Good morning all!

Before I recap my new things for this week, I’ve got 2 winners to announce for my Simply Switches giveaway! I loved reading about the switches you guys are making – all of you inspire me! The winner of the gift basket is Carrie from Moves n Munchies, and the winner of the box of Simply Bars is Julie. They’ve got some great simply switches going on…

Carrie:

“I am making a switch to veganism!! I want to eat more natural plant based foods, no more processed stuff!”

Julie:

“A simply switch I am making this year is to eat fewer processed foods…and replace them with healthier, whole food options.”

Congrats ladies! I will be contacting you shortly for your mailing info.

Ok, on to the new things that happened this Tuesday:

1. Recipe of the Week: Ok, I thought last week’s Honey Lime Salmon was good, but this is ridiculous. Let me introduce you to…

Apple Pie Breakfast Quinoa. Quinoa is not just for savoury things, friends. I might just even go as far as to say I like it better than oats. However, if oats is what you’ve got, I’m sure this recipe could be recreated by subbing oats of the quinoa.

Freakin’ blew me away this one did. Enjoy!

2 and 3 and 4. Sushi 99, miso soup, and masago.

You may remember that back on Try Something New Tuesday 18, I tried Bento Nouveau sushi for the first time. I played it safe and went for a California roll, which was certainly a tasty choice. There are a couple of all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants in my area and having lived here for 5 years, many of my friends are shocked that I haven’t been to them yet. Well, I sorted that out yesterday afternoon. One of my fab co-workers and I went to Sushi 99 for lunch, and despite some fairly negative online reviews, I thought it was really good!

The prices were really reasonable – lunch is $12.99 per person on weekdays and $13.99 on weekends, dinner is $19.99 on weekdays, $20.99 on weekends). To start, we each ordered California salads (lettuce, avocado, crab, and masago with a dressing that tasted a bit sesame-esque)…

…and soup. My lovely dining companion went for the Spicy & Sour:

Since I’ve never had miso soup before, I figured that would be a good choice. I’ve always seen it in the grocery store and have contemplated making some myself, but this seemed so much more convenient.

We also had a delicious plate of edamame, which is like crack if you ask me… I don’t even want to know how many bags I’ve consumed in the past month.

As our main courses, we shared the following:

• Spicy White Tuna Roll (white tuna and avocado with spicy sauce)
• California Maki (avocado, cucumber, masago and crab meat)
• Green Dragon Roll (tempura shrimp, masago, crab meat, topped with avocado)

Keep in mind that I am very, very inexperienced when it comes to sushi, but I thought this was really good! In case you were wondering what masago is (because I certainly was), it’s cappelin (a type of fish) eggs. They are the really small and orange, and are used as garnishes. A little gross I suppose, but I try not to think about it too much. I may have had them at some point before but I didn’t know that was what they were actually called. Their taste wasn’t very distinct  but they did have quite a cool crunchy texture.

On the whole, this was a delicious lunch – probably helped in part by the fact I was saving up my appetite and by the time we got to the restaurant I was starving! The appetizers were small enough not to totally fill me up before the rolls came (white tuna was definitely my favourite), and by the time we were done… well, I was definitely full – but not on the verge of needing to change into my Lulu pants, which I think is just the right amount of fullness.

5. A new yoga studio. Last month, I did all of my yoga at Moksha, a local hot yoga studio. It’s a great place, but a little pricey. This month I’ve got a plan: I recently bought a Groupon for Pranalife that gets me unlimited yoga for one month, for only $35. The studio’s schedule suits mine a little better than Moksha did, so I figured why not? Pranalife has only been open since the beginning of January and quite small, but the instructors are really friendly and the studio is nice and clean.

The "I'm excited to get my warrior on" face

Last night I went for the first time and did 2 back-to-back “Got Yoga” classes. These classes are only 20-30 minutes each, but are on the schedule because studies have shown that even a little yoga is enough to increase bone density and strength. That sounded good in my head but the time passed really quickly and by the time I was getting into the first one it was over. However, I’m told as of next week, the class will be 1 hour which sounds much better to me. As far as the workout went, the class was easy but it was just what I was looking for after work yesterday. Some good stretching followed by a savasana? Yes please.

6. New fave feel-good tune: James Blunt – Steal the Night.

I loved James Blunt’s Back to Bedlam album (especially High, Wisemen, and Tears and Rain are amazing), but the songs weren’t the happiest. This one has much more of a feel-good vibe and I listened to it non stop yesterday.

Good, no?

Alright, that’s all I’ve got for you today! I’ll leave ya with a few questions…

• Do you have a yoga studio that you go to all the time or do you like to move around and try different ones?
  
• Are you a fan of all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants? Some of my more experienced sushi-eating friends would argue that all-you-can-eat restaurants are totally not the way to go if you want really good sushi, but this one was good enough for me!

I hope you have a lovely Wednesday, and if your city is buried in snow like mine is, be safe!!