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!

Insalata caprese

I didn't have the right cheese. And I didn't have fresh basil leaves. But I have everything else. And I added delicious avocado slices.

This salad is so... not... really a salad. But I love it. Alternating slices of tomato and mozzarella. Drizzled with a good quality cold pressed extra-virgin olive oil. Salt to taste.

Ooh, it sounds so delicious!

Oh yeah, this was my little appetizer treat for the Grey Cup. Oooh yeah....

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!

Spot the similarities

Take your classic original game 'spot the differences', and twist it into a game of 'spot the similarities'


Photo #1

• August 14, 1945
  
• Alfred Eisenstaedt
• New York City Times Square, a sailor kisses a nurse amidst celebrations of the end of WWII
  

Photo #2

• June 15, 2011
• Richard Lam
• Vancouver streets, Australian Scott Jones kisses Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas amid Stanley Cup loss riots
  

A copy of the original infinitely famous photo?
An innocent moment caught on film?

What do I think? Thanks for doing the U of Guelph proud.

Hockey fans disgraceful

Show some class, will you?

I feel like Canadians might be particularly sore losers. I really think it's disgusting how hockey fans act out when losing the Stanley Cup.

Yes. I know. It's heartbreaking. I was there, 2006 when the Oilers lost. It didn't mean I went out and started throwing rocks at windows, setting things on fire and endangering the lives of lots of innocent people who are out on the streets or working.

Hockey fans can be batshit crazy.

The complete lack of respect of other people's property. The utter loss of control over oneself. These people should be held accountable for their blatant vandalism.

I know it's not only in Vancouver, that this happens every year. Edmonton was no exception. Drunk tanks were out on Whyte Ave every game night during the playoff run. I'm not discriminating against Vancouver. I don't think this behaviour is acceptable anywhere, for any reason.

If a hockey team can set off this type of emotion, I'm worried about what other reactions can be elicited in these people.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/06/16/bc-riot-thursday.html

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

January 2011 pt. 2

The weekend after my birthday was to finish off the rest of my Christmas gift for Adam. I had originally got him all the tea and coffee stuff, the Jarome Iginla figurine, Storm hockey tickets for before Christmas and Marlies hockey tickets for after Christmas. I was confused about where my Marlies tickets were, but they finally arrived in my inbox a couple weeks before. So hence, the planning began.

We weren't going into town overnight, so it was a quick whirlwind trip of the west downtown area. We got to Ricoh Coliseum without (read: minor) any problems and enjoyed a pretty good game. Much better skating and skill level than the Storm, but I didn't think it was worth the hassle and cost to go see them on a regular basis. We beat the Peoria Rivermen, woohoo! (this is the only time I will ever cheer for a Toronto hockey team).

After the game, it was ridiculous trying to get out of the parking lot. Eventually we did, and we made out way to the green P off Spadina for dinner. The wait for a table was just a few minutes (the advantages of being a table for two), and we were set. Dinner was yummy, but not sure I will head back because of the extravagant cost of it, but Adam got a good lesson in chinese eatery. After dinner, we walked the whole 25 feet to get to a chinese bakery so we could get some more deliciousness. And enter stage left: Adam's love for pork buns.

The following weekend when I went to Toronto again to visit family for Chinese New Year, I indeed, did buy him more pork buns... Oh Adam, you are one lucky man... =)

Guelph Storm and and early Christmas!

A couple weeks ago, we had bought hockey tickets to the Storm vs. Rangers game. The day had arrived! The game was a early matinee (2pm), which is disappointing for a Saturday. I like the evening games, but it was still a super fun atmosphere.

The game was sick, with 7 goals in the second period, putting the Storm up 6-1.

Except, in the third period Kitchener came back with 4 straight goals to make it 6-5. Lucky us though, we got an empty netter in the last minute to make the final score 7-5 Storm.

Woohoo, first Storm game and we had a big win!

After that, we went home to make dinner. I was making eggplant parmesan and duck fat roasted potatoes. The potatoes weren't as great as last time, but potatoes are still potatoes. Yum. The eggplant parmesan was sooooo good though, I was surprised at how well they turned out, but I think it would have been better if there was more pasta sauce on it. They dried out a bit because I didn't cover them quickly enough, but still soo good nonetheless. Great too, because Adam really really liked them, despite having once said he didn't like eggplant.

Eggplant dishes so far:

• HIS eggplant lasagne
• eggplant canneloni lasagne wraps
• eggplant parmesan

Sounds like he DOES like eggplant! =D

While dinner was in the oven, we did Christmas. We exchanged gifts, and I was super excited about this because I wanted to know what I got. I had my guesses on what I got, but it was funny that I actually knew everything that was in my gifts.

I got Adam:

• 4-cup coffee press
• Mug
• Van Houtte Columbian coffee
• David's organic english breakfast tea
• Jarome Iginla Olympic collectible
• that day's Storm tickets
• Toronto Marlie tickets for January (I'm still waiting on these!)
  

Adam got me:

• Mini Shopaholic
• Mexx black suede gloves
• Silk kimono robe

I love Christmas!

Grey Cup!

So I've been good and following the RoughRiders with Adam the past few weeks. I've watched the last 2 weekend games, and I was committed to watching the Grey Cup too (making it 3 Rider games!).

Apparently, game day food is pizza, wings and beer. Since I don't do wings, we ordered pizza instead.

The game was intense, but it was a sad day for Saskatchewanians... Darn Montreal and their ability to win year after year!

Soccer

So, we've started and finished our soccer league for the semester. It was a 7 game season where we had a 4-3-0 record. Pretty good, considering we started out losing the first 2 games, and then coming back out on top.

Hopefully we start a soccer league again for the winter semester... eh Jerlene?!?!

TerraCotta Warriors

After returning from Ohio Thursday night, I repacked my bag that night to make the trip to Toronto Friday for the weekend. I had plans with Vernon and Clair for dinner and "night it up" on Friday night. One of Clair's friends - Steven - joined us for "night it up". Turns out, Steven used to work with my brother's friend Lawrence. He lived in Vancouver up until just recently, where he left his job and came to Toronto to upgrade some schooling. Funny how even though I'm 2000 miles from home, I still run into people who have common acquaintances... The world is definitely not small enough!

After "night it up", we went to Go for Tea to get some real food. I guess Steven must have been quite hungry. I eventually got back to my aunt's house. At 130am. Yikes! I slept in a little in the morning (aka. 9am), where I got up, got ready, and figured out plans with Winnie and Ray. Exciting! I was finally going to meet Eric!

I made my way by TTC to Spadina and Dundas where we were set to have dimsum lunch before heading to the ROM. Heather met us at the ROM for out 1pm entrance time to see the warriors. As I've already been to the ROM in 2008 and Heather last summer, we weren't particularly interested in re-visiting the regular exhibit. We headed straight for the TerraCottas.

The exhibit wasn't as big as I was lead to believe (only roughly 7 warriors and 3 horses), but it was impressive nonetheless. To see the warriors in real life up close like that and really gauge how large they are, the history that lead up to it, the manpower it took to build them, and the incredibly distinguishable and detailed characteristics of each. Most of the exhibit was smaller artifacts describing the history leading up to the tomb, and it was all pretty impressive.

After the ROM, we went to Greg's Ice Cream down the street, and I went to dinner. I left Sunday morning to head back to Guelph to catch the FIFA final with friends. A disappointing match, but a well deserved win for Spain. Congrats to the Spanish fans!

FIFA 2010

So I've been doing quite a bit of soccer watching lately, but who hasn't? Soccer fever has hit the world, as it does every 4 years like a frenzy.

Groups A - D are done now, and it has been a whirlwind amount of games in the last 2 days.

A well deserved win to Uruguay, although I admit I didn't watch that match. Instead I chose to watch FRA-RSA because I so desperately hoped South Africa would pull through. Unfortunately not, and they became ( I think) the first hosts to fall victim in the first elimination round. A hug disappointment I'm sure, for South Africa.

I didn't watch the entire GHA-GER game today, because I had an appointment, but an intense match to say the least. Ghana was playing really well, but fell short of the win. However they still advance, which is awesome. Australia won their match as well, but was cut because of the GF/GA statistic. Sucky, because I have a soft spot for the land down under. I guess I'll just have to secretly root for the kiwis now...

Of course we can't forget the wonderful country of Argentina who have yet to be defeated. With only 1 GA, Argentina seems by far the favourite to win. Especially in my department, where we're chock full of Argentinians.

It's been a wicked start to FIFA, and I'm super excited for the next couple days for the eliminations in groups E-H.

Soccer

I've caught some of the FIFA fever because I actually do like soccer a lot.

I finally attended one of the soccer games. Kendra and I made it to Wednesday's game, despite the weather. It was initially canceled, but everyone wanted to play because the rain went away, so we all made our way to the UG fields at 6. A little warm up underway and we started a game. With a final total of 12 people, we shrunk the field a bit and played 6 on 6. 2 hours later, we called it a game, I believe the final score being 6-3.

Kendra and I got into 2 too many scuffles, actually taking each other down each time. But it's all in the spirit of the game and we had a blast playing. My new soccer cleats were disgusting by the end, with about an inch of mud stuck to the bottom and in between my cleats. Awesome.

Soccer was fun but absolutely exhausting! I really need to get in shape...