Monday, June 14, 2010

weekend fun...and ani phyo giveaway update...

hello my lovelies...how are all of you? how did your weekend go? did you do anything fun? or did you just sit back and relax?!

i had a fabulous weekend, filled with more fun and excitement than i have experienced in a while...it was superb to say the least...and i wish i could do it all over again!

here's a little recap...

friday:

went to the salon and sat for three hours in a chair...and got my hair did...(i really hate getting my hair done, but i love the colour, wasting three hours of my life in a chair inhaling chemicals is not MY idea of fun...that is why most of the time i stretch out my next visit as long as i can, even if my roots are disgusting to look at)...



friday evening i met up with one of my fave girls...camille, the mastermind behind raw candy...we met up at rawlicious, and had a very delicious raw vegan dinner outside on the backyard patio, such a beautiful environment...hands down, one of the sweetest, friendly, laid back, interesting gals i have had the pleasure of meeting in a while...conversation was so easy...and i honestly could have sat with her for hours...i can't wait for our next dinner date!

we had an amazing meal...we ordered the nacho platter to start (the classic trio of gacamole, "sour cream” and salsa, served with sliced green olives, green onions, hot banana peppers and a pile of rawlicious nacho chips)...

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we also shared a pot of "beautiful foolishness" tea...the tea was such a sweet treat...and it was slightly chilly outside, so it helped warm us up...but there is never an excuse to drink tea...it's amazing...hot or cold outside!

for dinner, camille ordered the caesar wrap with a side salad dressed with poppy seed dressing (wrapped in a collard wrap, seasoned nut-loaf, romaine, caesar dressing,chopped peppers and onion bread crutons)...i tasted a a bit of this dish, and it was phenomenal...

i decided to go with the special of the night..."meat" loaf...yes, you read that correctly, "meat" loaf...with a side salad dressed with tangy lemon dressing...

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i don't believe i have eaten anything that fantastic in a very long time...i tried to get the recipe out of our lovely waitress, but she wouldn't budge...we even tried bribing her with one of the moon pies i brought with me to give to camille...

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although, camille was very gracious and ended up giving our waitress a moon pie anyway...like i said, one of the sweetest people i have ever met...she's a spectacular human being!!! thanks so much camille for such a lovely time...

camille also wrote a lovely post about our girls' night here, check it out...

saturday, john and i visited our local farmers market, and we were lucky to pick up a few goodies...local cucumbers, sweet bell peppers, zucchini, ontario strawberries and rhubard, first peas of the season...and some portabello mushrooms...we also did something SO exciting, we picked up a few plants for our very first garden...which we ended up planting on sunday...here is a sneak peak...i'll post a more extensive entry one day this week...



and within this lovely garden live various sweet little veggies...and in no particular order we have kale, red cabbage, swiss chard, various lettuces, brussel sprouts, eggplant, pickling cucumbers, celery, lemon basil, spicy basil, basil, dill, various hot peppers, including one i thought was so interesting, chocolate habanaro peppers, anyone heard of these before? and we also planted 5 watermelon plants...i cannot wait for our babies to grow...i am looking forward to watching the progress in the coming weeks...i am so so so excited.

we had some friends over saturday night, so john took care of dinner for them and himself...and i took care of some vegan apps, my dinner, and dessert...

for appetizers i served my yummy hummus (chickpeas, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, raw tahini paste, water, salt and pepper)...taquitos (vegan, chorize black bean)...and i made myself a very lovely brown rice pasta with local baby asparagus, kale, garlic and some tomatoes...and on the side i served a lovely kale salad, topped with hemp seeds...

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and for dessert, well...i made a lovely vegan strawberry and rhubard crumble out of the beautiful loot we scored that morning...i served mine with so delicious coconut milk vanilla ice cream...

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i had such a beautiful weekend...i wish it could have lasted forever...and i am so grateful to have been able to live through it...and experience it...i am definitely grateful for my sweetheart, my fur baby, my friends, my new friendships and having the pleasure of meeting such a beautiful soul...earth's bounty and this beautiful universe i am lucky to be a part of...life is dandy...even when it's not...haha!

i have an announcement to make about my exciting giveaway, ani phyo's raw food essentials, i have upped the stakes...i am now giving away TWO of these amazing books...so spread the word, and good luck to all of you...like i said, i wish i could give all of you a copy...

also, i noticed that some of you who entered didn't enter properly, so i will list the rules here, once again:

here are the rules...

*open to International, US and Canadian residents.

*MANDATORY: you must be a follower on google friend connect. it's on the right hand sidebar of my blog. then leave a comment stating that you are.

extra entries:

*follow me on twitter @nutellaaaa (3 entries = 3 comments);

*tweet about the giveaway on twitter...please include the link @nutellaaaa on your tweet status...can be done once daily;

*post on your blog about the giveaway and deadline...please leave a comment with a link to your blog post here...(5 entries = 5 comments); and

*add me to your blogroll, come back here and let me know...(5 entries = 5 comments)

DEADLINE: Tuesday, June 29, 2010


note: if you do not follow me on google reader, and your name is chosen, i will unfortunately have to pick another name...so please make sure you follow the rules accordingly, i wouldn't want you to miss out...click here to enter the contest, if you haven't already done so...

i now leave you with a few pictures of some lovely caramelo moon pies...have a beautiful day darlings...may the sun come out to play with all of you...

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18 comments:

  1. What a beautiful weekend lovely!! Glad you had such a wonderful bloggie meet-up. All the food looks divine:)
    I am soooooo excited for your garden..yay!! It looks fabulous!!
    and that crumble with mile high coconut ice cream...ohh so good!
    You are a moonie pie QUEEN!! oh so delicious!
    Thank you for having two books to give out!!
    I hope I'm entered right lol
    Happy monday!

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  2. Your strawberry rhubarb crumble must have tasted divine with So Delicious coconut milk ice cream! It's so creamy, rich, and delicious!

    I'd love to win a copy of Ani Phyo's new book. I'm following you, so please enter me to win a copy! Thanks! :)

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  3. Love the hair pic, I used to have mine highlighted too, but the time and costs - ugh!

    Yum, so many great eats here and the moon pie - wow!

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  4. Mmm, you're making me hungry! Well, you know our agreement if I win Ani's book. ;) Your garden looks great! Look forward to an update. Fun that you met Camille. Looks like a fun evening with awesome food. Again, making me hungry. anyway, it's fun meeting other bloggers. See you on twitter!

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  5. so much yumminess in this post! where to start?

    first, love the new header for your post - you sure have blogged your way into mine!=)

    so happy to hear you had a fabulous weekend. i wish i lived closer to meet up with you gals!

    love the photo of you getting your hair did! and your garden - WOW! so glad you decided to start one.=)

    your moonies and crumble have me drooling. i have some rhubarb to use up - do you have a recipe to share?

    you are SO GENEROUS giving away two books!!!

    love you nelly bean!

    xoxoxo

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  6. Oh wow....me wants one of those moonie pies....mmm! Your food looks so delish! Enjoy!

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  7. What a great weekend! :) How fun that you got to meet up for some yummy food with Camille! That meal looks amazing!! I agree, tea rocks!

    Your guests are so lucky, what a lovely meal you made! That pasta looks delicious, totally my kinda dish! And that dessert..yum!

    Caramelo moon pies? Sign me up! Those look amazing! I still haven't made any yet, I need to get on it, or take a trip to One Lucky Duck and pick some up like a lazy pregnant lady! He he!

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  8. oh good lord 3 hours! no wonder most people feel so close to their hairdressers. i cannot even take the time to get the blow out. makes me all stiff sitting. but you look good so it must feel worth it. :-)

    love all your eats and that you fed your guests such lovely vegan food. lucky them. it's the best way to get the word out that vegan food is good tasting and good for you and the animals!

    your garden looks great too--i'm jealous of all your space.

    mmm mmmoon pies.

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  9. Oh, I know how you feel, I hate getting my hair done too...mine also can take up to 3 hours (once I was there for 4 hours) and it's awful inhaling the chemicals, and I get so anxious just sitting there for so long. I dread doing it, but I guess it's worth it in the end.

    So happy to hear about your lovely girl's night at Rawlicious..everything looks wonderful. And dinner with John and friends looks lovely too. I love that coconut milk ice cream. It's very decadent-tasting.

    You are such a sweet person, I love your positivity. It's contagious- reading your words makes me smile. About the giveaway- I'm not sure if I'm eligible anymore? Or if I did it right...I'm confused. I follow on Google Friend Connect but I don't use Google Reader at all (which is what you said in the side note). I'm sorry if I misunderstood and did it wrong. Let me know...

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  10. Sounds like an awesome weekend!!! I love meeting soul friends.

    I think I only partially entered your giveaway so now I've joined you on google connect, you're on my blogroll and I'm following you on twitter. Now i need to get down to the other entry options.

    Hope you're having a great week so far. Oh, unfortunately my raw food cookery day didn't happen :( i'm hoping there'll be another one i can attend soon. x

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  11. Thanks for sharing all the details and pictures of your fun weekend with us!

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  12. I'm so glad you two had such a great time at Rawlicious. I hope to see you Saturday for some treats and chats.

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  13. Yay, what a fun post. I looove the pic of you getting your hair done, hehehe.

    So nice that you and Camille got to meet up for a raw dinner. What a great friendship, and what a gift that you gals are in the same city.

    The garden looks soooo fabulous! You're gonna reap so many rewards - your growing season is a bit better than up here... it's pretty sparse.

    Great eats as always lady! The caramel moonie has me drooling every time you mention it!

    XO

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  14. amazing food pics but honestly so very very happy for you to have had such a lovely connection with another human who you have such similiarities with..that's just priceless. so happy for you honey!!!

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  15. hi lisa!!! will definitely see you saturday afternoon! excited!

    heathy - thanks girl! you're such a sweetheart! i'm making caramelo moon pies for you when you come to toronto...so don't worry!

    averie - thanks love! it is definitely priceless! <3

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  16. I can't believe I am only just now commenting on this. So behind on blogs this week!

    This is such a lovely post and you are so amazing. I has such a fab time hanging out! And I can't wait til our get together this weekend :)

    xoxoxo

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