Posts from — March 2010

Image credit: jaimeoliver.com

I must admit I have always been a little bit obsessed with Jaime Oliver. Maybe it is his British accent or the fact that I actually managed to make a delicious roast chicken from one of his recipes?In fact I just made his asparagus fettucine last night.

One of the things that I do really appreciate about him is that he is doing his part to tackle obesity and poor nutrition by actually going into schools. A few years ago I watched his School Dinner show that aired in the UK and it was fascinating. Almost a bit like watching a horror movie. Kids couldn’t name vegetables and fruits correctly and were eating all sorts of junk. Crazy. He’s now in a US city and is trying to tackle the amount of fast food they are eating at home and at school. He’s even set up a community cooking centre to teach people how to cook from scratch.

In my opinion learning to cook from scratch is key and so important to learning how to take care of your body. If I compare Jaime’s approach to the ‘Biggest Loser’ approach the difference is incredible. I can’t get through a Biggest Loser episode where they aren’t encouraging people to eat at Subway or some form of pre-packaged goods. For me this is not the solution. Yes they may be making somewhat healthier choices, but aren’t these choices still a little bit fast food’ish? I’m not going to be a hypocrite and say I never eat pre-packaged goods, but when I cook from scratch I know that I feel better.

And that is my rant for the day.

Check out some other great blog posts about Jaime:

• Fit in TO’s Jaime Oliver wants to teach every child about food
• Holistic Miss’ entry

I think one of the best parts of today’s Around the Bay Race was the fact that I have completely no idea what time I ran my portion of the race in. It was so refreshing to actually not care, to take it easy and to just run. I ran with three great friends up until the 15 km mark and then hopped into the bus that was taking us relay runners back to Copps Colisseum. No pressure at all.

I also had the opportunity to watch many other runners cross the finish line. So many smiles, hugs, waves and high fives. This is what running is about. Being proud of what you have been able to accomplish.

The first thing on today’s agenda was a trip Hamilton to pick up the race kit for tomorrow’s Around the Bay Race. This will be my third year doing this race, but will be the first time I have not done the full 30 km. I’ll be running the two person relay, so it is 15 km for me.

Race expo I thought was a bit toned down this year and as per usual no race kit swag for Around the Bay. To be honest I usually end up throwing out most items that are put into my package, so this might not be a bad thing. However, I think I’ll actually wear this year’s t-shirt as I tend to wear anything that is pink!

The one bonus of going to the expo today was getting to find out more about the Island Girl 1/2 marathon in September and the Niagara Wine run. Sign me up now. I think this will be my summer of “fun” races. I tend to usually do these bigger races and I think it may be fun to do some that are not a mainstream.

Followed up this trip to Hamilton with a Pilates Reformer class and then a quick visit to the Yoga and Pilates Conference. For the last few months I have been determined to find a pair of these. Unfortunately, ToeSox were not an exhibitor so I ended up with another version of these socks that are supposed to help people who tend to slide on mats. I have hunted high and low for these in Toronto and have never found them. Can’t wait to try them out and compare them to the Yogitoes towel I normally use.

So I came across this website, Fotobabble, that allows you to upload photos and then record a narration to go along with it. I found a photo of my first marathon (was running with my team green ladies) and thought I’d give it a whirl. The plan was to record something that described my first marathon experience. As you will see it has turned into a mock interview with B. Decided to run the idea of doing another marathon by him. He doesn’t seem to impressed. Oh well. I’m going to do it anyway

Credit: Priska Araujo

Sorry for the diversion from my regular subject matter, but…

A couple of weeks ago I made a pledge to participate in Ada Lovelace Day - an international day of blogging to celebrate the achievements of women in technology and science. Unfortunately, I am a day late with this blog post. But better late than never!

I’ve been thinking a little bit about what or who to write about. There are so many great women to write about, but I think I just want to focus on some of the women in tech who have inspired me.

Alexandra Samuel of Social Signal and Emily Carr University in Vancouver – A few years ago I went to a two day social media workshop in Toronto that Alex was running. This workshop changed my whole outlook on what technology could do.

Yasmary Mora and Emily Kornblut – I had the privilege of working with these two women during my time here. Yasmary is a fantastic web developer and Emily is just an all around amazing technologist. One of the things that she has focused her career on is helping help teachers integrate social technologies, content, and authentic intercultural experiences that will prepare students to be global learners and citizens.

Happy belated Ada Lovelace Day (especially to all my fellow femaile bloggers!)