Weekend overview-Skip-Bo, flying avo's, and pre-birthday present

Hey everybody,

Hope you all had a great weekend. I know its already Wednesday but I wanted to include everything in one humongous post so I'm including what I did on Monday and Tuesday too. Okay, where do I start. We had a great time Saturday morning chit chatting while I did my TT workout. I told you I was dedicated to this program:) Then we went out to The Full Circle for brunch. I had this amazing wrap made with black bean hummus, tofu, sprouts, and a bunch of veggies. So yummy! When I have great food at a restaurant I try to make a mental note of what's in it so that I can attempt it at home. Now I have a picture which is even more motivation. After brunch we walked around downtown a little bit and then went for tea at Oso Negro. They have this really cool dandelion tea from Swiss that is a blend of extracts from dandelion root, barley, rye, beet root, and chicory root. It's a coffee substitute that is caffeine free. It really does have the taste of a dark roast coffee and I really enjoy it. Mom had it with steamed rice milk and that tasted so good! The coffee (and tea) there is all organic and free trade so two thumbs up to Oso Negro. After drinking our delicious teas and coffees we headed home (ten steps away he he) and played some Skip-Bo. I'm not a huge card game player but I like a game that has promotes a healthy dose of competition (especially between your partner). Ya, that's right I was talking smack! My good hearted comments did nothing to confuse Ry but they did cause my mom to go into laughing hysterics. Ahh good fun! Ry also wanted some cookies so I made the Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies from Vegweb. These were super yummy! Probably the best cookies I have made so far. We also watched a few episodes of The Dog Whisperer. Mom loved it and was absolutely amazed at his confidence. I love how he can handle the tiny dogs with just two fingers. This brings us to Sunday which involved more exploring, tea, grocery shopping, and skip-bo. It was nice to have an extra pair of hands on our shopping day as we need to walk to a couple of different stores. We started off at Save on Foods as we have a gift card for there, then we move on to Wholesale Club for the rest of our staples like fruit, some veggies, oatmeal ( for Ry's breakfast), trail mix, beans, legumes, and other miscellaneous stuff. The final stop is usually the Kootenay Co-op where I pick up all my organic greens. I try to eat organic as much as possible but we are on a pretty strict budget so I sacrifice some things. If I don't buy it organic I check and re-check the label to ensure that I'm not eating a gazillion preservatives and chemicals. This is enough for me and I don't beat myself up for not eating 100% organic. So, after shopping we played some more games and watched a movie. Nice and chill. Then Monday morning (Mom's birthday) after my workout we snuck out to another breakfast at The Full Circle. So delish! This time I had the veggie (tofu) scramble and Mom had the grown-up grilled cheese. Suiting hey? We both enjoyed it to the last morsel! After breakie we were off! We explored some second hand shops where I picked up some interesting health books by Dr. Murray (a popular ND), Dr. Neal Bernard, and Linus Pauling. I can't wait to get reading! Also at the thrift store they had this pet halter there and I bought it hoping that it would fit Nemo so we could slowly introduce him to the outdoors . Yet, he is still too large! It's too bad as it is bright pink which would go so well with his personality. LOL! Then Mom bought me my new mini-trampoline! I'm so stoked to use it as I have read into how good they are for your lymphatic system plus so many other health benefits. Rebounders unite!
We realized it was passed 4 and so we rushed home as we had lots of cooking (and uncooking to do). I started off the meal by making Heathy's Tomato Basil soup. It was my first experience with a raw soup and it was a great one! I loved how smooth and how pungent the flavors were. I topped the soup with some cashew cream which was awesome! I will definitely make this soup again. I also made a huge salad and two dressings. One was a simple olive oil and lemon vinaigrette from Veganomicon and the other was the Green Goddess dressing from Rawsome . As the kitchen in my place is tiny, I don't have that much counter space. So, I was trying to make things easier on myself and to put the dressing in the fridge until we were ready for it. Well, I lost my grip on the bowl and it dropped to the floor spraying the Green Goddess dressing everywhere, including the whole right side of my mom. I felt so bad but we laughed about it in the end:) Even though it was Mom's birthday, she wanted to cook up a dish that got rave reviews from my aunts back home! It was this great pasta dish with cherry
tomatoes, radicchio, and chicken(I went without the chicken). It was yummy and spicy because of the radicchio! I really wanted to show mom that raw foods is delicious and so I made Ani Phyo's raspberry ganache fudge cake for the finale. Apparently raw desserts are the gateway "drug" for conventional eaters, and I agree! This take takes so little time to put together (besides the soaking time for the walnuts) which is fantastic. And hello? This cake is full of super foods including walnuts, cocao, and honey (I used this instead of Agave). Mom loved it and she even took the recipe home! We sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the match (we didn't have any candles...lol) and we devoured the cake. Although, we did leave a little bit for the next day. Just enough so we didn't feel guilty. I really enjoyed it with the raspberries this time but I think I should have added more! Mom is Skip-Bo obsessed , you see in the picture she wouldn't even put down her cards to blow out the candle..er..match. Now that we are on the topic of sweets, I also put together some sunflower seed-date-cocao-coconut balls that are always good to have in your freezer. Mom loved these as well but they were a little tough on her teeth, as they harden right up in the freezer. Mom loves to have a glass of red wine so we trucked it to the liquor store and picked up an Organic red wine from Chili. I was really impressed at the Organic wine selection they had and am glad that this industry is going green too. Now, I used to be a huge wine lover as I once worked for viticulture (wine grape) researchers, but over time I shifted to drinking beer. So, it took me a 1/2 glass just to get used to it again but it was really nice along with the rich cake. Ry likes his beer so Mom bought him a tallie so he wouldn't feel left out. He definitely has a designer mind, so when he was left with the dilemma of having a beer and no holder, he came up with this ingenious design.
Ya, he cut out a hole in my mini-tramp box that he was also using a laptop stand. What a guy..lol.. a lazy guy!

This brings us to Tuesday and we were all pretty tired. Too much food , perhaps? So, Ryan went off to school and Mom and I wandered the town and had more tea. We tried to take a good mother-daughter pict and we eventually got one but it only took 20 tries lol. Mom is pretty picky and she kept looking way up lol!


Thank You for coming to visit Mom!

PS- Ryan decided to give me my birthday present already ( My b-day is in March) and am I ever glad he did. He adopted Nemo!!! Of course, I cried and gave lots of hugs and kisses...to Nemo..just kidding! But I am so happy that he is part of the family as he is the coolest cat I've ever known. Welcome to your forever home, buddy!




Yes, he loves to blog too! But he also loves mousey more (and my shopping bags)!


Have a great rest of the week and hope that you get to spend some time with your Mom too!