Categories
Diversions

Where I spend my money – Sweet December Hats

I’m part of an online mommy group where the kids were all born in and around January 2011 (so some in December 2010 and some in February 2011 and a couple of others too). One of the moms in the group is Bethany. She lives in Colorado and has a shop on Etsy – Sweet December Hats. I absolutely love her stuff – and so does Q:

Feb. 2013
Feb. 2013

She often has a sale or something on clearance posted on her facebook page. I bought a lovely band for my niece and was poking about her etsy shop and had to order the santa hat

from sweet december hats

In fact, I ordered two – one for Q and one for my nephew H. One has a sparkly silver thread running through it so I could tell the two apart.

looking pretty cute if I do say so myself
looking pretty cute if I do say so myself

Q at first reacted as he usually does with hats “no momma, no hat” but I managed to snap the picture first. I showed it to him and he beamed “SNOW MAN HAT!” He grabbed it back from me, stuffed it back on his head and ran around the house saying “I want it to snow, I want it to snow.” Yep, he may look like Toby but he often acts like me.

I tried to get him to stop so I could record the desire for snow and he finally did – but what I got was so much better. Quentin’s Ode to Christmas.

Categories
Get Baked

Cheesecake with brownie crust – keto friendly

I really wanted to post the pictures of my recent strawberry-jam-making adventure but figured I ought to do another keto friendly recipe first. We had some good friends over for supper in June and it was a completely keto friendly menu (except for the quantity of wine of course).

yep, that's a huge hunk of meat
yep, that’s a huge hunk of meat

Toby made this huge prime rib roast and stuffed mushroom caps:

 

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before cooking
after baking...and uhm, some had been eaten
after baking…and uhm, some had been eaten

Also cheese covered summer squash, oh yea, and that prime rib thing:

arty cooking picture
arty cooking picture

But here I am supposed to be talking about the dessert!

Toby found this recipe on a website called All Day I Dream About Food and it seemed too good to be true. Let me tell you, it is pretty damn good.

This (plus cocoa powder) will be cake...
This (plus cocoa powder) will be cake…

As it was the first time I was trying the recipe I tried to follow it as closely as possible, well, except the part about melting the chocolate in the microwave. We don’t have one!

 

chocolate base
chocolate base

Chocolate, almond flour, walnuts, eggs, fake sugar, butter and vanilla all met together to form the brownie base of the cake.

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All baked. Seriously, my baking posts are kinda lame when they amount to “I followed the recipe” but still neat to see what the final product looks like made at home I think.

after it was released from the pan
after it was released from the pan

And uhm, there was much wine and talking and I forgot to take a picture of the cake after it had chilled until it was almost all gone

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Served with a dollop of whipped cream:

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It definitely makes it easier to change your approach to eating when you can eat stuff like this. Especially with good friends.

Categories
Health

Imaginary run to PEI – week 10

Maybe I should take bets… or have a contest or something about what week it’ll be when I actually GET to PEI. What do you think?

Just when I thought my running couldn’t get any worse, well, it did. Only two runs last week – including a 5k race that I was (obviously) woefully unprepared for.

On Monday we had a huge storm roll through Toronto and cause huge amounts of damage and generally make life annoying for a day or so. Toby wouldn’t let me go run at the track so I ran on the treadmill and did my intervals there. It’s hard to think that the last time I started to run (in 2008) I spent the first few months on a treadmill afraid to go outside. I swear, I only stayed in on Monday ’cause there were police alerts asking people to stay in unless absolutely necessary. There’s a TV and everything down there now but between the treadmill and the fan, it’s hard to hear the TV. Maybe I should pay attention next time to those ads “wear this device and hear sounds 100s of yards away.”

IMG_4548and there’s my ed belfour autographed goalie stick too. Clearly we didn’t have any power outages or water issues during the storm.

So I ran Monday. Then uhm. 5 days went by and the next thing you know my friend Suzy picked up my race kit and I was gonna get her Sunday morning and head up to Sunnybrook park. Wheeeee. The race was Dawn at the Don and it was pretty good. Only about 350 runners total (between the 5 and an 8k race). It wasn’t exactly cheap but overall I was satisfied with it. There was one water/gatorade station and the usual tents set up. The race kit came with a choice of hat or water bottle and the usual flyers and a treat sized chocolate. Not sure I’d go out of my way to run it again but I also wouldn’t refuse to run it (like I won’t run any of the Toronto Women’s Runs races).

flat runner; and the skirt is awesome
flat runner; and the skirt is awesome

I had a couple of bad running weeks in June but July had started really well and despite the lack of running this week I thought I’d stick with my initial plan: start recklessly fast and hold it as long as possible. I essentially pulled a number out of a hat and thought I’d go at 6 min/km (my previous best 5 km race time worked out to 6:57 min/km) and hold it as long as I could. I was aiming for 15 minutes. I lasted 5. True it was warm (over 30 with the humidity) but man oh man was it too much!

My garmin messed up, or rather I messed up with my garmin, so I didn’t know the time or distance since the start just my current pace. Suzy tracks her runs on the map my run app and she says we did the first mile in 9:47 which was awesome. We did the 3rd in 11:47 (or thereabouts) which is much less awesome. Suzy though, all round awesome. She stuck with me and listened to me complain about my ribs hurting to breathe etc. She encouraged but never made fun of. And at the end she sped up a little knowing I’d do my best to keep up and then she slowed right down at the end so that I’d pass the line first. She knew how much I wanted to beat my best time and, even though she could have left me behind half way through and finished far earlier, she got it into her head that she was gonna get me through it. I have some pretty nifty friends don’tcha think?

The official time has us crossing at 34:11 which would be a PR by about 30 seconds for me from the Toronto Challenge on June 9. Suzy had us timed at about 34:50 so I have my doubts about the official time but as that’s what I’ve used for all my races that’s what I’ll use here.

I told Toby afterwards that I’d just have to run more 5ks if I want to be able to work past that “oh my goodness my lungs are on fire” feeling (or wait for more suitable temps). If I want to get better at them then I have to do more of them. BUT I’m not so sure I care enough about them to want to get better at them. I mean, I guess I will as I lose weight generally and get stronger running the longer races but I don’t want to fuss about a 5k. I LOVED the 10 miler I did in 2009. I LOVED the 15k night race. Those were great distances. Clearly, I love half marathons. I have no desire to go further (except if the Around the Bay is on my birthday again) and really, no desire to race 5kms. Except of course the compulsive part of me wants a PR under 30 so I’m gonna have to keep trying.

Only 14 k last week so I’m just going to add it to next week’s total when I map it out on my journey to PEI.

Categories
Health

Fitness Friday (July 12/13) – the US are coming…

It’s been a week. Sigh. I fell out of tracking and exercising got pushed aside for play time with Q and, well, just resting and being lazy.

And yet somehow I’m down 1.5 pounds for a total of 27 pounds. Or a little over 12 kg. Not too shabby overall but it hit me today that I’d be doing a lot better if I applied myself.

Applying myself eh? Lately I’ve been coasting in a lot of things. Gotta figure out what I want to do and why and how. Prioritize.

Jeez, sound all very meta there. Oh well. Like I said it’s been a week. And thankfully there will be another one starting soon 😀

Oh and Toby’s big meal experiment of the week was Indian food – he made paneer! Saag paneer, beef rogan gosh and gobi gobi (cabbage and cauliflower – the cauliflower was good; cabbage is still really only good when it is encasing ground meats and rice).

And the title? On July 12, 1812 US Brigadier General Hull crossed the Detroit River and thus began the first US invasion in the War of 1812.

Categories
Family

He is his father’s son

Seriously, I was there. I was involved! But gosh does Q take after his dad.

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They’ve smiled the same since the beginning:

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The same awesome blue eyes

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Even when one of them is sleeping

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Doesn’t matter which

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Or being, well, themselves:

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And he’s definitely got his dad’s dance moves.