Lists, Lists, And More Lists

I am a list maker. Call me anal, obsessive, or organized, but I love lists! So much so that I have asked Jay for a book/journal called My Life in Lists. I make them for what I need to buy, what I would like to buy, groceries, chores, who I need to call, travel and so on. I think list-mania started in late high school or college, just when things started to get crazy and I needed to be more in control of what I needed to get done. I carried over into my work habits as well. I would have a running list in a notebook of what research needed to be completed and which projects or filings were still open. And now that I am not working, I still have lists.

My current list is 4 pages long. Yes, I said 4 pages. But it is that long for a good reason. Travel. Even before Arabella, I made a list of what I needed to bring whenever I traveled. I hate to forget things and it makes the process of packing that much easier. Now that we have Arabella, traveling is not so easy anymore (but we don't let that stop us from traveling) and it takes me more time to pack and make sure that we have everything that we need. And this trip is different. We are driving by car to Connecticut for Easter and then Arabella and I are flying to Florida for 15 days! So I have lists for what needs to be packed for Easter in Connecticut, me in Florida, Arabella in Florida, the car ride and the plane ride. No list for Jay, he packs for himself so if he forgets anything, I am not responsible, it is just easier that way! Whew, I think I have all the bases covered!! No need to worry about forgetting anything, right?? I even asked Jay what he would pack to see if I missed anything, nope, nothing missing.







And if I do forget to put something on the list, there will be a Target nearby, although I am not sure I am going to want to spend too much time at Target while on vacation.

Can't A Girl Get Some Greek Yogurt???

Since moving here, I have been searching for one of my favorite foods, Greek Yogurt. For those of you who are not familiar with Greek Yogurt, it is amazing! It is thicker and richer than regular yogurt. It also has a lower sugar and higher protein content and it has 0% fat (or fuller fat, if that is what you prefer). And with more protein than regular yogurt, it makes you feel fuller after eating it. I love to have it with raspberries and a handful of Kashi Cocoa Beach granola...I am getting hungry just thinking about it!

Anyway, each time I go to the grocery store, I search in both the organic and regular yogurt sections. So when I thought I found some by Liberte (a really good yogurt brand) last week I was super excited! The label didn't say "Greek Yogurt" but it did say "Mediterranee", which I thought would be close enough. But imagine my surprise, when in my excited state, I am telling Jay that I found Greek yogurt, he says "You know, that is the yogurt I like and it has the really high fat content, right???". I was sure he was wrong, how could it be, all I wanted was some good, low fat, thick yogurt. So I ran to the refrigerator and checked the carton. Sure enough, he was right. 8.5% milk fat, 250 calories and 15 grams of fat per 175 gram serving! (175 grams = roughly 6 ounces). Holy crap, I was fooled by the labeling!






Jay and Arabella have been enjoying the yogurt and I am still on the hunt! If anyone knows where I can get some true Greek yogurt in Montreal, please let me know!!

Fun With Noa and Victoria

On Friday and Saturday, Arabella and I had to fun play dates with Noa and her mommy, Victoria. We met them through the Wee Wiggles and we have had so much fun together already!! Arabella and Noa are just 2 months apart in age so they get along great. Victoria and I have a lot in common...particularly our fondness for Trader Joe's and Whole Foods! Victoria used to live in Boston so she understands what it is like to miss the comforts of the US!

We had a fun morning on Friday and then on Saturday morning, we took the girls to Fundomundo. They had a blast and it wore them out. I think Victoria and I were also worn out at the end since we got quite a workout from climbing all over the play gyms with the girls.





Arabella and I are looking forward to more fun play dates with Noa and Victoria!

Who Knows About Spokeo??

Instead of going to bed so I can get up at 5:20 to workout, I feel that I need to share that with everyone immediately!! I just found out about this website from another blog that I read frequently, One Bored Mommy Blogspot. Since I found this very scary and frightening I wanted to share it with my readers and followers!

It is an online search engine for people, very similar to GOOGLE. It will pull up all kinds of information on just about everyone! THIS IS NOT A JOKE! As a test, I searched for my name, Jay's name and my mother's name and it pulled us all up. It even pulled up pictures of our homes. It was very scary to see the type of info that it had on us. Not all of it was correct, but still scary nonetheless! You can remove your information from the site and I encourage all of you to do so immediately!


To remove your information, follow these simple steps:
To remove Phone/Name Listings:
1. Locate the listing you want removed
2. Copy the URL. The URL can be found on the top of your browser and should look something like:
http://www.spokeo.com
3. Go to http://www.spokeo.com/privacy
4. Paste the URL from step 2
5. Provide your email address (required to verify that you are not an automated bot)
6. Check your Inbox for the confirmation email, and click on the link on the bottom to complete removal process
7. The directory listing will become flagged and should be removed within 1 business day

In this day and age of identity theft, PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY AND FAMILY and remove yourself from this website!

Thank you so much for bringing this to my (our) attention One Bored Mommy Blogspot!!

Wonderful Wednesday

Arabella and I did some exploring today. We found the Beaconsfield Library and a great park on the Lakeshore. She had fun running around on the beach,exploring and playing the playground. She just loves to be outside and I am thankful for that. She had a fit when I told her we needed to go home and take a nap...it was way past her usual naptime.











We also enjoyed lunch at one of our favorite spots in Le Bilboquet in Pointe Claire. We had wonderful butternut squash soup. Arabella enjoyed 2 macaroons that she picked out herself, chocolate banana and maple. She has become quite the macroon conisseur! And she was very protective of the macroon case. When another patron was looking in the case, she went over and put herself in front of it as ifto say "I am not going to share the macroons with you"! It was very cute. The girls who worked there were having so much fun with her, they wanted her to stay and spend the afternoon with them!




Her Maple Macaroon - I just love the gold that is in the cookie! It is almost to pretty to eat!


Enjoying a Chocolate Banana Macaroon!

Taxes Anyone???

The cost of living in Quebec appears to be very high, I should say is HIGH. Granted, Caterpillar is generous and they give us a cost of living adjustment for living here, but I am not sure I understand why some things are so expensive.

For example, a half gallon of organic milk at Loblaws, the grocery chain that we frequent, sells for almost $6.00. Yes, a half gallon, not a gallon. In the US, I was able to buy a gallon of organic milk for about $6.00.

Or a bag of shredded cheese costs $7.99! And it is not even organic and you get roughly 4 cups of cheese...not that much cheese! The "no name" brand is $5.99. In case you don't believe me, I took a picture the last time I was at the store.



Also, it is a good thing I stocked up on diaper genie refills before we moved here. They cost $10.49 for one refill. Double what it cost us back in the USA.



And lets not forget about the taxes. There is the Quebec Provincial Sales Tax (PST)or(QST) rate is nominally 7.5%, but also a Federal 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST) for a total tax of 12.5%. This total tax varies depending on what Province you reside in.

The following everyday items are taxed at the above rates:

Taxable food and beverages
Examples of taxable food and beverages are:

food heated for consumption (yes forzen meals are included in this category)
alcoholic beverages
hot beverages–such as coffee and tea
carbonated beverages
carbonated mineral water
candy
snacks–such as cheese sticks (really cheese sticks...isn't that a good snack???), pretzels, potato chips and popcorn

Non-taxed grocery items include the following:

meat–such as beef, poultry, pork, lamb, prepared meats and sausages
cereals
fruits
vegetables
eggs
bread
fish
dairy products–such as unflavoured milk, cheese, butter, cream and yogurt

As for not taxing "unflavored milk" does that mean are you taxed for chocolate milk???

If you go out to eat, be prepared to pay, in addition to higher prices for meals, GST and QST are applied to almost all products sold in the following establishments:

establishments providing food heated for immediate consumption
restaurant and hotel establishments

Case in point, last Thursday night I went out with a few other mom's after our pedicures, for a drink, a glass of wine and 2 appetizer, the total including tip was $39.38!

Gasoline is taxed at $0.152 per liter (in the US that would be roughly an additional .60 per gallon)

Alcohol

Alcoholic beverages sold at grocery stores, convenience stores or the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) for home consumption are taxed as follows:

$0.40 per litre for beer
$0.89 per litre for other alcoholic beverages

Insurance Premiums

You must pay a tax on insurance premiums, except for premiums paid for individual insurance of persons. Seriously!!

The tax rate for insurance premiums is 9%, except in the case of car insurance premiums where it is 5%. Note that this tax also applies to premiums paid to the Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec.

Tobacco Tax

The tobacco tax applies to all tobacco products sold in Québec, other than those sold for resale purposes. The tobacco tax is calculated as follows:

Product Tax payable
Cigarettes $0.103 per cigarette
Loose tobacco $0.103 per gram
Leaf tobacco $0.103 per gram
Cigars 80% of the taxable price
Tobacco sticks, rolls or any other pre-rolled tobacco product designed for smoking (weight in grams x $0.1585 < $0.103) $0.103 per stick, roll or other product
Tobacco sticks, rolls or any other pre-rolled tobacco product designed for smoking (weight in grams x $0.1585 >= $0.103) $0.1585 per gram
Other tobacco products $0.1585 per gram

To confuse you even more, products and services for children are taxed completely different. Certain products and services designed for children and their well-being are zero-rated or exempt under the QST and GST systems.

The following services for children are exempt from QST and GST:

most child-care services
municipal recreation services for children aged 14 and under
certain educational services

The following products are zero-rated under the QST system but taxable under the GST system:
baby diapers
training pants designed specially for children
items used for breastfeeding
breast pumps (purchase or rental)
baby bottles (all types)
disposable liners required for certain types of baby bottles

The following products are taxable under both the QST and GST systems:

wet wipes for young children

Oh, and I can't forget when I went to the drs yesterday, I WAS TAXED!! I saw a naturopath for a hydrotherapy (colon cleanse) appointment. The appointment breakdown was as follows:

Hydrotherapy - $93.02
GST - $4.65
PST - $7.33

For a grand total of $105. We can submit this and be reimbursed, but really aren't taxes supposed to pay for healthcare and how can they tax healthcare??? Doesn't make too much sense to me. Does that make sense to you?

And in case we were not paying enough QST and GST, The 2009 Québec budget proposes an increase to 8.5% effective January 1, 2011.

All of the taxes are supposed to pay for infrastructure, health care and social programs. So far, I have noticed that the roads need a lot of work and the health care system is not that efficient and could stand to have improvements made. So, I ask, where is all of this money being spent??

I also wonder if with the passage of the new healthcare bill back in the US, what is going to happen to taxes and how is it going to be paid for. Maybe the US should have looked at the situation in other countries before they wished for what they got...

Tax information obtained from: http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/en/ministere/

Happy Spring

Yesterday marked the first day of Spring, however as I am writing this post, Mother Nature is showering us with snow! I am happy it has been warm lately so the odds of it sticking are pretty slim...but I do have my fingers crossed for extra luck!

March 20th, which marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere and fall (autumn) in the southern hemisphere, is not just a random date that was chosen on the calendar. The actual date is based on astronomical findings. Twice a year, around March 20th or 21st and September 22nd or 23rd, the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world.
In case you are wondering what the term equinox means, it is derived from Latin words meaning “equal night” and refers to the time when the sun crosses the equator.

Happy Birthday Uncle Mike & Grampy

Happy Birthday from Montreal! We hope you enjoy this special birthday video!

Karine's Raw Food Recipes

For those of you who asked for the recipes that Arabella and I enjoyed on Tuesday, Karine was kind enough to share them with us. THANK YOU KARINE!! Enjoy!!!

Crudites with sunflower seed pate

1 1/2 cups raw sunflower seeds, soaked overnight, and then allowed to
sprout for 3 hours
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup tamari or 1 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon fresh ginger

Process the above ingredients through a food processor using an S
blade. Serve on sandwiches or on salad. Add some chopped celery for a
tuna-salad substitute.

Zucchini Pasta with Sun-dried Tomato Marinara Sauce:

*For the zucchini, you can use a Spiralizer or vegetable peeler to
make a more “linguine” type noodle.

Sauce:

2 Cups tomato, chopped
1 Clove garlic
½ cup fresh basil leaves
¼ cup olive oil
½ lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon pitted dates
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon rosemary
1 teaspoon sea salt
3 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes

Blend everything together in high-speed blender, adding sun-dried
tomatoes last. They will absorb excess moisture and make your marinara
sauce thicker.

Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVe0vz5tBtw
So you can see how it’s made step-by-step!

Raw Cacao Truffles



¾ Cup Raw Cacao Powder
2 Cups Ground Organic Raw Almonds
¾ Cup Raw Agave Nectar
½ Cup Raw Cacao Nibs
Pinch of Celtic Sea Salt
1 Cup Dried Organic Unsweetened Coconut Flakes

Combine all ingredients except for the coconut flakes in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Roll up your sleeves, take a small amount of the mixture, and roll small balls between your palms. Add your love! Dip each ball in a separate smaller bowl containing the coconut flakes.

You can freeze or refrigerate the truffles overnight to harden them. I keep them cold until they are ready to serve.

She also provided me with additional recipes to try:

Raw Sunflower Banana Energy Balls

½ Cup Ground organic Raw Almonds
2 Tablespoons Raw Almond Butter
2 Medium mashed ripe Bananas
1 Cup Raw Sunflower Seeds
½ Cup Raw Organic Cocoa Nibs
Pinch of Celtic Sea salt
Additional Raw Sunflower Seeds for coating

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Roll up your sleeves, take a small amount of the mixture, and roll small balls between your palms. Add your love! Dip each ball in a separate smaller bowl containing the additional sunflower seeds and coat them.

You can freeze or refrigerate them overnight. I keep them cold until they are ready to serve.

SPROUTED LIVE HUMMUS


1 cup sprouted chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 garlic clove
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp raw tahini
¼ cup pine nuts
1 tbsp ex-virgin olive oil
½ cup parsley, chopped
¼ tsp cumin
1 tbsp nama shoyu
Pinch Himalayan sea salt
Pinch of cayenne
1/3 cup purified water

Blend all ingredients in the food processor or until smooth, adding more water, if necessary.

MEXICAN BURRITOS

Wrap: 6 large romaine leaves

Filling: 1 ripe avocado
1 zucchini, diced
1 large ripe tomato, diced (no seeds)
½ cucumber, diced
¼ cup fresh corn kernels
¼ cup lentil sprouts
2 green onions, finely sliced
½ cup red and green pepper, diced
1 ½ cups finely shredded cabbage
2 tbls fresh cilantro, minced
¼ tbls cayenne pepper
¼ tbls celtic sea salt

Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir well. Spoon each serving into a lettuce leaf and roll up. Filling can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

TACO MEAT

2 ½ cups almonds, soaked and rinsed
1 cup cilantro, packed
3 garlic cloves
2 green onions, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 tbsp cumin
¼ tsp Himalayan Crystal salt
1 ½ tbsp chili powder
½ tsp coriander
Juice from 2 lemons
Juice from 1 lime
1 Jalapeno, minced
12 dried tomatoes, soaked
½ tbsp virgin olive oil
Pinch of Cayenne

Blend all ingredients in a food processor using the S blade until thoroughly mixed, but still coarse textured. Spoon meat on romaine leaves and roll up, or lay on top of salad.

HEMP PESTO

Blend in food processor with S blade:

2 cups hemp seeds
2 garlic cloves
2 cups fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp raw tahini
2 tbsp miso
2 tbsp hemp oil
pinch of Himalayan sea salt

Garnish with chopped basil, toss with zucchini pasta or salad

Yummy Mummy Lunch & Learn With Wee Wiggles

On Tuesday, Arabella and I ventured into Montreal to meet up with other Wee Wiggles and attend the Yummy Mummy Lunch & Learn. We learned how to "cook", but that term is used loosely as there was no really cooking involved, a raw vegan meal. This Lunch & Learn could not have come at a better time, since I watched Food, Inc. over the weekend and I have no desire to eat any type of meat...but that will be for another post.

Veganism is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients. Many vegans also do not eat foods that are processed using animal products, such as refined white sugar and some wines. Most vegans also avoid the use of all products tested on animals, as well as animal-derived non-food products, such as leather, fur and wool. Vegan refers to either a person who follows this way of eating, or to the diet itself. Benefits of a Vegan or Raw Food Diet include: increased energy, improved skin appearance, better digestion, weight loss and reduced risk of heart disease. The Raw Food Diet contains fewer trans fats and saturated fat than the typical Western diet. It is also low in sodium and high in potassium, magnesium, folate, fiber and health-promoting plant chemicals called phytochemicals. These properties are associated with a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Tera Werner and Karine Ionesco hosted and prepared the lunch and learn. They are amazing women. I left feeling inspired and ready to try and tackle the world of raw cooking.

Tera is the creator of The Raw Divas (http://www.therawdivas.com/index.php). She has currently been living the raw food lifestyle for 8 years. In addition to creating The Raw Divas, she is a passionate online entrepreneur and she has created an online network as a means of building an international community to support women seeking health through nutrition and working to achieve a natural, sustainable lifestyle. For more information on Tera's projects please go to: http://www.greensmoothiequeen.com/ or http://www.therawdivas.com/index.php or http://www.rawinmontreal.com/

Karine is currently in the process of becoming a certified health counselor and she teaches private/group raw vegan culinary classes. For more information on Karine please go to www.karineionesco.com (please note that she is in the process of revamping her website, so you may have to check back to see if it is up and running).

The meal did not contain any refined sugars, gluten, dairy or animal products. We started the meal with fresh green juice and a banana, hemp seed & kale smoothie. They were both delicious. Arabella liked the banana smoothie the best.



Arabella and Tera enjoying the banana smoothie!

We then had veggies with a Sunflower Paté. It was similar to hummus only thicker. And it was sooooo good on sliced cucumbers. This is going to become one of my new favorite veggie dips!



We also enjoyed a Pizza with tomato and basil, Zucchini Pasta with Sun-dried Tomato Marinara Sauce and a Baby Greens Salad. Everything was very good, filling and so easy to make. I can't wait to make the Pasta but I just need to get a Spiralizer to do so.


Baby Greens Salad


Zucchini Pasta


Pizza

We were also treated to desserts. They were to die for - Raw Cacao-Coconut Truffles and Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake. I was amazed to learn that the cake's frosting was made out of avocado. Who knew you could frost a cake with avocado??? I would have never guessed that it had avocado in it since you couldn't even taste it.



The following is a link to the youtube video to see step-by-step how to make the cake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVe0vz5tBtw

Arabella enjoyed the food. And I am looking forward to trying out the recipes on Jay. I am not sure how much he will like eating just veggies, but at least he will try anything once. And even if her doesn't like it, I will still be making Raw/Vegan meals for myself and Arabella. I will post Karine's recipes in a separate post in case any followers would like to try them out.

Thanks again to Tera and Karine for this informative and delicious afternoon. I look forward to particpating in other events with you both!

Perfect Day For The Park

This morning, Arabella and I walked to the park in our neighborhood. It was the perfect day! It was sunny, warm enough for lighter jackets and no hats and gloves were needed. She was so excited to swing and run around. We had fun exploring all of the play structures since all the snow on the playground has melted. We are very happy that we have been having such great weather - it is wonderful to be able to get outside and enjoy the fresh Spring air!

Fun at Fundomundo

On Sunday we took Arabella to Fundomundo. It was the perfect activity to do on a rainy Sunday. Lori, Jay and I took turns climbing all over with Arabella. She had fun and it wore us all out!















Afterwards, we took Jay to Le Glacier Bilboquet! He enjoyed it and Arabella got to have a macaroon. This time she picked out a pistachio one - she ate the whole thing and loved every bite.

Afternoon in Pointe Claire

Last week, Arabella, Lori and I went to Pointe Claire to do some exploring. The weather was perfect and we had so much fun walking around and checking out the great boutiques.

Our first stop was Le Panier (http://www.thepanier.com/index.php) - this shop has great gifts, food items, jewelery, and seasonal decor. We spent a good while just poking around and looking at all the cute things. Arabella wanted to take home the life size wooden dogs that they have around the store.

I fell in love with a home decor store called Lois Butler (http://www.loisbutler.com/). They have the most amazing gifts and home decor that I have seen in a long time. I will definitely be going back to this store.

There is also a store that only carries "natural body essentials" - Izzi (http://www.izzi.ca/). Their hand-crafted products are made in small batches; they cleanse, nourish and soothe the skin, using ingredients that are simple and good for us and for our environment. The products are made entirely without animal fats, harmful preservatives, and petrochemicals. Always paraben and sulfate free, they hand selected every ingredient, only using plant-based oils, vitamins, nutrients, minerals, and herbal extracts in our products for their virtuous properties and benefits for the skin. I purchased two bars of soap, detox spa (sea salt & shea butter) and Toning Citrus Paradisi (grapefruit & ground loofah) - both smell wonderful and they work great.



Our last stop before heading to the Lakeshore was Le Glacier Bilboquet, a Cremerie Cafe (http://www.bilboquetwestisland.com/). This is a cute little ice cream/cafe/bakery. They have amazing ice cream and macaroons. Arabella loved the macaroons!! Lori enjoyed a mini cupcake and huge chocolate chip cookie. I had part of Arabella's chocolate orange macaroon and some raspberry vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect afternoon pick me up! This is going to become one of our favorite places to go for a treat! We liked it so much we took Jay on Sunday for lunch and treats after Fundomundo!







Before heading home for the day, we walked to the Lakeshore. It was beautiful. There was still a lot of ice near the shore, but you could tell that the sun is starting to work it's magic and melt the ice.

She Did It

I hope this post doesn't contain too much TMI (too much information), but I have to blog about this. Continue reading at your own risk.

This afternoon Arabella and I went to the park since it was such a beautiful afternoon. When we got home, we did the usual routine of removing our coats and shoes in the mud room. While I was cleaning things up, she started to pull at her diaper and say "poop, poop". I thought she was just telling me that she had gone poop, but what she really was saying was that she had to go poop. She took my by the hand and led me to the bathroom where we have her new pink potty that she picked out. And she pointed to it and said "poop" again. I finally got it so we removed her diaper and she sat down, just like an old pro. I was surprised that after a few short moments, she got up, looked down, pointed and said "poop" one more time. Sure enough, she had gone in her potty! We had a little celebration and she she gave me a high five. This is such a milestone for her as we have not done any sort of potty training at all.

I am so proud of her, but know that there will be bumps in the road. But she was so happy and did such a great job with no pushing or prodding at all. Maybe this will be easy for us...I am keeping my fingers crossed!

You Are My Sunshine

Arabella lights up our lives just like the warm sunshine of Spring! I can't believe how much she has grown recently and how much fun we have together. Your smile makes my heart sing. I love you so much Little Bean!

Gym Time

Last Thursday, Auntie Lori attended Le Petite Gym with Arabella and I. We all had a lot of fun. This week, they worked on balance bean skills. Arabella did a great job and like usual was wiped out from all the activity. I can't believe how much progress she has made is just a few short weeks. She is like a little sponge - she soaks everything up. You are amazing Arabella!