Shrimp and Avocado Salad

It's time for delicious, fresh, yummy summer produce! I threw this salad together tonight with whatever I had left in my fridge and it turned out delicious. I love the all the colors together in my Mexican-style bowl. It was also super easy, it took only about 5 minutes (if you buy the shrimps pre-cooked like I did).

Shrimp & avocado salad:

-10 medium-sized shrimp, cooked and peeled
-1 avocado
-half a cucumber
-1 tomato (I used a roma tomato because it's not too juicy)
-10 baby carrots
-a quarter of a small onion
-olive oil
-red wine vineger
-dijon mustard
-salt & pepper

Roughly chop all ingredients, except for onion, which should be finely diced. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and add oil, vineger, and dijon to taste. Mix everything to coat with liquid ingredients. Salt & pepper to taste.

I put only a little bit of dijon, because I didn't want to mask the taste of my perfectly ripe avocado. I got a little extra kick from loads of freshly ground black pepper. I can't stress how much better freshly ground pepper is than the sawdust stuff they sell pre-ground at the store. It's so worth it to invest in a good pepper grinder.

Update on spending ban:
Although I wish I had made the time to actually blog about it, all was successful and ended today with the purchase of my new phone! After being cell phone-less for a year now, I was well overdue. And I definitely encourage the "break" from spending. It was a lot less difficult that I thought, and if I learned anything from it, it's just that I think a second longer "do I really need this?" when I'm in a store. Which can be a lifesaver for an impulsive shopper like myself.

I'm off to tax-filing land. Oh joy.

Spending Ban

So, after 3 days of spring cleaning, and our condo not looking nearly as clean as I would like it to, I've decided to give myself a 2 week spending ban. This seems to be a popular blog topic, and although I really admire how so many of you give do this over several months, I think my 2 weeks is pretty ambitious. I've cleaned out my closets, and given away 9 garbage bags to goodwill, and I still have too much stuff. It's time to return to basics, and re-learn to appreciate what I have. Here is the outline of my objective:

Acceptable Expenses:
-Groceries
-Household supplies (shampoo, cleaning products, etc.)
-Seeds and gardening stuff (it's the time of year to start my potted herbs, so I will allow myself this one luxury)
-weekly monday night dinner out with my wonderful boyfriend, because we work very and deserve this time and indulgence together

NOT Acceptable Items:
-clothing
-shoes (yes this another category on its own)
-household accessories (NO more dishes, NO more decorative bowls, and NO MORE candles!)
-any type of stationary, despite my efforts to justify it as a "need"
-transportation to and from work

So here I go. Wish me luck! I'm actually hoping I can continue this for more than 2 weeks but I thought I would start small so to not lose motivation. Baby steps.

On that note here are some things I love, although I will not be buying!

Like this "Tweets" notepad from Snow & Graham Chicago


And this cupcake kit complete with uber-cute paper shells, piping bag, and recipes, available at Indigo (and it's even on sale! must.resist.)

Ahhh. At least my apartment and my boyfriend will thank me.

A little warmth on this winter day...

Here's something to brighten your day:


I love my new calender from Snow & Graham Chicago. They have the most precious designs and really pretty colors which quite nicely brighten up my entrance wall in this bleak month of February (anything other than gray is refreshing at this point). I must get their flower print adhesive note pad...I'm even feeling inspired to set up a home office so I can use all their cute stationary.

Louboutins & Weddings

I have had weddings on my mind for the past little while now, and I can't get enough. Maybe because they are the combination of all my absolutely favorite things in life, being love, food, projects, flowers, and, well, shoes.


I found this picture surfing the web today, and it's decided: I will DEFINITELY be wearing Louboutins at my wedding. Why is it so necessary to wear white shoes to get married? Why spend so much money on a special pair of shoes you will never wear again?? (I just csn't see myself hitting the town in white satin heels). I've always seen myself in a simple and classic wedding gown, so why not add a sexy splash of red? All I need to wait for now is the proposal....

The tree is up!!

Christmas tree is up and decorated! After a few mishaps involving small stand and ridiculously huge (therefore heavy) tree, everything is under control. I decided I wanted to my tree this year with lots of white lights and gold, silver, and white ornaments. I forgot, however, that the boyfriend likes tacky/colorful/eighties/mismatched tree. At first, I objected and wanted to do it my way, which was obviously the RIGHT way, but then I realized the whole point of having a Christmas tree is to enjoy time with loved ones, throw on some Christmas music, open up a nice bottle of wine, and decorate! So I let him put the decorations he wanted (not without me sneaking around behind him fixing them of course). But I love our tree. No matter what it looks like, it's always the right combination of the old, been-in-the-family-for-years ornaments, and the new preciouse ones that I can't resist buying.

These are a few of my favorite new ones...



And a few oldies...

Domestic Sunday

Very proud of myself today! Finally got around to using up a lot of the stuff in my fridge. Made cranberry sauce with my last huge bowl of market cranberries, but still had some left over. I made about 16 jars, most of which will be Christmas gifts, and stopped there, considering people only need so much cranberry sauce (I don't even think that many people have Turkey anymore?). I think I will try making craisins with the reamaining berries.


With that done, I made a big batch of chicken stock. I tried roasting the bones first this time, hoping the soup would resemble that great Thanksgiving turkey carcus soup, but I can't say I really tasted a difference. I won't bother next time. And then finally I made some great spicy shrimps. I peeled them and made a stock first, using vegetables and herbs, just stuff I had around the house which was:

-carrots
-celery
-onion
-basil
-thyme
-sliced garlic

I simmered the stock for about half an hour, and then strained. Delish! I was expecting it to have a very seafood-y smell, but not at all. So I sauteed my shrimp with a little garlic, added some stock (reduced), and threw in a little tomato sauce with dried chillies. Amazing! I'm always pleased when I try to make something for the first time and it turns out well!

I'm also pleased when I manage to use up all the goodies that need to be used up in the fridge. I've gotten much better about not wasting over the years, but I still seem to have to throw out food at the end of every week. Which I find heartbreaking.
It's off to bed now for this cook!

Bleu Lavande

I made a very exciting discovery today! Bleu Lavande, Canada's only certified lavender growers, and one of the largest growers in North America, has opened a boutique inside The Bay, in downtown Montreal, selling its products. I visited the fields this summer just outside of Magog, about an hour and a half from Montreal, and was blown away by the beautiful colors and unmistakable scent.



I purchased some of their essential oil, hand soap and body cream at the gift shop. I was getting geared up to make an online order for Christmas gifts, until I found their products right downtown! I obviously had to celebrate by getting myself a little treat, so I tried out their hand sanitizer (I'm finally getting on this germ-free bandwagon everyone is so concerned about). I love it! It leaves my hands smelling of lavender all day instead of like rubbing alcohol. And the best part is, it actually moisturizes instead of leaving my hands feeling dry and raw. My next purchase will be something from their "CUIZINE" line, which includes lavender spice, lavender honey, and lavender tea. I'm sure I won't be disappointed. I highly recommend everything I've used so far. If you can't get to a store, Bleu Lavande's website offers free shipping on purchases of over 40$.