On a Whim in Nicaragua

It has been quite a year so far. I have not come anywhere near writing here once a week. It has been a busy one so far. In February I moved forward by writing the last exam to get the professional designation I was going to school for. I accomplished something, finished it....have the letters RCM after my name. About Mid-march I moved from the job and position I was in and got another job that specifically deals with my new certification in another city. July left me single and staying with my parents. September has meant the end of my debt. Took me a couple years but diligence has paid off. I may finally be starting to learn to live within my means. I have certainly learned what I want in my life and how I do want to spend the money I make. I am now starting to gear my budget and expenses to the lifestyle I want to live. Now that fall is here and winter is not far off, it is time to find a permanent home for me....rent or own? Where? So many questions but at least I hav...

Last weekend we (perhaps  I should clarify that we is my spouse and I who I will refer to often as MT since he is a large part of my life) went to Toronto for the weekend to use a gift certificate he had received for Oliver & Bonacini's.  We chose Biff's Bistro on Front St. and were treated to a delicious dinner.  The atmosphere was contemporary and not too loud but had there been people at the table right next to us perhaps a little cramped as the tables were pretty close together.  I had the seafood platter and it came with raw oysters, clams, mussels, a salmon pate, arctic char ceviche and 6 large shrimp with cocktail sauce.  It was heavenly and I ate every bite for $38.00.  MT had the escargot to start and the chicken dijonnaise and was disappointed that his chicken came bone in but it tasted good when I tried it.  The service was impeccable as my wine glass was never empty and I never touched the 1/2 liter and he even brought a wine chiller fo...

In an effort to keep moving we have started to walk the Bruce Trail with our handy Bruce Trail Reference, Maps and Trail Guide, Edition 27.  Our first official trek (we did inadvertently do other parts of the Trail) was 2 weekends ago.  We drove down to Dundas to Websters Falls and parked the car, then loaded up and started our walk.  Toews Falls was really nice and there are lots of great views along the way.  Communing with nature always brings peace to my life.  I would say we walked at least 10 km but we do not at this time have a device to measure that, however the portion that was the actual Bruce Trail was only 1 km or so.  It takes a number of side trails to make a loop back to your vehicle sometimes and sometimes you even get off the side trail accidently which most would consider being lost.  Although it is for exercise waterfalls are something we enjoy so with good weather it is a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.  A beer along the ...

Yesterday was the day when all the old is washed away and a new year brings a new beginning.  I have a number of goals for this year and they will be centered around one word.....MOVE! That doesn't mean I am going to physically move from where I live but who really knows what the universe holds.  It does mean that I am going to move forward with my career and relationship and all of my personal goals. I would like to write here once a week this year for the whole year.  I will provide book reviews and restaurant reviews (although these will be few and far between until I pay the Christmas bills). I am going to continue to improve the healthy eating that I have been working on slowly for the last couple of years and will share some of those experiences when I can. I am going to make positive affirmations daily and move towards a more positive outlook for my life and work. Today's affirmation for me is: Work is easy and fun for me!   I found this on the website...

I would have never found this little hole in the wall diner or even known there was such a thing if I hadn't been watching the Food Network and seen it on one of the shows.  Being it was in Hamilton and only 45 mins away I knew I would have to try it.  I was in the near neighbourhood this weekend and decided to stop by 486 James St. N..  We arrived at 4:30 maybe 5pm and were greeted by a smaller than expected kitschy seating area.  There were already no tables available and all were reserved so we bellied up to the bar which is actually 4 stools at a counter overlooking the bar, dessert and service area.  I was a little out of sorts that they store pre portioned, precooked pasta and extra gravy in the fridge out front for all to see.  All I could think is it must be a pretty small kitchen if that is where you store prepped food.  I had a virgin caesar and my guest a Coke (no fountain pop here).  We ordered the escargot to start and were unprepared...

Monday Today I spent $5.21 on ingredients for the lunch I am making for my Tuesday lunch date.  A few weeks ago I made roasted cauliflower with brown butter and linguine.  I did not enjoy it at all and would not make it again.....but I turned the left over roasted cauliflower into soup and froze it.  It is absolutely delicious, I had a bowl for lunch today. Tuesday I bought a cup of tea for $1.77.  I made an asparagus goat cheese toss for my lunch date today.....wow yummy.. I found the recipe on the Canadian Living website.   I will definitely make that again and it was so easy to make. Wednesday NO spending day!  What I did do is finish the third book in The Hunger Games trilogy.  That means I read all three books since last Saturday.  It is a great series even for an adult.  I could hardly put it down.  Now I need to find something else to read.  Any suggestions? Thursday I got gas and took out $20 in cash....so $40 tota...

Day 9,10 and 11 were a write off..... I had lunch out on Friday at the Downtown Diner for $8.50.  I wasn't overly excited about the burger I had, but the fries are like chip wagon fries with sea salt...they were yummy and I would have them again.  Apparently the pork sliders are their thing so I will have to try those one day and see.  I got gas for $30.00.  Saturday was the day my niece stayed over.  We got a movie that I had a gift certificate for that was no cost to me.  We ate at the Honest Lawyer which has just opened.  I had the full coverage burger and it was tasty although I didn't get a lot of flavor from the caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms, they had sea salt on the fries as well but this time coarse sea salt like you would get on a pretzel.  It was so enjoyable I dipped the fries in mayonnaise and then whatever little pieces of salt I could find on my plate.  She had the mini burgers and enjoyed 2 of them and some of my...

Day 5:  NO spending day.  It was a quiet Monday. Day 6:  I spent approx $6.00 to fill a prescription. I should probably update you on another goal I had for this year.  I have been trying to make it to the gym twice a week since January.  It doesn't seem like a big goal but some weeks it is tough. Truthfully I haven't made it even once in the last  two weeks but I got back on track today with a bootcamp class at the YMCA I go to.  Although I am not noticing much difference in my weight or how I look I have noticed a substantial difference in how I feel......GREAT!  I am also hoping it will translate into an improved softball season. I may never be in the shape I was at 20 again but I can certainly try and be closer than I am now. Today was also lunch date day.....my coworker brought pulled pork sandwiches with carrot stick and cherry tomatoes.  She also made chocolate peanut butter squares....ummm delicious.  I will have to get that ...

Day 1: NO spending day fell off the rails badly.  It was the Thursday of a long weekend likely a poor choice for a no spend day.  I bought an $18.45 bottle of wine and took a friend for sushi dinner for $50.00.  So much for that. Day 2: I am going to call a success.  I did spend $45.00 on a massage but I will get the whole amount back when I submit my receipt to insurance so technically I didn't spend anything and for now I am sticking with that! Day 3:  For all intents and purposes looked good at the start until I went to a birthday party and upon suggestion of wine said I could walk over and get a bottle.  Total day spending $9.95. Day 4:  Today turned out well.  I spent the day with and at my parents.  I didn't spend a dime or go anywhere near a place to spend money.... I am 2 for 4 on this so far and that's not 1/2 bad.  Practice makes perfect.  There must be a number of other cliches that would suit this occasion but yo...

I have always struggled to be fiscally responsible in life.....live within my means and all that.  Well I have had it, it is high time to get it under control.  Until now it hasn't stopped me from doing what I wanted but now I am interested in making investments into real estate and that requires me to have under 40% service to debt ratio.  If I made more money that would be a breeze, but reality says I don't so here I am. I have watched episodes of Til Debt do us Part and read articles on the web and so far came up with the following 2 ideas to get me started. Do you have ideas that worked you would like to share? My big weakness is eating out and I think that comes from working in restaurants and hotels for almost 20 years, it almost became ingrained.  So the plan is give myself cash weekly and that is my spending money.  The other thing I found that may be helpful is to have no spending days, I will try 10 per month.  On this plan I am not going to...

I have to admit I am fairly good at bringing my lunch to work everyday except Friday, which is eat out with the ladies day.  Normally it would be leftovers but since I have recently become single I have not been as motivated to cook for myself at night. My coworker is not good at bringing a lunch at all and I think in the last three years we have worked together she may have brought a lunch six times.  I can tell you she is a very good cook though. We have decided that every Tuesday we are going to alternate bringing lunch for each other.  I am looking very forward to our new arrangement as I think it will spice up my lunch week and hopefully motivate her to bring a lunch at least once a week.  This seems like a win win situation for both of us. Now I am on the search for interesting lunch ideas and recipes to make to wow here with my cooking skills.  It is so much more enjoyable to cook for someone else as well as yourself. Do you have any ideas?  ...

This is the unusual vegetable I got in my basket this time.  Watermelon Radish is surprisingly large and tastes like a red radish, except a hint of sweet and very crisp.  This one is on the bottom of a small plate.  So far I only sliced it and put a little salt on it. 

I found a website that allows you to put in the ingredients you have in your kitchen and then gives you recipes to use them.  I have added the gadget to my blog if you want to check out how it works.  I am going to try it because I am always trying to find new ways to prepare all the things I like to eat in my kitchen.  It takes recipes from a multitude of good cooking sites such as Martha Stewart, Epicurious, All recipes and more. this week I will try the puffed pancake with strawberries and I don't have to check because Supercook already figured that out for me......

Well it's been months yet again!  Happy New Year!  Maybe I should throw in a Happy Valentine's Day as well.  I have been doing a lot on the road to health and eating well....going to school, working and volunteering I just haven't been here but the other day a few things happened I had to share. As I have told everyone before I get a bi-weekly organic basket with fruit & vegetables delivered to my apartment from  Pfenning's Organics & More .  The last basket included something I had never seen before a kabocha squash.  I did a little further research having no idea what to do with it and it was the size of a medium pumpkin.  I found out it is a Japanese squash and they use it like we would use pumpkin.  I wasn't interested in dessert so I  looked up a recipe  for  sweet & spicy roasted kabocha squash recipe.   

Well, I can't say I got the whole list done.  I got a lot done but life gets in the way.  Enough excuses now for the update: 1.  I wrote my exam for the course I took.  I answered all the questions.  Now I wait and see what my mark turns out to be....and I may not know until January. 2. I painted my kitchen....It looks great. 3.  I have put up about 1/2 of my holiday decorations.  Having a very small apartment means that everything takes a little longer to find a place for, to put away what was there and to make sure everything is put back in storage. 4.  I have not wrapped any more gifts than I had wrapped when the list started. I have since purchased more so now I am even further behind. This task has a deadline so it will be done by the 25th. 5.  Organizing my apartment seems to be the never ending chore and will probably be on this list unti the end of time.  If it ever comes off the list I will be very excited. 6....

I was reading a blog and found that the author would put up 10 things she was going to do for the week.  I have decided to try it.  I have way more than 10 things to do as I tend to procrastinate a little and in my defense have been taking a college course since the beginning of September. So here goes the list: 1.   Write final exam 2.   Paint Kitchen 3.   Put up holiday decorations 4.   Wrap Gifts 5.   Organize apartment 6.   Bake cookies 7.   Organize Papers for upcoming taxes and to find papers I haven't been able to locate since I moved. 8.   Finish unpacking and setting up apartment 9.   Set up stereo equipment (this one I will get help with) 10.  Purchase/find gift for Secret Sister Dinner There is so much more I have to do.  I didn't even mention the blog or beaded decorations I wanted to make for people this year.  So little time.....

Well, a lot has changed since my last post.  The big change that started the ball rolling was the breakup of my 2 year relationship.  Heartbreaking to say the least but the show must go on.....The show also needed a new venue which is a small studio apartment.  It is the beginning of trying to live within my means but there will be no garden or outdoor space so I will have to make do with only some planters.  My kitchen is very small but I am determined that I will make it viable to continue my cooking experiment.  Stay tuned as I continue the transition.

I have a large number of books and have moved into a smaller residence with not as much room for them.  I am surprised that an entire shelf is dedicated to cookbooks.  Now if you are anything like me you have cookbooks that you have not even tried recipes from.  So I have decided that I am going to go through all the cookbooks on the shelf and try to cook something from them each day until I decide which ones can go. First on the list: No time to Cook by Donna Hay Double Sticky Ribs                              page 76 These turned out great although I didn't follow the recipe exactly as I already had the ribs boiled in the freezer.  Next time I will boil the ribs as outlined in the recipe and see how much more flavour they have.  The sticky sauce was very tasty and my guest also enjoyed this one. Asian Ginger ...

It has been awhile since the last time I wrote.  It has been a busy spring and summer.  Let's start with the garden.  I have been following another blog "You Grow Girl" this year.  She is also the author of "Grow Great Grub" which I am interested in reading.  I found it to be an inspiration and even started my own tomato seeds.  I actually started a number of other seeds as well but they didn't turn out at all.  Truthfully I didn't think the tomato seeds had turned out well, since they were so tiny and spindly when I planted them in the ground.  I even went and purchased a few plants because I couldn't believe there was even a chance of my plants growing tomatoes.  Was I ever wrong.  My plants grew to be the same size as the ones I bought that were bigger and they are all laden with tomatoes.  I also grew lettuce and it worked out great but we don't eat enough lettuce so we had way too much.  I think next year I would prefer to...

Hmmm....what do I do?  My life is going in so many directions.  I have taken on so many things to improve my life this year. I have a whole week to myself....boyfriend on vacation! Where do I start?  I am going to get started on the planting list I have created.  I really hope the vegetable garden I plant this year works out better than previous years.  I have done lots of reading and now I will try to put it in practice.  On the bright side I have managed to keep all the indoor plants alive for the whole winter....that's a first. So I got out the seed starting schedule I found on http://www.almanac.com/ , purchased some seeds last weekend, set up my work bench in the garage and got a greenhouse from Big Lots.  This weekend I am going to start the seeds on the list for this time period....I wonder if starting the seeds indoors may keep the bunnies from eating them.  I am going to try marigolds this year as I have heard they work to keep wild...