A month of food

I think maybe we eat out more often than we gave ourselves credit for - oopps. A month of evening meal journalling certainly opened a few eyes around here. In our defence we spent several weekends away (and enjoyed our beloved and much missed Olive Garden experience on an overnighter in Spokane!). Another weekend we biked so hard and so far that we arrived in town in Kaslo, BC & Grand Coulee, WA after all the restaurants and closed or stopped serving food so had 2 nights in a row subsisting on bags of potato chips and Bloody Mary's (it's spicy, cold tomato soup right - so it's kinda food!)

But whatever our excuses here is July in Food, in all it's glory...

(not all meals shown....you probably didn't need to see a bag of Miss Vickies chips right?!)

It's always great to try out a new recipie and find out it was great and it's gonna be a keeper. It doesn't happen too often (we love our regular favs) but this month I added a new dish to the list - Hummus Crusted Halibut. It was so simple too - and here's my first ever recipe share on this blog;

Hummus Crusted Halibut
- Halibut fillets
- Hummus (we used a spicy variety for some added kick!)
- Coarse breadcrumbs (I always chop up those last couple of grotty slices and crusts left in the bag of sliced bread and pop them in the freezer in a ziplock so I always have breadcrumbs on hand)
- Freshly chopped herbs (Whatever takes your fancy - I plucked some oregano and parsley from my herb planter this time)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper

Directions;
Spread the hummus onto the fillets of fish, Mix the herbs and S&P with the breadcrumbs then pat into the hummus paste, then drizzle with olive oil. I loosely wrapped them in foil and baked on the BBQ at around 375-400 degrees. When the fish is nearly cooked open up the foil so the breadcrumbs can crisp up a bit! Great with a salad or roasted veg (that's what we had this particular time)


Digital scrap page designed using papers & elements from 'Sisters at heart' digi kit by Tami Miller

The road ahead...(about 13.1miles ahead to be precise)

So today I did it. Signed my life away....that 10km race I signed up for a couple of months back just on a whim (and then proceeded to do nothing about for at least a month after) Remember?! Well today in the space of a 2 minute phone call that 10km race grew to 21km - gulp - uh-oh!!

I am officially registered for the Okanagan 1/2 marathon on the 10th October. My FIRST 1/2 Marathon. And joking aside I'm excited too! I can't wait to put myself through a challenge I never thought I'd be prepared to do and I *think* I'll be just fine (just don't ask me how I'm feeling the week running up to the event because I AM sure of one thing - I WILL be a quivering, nervous wreck full of self-doubt that particular week!)

And I owe it almost entirely to this little device. The best $25 I've spent in a long time. The Nike+ sensor. Slip it in a pouch on your shoe, sync it with your iTouch/Phone and off you go - music on the go, a running log and personal trainer all rolled into one! It's awesome! And you've gotta smile when Paula Radcliffe gives you a pat on the back for your longest run to date or Lance Armstrong congratulates you for your new PB time! (yes, yes - little things please little minds!). Since getting the device at the end of June I've logged over 115miles! And I'm LOVING it!

I admit I've been chewing over the 1/2 marathon a few weeks. Once I got stuck back into a running routine of 3-4 times a week the 10km suddenly didn't seem so much of a challenge. I've done maybe 8 or 9 10km races in my humble running career (even if the most recent was 4 years ago with next to no aerobic activity in the last year at least) but I was up to distance and pace within the first 2 weeks! Having always previously aimed to simply complete I used to be stuck in a rut in terms of pace and never really improved. This time round it felt different. I wanted to be better, faster. I was running longer distances (so as to make the 10km seem easier on the day!) but I realised I could push myself and go further still - to the next level entirely!!

I started reading up on all sorts of 1/2 marathon training plans and starting pushing the distances of my runs (All the while keeping the idea to myself). I eventually mentioned it to Chris a week or two ago but today I actually made the switch with the registration.

Things felt different. I originally started running again 1) because I knew I had to do some exercise because let's face it - I'm of an age that I have to make the effort to prevent bingo wings and muffin tops and 2) When I kept moaning about the increasing figures on the scales I got bored of Chris telling me to quit moaning and to do something about it (he had a point)

But now the figures on the scale don't matter at all (just as well because they seriously haven't shifted in 6 weeks - go figure). I don't feel like I'm running because I need to or have to - I'm doing it cause I WANT to (you know when you were a kid and you took exercise for granted - you did it just because it was fun, not with the ulterior motive of health/fitness/weight control? - well that's how it feels right now) Honestly I'm scared as heck that this is a fad and I'll burn out or get bored - but for now I'm riding the wave!

And last weekend I ran my first 10 miler - my first double digit run! And I could have auditioned for the role of the Cheshire Cat right there and then (more so when Lance started gobbing off in my ear!!) - Go me!!

10 Things today

1. Have just eaten a whole punnet of fresh raspberries that I bought from this mornings farmers market in about 10 minutes flat (thank goodness Chris doesn't like them to have wanted to share)
2. He would, however have wanted to share the Spicy Samosa that I also picked up and prompty scoffed for lunch
3. Still smokey out there - darn forest fires. A sure sign of summer in the Okanagan sadly
4. Only 50 days till I fly to Vegas for Inspiration Unlimited and get some creating time with great friends
5. Considering cancelling the subscription to Zip.ca - our DVD rental plan. I mean we only subscribe to 2 rentals per month and we still don't watch them! We just don't watch TV! And I love being able to say that!
6. Need to re-do my toe nail polish - love having painted nails for summer. Might have to buy some orange polish to match my fav summer blouse (OK so it's more orangey coral rather than the fruit! - because that would just be plain scary)
7. Wants to use the BBQ more. But then you can't bbq salad can you, and we're eating a lot of salad at the moment
8. Is loving running at the moment. So far so good. But the whole point of this exercise marlarky was to loose a few pounds, and I think the scales must be broken...
9. Is fascinated that they use helicoptors to fly low over the fruit trees to dry them out after a summer downpour
10. Wonders should I be concerned that when I recall the first 10 things on my mind right now 3 of them concern food (4 if you count the fruit on the trees)...

Happy Wednesday :-)

The fun we had at City Chase Kelowna

Oh boy - WHAT A DAY!! I seriously can't remember the last time I had this much fun, with this much adrenalin pumping for this long and got this good of a workout all in the name of the game!! Saturday was City Chase Kelowna. City Chase is actually a global event - dubbed 'the largest urban adventure series'. Think a city-wide version of The Amazing Race - somewhere crossed between a scavenger hunt and obstacle course. And this was pretty much the most information we had going into the event ourselves! So really we weren't sure what we were letting ourselves in for, but it sounded like fun!

All around the city are ChasePoints. In the Kelowna event there were 17 points - the winning team of 2 is the one to collect 10 points and cross the line first - simple eh?! The course was open for 6 hours. As the air horn blew at 10am our first direction was where to go and collect the clue sheet from - on the top floor of the nearby multi-storey parkade of course!! From there we had to decipher the clues to figure out the location and at the same time were given a hint of just what the challenge could be; Our first destination was Gyro Beach - a quick bus journey away (oh and the rules meant only foot or public transit could be used - we got complimentary day trip transit passes). The clue was; ENOAC: Abbreviate this orientation-stabling device, add beach and get ready to get bass ackwards! - See simple!! On our way there we kinda stumbled our way into our first 2 chasepoints - having to hold a crocodile for 20 seconds - which was very cool!! And the other we had a choice of finding some doggie-doo or eating dog food - we went with the dog food option (though I think it may have been re-fried beans - still made you gag though!)
From there Kelowna transit slowed our progress with a 1/2 hour wait before catching a ride to the local casino to play DJ Bingo - great fun actually - guess the tune - match it up with the number on the jukebox sheet and mark off on your bingo sheet. We got bingo pretty quick but with the unfortunate reward of one of us having to eat a live worm to complete the Chasepoint (and this is why I partnered with my game-on husband - thank you dear!) Some serious marching/jogging along to the local beauty college to complete a french braid on a model - together - one hand each tied behind our backs!! Interesting - and trust me - don't ever ask either of us to do ANYTHING to your hair!! (I think the hair stylist took pity on us to give us our point and letting us move on!)

We got four more points all pretty close together. First stop the firehall to do a few fireman training drills, then put up a tent at Valhalla Pure Outfitters and find a member of the public to sit in the tent with us and sing campfire songs for 30 seconds (we smoked the tent putting-up and we found a willing and game volunteer to help us out!), Chris climbed a wall blindfolded with me directing him at The Crux Climbing centre (ok really he just scrambled and felt his way up quicker than I could get the words out! - It helped having done it before I'm sure we got that pretty quick too!) Finally in this particular vicinity a stop at one of the major series sponsors Mitsubishi Motors to do a 4 wheel change. Man - why do Wal-mart want my car for 1 hour when they do this job?! Just get me and Chris to do the job and you'll be on your way in less than 10 minutes! (though my little finger wouldn't appreciate the abuse as we clocked our first mini injury of the day after I tried putting the wheel on single-handedly - woman - step away from the grease-monkey jobs!)
Back into downtown for our final Chasepoint and the finish line. And we chose our longest challenge of the day to end on (you don't know what you're gonna get till you get there so we didn't know this beforehand). A mini scavenger hunt in City Park. We were each given a loaner Blackberry phone and had to communicate with each other using the messenger service. Chris stayed at the Chasepoint whilst I did an Anneka Rice all over City Park and the nearby beach & marina (OK so maybe only our Brit friends might know who the hell Anneka Rice was - the rest of you can google it - I highly recommend finding some Youtube videos - my oh my - it takes me back - hilarious show was Treasure Hunt!!) anyway, I digress...after nearly 40 minutes we had our 10 Chasepoints in hand and made our way back to the finish line.

We finished a respectable 37th out of 90 teams and crossed the finish line at 4hr54mins. Every single minute was a blast! The top placed team crossed the line at an even 3 hours - even they admitted they'd got lucky with the transit on the day but even so - they were fast! Good for them - the top placed teams won a variety of prizes (Blackberry phones, expenses paid trip to compete in the Vancouver event with the chance to represent Canada in the world champs, Subway gift cards, Barefoot Bubbly wines, Sirius Radios etc.) But for most of us - it was just the fun of competing and completing the course.
I had intended to write all this last night but flippin' heck I was pretty spent - physically and mentally! What an awesome day.

Finally I would like to thank everyone who generously sponsored us online in aid of the charity Right to Play. We raised $180 and had an early advantage towards our first Chasepoint. So again thank you all - you know who you are!

This was the first year City Chase has come to Kelowna - so I very much hope it'll be back next year - I will be in line to sign up first!! Go and check out the global site and find a City Chase global event near you!

Where did the last 3 weeks go..?

I'm only just settling back into a 'normal' routine after 3 weeks of visitors - not that I'm complaning. It's been wonderful spending time with visiting family. At the end of May we actually had 5 visitors - my brother from Wales, Uncle & Aunt from SoCal and my parents from England. Thankfully that was just the long weekend - with some bad influences in the house we had a couple of dawn bedtimes and the liquor store wouldn't take the large quantities of empties back in one go...(but seriously guys - it was great to have you, once I've finished drying myself out I'll be ready for another sess!) Unfortunately for all of them the Okanagan wasn't displaying itself in it's best sunlight - the weather this last month has been lousy. On the upside winery tasting rooms are pretty much all indoors...

(The big green monster is 'Ogopogpo' - a Loch Ness monster type who lives in a cave under an island in the middle of Lake Okanagan....apparently! And if you see the real deal there is a considerable reward - for now though we just pose our visitors next to the fibre-glass version in downtown Kelowna!)

We've been busy round the house. Chris finally got the help and motivation from my Dad to build a new workbench in his man-cave - aka the garage (now I really will never see him!). I got a new mini display shelf in my craft room and I've been growing veggies and herbs with some success (well - so far so good!) I decided not to go the whole hog this year with a veggie garden so I've got a little collection of pots out on the deck, and see how I get on.

Another kind of visitor that we're delighted to have around this summer...

A lucky or very patient photographer - you decide!! (Chris not me!) The very ugly red plastic hummingbird feeder from Walmart might be an eyesore (anyone tell me where I can get a pretty one?) but the birds LOVE it! I've been topping up the sugar solution once a week!! I could sit out and watch these cuties for hours! I've even see them perch on the top of the tomato stake - never seen them sit still before!

And finally we are PERMANENT RESIDENTS OF CANADA. This is the culmination of our dream that got underway 3.5 years ago. The paperwork is all done, medicals passed , vast quantities of money thrown at the government, criminal checks done and the man from CIC - he say Yes!! We are thrilled that our dream has become our reality. Thank you Canada - we'll be good promise!

What have I done?!...

In a moment of sheer madness and spontaneity I signed myself up for my first 10K run since 2006. This should be interesting....

I thought some sort of aim/target might work as motivation to actually go running. That and I wanted some new Lululemon pants and I needed an excuse to get them!

A Dirty weekend...

This weekend was my first foray into Moto-X. It was a 'Ride for the Cure' event raising money for Breast Cancer and Chris's shop was putting together a team and I was all set to be a part of it. When we pulled up to the track I just felt sick; It was huge with big berms and whoop-dee-dos and corners (because I'm not awfully keen on corners) OMG. What had I let myself in for? After a riders brief my day got marginally brighter when I was told since I was on a 'small (150cc) bike' and was a beginner I could ride on the baby beginners track. It got even brighter when I started beating 4-year olds on the straights (OK so the 5 year olds were still whooping my ass!). Seriously though once I got the hang of it, fallen off a couple of times and put in a few laps it was fun! Really good fun! And maybe sometime I'll have to go back and ride the big boys course (because arguably the track was wider so the corners weren't as tight so maybe in theory easier?!) Ha!

Chris and I both rode, though unfortunately it was at the same time so I got no photos of him (but he did look fetching in his pink t-shirt and more pink tassles on his handlebars too!) We had a great day with a good team spirit from the Southwest Motorrad crew and the best bit was the event raised $20,000 for Breast Cancer research!

Now if you'll excuse me whilst I go finish off trying to get all the dust and dirt out of nooks and crannies I never knew existed...