Tarte aux Pommes

Fresh apples are one of the greatest things in the world! They are crispy, juicy, nutritious and basically just a ball of joy in fruit form! As you've seen in my earlier posts.. they can be used for manythings, such as rolling out your feet! But here's a much more delicious way to prepare them.. in your very own Tarte aux Pommes! 

First, you must pick a bunch of apples from your tree out back and then wash, slice and dice them up! We are going to make applesauce! So the smaller they are the faster they cook! 

Next, toss them into a saucepan with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and a little water and saute until soft.

Once they are soft, you can mash them up to make your apple sauce. It should be very thick and not runny so it doesn't make your tarte all soggy.

Next, make your pastry dough and shape it into a disk. Wrap in saran wrap then place in fridge to chill while you go to the gym and have a workout. If you don't need a paper towel to wipe the sweat, you aren't working hard enough!

Return home and shower and preheat your oven. Now its time to roll out your dough and place into a tarte pan with a removable bottom. Bake until just barely browned.

Thinly splice a few apples and toss with melted butter, cinnamon, honey 

 and then start your assembly line!

Spread applesauce all over, top with toasted almonds, rum plumped craisins and raisins, and then place the sliced apples on top! 

Bake in the oven until golden!

Et Voila! Une Belle Tarte aux Pommes! Bon Apetit!

5 Peaks Buntzen Lake

Good Morning!!

Sorry for the lack of posting! I'm back here in Canada, I made it (I promise!) and have been keeping busy with a ton of training. It's awesome being able to hit the local trails and visit my sweet gyms! Oh how I missed proper weights! Hahahah! Big thanks to Ryne for setting me up with my workout schedules! Heyooo! =)

On Saturday September 29th, I raced the 5 Peaks Buntzen Lake trail race! IT WAS AMAZING! I ran it sporting my Kintec Race Team shirt and the course was an absolute riot to run! I loved it to pieces! There was a brutal uphill section that seemed to never end, but made all the better by the entertaining group of men behind me. I tried to ask for a piggy back up from one speedy guy, but for some reason he didn't want to! Beats me! He seemed to think it was hard enough without a girl on his shoulders. Weird! Hahahha! After the uphill grind we had a huge crazy technical downhill section that was so much fun, but so scary as well! Plyometrics and trying just jump through the ladders has absolutely nothing on that! I felt like a billy goat and was just laughing my butt off as I listened to the guy behind me hollering and whooping down the track! All of us were just running willy nilly and hoping for the best! The scenery was absolutely beautiful and I just felt totally on my stride! It was a fabulous run and I ended up fighting for 1st place with Lauren (who is awesome) for the last 5km. She managed to squeak out infront in the last bend beating me by 3 seconds! Wow! 2nd Place! I'm super excited about it! It's the best placing I've had at a 5 Peaks event as it's only been my 2nd.. and I came 2nd.. hey! That's fitting! Hahahah Here's a picture from the podium after the race!

(me, Lauren, Jude)

Hope you all are doing well and my next post will be more edible! Hahahah Love ya! xox

Geneva: As seen through my running shoes

 Nothing beats a sunny day for a running tour of
Geneva!

I started off from my hotel this morning and darted off to the beautiful lake front walkway. On one side of you there are astounding views of the lake, fountain, and city and on the other side there are series of benches and sculptures.. There was lots of other runners out enjoying the beautiful
morning, too!

From here I ran to the Jardin Bontanique.. Amazing! There was these huge gardens, playgrounds, fountains, a carousel, restaurants, a conservatory, animals like flamingos, ducks, swans, goats, deer, and peacocks! Again, tons of lovely artwork and a never ending display of flowers and plants from around the world. I luckily avoided stepping on a cactus in the conservatory! 

It's important to take time to stop and smell the roses.. and that I did as I passed through the rose garden in the botanical gardens.

And then on words and upwards as I headed back along the waterfront on my way to the Old Town!

Yes! I love fresh air from the lake! 

I know I stated earlier that it is important to take time to smell the roses.. but I have to admit.. It's a ton of fun to run through them! This is from the English Rose Garden.

I may not be the most dignified or sophisticated visitor the English Rose Gardens have ever had..













Ahhhh, a beautiful morning! Time to head back to the hotel to refuel and receive nice compliments from some Swiss guys that I am, "parfait!" Hey, I'll take it!

Hope you all had a great day! This was the last full day of my adventures here in Europe and it has been absolutely, positively fantastic! My flight to Frankfurt leaves at 11:00am tomorrow so I'll be able to squeeze in a workout and some yummy breakfast before I leave! I'm so excited! I treated myself to the spa tonight. The steam room here has little lights in the ceiling that look like stars and change colours every once and a while.. SO COOL! Anyways, after Frankfurt it's another long haul back home to Vancouver! Weird to be leaving Frankfurt at 2:30pm on Sept 17th and then arriving at 4:05pm on Sept 17th in Vancouver. I'm going to pretend they invented a way to travel like aliens and take the less than two hour flight time as opposed to the old human way to fly at over 10hours. ;)

Love you 

Shannykins

I Speak for the Trees!

And have decided to become the Lorax and only live in the mountains! Ahhhh!!! That was the most amazing experience ever!!! I have never seen such breathtaking views in my entire life! I still can't get over the sheer beauty of the Alps!

The trip was beyond words, as you can see! We had a group of 12 of us with the best guide, Laurie, and they were just the most amazing people! I can't say enough about the incredible depth of fun, care, and friendship that we had! It's so wonderful how you can take people from all different parts of the world, toss them together and have them hike through sun, wind, cloud, rain, and even snow, and have the absolute time of their lives!

 I have a million and one pictures to show you all, but I have to go through them all and take out the ones where I have tree in my teeth before I show you. And I can't wait to tell you all about the trip! I'll make some more posts on my flight home, as I'm sure I'll have some time.. that's if I finish going through the pictures! ;)

As for right now, I just spent the day in Geneva (wow! can you say pretty?) and am off to hit the sack so that I can do it all over again tomorrow before I head home on Monday.

Hugs and Kisses,

Chamois / Fluffy Bunny
(aka: Shanny)

Bonjour Chamonix!

Ohhh my goodness! I missed you fresh air!

After arriving in Chamonix, the first thing I did was head out for a run! Being back in the trails and smelling the fresh sweet smell of trees, soil, flowers.. ahhhh what a dream! I can't wait to start our hike today!

It seems like its going to be a really fun group with a beautiful area! There are 13 of us going hiking and I stayed in a room with two other women last night that were so much fun! Rebecca and Cynthia! We were doing the typical girl thing of... "what are you bringing???" last night at about 11pm lol! Gotta  love it! I don't think we will be so glamorous on the trails though.. although I am going to be wearing my red little shorties today! It's supposed to be hot hot hot! Super excited!

Anyways, just had to squeeze in a quick see you later as I'll be off in the mountains.. which look incredible!.. for the next week and a bit! Hope you all are super well and I love you to bits!

xox

Here are some awesome pictures from France!

View of the mountains from the plane to Geneva

Ahhhhh! This where I belong!

Fearsome mountains!

Woooooohoooo!

Pretty wild flowers

Next steps!

Wooo! Just squeezed on the train! Check out went smoothly this morning at the hotel, I some how don’t seem to have gotten charged for my stinky laundry! (MADNESS! I didn’t attempt to ask, I just scurried outta there like someone who had just taken two free samples at the grocery store! RUN!)

It will be nice to get to the airport and have a coffee or three. I have packed pretty much all my hiking gear into my backpack to try to bring on as a carry on so that I wont have to worry if my luggage gets lost. Hopefully, I will still be able to take it on. Catrin (thank you my travel guru) didn’t seem to think there would be any issues, so fingers crossed! I guess I have been here for about a week and a half now which means my trip is halfway over. Crazy! It’s been so amazing! I am so fortunate to get to have such an experience! Being able to do this is so cool and just so completely unexpected. I still am in shock that it has happened! I absolutely love all my team Canada gear and you will not be able to get me out of it, I am sure! :P Everyone wanted to trade jackets and clothes at the closing ceremonies.. I was pretty much a baby holding onto hair like a vice clamp.. Not letting go! We have some sweet stuff! Both jackets rock! One is more windproof/water resistant from the Running Room and the other is more like a warm up jacket, both have the sweet thumb holes to help keep your hands toasty! Always a good thing for a Canadian with the circulation of a tree.. aka non existent!

"I swear that's never happened before!" Mid-run sheep ambush in Ponte di Legno!

I am really looking forward to meeting the people I will be touring with the next week and a half! I’m sure we will get along great. It will be interesting to see where they come from and hear about their lives. It’s been so cool being able to meet so many great people!

Anyways, I am off now to scavenge a granola bar.. Yes, I found some! Oh my goodness, and great news. I found the new Kellogs Crave cereal here too, even though no one eats cereal here! Just what I always wanted for breakie.. chocolate filled chunks of sugar and more chocolate! Hahahah okay busted.. not really. I could go for some oatmeal.. now NO ONE eats that here. We’ve had granola though for yogurt so that’s all good. Plus a mean Granny Smith this morning I stashed from yesterdays complimentary breakfast. ;)

Hope you have great nights and Ill talk to you soon!

 Xox

Shanny

Ciao, Milano! Salut, Chamonix!

Bonjour ma famile et mes amis !

Hanging out at the castle.. literally!

Je suis tres excite! I have spent the last 3 amazing days here in Milan! It's quite the city! Just so crazy to have these super old and intricate cathedrals and monuments then 5 star restaurants then old rustic castles and then the fancy prada stores, plus the subway systems that will forever faintly resemble the smell of urine? Why do they all smell like that? Hahaha. Nahhh, it's been super great here! I actually enjoyed myself even more than I thought I was going to. When you know where to go, you can really find some amazing gems! Of course, I have taken a ton of pictures! I think my count for this trip is up above 400 now.. and I haven't even started the next part yet! I found the hotel gym after multiple searches and for the first time today saw someone else in it! Whaaaat! I'm not the only one! Crazy! It will be really nice to get my gym back though.. I miss having proper equipment! Although you do get to feel a bit like you are in an 80's workout video in some of these! ;) I knew I shoulda brought my sweatbands! Hahahha. Oh! I saw an exhibit that featured davinci's original work! So cool! Gosh, that man was a serious thinker! I don't know how on earth he could ponder up these things!

 The food will be something that I miss the most. The pastas and breads.. it's every athletes dream.. mmm carbs! I had an amazing pasta tonight with squid ink pasta, shrimp, roasted cherry tomatoes, and shredded zucchini. It came with this amazing flat bread that I absolutely destroyed. Fresh out of the oven and still hot on the way to my tummy! Yummers!

Beautiful cathedral!

Everyone has been so friendly and so helpful here even though I am completely hopeless at Italian. It's fabulous! I feel very bad for the poor people who had to do my laundry though.. It's not my fault.. that stuff was so stinky and sweaty it wouldn't have made it though the airport security! I had to do something! Lol! Oh well.. speaking of airport security.. you might be asking why would that matter? WELL! Let me tell you!

The next portion of my trip starts before the crack of dawn tomorrow as I'll be checking out of my hotel around 5:00am in the morning to make my way to the train, which will take me to the airport, which will take me to Brussels, which will then take me to Geneva, which a shuttle will then take me to Chamonix! For the next 10 days, I will be out playing in the mountains again! Hurray! I am doing a guided 10 day tour called Trekking Monte Blanc! We are going to be hiking the Alps through France, Switzerland and Italy! I am sooo excited! Here is the link to the itinerary if you want some more info!!

http://www.gadventures.com/trips/trekking-mont-blanc/EFMB/2013/itinerary/

Here's the route we are taking! There is about 135kms of hiking we are going to be doing through 7 days of hiking with one rest day half way through. :)

I might be able to squeak in a quick shout from Chamonix, but I'm not sure what the internet situation is there.. so if there is some I'll send out a quick shout! If you don't here from me for 10 days.. don't worry! I'm alive, I'm just pretending to be a bear! 

Love you beyond words,

Shanny Bear