In a Tizzy

Author: In a Tizzy

  • 10 Days of West-Coast Moseying – Complete (Trip 2)

    One trip down, one to go: With one and a half days of rest following a delayed flight home from God’s Country, G and I set out on the road for Seattle!

    I cannot recall the last time I visited Seattle, and I had never been to Portland before; so with a taste for new adventures we began the first leg of our journey.

    The Space Needle.

    After two to three hours of traveling, we recognized our need for some food (no dinner is not okay) – so we wandered around the somewhat quiet streets of Seattle in search of something that “spoke to us.” It took some devotion to the concept, but eventually we heard the restaurant speaking to us – it kept trying to pronounce its name, and we couldn’t quite understand it..

    “Manmoon… Mammoon… Mannoon?… Maw-m-noon… Mah-m-noon…” it whispered.



    Mamnoon turned out to be an unassuming-yet-elegant Lebanese-Turkish-Iranian fusion restaurant; “a modern union of Eastern cuisines.”

    We looked at the menu listed on the street, were inspired, and went to sit down inside what turned out to be a very upscale-looking restaurant! Dimly lit, dark interior, candles… However, the menu was not the same as that on the street, and we somewhat awkwardly requested to go eat off of the ‘to go’ menu instead – a great decision!

    Appetizer, or “mezze”:
    Baba ghanoush – Charred eggplant, tahini, lemon


    Our shared meal, or “kulage”:
    Falafel – Tarrator, tomato, mint, pickles

    After our eventual meal, we went to explore the neighbourhoods a little bit before heading back to meet the pets and go to sleep.



    The next day was our day to explore Seattle! We made our way to the Theo Chocolates factory for our first stop, and signed up for an hour-long tour of the factory – and sampled a great deal of delicious chocolate. Theo Chocolates was the first fair-trade, organic producer of chocolate products in the U.S.! And its owner brought organic, fair-trade cocoa beans to the U.S. for the first time before beginning his chocolate-making business.





    After consuming and purchasing delicious chocolate goodies, G and I moseyed over to Pike Place Market to sample more food, take some pictures, stick some chewed gum to the infamous wall, and stand within the first-ever Starbucks Coffee store!

    Hugging my giganto pig friend at the market.
    My contribution to the wall!





    To satisfy the lyrics of Tim McGraw’s “Southern Girl” where he says: I’ve had some Seattle coffee, some Chicago wind… I tried some coffee from “Seattle Coffee”! G’s favourite spot to go. I had a rice milk sweet chai tea latte, and it was pretty superb (sorry that it spilled in your bag, amiga). 

    After that, we walked for a long while uphill to find the vegetarian noodle bistro In The Bowl, which, sadly, was not open during their stated hours of operation! So back down the hill and across the streets we went in search of an excessively late lunch – and we found the Veggie Grill. Boy oh boy oh boy! The choices on the menu were all available to us veggie folks, and it was overwhelming! All of my favourite pretend-meat products were being placed in healthy and delicious home-style meals…

    The Crispy Chickin’ Plate with kale salad
    and mushroom gravy.



    G and her Grillin’ Chickin’ burger.

    The search for lunch took us basically until the end of the day, at which time we finally wandered back to the vehicle and started to make our way home – not before stopping to grab some bubble tea from G’s family’s favourite bubble tea shoppe! Then we relaxed around the house, drank tea, watched Wallace and Grommit, and slept for a while in preparation for the next leg of the journey – Portland.

    Chaco Canyon Organic Cafe – our juice stop
    before hitting the road down to Oregon!
    After a great deal of indecisiveness with a great menu,
    I decided upon the Zen Calm juice:
    A blend of orange, apple, spinach, and mint.

    With copious amounts of coffee and cocoa in hand, G took the wheel and I took the camera as we neared our final destination for the next few days. First stop: The Stash Tea outlet. The hype that G built around this magnificent shop was not a let-down as we entered to find walls on walls of teas to smell and choose from, as well as accessories and mugs to go with them. I decided upon a gift for him and a Portland Oregon blend for me! G and I split a root beer tea package that I am excited to rip into and put over ice soon.


    At Savor Soup House food truck!
    Me: Vegan grilled cheese ‘wich with sweet potato,
    kale, & coconut soup.
    G: Daily special featuring the Veggie Baguette!



    Our first day consisted of establishing ourselves in our residence for our time in Portland, exploring the neighbourhood surrounding the tea store, and grabbing some food to snack on throughout our time there.

    The next day, we went walking around downtown and went in search of cafes, well-known stores, boutiques, and of course – food. The food cart district of Portland consists of what looks to be 70-80 carts parked all within a block of one another, and it is AMAZING! I had a difficult time deciding between so many delicious-looking options, but – as pictured above – we finally did decide on lunch.

    Portland is known as “The City of Roses.”




    On our second-to-last day, we explored the Hawthorne District, which was a wide street lined with endless food stops, boutiques full of jewellery or books or kitchen accessories, vintage clothing stores, and everything else you could hope to find in a 10-block radius. It was hot and beautiful outside that day and I would certainly enjoy going back to that particular area!


    Food Fight!: The vegan grocery store!






















    It was agreed that we would indulge in some salads for dinner that night from a location recommended by a local newspaper author. Of the three possible salad stops, we decided upon the one right next door to our residence: The Garden Bar. While I did not strategize my salad creation very effectively, I was certainly impressed by the quantity of salad I received for $7.00 and enjoyed my fruity seltzer drink to go with it (so many interesting and non-pop drink options in this city!).



    Before consuming our salads, we stopped by Powell’s Books to find some new summer reading – I decided upon a philosophy book that complements my psychology studies and a book about the history of sexuality in Canada! The options in this multi-level bookstore were very impressive, and I think anyone could find a book in here that they would enjoy.

    Salads and literature – what more does one need?!
    Evening snacks: Whole Foods vegan chick’n and falafel
    with some superb tea from the Stash Tea house.
    For dessert, we went to Henry’s Tavern to have some amazing bread pudding and fruit crumble between the three of us! It was a nice way to end our last full day in Portland, and gave us lots of fuel to head out for our drive the next day. 

    Making our way out of Seattle – Space Needle

    On our final day, we drove back to Seattle to change vehicles, and we made excellent time getting back to the land of beavers and maple leafs! The trip was a great getaway and I developed a great fondness for Portland and a desire to spend more time there – certainly Seattle as well, as I did not get to explore it very much in our journey!

  • 10 Days of West-Coast Moseying – Complete (Trip 1)

    Ah, what a nice couple of weeks it has been!

    My trip to God’s Country was greatly desired and extremely uplifting – but far too short to leave me with anything less than a feeling of having been teased with my favourite fella’s company. However, I filled up on hugs and food and photos and filled the crew with baking from Vegan Vices! I had a lovely time, and experienced some prairie land weather “May”hem.

    One thing I had wanted to cross off my list of things to do was go to the farmer’s market! So off we went, partially in search (at least for me) of the magical veg*n ‘meat’ products that we knew were sold there (and consumed often by us at home).

     

    I bought some vegan
    shrimp. WOO.
    (Then forgot to bring
    it home with me.)

    We were also made aware of a street festival happening that weekend – the Lilac Festival! So we went and walked down about ten blocks of vendors and through endless seas of slow-moving people, finally finding a roasted corn cart that tickled our fancies and made us feel satisfied with calling it a day.

    The rest of the weekend consisted of cookie- and muffin-eating good times, a great deal of trampoline activities, touring about the city during down time, and watching Suits episodes that we are way too behind on (season 4 is starting soon!!).

    On my last night, we had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant called Bonterra, and I had this really interesting and delicious pasta dish in the photo below! Everything about it was just about right, from the size of the whole dish to the size of the noodles to the amount of non-pasta items.


    The next post will cover the second trip down to Seattle and Portland!

  • Spring: The First Few Weeks

    The last week has been fun!

    And full of food adventures.

    Since my first day at work, just over a week ago, I have declined two job interviews on account of being unable to commit to the hours of the position if it were offered to me, I attended a day of rodeo fun, and I got my ‘Wack fix!

    Before I continue, I will provide some photographic updates of my food adventures in the first week or so of being off school…

    Strawberry-infused H2O.


    A delicious salad from Town Hall.


    Mom’s vegan casserole!


    Mom’s eggy breakfast with Daiya
    cheese and veggies for me!


    Vegetarian “chicken” fillet with
    mushroom gravy and yummyness.



    This is Abby Cadabby, she has been my amiga through most mornings and evenings at home! She carries my tea.
    Cyrina’s first experience at The Naam –
    Thai Dragon Bowl-style.
    Mother’s Day – SUSHI!





    Making copious amounts of juice with MZ and G!


    The weeks have progressed with some much-needed friend visits (more are needed, though), a great deal of catching up on TV shows, missing my fella’, going on a few adventures and touring friends around my home turf…








    The uncertainty of the future with my current job is somewhat exciting, despite the fact that it is a bit unnerving. I think it will involve many learning curves and a lot of delicious baking – that sounds like a good deal to me either way…

    The flexibility also gives the the chance to explore my summer opportunities a bit more! I can go on little trips, get in my friend and family time, and establish my incoming-residence-advisor presence at school over the summer (at go to Summer Community Eats). 

    All-in-all, things are going well and while I’ve turned away from a couple of different opportunities, I am also going into one that is very interesting and full of nice company and yummy treats! I am also content with my decision to stay at home, as it has been very rejuvenating to be here.




    More photo updates will come (along with some stories, I hope!) following a trip to see m’boy and to explore Seattle and Portland with G! This hasn’t been a very in-depth update, but it has been more of a time to be laid-back and to take it easy than to do too much in-depth exploration and thinking.

  • Vegan Vices – Day 1 Photos

  • Dining/Employment Discovery: Vegan Vices!

    My first job offer has arrived! It doesn’t strike me as the average summer job for a student, though – nor the average internship. However, I am very excited to be a part of what could be a formative summer for Vegan Vices – a manufacturer of healthy, gluten-free, vegan baked goods! 

    I am excited to learn a little bit about business, a lot more about baking (of the healthy, animal-product-free variety), and to test my ability to think creatively and help expose the world to the deliciousness that is Vegan Vices (I’ve been fortunate enough to sample several items already).

    Double-chocolate chip cookies, key-lime cookies, peanut butter pucks,
    chocolate chip banana bread, and Chi Cake – all vegan/healthy/gluten free!


    More updates to come with more shifts and adventures.

  • I May do this and I May do that…

    A new month! How exciting (and occasionally rainy).

    I have completed another year of university (unless something goes horribly wrong with my final two grades that I’ve yet to receive) – and it was a pretty good one! That includes many aspects of it: my residence experience, my social/romance life, my academic standing, and my sense of satisfaction with what I’ve contributed to UBC through my time at the school so far.

    Now that May has begun, my term as the RHA Vice-President has officially ended, and the reins have been handed off to a new student leader to hold. While I experienced some sadness awaiting this eventual transition, I am too tired from exam season to feel anything but relief over it at the moment; I am pooped and have other things to sort out in the next couple of weeks (employment, living arrangements, travel plans).

    Of course, I have documented some of my recent activities on days that I have failed to upload anything new to the blog (which has been since April 24, evidently… Oops.) – so I shall share a few of those.

    TPRA reunion brunch! Vegetarian
    egg’s benedict for me.
    The TPRA family! Minus a few
    dearly-missed faces.

    There was the inaugural trip to Heirloom (vegetarian) Restaurant – I was surprised by how upscale and modern it was! I suppose those are the expectations held when one is more accustomed to The Naam, The Foundation, and Aprhodite’s for vegetarian cuisine…

    Grilled Cheese for him.

    Raw Falafel Salad for me!
    GD was experiencing great pride
    in her aged fruit that she saved all year.


    The time also came to move out of what has been ‘home’ for the last eight months – a bittersweet time of looking forward to the summer and looking back at what is being moved on from. And moving out means going out to eat a lot!

    As is my norm… With many food outings come many photos of the food acquired at these outings.












    Breakfast at the Sunshine Diner!

    Lunch at the Naam!

    Eastwoo’s first experience at the Naam with their
    Nacho Ensalada – an excellent choice.

    Enigma‘s apple juice-cooked
    oatmeal with fruit for brunch!

    Huevos Rancheros Burrito for him.


    We also celebrated the 10-year anniversary of JJ’s marriage!

    It seems apparent that food became my means of celebrating the freedom of not needing to study any longer.. It has been a very enjoyable celebration, though! It also kept me powered through moving my own stuff out of residence, helping others move into new residences, and going to concerts that I did not get enough sleep for (Luke Bryan’s That’s My Kind of Night WOO).






    Most recently (my my, was it only two days ago?) in my photos, I spent a 15-hour day away from home and did a lot of socializing in Vancouver. I began the day saying farewell to my fellow as he drove away to our neighbouring province for the summer (sad days for Katie – though, I do not think it has actually set in yet that we won’t just drive back to UBC and see each other in a day or two!). After that early morning venture, I helped WuWu with his move into a new residence, and then took him for his first experience at the Naam (I’m bringing many over to the good side, lately).


    I did a bit of ‘retail therapy’ downtown for some time in the middle of the day following this, and then had a nap at JJ’s house (and perhaps my summer residence if I make any decisions in the next week). Finally, I met up with J, G and her dad, and we went back to The Afghan Horseman for another delicious dinner experience (even if we sat on chairs this time)! I had the Vegan Plate again, and it somehow seemed a little better.. Perhaps because of how hungry I was.

    Afghan black tea
    (black tea with cardamom).



    Eggplant dip and pita bread appy.


    The Vegan Plate! Rice, potatos, salad, stew, and cauliflower.

    Baklava for dessert (wowza, yum).















    Yesterday was a day of cleaning and rest, so no super-exciting photos were taken – except for this one of a flowering plant at our house – and some needed laid-back time was employed. 


    I will work on keeping more photos and updates coming as they are taken!
    Until next time, I shall continue my search for employment, as I have missed out
    on an exciting internship opportunity and have not heard back from ANY 
    other places I’ve applied to! Perhaps something will come along soon.
    ADIOS! 

  • Summer To-Do List (Ongoing)

    Every day, I make a to-do list on my Brookstone Boogie Board:
    I can easily write and erase my lists for
    environmentally-friendly prioritizing!
    I check off items as I go throughout the day, and it is a very simple way that I love using to stay organized, reflect on what needs to be done (and in what order), and to feel satisfied with each “check!” placed beside an item.

    For the summer, I think an ongoing list would be nice to upkeep, so I shall endeavour to do so and see how many items I can cross off. For starters, I have a few basic items and a few that are unique to this summer:

    1. Get outside for at least an hour each day!
      It may sound simple, but it’s easy to stay inside when it is hot and bright all the time.
    2. Develop a new healthy food routine to work around flexible summer schedules.
    3. Stay on top of an exercise routine or schedule.
    4. Try a 30-Minute Hit women’s kickboxing class.
      Free trial has already been booked! Will cross this one off early on in May.
    5. Go to my 3rd Calgary Stampede! 102nd anniversary.
      Timing of this event will fall near another related to-do list item…
    6. Celebrate my 21st in some sort of exciting way.
      I definitely want to use this as an excuse to cross off #7.
    7. Road trip for a day or two across the border!
      G’s parentals have kindly provided us with the A-OK to spend the night in their extra space!
    8. Visit UBC a few times and become familiar with my upcoming role as an RA
      i.e., visit the PRC and have fun times
    9. Read two new books.
      I would like to finish An Abundance of Katherines and read into my Body Language for Dummies and 30-Second Psychology books – plus a new novel I may come across!
    10. Get back into writing.
      Ideally, I would be making that more of a reality with the blog… But physical pen-to-paper writing would be very soothing to return to often.

    This list will be on-going throughout the summer vacation!

  • Looking Forward: The next 4 months.

    The next four months: a time I both welcome and fear.

    For the most part, I believe that I will enjoy the next four months – the weather will (hopefully) be summery and show signs of life blossoming everywhere, energies will be high, and a reprieve from school will be mine. However, he is going to be back at home, and visits will once again become once-every-few-weeks sort of occurrences; I do not know what job I will be holding (I would really rather not return to my old safety net and have chosen to search elsewhere). 

    1. Weather.
    – Get all the Vitamin D!
    – Wake up by natural light streaming in early through my window.
    – Be rid of the chills by simply laying down for 30 seconds outside.
    – Rain is exciting and rejuvenating and makes me happy for the plants.
    2. School reprieve.
    – I love school, but my body feels the strain of spending too many hours ‘loving’ it.
    – Social life, work life, and other ‘lives’ become independent of one another. 
    – Must come up with a schedule of my own when work is not in the picture.
    3. Absence.
    – Visits will be the most exciting of times.
    – Alas, my heart shall ache often and yearn for its partner in crime. 
    4. Employment. 
    – Where have I applied? Let us take a look: Chocolate cafes, healthy living cafes, jobs with the city in event planning, program coordinator, communications assistant, internship with local produce delivery company, summer camp counsellor, restaurants.
    – Where might I apply? Let us take a look: Favourite UBC-local cafes, restaurants, healthy living themed shops.
    – During the school months, I miss work! I miss that income and sense of having done a job well and making others satisfied through my service. Next year I suppose a great deal of my involvements will revolve around a sort of employment – even if it isn’t a regular paycheque like those I would receive during off-school months.
    – I want to try something new; I’ve had good times with my ol’ pal Safeway, but I’d like to feel challenged in what I do this summer.

    I expect excitement, friendship revival (for which I’m very excited), painful yearning, lots of family time, and hopefully a bit of travel this summer. It would be my wish to feel that I’ve grown a bit more, learned a few new things, and seen one or two new places. Many photos should be taken, and perhaps even a new friendship is to be made!

  • ABCs of: Denim, Easter, Food

    The day of near denim overdose.

    (See how I continued the “ABCs” with the words in my title?)

    There is little to update anyone on during this frustratingly lengthy exam break (12 days between my first exam and my last two exams on the same day), but I thought it would be a nice time to throw down some photos and muse over things.

    My last exam was welcomed, as I had a 9-day break between that and the last day of classes – and as it is a difficult course for my arts student background (Brain and Behaviour Psychology), I was very pleased with how it went! I finished in less than an hour and was given chocolate-covered almonds at the end. 🙂 




    Following this exam’s (and course’s, I suppose…) completion, I began about 36 hours of intensive resume-depositing and driving between school, home, the ‘Wack, and back! It was really nice to just kick back in the ‘Wack after all of the driving and make some veggie meatloaf with my daddy-o while watching movies. 


    Father-daughter camera dates!
    The most delicious of unmeatloaves.
    Josephine!
    Bella!

    After a too-brief but rejuvenating visit with mi padre, I ventured back out to UBC and put in some more study hours in preparation for a busy Easter Sunday back at home. 
    Thus far, the study schedule I have devised has worked exceptionally well for being so simply-structured, so I’ve been on track for everything so far! I sense that I will be well-prepared for my favourite class and that I will make it through my least favourite.


    Ah, dinner – one of the most magical moments to capture (not really, but it is a moment that can elicit salivation over and over, which is kind of magical, right?)! I tried a vegan “imitation ham” which added
    some fun texture to dinner, and with the help of gravy and everything else on the plate, dinner was both filling and delectable.

    Not a couple to let food fall by the wayside, he and I decided to celebrate 20 months of togetherness with a trip to The Reef for a Caribbean lunch! Plaintain chips, jerk tofu, Johnny cakes…. I still haven’t tried one of their coconut cocktails yet, but I think when that day comes, it will take the Reef to a whole-new level!



    Hopefully, more exciting and interesting adventures will arise in the week still left before my next exam takes place. In the meantime, I will continue to hunt for a summer employer, contemplate what courses I will take next year, and try to pack up some of the belongings in my dorm room to prepare for moving out in just over a week. 

    Vacation seems both too far and too near at the same time.