Eating Our Way Through the Year: A Journey of Simple Joys and Big Lessons.
it's time to build...
What an interesting year it was indeed…
Our end-of-year getaway, the last adventure of 2022 was the cherry on top of a very hard, yet amazing year. This tradition of our adventures started really as a fluke in January of 2022 when I decided to take my husband out of town for the weekend. Little did I know that this would become something we did once a month. And we have purposefully gone on an adventure every month since, bringing us to a total of at least 12 adventures in the year 2022.
For this last adventure, we drove down to the big city, and we just stuffed our faces with different foods. No joke, I felt like we spent 2 days eating…
Literally!!
On the last day of the year, we started the morning with a beautiful breakfast buffet in the Hotel restaurant; eggs bacon, yogurt, pastries, tomatoes, juices, cereals… it looked divine, fancy and totally worth it.
After our beautiful breakfast, we went on a little shopping spree at Costco, and if you know Costco, you know how nuts it is so it was a quick trip because I don’t have time for crazy pants shopping at Costco. (Guess I was one of those crazy pants who decided it was a good idea to go shopping the on a Saturday on December 31rst).
We then drove to a turn-of-century British tea room, and it was soo cool!! We sat for close to 3 hours and just enjoyed ourselves with a Welsh Rarebit; a savory cheese spread melted under the broiler on a French loaf. Such a simple recipe, yet so divine. It felt like we we’re sitting in a café downtown London (all was missing was the Big Ben), and on top of that it was actually raining, which made the ambiance absolutely perfect. After a few cups of tea, we devoured one mean Apple a crumble 😍 Probably one of the best I have ever tasted. When we figured we had sat enough, we realized we only had a couple hours before supper, yes we made reservations to beat the New Years Eve rush, not thinking we would sit at this tea shop for this long.
When we walked into this Asian Fusion restaurant, it was like I walked into a different country. It’s quite marvelous when you can go from North America, to the United Kingdom, to Asia and back to North America in one single day. I opted for a premium Wagyu Chuck Patty, Shrimp, Coconut Rice, Shitake Demi, Crisp taro, and friend egg.. it’s hard to describe this dish, it was absolutely amazing. The wagyu was done medium rare, the egg over easy and the shrimp had just a hint of garlic, mixed with the sweetness of coconut rice, and the crunchiness of Crisp Taro, the chef 100% thought of it all. And my husband had the Cardamom Waffles with Crisp Lemongrass Chicken, Green Onions, Crispy onions, and a mango Raspberry Compote stopped with Giger Maple Butter… Which is essentially an upgraded chicken and waffle.
And then it was official, we couldn’t eat anymore. And so we ordered a pizza for a midnight snack, since most places are closed on New Years eve, we got ahead of ourselves and ordered it after supper (and we didn’t even eat a slice).
We wrung in the last year doing what we love doing the most, enjoying each other's company, having a beautiful conversation, and trying out different restaurants.
It was quiet, non eventful, no drama, no tears, no stress, NOT EVEN A SELFIE kind of night… and that’s exactly what I needed.
With my time away from social media, my life has become much simpler. Even though it’s crazy to me that we are already a few days into 2023, December didn’t fly by like the rest of the year, and I think I have to thank my lack of scrolling for that. It’s been a sweeter, more beautiful, more emotional, more thankful, more everything…
and the less I chasse this idea of more. The more it seems to find me.
When I’m searching for more purpose, more meaning, more success, more happiness, more wealth… I forget about the beautiful things that are right in front of me, the most beautiful moments I get to create with my loved ones, and the blessings that I get to experience every day.
This year has been very humbling, I’ve learned a lot of Truths that I didn’t want to learn years prior… one being- we have everything we need already.
We don’t need anything but what we have right now, our chase for a different emotion can be found in the smallest of moments. After spending the majority of the 2022 adventure around my home province, I’ve realized that even the trips didn’t make me happier… I was happier because I chose to see what was right in front of me.
When these adventures started, I thought I would feel more complete, more whole, and more purposeful (because my biggest passion is traveling). And even on some of these trips, I’ve learned some very valuable lessons, but they still didn’t change how I felt about myself and life.
And as Scott and I sat in our hotel room a couple of hours before New years, talking about Goals and dreams, reminiscing on the beautiful year we’d spent… we also reflected on the hardships we had to face; emotional overwhelm, lies, health problems, societal challenges, isolation, fear, adversity, mice in the attic, bear scares, camping nightmares, injuries, adjustments… all of coming to the beautiful culmination of who we are today.
The deepening of our beings, and the lessons that came with it. Here we are just a few days into the new year, and I know… this year will have a lot of challenges, yet will have a lot of blessings.
Deciding to go back to a more traditional way of life has brought more blessings than I could ever have imagined. The year ended on the 8th floor of a beautiful hotel room overlooking the city, with 4 different fireworks shows right from our window.
And even though we were almost fast asleep, in our pajamas, with nothing special to ring it in with… I had my one true love and an insane amount of gratitude. It will be a New Year's Eve I will remember for a very long time, It felt like I was finally bringing in the emotions I had always wanted to feel into a new chapter. The foundation has been officially set, and now it’s time to build brick by brick.
I’m wishing you so much love, happiness, wealth, health and fun for this new year!
Always with love,
Steph xo