Ice skating

For the Family Day long weekend, all of us who were in town decided to gather round and spend some nice quality time together in the afternoon. We hit up Cornerstone for a late brunch before renting skates and heading to the skating rink in front of City Hall.

A few of us hadn't skated before, so there was a lot of pulling others around, and catching falls.


Laura was doing great though! Look at her awesome figure skating pose =)

We all had a blast skating around the little rink. It was busy there, but it was nice because it was a relatively warm day for a skate.


After tiring ourselves out skating, we went to Quebec St Mall to get some hot chocolate and relax our legs before going home!

Cottage preparations!

To prep for my meal at the cottage, I decided on a simple menu:

• grilled salmon
• cheddar cornbread muffins
• fennel apple salad
• double chocolate biscotti

I didn't get a picture of the cornbread muffins, but suffice to say they were delicious!

double chocolate biscotti - cocoa powder and chocolate chips

Carolyne was making fun of my biscotti photos looking like pieces of poop, but she was gobbling them up all weekend.

The fennel apple salad was easy to make, especially since the dressing was made previously and warmed up coat. I'd say it was a perfectly simple and delicious menu!

Cottage!

The last long weekend of the summer means a trip to the cottage!

We were all in charge of certain meals, so I made sure to plan all that out and get it ready before we left. I spent all Friday night prepping for it (see next post).

We left early Saturday morning, picking Kendra up on the way to carpool up. And off to Pointe Au Baril we went!

A lot was done while we were there including swimming, badminton, boating, seadooing and canoeing. Canoeing was hectic on my stress level due to the waves caused by passing boaters, but I survived!

The sunset at Pointe Au Baril

Thanks to Carolyne for inviting us up!

Toronto!

I had to venture into Toronto on the long weekend to drop some things off for my aunt. She had room in her luggage to Edmonton so I was going to get her to courier some things home for me.

A day trip in always means lunch at some asian restaurant and a trip to T&T. Adam came with me (aka. driver) so he was privy to the deliciousness and awesomeness of the asian culture.

Of course, we went to Keung's Delight (my fav fav FAV) in Markham and of course stopped at the T&T. This was Adam's maiden voyage to T&T and he loved it! Of course, I think that might be due to the fact that I bought him lots of pork buns... =D

Canada Day!

It was a beautiful day on Canada Day and we had planned to spend the day at the beach. Grand Bend and Wasaga were too far away to go and would be really busy, so we opted for Elora Quarry instead.

It was gorgeous and hot and sunny! I packed a very big picnic for us, with sandwiches, a veggie platter, a bunch of whole fruits and berries, watermelon and fresh lemonade.

I don't have a small cooler, so we opted to bring the massive one we went camping with. I managed to fill up most of it, but it was a ridiculous amount of food for just the two of us. I was hoping Matt would join us, but he had a long night of badminton so he opted to sleep.


We got to the beach around 1030 to beat the crowd, but it quickly filled up. I managed to finish reading a book and started on another. That didn't go far though, as it was filling up with sand and the heat was near unbearable.

After a few dunks in the (REALLY) freezing water, we headed out. Five hours in the sun was more than enough for me and Adam's really ridiculous tan warped into a burn.

The heat put me off on cooking so we went to Greek Garden for dinner. Yummmm spanikopitaaaaa.

Ending the night with fireworks at Riverside and a nice leisurely stroll back home from the park!

Rafting and camping

The second part of our long weekend, was our journey to the white water region of Ottawa river to do some white water rafting. We booked out little excursion with River Run Rafting, and also set a couple nights of camping there as well to make life easier on the car.

We left Ottawa mid-afternoon to take the little drive up to Beachburg, less than 90 minutes away. We took a look at the available campgrounds, and quickly staked our territory in the little hidden away cove area of the quieter paddler's campground. The upper campground looked like more fun, with the pavilion, basketball and volleyball, the main campfire and proximity to the beach, but it was a lot bigger with more going on and it definitely was going to be loud. Choosing comfort first, the quiet campground was definitely the right choice. But curse the folks who drove in in the middle of the night to set up camp, and those who set off fireworks!

Rafting started at 9, so we were up and raring to go before 8. With breakfast included in the camping fees, it was nice to get something hot and ready made for you. Weather-wise, the complete opposite of the previous day, but it was still warm enough to be on the cold cold waters. With a full raft of 12 plus guides, we were ready to go!

The morning rafting was boring, it was a lot of sitting around on the river and not enough white water to keep me interested. We did a total of 2 rapids in the morning, both of lower classes. Not much to get my heart racing...

After lunch was a little more exciting. We hit a few more rapids and got to try out "surfing". That was quite fun and very much a wet experience.

After another night of camping, we were on out way home! With little to no traffic on the 401 through Toronto (woohoo!) we made it home in ample time. Thank goodness too, it was about time I got a nice hot shower!

Way to go #75 (DayZero)! (Yes I used my cell phone, but because I didn't have a watch!)

A lack of a waterproof camera means a lack of white water photos. I'll leave you with another from the Locksystem.

At the Hartswell Locks

Ottawa

The long weekend has come and gone, and we had a busy on at that.

We left for Ottawa Friday afternoon and despite leaving really early, we still managed to catch a ridiculous amount of traffic through the Toronto area.

I drove the first leg of the way because I didn't want to drive in the dark. I thought the traffic would be manageable, but I don't think I've ever seen it quite this bad before. What a pain to have to deal with on the way out to a lovely weekend.

We got to Nepean by about 1015 and chatted his uncle for a good while before heading to bed. Unfortunately, Amanda was gone for the weekend, but we were still promised a tour of the good areas in the morning.

Breakfast at a yummy breakfast joint, and then touring the Daffodil area and the Locks system.

We only visited 2 lockstations, but that was more than enough walking for me. It was a beautifully hot and sunny day in Ottawa, and the skinny jeans were taking its toll on me...

Ottawa Locks, 8 of 47 locks, first of 24 lockstations

Camping

It's so difficult to plan a camping trip! I've already spent bazillions of dollars on this, and it just seems to get more and more expensive as the days go by!

Accrued costs?

• white water rafting
• camping grounds
  
• national park fees
  
• gas!!
  
• air mattress
• camping chairs
• butane stove
• axe
• food
  

Thank goodness we don't have to buy a new tent, I would cry.

Excited to go camping and rafting this weekend though. Hopefully the weather holds out to make it as un-miserable as possible. =D

Caribbean Shrimp Skewers

I was at a loss of what to make for dinner last night. I sat around all day doing random things and watching a lot of Iron Chef America, wandering back and forth from the kitchen, but I wasn't able to come up with anything great to make.

That was the theme of my weekend. Not leaving the house, and no inspiration to cook either. I blame Ontario and their inability to open stores on holidays. It's probably my most despised thing about this province - the fact that on a holiday, the malls, groceries stores etc. aren't open. What kind of ridiculousness is that?!?

Regardless, when I know that I can't make a quick run to the store to pick up a needed ingredient, it really grinds itself into my head and ruins my weekend. I can't function without knowing that what I need is just 5 minutes away from me. So anyways, it meant for a weekend in (good thing the weather was warm enough to sit on the patio) and nothing-fancy dinners.

super spice shrimp anyone?

I would have made a lot more of this dish because it was so delicious, but I ran out of shrimp. So I took bell peppers and shrimp and did a quick marinate into some 'Caribbean' spices. I used curry powder, allspice, cayenne pepper and dark rum.

I probably shouldn't have used quick as much rum as I did (alcoholic much?) because I think it contributed to a lot of the charring on the peppers. My house got so smokey while making this, I literally thought the smoke detector would go off. Created a throughdraft by opening the front door and the back patio. It cleared out pretty quickly after that, thank goodness.

To go with it, I added the spices to the couscous too, but definitely much milder. I didn't want my scallops absorbing quite that much of all those pungent flavours, my mouth was already burning with just the bell peppers!

Thanksgiving

Anyone looking for some turkey?

Yesterday was Orphan Thanksgiving dinner at my house. Since I didn't have plans for Thanksgiving this year, and a few other people I knew didn't either, I decided we would have our own Thanksgiving. I went and bought a turkey the week before, and found a nice 10lb-er at the store.

Defrost on Friday, roast on Sunday. Awesome! As usual, tackling a piece of meat that resembles it's living counterpart is difficult for me, so of course I went about it wearing gloves... Typical type A huh... A good long marinate in white wine, then a oil herb rub with garlic, stuffed with fresh parsley and a bulb of garlic, and in the oven for 2 hours!

I also made bread stuffing, roast vegetables and a jamaican pumpkin pie. Heather brought a caesar salad (and the pumpkin for the pie), Mina, the sweet potato pumpkin puree I made at the last potluck, Kendra a cold bulgar wheat dish, and Adam the all important vino.

Props to Adam for making the pie filling =)

Thanksgiving dinner was a hit, the turkey was soooo yummy, as was everything else! Walter showed up after dinner, in time for us to enjoy the delicious pie and ice cream. Then we all settled into the living room to watch Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

I obviously didn't pay much attention to it, as I was up and about either cleaning or doing something else random in the kitchen. Or talking to people in general, as I'm sure not everyone was watching the movie. But, like a good sport, Adam stayed till the end of the movie before he left. What a trooper - first to arrive, and last to leave!

Thanksgiving without family is hard, and obviously different. But with good people around you, it can be just as great, if not better. Despite being away from home for the second Thanksgiving, and really being on my own, I think it's good to start the new tradition of the single 20s and enjoying the special occasions with all the special friends in my life. Thanks everyone to making this year's turkey day so memorable =)

4 girls, 6 nights, 1 bathroom, + 4 French guys

I'm back from the Plant Biology 2010 Conference in Montréal, and I had a blast! It's been a very busy week and I haven't had much down time for anything. Aside from today where I watched too many episodes of 30 Rock, it's been go go go since Friday.

Friday: Kendra and I went to dinner Thursday night so I switched my evening run to the next morning. The van wasn't coming to get me until 1130, so I had plenty of time. Getting up just a little later than usual and doing everything at a leisurely pace. We left Guelph by noon, getting to Montreal just before 8pm. The hotel was sketch, to say the least, but we managed to switch to a less sketch room the next day. We weren't sure what was going on that night, so we walked Rue Sainte-Catherine Ouest.

Saturday: we lazed around in the morning because the conference didn't officially start until 1245pm. I registered and got my poster up before lunch. The afternoon sessions were interesting, and I was really glad the first day of the conference was easy to adjust, as opposed to the subsequent 830am-10pm days.

After the symposium, there was a opening mixer in the poster room. Following that, several of us from Guelph gathered in the main floor lobby to decide where to go. We got to talking to 4 guys from Université de Montréal and we all headed toward Le Vieux-Port. Brandy was full, so the guys took us to Le Deux Pierrots for drinks. The international fireworks were going on as well, so half the group left for a bit to see the show at the pier. We stayed at Le Deux Pierrot for quite a while, contemplating heading to the other side of it and paying cover to go dancing. Alas, such plans did not pan out.

Sunday: day 2 of the conference, a full day of symposia to be heard. Following that, there was the CSPP mixer at Le 3 Brasseurs in Le Vieux-Port. 3 of the 4 guys were there again and we spent the evening chatting again. Meeting some others from Western and Calgary, it was quite an interactive evening.

Monday: day 3 of the conference, by far the longest day for me. I took a little break to go shopping on Rue Sainte-Catherine and I was in session until 9pm, plus the mandatory poster session for odd numbers for 2 hours over dinner time. All of us from Guelph and Montréal randomly met throughout the day, but I got lost in the midst because I attended an evening session. I went back to the hotel, to be followed a while later by Ann, Jerlene, and Siobhan. Instead of going out, we decided to stay in and talk. I ended up learning the alphabet and all the numbers in French. A good start, and considering I still remember them all, it's impressive.

Tuesday: day 4 of the conference, all the seminars are taking their toll on me. Not to mention all the late nights (EVERY night) thus far. This night was no exception to that. In fact, by far the worst night. I took the afternoon off (pollen biology BLAH) to go to Boul Saint Laurent and Rue Saint-Denis. I got caught in the rain walking along the outdoor shops, and had to (eventually) take the taxi back to the hotel. I literally had to blow dry my clothes, that's how soaked I was. It was compulsory poster session for even numbers as well, so after I dried off, I had to brave the rain again and get back to the conference centre. I ended up staying later than the 2 hours, meaning the Guelph people all left for dinner without me. I was with the 4 French guys so they took me along with them to dinner. This is where I meet the 5th member of the lab and finally really get to know the people from Université de Sherbrooke.

After dinner (actually a GOOD vietnamese restaurant), we went back to the conference centre for the 80s style final party. We got our 2 drinks in, did a bit of dancing, before trying to get everyone together to go to the karaoke bar. After what seemed like forever (especially since Thierry and I had to go BACK to the conference centre to pick up his backpack), we make it to the karaoke bar way down on Rue Sainte-Catherine.

Thierry and me at karaoke

We meet some other people who are from Montréal and spend the evening with them.

The karaoke bar served up 4L pitchers of beer! Also, on the menu are things called "21 for $21" and "15 for $15" where you get that many shots for that much. Dangerous? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Jerlene and Siobhan left with Dave and Christophe around 2, whereas I stayed with the French folk until closing (aka wayy past 3am). Eventually making it back to the hotel just before 4, I didn't sleep until 430 and woke up at 7 the next morning...

Wednesday: the final day of the conference, also (I think) the only day I sat in on every single seminar. Turns out, Thierry and I were the only ones who stayed until close, that got up to attend the 830am seminars. Ughhh... Jerlene, Siobhan and I also took the lunch hour to head up to La Banquise and had the famed poutine. DELICIOUS!

J.S missed the last speaker because he had to go to hockey, and Thierry left right after the last seminar to go to his hockey game as well. The other 3 guys went back to the lab to get on with work that has been on hold for days, while I headed back to the hotel. Living off virtually zero sleep over the last few days, I was still running off that high, so I went back out that evening. Going again to Le Vieux-Port to walk the pier and find the ice cream shop J.S kept talking about but never took me to, I went into Brandy for a while as well. After that, I headed back to Rue Sainte-Catherine because I really do love that street. The fashion show was on as well, so I watched the catwalk and the subsequent dancing show they had as well.

Oh Montréal, how I love your city and your nightlife. I want to move!!

Canada Day "Long" Weekend

So it was a long weekend for some, but obviously not for the university. We went to the beach on Canada Day, but it was back to work for us on Friday. I'm sure most people took it off to go away for the weekend, but I stuck it out and actually worked every single day this weekend.

I went in Friday and managed to get in 2 full assay runs. I wanted to use my time efficiently so I felt accomplished by the time I made it to Fawn's for her birthday. We sat around in their lovely backyard in the shade and had BBQ and chatted. It was a beautiful evening out but we all had to head home. I was planning a lengthy day in the lab the next, and Kendra was heading to Toronto.

Saturday was another full day with 2 assay runs (while watching FIFA of course!), before going home, catching up with people on skype, and then going to Ann's to head to eBar. A night out dancing is always fun, and it was great that Paco showed up as well! Despite a super creepy acquaintance, who shall remain unnamed, the night was a blast. Luis, Paco and I caught a cab home, which was much better than my typical route of walking the hour+ long walk home from downtown. I settled in nicely into bed, only to be roused awake at 8am the next morning. Why oh why do I plan a full day at the lab when I know I'll be absolutely exhausted!?!?!

I couldn't get in a full day at the lab because I ran out of sterilized water. I just barely managed one full run, but I was welcoming the thought of going home early with open arms. I watched some tv, weeded my garden, all before Kendra came over. Since we missed her at the fireworks on Canada Day, we haven't really talked, and there was much to catch up about... We got it all out in about an hour, before it was time to hit the sack.

That brings us to Monday, where I *tried* to sleep in before going in to school.

Off to Ohio tomorrow!

Canada Day @ Grand Bend

We were lucky enough to be able to get out of Guelph for the day, and spend it at the beach. We went to Grand Bend, which is on Lake Huron (~2hours away) and it was absolutely gorgeous there. I've always heard that there are beautiful beaches in Ontario, but because I had yet to actually go to one, I couldn't attest to that statement.

The beaches are long but narrow, with a lot of wild grasses crowding out the beautiful white sand.


We spent the majority of the day at the Pinery, playing random sports and games and eating BBQ. We went for walks and talked, and lazed around in the sun soaking colour into our skin.

By early evening, we called it quits because we wanted to head into Grand Bend to grab some food before making the 2 hour drive back.

We got back to Guelph by 845, with plenty of time to make it to Riverside Park. We found prime parking in the Arby's parking lot across the street and made out way to the hill to grab a spot to see the fireworks. We were all in separate cars, so we ended up all in different parts of the park. Ann and Wilson found Jerlene, Luis and I where we caught the fireworks together. Heather's group ended up on the other side of the park and Kendra was still walking from her parking spot when the show started.

The fireworks were set of very close together, so I couldn't get a decent photo of all the fireworks at one time. This is about the best I could do, but I've got a good chunk of video for the show as well.

Happy Canada Day everyone!

Movie Weekend

So it's been over a week since I got back from Europe and I've been missing it since. The long weekend is not helping combat my emo feelings. I definitely miss being in Europe and mostly I miss some of the people I met there. I did a whole lot of nothing but movie watching. Three, actually. And they are all linked together, and somehow all seem to represent some part of how I'm feeling being out of Europe and away from certain people...

First on the docket, he's just not that into you. With too many huge stars to name, obviously I needed to watch it. I've had it for a while but have been to busy (and out of the country) to get around to it. It's a perfect 100% true representation of what a girl's life is like.

My favourite cheese-y scene would be when Alex (Justin Long) realizes he likes Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) and becomes super flustered, just like how Gigi is at the beginning. He lives up to what he says about guys though, and does whatever it takes to make sure they date. The line "you're MY exception" is probably the cheesiest but by far my favourite line of the movie. Clearly, you can guess my state of mind...

I like watching Bradley Cooper's acting, so I watched Valentine's Day next. Another movie wrought with big name stars, I always heard that it was something to be watched. Since the movie theatre in Guelph is so far away, I never got around to watching it in the theatre, and by the time I was able to go, it was already way past Valentine's Day and I didn't want to be a loser and stilll go watch it.

Filled with the typical drama of such a love-filled day, I didn't find it that great of a movie, but definitely humourous for a somber day (for some of us...). It's true not everyone likes Valentine's Day, and Jessica Biel portrays an anti-valentine to a tee. Some of the lovey-dovey parts are too mushy for my taste, but all in all it was a pretty good film.

After watching Ginnifer Goodwin and Topher Grace, I watched Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. I caught a bit of it yesterday on cosmoTV, but had to get back to gardening. Instead, I downloaded it so I could watch the full thing. Ginnifer plays a secondary character (Cathy) to Rosalie and Pete in this movie, but is a comedic relief at times.

Cute movie, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Josh Duhamel. I wouldn't have paid to see this movie, but the actors in it are great.

I clearly had a busy weekend (/sarcasm), but I DID do work too. My field trials start tomorrow so I got all my field plans drawn up and made up bags and tags. Yay for school...

May 2-4

It's the Victoria long weekend, and we all know what that means... planting season!

Jen and Bruce took me with them to Terra Greenhouses on Wednesday, so I could get my fill of plants. I ended up picking up a whole flat of 4 cell vegetable packs. This would be ON TOP of all the plants I bought at the Social Committee plant sale on Tuesday. In total I had 2 full flats of vegetables available to me to plant, but not really that huge of a backyard... uh oh...

There's a lot going on in my garden, so I'll start with the top of the photo and work downwards left to right...

• green and yellow beans
• potatoes
• green and red swiss chard
• rocket arugula
• snow peas
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• chinese nappa (siew choy)
• sicilian zucchini
• spinach
• butternut squash
• plum crimson tomatoes
• jumbo stuff peppers

The stuff lining the left hand side of the photo, at the edge of the garden is Jen's stuff. We have chives and parsley so far, and there are interspersed spaces I left for her to plant her basil when she returns.

I can't wait for them to start growing veggies for me to eatttt =) (#91 on my DayZero list).

International Potluck

For Easter weekend, I decided to have a gathering at my place. This time's potluck theme was international, so everyone brought an ethnic dish. Sounds delish? Absolutely it was...

• Salad
  
• Lumpia (Filipino spring rolls)
• Sichuan hot and sour soup
• Vegetarian ma poh tofu
• Babotie (South African minced meat)
• Potato gratin
• Red cabbage
• Sushi
• Potato bread
• Beet and apple salad
• Cabbage rolls
• Australian wine
• Japanese sake
  
• Crepes
• Melktert
• Banana bread
• Maple syrup

Needless to say, there was plenty of food to go around. With great company to share it with.

I also organized a chocolate Easter egg hunt around my house for everyone. That took a (very) short time, and I can only assume that everyone had fun with that. Hey, it's not like I'm made of money. Creme eggs are expensive nowadays...

Afterwards, while I cleaned up, I put the movie "Totoro" in for everyone to watch. It has been talked up in the past few weeks and was highly anticipated from (at least) one person. It was a constant slew of jokes thrown at the movie which I listened to from the kitchen. Wilson and Rob decided to take shots of sake every time the children had sad looks on their face. Of course, by the end of the (86 minute long) movie, the sake bottle was nearly empty.

It was still early after the movie, so a lot of conversations were going on. Walter, the good sport, brought his guitar in and started playing. We were going through the playlist on my computer and landed on Carrie Underwood's song Crazy Dreams. Probably one of my favourites from her, he got to playing while I sang. Perhaps a video shall appear on my youtube channel in the coming week...

Finally, we left to go to Manhattans for drinks. The delicious $4 martinis were upped in price to $5. Not a big difference, but after having a few, it made my bill a little bit higher than expected. Eventually, the night came to an end and everyone disbanded. Some went downtown, while others went home. Ildiko and I walked home. Rob came along as well, and Walter walked back to my place to get his car and go home.

Overall, a fantastic Easter. And now that Easter is over, I am so glad Lent is too!

The gang, at Manhattans enjoying drinks.

Chinese New Year

This was a fairly hectic weekend for me, with a lot of things going on. I headed in to Toronto on Saturday morning, and had plans to meet up with 2 friends, and see both my aunt's families for Chinese New Year. Adding on top, this year, that Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year coincide, and the fact that Family Day is the following day, I knew there would be a lot going on.

Saturday morning, I was set to take the train in to downtown Toronto. I wasn't impressed that I was put on a bus instead of a train, and I definitely took advantage of writing politely nasty emails this morning on this incident. Nonetheless, I made it in to downtown around 11am and walked about 10 blocks to the MEC. I spent over an hour there looking at backpacks for my trip to Europe. I wasn't planning on buying, but I wanted a more expert opinion on how I should go about planning my packing. My cousin Sharon was bringing me her bag to use anyways, but I wanted to see sizes of other bags too. I am under consideration for getting a hiking/camping daypack, but made better use of my money (aka. food).

Vernon came by to get me, where we dropped off all my stuff in his car, went to lunch on Spadina (mmm Swatow..) just off Dundas. A tiny hole in the wall chinese restaurant, Vernon tells me the place is really good. He was right, and I thoroughly enjoyed my (excessively large) lunch. After lunch we walked along chinatown and in the little malls randomly. I got fruits and et cetera things for my aunt for chinese new year, and we headed a bit north of the craziness to find a coffee shop to sit and talk. After all that, I was dropped off at my aunt's place where Sharon and I (hungrily) awaited for Kean to come home so we could have dinner.

After dinner, we went to Market Village to peruse some of the chinese festivities going on before heading to the temple on Bayview. Unfortunately, right in front of temple while we were getting in the carpark line, we were side-swiped and the driver side fender of Sharon's car is now dented and scratched up. The police that were policing the intersections didn't see it happen, but it was very loud inside the car, and clearly forceful enough that it left a good amount of damage and fast enough that we didn't catch any plate numbers. I guess we can be lucky that it happened just prior to midnight and we didn't start off the Lunar new year with an accident on our hands.

The carpark line took around 30 minutes and there was a standing line of over 30 minutes to get into the temple itself. We made it TO the temple for midnight, but with the waiting line, we unfortunately didn't make it in until after 1230am. We did the regular temple-y things and hung around for a while before making it home. What a late night...

Sunday mornings are meant for sleeping in, but not at my aunt's house. My uncle wakes early and speaks loudly, leaving little ability to sleep in. Not to mention it was new year's day and the plans are to go to temple on Bathurst for the vegetarian lunch. We took the bus there, since it's not really that far away, and were met with lines (again) to get in temple.

I really have to say, that when asians amalgamate into large groups like this, they really are the rudest people I have seen. Events like this are clearly drawing the older asian crowd, and needless to say then, the irritatingly stubborn crowd. When I was in the basement with my family eating lunch, one of the monks had to announce on the microphone for people to stop pushing and shoving, because an elderly lady was pushed and fell down the flight of stairs. Sharon and Linda came separately and so they were a bit behind us, and saw the lady afterward sitting on the floor with blood coming down the side of her face. And yet, despite all this, these close minded irrational asians continued to push and shove, like they wouldn't be getting lunch if they didn't clamour over everyone else and force their way to the front of the line. Words can't even begin to describe the disgust I feel when I see masses of asian people and how rudely and idiotically they behave.

After visiting the 3rd temple of the weekend, my aunt asked me if I wanted to go to chinatown with her to spend the afternoon shopping and watching chinese festivities. Sharon probably knew what I was thinking, and (thankfully) stole me away to go with her to meet friends for coffee a little ways away.

6 girls in a coffee s hop on Valentine's Day means for a very very rowdy bunch for a couple hours. We went to La Merceria on Portland and Adelaide, a very cute cozy little coffee shop tucked away in a high-rise area of downtown. We all got some specialty coffees and sat there for what seemed like hours gossiping about everything about each other like all girls do.

My soy milk mocha, with a chocolate heart for Valentine's Day.

After coffee, we went to see Annetta's new apartment which is just a few blocks away. In a barely completed complex, her junior 1 bedroom pad was fantastic. So clean and modern with the unfinished ceiling look, my favourite thing was probably her cupboards! Designed to be ultra quiet and sleek, they are spring loaded to close quietly and with minimal effort on the user's part.

After spending a while there, we decided it was dinner time, and walked to Sushi Time on Queen West. I had told Kendra I would hold my sushi-belly for Wednesday at Hockey, but I didn't really want to go back to my aunt's to have more vegetarian dishes, so I opted to get non-sushi items at dinner instead. The restaurant started to fill up with couples, so we group of 6 girls stuck out just a tad. Dinner was fantastic, and I was satisfied with the portion size and taste. We headed back to Annetta's to watch Modern Family.

On Monday, I had planned with my other aunt for dim sum lunch in Scarborough. My cousin Winnie picked me up in the morning and we met up with her family there. The restaurant had a Lion Dance while we were there. A staple for every chinese function, the dance was very long and the drums started giving me a headache. We left after a rather unsatisfying lunch (it was very busy, but I was disappointed in the lack of dishes), and Winnie and Ray took me to Destiny for bubble tea. Ray took me here last time for dim sum and bubble tea, and I was rather fond of their chic modern decor. Winnie and I tried to order a crepe, but we were informed it would take 20 minutes for the crepe machine to warm up (whaaaat?!) so we opted out. Finally having satisfied my Toronto bubble tea fix, we headed off to the 401 to go back to Guelph.

In Guelph, I showed Winnie and Ray my home, and we chatted before heading to Squirrely's for dinner. Thankfully they were open (albiet quiet), and gorged on nachoes and beer battered fish and chips. The nachoes left much to be desired, with a lack of cheese and seemingly any spice but the fish and chips were fantastic. Having ordered way too much food, I packed it up for Ray to take home to eat the next day (or that night), was dropped off at home, before my cousins made their way back to Toronto again.

Kendra came over shortly after and we talked about our crazy busy weekends and watched some Olympics before finally calling it a night. What a weekend!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2009

Since I now live over 2000 miles from home, I needed to come up with alternate plans for Thanksgiving weekend. Luckily, my awesome roommate's parents invited me up to their home for the weekend, as the adopted daughter.

We headed up to Georgian Bay (Thornbury-Clarksburg) area Friday afternoon, when Tory's father arrived to pick us up. It was a little more than 1.5hr drive up there, but the route was absolutely stunning. Of course, that was only a small glimpse of what was to be had for the weekend.

Georgian Bay is fantastic. We arrived when the sun was beginning it's descent over the horizon, and the room I was given for the weekend had an absolutely breathtaking view of the Bay. I was woken up every morning by the sun rising over the Bay - I didn't even have to lift my head from the pillow to see the water's edge and the stunning sunrise (#6 on my DayZero project).

We went on (oh-my-god-kill-me-now) hiking trails every morning to walk the dog, and I was shown all the beautiful parts of the Beaver Valley and surrounding areas.

All the meals were fabulous and Tory's parents and grandparents are fascinating people. Thanksgiving dinner was Sunday night, where Tory's maternal grandparents arrived in the afternoon for the occasion. We were having a roast beef dinner and I was glad to make myself of use while the preparations were occurring.

The overall scheme of the day went something like this:

1. Wake up to the sun rising over the Bay
2. Go downstairs to have breakfast and play with Maize (the family dog)
   
3. Go for morning walk (aka. hike-of-death) with Maize
4. Shower
5. Have lunch and drink
   
6. Lounge around reading journal articles/magazines/books
7. Afternoon tea
8. Read some more
9. Have dinner and drink
   
10. After dinner chat
11. Clean up
12. Read even more
13. Go to sleep

The Thanksgiving long weekend came just in the nick of time. School and life was starting to get hectic and I was scrambling for time to do things, so having the long weekend interrupt everything was the most fantastic things ever.

Although there was no turkey to be had, it was still nice to have somewhere to go for the long weekend, even if I am the adoptee daughter. I very much enjoyed my time up in Georgian Bay and am so glad I went. I haven't seen anywhere on the western half of Canada that is anything as beautiful as that.

View from my bedroom. Literally. You can even see the window screen pixelating the picture.

August Long pt.2

Saturday: This was a generally lazy day for me. I woke up at 10 and realized everyone was already up and out of the house. I lounged around and ate breakfast, then ate lunch. Amongst that I played more video games, and got stuck along the way. So I called Albert to see what he was doing, and invited him over to do nothing together, and also help me complete this one mission that I couldn't get finished in my game.

Easy peasy, Albert finished in probably around 10 minutes or so. Then the enslaught of video games for the next 4 hours occurred, before dinner. Then we went to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs in 3D! I love the Ice Age movies, and this one was just as good and had cute little animals in it. The newly hatched dinosaurs were the best, and the scene when they trash the playground, albeit sad, is the cutest thing I've seen. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but that's just because it's a cartoon and it's in 3D.

Albert thinks 3D has a long ways to go still, but I don't mind what we have now. It's a whole heck of a lot better than just watching a plain old movie. The unfortunate thing, is that I am always too lazy to put my contacts in when going to the movies, so I spend the better part of the movie trying to adjust 3D glasses on top of normal glasses. As much as I know it's dark in the theatre, I hate knowing that I sit there completely willing to look like an absolute idiot for 2 hours.

Sunday: Sunday was all about the food at Heritage Days. Well, mainly the pad thai (Thailand : site 18) and patat frites (Dutch: site 46)! I had gone to the Taste of Edmonton a few weekends prior and tasted the pad thai they had to offer there, only to be sorely disappointed in the meager portion size and the lack of ingredients within my noodles. My summer was going to be officially ruined if it weren't for Heritage Days to come to the rescue and offer me a much more plentiful heaping of my pad thai fixin' for a roughly equivalent price (6 tickets, which is $5 when buying 30 tickets at a time).

Highlights (and lowlights) of this year's Heritage Festival:

• Pad Thai upon arrival (haha, yes, pig much?)
• Scattered showers + bright sun + muggy weather - umbrella = good times!
• Big crowds and lots of dancers out
• A sorely disappointing "Jerusalem Punch" from Israel: site 11
• Followed by a refreshing mango juice from Bangledesh: site 10
• Obesity on the rise: hoards of individual people each dashing off with >5 Langos (elephant ears) from Hungary: site 7
• Roasted corn from Peru: site 24

Heritage Days is definitely one of my favourite festivals of the summer in Edmonton. I've been going every year since I was in grade 10, but unfortunately this is the first year that I can remember where I was not a volunteer. Although it's a good thing to see that the volunteering stint wasn't the only reason why I was going to Heritage Days. It really is one of the great festivals we have every year, and I think my belly can vouch for that as well.

August Long pt.1: David's Going Away

On Friday, David had a party at his house before he moves. He invited us all over for a bbq and general drinking and partying before he leaves the country for the next year. He's headed to Macau to teach chinese to chinese kiddies... interesting.

Anyhow, Gail had lasik the day before, so I had to swing by and pick her up. We only stayed for a couple hours, because Gail had to go home and rest her eyes and put in the cocktail of eye drops into her eyes.

I baked cookies before I left, because everyone was wanting my cookies. I packed them all into bags for everyone. When I got to David's and gave Stefan his bag, he finished them in about 15 minutes, then came back to me asking me for James' bag because "James said I could have his". I didn't believe him, but I also knew James wasn't coming, so I brought my extra bag in and he devoured them again in another 10 minutes.

A bunch of interesting things happened that night.

• People playing chinese drinking games
  
• Playing Pyramid as a drinking game
• A very drunk Jim winning numerous pots in poker
• A very drunk Jim throwing up during poker
• Me sucking at dealing in poker

I now see why there are poker games at Wei's house often. My friends are so rowdy when it comes to poker and drinking. My ears were still ringing when I left!