What's Good This Week

Question: do you own a shoe horn?

I was at a party last night, and as we were leaving at the end of the night and putting our shoes back on, this one guy goes, "is there a shoe horn around here? Oh wait, I've got one!" And pulled a shoe horn out of his pocket.

Like, what?!

So I want a show of hands... how many of you own a shoe horn? And for those of you who are shoe horn enthusiasts, do you carry your own around so you're prepared for shoe horn emergencies?

I do carry a tiny first aid kit around with me, but were there to be a shoe horn situation on the street I'd be woefully unprepared. Woefully.

We've lived in our apartment for 3.5 years, and for 3.5 years we've been looking out at a construction site. Our building is in a big family-friendly complex that is comprised of 11 buildings, with little green spaces in between each building. At the time that we moved in there was a big project in progress renovating the building facades, and then, once done, creating a new green space.

The two buildings directly across from us were the last two to get their facades done (ours was the first, and it thankfully happened before we bought - although, as you well know, that didn't save us from other construction strife) so we've been waiting and waiting for the little park to get done.

It was pretty exciting, in a way, because we had a bird's eye view of the construction site, so for months on end we'd see various construction vehicles going about their business and would stop and watch.

On Friday afternoon the fence finally came down, and though the garden has not been planted yet the park is OPEN and it is AWESOME! There's a little playhouse, a slide, a spinny thing, and it just looks so much nicer than a never-ending construction site.

We're also hoping that this will put up the value of our place even more so that sometime soon we can sell this place, which has been kind of a nightmare for us (at least in the last year) and move onward and upward to somewhere with a little more space for our tiny terrors.

This was my first week back at work, and it came with a mixed bag of emotions.

For several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Paul is now home on parental leave and me working from home would be a disaster, I've taken on a couple of longer-term contracts that allow me to get out of the house and sit in an office for most of the week.

I've either been working from home or doing a contract with a sportswear brand for the past two years, so the need to wear something that's not stretchy pants is a bit foreign to me. I find that most of my clothes from between pregnancies still don't fit super well, so dressing myself has been a bit of a challenge.

The good news is that I'll be doing 2-ish days per week at each office, so I really only need two outfits and nobody will know that I'm wearing the same thing twice in one week. DO NOT TELL MY SECRETS!!!

It's also nice to get on my bike in the morning for a 20 minute bike ride to the office. If I leave early enough, I can catch a swim before I go in. There are other grown-ups working there who like to do things like have conversations, and nobody touches my hair with sticky fingers or wipes their boogers on my shirt.

At least it hasn't happened yet.

I find that I'm more patient with the kids at the end of the day, and I think we are all enjoying that.

I remember the last time I started working in an office I felt like I was of a pretty average age, if not a little on the young side. This time I feel old! I suppose there is some gravitas that comes with that, but I also don't feel as relatable, or like people would want to invite me out for drinks after work.

I feel like a mom. Oh wait, I am a mom!

ON HEY NUTRITION LADY THIS WEEK

Since Monday was the last day of the month, I dropped another edition of Just Between Us, which people seem to be enjoying veeerry much.

I'm really pumped to be sharing all of my Thanksgiving content before Canadian Thanksgiving for once. This week I updated an ancient post for Vegan Lentil Loaf, which is the perfect plant-based main for the holidays.

I also shared this show-stopper of a side dish: Hasselback Butternut Squash. It's not at all difficult to make, I promise! There are step-by-step instructions in the post.

WHAT’S TRENDING ON HNL

You’ll always find the top 5 recipes (like Mung Bean Curry and Chia Fresca) over in the sidebar. Here’s a look at what else is trending this week, according to Google Analytics:

1. Homemade Pumpkin Purée. This recipe will be joining the crew in the side bar this week ????

2. Indonesian Black Rice Pudding. So, so easy and delicious.

3. Turmeric Latte Mix. I'm working on a new superfood latte to share with you guys soon!

4. Slow Cooker Chickpea Curry. I made this last night and tested the recipe in the Instant Pot, so will be updating the instructions soon.

5. Low FODMAP Snacks. Lots of good ideas in here!

COMMENT OF THE WEEK

It was hard to narrow it down to my favourite comment this week because so many of you are stoked about this Red Lentil Stew! Louise left this comment and 5-star review:

Katie, I made this after work last night and you were right when you said it comes together quickly! I used the final zucchini from our garden, so that was bittersweet… The stew was delicious, everyone loved it! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe.

And Tanya had this to say:

This was amazing! My whole family (including my 18 month old toddler) loved it! I doubled the recipe up to make enough for the freezer. I also included the suggested spices, did half coconut milk and half veg broth and added some baby spinach right at the end. We are it with brown and wild rice. It was a whole pot of goodness.

I really encourage you to read through all of the comments on that recipe, people are loving it! My sister in law sent me a video of my 3-year-old nephew devouring a bowl.