a peek inside the fishbowl

I have had a LOT of great lunches the past couple of weeks but today’s takes the cake and I had to share it here:

This Thai Coconut Soup came to me via Zestible. Or should I say, the ingredients and the recipe did. Zestible is an Ottawa grocery and meal planning service (although as I type that out I am thinking that this description doesn’t completely articulate what they’re all about). Basically, you order meals online ahead of time and they deliver the fresh ingredients – plus recipes – right to your door. The recipes are healthy, flavourful, and quick to prepare. The hard work is already done. You just follow the directions and whip your meals up when it’s convenient for you. (I’ve been giving their service a test run for the past couple of weeks!)

Anyway, I cannot find the words to properly describe how delightful this soup was. First of all, it has ALL THE FLAVOURS. It’s a complex assortment that hits your mouth/throat/brain as you eat – it is savoury, tangy, sweet, salty all at once – BUT even though it tastes like something you might order at a restaurant it is remarkably easy to pull together. That’s where Zestible comes in, of course. :)

Look for a full review on Monday!

I don’t get down to the Rideau Centre as much as I would like, so when I was there last weekend I went on a little walkabout. It’s amazing how much this mall has changed over the past handful of years, isn’t it? And did you know there’s an Anthropologie and a Simons coming? Ack. I sense my credit card melting already. :/

While I was there I decided to check out the pedestrian overpass that connects the Rideau side to the Hudson’s Bay side to see if I could catch a good view of any sinkhole repair action. As it turned out, I was not the only one who had this idea:

This was the scene on the sinkhole side of Rideau Street:

… and this was the view on the other side:

I have to admit, if there was a free easy chair I probably would have stayed a bit longer…

I have been eyeing S’well water bottles since the first time I spotted them at terra20 many moons ago. Not only are the designs really attractive, but I was intrigued by the S’well promise that this water bottle is a very HARD WORKING water bottle. Apparently it keeps beverages hot for 12 hours and cold for 24 hours. So I picked one up at the grand opening of the Rideau terra20 this past weekend and immediately put it to the test. We were in the middle of a mini-heat wave, so you couldn’t ask for a better time for a test run.

Around 12:30 on Sunday I put a dozen ice cubes into my new water bottle and filled it with cold water. I screwed on the lid, and chucked it in my purse, and off we went to spend the day at my in-laws, poolside, in the scorching hot sun. Six hours later there was STILL ICE INSIDE.

The S’well secret (well, it’s not much of a secret) is that it’s made of double-walled, insulated stainless steel. The test run was a success! I am looking forward to using this baby for many years to come.

p.s. want one of your own? Enter my terra20 giveaway while there’s still time!