Living Life In Canada

I am starting to write this post the evening of the first sea day on the Norwegian Sun on June 20 2025. We left Vancouver yesterday at 5pm and have been sailing all day today.  I only have 150 minutes of free wifi so I am being careful on how much I am using. I don’t want to upgrade the    cost is reasonable but I am enjoying being forced not to scroll on my phone. YouTube videos will be posted in the future when I have data. Sorry for the lack of editing on this post, I am posting from the ship after a full day and trying to conserve wifi and the sea has been rough today.  The days have already been full. I had a full day in Vancouver before the cruise. My friend from Edmonton flew on the next day. We both dont think it was enough time. If I do another cruise I would add 2 or 3 days in the port. We had the latest check in time we could get between 1:30 and 2:00 this worked out really well for us because we didn’t have to wait in lines. We were planning to take skytr...

  I am on my flight to Vancouver.     It’s such a beautiful day we are flying above the clouds. The flight has been slightly turbulent the whole way because of this but it’s not terrible When I left Ottawa it was 28 degrees but I am still wearing my jacket because I couldn’t fit it in my suitcase. I am going to Vancouver because I got a free cruise. Well a free inside room I paid a lot to upgrade to a balcony so it was more like 50% off but still a good deal. Hotel prices in Vancouver are astronomical now it is actually cheaper to go on a cruise. I had a choice of any Norwegian cruises but right now I am hesitant to fly through the US. The only round trip cruise that doesn’t require flying through the US was Vancouver to Alaska. I had heard Alaska cruises are really good and I am okay going on a boat. I am going on the Norwegian sun which is an older ship and has been sold so this is the last round trip Vancouver Alaska sailing I didn’t want to give that opportunity up....

I wanted to try a proper vegan version of the viral  Dubai chocolate. I have tried the one from Palm bites  and  it’s good but it’s a healthier version made from dark chocolate and the pistachio is the crunch. I have also tried the cookie from Naturally Vero since they had an option to get it with my meal prep delivery. They do make a chocolate bar  but they don’t deliver it. I like the cookie filling but find it was too heavy in the cookie. Juice Dudez also has the filling in a mango pudding which is excellent but they don’t do a vegan chocolate yet. I am hoping I will convince them or any other Ottawa vendor to make one some day. In the meantime I had to make one myself.  I have asked my vendor friends to make me one even sent them the recipes but no one has yet. I really wanted to try a proper unhealthy version just once. I didn’t want to make it myself because I knew I would want to eat it all. I always gravitate to things that are pistachio flavoured. It’s ...

 If you haven’t read my previous posts read part 1   Post Menopausal bleeding and Ultrasounds . It was getting long so I decided to start a new post. I got the call for an MRI at the end of March. It was scheduled for a couple days later at 2 am at Montford hospital. I only know about this hospital because I work for National Defence and we have offices there. I knew it at as the military hospital but it’s actually a separate building. It was still cold and snowing in Ottawa so I wasn’t looking forward to having to be out at 2am. I was also really busy at work but the only options may have been worse weather.  I really didn’t want to take UBER that late when it’s also freezing outside but there are only a few people I could ask to drive me at 2am on a weeknight. I am really grateful that I have some really great friends in Ottawa and my friend drove me and came inside with me. It ended up being a really fun with having my friend there to distract me.  Someone called ...

I have mentioned a few times on social media that a cookie made with a banana, almond flour and a few optionals like chocolate chips, vanilla, maple syrup, and baking powder makes the best bakery good cookies. I know everyone wants a recipe but I’m not a recipe person I really just throw ingredients I have in my house together and see what happens. What I can give you is a blog post with instructions and pictures. Recipe attempt is at the end.  The cookies in the pictures above look different. This is because I change the optional ingredients all the time. If you want crunchier cookies omit the baking powder. If you want a different flavour go wild. The only thing that is really required in this recipe is a banana you can even change the flour if you wanted to. I find almond flour the easiest to work with and I always have a Costco size bag of it at home. I have not tried other flours but I think chickpea, gluten free, and all-purpose would all work with this recipe as long as you ...

The world has been changing so rapidly. It is now March 2025 and I tried all the vegan eggnogs in December 2024. It is still snowing in Ottawa so it’s still winter. I don’t know if these businesses will still have the same drinks next year and thought about not posting this because it’s so late but I still want to showcase these businesses. They may not have eggnog latte’s anymore but they have other seasonal drinks.   The drink that inspired this post was a vegan eggnog latte from Les Moulins La Fayette Hintonburg. This is one of my favourite cafes in Ottawa they have amazing vegan sandwiches and even some vegan bakery items. Until I saw the sign outside last year I didn’t know they had vegan eggnog. I drank this drink for months last year it but I had forgotten about it. They use a house made syrup that I really enjoyed. Since getting a Nespresso frother I haven’t gone out for coffee as much as I used to. I was reminded about the latte from their Instagram post. I really looked f...