Monthly Archives: May 2012

05/31/12

Nike Training App Workouts

A few weeks ago, I took Michelle though my new springtime outdoor training workout. The next day, she emailed me this: “FYI: Though I love you dearly, my inner thighs are hating you.”

She meant it in the nicest way. So I’m sharing the workout with you, so your inner thighs can hate me, too.

For months, I’ve been working out with the Nike Training Club app. It’s a free mobile app that includes dozens of workouts developed by professional trainers. You choose your skill level, your workout goal (tone up? slim down? kill cardio?) and it’ll spit out a few workouts that fill the bill. As you do more workouts, you earn extra bonus workouts. (The first time I unlocked a “badge,” I hurrah-ed because I thought Nike was going to send me new gear or credit for new gear. When I discovered that I earned a stretch workout, I swore and tossed my phone on the floor.)

I used the app to do an indoor workout once a week all winter, using a set 45-minute advanced workout. This spring, I switched it up and took the workout outside. I bring 5- and 10-pound weights to the park outside my house. Instead of doing one of the set workouts, I do a series of 15-minute targeted workouts, usually for 60 or 75 minutes. Then, I wait outside for someone to help me carry the weights and my sore self back upstairs.

There you have it. Has anyone tried it? What do you think?

~Chris

 

 

 

 

05/30/12

Overnight Oats

I have a new breakfast addiction: overnight oats. Lately, when my alarm goes off, the thought of eating this for breakfast definitely helps me drag myself out of bed. I’m that excited about it. And it’s not like this is fancy breakfast fare — it’s cold oatmeal.

I found this recipe thanks to Julie, she of the Peanut Butter Fingers blog, who always features overnight oats. If you’re not into oatmeal when it’s warm, this recipe likely won’t turn your crank. I’ve had a life-long love affair with oatmeal. Hot or cold, I’m sold.

Here’s how it works: mix the following ingredients in a bowl, cover them and let them sit overnight. In the morning, you’ll find a thick, chewy oatmeal awaiting you.

Overnight Oats Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
  • 2/3 cup large-flake oats
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • flax seed

You can mess with the proportions to make it thicker or lighter, depending on your preference. A comment on flavour: I’ve tried plain Greek yogurt but I wouldn’t recommend it. On its own, the result is bland, so I usually add some flavour, be it honey, cinnamon or a drop of vanilla. I’ve started adding a scoop of vanilla protein powder, which makes for a delicious protein boost.

Here’s what I’m using to make my overnight oats:

Here’s how they look when you mix them:

And here’s the final product, one sleep later:

I top my overnight oats with sliced strawberries and almonds. Breakfast of Toque Girls champions.

~Michelle

05/29/12

Naked Girls In The Ocean and Other Random Searches

 

Everyday, a few people end up on this blog by way of a crazy search term that randomly pulls up our blog. (I wrote about it once before and our high proportion of pervy readers who search out terms like “naked sweaty girls” and “spread-eagle” — the latter a term we’ve only used with respect to skiing.)  With no further ado, here are some of the odder terms that have brought readers to the Toque Girls site lately. In cases of where searchers asked questions, I’ll try to answer them here. Sometimes, though, your questions are way out of my expertise.

  • can you wear frye engineer boots without socks? (Don’t see why not. Your feet and your boots will probably stink though.)
  • Lesbians wearing patriots jerseys. (A bizarre and very specific search term. We’re neither football fans or lesbians but but we’re an open-minded blog. We’re glad you found us. Here’s the very popular post that linked us to that search phase.)
  • Sexy buns (Why thank you! But you were probably disappointed to find out we were talking about hair. )
  • Naked girls in the ocean (Well, I have no idea why this person ended up here. We have no naked pictures of us in the ocean, nor have we ever been naked together in the ocean. In fact, I don’t think I’ve been naked in the ocean. Sounds cold. In any case, we appreciate the sentiment.)
  • Grilled halloumi cheese. is it bad for u? (Depends on how you define bad. If you think that loaded with salt and fat is bad, then, indeed, bad it may be. But if you consider only from the vantage of your taste buds, squeaky cheese rocks.)
  • Full glass of wine (I include this term because it’s one of our most popular recurring search terms. Apparently, we drink a lot. At least our glasses are always full and not empty.)
  • landing craft assault (Beats the hell out of me why that person ended up here. I strongly suspect that other websites would have popped up before us.)
  • tracy anderson+sore+cannot lift legs (Yes, that’s why we call her the Devil.)
  • carrot flax seed muffins and healthy high-protein breakfast (Our most popular food posts. The latter is one of our top posts of all time but I prefer the carrot muffins.)
  • toque with built in glasses (That’s just weird.)
  • do girls like skinny ties (Yes. See explanation here)
  • pm harper’s barber (I have no idea why someone who searched this would end up here. Nor do I know why anyone would search that.)
  • Can you get in trouble drinking and skiing? (Yes. A Baileys in your morning coffee and beer at apres is perfectly harmless. Drunken skiing is stupid. Clearly, though, if you’re the person who typed in that search, you’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer.)
  • hiccups and cold sores (I don’t know but we did learn how to cure hiccups.)
  • what are people wearing to cavalia? (This is an oft-recurring Google search that lands people at the Toque Girls. Apparently, it’s hard to know what to wear to a horse show. Michelle wore this.)
  • burned gluteus (To whoever searched this, I hope you mean burned from exercise and not burned from fire.)
  • Big fat girl gym (That’s lovely. Thank you.)
  • old women working (Even better.)

~Chris (one of the old women with sexy buns who run this site)

Image via here
05/28/12

Adventures in Regina

After spending a couple of days in Weyburn, I explored Regina over the weekend. My first visit to the city was last year, when I attended the Premier’s Dinner, but I didn’t have a chance to check anything out. This time around, I had an excellent host who took me to all the best little shops, restaurants and cafes. I ate my way across Regina and loved every second of it.

Here were a few of the culinary highlights:

  • The lobster guacamole at La Bodega. Big chunks of lobster meat on top of a massive bowl of guacamole. Yum.
  • Bittersweet chocolate truffle cookies at Koko Patisserie. Dear God. These cookies are ridiculously delicious — possibly the best cookie I’ve ever had.
  • The best fish tacos of my life at The Willow on Wascana, not to mention a delicious paella with steelhead trout and a fantastic Sauvignon Blanc by Merry Edwards. We tried a lot of great wine that night — separate blog post to come — and, at one point, had eight glasses of wine going between the two of us.
  • A hefty power bar, made with peanut butter, seeds and some chocolate, from the 13th Avenue Food and Coffee House. I would live on these bars, if I lived in Regina.

To top off my adventures, we attended a “Saskatchewan Garage Party” on Saturday night. Check out the decor!

The hosts provided paint and paint brushes for people to leave their marks on the white walls. My friend painted the following on my behalf, to which I gave a thumbs up.

Thanks for the fun times, Regina.

~Michelle

05/25/12

Things We like Fridays

Hello, Friday! Don’t you love short weeks? Chris is eager for her first weekend home since Easter (when she had food poisoning so it didn’t really count). She is going to go see a movie, sleep too much and celebrate her Mom’s birthday on Sunday. (Happy day to you, Mom!) Michelle is going to be exploring Regina. Weyburn was not kind to her on Thursday — it was cold, cold, cold — but she’s hoping the sun comes out to play this weekend.

Our top things that you ought to know about this week:

  • It’s Market Collective weekend here in Calgary. If you’ve never been, go. One of Chris’ favourite local photographers, Amy Victoria Wakefield (whose incredible work is shown above) is often there.
  • Chris discovered the marvelously drinkable Belle Glos Meiomi Pinot Noir this week. Should you ever walk into a glass wall, it sure soothes the ego. It’s also good just for ordinary people who can spot the difference between a door and a wall.
  • Also discovered on the same day as the glass wall/Chris’ face incident: Dipped Chocolate Peanut Mojo Bars. These new bars from Cliff are a combo of sweet and salty. Any Canucks going to US can bring back a few bars for the Toque Girls, please and thank you.
  • Looking for a good read? Check out Emma Forrest’s Your Voice in My Head. It’s too good to leave for one of our regular book posts. (Lainey‘s been raving about this book for more than a year. We’re lagging behind here.)
  • She won’t vouch for it just yet, but Michelle has started to read Fifty Shades of Grey. After reading a few stories about the much-hyped book (like this story and this response), she decided to see what all the fuss is about. Have you read this? Thoughts?
  • Chris was on a quick tour of Aritzia last week and saw a display of lingerie. She gasped, grabbed a salesgirl by the arm and said, “What’s this? Is this for real?” Yes, yes, it is, she said. Aritzia has launched a line of silk lingerie by Wilfred, called Under Wilfred lingerie. These silk shorts are sexy.
  • Speaking of lingerie, friends tell us that Gap has a fantastic collection of affordable bralettes and such. Michelle may pick up this one next time she’s in the store.
  • Awwww. This NY Times story about a little boy who asked to touch President Obama’s hair is so sweet.
  • And we’re sure you’ve all seen this already, but if not, how great is the Harvard baseball team ‘covering’ the song Call Me Maybe? Too funny.
  • Last but not least, we have a winner in the George’s Cream giveaway! Congrats, Gerald. We’ll be in touch later today.

Have a great weekend!

~The Toque Girls