Author: Juliana

My name is Stephanie Thomson, and I’ll be replacing Shierley for the next two weeks. Consider me a guest blogger.

So I guess I should start by telling everyone a little about myself and my goals etc. I am just about to turn 28 and like everyone that hits this age knows your metabolism just doesn’t pull its own weight anymore. I can honestly say that I’ve been blessed with great genes, but they definitely need help these days.

I was always an athletic kid, so I’m trying to get back into that mode as an adult. Let’s just say it’s not working that well. I played beer league softball all summer but the emphasis was more on the beer than the softball.

This fall I have already signed up for volleyball and…. Wait for it…. Dodgeball!! I realize neither of those sports give you endurance, but they’ll get me moving at least and out of the house, away from the TV (oh how I love TV).

 My long term goal for the year is to run a half marathon with my friend next year. Right now I can run about 5km without dying, but that’s about it. I’ve set the bar high and told everyone I know (and now many I don’t) so that I will be shamed into accomplishing it.

I wish I could say that I love working out and running, but the truth is I hate it. I always feel great after, but getting me into the gym is hard work, just ask my boyfriend!

 Anywho, I hope that everyone has a great week. Be like me and fight through the laziness and get out there and get active. I have a goal to go to the gym 4 times next week, so I’ll report back on my success (or failure) next Friday.

One of my most favored activities is to go out to eat with one of my oldest friends and find the restaurant that cooked the best steaks. I am happy to say that the quest is still not done yet as there are so many great restaurants in Vancouver, but interestingly enough our quest has changed a little. We are now making some side-trips to seafood.

I would have to say that these side-trips are thanks mostly to my friend. She is the one really introduced me to how good seafood can be. I was always reluctant to eat seafood in Canada. I grew up in Malaysia so I was no stranger to seafood, but I always found that I loved how it was cooked over there. The seafood was always mixed with many spices and other savoury sauces, so the “fishy” taste was always zested up in the most lovely way. However here, seafood is not mixed with spices and is pretty much left to stand on its own. As such, I wasn’t a big fan of it.

All of that changed when my friend introduced me to steamed mussels. To her credit, my friend had tried to introduce me to mussels many, many times, but I always turned my nose up at it as I often found it to be giving off a strange “fishy” smell. That was until we tried them at the restaurant at the Tigh-na-ma-ra spa resort in Parksville. She had ordered some mussels for herself, but I was intrigued my luscious smells coming from the plate. I finally broke down and tried some, and I felt like a whole new realm of flavours was now opened up to me. From this foray into shellfish, I began to peruse the seafood section of a menu before making a bee-line to the biggest steak on the menu.

Now I am pleased to say I am actually trying the seafood entrees that I have often wondered about. For instance, this weekend, my friend and I walked to Provence (yes, another 75 minute walk), and we both tried bouillabaisse. I am happy to say that we both enjoyed the dish and the double chocolate Khaluha cake (this time I have pics!)

And as my friend had pointed out to me about a month ago, we really should back off from the steaks. We both are getting to the age where we need to worry about our cholesterol.

So now instead of finding the best steak dish, I am now on a quest to find the best seafood in Vancouver. I am eager to try all those fish dishes that I always wondered about but was too scared to try (swordfish, sablefish, artic char etc.). And as I’m sampling all these fish dishes, I am also hoping to increase the good cholesterol and flush out the bad.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good seafood restaurants? If so, let me know!

I think I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons why I don’t like to do exercise is because it makes me all sweaty.

So you can imagine how much I like this weather then. I don’t even have to be doing any exercise and I’m hot, sticky and there is sweat dripping down my back.

In addition, the heat and humidity do make me want to move as quick as a sloth, so it was a quite a challenge to make me do any long workouts outside. However, despite the hot weather I was convinced to go for a long 1 hour and 15 minute walk. The excursion turned out to be more like a 1 hour and 30 minute walk as there were times when my walking companions had to cajole me forward as my feet were dragging and I just wasn’t in the mood to walk fast. It also didn’t help, that I kept saying “I’m tired” or “I’m hot” or “I don’t like this” every 5 minutes or so.

Despite the whining and the weather I did manage to survive.

My one true victory this week, was completing a short and yet intense workout before I went out for dinner with friends. This time the restaurant was too far to walk to and my friend was going to give me a ride. As the dinner was a little later, I sped to the gym after work. Before I could talk myself out of it, I changed into my workout clothes and decided to do a quick cardio workout at the gym. I actually managed to do a 40 minute work out, shower and change before my friend came to pick me up.

Convincing myself to go to the gym before dinner was quite a feat as it was again quite hot that day and I easily could have given myself many, many, many reasons not to go. But in the end, I am quite glad that I did do the workout as it substantially helped with not feeling guilty as I enjoyed my lamb curry, rice and naan (sorry no pictures).

The other bonus of working out at my gym on a hot day was the fact that I didn’t have to work as hard to get a sweat going. I am hoping this resulted in an extra high calorie burn. But even if that isn’t truly a reality, I will delude myself into thinking my extra sweaty workout translated to an extra high calorie burn as it will encourage me to keep going to the gym.

Who says a little delusion isn’t good for your health.

So I have had a week of victories and not so great victories. Let’s start with the not so great victories.

I have slightly fallen off the exercising band wagon. I did a running club last week and while all the members were fun and supportive, I let my ego get the best of me and I pushed myself too much. The next day was spent feeling like the energy was being sucked out of me through the bottom of my feet and there was also some muscle soreness. While I didn’t find the soreness to be debilitating like I used to (ie. I didn’t dissolve into tears when taking a flight of stairs), I did feel the dull ache in my legs.

Because of the pain and the lack of energy, I had to slow my exercise routine a little. I instead walked more and tried to keep as active as I could. I have definitely lost the momentum I had before, but I am hoping to gain it back.

Now for my victory. Okay, so people may not think of this as a victory of any sort, but I’m counting it. Pairing food and exercise.

My friend and I were going to meet for dinner and I suggested that we go to Provence which is located at 10th Avenue. I suggested to her that she park her car at my house and that we could walk to the restaurant. I did warn her that the walk would be a good 45 minutes. Luckily, she was up for it.

After our walk to the restaurant, we had a delectable dinner. My meal consisted of spaghettini with tiger prawns and scallops and my dessert choice was a double chocolate Kalhua cake (yum, yum). After dinner, we walked back to my place (that’s another 45 minutes).

By the time we arrived at my house, we felt pretty good about ourselves. While we knew that we may not have burned all of our dinner off, we did manage to stay active and what’s even better was that we were able to spend some time together to re-connect.

I am finding real value in pairing food and a good long walk together. Walking is a great way to de-stress and re-connect with people and I highly recommend it, especially on those days you don’t feel like you want to be especially active.

I am also told that walking is also a great way to stay connected with your significant other. I don’t have any stats on that, but it is what I have heard. So the next time you are going out with your mate, leave the car at home and walk to the restaurant.

Just be sure to wear sensible shoes if the restaurant is 45 minutes away 🙂