Poor poor neglected blog.
Life has been crazy lately and blogging hasn’t been a priority. But I did just renew this domain for another 3 years, so I will be back… Soon.
Pre-Calgary Skeleton Update
The past month of skeleton has been really fun and exciting for me. While many people are really hurting from the unseasonably warm temperatures in Whistler, it has been great for me because I finally moved up to the top of the track a few weeks ago! (My goal for the year!) The warmer weather means the track has been a little soft, and soft and frosty equals slow. Bad for PBs, but excellent for scaredy cats like me. (BTW we are still going 115-120 km/hr on slow days.)
We had our BC Cup races #3 and #4 a couple weeks ago (when I had only done 6 runs from the top before race day). The ice in our OT session was soooooooooooooooooo slow, then the next day the track crew worked their butts off and made the ice 15 km/hr FASTER than the night before. I was TERRIFIED. I dragged my toes (to slow down) so hard. I ended up coming something like +16 seconds behind the leader in a two heat race, which is quite ridiculous in a sport that usually comes down to hundredths of a second, but I figured it was better to challenge myself and get more experience from the top than go back down to corner 3 and have an easy race.
BUT, I’m getting more and more comfortable every day. I’ve even started doing little jogging starts this week, and this weekend it actually was quite fast, and I was nervous, but I forced myself to not drag my toes… and I was fine! 128.6 km/hr! So I think from here on I can pretty much run as fast as I can.
Tomorrow I am driving to Calgary with a few teammates for a week of training. Similar to last year, but this time for an Alberta Cup race and not for Can-Am week (there was no Can-Am week this year). We will do 3 days of Official Training, 2+ Icehouse sessions, and 2 days of racing. Exciting!! I’m hoping to improve my pushing skills x92398723937823. It will be very interesting to see how I do compared to last year because I understand SO MUCH MORE now. Plus my new sled works way better than my old one. I am very much looking forward to it.
All for now, I have to finish packing.
The Perkin Weather Curse Continues
Dad came to visit us here in Vancouver at the end of January. We planned the whole trip around what was supposed to be an epic family weekend ski trip to Whistler. And then… it rained… A LOT.
Since everything was all prepaid we still tried to ski. The first day we were drenched by the time we got to the top of the mountain. And not just wet… I mean mittens saturated, puddles in elbows, hair dripping. It was gross. Plus it was hard to see because of the fog and the snow was super heavy and sticky. We only lasted until like 1PM and then we went back to the condo for lunch and showers and dry clothes. Poor Scott had chosen this day to pay for a full day snowboarding lesson, but somehow didn’t have as miserable time as we did. He said he learned lots and even took a few extra runs after the lesson was over. Go Scott!!
The next day we just decided to screw it and not ski. It was still pouring rain and all of our gear was still wet despite laying everything out on the heated bathroom floor and in front of the fireplace. Instead we hung around and played games and watched TV and I went to skeleton practice.
Thankfully the last day was a bit better. We were able to stay above the clouds most of the day and got to ski a bit more of the mountain. Dad helped Lauren with his skiing a bit and Scott showed off his sweet new moves. Rosemarie and I went off to ski a bit alone, and then Rosemarie and dad did a few runs alone too while I hung out with the noobs.
Dad and I ended up driving back on Tuesday to use up his last lift ticket since I had the day off work. It wasn’t raining, but it still wasn’t great because the snow was so heavy and the visibility was really bad. Dad fell on a green run and then we pretty much called it a day.
All in all, not the greatest ski vacation, but we still did manage to have lots of fun times. And at least he didn’t come this past weekend… because it’s way worse now. Man all the BC hills are having a terrible season.
Other things we did:
- teach dad to play Settlers and Carcassonne
- play lots of Wizard
- trivia night at Falconetti’s (we dominated)
- a tour of TRIUMF (dad nerded out!!! I think he should get a job there… so many employees in sweaters)
- brought dad to watch me skeleton
- eat sushi
It was nice hanging out with dad so much. Can’t wait until next time!
Oakwood Canadian Bistro Dine Out Vancouver
Last week we went out to The Oakwood Canadian Bistro to try their Dine Out Vancouver menu. It’s in the $28 category.
The restaurant is in Kitsilano and definitely has a hipster vibe. The cocktails were kind of expensive and small, but they did have cheaper wine and beer pairings available.
Bacon and kombu dusted albacore tuna, miso eggplant puree, lime grapefruit gel, kimchi spiced kohlrabi, sesame snow.
Loved this. The miso eggplant puree was really interesting, the tuna was lovely and the kohlrabi was simply delicious. Everything tasted really nice in combination as well.
Smoked confit chicken, endive, celery and apple ribbons, pickled raisins, bacon vinaigrette.
This one was less exciting. Everything tasted good, and the apple ribbons were pretty, but it was just not as interesting as the tuna appy.
24 hour pork neck, bacon apple bbq sauce, popcorn grits, creamed spinach and smoked paprika scallion.
Very tender pork, buttery grits, and indulgent vegetables. Really nice dish.
Olive oil poached sable fish, smoked ham hock broth, confit leek, celeriac, potato croquette, creme fraiche, bacon crumb.
The vegetables and croquettes were good, but the star of the dish was the perfectly cooked fish.
Foreground: roasted apple, butterscotch, rhubarb grenadine gel, brown sugar oat flake. Background: pistachio cake, dark chocolate ganache, cranberry meringue, brown butter whipped cream.
I don’t like cooked fruit so I preferred the pistachio dessert more, although to be honest I couldn’t taste pistachio at all. It definitely tasted like almond extract instead. Scott says the apple one was “very nice” but could not come up with any other comments, haha.
All in all, a nice meal. I would return to the restaurant for their regular menu for sure, except I have to say… that KitchenAid mixer with a plant in it BETTER BE BROKEN. Otherwise they will have lost all of my respect. Ha!
Scott Becomes Canadian
After 9ish months of waiting, Scott was granted Canadian citizenship.
The ceremony was okay, as ceremonies go. Quite organized and efficient. But the way the room was set up it was very difficult to get nice pictures. Scott was actually as far away as possible from where I was forced to sit. Ah well.
They all had to say their names, repeat the oath (I did as well) and sing the national anthem before receiving their citizenship certificates. Then a quick photo with the judge, and then done!
After work we had a party at our house. We had butter tarts, maple cookies, ketchup chips, Canadian chocolate bars, poutine, tourtiere, pâté chinois, Canada Dry, and a whole lot of Canadian Club and Molson Canadian. We had a maple leaf cutting out competition and a citizenship test leaderboard, and an epic Canadian music playlist. Scott and I enjoyed ourselves immensely, and I hope everyone else did as well.
Next step: passport! And then an effortless trip across the border, just because we can.