an extended weekend

What an amazing, computer-free, food-full weekend! And by weekend, I mean Thursday through Sunday... it was extended, and it was amazing. Steve took off for Australia last Monday (not amazing), and left me here all alone wondering what to do and where to go. Okay, actually, I wasn't left wondering what to do - there is a list, and then another list and another - just who to do things with; as of yet, my social life is a little, uhmmmm, lacking here in Gatineau. I considered a trip to Denver or Vancouver, but was/am airplaned out; we've been traveling and visiting so much since we've been back, and I just feel like settling down a little bit and staying at home. But, I didn't want to be alone for two weeks in Gatineau, soooo... I took Dan and Milka up on the offer of tagging along to Niagara Falls for the weekend. With the G20 in town, they wanted out of Toronto, and it was the perfect amount of time for me to get out of here and travel a little, but not too much.

Darko, Vic, G-ma, Dan and Milka, after one of the many fabulous meals

I drove into Bowmanville on Wednesday, and then after some debate - drive into Toronto? or Go Train? - decided to drive. Despite the heavy traffic warnings, the 401 was deserted on Thursday afternoon, and I had no problem whatsoever getting into town. I don't recall seeing any cops, or many people... it really was like a ghost town - kinda creepy I must say. It was also smooth sailing to Niagara Falls, and we arrived at Milka's mom's place in almost record time. Milka's mom Gordana (G-ma) is awesome, and spoiled us rotten all weekend long. She showed me pictures, told us stories, gave us advice, told us about pregnancy and what this means when this or that happens, why and how our men will change with a baby in the picture, and much more. In a way I wish that it was all recorded, so I could just press play and hear it all over again... oooh, and do the same with the food, but for real. We were SUPER spoiled with the food - breakfast every morning (rice pudding, crepes, vanilla'd cream of wheat), snacks all day (ruska salata, bread, meats, cheese, fresh figs, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, apples and bananas) and dinners (barbeque, salads, rice pilaf, salads). "Eat, eat! the baby is hungry, eat for two," she'd say, and away we'd all go. We relaxed on the couch and in the garden, reading, chatting and watching soccer, the news and old cartoons on TV. We walked down to the Falls and through the casino, bought lottery tickets, and visited Milka's brother and his wife in St Catharine's. It was one of those perfectly paced weekends, with the right balance of laziness, activity and food that leaves you feeling perfectly content. On our way back into the city on Sunday, we lunched in Niagara on the Lake, and topped it all off with ice cream and a stroll before making our way into Toronto.


With all of the ridiculous protests - wait, it wasn't the protests, it was the thug-vandal destruction so let me rephrase; with all of the vandalism and destruction, we were curious about what the mood in the city would be like when we rolled in. We didn't see any hooligans or troublemakers in between the Gardiner and Dan and Milka's beautiful little home, but we did see amoebas of police, some small some large, some lunching some lounging, some standing, some sitting. I suppose that police were stationed all across the city, and that they were on high alert for vandal-destructos, terrorists and protester-mobs, but the cops that we saw looked quite bored. Maybe they were in the thick of things on Saturday, and had earned an easy post... hm. I say better safe than sorry, even though the $1 billion security price tag seems a bit ridiculous.

Anyways... so the weekend was wonderful. I was back in Bowmanville on Sunday night, and had some more good relax time chez Bob and Marg, sitting around, reading the paper and playing games. And then today it was back to the Gat, but via Gananoque, where I stopped and had lunch with my most elderly friend, Helen. She's in her 90s, and I'll have to blog about her another time; she is an amazing woman and has done some amazing things in her life. She had no trouble getting in and out of the large Expedition, and we drove down the street for the $6.95 soup and salad lunch combo at Bravo's: beef and veggie soup and BLTs, yum.

To finish: after a weekend of eating eating eating eating, I have a bump. From the food? Maybe, but maybe not. I'm 18 weeks, and the bump has definitely arrived... !!

birthday and cake!

Wow, am I ever spoiled. It was my 32nd birthday on Saturday, and I'm still getting gifts! EEeeee! Opening packages (and mail of any sort, except for bills) is exciting, and I had a small molehill of parcels to open - there were gifts from near and far, and they were all fabulous: books, jewelry, shirts, bag, water bottle.... love it all! So, I'm spoiled. On Saturday morning while Steve got the job done in the gym, I roamed around the market and bought a bunch of delicious goodies from an Italian deli which set us up to have pretty much the best sandwiches ever: fresh Italian buns (big ones), fresh mozz, ham, salami, pepperoni, tomatoes... it was amazing! The picture, I think, speaks for itself.



And then, the cake. I tried a new recipe ("the perfect party cake") from a food blog, Honey & Jam; it looks amazing (if you check out the link, the photography is quite flattering) but hmm... maybe it was our doing, but the cake was a bit of a let down. We came home on Friday night from a dip/wade in Meech Lake and late-night baked, cooled and wrapped the cakes, and then Saturday we iced them (we followed another new recipe: I couldn't bring myself to make the suggested buttercream frosting which called for ooooh only 1 1/2 cups of butter). I was SO excited about cake, about eating cake... but whatever. It was dry, the frosting was sticky and marshmallowy - it is not a repeater. However, Steve, being the nicest best husband ever, brought me home mini two-bite sugar bomb cupcakes from IGA, and they made me forget alllll about the ick trial cake. The cake, the cupcakes AND the Sunday morning pancake all combined to cake-tide me over for two weeks until we can have cake again, on our anniversary. Sadly (but not that sadly), we don't have any actual wedding cake to eat (which isn't much of a surprise, considering that neither of us ate ANY of our wedding cake almost a year ago), but happily, we have a kitchen full of pans, bowls, spatulas and mixers that will assist me in whipping up something delicious, something tried and true. Yes, I already have something in mind, and yes I will post the recipe.

We went out for afternoon patio drinks on Sunday, and then to Sweetgrass Bistro for my birthday dins... it was delicious! I must point out the moustache on the man in this picture though - by FAR one of the most interesting bunches of facial hair I've ever seen!

Dinner...

... and dessert! YUM!

The weather here has been amazing - gorgeous, sunny, warm... so I'm going to get outside before I have to be back inside for a rendez-vous. Here is some food for thought that one of my Tokyo running friends passed on this morning; must we apply the same wisdom to our eating patterns? And, where does cake fit in?

"You should exercise unrelenting discipline over your thought patterns.
Cultivate only productive attitudes...you are the product of everything
you put into your body and mind" -I Ching

poulet and piscines

I'm going to go ahead and say that chicken is not the first thing that I want to smell when I wake up. Oh, and that I don't love smelling the chicken aroma for 14 hours straight. There's no doubt about it that I'll be glad that we threw the roast chicken remains (carcus - ugh) in the slow cooker overnight when I'm eating the stock in some sort of delicious meal, but for now, when I'd rather be smelling bakery smells or summer smells or fresh air, it's a bit much.

The auctioneer in action

We ran errands like crazies this weekend and still have a list. And, on the very top of that list is (for me at least) to get bikes! We gave it a good try on Saturday at the Gatineau police auction, where there were over 200 velos for sale... some decent, some baaaaaad. Apparently we could have gone on Friday to size up the stuff and see if it would fit us tall folk, but we didn't. And so we sat for a few hours (or four?) with a crowd of eager bidders and came home empty handed. There were bikes that went for $160 and bikes that went for $2; there was also a whole lot of junk auctioned off, and it amazed me that people actually bid on and bought backpacks full of random, junky tools, and bags of socks and underwear... hmm. We took a break and had brunch at Cora's (yum), and then after another round or two of bikes, got on with it. The new sport centre had an open house in the afternoon, so from ice-rink-auction to sportsplex we went, and while Steve saw the physio guy, I toured the premises. AND, the best thing about the entire complex (besides the great training facility for the team) is the brand new, beautiful 50-meter pool, and the fact that it opens next Monday! Eeeeeee! It's a 5-minute bike ride from our place, and a 15-minute-ish walk - soooo close! I've been driving to a pool in Aylmer, 20 minutes away, so I'm really excited for this close-to-home piscine to open. And, with my Access Gatineau card, it's free! FREE! Can't wait.

The gymnase...

Underwater hockey?

The pool! And Steve. :)

And it was a month on Sunday that we left Japan - it's only been one month... crazy. We've been all over the place - Vancouver, Bowmanville, Toronto, Gatineau, Toronto, Gatineau - and I'm ready to stay here, at home, for a while. There are things that we still find ourselves talking about and thinking, as far as differences go - bike, walk, transit vs car culture, sensory overload vs. sensory underload, clean streets vs litter here and there and there... those are the big ones. People stare here too, but they also say hello, which is nice. Okay, the slow cooker is beeping and I'm going to put a stop this chicken smell already - can I put it outside on the balcony to cool? Will that dispel the soupy aroma? Leftover chicken for lunch, no merci.... I need a break.

ohhhh food!

With Marg...

... and Bob, in Bowmanville before we left last Sunday

There are some days that I think I may be starting to show with this pregnancy, and others where I realize that I am not. When I go to bed with a bump and wake up without a bump, the only possible conclusion is this: the bump is caused by la bouffe (ie EATING), and compounded by a lack of exercise. Hmmm, woops. I suppose it's better than being huge and having everyone ask how many multiples I'm having... right? That is something that is, in fact, happening to a friend. It - the bump - will come, and when it does I will longingly remember these bump-free times... right? We'll see. Some progress has been made on the doctor front - after asking friends and family for help in the doctor search, I finally decided to hit up the University of Ottawa health clinic and get a referral. And, finit. I have an appointment next week with an obstetrician, and another for my 18 week ultrasound at 19 weeks. So, we're getting somewhere. I have yet to find a GP, but the search continues - I'll ask next week at my appointment.

I finally uncovered the camera cords, so it's picture time. I've got to get back on the camera bandwagon, and document our time here - it's beautiful, and I'm so happy that we're close to lakes and nature, and that there are bike paths and running trails, and libraries and free swims and new places to explore. I'm still working at getting things crossed off the long to-do list, but have found time to make more bread, make cookies and test out the slow-cooker. Hmm... do these priorities explain the tummy protrusion? I think so.

Quiche (spinach, cheese, salmon), homemade bread, tomatoes.... yum...

No bump

The slow-cooker on the go... preparing tonight's supper

Chocolate Toffee Almond Cookies... eeeeeeep!

still...

Well we sure did log some miles this weekend: Ottawa-Toronto-Waterloo-Toronto-Ottawa. And most of those, at least for me, were started early early (too early) in the morning. We made for the big city this weekend because I signed up to take a coaching course on Saturday BUT had to make it back to Ottawa for a volleyball tryout on Sunday - ouf! But I wasn't complaining - this was all done of my own volition. The course was great - not too long, good people, interesting things to talk about... and then the tryout on Sunday was great too. I'm totally new on the vball scene in Ontario and Ottawa, so I'm excited to get involved and meet people and coach a team this summer. This is the first summer in a looong time (maybe eight years?) that I won't be coaching camps, and it will be good to not be flying/driving all over the place all the time. The tryouts were for the Ontario Summer Games team, and I'm excited about being involved as a coach - back in 1994 it was my first big vball tourney as an eager 15 year-old, and I remember it well. Also, my very best friend was on that team - best friend then and best friend now... so hopefully some of these girls can create and share some of the same memories.

So we are (still) settling in - there are unpacked boxes and bare walls and crowded counters here, there and everywhere around the house. (I should get to that.) I did get to the library yesterday and got myself an Access Gatineau card - a library card and recreation services card in one. Get this: for $20 a year, I get unlimited access to a bunch of different recreational activities - swimming, badminton, basketball, tennis, canoe rentals on local lakes, and more. Crazy! Have I got my priorities straight or what... Clear off crowded bathroom counter? Unpack printer and office stuff? Nah. Get library card? Sure. I'm going to go check out the closest pool that has daytime swimming (a 20 minute drive, boo) and then... umm, I'll get to that around-the-house stuff, I swear. I should also unpack our camera, as these bare, no-photo posts are a bit dry, n'est pas? Anyways, even though there are still lists of things to do, and still settle-in stuff that needs to get done, this place is starting to feel a bit more like home... I like it!

start with unpacking, end with food

Ugh, unpacking. We are no longer in Ontario but finally, after (almost) three weeks, in our apartment, our home, in Gatineau, Quebec. We arrived Sunday night and have been unpacking bags, boxes, giant tupperwares and wedding gifts ever since. Now, the M.O. is to organize and settle in: we've been to Costco, Walmart and Ikea with lists for everything from kitchenware (cutting boards, sponge holder, canisters) to bathroom stuff to normal household things (tide pen (spilled red sauce on my new favourite shirt last night), tin foil, saran wrap, food, etc. At Ikea today we looked at bedroom furniture (we need new stuff), and bought a desk and a chair for a total of $150... not bad. I'm feeling better now, but definitely had some jammers throughout the week: I'm sick of packing and unpacking all the time and feel (sometimes) that with all of this stuff that we have to cart around and deal with I'd rather just live in a tent in the woods (sometimes); I haven't found a doctor here, so I was a bit stressed about that (solution: go to UOttawa clinic tomorrow morning) and lastly, I miss my friends and wish that I'd had more time with people in Vancouver.

So, a funny thing: my default language is still set to Japanese. In the grocery store yesterday I sort of bumped into someone and she said something in french and I said "sumimasen" - wrong language there missy. The french thing is so far so good, and I'd say that I understand around 60% of what people say and I know for SURE that I'd understand more if I could either speed up my listening comprehension or have everyone talk half as fast. Hmmm... the solution there, I believe, is to study, which I plan to do. Unpacked wedding gifts: we are using our toaster on a regular basis and yesterday, I baked bread in our fabulous new bread maker! YUM! Thank you Tukker family. After ploughing through a few loaves of Savary Island's delicious soda bread in West Van, we decided that WE will experiment with a few soda bread recipes... and of course with many of the other deliciously named recettes (cinnamon swirl bread and pesto focaccia loaf coming right up). I've also been making my way through a cookbook that Carla, Chris and Layne gave us, The Flavours of Canada: A Celebration of the Finest Regional Foods. There are lots of informative little blurbs about regional and provincial ingredients, chefs, inns and hotels, noted restaurants and restauranteurs, food get-togethers, celebrations, festivals and more. It is a great book - something to get out of the library and peruse, or perfect as a gift to any foodie. Speaking of food, it's time to get supper on the go - we've got to get our new kitchen warmed up! Food... yum.