Since I last updated:

  • Scott updated his blog (link over there on the right –>)
  • I took public transit to Ikea, something I hope never to have to do again (ow my arms)
  • Painted two of three paintings (sneak peek there –>)
  • Had some friends over to warm our house
  • Baked cookies (new recipe, delicious), made guacamole (yum as usual), bloomin cheese bread (ok), and whipped black beans (not so great)
  • Killed Rosemarie’s computer (oops)
  • Watched lots of movies and TV
  • Played Dominion (I won, as usual) and Agricola (I lost, as usual)
  • I won the Jorna family footy tips competition

I had a lot of fun yesterday at the fair at the PNE. I have always loved carnivals. Next year I have to find someone who wants to go on all the rides with me!!

First thing we got a deep fried Mars bar. That’s been on my ‘to try’ list for ages so we gave it a go! The concept was delicious but the batter was weird and ick. I was expecting this:

But we got this:

Huh it looks like a pogo? I don’t even get how it could look like that considering the dude had a box of Mars bars right beside him. I thought batter like that could only come out of a factory.

Anyway I’m glad I tried it but it wasn’t really worth the money.

After that we went on the new GIANT swings thing. It was so tall it makes the drop zone look puny!

It was better than I expected. It went really fast and made my eyes really watery. You got a good view from up there too! Again, glad I tried it, but probably not worth the money or time!

For dinner we had fancy hotdogs. I almost couldn’t decide what to get! Scott convinced me that I could make the macaroni and cheese one at home, but not the poutine one, so I had that. It had fries and gravy and bacon and cheese. Scott had the vegetarian one with corn chips and guacamole and loads of veggies.

Sorry for the crappy pictures. This was instance #2 where I brought the camera but forgot the memory card. BLAAARGHHHH.

The bun was very delicious. Actually the hotdog was the worst part of the whole thing. I didn’t finish the whole thing.

Hair inspiration?

To end the night we went and looked at all the animals, then headed for the buses. Unfortunately we timed our exit at the exact same time that the Kenny Rogers concert finished (dang, I wanted to hear The Gambler!) and we were swarmed by really riled up senior citizens. The entire bus was the seniors section, haha.

Well we made it home, full and happy. A good evening.

We’ve done a lot over the last few days! Unfortunately I don’t have many good photos because I keep forgetting to put my memory card back into my camera. MEGA DOH.

Friday Scott got his gross tooth pulled. This is a good thing. I made him a room temperature vegetable madras rice smoothy for dinner.

On Saturday I dragged Scott into the city to get a free pair of pants. Roots was having a promo where if you brought in an old pair of pants for charity they would give you a free pairs of pants. We got in line right at noon, in the blazing sun. Only then did I overhear that you actually have to take off your old pants in the STORE WINDOW. Bahaha. I asked him if he still wanted to do it and he agreed. It was pretty funny. An hour later, he walked away with a very nice new pair of khakis worth $75! I took a picture but I’ll leave that for Scott to decide if he wants it posted.

Later that day we went to a baseball game. This is instance #1 where I brought the camera, but no memory card. It was a work event for Scott so we got to eat and sit in the BBQ area. The best part was the free popcorn. Other than that I was pretty bored. I really don’t like baseball. I had no idea where to look or what was happening or if I should cheer or boo when anything happened without looking at the scoreboard. So you’re constantly looking all over the place and missing things. I would rather watch football than baseball.

They had a fireworks show at the end that was pretty good. They went for QUANTITY and had so many of the same fireworks going off at the same time that I laughed out loud.

On Sunday I baked bread. This time turned out much better than last time. I used this recipe. Those onions fell off as soon as you touched them though.

We had yummy roasted zuchini and eggplant sandwiches, with mozarella and tomato and ham.

Yesterday we went to the PNE after work, but I’ll make it into its own post because this is long enough!!

Mushroom Soup – a tasty Italian (??) soup with white wine and lots of mushroom and parmesan

I used some fresh tomatoes instead of tomato juice, and I also added leek because we had it in the fridge and needed to use it up.

4/5

 

Spanokopita – spinach and feta in phyllo

We just made a small half batch. They were yummy, but very very salty. Didn’t add any salt though, it all came from the feta, so not sure what can be done about that. Didn’t even use the full amount of feta.

3.7/5

 

Warm Beetroot Salad – beets with cumin and sour cream

Nice to have something different. Tasty.

4.2/5

 

Sichuan (although not really because I didn’t actually use Sichuan peppercorn) Eggplant – eggplant with tofu on rice

Super super tasty. One of my fave dishes to make. I vaguely followed the recipe, but also added in tofu near the end to beef tofu it up.

4.6/5 (I rated it 5/5, but Scott is a tough critic apparently)

 

Kylie Kwong Fried Eggs – fried egg with green onion, sriracha and soy sauce on top

An interesting new way to eat an egg. Quite salty.

4.3/5

 

Sour Cream, Cheddar and Green Onion Scones – savoury scones

SUPER DELICIOUS.

5/5

 

Ricotta Gnocchi – potato-less gnocchi

This gnocchi recipe does not use any potato and is super super easy. It tastes great! I have no idea how cheese could be a substitute for potato but apparently it us. I just did the garlic & butter thing to serve it. If I could find a cheaper source of ricotta I think I would make this often.

4.7/5

I wish all food floated when it was cooked.

I feel terrible. Last night was one of the worst sleeps I have ever had. I started taking melatonin about a month ago and thought it was helping to at least improve the quality of sleep I was getting, but last night was just back to square 1. Pretty sure you are never supposed to see a clock say 4:00 AM. Why do I feel the most awake out of the whole day when I’m lying in bed?

In other news my new laptop is successfully dual-boot-ed and running great. I love it and loved sitting outside on the patio with it yesterday. On our new patio chairs that I found at the grocery store for $7.24/each. Sweet deal. The weather has been lovely for the past couple weeks.

Rosemarie came back to Vancouver and stayed with us for a night. We did errands and shopping all day, then painted our nails, went out for sushi, and played games. A fun day. Unfortunately now she has gone back to uni and is busy every day for the rest of her life, it seems.

Sushi was SO GOOD. We went back to The Eatery. It was really good going with Rosemarie because it meant I got to share and try 5 rolls, instead of only 2 or 3, since I can’t really share with Scott. We ordered a big list of rolls and they brought them all out on a huge platter that the three of us demolished. Yum yum yum. Again, no pictures because the giant paper maché octopus on the ceiling blocked out all the light.

We tried:

  • Italian Stallion: prosciutto, papaya, eel and cream cheese, hot pesto sauce (5/5 delicious! papaya was awesome)
  • X-Rated Roll: tuna, salmon, crab and eel, spicy misonnaise (5/5 yummmm)
  • The Beautiful: scallop, avocado and mayo topped w/ smoked salmon (3.9/5)
  • Jenny Salmon: salmon, green onion, avocado (3.6/5 good, but zzzz)
  • Miss Piggy Roll: bacon, scallops, asparagus, roe, unagi sauce (3.4/5 pretty weird, too salty)

Scott had:

  • Buddha Roll: tempura yams, red pepper, asparagus and lettuce, with dragon sauce (3.8/5 great sauce, needs avocado, tempura not crunchy)
  • John Lennon: asparagus tempura, carrot, avocado, cucumber, wrapped in a soybean sheet (3.1/5 tempura not crunchy, roll fell apart)
  • Yummy Yam Roll: loads of tempura yams (4/5 poorly tempura’d, but still nice)

Here is Rosemarie warming her hands on a fireplace on the outside of a McDonalds. What???

Oooh other exciting news: we booked a weekend trip to Seattle in early September. We are taking the train and only staying for one night. We get to stay at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Seattle thanks to Priceline’s Name Your Own Price thingy. Four stars!! I can’t wait!