Jun
18
Daily Addiction
Filed Under Calgary, food, leah | 12 Comments
Since I live with the Culinary Master of Canada, I get to enjoy a wide array of delectable meals on a daily basis. Seriously, he will concoct up an amazing meal, cook it for me and leave it in the fridge for me to eat at night, or spend three hours cooking for me in the evenings (we eat late dinners – visitors take this as your warning!). He has a huge imagination when it comes to food, and comes up with taste creations that I never thought even existed. Recently, he has started grilling fruit. I don’t know if this is a regular practice, but man, it should be. The boy will throw any fruit on the grill, and it comes off tasting better than that fruit has tasted before. Last night I decided to document it, because I wanted to share the goods. 
Last night Tim did a surf and turf, pictures is steak, asparagus, red peppers and … peaches!!! There was also some extremely fresh halibut searing in the oven. We are very meat and veggie heavy in our household. No need for fluff like pasta or potatoes. Unless it’s risotto, which in that case is a whole other story altogether. There is always room for more risotto.
Tim used the grilled peaches to make a grilled peach chutney, which he seasoned with mint and was the best thing ever. 
My food photos aren’t exactly Pioneer Woman worthy, but you can at least get the gist. Here is the end product:
And we were stuffed after! It tasted great, and we had enough steak leftover to make a pizza later that night (we eat A LOT – if we eat dinner early, then we have to eat two dinners!)
Another great thing to grill is pineapples. If you ever make homemade hamburgers, grill some pineapple slices for a topping on the burger and your life just might be changed for the better. More things I would grill: strawberries, mango, bananas (mmm… for bananas foster), or any kind of fruit really.
What is your favourite thing to grill on the ‘que?
I am adding comments people give me on Twitter because dammit, my followers (I hate saying that word) are awesome people with great comments:
@darylcognito: @leahblonde to be complete asparagus needs to be wrapped in Prosciutto (Mmmm … more meat. I mean, very good idea)
@calgaryfitness: @leahblonde Wow ur man is a great cook! I ? grilling fruit…I have a great recipe for grilled peaches stuffed with veggie/feta quinoa YUMM. (Wow, must get said recipe ASAP!)
@danellew: @leahblonde Yum!! I’m jealous 
(Note: It is not hard to get an invitation to dinner at the Tim & Leah household! You pretty much just have to bring wine and be prepared to bring board games)
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May
22
Love & Stress: A Screenplay
Filed Under Calgary, humour, life, love, relationships | 6 Comments
Scene One: Cooking with the “Culinary Master of Canada”, 5:00pm
Cut to Leah and Tim, romantically preparing an appetizer of coconut shrimp and a delectable-looking shrimp, garlic and white wine cream sauce complete with fresh pasta. Also, he has quartered a chicken and is making home-made chicken stock in the oven for a soup the following day. They are kissing, googly-eyed at each other and at one point Tim even says to her that she is the most wonderful, amazing and thoughtful girlfriend in the whole world. And he compliments her on her Nintendo skills as he feeds Read more
Mar
16
Dontcha just love…
Filed Under Calgary, fashion, life | 11 Comments
Mornings when you wake up and the world seems perfect. You wake up with a smile, some good news from FedEx, a boyfriend who kisses you goodbye looking amazing in his three-piece suit (yes, my boyfriend wears a three-piece suit every day. Drool.) And on top of that, you are having a good hair day, and when you are walking out the door to go to work at 7:45am, you look at your day planner and realize that – oh, wait a minute – I don’t even have to go to work today!
Wow, all of that and it is only 8:13am. And, I do actually have to go to work today. I am having a “Team Planning Day,” but it doesn’t start until 9:00am, is full of fun activities, I get to wear jeans, and lunch is provided. Doesn’t get much better than that! Plus, I really like my team and my manager so I am sure it will prove to be an overall awesome day.
It sure does make up for yesterday morning …
I was up at 6:30am and at the airport for 7:24am when my best friends flight was scheduled to land for a five hour layover in Calgary. I was a bit nervous driving there, as it was so foggy I could barely see the road in front of me, and when the flight didn’t land by 8:00am, I asked an airport staff who informed me that no flights would be departing or arriving for the morning as the fog was too thick. MAN, I haven’t seen my best friend since I left for Calgary in May and I wouldn’t be seeing her until August. Bummer. Big time bummer. Without any hugs and cuddles, I dejectedly drove home, and quickly scheduled brekky plans with my best girlfriend in Calgary, who came armed with tissues and smiles to cheer me up. (Thanks, Natalie)
I had a great weekend though – Tim had a visitor come up for the weekend, a friend from University and they spent two days in Banff, painting the town red and snowboarding. Friday, I went out for a fancy dinner and danced my bootie off at a (tiny, but fun) club. I went to a comedy club on Saturday night and laughed so hard my abs hurt, and I watched my little cousin in an equestrian competition.
What’s that? You want some photo evidence?
Dancing at Habitat with my cousin, Em. No pictures of her, because I forgot to ask her if it was okay. Next time, people.
The reason why I was maybe a little bit excited to go to work today? My new Blazer. It is so a tall-girl blazer (normally the waist hits over my ribs and the sleeves are too short) and it is so perfect! PS Where are my eyebrows in this picture?!
And it is still quite foggy today, from my balcony. What’s up with that?
And P.S. – The package Fed Ex is delivering to my work today (because I told the guy on the phone that I was not able to problem-solve at 6:40am, and he asked if I had a workplace he could drop the package off at – those job things sure do come in handy sometimes) is a product for which I am doing a review! I am super excited
Feb
10
Micaela, Kent, Matt, and Laura take on Calgary.
Filed Under Calgary, friends, micaela, travel | 7 Comments
As you will know if you’ve been paying attention, Kent and I just got back from a ten day vacation to visit Leah and Tim in Calgary. We were joined by our friends Matt and Laura, and had a fabulous time. Here’s some photographic evidence of that:
We spent the first half of the trip searching out a Tim Hortons – any good Canadian will recognize it in this picture! We are addicts.
Matt, Laura, Leah, me, and Kent out for some spicy Thai food in Banff.
Our hotel had a couple of sweet hot tubs that dyed that bathing suit a strange tan colour. I don’t even want to think about what the chemicals did to my skin.
The group at the top of Lake Louise.
It was so nice out that we ate lunch outside and did a little suntanning.
Anyone who’s been to Lake Louise will recognize this infamous photo op.
Our last day on the slopes was spent at Sunshine.
Our boys spent a lot of time cooking for us.
And we all spent a lot of time drinking wine.
The last couple days were spent meeting up with a LOT of family – here is the group with our cousin Chris and our friend Natalie!
Our Aunt gave me and Leah the coolest spices ever that she got from India.
Our lovely hosts.
Leah was so sad to see us go that she started to act a little strangely…
All in all it was a great trip and I would travel with these travel buddies anytime.
All of my credit and appreciation goes to Laura for the photos and for being the official photographer of the trip.
