Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Weekend Fun plus a little poll

Hello lovelies!!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend.I sure did!! I went to my home town and official tourist hot spot in BC. We have two lakes, a channel to float down, golf, wine....which basically equals lots and lots of tourists. Which was lots of fun as a teenager, but I've grown out of that stage a long time ago and prefer a less drinking, more sleeping,healthy eating, but still a good party, kind of weekend(Does that make sense?? LOL!)


Before we left on Friday I watered my garden as much as I could because there would be nobody to water it on Saturday and it was supposed to be scorching all weekend. That's when it hit me as to how much lettuce was ready and needed to be picked. So, I grabbed handfuls at a time and still it looked like I hadn't picked any at all.


Yumm!! A mixture of butter lettuce, romaine, and leaf lettuce:) If you live in the Fraser Valley and want some lettuce, message me and I will gladly give you some of mine!!

Then I just happened to see this lovely creature hanging out on my sunflower plant!

Thankfully when we left it wasn't so hot because that would be a little hard on Nemo. Yes, Nemo is loving the adventures!! He especially loves hanging out in Grandma's yard:) We made it there safe and sound. I count my blessings every trip because driving the highways in Summer aren't exactly the safest times. Friday night was a write off as were both crazy exhausted.

Saturday morning I did some intervals on the treadmill mixed in with some bodyweight exercises. What a great way to start the day!! For Breakie I had a green monster with frozen blueberries, a half a banana, cinnamon, and loads of greens. I ran out of Vega right before we left so for my added protein I had a piece of sprouted toast with almond butter..yum! After that we were off to the market! Boy oh boy it was busy and with more vendors than the last time I was there.

This is is the stash my mom and I picked up! Beautiful local produce! Everything from beets to chard to tomatoes to patty pan squash and mulberries



Mulberries look like a blackberry but are more gel-like and have a less sweet flavor. I really liked them. According to the lady selling them they are very good for your heart and your eyes.


Patty pan squash! One of my favorites!


Then we bought three different flavors of organic popcorn! Chipotle, lemon dil, and Masala! Yum! She even placed the ingredients on the bag so I will try to make it at home (for significantly cheaper I'm sure:) My fave was the masala flavor! Something else really cool about the bags is that they are compostable, even the label!!!

Check out all that seasoning goodness!!


There was this booth set up as well and I signed the petition to support Bill 474 to stop GM crops from further advancement! If you see this booth at your market sign up!! Canada is thinking about allowing GM wheat and alfalfa and we simply cannot allow that to happen.

I also found a new raw food stand which was a company selling bars and raw energy balls etc! When all of a sudden this guy asks me if I know who he is. It's one of the guys I graduated high school with AND he never spoke to me in high school so I was taken aback why he was doing so now. He was working with the folks at the raw food booth! He himself was a raw foodie. I was so shocked because this guy was in the "popular" crowd and was kind of arrogant and closed-in back in the day. Holy, what a change! He gave me a huge hug (and my mom too!) and told me that him and his coworkers are actually in the midst of opening a raw food restaurant in town. I could barely contain myself I was so excited!! I think they said September would be the opening so I am anxiously awaiting for that to happen:) In the meantime, we bought a little bag of chia crackers with a dip ( I'm thinking a raw hummus, I forgot to ask.

For $4 it was a little steep! So I won't be buying these again but I sure want to learn how to make them:)

When we got home from the market I made a quick lunch with some cooked quinoa, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, dijon, and some salsa.


Such a refreshing salad!

It was then time for the beach!! My first beach trip is always fun because the water is usually a little on the cold side so I have to slowly inch myself in, about 1/2 hour later I will be swimming and will have forgotten why I was hyperventilating when I exposed my "sensitive" areas to the cold water lol!

Ahhh my favorite lake!! I was so relaxed sitting in the sun that I fell asleep (as did Ryan). Luckily I don't burn so I was alright, Ryan, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He got pretty red and so I've been on aloe duty every night lol!


Another view! Lots of sunbathing action happening, as well as seadooing and boating! In a couple of weeks there will be about a foot of space between you and your neighbor..jam-packed!


After the beach it was time for dinner and since my mom was dog sitting we went over to where she was taking care of a little cutie named Sandy! Plus two bunnies, but they were camera shy.


This is the dog of my old massager. She is THE best masseuse. I feel like I have a new body after she does her magic!

Her house has an amazing view of the valley. You can just see the lake where Ry and I were at:)

Her hubby is a architect so the house is full of very cool designs and unique furnishings.

I just love this sofa!



And this!! Have you ever gone in one of these contraptions before? Apparently its supposed to decompress your spine. Feels pretty cool, except the head rush isn't fun:)


My latest drink obsession is San Pallegrino sparkling spring water.

With a touch of lemon! Who needs beer?



Dinner was market fresh and so delicious!
Bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, onion, tomato, cucumber, vinegar, and S&P salad, chicken and salmon for the omnivores, cooked chard, quinoa salad roasted veggies, and watermelon.

Oh yum! onions, beets, potatoes, squash, zucchini, and peppers


patty pan anyone?


On Sunday mom and I went and picked 40lbs of cherries!! 30lbs of which were mine! I love being in the orchard picking fruit. It's something my mom and me have done since I was really young so its a special time:)

Then I bought a cherry pitter because I want to freeze some of them and possibly try to dry some too.

A pitted cherry outside in the sun!

So, I've been eating cherries non-stop (don't worry my stomach can handle it!) Yum! Plus I know Angela , Aimee, and Oh She Glow's Angela have some cherry recipes that I really want to try. If you have any cherry recipes that you love, let me know!

Now for a little fun! I've been running this blog since December and I want to know what you would like to see in the future. If you wouldn't mind taking a minute to vote on some of the topics, I would greatly appreciate it. The poll is on the side bar and I apologize for the light text in some areas. I don't know how to change it:( And if you have any other ideas please feel free to email me (its on the side bar now too!) or comment. Thank you!
Hope you have a wonderful day!! I'm busy getting ready for my best friend's wedding in a couple of weeks. My bridesmaid dress should be arriving shortly..wahoo! I am also organizing the stagette and I'm making them something for the big day but I have to keep it a secret!! Sorry Ky if you are reading this:)

12 comments:

Maggie said...

What a beautiful time with the family! The weather is so gorgeous right now. It's awesome you got to enjoy it with some farmer's market shopping, beach time and cherry picking!! Lucky lady! What I wouldn't give to know someone with a cherry orchard! Yummmmy!

I love your posts :) They are always filled with such wonderful detail of your life's journey :)

~Maggie

Nelly said...

omg...my mama picked 40 pounds of cherries too...and guess what i did...i bought a cherry pitter too and pitted cherries last week...and i froze a bunch!!!

i can't wait to make a cherry banana soft serve...mmmm...

sounds like you had such a lovely weekend with your mom...and what a lovely meal...and we have SOOOOO much lettuce too! finally harvested some yesterday...so good.

that little puppy is so amazingly cute!!!

have a beautiful week my friend...

ac said...

WAAAAY too many goodies to comment on in this post!

I love mulberries to death, seriously I do, although I usually only get to eat them dried. That's fine, but I crave fresh ones! Local is better!

My friend's dad uses the spine decompressor but I've yet to try it! It looks like a funky cool contraption though. :-)

And as for cherry recipes, I recently just came across one recipe idea where you just sprinkle halved cherries on top of your favourite chocolate cake recipe before baking. The final product looks absolutely stunning/gorgeous ;-)

Have a blast this week girly!
xo Aletheia

bitt said...

40 lbs of cherries! wow! Yes I made a cherry cobbler (which is also my twitter name) which was soooo good. It took forever to pit the cherries though.

Drooling over all your other goodies too. I have yet to try fresh mulberries but love them dried.

Patty pans are the cutest, yes!

Kris | iheartwellness.com said...

I will gladly vote for upcoming topics!! I love your blog so much :)

Yum, yum, yum....is all I can say for your weekend eats!!! What a cute lake :) Ahhh summer is the best time of year, isn't it?

A CHERRY PITTER??? Girl I need to rock one of these!

xxoo

Cosmic said...

Great weekend then?!!!You sure now the meaning of quality time with loved-ones, Melissa!

xoxox

Melissa said...

Hey Maggie - Check out craigslist or your local paper, there might be someone with a u-pick in your area! It's such great fun..and what's better than off-the-tree fruit!!!
Thank you for your kind words about my posts, I really appreciate it!!

Hey Nelly - WOW!! great minds think alike haha! That's awesome that you have all those cherries frozen..yum! Seriously though, 40lbs, cherry pitter...too funny!

Hey Aletheia - I should have bought more mullberries to dry!! They would be awesome:)
That cherry recipe you mentioned....Oh my yum!!

Hey Bitt - cherry cobbler..yum! And it's your twitter name?..is that a hint for me to join twitter already? LOL!
I have about 10 pounds to pit so I'm guessing some sore fingers are to come!
YAY for patty pans (I think half the cuteness is in the name:)

Hey Kris - Thank you for voting lovely! Summer is indeed the best time of year:)
Canadian tire lady for the cherry pitter...they are pretty stylin'!!!

Hey Cosmic - It was an amazing weekend! Yes, I am very blessed to be able to see my family:)

Laury @The FitnessDish said...

Ok...where so I begin...all the yummy farm fresh produce looks SO yummy!! I have never had a mulberry, thanks for the description! A cherry pitter...NO WAY!!??

The no GM picketers are awesome...I have ranted many posts and signed many petitions to try and keep that garbage out of our food! It makes me SO angry! The spinal contraption..never tried it, but BOY to I need one! Inversions are SO great for your spine..I am jealous looking at that pic while my back is screaming at me, haha

Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Hey Melissa,
What an action filled post!
Such a funny story about that guy you knew in high school...isn't it crazy how much people can change? I know how much I personally have changed since high school but I also know that a lot of people NEVER change, so it's interesting to see people after all those years...
Your raw goods look yummy! I've never tried mulberries before but I would like to. I love blackberries, so I'm sure I would love them.
As for cherries, I'm also looking forward to making those cherry recipes! I just bought a bag of frozen cherries (I finally found some...I have been looking everywhere for frozen cherries because I've been too lazy/busy to go through the process of pitting and freezing them myself. Anyway, very few places in Toronto sell frozen cherries...I was excited to find them..and they're not organic, but oh well, life is short).
As for your blog, I really love it the way it is. I love that it is not all about food. I love hearing little pieces of your daily life and when you share the things that you are experiencing at this point in life..love that! I also like to see your recipe experimentation and such, but mostly I just love to read about you and your lovely self.
Hope all is well xoxox

kelli said...

so much yumminess in this post!!! i have a lot of catching up to do on your blog!

evergreen said...

This is quite a post! Love all the pictures...Sandy is too cute! You live in a beautiful area.

Thanks for the shout-out! You know I loooove cherries too. I would be lost without my cherry pitter lately.

I also use an inversion table... almost daily, for years now. Even Dr. Oz recently recommended it on one of his shows:)

HiHoRosie said...

Fun post with some fun and tasty eats! How cool that an high school "chum" is a friendly raw-foodie now! That's so great! I've seen those spine contraptions before (my boss has one). I'd probably like it too minus the head rush. :)