I got over my fear of running in the rain!!

I ran the GoodLife Toronto Half Marathon in the rain today and I have a lot of people to thank!! I am normally a pretty decisive person but when it comes to “races” ..I procrastinate. I’m always signing up for them at the LAST MINUTE.

Case and point this past Friday which was the last day to sign up and pick up your race kit.

After studying weather patterns like a mad woman, I realized the weather was going to be lousy. I called up a buddy who said “think positive”. I replied “I cant”. I then asked him if he ever ran a race in the rain. He replied “I raced a half ironman in the rain for 7 full hours”. That answer certainly put things in perspective for me.

Then I tweeted “looks like rain on Sunday…cant decide if I should register. So nervous”! The words of encouragement came pouring in:

@aurorameyer…a half marathon in the rain means no sweat stinging in your eyes. It also means investing in more Body Glide, wet clothes rub.

@karmasdogma….I did a 20km training run in rain. Wear a hat to keep rain off face. Use good (not cotton) running socks. Good luck.

@Ontario Culinary…it’s refreshing. You’ll do great.

@Botdenlrma….go Vicky. It smells great outside when its raining maybe that keeps you going

@KiddingAround…Perhaps the rain will be refreshing. Best of luck

@MichaelNus..the rain will cool you down

@CookTrainEatRce rain or no rain, it’s still 13.1 miles and you have trained for it. You will be golden.

@HorriblePeanut..Ive done a 32 k training run in the pouring rain. Just concentrate on the the feeling of WIN you will get and a hot shower

@HorriblePeanut..YOU CAN DO IT

After all those great tweets…I went down to the CNE grounds and registered!!

So how did it go? I had a terrible sleep (which is what happens every time before a race)..woke up at 7 a.m., got dressed, make an egg white omlette and a piece of toast and at 7:20 a.m. I was picked up by my buddy’s friend. We got to Mel Lastman Square and before we knew it, it was 8:00 a.m

By 5 km…I didnt notice the weather anymore!! I put one foot infront of the other and kept going. The last few kilometres up University were brutal. I was stopping more then I wanted to.

Finally after 2 hours and 16 minutes I crossed the finish line. I felt great!! I walked to grab a taxi and treated my muscles to the best spa ever…Body Blitz!

I dipped into the sea salt pool, the green tea pool, the cold plunge pool, and also took advantage of the infrared sauna and the eucalyptus sauna. I rested. I drank an ice tea and left feeling AWESOME.

I will actually be able to climb down the stairs tomorrow AND sit in a chair thanks to the water therapy at Body Blitz.

I really had a great day. Thanks again to everyone for all the words of encouragement. It really made a difference.

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I'm ready to watch the Royal Wedding

Here’s how I am preparing for the Royal Wedding.

a) Blo Dry Bar.

I had an appointment today at their newest location (130 King St. West) to get my curly hair looking straight and gorgeous. Love this franchise. It’s such a great concept. No cuts, no color, just wash blow and go!!.

b) I’m going to wear my Philip Treacy Hat.

This is a great story. I had a store on Avenue Road many years ago, next to Ex Toggery. I use to go in every once – why not? it was next door. One visit – I saw a Philip Treacy hat and I swear I couldnt give the sales clerk my visa fast enough. I think I bought it for $50.  Last time I saw a Philip Treacy hat in the States I think the price tag was closer to $600.

c) I’m going to eat a Red Prince Apple.

How appropriate. I love this apple and always buy it when I see it. I love that it’s local and I love the name too. Plus its one tasty apple.

I’m sure I will be getting up early to watch the BIG EVENT. I’m not exactly a morning person but something tells me it will be worth it.

Will you be watching the Royal Wedding too?

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Karbon puts on an awesome sale once a year. Naturally I have been every year, and would like to share this sale with my readers. (that’s you). This sale is relatively new, so you wont see long line ups snaking around the building. (in the event that you are wondering).

Karbon is a Canadian apparel line for those with an active lifestyle. If you ski, then you DEFINITELY want to go to this sale. The discounts are huge. For example the same snow suit I bought my daughter at Sporting Life at their 50% off sale was CHEAPER at the Karbon Warehouse Sale. Lesson Learned.

Not only are the prices FANTASTIC, but the quality is SPECTACULAR. My daughter now has worn 3 Karbon snowsuits and they are in perfect condition. No joke. I think it’s time that I get myself a Karbon ski jacket and I don’t even ski.

This sale will appeal to the whole family. Hope you get a chance to visit. It’s so worth it.

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I grew up eating bagels in Ottawa (remember Bagel Bagel?). Infact we even had a cockapoo called “Bagel”. In my neighborhood in Toronto, bagels seem to be everywhere (I’m not complaining), so I decided to compare them. I know that I’m opening a can of worms as EVERYONE has a different opinion about their favorite bagels.

I bought bagels from Bagel World, Bagel House, What A Bagel, Gryfes, and St. Viateur (direct from Montreal – but stored in the freezer).

I put little pieces of paper under each one and then started to nibble away not knowing where the bagel was from.

Here’s my thoughts:

Bagel World: It was doughy, sweet and tasty. YUM.

Bagel House: It was yeasty, dense and chewy. A favorite – probably because I liked the chewy factor.

What a Bagel: Oily and bland.

Gryfes: I’m going to make a lot of people upset but I found this bagel to be oily and airy.

St. Viateur: very chewy, dense and very different than all the others. Hands down – my favorite.

Don’t get me wrong. I would never refuse a bagel – no matter where it’s from. A toasted bagel with butter, or jam or cream cheese IS SIMPLY DELICIOUS.

It was an interesting experiment but I was sorry that I didn’t include bagels from Harbord Bakery. Next time.

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It’s no big secret. My eyes (or is it my tummy?) are always looking for delicious new products/restaurants/fruit/kitchen gadgets etc.

Here’s five good reasons to visit this great store called About Cheese that can be found at 483 Church St. in Toronto:

1. THE BLUE CHIP COOKIE

I’m in heaven. I found a cookie that combines my love for chocolate chips with my love for blue cheese. It’s the perfect combination of sweet, salty, tangy etc. I’m generally not interested in sweets as I prefer savoury, but this cookie ROCKS. My taste buds are flipping out when I have a bite of this cookie.

2. Truffles with liquid caramel and maledon fleur de sel.

Another awesome discovery. There are no words.

3. Bumpercrop Products

I bought the pickled celery a few weeks ago and brought it to my dad in Ottawa who is the ultimate pickle maven. He loved them. So I now have a small collection for my next trip:  pickled onions in beer, pickled cherries, pickled beans and pickled asparagus. I am thrilled to have discovered a new company that uses local produce and makes a superior product.

4. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Cheese

No photo but I can assure you that they make the cheesiest sandwiches in the city. It was the only time I couldn’t eat  a whole sandwich.

5. Cows Creamery Butter

This butter is from Prince Edward Island and it’s perfectly salted, and perfectly creamy. I tasted it at Grocery Showcase in the fall and was immediately in love with this butter. Pricey but worth it.

Can’t wait to find out what other goodies I will discover this week.!!

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Here’s three things to do this weekend:

a) Visit Maple Towne at Mountsberg Conservation. Hint: go as early as you can. I’ve been going for years and it’s one of my fav. activities. Spring wouldnt be the same without pancakes and maple syrup at a conservation area. If you don’t have a chance to go – I hear from @hypnoflair that Bisquick makes a mean pancake.

b) Visit the One of A Kind Spring Show and Sale at the Direct Energy Centre (March 30 to April 3rd). I went yesterday to the show and discovered a new food product. Does this surprise  you?  It looks like a candy apple but it’s not…it’s gourmet cheesecake on a stick and then rolled in a topping (over 15 different types). YUM. Hot Lollies are located in aisle C – Booth 38.

c) Visit Yorkdale. Thomas Sabo is opening his Ontario Flagship Store at Yorkdale on April 1st and this is amazing news. I own a little red heart necklace and everytime I wear it, I get tons of compliments.

d) Organize your cupboards..Just Kidding.

Enjoy your weekend. It’s going to be nice and sunny in Toronto …so celebrate.

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Tracy Moore and momwhoruns!!

OK everyone, set your PVR’s and tape CityLine on Tuesday March 29th at 9:00 a.m or at 2p.m. Why? Coz CityLine is airing a segment on “bloggers” and you might even see me in the audience clapping and smiling!!  They invited  beauty bloggers, food bloggers, mommy bloggers and decor bloggers to be part of the studio audience and then did a segment on each topic. I truly love when companies “get” social media..

The beauty blogger: talked about her favorite beauty products. I used one of the products already for the last 20 years (Voluminous mascara by L’Oreal”) and now Im in love with the lipstick she recommended.

The food blogger: made an amazing banana bread with a secret ingredient that I would have never guessed in a million years.

The decor blogger: talked about Canadian furniture, and demonstrated a DIY project.

The mommy blogger; talked about why mommys have embraced twitter and blogging.

It was lots of fun to be part of the audience and lots of fun to meet other bloggers.  Infact, I sat beside a food blogger (foodjunkiechronicles) that I have been following on twitter (@foodieyu) for the past year so it was great to meet her IRL (in real life).

I loved how they told the audience NOT to put away their iPhones and Blackberries as they knew we would want to be tweeting and taking photos. I wish my mom would be so understanding. (she hates when I tweet).

Everyone was Tweeting.

After the taping, we were all treated to a lovely lunch at the new Ritz Carlton. A perfect ending to a perfect event.

Congratulations to Kate Moore (the producer for CityLine) for putting this Bloggers Segment together and for embracing the blogging community.

ps. thank you to @foodieyu and @YYZdesign for the photos.

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You might be shaking your head (sideways), saying “molecular WHAT”? but when I received an invitation to attend a molecular gastronomy demonstration – I shook my head up and down to indicate YES.

I’m not sure when I was first introduced to molecular gastronomy but I’m pretty sure it was at Charlie Trotters’ restaurant in Chicago many years ago. Or perhaps it was at Joel Robuchons’ restaurant in Las Vegas. All I know is that I think it’s spectacular!

So what is it? Its a method of cooking that I WILL NEVER master. LOL.

However there are some great chefs out there who do an awesome job…including John Placko who is teaching a series of hands-on molecular gastronomy workshops at Humber College.

I was tweeting about the demonstration throughout the evening and received some tweets back that said “I would kill for that machine”. (special machines and ingredients are often used in molecular gastronomy – so I found out). The tweet was in reference to a $4,000 pacojet!

The evening demonstrated a few special techniques including: spherification, reverse spherification, emulsification and more. It was a 3 hour demonstration and I loved every minute.

The photo at the beginning of the blog post is one of the many items that were demonstrated that evening. It’s cereal milk ice cream (made in a pacojet) in a frozen bowl made of coconut milk with raspberry niblets (with the help of liquid nitrogen) on a bed of white chocolate powder, topped with gold flakes. IMPRESSIVE.

There’s a series of workshops taking place each Saturday from March to June at Humber College. For further information,visit the Humber College website or call 416-675-5005.

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Dear Dannon and Yoplait.

My family loves yogurt. Its great to put in the kids lunches and its a quick and easy dessert at dinner with fresh fruit.

But it seems that we aren’t getting the same flavors as our friends south of the border!! Evertime we travel to the States we go “nuts” (well not really, but you know what I mean) when we see the HUGE variety of flavors that we can’t get in Toronto.

For example:

Danone: we love the strawberrry cheese cake and the banana cream pie!!

Love these Flavors!!

Yoplait: Triple Berry Torte, Black Forest Cake and Red Velvet Cake!! Isnt’ that just awesome?

YUM...

Last week while shopping in Buffalo, I picked up a dozen assorted yogurts. Naturally they are gone now. What was I thinking? Why didnt I pick up two dozen?

Hopefully one day we will see these varieties in Canada. If Target is coming…then maybe I can get a red velvet cake yogurt at my local grocery store one day soon. Crossing my fingers.

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I grew up in the east end of Ottawa and have many childhood memories of walking to Westgate Mall to get candy.

I remember pixie stixs, sponge toffee, black balls and more.

Naturally a store like Sugar Mountain is right up my alley. It’s so much fun to take the kids and show them what “mommy use to eat”.

Here’s a few photos of candy that I remember eating when I was a kid.

remember these?

love these!!

But the best part of my last trip to Sugar Mountain was to discover that COCONUT M&M’s are in Toronto. I no longer have to find them in the States. HOORAY.

From 2011...not 1975

I tweeted this picture immediately(cause I was so happy) and there was a flood of replies from other coconut m&m fans.

So tell me…whats your favorite candy from your childhood? was it a chocolate bar? or was it candy?

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