Hi

Wow it’s been a few months since I’ve posted on the blog. You know that’s just how it goes though, it’s not a job but a hobby so sometimes planning it out and being creative is just too much when you’re busy. It’s funny because I originally created the blog out of boredom when I first moved and had no job, school hadn’t started yet, knew not a single person and was going stir crazy. Now I’m really busy and it’s been a while since I’ve had time to make any updates (which is good!). 

Today I am reflecting and Missin the place I call home. Sometimes it’s hard to be torn between two places you have a home. Miss my 2 sisters, my mom and my dad, my family, every one of my lifelong friends, the ocean, and Rob who’s in camp for 20 days each month. On the other hand after over a year I’m actually starting to feel at home somewhere else. Had an amazing work experience this summer that has affirmed moving so far and makes it worth while to feel like you’ve accomplish something that just isn’t possible in a small place. Things are just taking off here and yet things are changing at home too! With a niece or a nephew arriving at the end of this year I know that will just be one more little love to miss but feeling confident in making these big city dreams come true. 💕✨🏙

Now I have a few days off during which I may or may not share some new recipes. Will definitely sleep in, probably paint, organize a ton of my sh*t, and get ready for school! I love going back to school and I have since kindergarten. A scary realization is that this won’t be happening next year. But I would like to think at this time next year I’ll be working and enjoying the new pace of life.  

Anyways thinking of all of you. Keep in touch. Xo

Catch up

It’s been about 3 weeks since I’ve made a post! Life comes first 🙂

Last year my sisters and I went to Italy and stayed with our 2nd cousin Piero and his girlfriend Sabrina, and our great aunt Wera. Piero and Sab came to Campbell River earlier this month and I went home to be apart of their stay! It was so fun!!

Piero has been to Canada in the past ( I think 4 times ) but until this visit it had been 20 years since. It was really cool because it has only been a year and 4 months since we stayed with them in Italy so we still knew them from that visit and had stuff to catch up on!

A shot of some of us at Elk Falls. We showed them a rain forest good time. We also got to show them the true West Coast and made a camping trip to Tofino, B.C. 3 + ish hour drive from hometown Campbell River.

South Beach Tofino. Amazing bay!

We spent 2 nights at a camp ground. We toured the beaches, whale watched, had ocean front lunch, flew a kite, sampled crafty beers at Tofino Brewery and a camped right near the beach.

Glad we got to show them such a scenic place. We also had a great time back home. We had some casual days visiting the farmers market and playing dice at home.

We also got treated to true Italian carbonara which is a pasta sauce of bacon, egg whites, cheese and seasoning. Followed with a tiramisu….  So yummy!

So much fun and so happy it all worked out to see them again! Rob arrived on the Friday around 2:30, I had already been visitng for almost 2 weeks so we didn’t stay long afterwards. Had a great pizza dinner with the family and then made the long 17 hour drive back to our place! Luckily he still had 6 days off and we got to hang out and relax at home together.

Got to see a couple elk while passing through Banf, AB. Once home, we enjoyed some down time and some of our favorite beer – Alley Kat Aprikat. We are planning to visit the brewery which is the oldest in Edmonton.

We wiped my old phone clear and loaded it with music for me to use as an ipod in my car. Just between The Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival I have 11 hours of songs….so pumped!!! And that’s 2 of the many new artists. We also had a visit with our friend and his daughter. She is so smart and cute!

.

Rob left back to camp this morning and I’ve been tidying and hanging out. My mom arrives for a week on Wednesday so I’m excited and getting ready for that. We set up our new futon – thanks to Carol and Ken who gifted it to us! So now we have a guest bed. We got a bedding set and the 2nd bedroom/computer room is fully ready to go! Only a few days until my guest arrives.

Cherries and HotPot

So my Auntie Denise and I haven’t lived in the same town or even province for a few years now. When I moved to Edmonton I learned that coincidentally out of the entire city I ended up moving literally 5 minutes away from her after not even knowing she was here much before I moved! Talk about strange coincidence. It has been really nice to have some family near though because when Rob is away since I haven’t started school yet things can get boring and lonely. I’ve been over for dinner a few times which is really nice because they’re really accommodating towards my avoidance of certain food items! 🙂 My younger cousin and I have gone for a bike ride and hung out a bit too.

Yesterday I went over to their place and picked cherries with them in the yard. They have a tart cherry tree and it has SOOO many cherries!!

The cherries are so red and pretty. Although they are quite tart to just eat, I’m confident I can find a good paleo baking recipe to use them up as I took a huge bag home and we picked like 10 huge bags. It is are also expensive to buy dried tart cherries so my aunt thought my dehydrating them and trying to make her own! If that worked it would a great trail mix addition or also for baking.

After we picked the whole tree clean, which was a lot, I was invited to go with them to try a new restaurant we have been wanting to! This place called Bangkok is directly across the alley in which my garage/backyard is in. I can see it from my house. At first I was like that place looks sketchy, but I came across it on YELP and all the reviews were 5 stars and then one day I smelled the food when I walked by and I knew it was in my future.

So it is a hot pot restaurant so they actually don’t have a menu. You choose a broth and then you go to a buffet style counter and choose what you want. You then cook those raw items in your piping hot broth and eat away! You can go back and get more things as much as you want.

We all chose the spicy broth and it was so tasty. They had tons of options for cooking, some of which I avoided because they were slightly out of my comfort zone and other because I was still trying to mainly stick to my ways. In my soup I cooked prawns, muscles, white fish, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin, cilantro, green onion, thin sliced beef. It was so good I would definitely go back. It was slightly awkward at first only because we had never been nor had we done that style before but once we got the hang of it, it was great. They are open 7 days a week from 4pm till midnight so I will walk the aprox 20 steps here when it’s late and I don’t want to cook!