Thursday, August 28, 2008

Planet Organic in Port Credit Saved the Day!

Chris was coming home late tonight so I ran some clinic errands after my last patient in Port Credit. I got soooooooooooo hungry - I couldn't wait to get home to make dinner. I remembered Planet Organic on Lakeshore has a freshly made food/salad area just like Whole Foods so I decided I would grab something quick and healthy to tide me over. Well as usual, you go into a store, thinking you are only going to get one thing and come out with ten things.

I saw some freshly made blackened tofu cubes so I thought I could grab some to snack on in the car. Well then the "hail to kale salad" peaked my interest so I bought a small container of that.... then the problems started when I wandered through the aisles - I ended up with a $40 bill!

That'll teach me to stop anywhere on the way home hungry. Good thing is I got a new idea for an easy, nutritious salad for lunch - shredded kale, red cabbage, carrots, Braggs, flax oil, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds, and some oregano or other herbs.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Olympics are done....

I love the Olympics. Every 2 years, whether it's the summer or the winter Olympics, I am fully engrossed in every athlete's story and glued to the television.

In second year university at McMaster I had to take History and Sociology of Sport as one of the mandatory credits for my kinesiology degree. It ended up being a fantastic course, my favourite section being the Olympic movement. We learned and discussed the political and social controversies of each Olympics, the boycots, the stories of many athletes, and the future of the games.

Even before McMaster, I loved watching the competition, the heart and soul each athlete pours into their sport, the sacrifices made, the dedication of their high performance training and most of all how every country comes together on the world stage, putting their differences aside in the spirit of sport.

I had my doubts about Beijing. I thought there would have been more controversial stories, and more protests. But again in the spirit of sport everyone came together to welcome China to the world Olympic stage. It was a phenomenal spectacle of architecture (Birds nest and the water cube!!!), symbolism, culture, and volunteerism.

One of the things on my life list is to go to an Olympics - maybe London 2012?!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Business Panel Discussion

Tonight I can't sleep.

I left the clinic at 5:30 tonight to be a part of a panel discussion on naturopathic practice management at CCNM. There was a panel of 3 different NDs all with varying business experiences discussing the trials and tribulations of opening a clinic and/or starting a practice. We talked about leases, bank loans, patients, marketing, etc., to a group of 4th year interns and new grads.

As many people know I didn't start off as the sole owner of Zawada Health. I started right out of school opening the clinic as part of a partnership. For many different factors the partnership didn't work out but the clinic is strong 5 years later with me at the helm and my fabulous crew of massage therapists, a chiropractor, a hypnotherapist, and a psychotherapist. It was a great experience for me to re-live the opening of the clinic, the hard work and all the people that were instrumental in me succeeding.

At the end I was asked who is my mentor and who was instrumental in my success. Along the way I had many people that helped in one way or another, but the 4 people that I couldn't have done it without are my sister, my parents, and of course my husband.

My sister was and still is always there for laughs and unwavering belief that I can do anything I want. I learned work ethic and how to manage people from my self-employed parents that worked so hard every single day on the farm. They will drive 2 hours to help out at the front desk when my receptionist is gone; they will paint, fix, or clean anything in the clinic; they were and still are always there to help me and love me. And Chris has seen everything from the beginning..... he heard me say at the beginning how excited I was to have one new patient the first week of opening (and still thinks I should tell my first patient ever that she was my first patient and give her her money back!!!); he was there to listen to me, and struggle through the first couple of years; he was there to edit my articles, or write a quick press release for me; he was there when the business partnership fell apart and keep me strong and keep me laughing to get through it all.

What a journey it has been so far!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Food Network Evening - $600 Pepper Mill

Last night was the annual CEF (Children's Emergency Foundation) fundraiser. This year was a lot bigger than last with probably closer to 20 different food stations all manned by different Food Network celebrity chefs. Massimo Capra's station with a mortedello pocket of cheese on polenta was delicious and Bob's Blumer's dessert pizza was also scrumptious.

There was a silent auction as well as a live auction towards the end of the evening. I tried to convince Chris that a bowling pin pepper grinder used by Bob Blumer on the Surreal Gourmet was worth bidding on. After the bidding went over $100, I had a tough time lobbying Chris for his Visa!!! It ended up going for $600...

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Stinky Sole

When we came downstairs this morning the kitchen smelled like fish. We had sole last night for the first time. We usually have salmon, tuna, rainbow trout or halibut because of all the rich omega 3's.... but I wanted to try something different and sole was on sale. Not that it matters because it's pretty cheap to begin with!!

I spread a thin layer of dijon mustard on the fillets, and prepared a spelt flour topping with lemon pepper seasoning and freshly chopped parsley. I coated the fillets and heated some grapeseed oil in a skillet and quickly pan fried the fillets. 2 minutes on one side and then I flipped them over, covered them and turned off the heat. It was delicious! It tasted like a breaded fish but was actually wheat-free. The flour was just enough to crisp it up.

Too bad sole is so stinky.