Getting to know me 2008 - Thanks Mel!

You know those emails that go around asking you a whole bunch of questions about yourself? The ones you're supposed to answer by "replying to all"? Well, I never do those. I usually just delete those emails cause I figure I don't want to spend all that time at work to fill it out. But I noticed on Mel's blog today that she had something similar so I finally decided (now that I'm blogging from home,) to take the time to answer them too! So thanks for letting me steal your idea Mel! (Maybe whoever reads this will do the same on their blog...) Here goes:

2. What is on your mouse pad? The RAM Group (stolen from Gerwyn)

3. Favourite magazine? National Geographic, People/US (or any celebrity mag, good for passing time)

4. Favourite smell? Homemade baked goods, kalbi in the oven, the back of Gerwyn's neck

5. Things to do on the weekend? Lazy Saturdays, Visit Grams, football from Sept- Feb (I can't believe it either...)

6. Roller coasters deadly or exciting? Definitely deadly!

7. Croutons or bacon bits? Bacon makes EVERYTHING better...

8. Thunderstorms cool or scary? cool and scary (I agree with mel on this one.)

9. What's under your bed? Boxes from when I moved into the condo that I've never unpacked, covered in dust bunnies.

10. What's your favourite number? 8 (22 comes a close second!)

11. What was your first car? Seeing as how I am "motor-vehically challenged", i will take this question to mean the first car I drove. I think it was my brother's Mazda Precidia. Oh wait, it was our old red manual steering Chevette.

12. Morning or night person? Morning person after 9:00 am and night person up to midnight.

13. Favourite sandwich? Panino di Pollo from Bar Italia, the chicken sandwich from MeVaMe

14. Favourite ice-cream? Pralines and Cream. Ferrero Rocher at Solferino

15. Favourite flower? Peonies, roses, tulips

16. Last person you went to dinner with? Mahi at Pangaea (for Winterlicious)

17. Last concert you attended? Stevie Wonder

18. Your favourite book as a child? Blue Moose by Manus Pinkwater

19. What jobs have you done? Donut girl at Duke's! Admin assistant at Royal York, Project/Account Co-ordinator, Manager at various design places

20. What do you prefer sunrise of sunsets? Its rare I get to see a sunrise, but the ones I do see are always memorable.

My WND.... on a Thursday

Last night was my turn for WND and I decided to go with a "fun" theme. That is, food that's fun! (And coincedentally also, very fattening.) I made homemade horseradish cheddar burgers, sweet potato fries, fried onions and a coleslaw. My appetizer was a chocolate banana milkshake and for dessert we all made our own caramel apples covered in chocolate and peanuts. Dainty Ev ended up cutting hers into pieces but the boys did it the old fashioned way and managed to eat the whole thing right off the stick! (It was super sweet.) I also bought Gerwyn a mini birthday cake so he could finally make a wish since he forgot to the last time he blew out his candles.

Sally also brought her new toy, her MacBook Pro. Boy, was it nice. Everyone gathered around it at the end of the night playing with all the cool features (it even takes pictures!)

Tonight, I'm spending a quiet night at home. I thought I would go to the gym but I decided to bake a banana bread instead (pic attached). I forgot how good banana bread smells....

Tomorrow I'm going to a Water Therapies spa with Saadia and Janet. They have all these different pools (green tea pool, salt water pool, cold water pool, etc) and I'm not sure exactly how it works but I think there will be a lot of dipping in all of them! Plus a visit to the saunas and a body scrub. If only I could've added a massage!! I'm also going to check out Saadia's new house tomorrow, can't wait to see her new home. Maybe I'll bring over some banana bread too. Otherwise I may end up eating the whole thing...

Happy Birthday Gervinder!

Yesterday Gerwyn and I celebrated his 32nd birthday. Gerwyn's birthday is always special for me because once it happens we are both the same age (for 6 months anyway,) and he can no longer call me his cradle robber.

Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well, I got the flu on Friday so we couldn't do everything I had planned (dinner and then dessert at Panorama) but we did manage to go out for dinner. I made a reservation at Sotto Sotto (as per Sally's suggestion) which was a very small, romantic Italian restaurant where all the celebrities go when they're in town. The food was deeee-licious, Gerwyn had a grilled mushroom salad (Terroni's was still better) and grilled scallops with balsamic dressing. (They were tasty, even though I hate scallops.) I had a buffalo mozzarella caprese salad and a homemade papardelle with meatballs pasta. After dinner, we went back to the condo and got a dvd and some Timmy's. Since I wasn't feeling well enough to bake him a cake, I thought I would buy him his favourite Tim's treat, "Chocolate Danish" and put candles in it. (unfortunately he forgot to make a wish!) Then we watched "I think I love my wife" with Chris Rock and went to sleep. This morning we went for breakfast at George St. Diner and then to the grocery store. It was sooo cold, not good for a girl with the flu but Gerwyn carried the groceries all the way home.

Now we're just getting comfy and about to watch 2 games of football. Its the playoff games before the superbowl. Should be exciting... and if it isn't, I have a bag lightly salted lays and a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream to keep me occupied.

Let the games begin!

This weekend Gerwyn and I went to Josh's (Susie's husband) birthday party. It was at their condo and it was tough to decide between watching the football playoffs and going to her party. But after much harassing, I finally convinced Sue to put the game on during her party so Gerwyn and I ended up arriving just after half time. The theme was "leisure suit" so everyone was supposed to wear their best tracksuit. It was actually a great idea cause everyone was SO comfortable! Its not often you can go to a party in stretchy pants. To match the theme of "sportswear", Susie and Josh decided to add some competition to the mix and came up with a few different games for us to play. Musical chairs, "carry the egg on the spoon" and "blindfolded race" were just a few. I was the official photographer (sorry, no pics to post yet) and Gerwyn had a "stomach ache" so he just "spectated" (but still managed to get himself a medal...) All in all, a great time with some of Susie's crazy friends!

Sunday I got up to visit grams. My cousin Jun-Seok and I decided to go together since today was his last day before leaving for Korea tonight. When I got there the nurse asked me to help slide my grams higher up on the bed. It was a "1-2-3 lift" kind of thing but when we lifted, she had placed the pillow over the headboard of the bed and when we plopped her down all I heard was "bang!". All of a sudden my grams started to cry. I felt so bad, she was in so much pain and although I felt a bit bad for the nurse as I know she was trying to make her feel better, I just wanted to yell at her to get out cause she was just rubbing my grandma's head with her rubber glove and telling her to stop crying. First of all, the woman doesn't speak English so its not like she will understand, and second of all, when someone is crying, telling them to stop really doesn't help at all. (First rule of empathy!) So I was really annoyed and I just wanted the lady to leave. I could tell she was nervous cause she kept asking me if my grams was ok. I was just worried she had a concussion. Eventually the nurse left and my cousin came in and they were able to talk a bit in Korean so I think that made her feel better. After they talked for a bit, I asked her if her head still hurt and then she didn't even remember hitting it. (She has a really bad memory.) So I took it as a good sign. (Although maybe it was memory loss due to the head trauma?) And just when I was starting to like the new nurse. I guess good help really is hard to find.

Now I'm on my way to Gerwyn's to catch the end of the football game and pick up Kalooki. Since I wasn't going to be home for the majority of the day, Gerwyn offered to take her to his place. I'm sure she's being totally spoiled right now.

Norm's WND!

Tuesday was our first WND of 2008 and it was Norm's turn. He started it off with a bang with amazing fresh pasta and sauce from St. Lawrence Market and a breaded chicken cutlet. He also made his mom's famous cheese pimento bread and an amazing tiramisu for dessert. As per my new year's resolution, I cut my portions in half and for the first time did NOT eat myself into a coma. I actually felt good after dinner, I wasn't super full and I could actually breathe for a change! (Although it was really tough to stay away from that tiramisu, I definitely could have used another piece...)

The next night I went to Gerwyn's house after going to the gym and having a very light dinner (just cereal). At around midnight (and after a gruelling game of chess,) we both had the munchies but I stood my ground and refused to snack (except for a small handful of peanuts,) but we were THIS close to going to the Persian sandwich place by his house. Its hard to control yourself when you are around someone with NO self control... that's right, I mean YOU Gervinder!!

After these two small accomplishments, I felt I deserved a little treat so today I am indulging in some leftover Christmas chocolate. I was tempted to bake some cookies but its only been two weeks into the new year and I don't think I could survive the smell of two dozen freshly baked cookies just calling my name.

I just have to take it one day at a time... as soon as I finish this piece of lindt..

WND 2008!

Tomorrow is the start of Wednesday Night dinners for 2008! Its Norm's turn to start the year off, I wonder what he will make? Mel says he wants to gross us all out this year so its going to be Spicy Salmon Curry, all of our dislikes... guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow and see.

I'll also be welcoming back a furry little houseguest this week, Ms. Kalooki-Loo. This is one of last trips her mamma will be taking to visit her soon to be pappa so we get to spend some quality time together in the meantime. Can't wait, I miss the furr ball! (And I know Gerwyn does too. If I even mention that there is a chance I'll have to leave her in my condo alone, he offers to take her home right away.) What a spoiled brat! But we can't help it.

Happy 2008!

Here are some pics from New year's plus a pic of Gervinder wearing the Christmas present I got him.

New Year's Recap:

7:00 pm - 8:30 pm: drinks with my sister's friends at my condo

9:30 - 10:30pm: drinks with Gerwyn's Mexico-trip friends at Red Tomato

11:00 - 2:00 am: house party at Susie's house

More pics to come!