Windchill of -36 C in Edmonton

It was quite the adventure getting to Edmonton this year. It started last Thursday night. We got to the Ottawa airport early and managed to get on our flight to Calgary without rushing like we have in the past. Hehe .. anybody who knows us .. we can be so laid back sometimes that we are late for everything. Anyway, for once .. we were early. We arrived in Calgary around midnight (EST). We were supposed to get on a connecting flight to Edmonton but our flight ended up being delayed a few hours due to weather. Holy cows .. it was cold in Calgary. I think it was -25 C with a windchill of -36 C. By the time we boarded the plane, it was 2:15 am. A few hoodlums got on the plane and sat in the row behind Jeff and myself. You could smell the alcohol from them. Ugh .. they reeked so badly, they had to be intoxicated. Suddenly one of the WestJet reps came over and asked the two fellows behind us to leave the plane. After they were escorted off the plane, WestJet had to get their bags off the plane before we left. It took an hour to dig the bags out and reload the bags back on to the plane. After that, we had to de-ice the plane. To me, it didn't seem to help much because the windows completely froze up from the de-icer liquid. At 3:30 am, we finally took off for Edmonton. The flight was 40 mins long and another 30 mins to get our bags. We decided to take a taxi to the Hamilton house because the roads were so bad. You know how difficult it is to hail a cab at that time? It was 3 am Edmonton time .. not a soul on the roads. It was bone chilling cold and the roads were literally an ice rink. By the time we got to bed, it was 4:30 am in Edmonton.. or 6:30 am Ottawa time. So literally, a simple 4.5 hour flight took all night. Sigh .. the bright side to this? We got out a day early and missed the storm. Had we left on Friday, we probably would have been delayed or cancelled.

So far, the stay has been great. It may be -29 C outside, but it's warm indoors. The shopping has been good too. :D

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Pics around the house

I've been meaning to post a few pics of the changes around our home. A while back, we had replace our temporary shades with real curtains. Here are some changes that have taken place in our house over the last few months.

This is our dining room. You can't really tell but the curtains are dark brown silk-like. I know you're laughing at our naked orchid. Trust me, it's still growing!

Our Christmas tree. It hasn't changed since we got it last year. I think we did a better job decorating it last year. Can you see our curtains behind it? :)

This is our front living room window. I chose to put sheers there. I think it looks really nice in the morning when the sun shines through.

This is our hallway table. We made it our picture table. Right now, there are more Hamilton photos than Ng photos. We need to balance it out more.

This is our latest purchase. Our new wine cabinet. It is in our dining room. We even put some of Jeff's Egyptian pics up on the wall. It makes the room more like a home now.

My apologies the photos aren't as bright as they could be. It took them at night .. :(

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Operation LCBO

It was a cold December morning. The plans were laid out, the alarm was set. At 8:30 am sharp, we got out of bed, got dressed, threw on a hat and coat, and we were off. We drove to our local LCBO in anticipation of the December 6th premium release. I have been waiting for this release for months. When the doors opened, I made a bee line to the vintages section in search of Brian, the vintages consultant. Over a month ago, he informed me that his LCBO location was going to get 1 case (6 bottles) of 2005 Don Melchor in December. He told me that if nobody asked for it, it was all mine. Sure enough, he went to the storage room and brought out their only case of Don Melchor. The wooden crate was still wrapped in thick plastic. A fellow behind me had asked if they had any more .. but all he could do was watch me pay for it at the front counter. Sorry, my friend - I've been waiting for this case for over a month.

Why did this wine mean so much to me? It was Puff's Christmas present. Well, part of his Christmas present. He'll get other stuff but wine is always something I give him. And no, he doesn't get the cheap stuff. :)

Anyway, the spree didn't stop there. While I was paying for my purchase, Puff had loaded up his cart with some interesting finds. An hour later, we put a serious dent on our credit cards.

We took our load of goodies home and the case of Don was too cool. We carefully cracked the wooden crate open and there was a certificate of authencity that went with the case.


Happy early Christmas, Puff. It's not Christmas yet and there was no element of surprise, but I know you will enjoy it. It was a fun shopping spree. Let's do it again next year!

Toodles,
Pudgy

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Puff's Birthday

Yesterday, we had a low key celebration for Jeff's birthday. Because my gums are still very tender, we weren't able to go out for a real birthday dinner. Instead, I brought home thai from Jeff's favorite Thai restaurant, followed by his favorite cake (he's VERY particular about his cake), and presents. This year, Jeff got gifts from me earlier than usual. He got a pair of cool badminton court shoes, a bottle of 2006 Zinfandel, and a bottle of 2006 Shiraz. The shiraz was finished a few days ago .. sigh. But hey, he really liked it.

Happy Birthday, Puff!

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Lacking Some Wisdom

I put off getting my wisdom teeth out for several months and yesterday the day had arrived to get them out. At first, I wasn't nervous but as soon as I sat in the chair and saw the needle for the IV, I tensed up. After the IV kicked in, I have to admit .. everything was a blur. I have no idea what happened between falling asleep in the chair and then getting home. I was so drugged up, it was something to see. At least that's what Jeff told me.

Jeff took care of me the entire day. He even told me what happened after I woke up in the chair. His narration was funny. Apparently the assistants in the room helped me put my jacket on. Jeff was given instructions on how to care for me for the next 48 hours and we were sent on our way. We (more like I) stumbled out of the dental office and proceeded through the mall to the parking garage (the dental office is located in a mall). Apparently a man opened the door for me while we left the dental office and I thanked him twice. Even in my drugged state, manners are important. Hehehe. My mobility varied between extra slow and speedy Gonzales. Jeff had to keep me balanced from time to time even though I insisted that I was okay on my own. To make things even more embarrassing, I kept talking even though I was supposed to bite down on the gauze in my mouth. I would talk and blood would flow around my lips, causing my teeth to be stained red. I drew a lot of unwanted attention from shoppers. Jeff had to stop me at one point and clean off the blood. When we got to the car, again I insisted I was okay. I fell into the passenger seat, re-adjusted myself, and put my seatbelt on. I told Jeff that I couldn't give him directions on how to get home. Not sure why that came out of my mouth but Jeff went with it and saracastically said he'd find a way. :)

The ride home was a complete fog. I rubbernecked most of the way home but when I was awake I said that I saw two yellow lines on the road - there was only 1 but I was seeing double. When we got home, Jeff told me to stay in the car while he went into the house to disengage the alarm and prop the door open. I obeyed and simply undid my seatbelt and waited. He took me inside the house and asked me to brace myself on the ledge - otherwise, I would have fallen over. Next thing I knew, I was on the couch.

24 hrs later, there is still no pain but the swelling is a bit uncomfortable. I had two teeth from the top and the bottom right tooth taken out. So the right side of my face and lips are numb. I look a little bit like a chipmunk but it will go away soon. I'm glad it's over and I'll never have to do it again. My diet has been limited to scrambled eggs, soft pasta, apple sauce, and pudding. I'm not allowed to have rice yet and of course, nothing crunchy. When you can't eat potato chips, you crave potato chips. Sigh .. I'll wait a week or two.

Thanks Puff for taking care of me.

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September is here

Sigh .. summer is over. It wasn't much of a summer for us - I'm sure it was the same everywhere else too. The weather was one rainy story after another. Well, the good news is that I didn't have to use the garden hose to water our backyard.

I haven't been blogging much because we've been busily trying to replace our temporary shades with real window treatments. I has taken us several weeks to get it right. Not because we don't know how to hang curtains but choosing the right curtains themselves took a while. We've been going room by room, trying not to make the house look the same from top to bottom. Our planning sort of changed along the way as well. At first, we only wanted certain rooms to have curtains and then the rest would be horizontal blinds. After practicing with a few windows, Jeff got the hang of it (no pun intended) and with a big sale at Bouclair - we felt it was a sign. We changed our minds about the blinds and decided to do as many windows with curtains as possible. It was quick and relatively inexpensive. We have completed about 90% of the house - some windows in the house cannot be done with curtains.

Other than doing curtains, we've been playing badminton twice a week for the entire summer. Last time I blogged, I mentioned that Jeff and I were going to participate in the club tournament. We ended up with two medals each. It was a fun tournament but even though everyone says it's all for fun, you can tell that there are those take it fairly seriously. We will be joining the Capital Badminton Club for regular season play. Our old club was for true beginners and only one court was reserved for the "good" players. The club organizer was a super nice guy but we just didn't have much fun playing.

Anyway .. we'll see what's in store in October.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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August Update

It’s August and I haven’t posted anything yet. Time is starting to fly and soon summer will be over. This summer hasn’t been anything great. It has rained almost every single day here. Sigh. After a long and snowy winter, I was looking forward to a great summer. Oh well. Not like we had any grand summer plans.

Over the Civic Holiday weekend, Jeff and I went to Montebello for two days. We stayed at the Fairmont Chateau Montebello. I think I have been spoiled a bit but this resort did not seem very “Fairmont” to me. I’ve heard that a G8 Summit was held there last year and maybe I had higher expectations but after seeing it for myself, I didn’t think it was that impressive. The room we had felt damp as soon as we walked in. The room was fairly small but it had a nice flat screen tv. That was about it. I didn’t take very many pictures of the place. It was dark even during the day. The one interesting thing was their nightly barbeque buffet. The cost? A whopping $51 a person. Jeff and I like to eat but $51 per person?! Ouch. We passed on the BBQ and went to Louis St. Joseph for dinner instead.

We are getting started on decorating our house now. Now that most of the major expenses have been dealt with, we have a budget left over for our next big project – window treatments! When we moved in, we probably spent around $100 to put up temporary shades on most of our windows. A year and some months later, they are beginning to lose their adhesiveness and fall off one by one. It’s a sign.

Once we’ve made some progress, I’ll post some pictures.

This week is the last week for Jeff and I to practice for our upcoming badminton tournament. We decided to participate in the club tournament. It will be my first tournament with Jeff as my partner. We’ve played together for a few years so we kinda know how the other plays. At the club, I get pointers from an older fellow by the name of Ignatius. I credit my improvement to his pointers and the club itself. The skill level here is higher than the club we played at last year and it forces you to play better. No more slacking off. :-) Wish us luck.

We are in Toronto this coming weekend. It’s yet another errand-running weekend. Hair cuts, dental, and doctor’s appointments. I really wish there was a weekend where I can just enjoy it with family. It seems like every time I go home, there’s something to do that takes me away from family. I hope everyone is doing well. I read your blogs whenever I have the chance. The government has just started blocking blogspot so there goes my entertainment of the day. :)

Toodles,
Pudgy

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The Ng Family Visit to Ottawa

My family came to visit us the weekend before July 1st. Despite the wet weather, a good time was still had by all. It was the first time my sister Joyce and her family (Samuel and baby Anson) came to see the house. Anson managed to survive the 4.5 hour drive without any tears - he's just 8 months old and you can imagine being stuck in a car seat for several hours is not comfortable.

We made the most of our two days together. I was happy to see my mom and my youngest sister Karen. Karen called in "sick" just to be here. We spent some mother/daughter time together while the boys went to Canadian Tire and Loblaws for some groceries. It has been a long time since we got together and just chatted so it was nice to have that private time. When I'm in Toronto, I usually have errands to run so there is never any time to visit friends or stop to breathe. One of the activities I enjoyed was playing with my nephew. I made him the subject of my photography session that day and I captured some really cute shots of him. The toy is a slammer that a friend of mine gave me many years ago.

When the boys came back, I felt like they were not themselves. Did something happen during their outing? Well ... after dinner, I got a chocolate-y surprise.

Special thanks Puff - for the yummy chocolate cake. :D And I love the candles!!

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes.

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Rocky Mountain Adventure - Part 2

I have been pretty busy since we got back from our vacation. I didn't really have that much time to blog about the second half of our trip. Between managing chores and playing badminton two nights a week, blogging has taken a bit of a back seat. Since I have a few moments, I'll take this opportunity to pick up from where I left off.

Day 3 - Cranbrook, BC
Finally, the weather started getting better. The first half of our trip was pretty dreary but BC was nice. Our original plan was to stay in Fernie, BC but when we got there, it was small and well .. kinda boring. So we continued to drive to Cranbrook. With no hotel room booked, we called up the Best Western. Holy crap were they expensive! Were we going to be stuck without a room? Luckily, the Super 8 had a room and cheap too! It also came with a free breakfast. <rant>Sorry, but I have to go off on this tangent because I managed to witness stupidity at its finest in our previous Super 8 stay. At breakfast, they had hard boiled eggs and the eggs were shelled and cold. One of the guests took one of the eggs and I guess he wanted to warm it up. He put the egg in the microwave and proceeded to warm it up. You can imagine what happened a few seconds into it - BOOM. The egg exploded in the microwave leaving a huge mess. His wife says in her best smoker's voice "that's what you get for not reading the sign on the microwave" which had large red letters on it saying DO NOT PUT EGGS IN THE MICROWAVE. Like I said, stupidity at its finest.</rant>

Day 3 to 5 - Banff, Alta
For our anniversary and my birthday, we splurged a bit and stayed at the Fairmont Banff Springs for 3 nights. After staying at regular hotels for the first half of the trip, the second half was all about luxury. The hotel was so beautiful and the room was really nice. You know it's a good hotel when even the toilet paper was super soft! I know - TMI. There was one splurge that I did not indulge in - a massage at the hotel spa was $200. Yikes.
Banff itself is very commercialized. Lots of shops, a supermarket, lots of good restaurants, and a transit system. Oh yeah, they even have a Louis Vuitton store. No, we didn't buy anything from the LV store. :)
We took a side trip out to see Chateau Lake Louise. I've always wanted to stay at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise but it was beyond our budget. The property itself was gorgeous. The weather wasn't so great. It was quite cold and cloudy but that didn't stop us from taking tons of pictures.

Day 5 - Columbia Icefields
The Columbia Icefields tour is probably the biggest tourist rip off. It cost $38 for a 1.5 hr tour of the glaciers. In that 1.5 hour, only 15 mins was allocated for the tourists to see and stand on the glacier. We started off by taking a bus to the Ice Explorer - a special bus with big tires designed to drive on ice. This Ice Explorer had a maximum speed of 18 km/hr. Yes, that's right - 18 km/hr. So as you can see, most of the tour was spent in a vehicle. Despite my comment that it was a rip off, it was still something to see.

Day 5 to 7 - Jasper National Park, Alta
We met up with Jeff's parents at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge for Father's Day weekend. The resort concept was pretty cool. We received an upgraded cabin that had enough space for 6 people. Here is the view outside of our cabin. Isn't this gorgeous?!

Jasper is not as commercialized as Banff so instead of shopping, we went hiking around Maligne Canyon. Since Jeff's parents have never visited Maligne Canyon, we took them out to see the site. After our hike, we went back to our rooms to get ready for our dinner at the Edith Cavell dining room. Dinner was just "okay". The first time I ate there, the food was really good. This time it was just average. I must say though that there is something to be said about Alberta beef. It is way better than US Prime and Ontario AAA.

If any of you are thinking of going on a road trip, I highly recommend the route we took. Jeff and I survived a week long road trip and we didn't kill each other! Hehe .. although, he almost left me on the side of the road in Camrose when I couldn't navigate our way out of the smallest city in Alberta. It was probably one of our best trips. I know we will do it again one day. Oh yeah, what made the trip really fun? My new toy - Canon XSI. :)

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Unusual Day

Had to put a blog entry on this day. :) Thanks to my family for all of the cards. It made my day. I didn't go to badminton. Instead I just stayed home while Jeff went. Who says you have to spend your b-day with your significant other? Honestly, it was time well spent (apart). Had a 2 hour chat with my mother and then started this blog entry. Sorry, no pics yet on the second half of my trip. Maybe another day when I'm in a better mood.

My family is coming tomorrow night and staying for the weekend. I'm so excited. Drive safely everyone and I'll see you soon.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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Rocky Mountain Adventure - Part 1

Puff and I started our Rocky Mountain adventure a few days ago. This is just an update on what we've seen and where we've been so far.

Day 1 - Drumheller, Alta
The first stop of our road trip was Drumheller, Alberta. We checked out the Tyrrell Museum which housed a lot of dinosaur skeletons. They even have a prepartion lab in the museum! This small town is all about dinosaurs. Everywhere you go, there are dinosaur statues - on the road side, in resident's front yards. Not too far from the museum is the badlands and hoodoos. I've seen the hoodoos in pictures but to see the site in person is pretty amazing.
Memorable moment in Drumheller - we saw this gravel trail that some people were driving through and we decided to try it too. Dumb idea. :) Part way through the trail the dirt road got muddy. Very muddy. We were lucky we were driving an SUV with all wheel drive but it was kinda scary navigating through this muddy trail. After we got to the end of the trail, we turned around and headed back - yes, again through the muddy trail. You can imagine what kind of shape the vehicle was in afterwards. It was badly in need of a car wash.

Day 2 - Vulcan, Alta
Yeah, there really is a place called Vulcan. This small town's claim to fame is the Star Trek centre. It's a souvenir shop that has all things Trekkie. Check out the picture we took with the Star Trek crew. They even had costumes for you to wear so you can blend in with the cardboard crew. We didn't try on the outfits but Jeff wore the Spock ears. Can you see it in the picture?

Day 2 - Waterton, Alta
The Waterton National Park is beautiful. It is also where the most photographed hotel (The Prince of Wales Hotel) is located. The hotel was under renovations so we didn't get to go inside to look around. Oh well, maybe next time. Too bad the weather wasn't so great. The entire time we were in Waterton, it snowed or rained. It snowed so much that they had to sand the roads. Can you believe our luck? Snow in June.

Day 3 - Crowsnest Pass and Frank Slide
Frank Slide was an incredible sight. It's hard to believe that this small town was buried by a chunk of falling mountain. There is so much rock. You have to see this in person to believe it. At first, I wondered why nobody tried to excavate the area but when you see it in person, you can understand why it is untouched.
Crowsnest Pass was very scenic. I made good use of my new camera. :) Jeff and I didn't know which one was Crowsnest mountain but we found one that we figure was it. What do you think?

Anyway, we are currently in Cranbrook, BC. Tomorrow, we will head out to Kimberley, BC and then to Banff. We got a great deal on the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel. Can't wait.

Toodles,
Pudgy and Puff

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Victoria Day weekend

We just got back from Toronto on Tuesday after spending the long weekend with my family. You know, that sentence sounds like we spent a lot of time together but in reality, there was very little time spent with family members. It always seems like there's no time to just sit down, relax, and chat. Part of it is because we haven't been back in a while so there were errands to run and we were in town for a friend's wedding. More on that later.

Enough rambling. I got to see my nieces and nephews. Hong and Hung are so cute. Hong does this great impression of the Hulk. Hung is a night owl and sleeps mostly during the day. He's so cute though - even when he's sleeping he's got a smile on his face. Anson is growing so fast. Take a look at those cheeks and biceps. :) He's seven months old now and very heavy. We bought him a few outfits when we were in Fishkill. I think he will grow into them very nicely. I hope they come visit during the July 1st weekend. It will be their first trip to Ottawa.

On Victoria Day, we attended the wedding of a good friend of mine. It was the first Sri Lankan wedding I've ever attended. The ceremony was a full Roman Catholic one with communion. The reception was held at a banquet hall and the food was really good. Jeff isn't a big fan of curry but he really liked the mutton curry they served. The only disappointment for me was that there was no butter chicken. I was looking forward to trying it. I wanted to know what authentic butter chicken tasted like. I guess I will have to settle on butter chicken from the local English pub.

Our next trip? Edmonton in June. I can't wait. :)

Toodles,

Pudgy

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Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother's day. Unfortunately, Jeff and I were not able to be with our mothers on this special day. We did call our mothers but it's just not the same. Ever since I moved to Ottawa, I found that my bond with my ma has gotten stronger. I realize a lot of the things I took for granted while living at home - especially my mom's cooking. Because it's not possible for me to go to Toronto every weekend, I've had learn how to make a lot of the soups and dishes myself. I don't consider myself a bad cook but my mom's soups still taste better. It had that je ne sais quoi. :)

My sister Joyce is celebrating her first mother's day. She's doing a fine job with my nephew. I haven't seen Anson in a while but I hear he's really growing! I will see you guys next weekend.

Anyway, just wanted to wish all the moms out there a happy mother's day!

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Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams

This weekend, Jeff and I decided to crack a bottle of Veuve and caviar for a dinner. It was soooo yummy. What's the occasion? No particular occasion. We don't need a special day to celebrate. We had been planning this for a long time and always saying that we gotta have that caviar and gotta have the champagne that's been sitting in the wine cooler since ... October 2006! :) We're not big drinkers and champagne is really for special occasions or special guests. But since we almost never have guests over, we just shared a bottle between us instead of having it go bad.

With our caviar, we had some smoked salmon, crackers, and a fruit and cheese plate. It was very rich and a little bit is enough. The caviar was really good - not salty at all and had a mild taste. It was quite good with a little bit of sour cream. I've had some cheaper caviar and usually it's quite salty that it masks slight flavour of caviar.

For Sam and Steph, I know you guys want to make mom's "four flavours" soup. Because you may not know all of the ingredients, I took the liberty of taking pics of the ingredients that you will need.

Start by taking out the ingredients in this first pic. A few of each is all you need. They are dried so they have a lot of flavour in them. Going clockwise, the white pieces are chinese yam (wai san). The thin yellow flake-like pieces are "yuk juk". The bottom right is lily petals (bak hup). The matchstick pieces are called "sah sum". Not sure what they are. :)

In addition to the above, you will need - in clockwise direction from top left - a handful of lotus seed, a handful of the white halved seeds called "see sut", and about 15 kernels of each type of almond kernels. Sam calls them the north and south almonds. I can't tell the difference between north and south. They all look the same to me. But you need both.

Soak all of the ingredients in water and then drain them in a colander. This will help get rid of any sand or grit. Often I will soak the dried goods in water for a few hours to soften them up. It will allow the flavours to come through faster when cooked.

- In a large pot, add a piece of lean pork, and two chicken legs (one might be enough, depending on the size of the legs).
- Add the dried ingredients to the pot. If you do soak the dried goods, don't drain the water when you add them to the pot. Just put it all in the pot.
- Using a regular rice bowl, add 6 bowls of water to the pot. This kind of insures you get 6 bowls of soup out of this.
- Bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for around 1.5 to 2 hours.
- Add salt to taste before serving.

Tell me what you think of the soup. If you like, I will probably post other soups that I like to make. :)

Toodles,
Pudgy

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The Easter Long Weekend

Finally found time to blog about my Easter weekend trip to Fishkill, New York to visit Sam, Steph, Hong, and Hung. It was the first time Jeff and I took the trip down together. We were not sure how we were going to make the entire 7 hr drive but we were determined to do it. Jeff and I are always late for everything. We are known as the "tardy two". So we left Ottawa around 7:15 pm to try and make it to the Alexandria Bay border and meet up with my Ma, Karen, Mike, and Dai Ga (my older sister). We made good timing but the drive out of Toronto was brutal that weekend. So what did Jeff and I do while we waited for everyone? Duty-free, of course. :) It was a strange experience but we did not leave without a purchase. Jeff bought this freaky looking bottle of XO. Hey, XO for under a $100? It was worth a try.

The drive to Fishkill was kind of boring. At night, there's not much to see or do - driving during the day was no different. However, there were some flash snow squalls that made parts of the drive difficult. We made it to the hotel at 4 am in the morning and we were glad to see a bed. We stayed at the Ramada Inn. For the money, it was a decent hotel with a reasonable breakfast and free wireless internet. The breakfast was quite good. How many hotels have a make your own waffle station? :) The last time we stayed at this hotel, we didn't get to try out the waffles. Some guy didn't read the instructions on how to make the waffles and ended up ruining the waffle iron. He got plenty of dirty looks from us that day.

At Sam and Steph's.

Sam and Steph had a very nice apartment. They were very welcoming and we were very happy to see them. We got to meet my new nephew Sephin. He was so tiny! He didn't cry or complain. Hong was very cute and well-behaved. He was shy at first but got used to us quickly. Other than Sephin, the other distraction was Sam's new TV. I think it was a 60". Did you know they had Food TV in HD?! I hope we get Food HD in the near future cuz I'd be all over that one.

Mall Madness

You don't go to Fishkill/Poughkeepsie without going to an outlet mall. And holy cows, did we shop. Woodbury Commons, TJ Maxx, Poughkeepsie Galleria mall, and even Walmart! We were so bummed that we didn't bring our cooler with us. We bought food items from Walmart that you can't find up here. My favorite was the Vitamin Water. You wouldn't think of Fishkill as a great shopping place but it's a hidden gem. Other than shopping, there isn't much to do there. Food-wise, it is pretty bland. Ruby Tuesdays, Friendlys, Dennys, Red Robin, Chili's, TGI Fridays, Applebee's .. do you see a trend here? They all serve the same kind of food. Not much variety. According to my brother, the Japanese food there isn't very good either. It's no wonder they don't eat out much.

The I-84 Diner Experience

Jeff heard the rave reviews about the I-84 diner and our Fishkill trips are never complete without a meal at the I-84 Diner. The place is always packed and that day was no exception. As we stood in the waiting area, we drooled over the cakes, pies, and tarts in the dessert bar. The muffins at the diner station were supersized too. I had the two eggs breakfast while Jeff ordered his favorite - pancakes. The food was great and the portions were large. We finished breakfast around noon and started our journey home. We made pit stops along the way but nobody was hungry after that big breakfast.

Overall, I truly enjoyed the trip. It was nice to be somewhere that was not covered in snow. I was a bit depressed when we got home to our snow-covered city. This winter has been too long and too harsh. I can't wait until spring and summer. We really wish Joyce and Samuel were there too. Joyce, you just had to be there when we stopped at the last Sunoco gas station - only to find out that it was closed.

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A Record 52 cm!

Wanna know what 52 cms of snow looks like? Yes, my Toronto friends .. this is what 52 cms looks like. Francis W. asked me the other day if I could see outside my house and at the time, I was still able to. But after the weekend, wow. I wish I could show you more pictures of what we saw on Sunday morning. It was almost funny. In one of my previous blog posts, I showed my back neighbour's house. At the time, I marvelled at how the snow covered his fancy deck. Yesterday, not only the deck was covered but so was his barbeque! Look at the roof! There's a slab of snow hanging off the edge. Man, can you imagine .. one big sneeze and you have yourself an avalanche. Our driveway was impressive. I opened the garage door to find the snow up to my knees. As I walked out to the end of our driveway, the snow was higher. I looked out on to the street and you literally could not tell where the road was - see picture at the top of the post. All you could see were rows and rows of snow walls on everybody's lawn. I think the guy across the street had the highest pile of snow on his lawn. It was easily 10 ft high. Ours was pretty high already and I think after we were done, we won the biggest snow pile contest on our street. Down the street, the kids were snowboarding off of their snowbanks. Our community is thinking of starting our own ski resort. :) For the 1000th time, we are truly running out of space to put this stuff!

Toodles,
Pudge.

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More Snow?

Sigh .. more snow. Another 10-15 cms. I dunno, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm beginning to wonder if Wiarton Willy is fooling us with this 6 more weeks until spring prediction.

My winter boots have been getting a pretty decent workout this year. I think we've had over 9 ft of snow this winter season so far. I heard there's more on the way.

Toodles,
Pudgy

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What's Up, February?

February 7th - Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year went by so fast. I enjoyed my time in Toronto but it always seems to go by really quickly. I got to spend time with family and even help my parents run errands - something I really miss doing. I was disappointed that I didn't get to spend enough time with my younger sisters Joyce and Karen. The three of us look out for each other all the time. Karen is a great fashion advisor for us and whenever she sees something in the stores, she'll buy three of the same thing - one for each of us. Thanks Karen for the great clutch! This is my favorite pic from the week we were in Toronto. Jeff is giving Anson his red pocket. Jeff was soooo good with him. Jeff sat Anson on his lap one day and Anson was so comfortable in his "Jeff Lounge chair" .. he let out a super poop. It was NA-STY. :)

February 14th - Valentine's Day

Jeff and I did not make any special plans for Valentine's day this year. It was very much a non-event for us. We don't need a specific day to declare our love for each other - in fact, setting aside a date for the occasion seems to make it less special .. less genuine. It means more to me that Jeff went grocery shopping on an ordinary day and picked out my favorite flavour of potato chips than to pay inflated prices for roses on Valentine's day. The latter is way too predictable. Okay .. I think you get my point. :) But we did spend the 15th making our Williams-Sonoma molten chocolate cake. My picture taking skills aren't as good as it used to be. But this was one pic that I liked. Our cakes were really good. We froze some of the cakes for future consumption. We also received lots of Valentine's day treats from Jeff's parents. I got my own tub of caramel cornflake balls!!! With all of these sweets, Jeff and I are going to have to hit the gym and play more badminton for cardio.

February 18th - Family Day

Did you know that the federal government doesn't observe Family Day even if you are in Ontario? Yeah .. I didn't get Family Day off. What's that all about? Sigh .. I hope everyone had a great Family Day.

February 21st - I am an Aunt again

Last night, my brother called us to say that he has become a father for the second time to a baby boy. Hong Hong will now have a baby brother. Father, mother, son, and baby are all doing well. Can't wait to see the pics.

Coming up in March?

Well, Good Friday and Easter Monday falls in March this year. Looong weekend! I'm excited .. where should we go? Quebec City? Also coming up?

- RRSP deadline

- Income taxes - boooo!

Until next time ... toodles from Pudgy.

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Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Jeff and I wish everyone good health and happiness in the new year.

So far, it's been pretty fun being in Toronto. It was nice being with family and catching up with friends who I have not seen since our wedding - that was almost 2 years ago!)

I loved seeing my nephew Anson. He's got a skin irritation on one side of his forehead. He keeps scratching it and making it worse. :(

We also managed to make it out to Yorkdale to pick up a few things from Williams-Sonoma. That store is so overpriced! $24 for a mini spatula? I wanted one but the price tag made me put it down. However, the sale table was very attractive. Hehe ..

The snow has been unbelievable here. And I thought Ottawa was bad. Jeff and I helped my parents dig their driveway this morning. I couldn't have the two of them shovel all that snow - it was so heavy too! To thank Jeff for his effort, I took him out for breakfast at Skyway Jacks. It's a small truck-stop kind of breakfast joint with a pig as its mascot. It sure lives up to its slogan of "Home of the Healthy Portions". We could not find fruit of any kind (ie side of fruit, fruit with granola, fruit salad, etc) on the menu .. :) Luckily, we don't go there on a regular basis.

We are having our New Year's dinner tonight. We ordered a dinner pot from T & T this year. My mom wanted to try it so I figure I'll treat her to something different. It looks cool and it's got layers of dicon radish, black tiger shrimp, bbq pork, sea cucumber, black mushroom, etc. I'm getting hungry as I type this.

In a few days, we'll be heading back to Ottawa. I wonder what the weather was like there for the last few days. I hope we didn't get the same snowfall there. :(

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Double J - the Gym Rats

After almost 2 months of being away from the gym, Double J (Jeff and I) headed to GoodLife yesterday. It was chest and biceps day. We did a simple routine to kind of ease our way back into it. Three sets of benchpress (yes, I do this too), three sets of flies on the machine (I think it's called a pectoral press?), three sets of standing curls, and 3 sets of preacher curls with free weights. After the weights, it's about 20 minutes of abdominals and 20 mins of cardio.

The Day After ...
Owwwwww! My body is in pain .. good pain. I know that after a few more sessions at the gym, it won't hurt like this. I love going to the gym but I'm not big on the cardio part. I much prefer tennis or ultimate frisbee for cardio.

Tomorrow?
Even though the body is in pain, tomorrow is shoulder, back, and triceps day. I'm soooo looking forward to doing melon crushers, more abs, and dreaded cardio. I really admire those who can run on a treadmill .. it requires some kind of coordination and I know if I got on a treadmill, I'd stumble and fall flat on my face. :) Not that it's happened before but I've seen it happen to others and I just think .. that could be me.

Toodles,
Pudgy - one of the Js.

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A New Year Begins ...

It's been a while since my last post. Just a small update on what's been up since my last post.

Christmas in Edmonton
Jeff and I have spent Christmas every year in Edmonton since we got married - Chinese New Year is spent with my family since it's the equivalent of Christmas to us. More on that later ...

Due to the new house and work commitments, I haven't taken time off for a real vacation. My last real vacation was our honeymoon, way back in 2006. So I was looking forward to going to Edmonton and getting out of Ottawa. We had a great time there this year. I finally got to meet a few of Jeff's university friends and they were all very nice and welcoming. Mark and Asil were in town and they came through for us this year ... true Russian caviar all the way from Kyrgyzstan! This may be the last caviar we have as Mark is returning to Edmonton for good.

Christmas was a classic. It was a family affair and that's the way I like it. Turkey, stuffing, and Sharon's fabulous baking. It doesn't get any better than that.

The shopping in Edmonton is always great - with one less tax, it's much better to shop there than in Ontario. I held off on shopping for most of the year and saved my real shopping until I was in Edmonton. Jeff and I stocked up on jeans and I bought slacks/pants for work. Being the shorty that I am, I have to get every pair of pants hemmed so they are still sitting in the closet as we speak. Sigh.

I need to point out that if you are ever in Alberta, you have to try the beef. It is truly the best I've ever tasted. I've had steak in Ottawa and nothing compares to Alberta AAA.

The Big Thaw
Shortly after our return, we had some nice mild temperatures. It was much needed. Our 7' high drifts are now knee high. I hope it stays this way until the end of winter. Oh who am I kidding? I'm in Ottawa and it's only January .. what are the odds? :)

Chinese New Year
Our next trip to Toronto will be in early February. I'll be happy to be with my family for Chinese New Years. The last time I was in Toronto, was for Ka and Corrie's wedding. Haven't been back since. I miss Toronto ... sniff sniff ..

Kudos
My buddy Damien recently told me that he was engaged! Congratulations D & A! I've known Damien for many years .. he's always been a great friend and I'm so happy for him.

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