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Umm so I procrastinated blogging for far too long and now I have A LOT of things to catch up on. Like, huge life changes. O_O

UPDATE TIME!

  1. Scott got laid off.
  2. We decided to move back to Australia.
  3. I quit my job.
  4. We sold everything in our apartment and moved out.
  5. Currently in Nepean visiting papa.

The last month was crazy. It was really stressful to sort all of our life belongings into what we still needed, what we would ship to Australia, what to sell and what to donate or throw out. Al while I was still working almost every day. Hopefully we didn’t make any mistakes. Scott did an excellent job of managing dozens of Craigslist posts and we were able to sell everything.

I finally finished my crochet blanket, with like 3 days to spare. It’s so big!! It took me two years to finish. We have vacuum packed it and put it in the boxes to Australia.

Anyway so last weekend we flew to Montreal. We watched Dan-Que perform in a story telling show and took in a few Nuit Blanche exhibits. We hiked up Mont Royal and walked through underground tunnels. And ate and ate. We had bagels, smoked meat, Portuguese chicken, arepas, kouign amann and probably even more I’m forgetting right now. Thank you for all those great recommendations Facebook friends.

And now we are in Ottawa! It was tight but we managed to spend some time with a lot of my favourite Ottawa people. :) We went tubing (Scott crashed into a fence with his face and did 18 flips in the air, and got a fat lip), curling, escaped from an escape room, watched Eddie the Eagle, ate ridiculous amounts of dessert, and played A LOT of games (Careers, Clue, Scattergories, Quiddler, Wizard, Five Crowns). Fun!

UPCOMING TRIPS

  1. Listowel & Toronto
  2. Whistler for my last skeleton race ever :'(
  3. Epic roadtrip (Washington/Oregon/California/Nevada/Arizona/Utah/Idaho/Wyoming/Montana)
  4. Playa del Carmen, Mexico
  5. Walk across Spain (Camino de Santiago)
  6. Miscellaneous Europe (Glasgow/Ipswich/Rotterdam/Lund/??)
  7. Thailand

Approximate arrival in Melbourne, Australia: mid-July 2016

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Vancouverites are so lucky when it comes to sushi.

Ask me what my favourite sushi place is and my answer is something like “Cheap sushi? Fancy sushi? Mid-price sushi? Am I with people that like mayo? Do I want to be able to have conversations? Any neighbourhood?” and so on. It is impossible to narrow it down to one.

Sushi Oyama is my favourite mid-priced, mayo heavy, Burnaby sushi joint. Ha.

We’ve been here many times before.

Rainbow roll. Tamago, tuna, salmon, tai, tako, ebi, avocado, mayo. Basically a bit of everything! Very delicious.

Sound trap roll. Cucumber, avocado, eep fried prawn, tuna on top, tempura bits, mayo. Too much mayo in my opinion though, and I am a mayo fan! And weirdly sweet.

We also had yam tempura but it was not very photogenic. Tasted good though.

Sushi Oyama Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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We were craving something warm after a cold morning of errands and shopping at MEC. I saw the sign for “ROBOT CUT NOODLES” and the decision was made.

This is the robot. I should have taken a video, but basically the robot is holding a big chunk of noodle dough in one hand and its other arm moves back and forth and shaves off little bits of irregularly shaped noodles which the dude is collecting in a basket.

Sichuan pork ribs (?) shaved noodle soup

Beef shaved noodles with sour spicy soup

Both soups were good. The noodles were nice and chewy, the broth flavourful. We ate and slurped and splashed droplets all over the table. It was spicy but not too spicy.

Old Ginger Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Way back on Scott’s birthday I brought him to the Downtown Eastside for a surprise dinner at Ask For Luigi’s. We got there just after 5 (they open at 5:30 for dinner) but just missed getting a table in the first seating (they don’t take reservations). But no worries, they take your phone number and text you when the table is ready. So we headed down the street to Alibi Room and had a drink while we waited. PS totally need to go back to Alibi Room sometime, it’s cool!

Anyway Ask for Luigi’s is a teeny tiny Italian restaurant on the edge of Gastown. They have a small menu, a bunch of wine, and cozy atmosphere.

We started with the crispy bucantini and fontina crocchette. The waitress described it as blended up pasta, mixed with cheese, deep fried, in a rich tomato sauce. It was yummy.

Scott ordered the tagliatelle with rabbit ragu, porcini and olives. With tons of parmesan of course. Salty. Very tasty.

I ordered the (whole wheat) pappardelle with wild boar ragu. Plus parmesan. It was nice, a lot like pulled pork. Very generously meaty and very manly.

I ended up liking Scott’s more than mine and he liked mine more, so we switched plates part way through. Which amused me, because I purposely didn’t make Scott change his order (I have a terrible habit of telling him what to get) since it was his birthday, haha.

We both left happy and very full. However, both of us didn’t feel super great that evening or the next day. I wonder if it was because everything was super rich? Maybe our stomachs aren’t used to that much butter.

Ask for Luigi Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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Canadian Thanksgiving is long over, but I still think about the turkey we made all the time. It turned out SO GOOD. And it only took 80 minutes to roast a 16 lbs bird! Rosemarie declared that she’s never eating turkey again unless it’s spatchcocked, hahaha. Anyway since American Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming up, here we go.

Look how beautiful it turned out!!

I used the Serious Eats set of instructions. They promised that spatchcock (aka butterflied) would ensure that the breast AND thigh meat would cook at the perfect rate and result in a perfect flavourful juicy turkey.

They recommend a dry brine, which is excellent because it’s stupid easy: Wash & dry your (defrosted) turkey, mix up 1/2 cup kosher salt & 2 tbsp baking powder, sprinkle the mixture over all sides of the turkey. Leave the turkey uncovered in the fridge for 12-24 hours. That’s it.

Thanksgiving Day I picked up Leslie and some shears and we got to work. Warning! Gory raw meat pictures ahead! This slideshow was extremely helpful for the prep and the carving.

First cut up one side of the spine.

Then the other side.

Remove the spine and cut off the plastic leg holder thingy.

Flip the bird over and press down hard on the sternum to crack it so you can make the bird as flat as possible. I was not strong enough to do this so Scott jumped off a chair and did a sweet wrestling drop. It cracked.


Just like this.

Cut off all the extra bits of skin around the neck and the… butt?

Flat Stanley. With tucked in wings.

Pop it onto a wire rack on top of vegetables on top of a baking sheet. PS I love our enormous baking sheet. I sprinkled on a few herbs. No butter or salt. And bake! At 450ºF.

There wasn’t much drippings, I guess because we removed a lot of the extra skin and didn’t use any butter. Healthy!

We baked our 16 lbs bird for 80 minutes and honestly it probably only needed 70 minutes, because when I checked the temperature in the breast it was already higher than 150ºF. Whatev it still turned out extremely moist and flavourful. Like a 9.7 out of 10. Rosemarie said she ate 4 times as much meat as she usually does.

Next time will be 10 out of 10. :D :D Can’t wait.