I made this for dinner the other evening. I know the recipe says that it is a breakfast dish but I added a little salad of pea shoots and called it dinner.

Quick, easy and tasty!

If this weekend had to be described in one word it would be productive. I was a machine!

Let me tell you about it!

Day One

I went rollerskating for the first time in about 15 years! I was dressed in full 80's gear, I didn't fall and I learned the more advanced method of turning corners which involves the tricky leg cross over trick which I have never been able to do. That's all that I managed to fit into the first day and I did so damn good at it that I don't care if it doesn't sound like much.

Day Two

I watched my back log of a bazzion episodes of What Not to Wear and For Rent. This may not sound very productive but cleaning the PVR is definitely a task not to be take lightly. I also sanded and prepped the kitchen table for painting and gave the table its first two coats of paint! In the afternoon I headed over to a friends house were we turned an old Ikea bed into a vertical planter for the balcony. I'm going to plant some lettuce and radishes in it!

Day Three
I realized that although I had planned on filing my taxes months ago I still hadn't even started looking for the secret location of my T4 slip!! And I knew that if I wanted to at least avoid the usually 15 minutes before midnight scramble I should buckle down and start looking for that T4. So I got all my info together, and started the process. I did a bit of work, work that I didn't get to before the long weekend began. I made a super yummy cake for Easter Dinner and added another coat of paint to the kitchen table before heading out for dinner.

Day Four
I spilt my coffee in bed. At least I didn't spill on the iPad. So the morning started with washing linens and trying to remove coffee from the mattress. I then moved on to house cleaning and I cleaned the house top to bottom and even the fish tank got cleaned. I finished and submitted my taxes, finished up the kitchen table and sewed a new pillow cover.

I know, I'm awesome. I am also planning on spending the rest of the week watching this.

I bought a sheepskin this weekend.

I secretly bought it for my cat Charlie. In my mind I just couldn't stop thinking about Charlie snuggled up and sleep in it. Cuteness overload!!

Charlie hates it!

He refuses to sit on the couch near it. And yesterday when I decided to see how it would look draped over a kitchen chair he got really angry and began to attack it as soon as I got it settled on the chair.

I also want a dog because I think Charlie and a Shiba Inu puppy would look super cute sitting side by side. Hopefully this dream will come true for me at some point and Charlie will not hate his puppy friend too.

I have been a little unhappy with my kitchen table for a while now. I have also been watching far to many home decorating and design shows lately to just get over it. It isn't as if the table has a hole in the middle of it and a leg that is 2" shorter than the rest, it is just a fairly standard birch table. And while there really is nothing wrong with it I have grown tired of it. But every time I think that I'm just going to go ahead and buy a new table I remember that there is nothing wrong with the one I have and, I shouldn't just trash it because I'm bored of it.

So, I'm going to paint the table white!

I really don't have a lot/any actual experience with DIY projects but I like to think I have my wits about me and that I could pull something like this off. It is just painting after all. My big concern was the band of trim around the table that isn't wood and I really didn't know what to do about it. So I have been dragging my feet a little. But luck for me I have a father that is a pro at these types of projects and when my mom came for the weekend she brought a little package from my dad with everything I need to get the job done!

And, by next week I should have a lovely white table in my kitchen.

This is a post of random things all grouped together because they happened in March. I'm going to call it March Round-up! I know what you're thinking "Aren't all your post about random crap?". Well yes, yes they are but this seemed like a good idea today.

Mission Impossible 172 (yes I'm pretty sure it is 172) is currently filming here in Vancouver. And for 3 days the under belly of Granville Street was lite up like a… well like something really bright.

Vietnamese was had.

Charlie turned 1.

I have a new toy.

When I first got it I thought that it would surely help me keep on top of things and blog a lot more. But, by the way things are looking now I think it will just give me more reasons to play games.

Oh well!

What can you do in 20 hours? As it turns out, a lot. Last weekend we took a bit of an impromptu trip to Seattle to visit my sister, brother in law and nephew. Since I had to be back at work at 8:30 on Monday morning there was a limited opening of time and I wanted to make the most of the day. So after a late night and yummy dinner with friends we got up at 4 am and caught the quickshuttle to Seattle.

The following took place between 4 am and 12 am:

Sunrise just after crossing the border.

And, we have arrived. 

Let the walking begin. We walked all day. From 9 am all the way till 8:30 pm. True story!

We met up with Little Bear for a donut and Top Pot.

"They" say that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb. This year we are certainly getting a lot of  lion weather. And with the lion weather comes headaches for me. Last week I had terrible headache for 3 days! By the time the weekend finally came around I was feeling so beat that instead of my usually run around the seawall I picked up my camera and headed out for a walk.

My Saturday run is usually about 8.5 km which is usually totally doable for me. But for some reason walking that same route landed me in a world of hurt! I thought I was for sure going to pass out on the side of the Granville bridge or at least drop my camera over the edge. I guess the moral of the story is that it is ok to take it easy sometimes. And going for a 8.5 km walk doesn't qualify as taking it easy.

Charlie has decided that his first brush with fame wasn't enough. So he decided to enter a contest. Check him out!

     

This post has turned into a totally disaster! I started working on it weeks and weeks ago and for some sad reason I have been totally unable to get a handle on how to control where the text and images go! Some images are right aligned, some left and others centered. To top it all off this text was also showing up here there and everywhere! This is the best I can do. (and I'm not even going to try and add descriptions to the photos) So before I change my mind and spend another 3 weeks trying to do better, here you go. My house.

Happy Birthday Buddy! Maybe you should have taken it easy on the Birthday treats. That fat belly has immobilized you :)

It was snowing this morning and I decided that I needed a real breakfast.

I bought cake pans. I have wanted a couple of round cake pans to make a red velvet layer cake for some time now. But occations to make layer cakes really don't come around that often.

Anyway, last weekend while I was out buying light bulbs I happened to find the pans that I had been eyeing on sale. I really couldn't pass them up. So I bought them, brought them home and spent the rest of week trying to think of a realistic way to use them. Two people really do not need to eat a whole cake!

The only thing to do was to have a dinner party! So guests were invited  and I made my cake: Marie-Helene's Apple Cake!

Pancake are a lovely weekend treat and I may have found one of the best recipes around. These pancakes are a tiny bit sweet, a little vanillaie,  fluffy, and always turnout perfectly! Even when I make adjustments to the recipe. I found the original recipe in Bon Appétit one Sunday morning when I had a serious hankering for pancakes and a little extra whole wheat flour that I wanted to use up. I have since adjust my version of the recipe to not include whole wheat flour because when I make pancakes I want them to be a treat not a reminder that I should be eating something more nutritious. (recipe after the jump)

What better way is there to spend Valentines day than in the best of company and eating yummy food? This year featured dinner at the newly open Stack House Burger Bar and chewy chocolate cookies of awesomeness.

I have been planning on posting pictures of my house for a while now but I have been held back by two things. Firstly, the house really needed a good cleaning. And secondly, you may find this hard to believe but I wasn't sure how to go about taking the photos! Yes it's true how does a girl with about six camera have this type if problem? Well I'll tell you, I have six cameras and only one is a digital camera and it is my cellphone.

So this weekend I cleaned house and decided to throw quality to the wind and used my cellphone to take pictures. Here is a sneak peak, I promise more are to come.

Today is a cleaning day. A couple of weeks ago I decided that I was going to turn a new leave and become a "clean as you go" type person. However, that really hasn't panned out to well for me. So here I am knee deep in laundry and surrounded by things that need to get done.

But first I'm just going to sit here at my desk and stare at my inspirational clipboards and drink some tea. The clipboards are looking rather lovely and organized and clean if I do say so myself!

I bet you have been dying to know what I got up to this weekend. Well today is your lucky day! This weekend was spent dreaming of cleaning and revitalizing the whole house. In reality I only got around to organizing one cupboard and only the top half of it. What I lack in motivation I totally make up of in imagination. And organizing that top cupboard was an amazing improvement! All the random bags of rice, pasta, and baking type things are now grouped and put into containers together. And I bought stackable airtight containers to store things like flour, sugar dried fruit and all those types of things! It is a dream come true!!

Afterwards I decided to tested out my handy work by doing a little baking. And reorganization was a success!!

Grapefruit! I like'm a lot but never seem to buy them. Unless I'm really craving one of course. But if a craving strikes I usually just buy one, bring it home and then spend the next hour or so eating it kind of like an orange while on the couch. Usually I'm also watching some sort of reality TV.

However thanks to Smitten Kitchen I have something new to add to my repertoire, Grapefruit Yogurt Cake!

Charlie is destined for fame and fortune! At least that is what I have been telling him. On Monday Charlie was lucky enough to be featured on Desire to Inspire's Monday's Pets on Furniture post. Charlie was soooo thrill about it that he just sat on the computer hoping that someone would open up the page and show him his picture. I think fame has gone to his head a little.


Charlie and I will have to try to take another picture that actually has more of a furniture focus for next time.