You Can't Just Shred Pork

I really should not be writing this one, but it is one of those moments where you know you are wrong and that you are a moron for even attempting yet you still continue down your path of stupidity. I bring to you shredded pork. It needs to be stated that I am a smart person, clever, witty and smart. In this case SMRT. I share this with you because I know you all have moments like this.
I am not Rachael Ray I am not Julia Child I am not even the Urban Peasant from CBC. However my love of butter matches the latter 2, EVOO just is not the same. I am straying away from the entertaining part...I recently completed my first week of the P90X workout program that comes with a meal plan. I am already tired of a chunk of meat i.e. a slap of pork or chunk of chicken. I decided to get a bit creative and thought if I could make the meat smaller and blend it then it would be easier to make it through high protein meals. Here is where it gets stupid.

Shellie Moment: I wanted shredded pork. That is where this all started. I have watched enough cooking shows to know that most shredded pork comes from cooking it all day and pulling it apart. Taking this knowledge and looking at my raw pork chops I reached for my cheese grater. Yes folks that is correct I reached for the cheese grater. After all it shreds cheese why not meat as well? Even as I reached for it I knew it was silly and it would likely not work, but things that should not work sometimes do. I cut a small piece of pork and held it to the grater. Only one pass down the grater and I burst out laughing. I hung my head in shame and embarrassment. It is amazing how even though I live alone I quickly rinsed the pork residue that did come off and hid the evidence.

I am Never Going to be a Morning Person

Today is Monday, not necessarily my favourite day, but it gets an unfair bad rap. I was actually having a wonderful morning. The staff at my company had reached its goal of raising $1000 for the United Way and I was finishing up a massive project. It was off to a good start. I have never been much of a morning person but can usually fake it through a Monday. I was making a series of phone calls and because of a huge industry conference happening right now I left a large amount of messages. This is how one particular message went...

Shellie Moment: "Hi there this is Shellie from XYZ. I am calling for a list of 2012 event dates. If you could please email me those at 403-75...wait that is my phone number please email me at s...h...e...l...l...i...e again that is s...h...e...l...l...i...e. Apparently I need another cup of coffee. Hope you have a great day. Talk to you soon"

My cubicle mate kindly pointed out after I hung up that I never mentioned the @ourcompany.com part just spelled my name out for her. I don't drink coffee but maybe I should start after that one.

Candy Sushi is Way Better Than Real Sushi

Remember a few months back when I posted about the candy sushi I created? Holy man that was delicious. Since then I have met numerous people who seem addicted to the real thing. I grew up in Alberta, slap a steak on my plate any day, I do not understand sushi. Alas, I have had it on several occasions before. Mostly tempura or vegetable. I am not one of those that think sushi is all seaweed and raw fish. I am aware of the variety, I am just a plain Jane kind of eater.

I hate to disappoint but there is no real Shellie Moment in this story but there is a story. A few coworkers decided to have a sushi night and I invited the former gentleman. Turned into one coworker of mine and her boy toy who are both complete foodies and are the professionals you want around when you try something new. The former gentleman is an extreme sushi fan and was delighted that he was finally getting me out for sushi. I managed to convince another friend and his lady friend to join us, mostly because she was on my side about the whole sushi thing. I needed someone on my team and the 6 of us together was a delightful combination.

There was a variety of sushi rolls all around me but my partner in anti-sushi spoiled our taste buds with very tasty tempura shrimp and vegetables. Then moved onto our Udon noodle bowls. Very yummy for all those non-sushi types who know sushi lovers. An excellent alternate choice. I did have one piece of sushi during the evening. I do enjoy a good dynamite roll. There is deep fried shrimp in the middle and a nice tang. Who wouldn't enjoy that!

If you are heading out for sushi in Calgary I would recommend Misato Sushi & Grill up in the Southwest. It is one of the few places that takes reservations and you will want to make reservations.

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Off to the Bank I Go

This past week I suffered from a very painful headache. My sympathy goes to all those who regularly get migraines. At 9 am I should have admitted defeat and left the office but I was determined not to be a total sissy. It was only a headache. I am tough like that. At 10 am I had to run an errand for the social committee at work of which I am the treasurer. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and took another member of the committee with me to complete another task.

Shellie Moment #1: Thank goodness the bank is only a five minute walk away from our office. We arrived swiftly and just as we approached the door I realize that I only brought the cheque with me and not the deposit book nor the slightest idea what our account number was. The end result was that I could not deposit the cheque. First bird flew away. The second bird flew away when the bank manager was not in until Friday and it was only Tuesday.

We walked back to the office and I properly filled out a deposit form and retrieved the account number. Ready for trip number two!

Shellie Moment #2: I am not even half a block away from arriving yet again at my destination and realize that in my attempt to get everything in order and make sure that I walked out of the office with both the cheque and deposit book I realized that my purse with proper identification was sitting under my desk. The end result would be the same.

At 10:30 am I went home. It was a sign that clearly my head hurt and nothing was going to be accomplished.

Celebrating Sports Day in Canada

Let it be know that I have excellent table manners. I know which forks to use, when I get to the bottom of the soup bowl I tip it away from me and every now and again my pinky rises when I take a drink. On the other hand I have been known to drip even when being extra careful. It happens. Sadly on Friday it happened while wearing a borrowed signed Jarome Iginla Flames jersey.

Friday September 16 is Sports Day in Canada. As part of the social committee we showed our support and got the office to wear a jersey of their choice to work. I used to own some Calgary Hitmen t-shirts when I was a teenager but since then they have gone the way of the donation box. In order to be part of the action a co-worker offered to bring an extra jersey for me. I was quite nervous when I saw the signature on the back. Who in their right mind would voluntarily give me a signed jersey! The double whammy is that the jersey is white.

My birthday is coming up so some coworkers decided to take me out for lunch. We continued wearing jersey's to spread the spirit of sports day. I was extra careful during lunch. On a side note, if you have not been to WURST yet go now and have the jager schnitzel. There were some drips but I managed to make them land on the plate. We left and I was free of extra spots!

The second place you must go is CRUFFS - House of cream puffs. My boss bought me a mini puff filled with chocolate hazelnut. I could hardly wait.

Shellie Moment: I held the cream puff in my hand as we walked back to car and head back to office. Like I said, I could hardly wait. I figured being a mini cream puff it would be relatively safe and employ my two bite technique. I figured it would all be safe. I forgot this was me. One bite and half the filling dropped onto the jersey. I stopped dead in my tracks. There were no hockey fights yet but I was about to start one.

When we arrived back at the office I slinked back into my cubicle so she couldn't see. I told her what happened through the wall and she said no big deal. I may or may not have fibbed a little bit about the amount that dripped. I went over to show her and put on the best puppy dog face I could but that did not stop the shock that came over her face. "That is not a little! That is actually really bad".

I got a large chunk out, but you can still see it :(

It is Time to Pay Attention When...

A few weeks ago I introduced a friend of mine to the joys of Safeway brand chocolate chip cookies. You get around 30 for $5. The simple joys in life. In return she introduced me to Parmesan Garlic flavoured chips. I am typically not a fan of the exotic flavoured chips, I am a plain type of gal and stick to the dill pickle, sour cream and onion, you know the regular stuff. Needless to say we polished off the bag before anyone else showed up.

I departed on my weekly grocery shopping trip this evening and was very well behaved as I left. I purchased only items for meals even some vegetables. No junk. I had to make one more errand on the way home and as I waited I had a sudden craving for these Parmesan Garlic chips and started the hunt. Sadly the store which I was in did not have that particular brand. I was near another grocery store and decided to go slightly out of my way to locate and eat this particular flavour. No other flavour would do.

I am not sure what it is about the Safeway near my place of residence but every time I give in and go there it is crazy busy. Line ups go down the isles kind of busy. I am not afraid to admit that when I am in the express line holding two items I am counting how many items you are putting up and slowly festering because you should not be in this line. You are why the express lane is not moving express like. However, this particular time I was saved by a lovely cashier who opened up her line and personally invited me to be her first patron. I merrily pay for my chips pack up my wallet in my purse and begin my departure back to my car and home to devour delicious chips.

Shellie Moment of the Story: I am about 2 cashiers away at this point, keys are in my hand..."Ma'am don't forget your bag!!" is what I hear. Yes after all of that I paid for my chips and left them as if making a donation to the poor and needy Safeway. You know you need to pay more attention to what is going on when you forget your items at Safeway after being in the store for over 20 minutes. It is sure a good thing that I am pretty.

Geocaching Adventure Time

The Sunday afternnon was beautiful, slight cloud coverage but when the sun peaked through it was slightly toasty. My legs were shaved to show off the nice pasty Canadian legs that compliment my burning white watch tan. The location is Nose Hill Park. It is time for this adventure to begin.

The general rule when geocaching is when you find one and you want to take an item out you trade it with another item. I stopped at a dollar store on the way and found what is possibly the angriest looking plastic dog ever and a few rubber duckies. Everyone loves rubber duckies! On a side note, I have never been watched so much in a store in my life.

The easiest way to describe geocaching is a fancy treasure hunt with GPS. The best place to start is geocaching.com. It will explain it all in much better detail than I can. You can either purchase, or find a place to rent, a GPS unit or like some of us download an app onto your smartphone.When you find a cache it is filled with little toys or trinkets or a trackable for those hardcore geocachers. A trackable has a code on it that you can register and once you find it you go online and mark it then relocate it and you can follow it around the world.

The four of us met in the parking lot and 3 of us pulled out our phones to figure out what the heck we were doing. I was the only real newbie since two of them practiced the day before and the other was a full blown expert with a professioanl gps unit. The application I downloaded was hard to understand and so I quickly abandoned it and became an observer

Shellie Moment of the story: Yes this moment comes at the beginning of the story. The gps unit was handed to me so that I could get the full experience of geocaching. Basically the screen has a digital compass on it, the name of the cach, coordinates and distance from it. It is really quite interesting. What I quickly realized is that I have no idea how to read a compass or use it for that matter. I ask a few questions try and figure it out and quickly realize that I am just leading the group in a very small circle. I soon hand back the unit and we actually start geocaching.

We managed to locate 8 out of 10 caches we set out to find. That is pretty good for a first time. What a beautiful area to do this in. I had been to the park before and stayed on the paths. This took us bushwhacking. What a crappy day to wear shorts. My white legs were soon scratchy and red from walking through bushes, tall grass, and pricklies. Some of the caches come with hints. The last one we set out to find had been looked at numerous times the clue read "under the sun". We all looked up and started joking about how non-specific it was lol. You will see the picture below what it actually means.

I highly recommend looking into geocaching. Especially if you are already into the outdoors or go for walks. It is a fun way and makes things more exciting. In the words of Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod, stay fit and have fun!

Bowling is fun... even when you lose

I suggested bowling as a fun filled activity to hang out with a few friends. Bowling is always a great time, you get to trash talk a little, lots of high five moments and let's not forget about the stylish bowling shoes you get to sport. I should have taken a hint from the first frame that things were not going to go my way. Two gutter balls, not one single pin would accept defeat and fall down from shear intimidation of the ball I had hurled at less than 20 km/h down the lane.

The others were having a great time, the former gentleman is king of the spares and the other male there was a master of the strike while his lady friend was keeping pace with them and performing very well. If it were not for the strike I pulled out of nowhere near the end of the game I would have cried a little on the inside, but at the end my poor score was only 60. That is by far the worst game I have ever bowled in my life. It was not pointed out until the second game that I was apparently the ball incorrectly by not using my two middle fingers in the holes while the other two guide the ball. Low and behold my second game improved. Still not ideal but I did finish with 87 and that is much more acceptable than 60.

The end of the first game brought on a reflection of my bowling days in the town I grew up in. There was not much to do and in middle school my mother had sent us to the bowling league after school. It was only 5 pin which I actually prefer now that I have been 10 pin so many times. I was never any good at bowling, let's just clarify that right off the bat. I am the bowler that got the "best improved bowler" badge at recognition night because I never hit 100 and they have to give everybody something. After all, these leagues cant tell middle school kids that they suck. I got the "heart and soul" in swim club to for much the same  reason. At least I now feel like I was always included.

In trying to find the image above I did stumble across some bowler etiquette that will help you in your next bowling game:
- If you and the bowler in the lane next to you go to bowl at the same time, the bowler on the left has the right of way.
- Pay attention and be ready to bowl when it is your turn (I would have done better than 87 but missed the last frame since the former gentleman was spaced out)
- Don't touch other peoples balls, it is disrespectful
- Don't make unnecessary ball jokes, it is distasteful apparently
- Be a good sport!

Happy bowling!

Shoulder Checks Are Not Safe

The previous blog about the upsetting demise of Sagllie brings me to this. A nice transition. I sat in my car the evening sun setting, it is beautiful, my stomach is full of steak, and Sagllie is about to die. I wrap the note around my key and drop it through the key hole at Meineke. The rain had stopped some time ago but the streets are still wet. I am only a few blocks from home which makes it a convenient location. Even more convenient for the events about to come.

I am a pedestrian on a regular basis as I walk to work because I am too cheap to pay for parking (that is a whole other rant on its own). When I first started sauntering to work I learned the value of shoulder checks before even stepping a toe into a crosswalk. I am pretty good at spotting the cars that are not going to stop or look or slow down. On top of being a regular pedestrian I am a croc flip flop wearer. If anyone knows anything about these sandals you know that they are extremely dangerous when wet. Earlier in the evening my mother was about to put them on to retrieve the steaks from the BBQ in the rain and I intervened possibly saving her life from the dangers of crocs+rain+stairs. I am a great daughter.

This brings me back to my tale of dropping my key off and wondering back to my apartment a mere few blocks away. I make it to the corner of x ave. and y st. with my apartment in sight. In general this corner is very busy and people take it very quickly. I see the puddle on the road and giggle a bit about how it has splashed onto the sidewalk wondering who got sprayed with that.

Shellie Moment: As I admire the puddle I turn my head to perform my safety shoulder check to ensure I will live through my walk across the street. As my head turns my left foot steps forward and it all goes down from there... literally. The next thing I feel is my butt on the ground in the puddle. Yes that is correct in the puddle. My bum is completely soaked and the only way to get out of this mess is to put my knee in more puddle to brace my self and get up. Luckily nothing was bruised other than my ego. I laugh even harder at the splash zone that now goes half way across the street. Thank goodness my apartment is 2 buildings away and I run into no other people who can witness the soaking wet style I am now sporting. I enter my apartment and that is the moment I realized this was not an ordinary puddle, it was a mud puddle. See picture. My entire butt covered in mud. There is even some mud in my underwear. TMI I know I know but funny none the less.

These particular croc sandals are now temporarily retired as I begin the healing of my very public fall in front of many motorists as x ave. is a very popular avenue.

Sagllie Cripten is dead

A few months ago I took my little blue Saturn in for an oil change. Previously I had gone to Mr. Lube paying over $60 for an oil change by boys named Blaze. Really? Blaze? I was tired of not only being called Ma'am but of constantly being up sold every 30 seconds plus over paying for a simple oil change. One night on my drive home, in the words of Ace of Base, I saw the sign. Meineke oil changes starting at $19.99. What a deal! Done! It was time for the next oil change and I called eagerly to book Margie in for her maintenance. Yes my car has a name.

The lady on the phone was very pleasant as I give my phone number, spell out my name and make my appointment. Let me re-iterate, I spell out my name letter by letter. I take Margie in first thing in the morning but the woman at the desk cannot find my name, I am still 98% certain it was the same woman I spelled my name out for on the phone the afternoon previously. I tell her it is the Saturn and that clears up the situation. She asks my name again and I again SPELL IT OUT.

This what I always imagined Sagllie to look like

I begin my trek to work and get a phone call later in the morning that Margie is ready to be picked up. I trek back after work, pay, take possession of my key, receive my receipt and am on my merry way. Later that evening I was enjoying some quality friend and Shellie time when friend noticed the name on the receipt: Sagllie Cripten. I cannot even described the amount and pitches of laughter that ensued. Sagllie Cripten, well it is close enough I guess but I spelled it out twice! This was the birth of Sagllie Cripten.

It was time for another oil change and I made another appointment, however, this time they only asked for my phone number so I could not correct my name. I went to visit my mother and decided to drop Margie off on my way home. I always have a pad of paper in my car and decided to leave a note with my key. "My name in your computer is Sagllie Cripten. I am not entirely sure how but my name is actually Shellie xxxx". I thought nothing of it other than whoever read it would get a good chuckle first thing in the morning.

I trek to work and trek back at the end of the day. I walk in and warmly greet a new woman at the front who was not the same as last time.

Shellie Moment: I let her know I was the proud owner of the little blue Saturn and after giving me crap about waiting 3,000 km to bring it in for an oil change she began to chuckle a little. I immediately knew that she had read the note. We talked about Sagllie for a moment when another staff member came round and asked if I was Sagllie. "I sure am" was my response. We all began to laugh. What gets even better is the third staff member that was there heard all this laughing and came to join us and there was no need to explain the situation. Apparently my note had made the rounds.

But it is with sadness and regret I inform my close friends and readers of this fine article that Sagllie Cripten is dead. She will always be remembered fondly.

Apples to Apples

Stampede has taken a toll on my insides. Apparently too much deep fried food and cotton candy are not good for ye old ticker. As I am house sitting at the moment I decided to do a mini grocery shop to tide me over for a couple days. I approached the Co-op walking with a bounce in my step, which is surprising because I had gone hiking again earlier in the day. The fact that anything was left in my step was ... a step.

The doors parted, the neon lights glowed and the vegetables excited my senses. Yes that's right, they excited my senses! I know I am as shocked as you are but after 3 bags of mini doughnuts, stick of cotton candy, fudge, burgers, potatoe on a stick and drinks my body was in shock and in desperate need of nutrition. I grabbed a bunch of carrots, a cucumber and 3 gleaming shining apples. You should know that I am picky about apples. They have to be pristine to be purchased. I am the person constantly picking up and putting down and picking up and putting down step back to do a full apple stand scan then picking up and putting down.

The quest for health continues gliding up the isles, some multigrain cheerios and milk for a complete breakfast. It is finally my turn for the self check-out terminal and I take a deep breathe, my experience with these things is not a spot free track record. Perhaps my purchases are too complex they need to think or secretly they are judging me for my poor health choices the last few months. This time there were a few moments but those can be totally blamed on the attendant this time. The final thing to be rung through were the apples.

Shellie Moment of the Story: Place apples on scanner. Hit no PLU button. Hit fruit button. Select apples... Oh crap what kind of apples did I buy. Why are there so many kinds of apples sold in one store? Well I know it is not the green ones. I know it's not the dark red ones. I know its not the yellowish/reddish ones. But do you know how many red apples there are? I select pink lady apples. That is a pretty name and these apples are very pretty. Yes, pink ladies it is.

I am satisfied with my selection and rush back to my temporary home to slice an apple and get some delicious fruit into my belly. You know what I discovered? They are spartan apples. Says so right on the sticker! Who would have thunk it. Spartan apples it is. manly, delicious, no six pack abs like the Spartans but I will make due. The curious side of me wanted to know just how many apple varieties there are, turns out a crap load. Just look: http://www.orangepippin.com/apples, a whole comprehensive guide.

I must be Canadian eh

I have worked in the tourism industry for two years non consecutively now and I always enjoy hearing the stereotypes of Canadians. The most common one is that we are always so nice and apologize for everything. Well the other day I had a very Canadian moment. Let me also say that dentists love me, I hate flossing and so I provide good business.

Tourism and dentists, are you confused yet? I recently experienced a toothache that did not like my usual approach of ignore the problem and it will go away. No no no, this one throbbed and was like the child who cannot be ignored. The tooth was there and it hurt. I even resorted to phoning my mommy and ended up being rescued to Cochrane for an evening with the parents and tylenol 3. An excellent combination. The day came and I admitted defeat making an appointment with my dentist. The solution... a root canal. Boo to that! Floss would not have fixed that one.

I made my way home from work brushed up and rinsed out with mouthwash to make sure my teeth were presentable for the dentisit. The same way we shave our legs before the doctor. I only live 5 blocks from the dentist and started hoofing it up the street about 12 minutes before my appointment. Last time I was early. This time I missed every single light and had to wait to safely proceed across the busy intersections of 17th Ave. The appointment was scheduled for 6 p.m. and I arrived at 5:59 with possibly 3 seconds to spare. As I opened the door and greeted the receptionist out it came, the most Canadian sentence I have uttered: "I am so sorry I am right on time". You know you are Canadian when... I am not late I am not early I am right on time and have not inconvenienced a single person and yet I apoliogize. I admit it I am Canadian and incredibly polite. Making my parents proud one day at a time.

Shellie Moment: Have you not figured it out yet? "I am so sorry I am right on time".

Shellie Moment #2: You are in for a treat there is a second Shellie Moment this time. When I was taking some tylenol 3 for the pain to get some sleep I was resting on the couch when I returned back home. My left leg was slightly outside the blanket and I noticed a black mark, natural reaction is to lick my thumb and wipe the mark off. It would not budge so a bit more moisture and get my nail into it so that it stood no chance. Well turns out that in my tylenol 3 state I had forgotten about the recent tattoo I had gotten on my left leg no matter how hard I scrubbed it is not coming off :).

Fullerton Loop - AKA "Holy crap I want to die

A little back story... This past Saturday evening the former gentleman and I (we have decided to be just friends) played a friendly game of mini golf. Even though he claimed that he has not played since he was 12 and was no good he still won. SHOCKER! I am going to claim distraction from the mosquito's that were eating me alive. Either way he won and as a prize when we got back to my place I made him homemade oatmeal cookie dough since we both love it.

Now for the real story... I was feeling bad that the last few times some friends from Cochrane have asked me to hang out I have had to say no so I decided to invite them out for an easy beginner level hike. I think I was drinking or delirious and pretending that I live a healthy active lifestyle now and again. The answer was yes and as the day approached I had convinced myself that even as a chunky lady I can do whatever those other people can do. Oooh boy. We met in Bragg Creek, in front of the candy store, which I think is appropriate.

The hike we decided on was Fullerton Loop in Kananaskis Country. A trail that was recommended by my friends mother who is an avid hiker and said it was a leisurely trail. Funny how we all define words differently. It all started poorly as none of us knew where the trail head was and after only 1 u-turn and a confusing adventure in the parking lot we finally consulted people with hiking sticks. People with hiking sticks are avid hikers and therefore know what they are doing unlike the three amateurs who clearly do not spend time out in Kananaskis as the one friend is wearing jeans.

After meeting at 11, 11:45 we make it to the trail. It starts flat enough. We are all walking together a little bridge here, a small creek there it is all charming. I was already afraid for  dear life as my friends were charging the way at a quick pace. My one friend was complaining at the beginning and that is it. As we approach the first incline it hits me that I am round and could just as easily roll down this hill as walk up it, possibly easier! After that first incline it was the ladies turn to complain as the male continued to walk ahead of us at all times. We were actually enjoying ourselves but it is funner to make joke and acknowledge our panting and huffing and puffing as the 60 year olds pass on the left. If you would like to know what we looked like I bring exhibit A. A short clip from Sword in the Stone, fast forward to 1minute 35 seconds. That is us.

The pay off arrives, we arrive near the top and past the half way point to a beautiful view and look out. Definitely worth the pain my body is certain to be feeling tomorrow. After a few quick photos and a few stupid photos of flowers we were on our descent. The only thing that made this hike better was realizing we went up the easy way. An hour and fifteen minutes later we were back in the parking lot and it was over.

As much as I kid it was really good to get out of the city, make my body work, and the scenery really was fantastic. I look forward to my next hike this summer, destination tbd.

Shellie Moment: I arrived back home and went to hydrate with some ice cold water in the fridge and there it is... leftover cookie dough, screaming my name. SHELLIE EAT ME I AM DELICIOUS! I close the fridge door and pretend like I have will power for about half an hour. Yes cookie dough talks to me, actually it yells at me. It is not as nice as it is tasty.

The candy sushi train

There once was a bake sale work...I have nothing that rhymes with work. I participate on the social committee at work and we decided it was that time of the year for a bake sale. I am not much of a baker and so I bring the anti-baking, otherwise known as rice krispy treats. While these delectible treats developed in the 1950's for a church bake sale are scrumptious they also need some dressing up. I introduce to you candy sushi.

I was going to be more adventerous and perhaps attempt baking but thought I would spare the office a trip to the emergency room. I was surfing thisiswhyyourfat.com (which has apparently been shutdown and there is no new content very sad) and came upon it. I did some further googling and realized that some simple candy, rice krispies, fruit by the foot, and marshmallows equal FUN!

MOOSE!

Thursday evening "the gentleman" was otherwise engaged so I busied myself with domestic work cleaning up my apartment and finally cleaning the laundry that was decorating my floor. It is amazing how quickly a 550 sq. ft. apartment can get cluttered, but the bonus is how easy and quick it is to clean up. Hooray for small spaces. While I was finishing up the last couple loads a friend of mine wanted to get out of town and go for an epic drive. Usually at 8 p.m. the old lady in me kicks in that wants to make sure I am in bed at a certain time but I must have been high on tide because I agreed, he picked me up and we hit the road.

A quick stop at the Petro-Canada to top of the old tank then we flew (for the most part at the posted speed limit). Down the Trans-Canada highway towards Banff  an exit to highway 40 and we were in the deep of Kananaskis country. If you have not experienced the beauty of Kananaskis stop reading and start driving. The excitement of seeing what today's Shellie moment is can wait! We were pointing out deer and elk while we cruised along. Then I saw it. In the distance there was a large brown figure trotting along side the road and as we approached I think I scared my friend as the only word that could escape my mouth was MOOSE and I feverishly went for my purse nearly tearing it apart trying to get my camera out on and ready to shoot. Now you may think that is my first time ever seeing a moose as I resort to a level of excitement normally reserved for tourists that we often poke fun of for getting excited over deer and gophers. I have seen moose before but only in zoo to my recollection. This was my first time seeing one out in the wild! It was a very special moment. I forced my friend to pull over and let me snap a picture. Evidence of course that now me, Shellie, has seen a moose outside in the wild. It was a great day and glad my youthful side allowed me the alertness to stay up past my bedtime.

Shellie moment of the story: OMG OMG MOOSE MOOSE!! Pull over MOOSE!

The meat train that is Bolero

I have been seeing a gentleman as of late and we get along so well because we both share one very vital interest...enjoyment in devouring red meat. We have chosen The Keg as of late but last night was the magical night, we went to Bolero. If you have not been there yet it is a Brazilian steakhouse that has over 15 meats on a skewer that is brought to your table and you can eat as much as you like. There is also a salad bar if you dare mix veggies and meat as well as normal sides like mashed potatoes and coconut rice. My gentleman is a seasoned veteran of what I have now deemed the meat train. As this was my first time, we went easy and ordered the sampler plate. Four ounces of two meats as well as the hot and cold bar. I went with the lamb and garlic parmesan sirloin because I do love my red meat and heart attacks. He went with fillet mignon, I assume he loves it as he is french and can order it properly, as well as bacon wrapped chicken.

The meat came and I was well into my veggies trying to act healthy like before I devoured my meat like a champion as well as a small side of mashed potatoes. While I was a bit sad that it was processed parmesan cheese (the kraft kind) instead of the real deal, it was perfectly cooked and delicious either way! I am the farthest thing from a foodie, but I love my real parmesan cheese. It is heaven. Like cookie dough after a workout. I do recommend the meat train that is Bolero for all those carnivores out there that can handle it. I do caution that if you are planning to do two things: 1) call for a reservation and 2) do not eat anything all day so that your stomach is prepared and empty for the train.

Shellie Moment of the story: Later that evening sitting with my gentleman watching TV and digesting our meat, I went to adjust my legs and sit up a little for more comfort and subsequently fell off the couch. Luckily there was a pillow and was fairly comfortable. However said gentleman promptly stole my place on the couch.