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The UBC Apple Festival is on this weekend and it just happens to be the rainiest weekend we have had in a LOOONG time. 150+ mm of rain today and tomorrow, supposedly.

Being serious apple enthusiasts, the rain didn’t stop us from going this morning. Luckily a lot of the stuff is under tents. We still did everything we did last year, but just spent less time dawdling in between. We did the whole tasting session (you can try pieces of like 60 different apples for 20 minutes), got the big samples of the new apples, ate lots of samples of apple chips, flavoured almonds, popcorn, and drank warm apple cider.

I didn’t take many pictures this year because it was so wet.

My favourite grocery store apple is the Macintosh. I actually really enjoy that kind of mushy texture. I know I am a minority. Anyway the apple festival is awesome because they cross all sorts of types of apples and you can try all these different variations of the type of apple you usually like (crisp, crunchy, tart, juicy, sweet etc.) and find something that YOU really really love.

yoko, sinta, jonamac

I don’t think they had as many Macintosh-like apples this year, which was a little disappointing for me. I wanted to buy something different, but ended up getting the same type as I did last year, the Jonamac (cross between a Jonathan and a Macintosh). Scott got Sinta and we are going to share the bag of Yoko (which is a good thing because they are ginormo).

I forced everyone to get into a picture. You can see how hard the rain is coming down if you look in front of the umbrella. And how soggy Lesley and Scott look, haha. Yup it was a damp morning.

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So this last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving, and because almost all of our friends here are not from Vancouver (and can’t easily fly home), we hosted a potluck dinner at our house. This year we had 12 Ontarioians (Ontarians?) and Australians!

I cooked a 11.5 lbs turkey upside down, and while it took an hour longer than I expected it to take, it turned out juicy and delicious. Much better than last year.

Scott is clearly not a vegetarian anymore

Scott made super rich mashed potatoes and homemade whole wheat bread, and I made stuffing and gravy. Everyone else brought caesar salad with homemade dressing, homemade cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts that were 50% bacon, and 20 million kinds of dessert (mostly pie). It was delicious and amazing.

Everyone chowing down

I miss being around my family on holidays like this, but it was really nice to at least be surrounded by friends.

Our house still smells strongly of turkey because I am trying out making homemade stock in the slow cooker. I put the turkey bones and leftover celery, carrots, and onions into the slow cooker, filled it 3/4 with water, and set it on low for 18 hours. Then I strained it as best as I could and right now it’s cooling in the fridge so I can get rid of some of the fat before freezing it. It looks pretty lean though so I might not need to do anything to it.

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I am so glad it is the weekend because I had a super busy last two days.

Thursday

  • Worked 7 to 3 in the stress lab. Stress lab is my least favourite rotation because it is really busy all day long and can get really chaotic and hectic at certain points. The tech I was working with got me to run the whole thing with no help. IT WAS HARD!! I did manage to do it though, which I think is a pretty good accomplishment. I got a pretty good evaluation for the week.
  • Then I walked around downtown for an hour.
  • Met up with Scott near his work, then walked over to Meat & Bread for dinner. Unfortunately they were out of porchetta so we decided to walk all the way back to Davie Street to try out the American Cheesesteak Co instead.
  • Ate a delicious classic cheesesteak with beef, American cheese, and sautéed mushrooms.
  • Killed time in a coffee shop for an hour or so.
  • Went to Zsofi and Dylan’s apartment for Dylan’s birthday party! Drank some wine and got to try Dylan’s homemade ice cream sandwiches. Really good.
  • Finally went home and went immediately to bed.

Friday

  • Scott went to Edmonton for 4 hours. Seriously. He had to wake up at 4:30 AM to do that.
  • I went to school. Human Behaviour class was extra uncomfortable and awkward. So much second hand embarrassment. Wasted two hours of my life in Research Methods learning about maybe using highlighters as a research aid, and some other stuff that we already went over in another class last year. Then a couple hours of Communications, which was actually fine. I don’t mind that class.
  • Went out for bubble tea with most of the people from the other set. I miss them. I had milky strawberry slush with pearls and it was yummo.
  • Went home for a couple hours. Scott arrived with sushi in hand. The best.
  • Took public transit for 1.25 hours to get to SFU to help out at the skeleton club Gangnam Style pub night. I helped sell tickets and do coat check for three hours. It wasn’t the best night for a fundraiser (Thanksgiving weekend!) but I think we still made a bit of money for the club, which is really good news.
  • Bussed home and collapsed into bed for the night.

Today is homework and chores day. We have to get the apartment ready to host the 2nd Annual Orphan Thanksgiving Potluck on Monday night. I think we have 12 people coming, and I’m making turkey again. :D

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Back in June it rained a lot here in Vancouver. It rained so much I finally decided to replace my dingy worn-out not-that-waterproof-any-more raincoat that I got in university. It was actually raining the day I went shopping.


I picked out this lovely long raincoat from MEC, in black. As I swiped my credit card at the checkout… IT STOPPED RAINING.

And then it never rained again.

I HAVE CHANGED VANCOUVER. IT IS NOW THE PERFECT CITY because we still have all the good stuff, and it doesn’t even rain here any more.

OK I exaggerate slightly, but not REALLY. There was an article in the newspaper today that said it only rained 8 mm in August and September this year, whereas the average amount for that time is 93 mm. NINETY THREE.

I still have not actually worn my raincoat in the rain because the only time it actually rained this summer I didn’t have to go outside anyway. Hahahaha. The raincoat has never gotten wet and is still hanging up in the closet, untouched.

And check out that amazing forecast for the next two weeks!!

Of course now that I’ve blogged about this it’ll probably start pouring. But I secretly(?) don’t care cuz I want to test out my snazzy new raincoat…..

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For the third (!!) year in a row we watched the AFL Grand Final at Moose’s. I cannot believe we’ve been here that long!! Also the name Moose’s Down Under really doesn’t make any sense. Shouldn’t it be called something like Wombat’s Up North or something?? Also why does it look like a cantina?

We didn’t win. Also Scott drank about 900 of those Boag’s.

GOAL.

I didn’t really care about either of the teams but it was still fun. I like seeing a bunch of riled up Australians. I didn’t see anyone crying this year though…