Manicures and Salad King

Its becoming a bad habit but after the first time, I was hooked. A few weeks ago, Ev and I decided to get officially ready for summer and get a mani/pedi at our favourite nail place Peony. Well tonight we decided we needed a little "touch up" so back we went for manicures and another delicious dinner at Salad King. This time we had the Hot Thai Noodles and of course, the Garlic Shrimp (one of our staples,) and it didn't disappoint. Then as per the usual MO, we walked back to Ev's car at her office and she drove me home. We managed to get through the whole night with only one casualty: my right thumb has a big scratch right through the "French" portion of my manicure. Oh well, just another excuse to go again next week, right Ev??!

Back to school...

I just finished reading Sally and Saadia's blogs and although they used very clever "cooking" analogies, I'm not going to beat around the bush. Last night, we (incl. Susie) all took a "how to" class. "How to what?" you might ask? Well, the class was called "Joystick Secrets" and was held at a store called "Come as you are" which specializes in various "after dark bedroom trinkets" to put it mildly.

We learned the ins and outs of the man's "wedding tackle" (as Susie so eloquently put it,) and various techniques and tips to basically pop his rocks off. It was a very interesting class and we all killed ourselves laughing while watching each other try to emulate what we learned on our zucchini "boyfriends". (I must say one of the highlights of the class was when they brought out the chocolate popsicles. Who knew a tasty little frozen treat could be used as an educational tool? Fudgsicles will never be the same...)

At the end of the class she invited everyone to come up and put on a rubber glove so she could demonstrate some of the things she was talking about. We were all really shy at first but then we figured, "when will we get another opportunity like this?" so we each put on our rubber glove and got our very first BJ. Its an experience I will always remember and I'm glad I got to share it with my favourite ladies!!

Running around...

Last week I decided to join the Running Room. I have thought about trying to do a race for a long time but being the slow runner that I am, I figured I would never be up to doing it. This year I figured I would just start off small and give it a shot. So I've decided to sign up for the CIBC Run for the Cure in October. Its only 5K but a good start to see if I can actually do it. The Running Room even trains you for the race. I'm not sure its worth the $50 just to get a few tips but we shall see if it can help me get through the whole thing without stopping.

With that in mind, I've started to track how far I run on the treadmill. Lately I've been able to do 1 mile in 12 minutes. Usually after that I'm pretty tired but sometimes I can squeeze out another half mile. After running on Friday and Saturday, I woke up Sunday absolutely worn out! My joints hurt, my calves feel like they've been run over and I just generally feel achy all over. I thought running was supposed to be good for you!!

As a little treat for all the good exercise, I met Mel and Ev on Friday after my run for dinner at Toba. We've been there for brunch but never for dinner. The portions were just right (for us girls anyway) and the food was pretty good. We all had pasta and then shared a brownie dessert. Gotta love living downtown. Its not often we can just get together for a spur of the moment meal, but when we can, we definitely enjoy it!! Then I met Susie for a night of Sex and the City dvd watching. She slept over since her husband is out of town and we continued our dvd marathon well into the afternoon. After she left I got ready to meet Gervinder for dinner at Nami. We've always passed by but never actually gone in. I have to say the sushi was a bit disappointing but they have one of those traditional Japanese private rooms which looked interesting.

Sunday I went to Grams and visited with my sister in law and niece. Charlotte is just so cute these days. So smiley and I love hearing her giggle. I think she's starting to look more like me every day. Today we spent a good deal of time in front of the mirror and just like her Aunt Princess Di, Charlotte loooves to look at herself too.

My new best friends...

Not really "new" actually, we've been friends for a long time. But recently I've been spending a lot more quality time with them. They just seem to have a way of making me feel oh so good...

A visit with Charlotte!

Here's a video of my niece Charlotte from today. (Sorry its a big file, can't figure out how to reduce it yet.) She's about 7 months old and we're trying to teach her to crawl but she can't seem to get it yet. I think it might have something to do with all that extra weight she has to drag. Then again, its about time her body caught up with that big head! (Check out my brother's pasty white legs, and you thought I was PALE!)

A long awaited Date!

And yes, there was S.E.X involved... Sex in the City that is! Today Sally and I met Saadia and a very cute, very pregnant Caroline for a Sex in the City brunch and movie. Saadia surprised us by decorating her dining table "a la S.I.T.C" with each place setting representing a character from the show. She even made us loot bags with a trinket to represent each one of them! (My favourite was the bottle of Vodka, I'm sure I'll be putting that to good use.) After our delicious brunch, we headed to Scotiabank theatre to watch the matinee. As I had hoped, the movie didn't disappoint. I laughed, I cried and left feeling satisfied. (How often can you say that about Sex?)

After the movie, Saads and Caroline headed to the mall for some shopping and Sally and I headed to a massage at the King Edward. Even though I don't have any benefits through work I just can't give up this luxury. I've found a masseuse I like and today he worked his magic on my sore shoulders and back. I felt like I got beaten up afterwards but it was worth it to work out all those knots!

Thanks for all the fun and games ladies, so, how about next Saturday???

Diana's Dumplins! (Okay, Sally's too...)

What's a gal to do on a hot summer Friday night but make dumplings with her best friend right???

Ok, so maybe we're losers, but Sally mentioned to me a few weeks ago that she wanted to make my mom's "mondoo" (Korean dumplings) again so since she's "sans job" and I find myself with plenty of free time, what better time than the present. Too bad we forgot how much work it was!! Sally purchased all the ingredients during the day and met me at my place around 7pm. We quickly got to work and FOUR hours later we had barely made a dent in our filling! We had so much filling that even with the four packages of wonton wrappers that Sally got, we still had over half leftover. While Sally stuffed and sealed, I was busy boiling over a hot stove. I thought they would never end. Another little hiccup was the lack of freezer space. It occured to us that last time we made these, it was winter so we just put the hot dumplings outside to cool and freeze and then stuffed them in bags. Unfortunately 30 degree summer heat doesn't exactly provide the best "dumpling freezing" environment so I ended up putting them in my freezer one tray at a time. A very l.o.n.g. process to say the least. After we finished, we decided we didn't even want to eat them. We were experiencing the latter part of the common dumpling "love/hate" relationship. After spending four hours doing the same thing over and over, you just want it to end. So until WE'VE had some time to "cool" off, our dumplins' will have to wait patiently for us in my cold, dark freezer.

Take THAT dumplin!

An unexpected delivery...

Yesterday I had a very unexpected delivery at work. Musetta, our office admin came by my desk with this huge bouquet of yellow roses! I said, "wow, those are beautiful, who sent you those?" and she said, "they're for you!" and then I said, "why did you buy me flowers?" and then she said "they were delivered!". Dumb, I know but hey, its been awhile since I've had flowers delivered to me.

Anyway, I was totally shocked and had no idea who they would be from. I opened the bouquet and couldn't find the card. I searched and searched and assumed they were cardless which even stumped me more. Who sends flowers with no card??? After awhile I thought I would search through my garbage and see if I accidentally threw it out. Turns out it was on the back of the delivery slip! My sister had sent them to me from Connecticut to brighten up my day! Well, they definitely did their job and I was happy to be able to enjoy their pretty smell today while I was busy at work. (Very unusual for me I know.) As the saying goes, you gotta stop to smell the roses every once in awhile. Thanks Sis!!

Warming the house...

This weekend was my brother's official housewarming of his new house. All my aunts and uncles came over and of course my mom felt compelled to make a 20 course dinner which means I felt compelled to help. So off I went early Saturday to help my mom and Nancy prepare for the dinner. Lately we've been catering all of our family parties so this was the first one in a long time that had real home-cooked food. My mom made everything this time, kalbi, noodles, chicken wings, kim-chi, bean sprouts, seafood stirfry and of course it was amazing. I was stuffed. I spent the early afternoon trying to help my brother put together his new bbq before everyone arrived and it was so hot we both got a little heat stroke.

Later that afternoon, as has become tradition at our family parties, we all took turns playing with the kids. There really is nothing better in this world than spending time with them. No matter how bad you're feeling, they can always cheer you up. All I need is to see Charlotte's chubby face smiling with those two tiny front teeth and next thing you know, I'm smiling too. My cousin's daughter Stephanie was funny too, her grandparents were taking care of her for the weekend and they don't care about making sure her outfit matches. So she showed up in an old t-shirt of her brother's and a pair of pink shorts that were pulled up so high my cousin said she looked like a Chinese Olympic gymnast and nicknamed her "Ling-Ling". Thank goodness for the little ones!

Dear Diary

When Sally and I were 12 or 13 we used to always go to this Dollar Store at Markham and Eglinton. One day we bought these red and white notebooks (hers might be a different colour,) and the Letraset wipe off letters. I remember the day I brought that book home, I thought "this is going to make a good diary.". So I started to use my letraset and coloured pens to write my name in it with a BIG warning that it was MY diary and no one was allowed to read it. I think I even wrote in it consistently for about 2 years. I've kept that diary all throughout my life and every so often, I'll write an entry. So now, my diary starts on the first day of grade 8 and goes all the way to the present (although the recent entries are probably 1 or 2 years apart). Its amazing to see how one little red and white notebook can hold so much of your life. What's even more amazing is to see how you change as you turn each page. I mean, who still talks like they're in grade 8 right? Like, I totally don't. Whatever!

Every time I read that book I take some time to reflect on my life and where it will be going next. I only have about 10 more blank pages left, I wonder what they'll say when I look back at it 10 years from now.

SPLAT!

This morning I woke up and thought "wow, today is the first hot day of year, I can finally wear summer clothes!" So with temperatures going up to 35 degrees, I decided to put on a tank top and capris for my long, hot walk to work. I put on my ipod and began my walk as usual. About 3 blocks into it, I feel this sudden splash of something on my left shoulder. My immediate thought was that someone in the buildings above me just threw something at me, how RUDE! However when I looked up I was horrified to see a flock of dirty, nasty seagulls flying over my head. And of course, my horror continued as I looked down at my shoulder to find a nice BIG, dirty, green splotch of bird bowel on my shoulder slowly making its way down the rest of my arm. It was truly disgusting. And of course, all these construction workers just happened to be standing there all on their morning break to see it. I think I even overheard one of them say "hey that girl just got hit by bird sh$t!".

Sally says this is good luck. It hard to see how that could be true but I had to make the best of the situation so I just laughed. At least I gave those construction guys something to laugh about too. Better than one of them (i.e. the one who pointed at me,) getting dropped from a crane or something…

Herbs

I've always loved fresh herbs. I buy them at the supermarket all the time. The problem is I can never use them up fast enough and inevitably, I end up throwing half of them away. My favourites are sage, thyme and mint. They are all strong herbs but just the smell of them I find comforting.

So this weekend, I decided to finally purchase a few small potted herbs and try to grow my own. I'd seen them in markets all the time, but my "green" thumb has always been more of a pale yellow and pretty much every plant I've ever known has ended up in plant heaven. (Yes, even plants go to heaven.) I decided to start with just two, sage and rosemary. After purchasing them and a small bag of potting soil, I promptly introduced them to their new home. Replanted and well watered, Sage and Rosemary are both doing quite well (so far.) I check on them every day.

Yesterday I decided to make my first dish with them and made a simple pasta with sage butter. I browned the butter and carmelized some onions and then added the sage until it was fragrant. Then I added the spaghetti, some salt, pepper and garlic powder and topped it off with parmesan cheese and a few chopped capers. It was sooooo yummy. I think it tasted better because I knew the herbs came from my own "garden". Its amazing how something so simple can make you feel so accomplished. I haven't cooked in a long time and this was a great way to get back into the swing of things. I forgot how much I loved it! You can make such delicious food with such basic simple ingredients.

Now its time to go to bed. But first, I have to say "goodnight" to Sage and Rosemary (just 'Rose' for short).