chip addiction

No that's not a new punk band name. Well it might be for all I know. Chip addiction is a real thing. I know it because I have it. I haven't done any research, apart from eaten a lot of chips and know plenty of people who also love the crisp, crunchy yumminess of the darn things. You know who you are. A guy I used to work with posted on his Facebook status "I ate a whole bag of Doritos last night watching TV. Gross.. Hello gym!" Uh huh.

But chips are amidst a revolution if you haven't noticed. They're getting healthier. Sure they are. I've tired the olive oil ones, the baked not fried, the sweet potato, brown rice and veggie options. The thing is...they are still chips. So allow yourself the pleasure. In this short and fleeting life we must hang on to things we love and need. Whether that's a spouse, a pet, or the need for nice shower curtain...enjoy it. It will make you a better person.

My tip top ten chip list:

#10 Old Dutch Rip-L Original - I'm from Saskatchewan so I remember the chip dip too in my parents rumpus room
#9 Food Should Taste Good's Multiigrain - flax, sunflower and sesame seeds, LOTS of variety like sweet potato, cinnamon, blue corn
#8 Dirty's Original All Natural Sea Salted (regular) - they're pretty good but mostly on the list because I like the name
#7 LAY's Dill Pickle - a small bag will do you
#6 TOSTITOS® Multigrain Tortilla Chips - nice with my homemade guacamole
#5 Good Health Natural Products Olive Oil Potato Chips (Solea's Sea Salt version) - hard to find, best to order online
#4 Riceworks Salsa Fresca Brown Rice Crisps - they're available at Shopper's Drug Mart
#3 Kettle New York Cheddar - the yellow bag, now with more cheddar
#2 Terra's Red Bliss® Potato Chips - they're that good
#1 Terra's Red Bliss® Potato Chips - Porter serves a small mixed vegetable bag on their flights

Bet you can't eat just one...

I like Milestones

Some days you simply need take out. And when your husband ends up with a job in Milestones parking lot at 6:30 p.m. it may as well be just that. I like Milestones. I don't care if it's a chain. He suggested the seafood salad: grilled tiger shrimp, wild West Coast salmon, marinated shrimp, fresh avocado, papaya, roasted Italian tomatoes, crisp noodles, lemon-chardonnay vinaigrette. The only issue with it last time I had it in the restaurant was the ice berg lettuce was a bit bland. It was December.

We accidentally had date night there a few weeks ago after we did the last haul from the move. I was exhausted and ravenous and can't remember what I ordered. I know ate too much. He had a steak with a huge dollop of mashed potatoes. Ok I just looked on the site and here's what we shared:
APP: milestones’ famous hot spinach and artichoke dip. Creamy spinach dip with artichoke hearts and imported Italian cheeses. Served with sour cream, fresh-cut salsa and warm red tortilla chips.
MAINS:
HE: certified angus beef® top sirloin With trio of signature steak sauces – House-made Worcestershire, Kobe mustard, Gaucho sauce.
ME: california spring salad. Baby greens, mild goat cheese, fresh sliced strawberries, red onion, spicy-glazed pecans with your choice of grilled chicken breast or fire-grilled garlic shrimp skewer. I had the shrimp.
DESSERT: THE cookie
Freshly pressed and baked daily, this double dark chocolate is laced with white chocolate chunks. Served warm and topped with premium vanilla gelato and covered with house-made chocolate and caramel sauces. It. Was. Ridiculous. We ate it all.

We've also been there for brunch and must recommend the STRAWBERRY FRENCH TOAST. A light baguette dipped in our cinnamon vanilla egg batter, then lightly griddled. Topped with fresh strawberries paoched in agave syrup. Mango cream garnish. It's really really good.

http://www.milestonesrestaurants.com/

PS: In the time it's taken me to write this the seafood arrived. He also brought with him an unbaked bocconcini garlic bread that's now in the oven. I married the right man.

all about a button

I found the perfect button to sew on to my husband's spring jacket. It was the bottom one. An older jacket that's got nothing wrong with it, except for the missing bottom button. Dark blue canvas type material with light brown collar and cuffs. Brown buttons with swirly bits of cream colour in them. For years, my sorry excuse for a sewing kit has been a white plastic bag which I recently transferred to a soft grey Biotherm nylon case that was once upon a time a 'gift with purchase'. The kit contains: spare buttons from shirts, pants, jackets, a collection of needles of varying size, those teeny little scissors that fall apart but I keep them anyway, mini mending kits from hotels with six different colours of thread, a black spool of thread, a white spool of thread, a spool of cream colour thicker thread that is stronger than the previous cotton spools. On the button search for the spring jacket I found a dark brown button - too big, a navy blue one - right size but would look wrong, a brown one that might have worked but it didn't have holes - it had a hook on the back. Then I saw it. At first it looked too small. But when I matched it up against a button already on the jacket it was like finding the right foot for that glass slipper. I knotted up the black thread like my mother showed me years ago, doubled it up so it would be a more reinforced hold and stitched the little guy back on. Hoping it was in the right place, when he put the jacket on a did up every button...you'd never know it was a patch job if I hadn't told the story. Perspective is everything. And sometimes it's all about a button.

I'm packing

Oh I'm packing alright. A lunch that is. Breakfast too. Whether my colleagues are used to me stirring up my tupperware full of surprise every morning I'm not sure, but they've stopped asking, "What's that??" Today, had a been asked, my answer would have been this: plain yogurt, fresh blackberries, frozen raspberries, a banana, some ground golden flax, chia seeds and a bit of psyllium (pron. SILL-ee-um) husk. I eat this almost everyday. The fruit varies and I often use strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, cranberries, mango, or kiwi. On weekends I get variation of the same in a shake format made my my husband. When we first met, he had me at the shake. And he's right, you don't get sick of them. The shakes include protein powder, milk (or chocolate milk), POM juice and and a handful of vitamins, of which I normally take in the pill form B, C, D, milk thistle and evening primrose oil.

PS: RE: avocado toast
Tony Horton on Avocados: The Poor Man's Butter, By Tony Horton (Newsletter Issue #023 04/07/10)

Every time I mention that I eat four to six avocados a week, I hear all this gobbledygook about how fattening they are. I want to clear up this avocado debate right now. The fat in avocados is monounsaturated. This good fat is part of a healthy diet. It actually helps lower cholesterol. Avocados are rich in vitamins C and E, folic acid, and potassium. They also help your body absorb beta-carotene from other foods. Half an avocado is only 150 calories, and makes a perfect topping on a salad or some of your favorite whole-grain toast. Plus the pit is a giant seed that grows into a gorgeous plant.
http://www.beachbody.com/product/p90x-online/newsletters/p90xnl_023.do?code=P90XNEWS_023_V1_ARTICLE1#article1

avocado toast

All in all the new apartment is a win. The cats are happier and I have my own bathroom.
Sunday morning among the cookbooks in my galley kitchen I made one of my favourite breakfasts of all time. Avocado slices on toast with a squeeze of lime, pinch of rock salt and fresh pepper. Learned this recipe in Israel years ago where I lived on kibbutz for a couple of months and picked avocados. Simple, classy, tasty. Other good news is that the Price Chopper across the street is better than the Loblaws further up the street. Avocados for 89 cents! And they have a halal meat section and they carry the New Zealand lamb chops we like. After the upheaval, things are looking up.

bye bye Barbara

Been MIA lately due to a move. Next move will be a contents sale listing on Craisglist. Moving blows. Especially when it's not by choice. Long story short: condo we were living in was getting sold, we didn't want it, found new condo, new condo is better.
Life is change. Sometimes it's upheaval, rebirth and renewal. It's Easter weekend and a warm weather front has come and gone so change is everywhere you look, touch, smell. And now Barbara Budd is leaving As It Happens, one my very favourite CBC radio shows. Below is the note I wrote to her the night I heard the announcement.


Dear Barbara,

Even before you announced your departure from AIH last night, I called it. She's leaving. It was in your tone. The tone that I have followed for many years.

I stopped unpacking the rubbermaid bin, stood still in my new kitchen and listened to you announce your last day April 30th. I moved into a new condo yesterday in downtown Toronto.

My routine for the last while has been coming home from work, working out, spending time with my cats, pouring a glass of wine and preparing dinner or doing some writing. All the while listening to you. You are very good at what you do. You will be missed.

I have worked as a video producer at for the past six years. Prior to that I was a food reporter, freelance producer/writer/director, ESL teacher and actor. I have a growing collection of short stories, have written stage and screenplays, a novel on the go and a blog: http://starfishandkoffie.blogspot.com/

I often interview people at my job. Sometimes about subjects of which I know very little. Listening to you and Carol on As It Happens has taught me many things. My writing teacher sometimes makes us write lists to warm up.

What follows is a list of things you have demonstrated over the airwaves:

- honesty
- intelligence
- humility
- compassion
- grace
- sincerity
- inspiration
- change
- calmness
- how to be brave
- how to be direct
- fearlessness
- appreciation
- humour
- personality
- relaxation
- surprise
- tact
- how to listen
- peace
- the meaning of a silent pause
- sadness
- pride
- strength
- concern
- fairness

Photos of me and my loved ones (all fans) are attached. Our wedding in Pelham County at the Comfort Maple, a beach on Cape Breton (Whale Cove), our cats at feeding time (that is a Lucien Freud print in the background) and a shot of me over Lake Erie (I am a novice skydiver).

Life is change.
I wish you all the best Barbara.

Sincerely,
Lily