Seafood-phobes: There's Hope Yet

As you may know, I am not a fan of seafood.

I've tried.

I will eat shrimp, crab, scallops and lobster on occasion but they're never my first choices.

 

Yesterday for dinner I was feeling kind of sick of the standard chicken/beef dishes I've been making.

I decided to venture outside my comfort zone a little and buy some fish.

I'm trying to up my protein intake a bit and fish is great with all it's protein and omega 3s and 6s.

While perusing the frozen section I came across these little beauties by Cedar Bay:

 

I bought one of each, figuring if I was going to try to be a fish-phile I'd need something heavily seasoned, spiced, and flavoured.

I overcooked them a bit which (for me) turned out to be a blessing.

 

I actually enjoyed them.

The Sugar & Spice seasoning was delicious but I have to give the top award to the Applewood with Orange & Ginger flavouring.

It was delicious.

I ate salmon and didn't make a face once.

I even ate everything on my plate!

 

Maybe my palate is growing up?

 

For someone who hasn't liked seafood ever in their 28 years on this planet (save for the fishsticks I ate as a kid which doesn't count cause I was young and those things are so heavily breaded they couldn't taste bad) this is a miracle.

 

For anyone else who dislikes fish but wants to incorporate it into their diet: don't give up! There's hope!

 

Look for these cedar planked salmon packages in the frozen fish section.

There's a bunch more flavours on the website that - so strangely in my mind - I want to try.

 

Give them a try!

First Anniversary: Day 1

After minimal sleep on Saturday morning we hit the road for our first anniversary weekend.

I was tired but I was more excited to spend the weekend with John and to visit more of the wineries in the Nigara region.

 

Our first stop was at Thirty Bench, where we were signed up for the Oysters & Reisling tasting.

 

 

The oysters (and much more after the event) were provided by Tide & Vine.

 

We were given a glass of the winemaker's reisling to start (we bought two bottles) and then they filled up our glasses with 3 more reislings and a pinot gris.

From left to right:

a 2009 Reisling that had a "wet stones'' quality to it.

2011 Reisling which was a little less acididc

2010 reisling with more fleshy fruit flavours

The pinot gris - any information I forgot to note, I was already pretty tipsy at this point. 

 

 

Let me start by saying this: oysters are gross.

I only signed us up for this event because I know how big a fan John is.

I tried them once long ago with my aunt and uncle who advised me to just swallow a little peice. It was like swallowing a booger.

So I thought, what the heck, let's chew this ugly looking thing and see if it doesn't taste any better.

It doesn't.

But I ate 4 of them. The last one doused in horseradish and some other wine-based sauce.

 

We had malpeque's from the actual malpeque bay, the "french kiss" malpeque which is from New brusnwick and is less salty (but is also HUGE so I gave this one to John), the "Beach Angel" from B.C.'s Quadra Island which had a more creamy texture, and lastly the Kumimoto from Japan which was also quite creamy but also had a bit of a metallic taste.

(Note: all of these descriptions are from the guy who was telling us about them, I wasn't concentrating on flavours. I just wanted to chew, swallow, and get back to my wine).

 

 

The things I do for love.

 

 

Restaurant Review: The Lobster Trap

 

I love Groupon & Buytopia.

Love them.

I've purchased yoga classes, restaurant coupons, massages, a watch, and an assortment of other things.

Most recently I purchased one for The Lobster Trap.

John is a big seafood fan and this restaurant gets good reviews so I took him for a surprise dinner outing on Thursday night.

 

$30 for $70 worth of entrees sounded like a lot but the prices are quite high so the deal from Buytopia was perfect.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed some deliciously buttery garlic rolls and John ordered a half dozen oysters ($16).

He maintains the best oysters he's had are from The Miller Tavern but he certainly devoured the ones in front of him pretty quickly.

 

I ordered the filet mignon ($32) with a baked potato while John opted for a 1 1/4 lb lobster ($36).

 

The steak was easily one of the best I've ever had. It was cooked perfectly and was so tender I barely had to move my knife to cut through it.

Even the lobster was delicious and I am not a big seafood fan.

We were shown by our server how to find some secret meat in the tail - lobster meat can be pretty sweet but the tiny morsels of meat from the tail was perfection.

 

The staff were very friendly. The restaurant doesn't feel overly upscale but the prices certainly seem that way.

 

The food is well worth the price if you're willing to splurge a bit.

Or, better yet, find a deal!

 

 

I'm Back! Adventure Planning

Sorry it's been awhile.

I've been working like crazy and really (really) enjoying my free time.

Mainly by doing a whole lot of nothing and watching a heck of a lot of TV.

I did start to feel guilty about being so lazy so I registered myself in a free online Intro to Oncology Nursing course.

Also in the exciting news department: John and I bought a car!

We got a 2008 Mazdan 3 sedan.

I love it so very very much.

It's so wonderful to no longer have to ask our parents to borrow a car anytime we need to get somewhere the TTC won't take us.

Look at me: married, working a real job, and now a car owner.

I feel like a real-life grown up.

I've been slacking in the baking/cooking department but with the holidays fast approaching I think that's going to change.

I picked up a ton of shifts this month so the kitchen adventures will likely be on hold until December. But that works quite well with John's imposed no-Christmas-until-December-1st rules.

I did make John a lovely salmon dinner last night so I'll post the recipe for it at the bottom of this post.

The other big news is that we are almost completely booked for our honeymoon!

We'll be heading off to Tanzania in early February for the most awesome adventure yet.

First on the docket is a 7 day climb to the highest peak in Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro!

One thing (among thousands) that I love about my husband is how adventurous he is. This was his idea and I jumped right on board.

Hopefully it doesn't further fuel his desire to climb Everest.

(Note: I won't let him)

Post grueling climb and satisfied but exhausted decent, we will find ourselves on a week long Safari through Serengeti National Park.

It's something I've always always wanted to do and it'll be such a perfect way to relax after our torturous climb.

Can't wait to get up close and personal with the animals.

*Not that close.

If you're at all interested in doing a trip like this you can check out the full itinerary here (I know, it's very pricey. But if you're going to climb a mountain, best to do it before you've started saving for a house, had kids, etc. At least that's how we're rationalizing it).

I've got to get my butt back in the gym now on a regular basis to train for this trip.

Running, strength exercises... it begins again.

I need to blog about my progress because if I'm not held accountable I will continue to watch entire seasons of TV shows (Revenge!) in my pajamas while eating bags of halloween candy.

Hold me accountable.

Please. It's for my own good.

....Aaand if mountain-trekking ain't your thang, and you'd rather cook yourself a delicious (according to the fish eater in the house) and healthy dinner then look no further.

Martha Stewart's Hoisin-Lime Salmon

Recipe here

John tasted & approved.

Shrimp Pasta and....Mermaids!

Good evening!

I stayed true to my get-fit resolution AND my like-seafood resolution today. I got up and went to the gym this morning despite my aching thighs, glutes, arms, etc. Monday's work out reminded me that I really haven't done much physically activity in awhile....oops. But I'm back at it. I did the Wednesday muscle stuff like an hour ago too so I'm giving it 100%. Tomorrow I get a break but I'm back at it on Friday.

I bought some shrimp on Tuesday - garlic and butter, and white wine and herb flavoured. I had planned to make a shrimp pasta but I was running very late from a doctor's appointment, volunteering, and dropping off and subsequently waiting almost 30 mins to pick up a perscription. Holy moly. Anyway, John, being the great roommate he is, picked up the slack and went ahead with the shrimp pasta. I forgot to take a picture of it before we devoured it so this "in-situ" (situ = tupperware container) snap shot will have to do.

It was pretty tasty.....the pasta, I mean. I really thought I liked shrimp more than I do... I like 'em better than straight up fish because they're kind of meatier and not as fishy but it was like my mind was yelling "FISH! FISH! FISH!" every time I took a bite. I ate two. Not bad.

I tried to finaggle the recipe from John and very cryptically he told me this: he heated up some oil, sauteed onion, then added in red pepper and garlic. Then he cooked the spaghetti. For the sauce he mixed a bit of spaghetti sauce with some diced cherry tomatoes and cream cheese and black pepper. Delish.

Not an exact recipe but do with it as you will. It's goooooood. It'd be so much better with chicken instead of shrimp ;)

Since fish = seafood = sea = mermaids, I thought to myself, 'why not share with your 4 readers your love of mermaids?'

So I'm going to.

My mom started me on picking up mermaids. Not like in a bar, I mean buying decorative mermaids for the apartment. She gave me my first one and I've bought every other one with her. Plus I may or may not have a mermaid permanently on me.

This one I got when I was a wee lass in Florida. I assume purchased by my mama

This one I got in Perth, Ont, near my Nanny's cottage:

This one I also got in the same store as the mermaid above, and she's hanging right above my bedside table. I could hang something on her tail but don't really want to.


This posed siren is the first one my mom gave me from that same store in Perth. She's in the bathroom. Watching.

Well, there you have it!

I'm heading to bed before I cave and eat the open box of Quality Street Chocolates that are looking at me. Same with the jar of jelly beans. And eggies. Ohhhhh nooooooo!

I'm going to see the Body World's exhibit at the Science Centre tomorrow with my clinical group. I'm very excited!!!

I'll update on Friday but please note we are not allowed to take pictures of the exhibit :( I'll see what I can do though. I have taken pictures of the Sistine chapel and the statue of David....