this, that, bed time

If I were to do a full blog-browse of food-related posts, I am sure that pizza would be the most oft-blogged, drool worthy dish (though desserts as a category might take the first-place cake), and - put another pie on the barby! - here comes another write-up. We had Dan and Jess and Freddie and Shanti over the other night for a full on smorgasbord of pizza, and there was no shortage of toppings for our on-the-grill pizzas. The dessert that followed wasn't so bad either - I made sticky date pudding with hot caramel sauce and it was yum-yum-yum. We've had this cake in B-ville, but with dates in the cupboard ready to jump into pudding (it really is more of a cake), I just had to give it a try myself. And on that note, can anyone tell me what the deal is with measuring butter in sticks? Am I the only one that has to look at a Butter Measurement Translation Chart to Defeat Nefarious Recipe Writers* ? For real, that's what the chart was called (see here). Anyways, with a dinner/dessert menu of pizza and pudding, and an upcoming extended eating free for all in Italy, I'd better plan on breastfeeding until next April if I'm going to want to fit into my clothes. Or I guess I could find a babysitter and work out every day.... hm, could both happen? Doubt it.


So! I finally googled Trento and it looks Ah-MAZING!! Last night I spent oooh oh about 20 minutes googling and reading about the place (not nearly enough time) and I can't wait to get there. It's nestled in the mountains, looks beautiful, is close to all sorts of fabulous places and it has a Christmas market! And winter weather. And oh, if only the whole visa situation were sorted then we might well be on our way there right now. Steve's been given the regular old European run-around (which we'd kind of forgotten about) and we've wistfully thought back to the superb (organized, polite) organizational skills of Japanese institutions when put on hold, hung up on and/or been completely ignored when speaking with (or not speaking with) people in the Italian consular offices. Anyways, blah blah blah - it looks like we won't be leaving until the middle of next week, but our fingers are crossed that Steve can get in (in Toronto) to get visa stuff taken care of asap.

Outside the hockey stadium in Yaroslavl, March 2008

And that reminds me - the last time we had visa business to take care of in Toronto was in 2008 when we were headed for Yaroslavl, Russia; the plane crash of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, the hockey team that trained and played just down the street from where we lived has been on my mind mucho. I went for an amazing (and slow) run jog yesterday in late afternoon fall-is-coming sunshine, and it was all I could think about.

So, yeah, packing. We're slowly but surely getting the apartment and all of our stuff packed up ready to go, or packed up ready to stay. We're renting our place out to two Team Canada full-timers, and are glad to have people in here. That being said, we're really hoping that they take care of our home and all of its contents.



I don't have toooo many Hendrik updates, but he is babbling more and more, and is understanding more language too. At almost 9 1/2 months (!!!), his favourite foods are cantaloupe and blueberries, and Cheerios are a good go-to mess-free snack, and hmm... he likes beef and meat combo dinners (I'm trying to empty the freezer of baby mush) and milk is still tops. He is on the move on the move, and sleeping well - 10 hours last night and almost 12 on Tuesday night. If we could figure out how to encourage that kind of shut eye we'd be all over it... it was amazing for all three of us. Anyways, speaking of that I should get some myself, I'm tired!