what to get! And I had to eat things I wouldn’t get on a regular basis. And I obviously had to go to town. But I knew I didn’t want pizza in a cone. And I’m not sure if I’m down with this new bacon sundae, or bacon on cupcakes thing. I love bacon, but not with sweet stuff.

SO. Over the course of the day I stopped by the Poutinerie and got a Mexican poutine which included fries, ground beef, cheese, sour cream, salsa, and jalapenos.

It was pretty good, but I think I just prefer regular poutine. I was jealous of Hannah’s “Canadian” poutine, which included fries, gravy, cheese and BACON.

And Joanna opted for jerk chicken, fried plantains and pierogies from the Jamaican and European food booths.

Also consumed later in the day was a deep fried onion, which I split with Jo.

We had been seeing people walking around with that thing all day and were intrigued to try it out. It was pretty good, but possibly a bit overrated. We couldn’t finish it. We were both done with the onion after a few bites and kind of just kept eating out of obligation.

Good thing I had a 99 cent spaghetti to supplement that.

Plus 59 cents for parmesan cheese. Spaghetti for $1.60? Well alright then.

And rounding out my meals for the day was birthday cake remix ice cream from Coldstone Creamery.

Which is vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate cake and sprinkles, with fudge on top. I loooooved it.

And also a cake pop. Because I saw them and I just can’t resist their deliciousness.

So it was not a healthy day of eating, I will just say. But we walked around for about seven hours so I feel like that must counteract a little. Right?!

The great thing about the CNE is that once you are in, pretty much everything is free. So besides eating we went to the farm building, where all the animals hang out.

So many babies! I was dying over the baby sheep and pigs. I want one of each as a pet. Winnie needs a friend.

And I saw family members of my attacker from the other day…

Ugh. Bees. But I do love honey…

There were a bunch of shows going on, so we stopped by the illusionist and the hypnotist for a bit, and I have to say that both were pretty awesome. The illusionist got me with his magic many times, and I’m pretty sure the people on stage with the hypnotist were actually hypnotized.

He convinced one kid that he was Justin Bieber, and he was a pretty hilariously convincing Justin. Though his singing was terrible.

Oh and Jo, Hannah and I made friends with some firefighters.

They gave us junior firefighter stickers and let us pretend to drive the truck.

We felt all important. You are never too old to make friends with the firefighters, in my opinion.

Hannah had to leave relatively early, so Jo and I met up with our friend Lisa and her daughter Ella for some ride adventures in the afternoon.

I had originally not planned on going on any rides at all, but Ella wanted to go on alllllll the rides, so Jo and I ended up getting wristbands, and we were game. We went on all the rides.

Well maybe not all the rides, but at least 20. A lot of them I hadn’t been on since I was a kid, like the stupid Zipper.

I used to HATE the Zipper. It was my nightmare. I can still picture myself on it when I was about eight and just hating my life. I thought I could overcome my fear of it, so I went on it. If anything though, my fear was just intensified. That ride is horrible. I hated every minute of it. Joanna and I were both like “WORST. RIDE. EVER.” as soon as we got off. Never again.

But the fun houses were super fun.

And we went on the giant slide about five times.

My stomach is definitely not as young as it used to be though. It can’t handle going on rides all day as well as eating like crap, and by the time I got home I was feeling pretty blah. Oh well, it was fun and delicious, so all good.

After our ride adventures we went to this acrobatic ice show, which was pretty cool and I found myself really enjoying it. When we came out we found ourselves in the middle of a parade, and Ella got to bang on some man’s drum for a bit.

And that was pretty much it. It started to get insanely busy at around 7pm, so we decided we had enough of the Ex and hightailed it out of there. But it was a fun day for sure. The Ex is running until Monday, so if you’re in Toronto, hit that up!

I hope you guys all have a great long weekend!

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Posted in Pals, Snack, Summer

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FREE PONY RIDES! (except not.)

Posted on June 11, 2012 | 26 Comments

So you may remember I was supposed to move yesterday… Welp, I did not. Sadly, my move-in date got pushed back to this Friday, as they are doing renovations on my apartment and aren’t finished them yet. Meh meh meh.

I am definitely disappointed; I was REALLY looking forward to moving. But what can ya do? At least I have a few extra days to pack, which is a very good thing. I have been slack-a-lackin’ on the pack-a-lackin’.

Anyway, let’s do some weekend recappage. I have a TON of pictures, so gird your loins.

Saturday night was my good friend Emily’s 29th birthday.

Emilio is one of my oldest friends. We have been friends since Grade 1! We have been through a lot together, and she stood by me during the Captain Hook incident (and kindly pointed out that I had Egg McMuffin on my face).

Emily and her lover Corey hosted a party at their crib on Saturday night, and the Facebook invite said there was going to be pony rides!

I found it really funny that most of the people who commented on the event page were like “OMG, is there actually going to be pony rides?!” and Emily responded to none of them, thus luring people in… Because really, who can resist a party with pony rides?

It was a dirty trick. There were no pony rides (I knew she was joking, but it was funny that people actually thought she was serious).

Pony rides or no pony rides though, I had a great time. Some of my best minxes were in attendance…

And there was a LOT of food.

This may be the best snack room of all time. I love how it was decorated in pure pink, like a child’s birthday party. And I loved the assortment of snacks going on in here. I kept dropping by for a little face-stuffing action.

The chocolate chip cookies on the top left were amazing. I had three of them.

And this table totally reminded me of elementary school lunches. I was so impressed with the selection. Gummies, Tootsie Rolls, and those little cupcakes with the white swirl icing! I can’t remember the last time I’ve had those. I shoved a package in my purse to take home with me in the morning. I’m kicking myself for not taking a package of those brownies with me also…

We had a pretty awesome dinner as well.

So much for eating less/healthier. Ah well. I can’t pass up barbecue fare (can anyone?).

I honestly felt like I was at a carnival. Em has a popcorn machine…

And a cotton friggin’ candy machine.

That thing was amazing. All you have to do is throw in a couple of hard Jolly Rancher candies, swirl your stick around a bit…

And BAM. Cotton Candy.

I think I need to get one of these… It would probably be pretty dangerous for me though, I’d be eating cotton candy all day long.

Also, remember the Princess cutout we brought to the bar for Corey’s 30th birthday party?

It made a reappearance. And it had a pirate friend.

Leanne and I had some fun with those.

Emily has a million hats kicking around for some reason, so we also had an impromptu hat party.

And a sparkler party…

Ladder ball…

And a bonfire!

I felt like I was camping.

There were definitely some childhood elements to this party, but we managed to grown-upify it with some booze. Like birthday cake shots…

(with birthday cake vodka)

And frozen shot glass shots also.

I reallllly liked those.

So I need to take a second to highlight a few of Emily’s gifts.

For our friend Mark’s birthday a couple months ago, Corey and Emily got him an abnormally large stuffed bear.

(Oh, and I am wearing the same shirt. Good thing I am not a celebrity.)

The bear was a joke gift, obviously, as what are you going to do with that thing besides have photoshoots with it? So Dawn and Mark decided to repay Emily by giving her a picture they randomly acquired.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

Corey and Emily liked it.

Obviously it had to go on the wall.

So beautiful.

Emily also received the world’s longest beard.

Which was passed around…

I am a beardo. Someone told me to look seductive for the photo, so there you go, and you are welcome. I do think it gives me a wise and stately demeanor at least.

Anyway, fun times. Fun, fun times. Happy Birthday to my lovely Emilio!

29 years from now I hope we are still throwing parties just like this one!

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Posted in Pals, Random Musings, Snack

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Nothing But Good (and new friends) #ChobaniTO

Posted on June 7, 2012 | 25 Comments

Goooood morning!

I am in an exceptionally fab mood today. I feel giddy with excitement! First of all, my work has been trending on Twitter in Canada all morning, and if you are familiar with Twitter you know that is a BIG. DEAL. (well I think it is…it is, right?) I run my organization’s Twitter page so I feel so unbelievably proud. Though it probably has nothing to do with me, and more to do with the 16 championships we are running this week… Still though, I feel like a proud parent!

And the second reason for my fabbest of the fab mood today would be because of the amazing time I had last night eating my face off with a bunch of fellow bloggers. I was invited to a blogger party at the Fifth Grill in Toronto, hosted by the awesome girls at Chobani!

It’s true, we love the Cho.

You guys probably already know I love Chobani Greek yogurt. I have raved on about it before, and how excited I was when it FINALLY came to Canada after seeing it on American blogs all the time.

I was pumped for this event, but I had no idea what to expect. Unlike the Yogurty’s and Jamba Juice party last week, I knew no one in attendance. I showed up alone (alone and wet, it was raining), and I had no partner in crime. I felt very shy at first, and started to prepare myself for awkwardly inserting myself into conversations that were already going on.

But almost immediately I found Steph, who I feel like I already know, as we are Twitter friends and fellow blog stalkers. This is amazing to me because basically you are just instantly friends. It is funny to know someone without actually knowing them, but I immediately felt at ease and ready to confidently get my eat on.

The restaurant was awesome and served a ton of Chobani-inspired appetizers. Each app had Chobani incorporated into it somehow, and ALL of them were delicious. All of them. And you better believe I made a point to try everything (…several times).

There were some other things, but those were the highlights for me. I never wanted to stop eating. And I definitely took away tons of ideas of how to use the delicious Chob in the future.

And, oh my sweet baby cheeses, there was a make-your-own Chobani parfait bar for dessert.

I am a sucker for make-your-own anything, because it gives me the chance to LOAD UP, which I definitely did.

Twice actually, because the Chobani crew is amazing and a half and provided lids for those cute little Mason jars, so we could take our parfaits home! I ate my second one this morning for breakfast. Beauty.

It needs to be noted that I did not once feel weird taking pictures of anything. Normally when I am out with people and I snap a pic of my lunch, someone will be like “Um, are you taking a picture of your sandwich?” Yes, what does it look like I’m doing? But everyone was a blogger, so they understand the importance of pictures (no one likes to actually read anything anymore, c’mon). It was camera city!

And not only was everyone cool with taking pictures, everyone wanted in on the pictures!

(Ali, Steph and I)

My friends are pretty cool with my incessant picture-taking, and I actually think they like it, but not as much as these gals did!

(Me, Steph, Stephanie, Siobhan and Britta.

I loved making new blog friends! It was so great to meet so many like-minded, picture-taking freaks. I see more meetups with these girls in the future for sure!

And I need to say that the cheeky American minxes from Chobani, as well as their Canadian PR team, are super awesome. I kind of already guessed this, as Alyssa from Life of bLyss has raved on about their amazingness several times, and she was not wrong. I really enjoyed talking with them. And they liked getting in on the pictures, I’m pretty sure…

(And so does that man in the poster)

Chobani peeps = the three black blazers on the end.

Just such a good time, honestly. Perfect for my first blogger meetup. Thank you so much for having us Chobani! I really do love you!

Oh, also, the Fifth Grill has a really cool freight elevator. Just want to say that.

Right?! For an elevator? Super cool.

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Posted in Blogging Event, Restaurant, Snack

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