Indian Cooking Class, Weeks 8 and 9

I miss my Indian Cooking class so much! Here's a recap of our last classes.

In week 8 we made Channa Dal over Rice with Peas and Soya (top of the container), Carrot Apple Salad (bottom right) and Eggplant Bhartha (bottom left).

Can you believe I've made carrot apple salad three day in a row this week for lunch? That's how much I love it. All you do is shred an apple, shred some carrots, throw in some lemon or lime juice (and add salt, but I don't do that part usually). Love it with a capital L.

Here's a semi-closeup of the channa dal which is made with chickpeas. Looking at these pictures again really makes me want to make some of this asap!

Here's the rice with soya chunks. If you've never eaten soya chunks, I wouldn't recommend you to rush out and buy them anytime soon!

On the last class we remade our favourite recipes, including garlic naan. Ohhhh yeahhh.

And now classes are done and every night for dinner all I want to make is Indian food.

Coming up soon... the five course Indian meal I made for husby!

The Dangers of Floor Hockey

Last night was my last floor hockey game of the season before playoffs start. It was rough, let me tell you!

1) No subs, so I had to play the entire game. Very tiring.

2) Got hit square in the face with the ball.

3) Bloody nose.

4) Swollen lip.

5) Slap shot to the crotch.

6) Another one to the knee.

7) Tripped over air and twisted my ankle.

I think that's it. Oh, and we lost by one to the worst team in the league.

What a night!

As a side note, when I got home I looked in the mirror to see the damage. Why didn't anyone tell me I had blood all over my nose still? Seriously.. that's worse than not telling someone they have gunk in their teeth!

Sleep Cycle App

When M moved to Chicago he left me his iPhone to use. At first I thought - what do I need this for? Now I think - how did I ever live without this amazing invention?

I love it, I love it, I love it.

There are so many uses for the iPhone (directions, oh heck yes) but my new favourite app is Sleep Cycle. Ever since reading Angela's blog post about sleep cycles, I wanted to investigate my sleep patterns and figure out my optimal bedtime and wake up time. Before I got a chance to do the research, M told me about the Sleep Cycle app.

Healthy sleepers follow a five phase sleep cycle. When you are woken during the wrong phase, REM or deep sleep, you pretty much feel like a zombie and want to hit the snooze button. If awoken during light sleep you (supposedly) feel refreshed and rested.

I had been having a really hard time waking up in the mornings, which is not typical for me, so I figured why not try out the Sleep Cycle app for 99 cents. Here's how it works.

1. When you are ready to go to bed, turn the app on and choose a time to set your alarm.

You will be woken up anytime in the half hour period leading up to when you set the alarm, depending on when you're in the lightest sleep phase. If you set the alarm for 7am, you'll be woken during your lightest sleep phase between 6:30-7am. (This is the biggest flaw of the app in my opinion. What if you're not in light sleep anytime during that half hour period?)

2. Next, place your iPhone on the corner of your bed. The iPhone tracks your movements and from this can determine what phase of sleep you're in.

3. Wake up in a happy mood! Every morning i look forward to checking out my sleep statistics to see how the night went.

This was a good night! Look at all that deep sleep!

I wonder what I was dreaming about this night?

You can see how I was tossing and turning from 5-6am on this morning.

I've used this app a total of 13 nights and I really think it works. It might be all in my head but I have been waking up feeling good every morning since using the app. I would much rather wake up happy, a half hour earlier than I expected, than wake up feeling exhausted.

Thoughts, anyone?

From Patio to Parka

Patio weather :)

The weather the last few days has been bea-u-ti-ful! Yesterday M and I went to Quartino for dinner and drinks on the patio.

Mmm, sangria! I got M to take this picture to show off my nail polish colour. He thinks I belong in the morgue.

The food at this place is soo good! And cheap cheap. It's sort of an Italian tapas place. We ordered the salumeria tasting with two cheeses, two meats, and three salads. It's a nice place to go with a group of people, that way you can taste a whole bunch of different dishes.

Fast forward 12 hours and now it's...

Parka weather :(

Whole Foods Heaven

I went to the most amazing Whole Foods store last night in Chicago. I was in heaven. It was big and beautiful. Seriously, look at how huge this place is! It has its own parking garage!

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One thing that is very different between Canada and the US is the food. There are so many crazy, wonderful options in the States. Especially at a place like Whole Foods where most things are organic, natural, and sometimes locally produced.

One thing I've been wanting to try forever is Greek yogurt. I can't find Oikos, Chobani, or Fage brand Greek yogurt anywhere in Canada. It's so creamy and high in protein and just look at their newest kind:

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Caramel! I bought some last night and I can't wait to try it. I also bought a peanut butter and jelly Lara Bar and VitaTops. I was content just to walk around the store and look at everything.

Delicious looking fruit display...

Any cheese you could ever want...

Chocolate of every kind...

A bar. In the store!

There was also all of these specialty bars: salad, hot food, pizza, sushi, soup, trail mix, and about a million more. Heaven, I tell you.

This is the first tourist attraction I'm taking people when they visit :)

St. Paddy's River

Yesterday we went for a walk to see the Chicago River dyed green for St. Paddy's Day. It was a miserable rainy, windy day. I had low expectations and figured since the river is already green it would just be a shade lighter or something. Oh no, it was surprisingly bright green! I found these pictures on the internet because we had the iPhone, which could not pick up the true colour.

They pour vegetable dye in and use boats to stir it all up!

Even Bama wanted to see! How festive.

Crossing My Fingers!

Our condo was on the market for 48 hours and it's now SOLD!! Conditionally for five days, pending the buyers' banking goes through and approval of the status certificate. That's why I'm still crossing my fingers, it's not a done deal yet, but very very close.

Our listing went up on Thursday morning, we had two showings that day, and an offer Thursday night. We countered it this morning with our asking price and they accepted! Wahoo! I can't quite believe it. Real estate in Toronto is nuts.

I think it's going to be a bit sad saying goodbye to this place, but onto bigger and better things, right? If not bigger or better, different, for sure. I never in a million years would have thought my life would be turning in this direction, but you might as well make the most of the opportunities you're given.