In literature -  The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure

The book itself is only ok; it’s certainly not bad but it won’t be my new favorite either.  What I’m loving is the way that McClure helps me to remember my own Little House aspirations.

When I was a kid I was obsessed with all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books.  I went as Laura for several Halloweens and she formed the basis of most of my make-believe. I was particularly interested in traveling by covered wagon.  The books didn’t give me much to go on, but I somehow decided that wagon travel was hot.

Embarrassing story - When I played “wagon” I would start by closing the windows and turning off the fans.  It’s important to note here that I grew up on an island in the Caribbean.  Next I would put on most of my Laura gear, usually two long-sleeved shirts and two long calico skirts.  Finally I’d borrow every quilt from the linen closet.  Then I’d curl up in the comforters in my sweat box of a room and sit sorting buttons until my mom or dad came and saved me from boiling to death.

In television – The LA Complex.

Canadian TV wins again!  I’ve ended up loving it even though I only started watching because the cast includes Jewel Staite (aka Kaylee from “Firefly” and Keller from “Stargate: Atlantis”).  There’s acting, back-stabbing, meaningless sex, self-harm, and porn.  Sure it’s soap-y and overly dramatic, but it’s also occasionally touching and often funny.

In music - “Silent Comedy” by Bartholomew

The promos for the “Hatfields and McCoys” mini-series practically make me tear up!  I’ve been walking around the apartment singing this all week.

What are you loving this week?

I managed another morning workout today, though I overslept a bit and didn’t have a ton of time.  25 minutes on the elliptical, level 6 random.

Breakfast was exciting; our teacher kindly brought in bagels!

I had an everything bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

I totally used the cream cheese to “sop up” the fallen sprinkles of onion and poppy-seed.  My friend Hillary and I laughed because when we finished eating her plate was spotted and mine was bare.

We are getting ServSafe certified in summer school and we did our first 8 hours today.  I took the course in college when I worked at the on-campus bar but I mostly seem to remember the strange questions.  For example – When can raw, unpackaged meat be offered for self-service? (answer found at the bottom of this post).

Lunch was tasty, but I went more than a little overboard on the sodium.

3 oz of bread and butter pickle slices.

1 serving of pretzel twists.

2 servings of turkey pepperoni.

Mustard to dip it all in.

I didn’t even finish the last quarter of the pretzels and pepperoni and I joked that I could actually taste the hypertension.

Our new classroom (we switched rooms three times the first day!) was freezing so I also bought a coffee for warmth.

With skim milk and three sugars.

Speaking of sugar… I got a coupon for a free donut from Dunkin yesterday and you know I wasn’t going to turn that down.

That star is an Undercover Black Cocoa Donut.  It was delicious.  Like seriously delicious.  And I actually don’t even like donuts; craving one felt like the strangest thing ever.

And since I don’t like donuts (you know I’m a froyo/Ben and Jerry’s/bubble tea girl) I’m able to say with a straight face that dinner was even more delicious.

Adam and I have been super obsessed with Indian take-out this year, particularly chicken and paneer Makhani.  It tastes fantastic but the habit is expensive and I don’t even want to know how many calories we’re taking in.  We can’t seem to shake the addiction so it seems like the solution needs to be making our own Indian dishes at home.

I’m not ready to make the sauces from scratch but I picked up this Butter Chicken Simmer Sauce from Patak and I think we’re in business!

It was very creamy and just a little bit spicy.  And for 150 calories for a third of the bottle it’s not as scary as the restaurant version!

I started dinner by rehydrating a handful of raisins in hot water.  Meanwhile, I toasted a handful of cashews in a big skillet.  I added the raisins, ~7 oz of chicken, 1 Tbsp butter, and 1 cup of sauce to the skillet and let it simmer for a bit.  I served my portion on top of a pile of roasted broccoli.

Delicious.  Seriously delicious.

Answer: At Mongolian barbeques

Here’s what I’m wishing for this week -

1.  Essie nail polish in A Crewed Interest.

The photo of the bottle makes it seem nude, but I saw a picture of this color painted on in a magazine and it was actually peach.  It seems like a nice summer-y color.  Perhaps I could do this with one finger done in teal.

2.  The Honey do Shampoo and Conditioner Set from A Beautiful Life.

Holy frick those are cute!  Growing up we always reused honey bears as dish-soap containers so these would make my shower feel like home.  And you really can’t go wrong with honey scented bath items.

3.  Cinnamon Glazed Pecans from Schermer Pecans.

Here’s what they say – “Roasted with just a hint of salt before receiving a sweet candy coating in our circa 1940s copper caldrons and a hand-tossing in our proprietary blend of cinnamon and vanilla sugar.”  Here’s what I say – Yum!  These would be good on oatmeal, with ice cream, or in snazzy trail mix.

4.  Kona Coffee & Sugar Detox Whole Body Scrub from Pacifica.

We’ve got peach, honey, and cinnamon pecan, how about coffee?  Kona is the husband’s favorite and it feels fancy in any application.  The product review are all glowing and several mention that the scrub takes years off of their skin.  Sounds good to me!

5.  Raspberry Crush Lip and Cheek Stain from Stilla.

Let’s end with berries.  Sidenote – now I’m starving for a plain Greek yogurt topped with peaches, raspberries, and honey!  I used to buy this Stilla stain in college and something about the packaging just makes me happy.  I’m not brave enough to use this color on my cheeks, but I love it on my lips.

What are you hungry for this week?

Bike Or Bar, the new spinning gym on Elmwood, offers a free trial class to all newbies. A friend and I decided to try it out with 6am spin.  I was worried that the wake-up would be brutal but I was so excited that it was ok.  I used to hate spinning so my expectations weren’t very high but I ended up loving it!  The intervals were a lot of fun.  The instructor had great energy and I enjoyed the modern music.  A mega plus is that the space is set up to mimic a bar; with the dimmed lighting, strobe lights, and loud music I didn’t feel on display like I do in stark white gyms.  I can’t afford another membership right now but if we had more money I would definitely go back!  60 minute spin class.

The real morning excitement was getting to pick Webster up from boarding.

The vet’s office was closed for the holiday and the apartment has felt empty without him the past two days.

Breakfast was a green pear,

and a Banana Foster Lara Bar Uber.

A quick note on the bar – this was a free blog sample.  Lara Bar sent me the flavors from their new Uber line to try out.

The Uber line is supposed to be sweet and salty with big pieces of fruit and nut.  It delivered!  Just look at this texture -

There were lots of nuts and big chunks of chewy banana.  The flavor was salty and just a little sweet and you couldn’t taste the date at all (the only thing I dislike about regular Lara Bars is the overwhelming date flavor).  I can’t wait to try the other three flavors.

When we were at spin class Janessa gave me the awesome news that class didn’t start until 9 am today.  We took advantage of the extra time and went to Dunkin for coffee.

I’m not really sure why the woman gave me so much milk.  I got a large latte with skim milk and coconut/cinnamon syrup.  ‘Twas good.  And fun to have done spinning and coffee before 9am.

Summer school is going to suck.  That’s all I’ll say about that for now.

For lunch I packed a turkey sandwich.  Applegate Farms Smoked Turkey, French Onion Light Laughing Cow, and a Cinnamon Raisin Bagel Thin.

Baby carrots.

And some dark chocolate mint m&m’s.

After school I made my final trek to the Sprint Store.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned all of my visits but I’ve had to take my phone in three times over the past two weeks.  This was the last time every because today I picked up my *new* phone.  And since I had to come in so many times before the waived all fees and it was free!

I sat at Panera setting up my phone (my new phone! for the final time!) and ate a chocolate croissant.

It was surprisingly good.  Chocolate croissants are a favorite food that I almost never eat.

When dinner time rolled around I did some hardcore wife-ing.  I roasted a whole chicken!

I followed a recipe from Kitchen Counter Cooking School and it was easy as pie chicken.  We started with a 3 lb 8 oz free-range bird.  I made a mixture of butter, lemon juice, and fresh rosemary that I rubbed under and on top of the skin.  Then I stuffed the inner cavity with the juiced lemons and a few bulbs of garlic.  Baked at 425* for 1 hr 15 minutes with occasional basting.

It turned out wonderfully!

I ate a chicken thigh sans skin.

With sides of roasted zucchini,

and sliced carrots cooked in brown sugar and butter.

It was a winner of a dinner.

Though not that appropriate for the weather.  Bring on the chilled salads and gazpacho.

Smoothies for dessert helped us to cool back down.

For two, I blended – 1.75 cups Silk Vanilla Almond Milk, .25 cup frozen blueberries, 1 large frozen banana, 3 Tbsp malted milk powder, and 1/2 Tbsp almond extract.

It was a good mix.  I need to remember my almond extract more often.

See you for hump day.

Let’s think about something more pleasant, shall we?  Like s’mores.

Or better yet, s’mores cookies.  S’mores Monster Cookies.

You can never go wrong with s’mores!  And here the peanut butter, oats, marshmallow combination works like a dream.

I took these to the bbq yesterday and got rave reviews.  I asked the husband to help me describe them and got – “the best f**king cookies ever.”  Not helpful, but thank you!

I used these neat Jet Puffed Vanilla Mallow Bits for my cookies.  But I imagine that mini marshmallows would work as well.

S’mores Monster Cookies, yields 12 monster-sized cookies

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 3 sheets graham crackers, roughly crumbled
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup Jet Puffed Vanilla Mallow Bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Line ungreased baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg.  In order – add sugars, vanilla, baking soda, butter, and peanut butter, mixing well.
3. Use a spatula to fold in graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, and mallow bits.
4. Scoop dough with a 1/4 cup measuring cup and roll into balls.  Evenly space four balls per baking sheet.
5. Bake 13 – 15 minutes until browned.

We started our day with a workout.  We also started our day late because I was up until 4 am writing my Canada recap, but that’s another story.  Once we were out of bed we did 10 sets of 1:30 running/3:30 walking.  The same route as the other day, but this time I sprinted for the last 20 – 40 seconds of each run.  My sprint is the husband’s jog, but what can you do?  50 minutes and 4.2 miles.  I covered .3 miles more than the last time I did this workout!

I didn’t have time for breakfast because I was frantically baking, but that’s not a bad problem to have.  We went to a bbq this afternoon and came bearing gifts of Tropical Fruit White Sangria and S’mores Monster Cookies.  I’m typing the cookie recipe up to post tomorrow and the sangria recipe is at the end of this post.

I will mention now that the sangria was damn delicious.

I had two big glasses over the course of the afternoon.

It went down like water but it really packed a wallop; Michelle ended up having to lie down!

Our friends Ethan and Hannah invited us and another couple over for a backyard bbq.

The weather was perfect!  We got hot and sweaty playing badminton.

And Ethan was a master behind the grill.  I followed Patrick’s lead and topped my chicken sausage with bbq chips.

Plus onions and ketchup.

I also had a skewer of pineapple, green pepper, and chicken that Michelle marinated with some Asian flavors.

Watermelon balls.

And a S’mores Monster Cookie.

Mmmn!  Everyone gave the cookies two thumbs up and Adam and I came home with an empty container.

When the fun was over I finally got down to business and set up my binders from last semester.

That has been on my to-do list since the first day of vacation!  Better late than never?

Dinner was a veggie affair.

Roasted green beans.

Plus a hash of sorts.  Made with 1 Tbsp butter, 1 yellow onion, ~ 1 cup of sliced okra, a 6 oz potato, several glugs of apple cider vinegar, a few dashes of Green Tabasco, and ~ 1 tsp each brown sugar and smoked paprika.

The “hash” ended up tasting exactly like I wanted it to!  I love the tang of vinegar with potatoes.

And I had a tiny bowl of mint chip for dessert.

Summer school starts tomorrow and I’m meeting a friend to workout beforehand (at 6am!) so I’ve got to get to bed.  Hope everyone else had a good day.

Tropical Fruit White Sangria, serves 6 – 8

• 4 cups sliced fresh pineapple
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 750 mL bottle Riesling
• 1 cup Cruzan Guava Rum
• 20 oz lemon lime soda

1. Place pineapple in a large pitcher.  Pour in sugar and muddle with a large wooden spoon.
2. Add wine and rum and let sit for 24 hours.
3. Pour in soda just before serving.

Our Saturday did get off to a bit of a late start; we had a tragedy Friday night.

We were cutting Webster’s nails and Adam did two of them too short and he bled.  The worst part was that he is such a good boy – and was so focused on the treat in my hand – that he just sat there and we didn’t know there was a problem until there was blood dripping down my leg.

He mostly seemed fine, but I cried.  Thank goodness we board him at the vet so he was well looked after while we were gone.  He was due for a stool sample and vaccine too so the timing was great.

But we did miss him like crazy!

Once we were on the road I snacked on a Cara Cara orange.

Plus a Rockstar Relax I bought along the way.

I’ll just warn you in advance, my allergies make my throat hurt and I basically did nothing but drink all weekend.  I think the final count was eight beverages, not including the giant water bottle I carried around in my purse.

Before we knew it, we had reached Toronto!

We settled in at our hotel.

Then we spent hours exploring the Asian section of town.

We saw so many neat things and we walked for-ev-er.  Plus we ate tons of good food.  The first order of business was bubble tea.

Adam and I split this taro milk tea with boba.

Mmmmn!

Then we split a sugar cane juice.

We both grew up with sugar cane – me in St. Thomas and Adam on vacations in Hawaii – so this was familiar and fun.

Totally new to us was this cool shop where you went around with tongs and picked out items to put on a tray.  Then you paid and they packaged your selection to go.

We got a chicken bun and a pork bun.  I ate half of mine.

And Adam and I split this taro pastry.

So pretty!

We split these gummi moo cows from a candy shop.

We stopped in at a David’s Tea.

I got an iced (unsweetened) Cream of Earl Grey and it was very tasty.

I’ve wanted to order some of their flavors for forever (birthday cake! ice cream cake! buttered rum!) so it was great to try it out.

Our lunch spot was selected because I liked the windows.

It ended up being a pho restaurant.

We went all out and ordered two milkshakes.

Jackfruit and durian!!

Trying durian is on my life list so this was super exciting.  The shakes ended up being made with powder instead of the real deal but it was fun to get an idea of the flavor.  I only drank a quarter or so of each but they were nice to have when my meal got spicy.

My order was sautéed mixed vegetables with tofu and vermicelli.

Which I proceeded to douse in Sriracha.

I mean douse.  I covered the dish just like this twice more and I didn’t even eat the whole meal.

Gaaaaah; it was so flipping good!

Our exploration took us almost 5 miles.  When we went to shower we both needed thirty minutes to lay on the bed with our feet up!

Our evening plans were decided by our Living Social deal, which included dinner and a movie.  Dinner was from a pre-fixe menu at the hotel’s restaurant.  We were not expecting it to be very good and we were not surprised.  But you can’t beat free.

The complimentary bread was wonderful.

But it went downhill from there.

I ordered the Caesar salad to start.

The menu said that it came with shaved parmigiano reggiano and authentic anchovy dressing but it was definitely canned cheese and bottled dressing.  The one plus was that the dressing came on the side.  I ate 3/4.

My main meal was pasta.  “Smoked chicken/charred sweet bell peppers/black olives/toasted pine nuts/shaved parmigiano reggiano/extra virgin olive oil and basil pesto.”

I ate 1/3.

We were fairly disenchanted at that point so we took dessert to go.

Meyer lemon cheesecake with huckleberry jam, chantilly cream, and seasonal berries.  That I finished.

For our movie we selected “The Five Year Engagement.”  It was pretty cute.  I stole a few handfuls of Adam’s Crazy Core Skittles while we watched.

It was fun to walk to and from the movie but by the time we were back at the hotel I was done with exploring and more than ready for bed!

After a good night’s sleep we woke up on Sunday raring to go.

Our 2nd day was a shorter version of our first; walking and eating.  This time we explored Bloor Street.

We were planning on going to Menchies (duh!) when we spotted a new froyo spot further down the street.

Yogurty’s was fantabulous!

I got espresso and coconut frozen yogurts topped candy bits, coconut, cocoa syrup, sprinkles and a cherry.

We both thought it was the best self-serve froyo we’ve ever had.

I also had a final bubble tea.

A black milk tea with boba.

And when we spotted one of these fancy machines you know we had to try it out.

My diet cherry coke was only ok but the process was cool.  And diet pop is always a good way to end a vacation.  After a bit more exploring we drove back home.  You already saw the rest of the day.

Self-serve froyo?  Bubble tea?  Lots of walking?  Trying new foods?  Check, check, check, and check; it was a wonderful trip!

We actually got back to Buffalo this afternoon but the day’s been packed and I’m just now sitting down.  I’m going to do a mega vacation recap tomorrow, so for today I’ll stick with things consumed on US soil.

Like the medium Americano with skim milk and two sugars that Adam and I split just minutes after crossing the border.

For some reason I’d been craving milk and coffee all weekend and this hit the spot.

We also split a pack of Snyder’s Bacon Cheddar Pretzel Pieces.

They were okay, but basically tasteless compared with the honey mustard ones.

On a healthier note, I drank this sludge.

It was actually delicious.  I mixed this pack of Amazing Grass GREENSuperFood into orange juice and a bit of Silk Vanilla Almond Milk.

I got the idea from the way Jamba Juice used to sell wheatgrass.

Most of the afternoon was spent on errands but I did sneak in a stroll.  We did a ton of walking this weekend but my legs wanted to stretch out after ride home.  Plus, I spotted this from the car and I really needed to check it out -

Awesome.

Our late lunch was stir-fried rice.

Into the pan went varying amounts of -

• evoo
• sliced carrots
• frozen peas
• leftover rice
• eggs
• tomato
• pineapple
• rice vinegar

Topped with Sriracha.

It was quite good.

With two gummi bottle candies for dessert.

The red and blue was disgusting but the cola one was great.

We weren’t ready for the fun to end so we headed out to dinner.

Adam opened up my “Buffalo to Try” bookmarks and picked at random.  We ended up at Black Rock Kitchen and Bar.

It was fun but the final consensus is that we won’t be back.  Everything was good-ish but somehow not quite right.

We started with a cheese plate.

And I ordered the shrimp po’ boy.

I traded half of my sandwich for Adam’s eggplant panini with tomato, pesto, and marscapone.

All total I ate the equivalent of 3/4 of a sandwich.  Nothing was bad but the flavors were all slightly too strong; lots of pepper.

We split a bowl of mint chip when we got home.

This wasn’t quite right either.  You can’t win them all!

The husband and I got in a fight and the next day he brought me flowers.

And more importantly he brought me green juice.

We found another new froyo place!!

Also this happened -

I didn’t cave but I really wanted to.  It’s funny because pork is the thing I feel most strongly about not eating but it’s also the meat I’d probably enjoy the most!

And I started my Saturday with a “run.”  1:30 running/3:30 walking, x8.  Plus 5 minutes to cool down and finish my loop = 45 minutes and 1.78 miles.

We have really fun plans for today and I can’t wait to tell y’all all about it!

Breakfast was a cereal bowl.

A serving each of Honey Nut Shredded Wheat and All Bran Bran Buds with skim milk.

Plus a green pear eaten on the walk to school.

First I went to the gym.  20 minutes on the elliptical at random level 6.  Then 10 minutes of strength and stretch moves.  Between two days of machines at the gym and tennis, my right arm is killing me!

Then I went to get my PPD read.  Surprise… I don’t have TB!  Were you holding your breath?

Lunch was snacky.  First, apple dippers.

A sliced Honeycrisp,

with 2 Tbsp each peanut butter and Heath crumbles.

Then a slice of cheddar.

Finally, two mini bags of popcorn.

And yes, I realize that completely defeats the purpose of mini bags.

My dinner plate looked sort of silly but I just didn’t have the energy for carbs or veggies.  There were veggies in the sauce!

The chicken was tasty though.  It was my version of the Coconut-Tomatillo Pork Chops recipe from Shape.

My changes -

• 1 lb of chicken subbed for the pork
• cumin, banana leaves, and bay leaves were skipped
• 3 Tbsp pickled jalapeños and 1 Tbsp Green Tabasco were subbed for the peppers
• I only used two cans of coconut milk and 1 of them was light
• chicken stock was skipped

Part of the reason I’m cranky is because I’ve been hungry all day.  Adam and I have to run to Tops in a bit (he’s bringing breakfast for his team tomorrow) and I’m definitely going to buy a snack while I’m out.  I’ll update later.