Michelle's Sense of Snow

2011-09-17T11:56:00.003-04:00

Ever since I watched this video, I've been thinking about how my life is already an action life and how to make it more of an action life. An action life is one where all one's daily tasks require action. Here is a list of tasks I consider action tasks:

Laundry: I don't have a washer or dryer in my apartment and the washer and dryer in my building have been out of order for over a month now. This means I have to walk a block to the laundromat to first put my stuff in the washer, then I walk home, then I walk back and switch some of it to a dryer and carry the rest home. Then I walk back and pick up the dried stuff and walk home again. Action Laundry!
Commute: It takes me about 30 minutes to get to work and 30 minutes to get back home. During this 30 minutes, I walk to the metro, go underground to take one train, go down even more underground to switch train lines, climb back up above ground, then get on a bus to my job. Action Commute!
Grocery shopping: I don't have a car, so I walk to the shops to get my groceries and carry all the bags home, either on my bag or in my hands, or both. I also like to get certain things at certain stores, so grocery shopping involves a lot of walking. Action Groceries!

Have you heard of NEAT? Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. This is a term for movement that is not done as an intentional workout. The more you increase your NEAT, the more calories you burn. Action Life!

cruisecritic.com

2011-06-26T10:31:00.004-04:00

I don't know if you know, but I'm going on my first cruise!! You probably know because I'm pretty sure that every person who reads this blog, has also had to endure me talking about my upcoming cruise.

As much as I just know I'm going to love cruising (whoddathought?), I also love themed movie lists AND preparing for events by watching movies with the same theme. A few winters ago I watched a few movies that take place during winter, last Christmas was....Christmas movies, recently I watched a bunch of movies about Americans getting into trouble overseas and now I must watch movies about cruise ships!

So far on my list:

Titanic (1997)

Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Speed 2 (1997)

The Boat Trip (2002)

Any to add?

Turistas, Go Home!

2011-05-30T19:24:00.004-04:00

I found this list of movies about Americans in trouble abroad and have been watching a different one each night.

So far I've watched:

1. The Beach. I saw this movie when it first came out in 2000, it reminded me so much of my backpacking days, especially the music. Except I never found the beach, or maybe the beach is in all of us, or maybe there is no beach, or maybe the beach...ah, forget it.

2. Transsiberian. I like this movie a lot. I saw about 3/4 of it when it first came out and was pleasantly surprised to see that there was a whole other ending than what I remembered. As in, an entire other 1/4 of the movie!

3. Midnight Express. I'd only ever heard of this movie and glad I finally watched it. Man is it violent, I had to cover my eyes a lot. There is one scene that is particularly intense, I can't imagine acting that part out, very violent!

4. Brokedown Palace. Midnight Express is way better! I'll be honest, I still don't know who did it.

Next is Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. I need something a little lighter before I go back into the heavy stuff.

2011-03-10T12:08:00.001-05:00

Second snow day this week!

2011-02-26T11:41:00.002-05:00

It's Nuit Blanche tonight in Montreal. The four activities I want to do are:

swim at the Olympic pool with snorkel and mask to see the underwater art
flashlight tour of the Redpath museum
see the nocturnal animals at the Biodome
meet up with Mark for the SoCalled show at the NFB

Seeing as I'm not much of a night owl...I'm not sure how many of these, if any (!!) I'll actually do!

2011-02-23T19:11:00.004-05:00

I want to get a new (to me) dining set for my dining room, but I can't decide what direction to take. There are so many cute cheap sets out there!

Which would you choose? Vote over there on the left-hand side!

Just bear with me...

2011-02-16T10:10:00.001-05:00

One more, just to drive it home, especially starting at the 0:24 mark, ha!

2011-02-14T23:28:00.001-05:00

2011-02-14T07:13:00.001-05:00

Capilano!

2011-01-31T21:22:00.003-05:00

2011-01-24T11:00:00.008-05:00

Molly's Reach in Gibsons, BC!

2011-01-23T19:07:00.002-05:00

Guess the tv show!

Mr. Bones feels rattlin' - that's a good one!

2010-12-20T11:19:00.003-05:00

As I've said in the past, there is really only one Christmas album to listen to at this time of year: Bing Crosby's White Christmas. It's. The. Best. For the most part, I do not listen to any other Christmas songs. Bing and the Andrews Sisters singing Jingle Bells is awesome! So when Margaret suggested I watch White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby et. al., I was shocked that I'd never even considered watching it before.

Well, I watched it yesterday. Check out the gem of a joke at 1:20 - pretty macabre!

My Top 5 Favourite Christmas Movies!

2010-12-18T11:16:00.005-05:00

In no particular order:

Uncle Buck (1989) - though not technically a Christmas movie, it does take place in the winter and you can catch on CTV around this time of year.

It's A Wonderful Life (1946) - One of my all-time favourite movies. I'll be honest though, it's not the same watching it without Dana. I haven't watched since she moved to Australia!

Elf (2003) - The funniest Christmas movie; it has so many great lines in it.

The Holiday (2006) - The best Chick Flick Christmas movie.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) - Classic!

2010-12-12T14:56:00.000-05:00

Awwww!

2010-12-10T13:07:00.013-05:00

I have taken some really great train rides. Many years ago, I travelled 1532km on the Ghan form Adelaide to Alice Springs, Australia.

http://rac.com.au/Travel/RAC-Travel-eNews/2009/April-09/Ghan.aspx

I also travelled 730km on the Southern Spirit from Adelaide to Melbourne, in Australia.

http://www.news.com.au/travel/holiday-ideas/uluru-and-eastern-states-linked-by-rail-cruise/story-e6frfqd9-1225829575384

I also travelled about 200km from Greymouth to Christchurch in New Zealand on the TranzAlpine which passes through Arthur's Pass National Park, beautiful!

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/tranzalpine-train

And leaving on January 1st, 2011 I'm travelling for my very first time in a sleeper on the Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver!

http://www.canamerica.ie/holiday.php?id=263

2010-11-28T20:01:00.003-05:00

Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee

, coffee, coffee, coffee

, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee

It's all people seem to talk about! Me included. I've given up coffee a few times and loved the freedom from it, but missed it's warmth, flavour and energy jolt. The last time I gave it up, Mark's birthday rolled around and he was gifted* a fancy burr grinder and espresso machine, bringing the number of coffee machines in my home to more than I can count on one hand.

The scent of freshly ground coffee beans, freshly pressed coffee and beautifully frothed milk was too much and I've been drinking at least one every day. But this weekend, I have conquered my addiction once again! No coffee yesterday, none today....let's see how long it lasts!

*I never thought I'd use the word "gifted" but it seems to be all the rage!

2010-09-29T19:17:00.002-04:00

Gaz Métro has recently improved their "customer environment" for me! I'm not sure yet what this means, but so far, I know that I no longer have to look up my account number every time I want to log in, I can now create a username! This is great, because it was a hassle to have to find my account number somewhere so I can see how much my bill is.

However, creating a username is as far as I can get. You see, to attach my Gaz Métro account to my new username I need my Gaz Métro account number AND the number of my most recent bill. But I can't get that number because I can't access my bills because I can't complete the registration because I don't know the number of my most recent bill because I can't access my bills and so on.

Gah!

I like Bell's system more. They don't attach or include my bill in their emails every month, but they do include how much my bill is in the email, so I all I have to do is pay it.

Boy, this is a boring blog post. Wish I was in Bali like some people.

2010-09-28T11:28:00.005-04:00

Mark and I took a stroll through Parc-nature du Bois-de-l’Île-Bizard the other day, here are some photos!

2010-09-15T10:25:00.006-04:00

Have you heard of.....THE NOSE PAD KING? I almost never wear my glasses, so that pair that I have that you've never seen me wear, I've had for a good 5 or 6 years. As you can well imagine, the nose pads were wearing thin, as they do. One of them broke and fell off! I thought to myself, "Now's my chance to get some fancy new glasses!" but I just couldn't do it. I don't wear them enough to merit spending hundreds on new ones so I did the next best thing: I ordered a couple of 13mm HD asymmetrical 'D' shaped silicone nose pads!

I had no idea nose pads could be such big business and there is a King of nose pads running the show! You got your plastic nose pads, plug-in nose pads, round nose pads, slide-on nose pads, rimless nose pads, teardrop shaped nose pads, titanium nose pads, asymmetrical nose pads, symmetrical nose pads, the list goes on and on.

2010-09-12T21:38:00.007-04:00

I love Bircher Muesli! When I was in Australia in August, my sister introduced me to Carman's Natural Bircher Muesli which I just loved. I bought a box to bring home, but I finished it long ago.

What is Bircher Muesli? Wikipedia wasn't too much help when I did my own research to figure out the difference between regular muesli and Bircher muesli. But I think Bircher usually has dried fruit, toasted nuts and honey. The traditional method of preparation is to mix the 500g box of Bircher muesli with 1000g of yogurt and a grated apple.

Edit: I actually mix all this together and keep in the fridge the whole week. I take out the amount I want each morning for breakfast and maybe add a dab of peanut butter and some cinnamon. By Friday, the mixture is really tasty and the texture really pleasing.

At my sister's place, we prepared it as if it were oatmeal (in hot water with a mashed banana) and it was delicious. When I got home, I decided to prepare the box I had brought in the suggested way, with the yogurt and apple. It was just so delicious!

So, in the last two weeks, I've been experimenting in making my own Bircher muesli: oats, raisins, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, tons of cinnamon and a few butterscotch chips. It's good, but it's no Carman's.

Carman, when will you make your products available in Canada? Or allow me to order it online?

Outer Great Barrier Reef!

2010-08-27T06:03:00.002-04:00

2010-08-23T07:23:00.004-04:00

Ooof! I cannot get rid of this jet lag! Adjusting my sleep schedule, avoiding coffee, eating at regular times, sleeping pills, and I'm still waking up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 3:30am!

For Margaret!

Singapore Sling!

2010-08-13T02:20:00.005-04:00

Morning...

noon...

and night!

2010-08-12T02:57:00.002-04:00

Look who was waiting for me in the Brisbane Botanical Garden today!

2010-06-19T18:32:00.004-04:00

Catios! A custom patio for your cat! I don't have a catio, but I don't think anyone would be surprised if I made one on my balcony. Here's Willow enjoying a coffee on her potential custom catio featuring potted chives (she goes straight to them to have a chew as soon as I open the door) and chicken wire to prevent her from wandering to the neighbour's balcony.

2010-06-18T10:20:00.000-04:00

2010-06-16T20:38:00.001-04:00

2010-06-05T10:54:00.002-04:00

Tour la Nuit! We biked the 20km Tour la Nuit last night. We got there earlier than last year and so didn't have to wait in line too long to get started on the actual cycling part of it. It started at 8:30pm, but so many people participate that you must wait among them in the street before you can cross the starting line.

My favourite part of doing this race is all the people who come out onto the sidewalks to cheer the cyclists on. Here is a rundown of the best things I saw:

a little girl in tutu dancing for everyone
a full-0n funk band set up on the sidewalk!
a guy who'd hung t-shirts on his porch...was he selling them?
about a hundred little dogs hanging out with their owners on porches
a drunk guy warning everyone going by to put lights on our bikes because it will save our lives
a group of people who had set up a projector to project the internet on a wall?!
tons of people playing bongos and other drums, fun!

I LOVE all the people who come out to cheer on the cyclists, it's so fun so wave to everyone, to see all the little kids dancing around and telling us "Lâche pas!!!". Mark's favourite joke is to yell out "ça me tente de lâcher!" (I don't know how to spell that properly!), which makes the volunteers stationed everyone along the way to laugh.

Here's a funny video I found from the Tour la Nuit 2008. I think it captures it well, Chris de Chris!

2010-05-31T17:00:00.002-04:00

Smelts!

I don't know why, but I've been craving smelts lately. They were popular to eat when I was a kid, but I don't think I ever tried them. I bought some yesterday and coated them in a bit of egg and corn flour, then fried them on the stove. Yum!

2010-05-26T07:45:00.003-04:00

My cousin Tina made a list of what she's looking forward to as summer approaches and inspired me to make my own:

my first soft-serve ice cream of the year
my first cold coffee from Lili & Oli
long bike rides along the river
sitting on the balcony and watching the action on the street
camping and hiking
sleeping without sheets and blankets
icy lemonade
the excitement in the air at school as teachers and students get more and more excited for the end of the year
long, long days!

2010-05-21T06:46:00.003-04:00

The best line from last night's 30 Rock:

"A smug 40-year old bridesmaid, what a treat for everyone!" - Jack Donaghy

2010-05-17T14:25:00.009-04:00

I recently started a Couch to 5km running program! I'm using Robert Ullrey's C25k podcasts to help me out. There are nine podcasts, each one is meant to be done three times in one week so that the whole thing lasts nine weeks. I decided that to keep myself from giving up as I've done so many times before, I will do each session four times instead of three, just to make sure I'm not moving along through the program too quickly.

Dana started a challenge to runners to take photos of their running routes, so here's mine!

I do this loop twice which takes about 30 minutes. First, I run down my street towards a park...

and follow this path...

which veers right, around a big grassy area...

following this path, I pass behind Maison St-Gabriel...

and exit this park, cross the street diagonally to enter another park...

where I follow a series of paths...

enjoy some sculpture...

come out onto the street...

and back onto my street!

2010-04-19T16:03:00.002-04:00

Mark and I walked up Mount Royal last Saturday. I ate the second Vietnamese sandwich I've ever had up there. I don't know why I waited so long to start eating these!

2010-04-14T16:02:00.003-04:00

The soup was not a success. It smelled wonderful and fresh and green, but tasted awful. I think I'm not used to the flavour and someone who is would like it more than I did. Something about the combination of hemp seed butter, miso and nutritional yeast just didn't appeal to me.

What? I have a blog?

2010-04-09T18:58:00.003-04:00

Well, here I am alone on another Friday night because Mark is working for "the-band-that-shall-go-unnamed", going on almost a year to record an album (@#$%&!). Feeling a little teed off because someone stole my garbage can?! Who does that? I know they didn't mistake it for their own because I'm the only person on this street with a metal garbage can.

Anyway, I decided to peruse the new Chatelaine magazine that I just got in the mail today. I was inspired to Tone My Butt in 8 Simple Moves so I looked up Canadian Tire's website to price an exercise ball. But then I felt like I didn't really want to walk over to the store, even though it's just 10 minutes away. So I looked up The Simple Dollar's 100 Things To Do During a Money Free Weekend. I was intrigued by #25 on how to build a simple net worth calculator, so I worked on that for a bit and felt relieved that my net worth isn't as low as I thought it was. But it still prevented me from heading to Ikea to buy some big pillows to lounge around on now that I've gotten rid of all seating except for my sofa.

A blog I like to read is Gena Hemshaw's Choosing Raw. Not because I live the raw lifestyle but because I think she's an excellent writer compared to other food blogs I read. Recently she featured a friend of hers who just had his raw food cookbook published. I bought the online version and am going to make a spinach soup, I believe it's the first recipe in the book. I'll take pictures to post tomorrow.

2009-12-14T13:43:00.003-05:00

I love a new haircut! I've been seeing the same stylist for about 2 years now and I love how she cuts my hair. The hair cut I got yesterday, which is same as the last one in September, is my favourite so far. It's like a little helmet; so cute!

I love having my hair washed, I love having my hair combed, brushed and cut and finally I love having it blow-dried. It feels great! Off to enjoy my Christmas tree now....

2009-12-14T12:02:00.003-05:00

I love Christmas parties and the Christmas spirit! I've got two down and a few more to go. Every year I await the feeling of Christmas to enter me with happy anticipation. I usually kick start it with a trip to the mall and big grocery stores. Normally I don't look to malls for inspiration but I do find, compared to some other cities I've been to, that Montreal lacks in outdoor Christmas decor and the best place to find it is inside malls and big chain grocery stores.

Here's a picture of our first Christmas tree! A beautiful balsam fir; it smells so good! We always found a reason not to get a tree but this year I decided I couldn't live without one.

2009-12-09T16:48:00.004-05:00

I love the snow! I love it for giving me a half snow-day today which gave me a chance to catch a matinee of A Christmas Carol, buy a new winter coat and come home early to newly delivered Christmas cards!

View from the door to the balcony:

Willow's first step onto snow and her quick retreat!

2009-12-07T19:00:00.005-05:00

I love Amarula! I've been drinking it since a huge ad campaign in the Montreal's metros back in 2006 I think it was. It was Christmas time and the ads were everywhere!! It looked something like this:

Although this is a Toronto subway platform.

I drink it with milk, with hot chocolate, on ice. It's delicious!

2009-12-07T18:56:00.003-05:00

I love Gilmore Girls! My favourite episode is when Lorelai's mother points out to Lorelai that the real Lorelai would never let Luke keep his daughter from her. I can't believe he waited so long to tell her about his daughter. What a jerk!

I've been watching an episode every evening snuggled up with a blanket on sofa. It's cold outside! I'm praying for a snow day this Thursday....!

Merry Christmas from the Gilmore Girls!

2009-12-01T06:43:00.003-05:00

I am not liking getting ready in the pitch black these days....I mean mornings. It's only just started and I'm already sick of dragging myself out of bed when it's as black as midnight.

Even Willow's sick of it....

2009-11-21T21:23:00.000-05:00

Ooooof! Winter is awesome!

2009-11-15T16:23:00.004-05:00

After a weekend of excess (I think I ate out for every meal with barely any time passing between each), I've decided to make this week's menu all about salads. Specifically, salads from Donna Klein's The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen and Vegan Italiano. These two cookbooks are no How It All Vegan, a book I consider the worst of all vegan cookbooks. Its authors must invest in the vegetable oil industry they use cups of it in every recipe. No, there is not one meat substitute, not one ounce of tofu, soy milk or tempeh (barf!) to be found in Donna Klein's recipes. Tonight I'll be making Italian Bread Salad. Stay tuned for pictures!

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

2009-10-20T18:54:00.001-04:00

This song was on Gossip Girl last night, I just love it! Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are coming to Montreal on November 23rd!

2009-10-19T15:02:00.000-04:00

2009-10-18T11:42:00.003-04:00

Last night I went to see Califone perform the music from their new album "All My Friends are Funeral Singers" which accompanied a movie projected onto a big screen on the stage. You can watch the trailer here. It's about a woman who lives in a big old house with a bunch of ghosts. They help her with her psychic reading business until one day they decide they want to leave the house. They think she's preventing them, but she's so fed up she makes it as easy as possible for them to leave, but they can't seem to get out. I LOVED the music, the movie was great too, but I left before it ended because I wanted to make it to my friend's birthday party (Happy Birthday Caroline!).

I keep missing her parties every year, birthday and otherwise, so I was happy I finally made it to one. And while celebrating with Caroline and seeing Califone were the brightest highlights of the night, I can't forget to mention, not one but TWO friendly cats I saw. One was hanging onto a tree on the sidewalk and letting two friendly pedestrians scratch its back and the other (with a shaved tail with a puffy pom pom of fur on the end) was sitting on a wooden box outside a depanneur letting even more friendly bar hoppers scratch its back. Too cute!

I love this song!

2009-09-03T17:44:00.002-04:00

A(n) historial walk through the PSC yo!

2009-08-23T10:55:00.012-04:00

I just know a lot of you are thinking, "Where in the heck does Michelle live!?" and more pressing, "What is the historical significance of her neighbourhood!?" Well I am finally going to tell you through the magic of my digital camera...

I live in Pointe-St-Charles in the South-West of Montreal. Now, the Grand Trunk railway, which opened in 1852, was Montreal's largest employer during it's time and shaped PSC back in the day. It had tons of local employees and called itself Grand Trunk because it was thought to be the trunk from which all railways in Canada would stem. Here's a picture of it's head office, now a government building.

As you can see, it's covered in scaffolding. It is a grand building with a beautiful marble staircase inside. PSC has a truly working-class history, from working for the railway to building the Lachine canal. This means its residents for the last couple hundred years have been relatively poor and needy, so that things like the flood of 1886, one of the worst in the 19th century, pretty much devastated the surrounding neighbourhoods and farms. Here's a mark on the Allan building (Hugh Allen was one of the richest men in Canada in the late 19th century).

Where does a poor working-class schmuck go when he's feeling down and out, his home is flooded and he's on strike again? Why, Joe Beef's tavern of course!

Famous for helping out those on strike and anyone in need, Joe Beef also helped non-humans. In the basement of his tavern, which he ran from 1870 to 1889, he was known to keep bears, monkeys, wild cats, and a porcupine. If those wild strikers got too rowdy, Joe Beef would bring up one of the bears to restore order.

And boy did the workers ever strike! Imagine building a 12km canal, it's back-breaking work. And then imagine widening it. And then imagine building locks. It takes time, it takes 16-hour days in fact. The canal also allowed ships to bypass the rapids in the St-Lawrence which allowed for steamships to reach Montreal and thus more industry into the PSC, which meant even more working-class Irish and Scottish to move in.

The Darling Brothers foundry is one of 20 that provided work for the residents of PSC and Griffintown in the late 19th century. Now, it's a restaurant and art gallery.

Back in the day, people got around by horse and buggy. The Griffintown Horse Palace, an Irish-owned stable since the 1860s, is still pretty much in working order.

Of course, all those Irish needed a place to worship and St Ann's Catholic church was built in 1854. At the time, as now, there were two types of people, the unskilled labourers and the rich industrialists. Everyone was Catholic, but poor Catholics went to St Ann's and the rich Catholics went to St Patrick's. Naturally, St Patrick's still exists, but St Ann's was demolished in 1970, which marks the beginning of serious decline in the PSC, but more on that in a bit. Here is what's left of St. Ann's. It's now a park which some of the foundation still marks the church's outline.

St. Ann's also ran a nursery around the corner from the Horse Palace. Here is the building which now houses a transport company started in 1926 and still run by the original owner's grandson.

Now, the Lachine canal was crucial in Montreal's growth which is why it was built (requiring tons of workers) and why it was widened (requiring more workers). Not only did it allow ships to bypass the rapids in the St. Lawrence, it also provided hydraulic energy to the early factories built in the area. Foundries, silk and ribbon factories, sugar factories and mills filled the area and so a lot of manpower was needed and a lot of manpower was taken advantage of. The working-class of the PSC could not escape hard times. When the canal was widened, the workers were paid in company money that could only be spent at company stores.

After all this hard work, the canal was closed! The St Lawrence Seaway took over and the port end of the canal was filled in and closed in the 1960s and the Lachine end of the canal was closed in 1970. St Anne's was demolished in 1970, the locals lost their place of meeting and worship. In 1963 the whole area was zoned as industrial. Hence the decline of the PSC into poverty.

As if to foreshadow the area's decline, typhus swept through the area in 1847 killing the most vulnerable, the poor unskilled workers who'd help built it up with their own hands. At the opening of the Victoria bridge is a monument to those Irish. A 30 ton piece of black granite pulled from the St Lawrence during the building of the Victoria Bridge marks a mass grave of thousands of Irish who died during the epidemic.

Stayed tuned for Part 2...

2009-08-16T09:39:00.001-04:00

I don't think I've posted this photo here yet. It's Willow trying to curl up and disappear into the woodwork. She had a fever, after throwing up all day, and could not get comfortable. Poor kitty!

2009-08-06T14:11:00.002-04:00

Something that I'm finding annoying in design blogs lately is the overuse of the term "pop of color". A "pop of color" is used to add colour to a room with a very plain palate, usually cream or white. I was seeing people use "pops of colour" in the rooms in their own homes and in the redesign of rooms in other people's homes so much, I started to wonder just how blandly they decorate! I doubt any colour I add to my house would "pop" as there is already a colourful palette to begin with.

I searched younghouselove.com's site for their use of "pops" of different colours and I got over 100 results! I searched apartmenttherapy.com and got over 8 pages of results! I don't think I like these white and cream homes that need pops of color, I find it very boring.

I guess, as my brother likes to remind me, I have too much time on my hands.

2009-07-17T14:20:00.002-04:00

A few pictures from our trip to the Gaspé Peninsula. More beautiful than I'd imagined!

2009-06-30T10:32:00.001-04:00

I am officially funemployed!

Four must-eats I found at chowhound.com, about which I will blog in a couple of weeks:

1. A gelatto place Les Glaces Ali-Baba. 521, route 132 Est Cacouna, Québec G0L 1G0 Canada.
2. Fromagerie des Basques, just before Trois-Pistoles.
3. Cantine de la Gare for Poutine de la gare, which is a poutine steak haché but with creamy coleslaw on top. 2 Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste Est, Rimouski, QC G5L 8Y3, Canada
4. Capitaine Homard in Ste-Flavie, less than 10 minutes east of Ste-Luce.

2009-06-24T09:36:00.003-04:00

After reading this review of Lobsterfest at Magnan, I knew I had to finally try it out. Magnan is an institution in Pointe-St-Charles and has been for 75 years. Here I am with my lobster:

I ended up going bibless. It was delicious! I skipped the rice and corn it came with; I was really there for the lobster and melted butter. After a couple of frustrations at work, cracking that sucker open felt pretty good. We started with the shrimp and cucumber salad (just like in the review) and some grilled vegetables - all delicious.

F.A.Q

2009-06-16T21:13:00.006-04:00

Margaret asks "Which one of you has more than 2 bikes?!?"

I suppose they are all Mark's bikes as he's the one who bought all of them and maintains all of them.

Margaret asks "I don't meditate. Yet. I'd like to. I think I need to. I've been thinking about it for a while and would like to hear more about where you did your group thing yesterday."

It's an 8-week program about using meditation to manage stress. If anybody is interested, email me and I'll give you the details so you can sign up for the next session!

Margaret asks "Well, of course I'm still asking why!" (about why I want to give up coffee)

I just know that if I don't have even the smallest coffee, I will feel like sleeping all day. I think I'd rather wake up feeling refreshed than have to wait until after I've drunk a coffee to feel awake.

Dana asks "What the heck are you wearing in that picture?"

It's a cotton robe Mark brought back for me from France.

Margaret asks "Just what exactly does 'guf' mean? Is it an acronym?"

I really have no idea what it means. I take it to mean, "Wow, what a day!" or something like that.

2009-06-15T17:21:00.004-04:00

Ah, Los Planes! The best (albeit only) El Salvadoran restaurant I've ever been to! Here is a picture of Mark's recreated typical Los Planes breakfast. Refried beans, sour cream, sliced apple (at Los Planes you usually get pineapple, apple and some other fruits), tortilla (at Los Planes they give you real tortillas, these are just from my chain supermarket), scrambled eggs, rapini (our addition) and salsa. At Los Planes, you also get plantain and tamale. And that is because Los Planes is the bomb!

And here is Mark riding home on the new (to us) folding bike he bought last night. He insists we need two of these for our trip to the Gaspesie. I suggested we get a bike rack for the car or rent bikes at the parks we're staying in but when he gets a bee in his bonnet, he can't let go.

So here are the two bikes he bought in a matter of 24 hours all folded up and waiting for action:

We now have 5 bikes between the two of us!

2009-06-14T17:53:00.003-04:00

There is nothing much to report, not even a few pictures. Mark and I took a beautiful bike ride along the canal today to Parc Rene Levesque, had lunch there, biked back along the river. Last night we spend a couple hours planning our trip to the Gaspesie! I'm so excited! We will camp the whole time which is a bit nerve-racking for me, I'm not a very laid-back tent sleeper, but I'm going to try. We just came back from setting up our tent in a nearby park to see if it has any rips. It's perfect!

Edit! I thought this post was too boring, so I'm adding a few photos...

First, here is my balcony where you can see I'm all set up to enter final grades for the year.

Here is Willow caught in the act of trying to get to the neighbour's balcony. She spends a lot of time hanging out here even though there is a balcony railing, chicken wire and a shade preventing her from getting there.

This is a view from my balcony down to the sidewalk. I'm on the third floor, so you can see the very edge of the second-floor balcony, plus the outside stairs.

And here is the view of the street to the right of me:

2009-06-08T20:40:00.002-04:00

I spent almost the whole day yesterday meditating. Starting at 9:45am, I stopped talking and started meditating with a group I've been learning about meditation with for the last 5 weeks, led by an instructor.

From 9:45am to noon, we did some kripalu yoga and a sitting meditation. From noon until 1:15pm was a lunch break; I went to a park and soaked up some sun, totally in silence. From 1:15 to about 2:30 we did a body scan meditation and a walking meditation.

Finally we sat in a circle and everyone was invited to say a few words about how the day affected them. Let me tell you, that was an intense way to wrap up the day. A few in the group became very emotional, including me!

Today I'm still feeling the effects of yesterday's meditations: peacefulness, calmness. I never thought this meditation program would have such an effect on the rest of my life, even though that was my goal in getting involved. I wasn't so much suspicious, as much as simply not convinced that it could be so powerful.

Do you meditate?

2009-06-06T09:12:00.002-04:00

Ahhhhh! That was so much fun! Last night, Mark and I joined 11998 other cyclists for the Tour la Nuit, a 20km bike ride along city streets. It was really so much fun. The sidewalks were filled with people cheering us on! It's so funny to ride down the streets, very very leisurely I might add, and have all these people yelling, "You can do it! Keep going! Don't give up!" - it's certainly undeserving, but makes you feel so good and happy!

So much about the ride was great: getting to see parts of Monteral I'd never been to like the Complexe environmental Saint-Michel, seeing all the funnily dressed-up cyclists and riding down the most supportive street ever, Avenue Louis-Hebert. I don't know what it is about the people who live on Louis-Hebert, but they were out in droves with noise-makers, lawn chairs and babies waving us through!

And of course the big party at the end at Jeanne-Mance park - it was bigger than I thought with circus acts, all the sponsors giving away free stuff (none of which I took) and the other 11998 cyclists. After that we biked home which meant biking along the path that cuts through the new intersection at Parc and de Pins which since that intersection was completely redone, I'd never biked through. What a breeze it is now! So clean and organized. Ta-da!

2009-06-03T14:33:00.002-04:00

Today, during second period (first grade), one student said qu'il me trouve belle (three weeks ago he told me liked my shoes), another gave me a little cutout drawing he'd made (after spending the last 10 months spending each hour-long class disrupting pretty much everything) and another punched his friend in the stomach. What a year!

2009-06-03T08:10:00.002-04:00

Well I'm thinking of giving up coffee. Margaret might remember me saying this..oooh, sometime during our History of English class back in 2006 (! that long ago!) and her reply was, "Why?". Good question. I don't know why I say these things, but I just feel it's time. And I don't even drink that much, one measely little stove top espresso each morning. And I mean TINY. But still, I'm addicted.

In the past when I've tried to give it up, I ended up having to take a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day so I this time I'm going to wait until my summer vacation which starts July 1st.

2009-05-31T18:15:00.002-04:00

What I would like to know (and I can't find a straight answer on the internet) is if an infection can be treated with antibiotics, does that mean that that's the only way to get rid of it?

I'm pretty sure I'm suffering through a second sinus infection! The first one was about 2 months ago. I went to the doctor who prescribed antibiotics and the infection gone in 3 days. But now it seems it's back. I can't explain exactly how I know it's a sinus infection and not a regular cold; I can just feel it. But I don't want to go back on antibiotics, so I've started doing sinus rinses! And I've got Mark (who suffers from seasonal allergies) hooked on them too!

But I just need to know: can you get rid of a bacterial sinus infection without antibiotics? Can other infections that are usually treated with antibiotics be gotten rid of without drugs?

2009-05-17T11:45:00.002-04:00

Too cute! After Willow eats her breakfast, she likes to jump on my lap and fall asleep (sometimes I rub her big belly). Here she is chilling out, half on my lap, half on the table and looking up at me, waiting for me to flip her onto her back for a belly scratch!

Speaking of Willow...Mark and I have mentioned her so many times in emails to each other that Little Willow appeared in Mark's Google ads!

I thought I'd search my Gmail and find instances of Willow:

Can you believe you left the balcony door open?!?! Willow must have been so happy!

last night Willow spent every minute staring at the radiator in the living room.

willow says 'hi!'

googled "lump after spay" and it's normal, willow's ok

2009-05-10T21:56:00.003-04:00

Well! The week of Kath is over! I'm pretty late in updating, but here goes...

Let's see...oh yes, I posted about my Korean lunch. Well that night I had dinner at my brother's house with my parents and we had fish (I can't remember what kind), roasted potatoes, roasted red peppers, wine and for desert coffee and a rhubarb crisp. I didn't have any of the last two, I was too full! I got home around 10pm and ended up having a few cookies though!

So that's the end of that! What did I learn during my week of Kath week?

1. The importance of presentation - even arranging food on the plate in a cute way made it more fun to eat and I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy some cute bowls to eat my oatmeal out of. It made eating it much more fun.

2. I have a new appreciation for variety. While I'm adventurous when eating out, I definitely am not when it comes to cooking at home. I think I'll try harder to cook more interesting things.

Did YOU learn anything new from Kath?

2009-05-09T16:08:00.003-04:00

My mom and I hit up Man-na on Bishop downtown, my favourite Korean restaurant. They always give you little dishes of kimchi, Korean radish, potato and miso soup to start.

Then I had the seafood bibimbap, my favourite! Unfortunately, I only remembered to take a picture after I mixed the egg in.

And my mom had the lunch box special, so beautiful!

2009-05-09T09:23:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, I got home, did a 30 minute meditation, then had a snack of yogurt, honey, poppy seeds and a few almonds. Here's Willow checking it out...

Then I went downtown for an appointment but was hungry for dinner so I stopped by Sac-Wich. I'd never been there before. I always thought it was such a weird place when I'd see it on Beaver Hall but a new one just opened at Alexis Nihon so I stopped in to check it out and get a quick bite. I got the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich and it was delicious! Wow! Inside the place looks like a Quiznos, but the sandwiches are fantastic! And they have lots of great little cakes and cookies, biscotti and tiramisu, it all looked really yummy!

Then I headed over to my brother's house and had a beer, but I don't remember what kind, though it was delicious. I had one of my mother's cookies and then a few wasabi beans. My mom sent me home with more cookies and I had two more at home and that was it for the night!

This morning I had oatmeal.

The mix:

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup milk (2% this time)

1/3 cup oats

1 tbsp ground flax

1/2 banana

1/3 mixed frozen blueberries and raspberries on the bottom

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 dash cinnamon on top

1 tbsp peanut butter

6 sour cherries on top

1 triangle of dark chocolate

Plus a cup of french press coffee and a glass of water. I'm currently enjoying my second cup of coffee. I always go for extra coffee on the weekend, though on week days I limit myself to 1 small stove top espresso in the morning and that's it.

Today, to honour the last day of my Kath week, I will bring my camera with me and take more pictures!

2009-05-08T13:09:00.000-04:00

Greetings from work! I just had a lunch of a Tim Horton's sandwich called a "Club a la Tim" and a small "ice capuccino" - no pictures!!

I did bring some sliced grapefruit for a snack and just had a piece. Kath seems to do this all the time and I noticed Dana did it too, but I have to say, it's not for me. I'm not a big grapefruit fan to begin with, though I'll eat it once in awhile, but no...much too sour.

2009-05-08T06:32:00.002-04:00

I was still feeling full from the pizza last night, so instead of a bowl of oatmeal with all the fixins, I was in the mood for egg and toast. Mark always gets mad that I immediately put the bread in the freezer, and this time he insisted we keep it out and when I went to get a slice this morning, it was moldy! So I went for two mini pitas and a boiled egg, black coffee, water.

Today is:

- work

- home to clean a bit more

- meditation

- quick errand at the mall (because it didn't work out yesterday)

- welcome my parents to Montreal!

2009-05-07T18:29:00.003-04:00

I decided tonight to have some sympathy pizza for Dana, seeing as...well, seeing as her pizza looked so good, I thought I'd have some too. On my way home from work I stopped at the mall for something and couldn't resist this terribly trashy novel I'm reading and a couple slices with a Diet Coke. I guess I'm alone in this, but for some reason I like reading trashy novels in food courts with diet soda. No pictures! I haven't been carrying the camera around with me.

I came home to a sparkling clean bathroom! Thank you Mark! Tonight's plan:

- 30 minute meditation

- clean the litter box

- clean the kitchen

- The Office!

- that's all folks!

2009-05-07T06:56:00.003-04:00

Good morning! I'm always happy when Wednesdays are over! I forgot to mention that I got in about 40 minutes of walking yesterday.

On to today's breakfast!

The mix:

1/3 cup oats

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup of milk

1 tbsp ground flax

1 tbsp peanut butter

1/2 banana

1/4 cup frozen blueberries on the bottom

1 small triangle of chocolate

I discovered that when you put the blueberries on the bottom, if you wait a few minutes, the bottom part turns into a kind of upside-down cake which is delicious.

Today's lunch is tortellini with garlic, olive oil, broccoli, a bit of cheese, salt and pepper. Some cut up veggies and ranch dressing.

Today's plan is to go to work, a quick errand (if possible afterwards), then home to clean clean clean! My parents are visiting this weekend and despite my efforts this week in keeping things tidy around here, it's really not up to par. I'm dying for a bike ride to the Lachine Rapids, but it looks like it's going to rain all day and night! Booo!

2009-05-06T21:23:00.004-04:00

Have I ever got a lot of catching up to do! I left off last night without posting my dinner so here it is. Arugula, a chicken thigh baked with bbq sauce, a mini pita, some chick peas and a chopped up slice of salami all drizzled with balsamic and olive oil.

Breakfast this morning was more oatmeal, water and black coffee. The mix:

1/3 cup oats

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp ground flax

1/2 cup frozen blueberries (buried under the oatmeal so they'd melt)

1 tbsp peanut butter

a bit of dark chocolate!

Today for lunch I had another chicken thigh, a pear, a couple slices of cheese, some celery and peanut butter and a few almonds and another piece of that dark chocolate.

Because I went to a meditation workshop tonight almost right after work, I had a quick egg salad sandwich (whole wheat bun, couple of big leaves of romaine and egg salad) in between, sorry no picture! I just prepared lunch for tomorrow, but I'll wait until tomorrow to post it. However, here's the leftover that I decided to have right now.

And finally a little treat that I had in Turkey last year: yogurt, honey and poppy seeds.

2009-05-05T19:22:00.006-04:00

Guf! I finally made it home! Tuesdays are an easy day for me, except the first Tuesday of every month when there is a meeting at 4pm that is supposed to finish at 5:30pm but usually runs until 6:05pm. Should I get on the horn with my union?

I didn't get any exercise today, except a 10 minute walk home from the metro. Perhaps there's still time, but I'm baking some chicken for dinner right now, so maybe not.

Breakfast was oatmeal, here's the mix:

1/3 cup oats

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup milk

about 8 sour cherries

1 tbsp ground flax

cinnamon

some peanut butter

1 cup black coffee

1 pint icy water

I blogged about lunch yesterday so let's not relive that. I did eat all of it throughout the day, though I didn't quite finish the celery, which I might do while I wait for dinner. Along with this little bowl of olives of course...

Well, the good news today is that I received some free samples! Though not food related, it was still nice to come to this little package of P&G goodness: Herbal Essences Shampoo and Conditioner and Olay Definity Re-Energizing Serum and Restorative Sleep Cream.

Now I'm going to sit back, relax and wait for dinner, see you lates!

2009-05-04T20:22:00.004-04:00

I sure have been posting a lot, how does Kath do it? Here is my falafel dinner next to Willow on her chair. As you can see, I stuffed half a falafel into four mini pitas and inside each pita is a about a tsp of my homemade tzatziki. I don't mind telling you that the egg cup is holding ranch dressing (PC brand!). I just bought it today because in the last month I've bought a few pre-chopped carrot and celery cups that came with ranch dressing for dipping and I got a little addicted! It was the first bottle of salad dressing I've ever bought! The falafel were delicious! But can anyone tell me how to dispose of all that oil I used to deep fry them?

Here's a picture of the lunch I already put together for tomorrow. It's one thing to take all these pictures at home, but I don't feel like pulling out my camera in the staff room at work. A pear, four mini falafel pockets (2 falafel cut in half), celery, carrots, some almonds and my tzatziki.

Yes, I took that picture on top of the washing machine which is in the kitchen. I need to pay more attention to presentation!! I promise, every picture from now on will be on a pretty place mat!

2009-05-04T18:21:00.004-04:00

What a productive day! You'll be happy to know I made it up the Atwater hill without having to stop and walk my bike! It's about an 18km trip return to Akhavan from my house so I think, taking into consideration any coasting I did, I got at least 30 minutes of exercise in today.

I stopped to nibble on some olives and almonds in Westmount park on my way home. At home, put together some arugula, chick peas and broccoli with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. It was only "ok" - olive oil and vinegar isn't cutting it for me these days, I might start experimenting with making more interesting dressings. For desert I had some of that beautiful yogurt (so thick you can stand a spoon in it) with some sour cherries and of course, cool lemony water. I ate outside on the front balcony.

Twice since lunch I've had more olives and almonds (and a few crackers), they are just tooooooo good:

I just finished deep-frying (!!) falafel that I made from a mix I got at Akhavan. It was the first deep-frying I've ever done and the falafel look tasty! I mixed together a quick tzatziki to eat them with but after hovering over all that hot oil, I don't feel that hungry anymore. Don't worry, I'll take pictures when I eat later on!

2009-05-04T09:46:00.003-04:00

I didn't take a picture, but last night I had some "cracker snacks". This is an invention by the brother-in-law. It's crackers each with a tiny slice of cheese, tiny slice of some kind of meat (preferably cured), maybe some onion and then a yum yum sliced pickle. Delish! Cracker snacks are the only reason I ever buy yum yums and then I have them once and forget they exist. But I remembered last night!

This is what Mark and I say every weekend morning*: I woke up at 6am and felt great! Then I fell asleep again and now I feel not so great. :(

We seem to oversleep every weekend, get up at 9am or so and feel like we wasted a couple of hours. Oh well. Mark had to leave early for work (leaving for work at 9am is early for him), so we jumped out of bed for oatmeal at about 8am.

The mix:

- 1/3 cup of Old Mill Large Flake Oats

- 1/3 cup of parmalat 3% milk (I don't usually use 3%, but that's what we have)

- 1/3 cup of water

- 1/2 banana

- 1/2 cup Europe's Best raspberries

- 3 Amira almonds (which expired in January now that I happen to look at the package!)

- 1 tbsp Webber Naturals cold milled certified organic ground flax seed

- 1/2 tsp of chocolate sprinkles (at which Mark said, "I see you're playing Kath at her own game!")

Plus a coffee and some cool lemony water. I ate about 3/4 of the oatmeal - got too full!

Man, it's already a lot of work to blog so much, let alone come into the kitchen to find out what brands I'm using!

I actually did the breakfast dishes after watching last night's Family Guy (one of the funniest yet!). Now I'm off on my bike to buy some treats at Akhavan! I love their olives with chopped up garlic and those almonds that I think are mixed in some kind of tamarind flavouring. Plus that incredibly impossibly thick yogurt.

This bike ride will mark the first of the year going up "the hill" - that's what I call it anytime I go up towards downtown. I HATE the first few times going up "the hill" - it's murder, but it has to be done if it's going to get any easier, right?

*I consider Mondays to be the weekend still as I don't work on Mondays.

2009-05-03T16:12:00.005-04:00

After rearranging a bunch of furniture, and getting rid of a REALLY ugly dresser that we were using as linen storage, I was feeling peckish and decided on peanut butter and banana on a few crackers.

What a relaxing day today is! It's sunny and windy, but a little chilly. I sat outside for a bit, but it was just too cold to really enjoy it.

For dinner I had pasta with tomato sauce, cheese on top and a slice of toast with butter. Does anyone else love the taste of buttered toast with pasta?

I'm feeling inspired to make my oatmeal more interesting so tomorrow I might ride my bike over to Akhavan for some yummy snacks and sour cherries.

2009-05-03T14:35:00.003-04:00

We headed to Ikea to pick up a dresser for the living room to put our *new* tv on. I just spent 2 hours putting it together and already scratched it. Let this be the record: I am never shopping at Ikea again.

Lunch was leftover grilled vegetable salad from yesterday, bbq chicken and another glass of icy lemony water and then an iced coffee (not pictured).

2009-05-03T09:34:00.003-04:00

I woke up at about 7:30 this morning and stayed in bed for about 20 minutes before I decided I'd better get started on Day 1 of becoming Kath. I did the first 30 minutes of the Basic Flow on my Yoga Shakti DVD then checked my blog feed. Dana's already posted, and what a post! She's really captured Kath. I felt inspired to get going even more so I swept and mopped the living room, hall, bathroom and dining room. Hearing all the noise, Mark asked what was going on and then wanted to know why I didn't turn this into Michelle Eats and do it all the time. Which is when I told him to go back to sleep or I'd punch him in the face; I think I was channeling Sylvana there more than Kath.

Feeling incredulous that I was so productive without even my first cup of coffee, I got started on breakfast.

I'd put a banana in the freezer last night, intending to make smoothies this morning.

The mix for two servings:

- 1 banana

- 1/2 cup raspberries

- 2 tbsp hemp protein

- 1 1/2 cups of soy milk

Plus a coffee (no half decaf here my friend), whole-wheat toast with peanut butter and jam and a glass of cool lemony water. Now, Mark and I will actually clean the kitchen before we head out for the day instead of leaving it until....ooooh, sometime next week. Ciao!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery I guess

2009-05-02T19:43:00.005-04:00

Due to our current, unhealthy one might say, obsession with a certain blog, Dana and I have decided to live for a week as said blog's writer. Her constant optimism, immaculate home, cute bowls and tiny bites of baked goods are starting to wear us down so instead of turning bitter, we'll walk a few miles in her shoes and see if our homes too can be without clutter, if our oatmeal can be as filling, if it's really possible to do an easy 20 minutes on the elliptical at 5am.

The guidelines are as follows:

1. no junk food for a week (or just little bites)

2. lots of good food, especially raw food

3. clean our houses and keep them clean

4. 1/2 hour min of exercise every day

5. blog about the food we eat every day

6. use place mats and buy fresh flowers

While that may seem like a mish-mash of rules, we think we've captured the true Kath-ness of Kath. We think living as Kath for a week will make us as upbeat as she is.

In this spirit, I have downloaded a trial version of Post-it Digital to keep track of my to-do lists and have I ever got lots to do!

Tonight:

- relax

Tomorrow:

- wake up at 6am to do yoga

- sweep and mop the whole apartment

- quick trip to Ikea to buy a dresser

- 30 minutes on the elliptical

- throw away all the clutter

2009-04-26T19:28:00.002-04:00

Last year, Mark, his brother David and I biked the Tour de l'Ile, a 50km bike ride with about 30 000 people, for the first time and we couldn't have picked a worse year to do it. The weather was awful! WET WET WET. The first hour was grey, but cool enough that the ride was enjoyable, but then it started raining and didn't stop. It was miserable, but we biked the whole thing and I got to see parts of Montreal that I'd never seen before. I also got more wet than I ever have before.

This year the Tour de l'Ile is celebrating its 25th year and we plan to bike it again! I'm especially excited to see that the route is a different one than last year. This year's route is one familiar to me as big parts of it run West along the canal and then back East along the river. Can't wait!

2009-04-19T17:10:00.002-04:00

Something I have been keeping track of in a paper journal, but not in this blog are Mark and my "10 Great Dates". Now, listen here:

Mark's very generous and thoughtful mother put together a huge box of individually wrapped gifts, each relating to a great date from the book "10 Great Dates Before You Say I Do"*. The idea is to read each date's chapter, do the exercises as homework, open the accompanying gift and discuss the chapter's theme during a date.

I would never have thought I would take part in something like this, but when someone is thoughtful enough to put such a wonderful package together just for us, I can't resist.

And so, on to Date #1:

On Easter Sunday Eve, we cracked open the book and read the first chapter: Sharing Hopes, Dreams and Expectations. The exercise was to rate from 1 to 5, eight important areas to a couple: commitment and security, companionship and friendship, sexuality and sensuality, affection and tenderness, encouragement, intellectual closeness, mutual activity and building a family. The next day, we went to the Eggspectation** in the Old Port for breakfast and discussed.

After having been together for a little over 6 years and having lived together for about 4, we have already shared our hopes and dreams many, many times. However, we've never explicitly (ok, maybe during a few fights over the years) discussed our expectations of each other and it was insightful to focus on this part of the date. The gift Mark's mother chose for Date #1 was a journal and pen, both of which we decided to use to keep track of each date, i.e. write a few notes, attach the homework and where the date took place. I think it'll be funny to look back on this journal in 15 or 20 years and see what we thought of our relationship just 6 years in.

Stay tuned for Date #2!

*For the record, Mark and I are not about to say I do.

** Man oh man has Eggspectation ever gone downhill! That's my last visit for sure!

2009-04-16T19:57:00.004-04:00

After everything that I've been doing since I last posted (Freaky Friday, March Break, Easter, The Class, Miroir Noir screening that I barely attended, 9 weeks left in the school year! + M. Ward show to look forward to!) two really funny things stick out.

1. HAPPY EASTER GUS! What a hat! Apparently this is normal in Australia. Email me, I'll show you the videos.

2. I got a parcel notice addressed to Willow Paquette! The lady at the post office had a laugh about that. She didn't even question me when I told her Willow is my cat, even though I had to show her picture I.D. to get the parcel that was addressed to me (an Etsy treat). Willow's enjoying her Feline Greenies Dental Treats as I type.

2009-03-25T18:28:00.003-04:00

There's a party in my house and it's only 6:30 Wednesday night. Sheesh. Someone's making salad, someone's playing upright bass, someone's waiting for pizza, a few other people are loitering and Willow's sticking close to me.

This past weekend I had two great friends visit me from far away. With one, I did the ultimate Montreal bagel taste test and had a Fairmount bagel, walked a few blocks and had a St Viateur bagel. I'll say that Fairmount had a line out the door, but St Viateur sold individual-sized cream cheeses. Guess which bagel won (in both my and my friend's opinion)?

Then we had drinks at Dieu du Ciel where we monopolized Bruno the bartender: he is 31, is in police school, used to be a chef and spends all his time studying.

Then we all went to Gibby's in the old port where I dined on shrimp cocktail! lobster tail! veal! wine! cosmopolitans! and had our picture taken by Mona, our waitress.

Then we all went back to the W Hotel which is OVERRATED! I'd never been inside and was excited to see what all the hype was about. While the outside looks like a mental hospital, the inside looks like someone wondered, "How many totally awesome neon light and water installations can I fit in one mental hospital?" and then fit as many awful neon light and water installations in it.

Then I went home.

2009-03-20T06:32:00.004-04:00

About my last post, Margaret commented, "okay, not to be the voice of doom and gloom here, but I heard the other day that historically, Montreal gets 23% of its annual snowfall in March, and March is only half over. I'm just saying...enjoy the moment." BUT I DON'T BELIEVE IT!

Do you do an annual spring cleaning? I love spring cleaning but haven't felt the tug of the garbage bags strongly enough yet. I love throwing stuff out (or donating or recycling, etc).

Some more M. Ward...

2009-03-16T15:16:00.004-04:00

The weather is GORGEOUS! I pulled the plastic off one of my living room windows and opened the window wide to let in some much-needed fresh air!

2009-03-15T16:56:00.002-04:00

What a beautiful day today! I didn't find myself at the Expo Manger Santé this weekend like I thought I would, but rather waiting for Mark to come home and then off to dinner at my brother's house where we had a delicious dinner made exquisite with homemade coconut ice cream topped with spiced rum fresh off my sister-in-law's cruise in the Caribbean. Delicious!

Today we took advantage of the sun and walked to one our favourite breakfast places, and I just dined on some of Mark's best pizza yet.

I have just discovered TED and I think I'm one of the last to do so. Everyone keeps posting links to TED talks on Facebook and I finally clicked on one to see what it was all about. If you have 20 minutes to spare, go to TED and learn something!

...and how can a man like me remain in the light...

2009-03-14T10:57:00.002-04:00

The second love of my life is coming to Montreal! Oh M Ward! I can't wait!

2009-03-13T06:40:00.003-04:00

I need to get back on the blogging bandwagon here! After finding out that my cousin reads (how nice!) I feel I should be more diligent!

I just polished off a piece of toast with peanut butter and it was sadly disappointing. Why? Because I'm back to the same old-same old PC Just Peanuts stuff instead of the delicious (DELICIOUS) Trader Joe's peanut butter my parents brought back from the U.S. Man oh man, if you get a chance to buy Trader Joe's peanut butter, do it. It'll change you.

Yes, my parents are back from Australia and can't stop talking about how wonderfully warm and beautiful it is. They are in LOVE with Sydney and I'm in love with the macadamia nuts, Cadbury's milk chocolate and, although not from Australia, the above mentioned Trader Joe's peanut butter - all of which are gone, gone, gone.

This weekend, the Expo Manger Santé is happening in Montreal - maybe I'll find some nice peanut butter there. Until then, I hope you enjoy your glass of scotch after work tonight as much as I will!

2009-02-07T13:39:00.002-05:00

Lately, I've been lamenting the lack of variety in food available in Canada. Maybe it's because I shop at Loblaws too much. But one does get tired of having a choice between Liberte and Sugar-and-Chemical-Laden yogurt. Until I found the brand Damafro at Segals.

Ah, there was a time I lived in Plateau and could walk to Segals - that bastion of CHEAP groceries and weird brands. I went there the other day at Mark's insistence, and he's never even lived in the Plateau. I found 3 individually sized Damafro (never even heard of Damafro, perfect!) yogurts with real sugar, real fruit and real yogurt for 1$.

My public service announcement to you is: buy your yogurt at Akhavan's. They have this kind of deli counter with too many kinds of fresh yogurt, it's to die for. Damafro's consistency is like something so disgusting, I won't even type it here because my mother reads this blog and I don't want to offend.

2009-02-05T06:54:00.003-05:00

I am feeling more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning than many a morning before. I have the popular children's song "Sally the Camel" in my head and timed my morning shower to the length of the song.

Mark made almond milk last night and I added some to my coffee - delish! I should have taken pictures, he was pretty chuffed!

2009-02-03T19:49:00.003-05:00

Have you ever had an Irish Moss? It's the best drink ever and make of the weirdest stuff ever, including at least a half a pound of Irish Moss, a seaweed from the Atlantic Ocean.

Not only is Irish Moss (the drink) deliciously sweet and creamy, it's a popular aphrodisiac!

Check out your local Jamaican grocery and buy some now!

Or make your own. I'm pretty sure they do at Bon Appetit Des Caraibes and they're right on Notre Dame at Atwater, go!!

Happy Candlemas!

2009-02-02T12:32:00.009-05:00

According to a book I have here at home, Candlemas (February 2nd) is the day to take stock of your candle inventory and add more if you feel you're missing some to take you through the rest of the dark winter. I can't find anything online to support this however. I did manage, sadly, to find one candlestick holder with a rather pathetic green stub of a candle and a single tea light. If there's to be any romance in this house on Valentine's Day, I'll definitely have to stock up.

(Ignore the ugly window trim, it's Mark's paint-stripping project.)

I also found this little poem:

If Candlemas day be fair and bright,

Winter will have another fight.

If Candlemas day brings cloud and rain,

Winter won't come again.

Unfortunately, today is BEAUTIFUL: sunny and mild.

I also found out that in France, Candlemas is celebrated with crêpes, eaten only after 8pm. If you can flip a crêpe while holding a coin in the other hand, you're assured prosperity throughout the coming year. I'm giving that a try tonight.

Today is also Groundhog Day and I guess North America's groundhogs all saw their shadows and so we'll have a "long" winter; 6 more weeks. But aren't we going to have at least 8 more anyway?

I'm watching Bill Murray in Groundhog Day to commemorate today and realize it's a lot more heartbreaking and warming than I remember. Well worth a watch if it's been a while since you've seen it.

Happy Candlemas!

2009-01-28T19:27:00.004-05:00

Truth be told, there are quite a few blog posts awaiting posting. I write many posts and save them, without ever posting them. Not *that* many people read this blog, so I guess I shouldn't care *so* much, but I often wonder why I even have a blog and what direction it should take. Should it be merely about my personal life? Should I write about current events that peak my interest? Should I blog about pop culture? Music? Clothes? All of the above? Do I even *need* a direction?

Buoyed and inspired by Kath's Tribute to Oatmeal (have you ever seen anything like that?), I've decided to take a photo of my breakfast every single morning. Stay tuned!

Blue Imelda

2009-01-19T18:24:00.002-05:00

Have I already posted this? Is not, it's time I did and if so, well it's worth posting again.

Final Fantasy's Blue Imelda

An SNL digital short

2009-01-12T10:12:00.005-05:00

I wasn't Doogie Howser's biggest fan by a long shot, but the theme song is so great. When I saw this on SNL last weekend, I knew I had to post it here to share with all of you. I especially love the MPC and synth guys at 1:16. Beware: if you watch this video, you'll have the song in your head all day.

An Italian Playlist

2008-12-01T11:50:00.005-05:00

Are there songs that when you hear them can only ever take you back in time to when you first heard them or when you listened to them a lot? For me, listening to Ratatat's Classics album takes me back to the beginning of 2007 and the 1km walk from the bus stop at St Jean and Autoroute 20 to Ecole Primaire Pointe-Claire during an internship I did there. I listened to that album over and over during that walk and I can't listen to it now without feeling the same emotions I felt walking to that school every day: excitement, stress, impatience.

I recently uploaded hundreds of songs to my iTunes including Andre 3000's Speakerboxxx and when I listen to it I'm taken back to my daily walk along the beach in Scalea, Italy 2003 - 2004. It's a funny feeling to not be able to listen to it without feeling the pebbly sand under my feet and the salty scent of the Mediterranean. So, here is your very own 2003-04 Italian Playlist:

Andre 3000 - Speakerboxxx
My Morning Jacket - At Dawn
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Bonnie 'Prince' Billie - Bonnie 'Prince' Billie sings Greatest Palace Music
The Beatles - The White Album
Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
Vincent Gallo - Recordings of Music for Film
Smog - Red Apple Falls
Mirah - Advisory Committee (produced in part by Phil Elvrum - awesome album!!!)
Dntel - Life is Full of Possibilities

Here is a video edesade made for Bonnie 'Prince' Billie's New Partner which also happens to be one of the first songs Mark ever sang to me:

2008-11-29T11:05:00.002-05:00

The other day Mark spent some time with his friend who told him of his dream to move to Killaloe, near Algonquin Park, with his wife to live among the hippies and run a second-hand store of sorts. This got us talking about dreams and while Mark's are pretty vague yet lofty, mine are very specific and perfectly achievable. I keep them specific and achievable so that I can be assured of continually being appreciative and satisfied with the work I put into achieving them.

For example, I recently came upon an a journal I had forgotten I started where I wrote of two dreams: to have a sofa comfortable enough to take a nap on and to live somewhere with a nice view of a body of water. Now, if you'd spent as many years in your 20s being a student as I had, you'd understand the unattainability of having a nice sofa. While Salvation Army has many many affordable sofas, I can assure you, those that I've bought have been far from the kind I'd want to spend a couple of hours on on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Now, though, I have a lovely sofa that I spend many hours on reading, listening to music, watching movies and napping. This sofa that I thought was so far out of my reach is finally in my living room! Dream attained!

It was timely that Mark was just talking about dreams to his friend, because a blog I find so interesting for many reasons I might get into another time, mentioned Randy Pausch and two of his lectures, one about achieving childhood dreams and another about time management. If you shed a couple of tears watching this, you'll almost definitely shed a few watching the lecture about childhood dreams. It's not that it's a tear-jerker, but Randy had cancer and died just months later. The lecture is not about his death or cancer though, and I think it's an important lecture to listen to and watch if only to light a fire under your own dreams. Each lecture is over an hour long, but worth watching because as he says, if you're not spending time reaching your dreams, what are you spending your time doing?

2008-11-23T11:04:00.003-05:00

Today is November 23rd and it's also Saint-Catherine's Day! I don't know about children who grew up in Quebec, but growing up in Northern Ontario (at least those in French and French Immersion schools) meant November 23rd was dedicated to making "tire" and wrapping up little pieces of it wax paper to take home, forget on the "rad" and then scrape off the next day. Sure, it's delicious, but what kid doesn't leave sticky sugary on hot surfaces because naturally they already ate a ton of it at school?

The maple stuff we dip a popsicle stick in and roll through the snow at a cabane a sucre is called "tire" in French and the stuff we made out of sugar and molasses on Saint-Catherine's day was also called "tire" even though it's referred to as "toffee" in English. It's not really toffee at all - it's really molasses and sugar. We were told that Catherine was a teacher who made the "tire" in order to lure little First Nations kids into her school so she could teach them.

Maison Saint-Gabriel, which happens to be just around the corner from my house, is the farmhouse/cottage where some of the first young single women from France lived and learned to housekeep, take care of animals and grow vegetables under the guidance of Sainte Marguerite Bourgeoys.

While Maison Saint-Gabriel's website mentions "tire", it doesn't say how it's connected to Catherine, rather it explains how she is the patron saint of young girls and unmarried young women. The Maison Saint-Gabriel is inviting all Catherinettes (women over 25 who are not yet married) to take part in the Sainte-Catherine day festivities today - sounds like personal invitation to me!

edit: St Catherine's Day is not on November 23rd, it's on November 25th! Thanks to Anonymous.

What the world needs now

2008-10-05T10:57:00.004-04:00

Wow! Friday night I found myself with two great friends at Eglise Saint-Jean Baptiste...

...watching Burt Bacharach! I can't say enough great things about this show. The sound was incredible, the church is beautiful. He came on stage and started playing the piano for about 15 seconds, it was just him and the piano, and then he and the whole band launched into the chorus of "What the World Needs Now" - the sound was so huge and so perfect! What an experience! The rest of the show was great, great, great. Burt and the band played lots of medleys of his hits, he talked to the crowd a bit about studying at McGill and working with lots of great singers. His encore was really long - it seemed like neither he nor the crowd wanted him to leave the stage.

2008-10-01T11:19:00.003-04:00

Look what happened at my school today!