Eat, Drink, and Be Merry

38.3 - 38.6 Eat at ten new restaurants or coffee shops

After a slowish start, I've actually surpassed my goal of visiting ten new (to me) restaurants or coffee shops and I'm only about half way into the 101 in 1001 challenge. It would seem that the little kerfuffle that came along with my review of a local coffee shop put me off updating the rest of the new places we visited.

Here are the first four, starting back in April.

Dockside Restaurant at the Granville Island Hotel

The first time we visited, it was for my sisters' big birthday back in April. I think we've been two or three more times since then. I love the Malay Shrimp Omelette. Yum. Now I want one. I think that's the only breakfast item I've ordered.

The last time we went was for drinks and appetizers and dessert after the Wizard of Oz. It was later in the evening and the kitchen was about to close, but the spring rolls were sooooo good. Alex had some kind of dessert and loved it. They brought J a hot chocolate and made sure it was just lukewarm.

They were awesome with J - they have a selection of high chairs and booster seats and a good kids' menu.

We'll be back for sure. Alex and I are planning to go there for a grown up dinner one night some time soon...

Pacifico Pizzeria

J and I came here with my mom one night at the end of July. I thought I took a picture of the brick pizza oven, but it looks like the only thing I managed to get a (not blurry) picture of was my gnocchi. Everything we had was delicious - my mom's food came out on a long platter (it might have been some kind of ravioli? squash maybe?) and J had a yummy pizza. When the meal came, I figured there was no way I'd eat all of it, but I polished it off. We also had dessert(s)...I can't remember what they were or how many we had, but J definitely had ice cream!

This restaurant is right by the movie theatre on Burrard and would be a great place to visit before (or after) a movie. I'm looking forward to going back with Alex who has a great appreciation for Italian food. (note: I just checked out the yelp/urbanspoon and they were super mixed, particularly not liking the menu changes this fall...maybe we'll rethink going back? We'll see...)

Nuba

Way back in August, my parents very kindly took J to Kelowna with them for a little holiday. That meant I got to do things I'd done before I became a mommy. Things like go out for dinner after work and not get a babysitter and not have to choose somewhere kid friendly and not have to worry about what time I got home at.

Heather and I met at Nuba for dinner. I'd never been to this particular Nuba before - I'd been to the one at Cambie and Hastings, but I had no idea there was one on 3rd near Main.

The food was delicious! I had (if I'm remembering correctly) falafels and most likely hummus and (I know I'm remembering this correctly) grapefruit juice. I loved the cinder block walls. The atmosphere was great. I was really early because my time-and-distance-estimating-skills-when-driving-a-personal-motor-vehicle are a bit sketchy at times, but no one seemed to mind that I pulled out my book while I waited for Heather (I've had people give me dirty looks in a restaurant for reading before...)

Transylvania Flavour

I did NOT want to go this restaurant. I was going out with a group of people and someone else was in charge of choosing the restaurant (sorry no pictures). I had walked by this place often when we lived in the ghetto pink palace and noticed it, but not really noticed it.

Before we went, I checked out the menu and I still didn't want to go there. I was so not impressed and I was totally craving something else. I just didn't know what.

Again, due to my super awesome time-and-distance-estimating-skills-when-driving-a-personal-motor-vehicle I was quite early. The hostess figured out which table was ours - there was only one reservation that size and it must have been listed under the name Snuffleupagus because I tried the names of pretty much everyone in the party and she didn't have any of them. She finally asked me how big our party was and said, well, there's only one that size, so it must be yours. I never did find out what name it was made under.

Anyway. She was very cheerful and friendly and came over to check on me a few times before the rest of the gang arrived. By then I'd sort of come out of my funk and decided to order chicken paprikash.

It was so good.

The chicken was falling off the bone, the crisped beans were so good and the gnocchi was delicious. I'd never had gnocchi like that before. I think it was cooked and then pan fried and it was divine. There was a lot of food - I took some home for Alex and he said it was great the next day too.

The person next to me had the perogies and a second appetizer (I can't remember which one) and she said they were awesome. The food all looked so good.

I didn't end up having dessert, but the vie en vert cake (lemon and basil meringue cake) got rave reviews.

Oh hello 2012, yes I am a bit behind the times...

Well, I was going to do a 2012 resolutions goals post, but I didn't get around to it. And then I thought, meh, why can't I do it now, 11 days into 2012? I normally don't make resolutions because I figure if I want to set a goal or make a change, I may as well start now...I don't have to wait until January 1, because sometimes that's a long wait (e.g. 355 days from now if I thought up something brilliant today)

So what will 2012 hold for me? I have no idea. But I hope I can take it in stride. In the past, the way 2011 ended would have had me living life as a raging insomniac with an upset stomach. But this time it didn't and I'd like to see that continue this year. Nothing was particularly horrible. Mostly it was stuff that I couldn't change and that would sort itself out on its own and until that happened, I just had to live with it one way or another.

That sounds cryptic.

It isn't meant to be.

Let's see. I can't really give a good example, but here's something that happened before with my job that is similar but different to my job situation in December. Let's pretend that's what's happening now.

There are things happening in a number of departments, some closely associated with mine, some not remotely associated with mine, that likely will impact the nature of my job and quite possibly my job description in the next 3-6 months. I can't do anything to change those things and the result of a change in one department can easily cause something in another department to do a 180. So, in the next 3-6 months, my job will

(a) stay the same
(b) have a huge change in job description and no change in salary
(c) have a huge change in job description and a change in salary
(d) stay the same but I'll be in a different department
(e) disappear

In a perfect world the best outcome would be (c), followed by (a), but at this point I can't do anything other than prepare for the worst possible outcome and then put it out of my mind. Because otherwise I'll go crazy.

So I've done that. I updated my resume (which I probably should every 6 months anyway) and I go to work every day like I usually do. And I'm okay with that. A few years ago, I'd be all stressed out over it and it would be making me miserable.

I also said no to bunch of Christmas stuff. I decided we didn't need to have cookies. Because I didn't have time for them. I love doing the Christmas baking and most of the time find it quite enjoyable, but when it becomes a rush to beat the clock and I end up staying up too late, well, it sucks. So I didn't bake this year. And do you know what? Christmas was awesome! I didn't even notice the missing baking and if anyone else noticed, they didn't say anything.

So what are my goals for 2012?

1. Exercise a minimum of twice a week with Georgia
2. Go to yoga regularly (once a week at work) and try to do yoga at least 4 days a week
3. Stick to our weekly menu plan - I can't believe how much bigger our grocery bill is when we don't stick to it - not necessarily because of eating out either
4. Sort out the storage issue
5. Get moving on our plan to move (this is not an imminent move - it's a good 6 months away, but we figure it could take up to 24 months...)
6. Hone my cribbage skills in preparation for SACO 2012
7. Finish up the list of tasks from 52 weeks of organizing

Some of those are big goals - like #5 - that have multiple little steps on the route to accomplishment. Some are smaller - like #1 - #3 - and I just have to make time to do them regularly.

So 2012, here I come...I'm going to do my best to not fret about things that are out of my control and do my best to stay focused on small steps to reach bigger goals.

Welcoming the new

There seems to be a sentiment around the internet and among some of my friends that 2011 wasn't all it was cracked up to be 365 days ago.

And I'm going to have to (at least partially) agree.

This was a trying year for many, many reasons. I wrote about some (but not all)...some of them were scary, some of them disappointing, some of them frustrating, some of them heartbreaking, but through all of it I think we were lucky. We have a great family and group of friends who were supportive when we needed it, who offered an ear, a shoulder, a meal, babysitting, or a hug. And we have a little girl who offered the best hugs and back rubs and cuddles and stories and anecdotes every single day and gives us the best reason ever to get up in the morning. And considering everything, we came through it all relatively unscathed.

And now 2011 is a few minutes from being over. And I'm excited for 2012. We have plans for some of the things we'd like to do in 2012. We've spent the last few days celebrating Christmas with family and Alex and I have been discussing where we think 2012 will take us. We figure there might be some travel, some renovations, and possibly a move in the year ahead. We might not travel very far and we'll likely not cross any borders, but we think we'll head somewhere we haven't been recently (and probably somewhere J hasn't been before...)

So at midnight we'll raise our glasses to 2011 and bid it farewell (or maybe just show it the door) and welcome 2012 and hope that the surprises it brings for us will be good ones.

Happy new year friends...may 2012 be happy, healthy and safe for you and yours.

The best gift I've ever given

This is part of the Christmas Memory Challenge series, the brainchild of one Ms. AndreaClaire.

I know the point of this challenge was not to talk about gifts. But I need to talk about this gift. Because it wasn't a gift of stuff.

I never know what to give my parents for Christmas. My sisters never know what to give my parents for Christmas. Last year we decided we weren't going to give them more stuff. Instead we contacted the Salvation Army and they paired us with a family who needed some assistance last Christmas. J came with me to pick out some of the gifts for the little girl and then the day of our scheduled delivery, J came with me and my sisters to buy the groceries.

Dropping our packages of was super emotional - the family didn't have much and they were so gracious and grateful for what we were able to give. They gave a card in thanks.

On Christmas morning my parents opened the card and for the rest of the holidays, my dad kept telling us how this was the best gift they ever received. But this gift that we gave them gave us something too.

We're doing the same thing again this year. I can't speak for my sisters or Alex, but I've been a little more careful about what I spent my money on this year in hopes that I could increase what I have to spend on the family we were paired with this year. J doesn't think it's "fair" that some children won't have gifts or enough food today. She was excited to pick out something for someone else and wanted it to be extra special because there wouldn't be too many gifts for this family. The family we had this year was again very grateful for our help and we received a lot more from giving this gift to another family than we would have if we had just given someone in our very lucky family some more stuff.

Christmas Dinner

This is part of AndreaClaire's Christmas Memory Challenge series.

I have a big family. Which means we have a big Christmas dinner. And it's awesome. It's not as big as the roast beef night (usually) but on a small year it's only about 20-25 people...the biggest dinner we had, my aunt and uncle rented tables and chairs and there were something like 45 people in their living room and dining room. Usually we have free-for-all seating, but having a sit down dinner was huge that year!

Dinner is pot luck - usually the host cooks the turkey (and sometimes when it was at my grandparents' house with two kitchens, the ham) and some of the other stuff and everyone else brings at least one dish to share...everything from traditional (mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts etc) to the non-traditional like sushi, Thai spring rolls and Swedish meatballs.

After the feasting there is a rousing (and super competitive) game of charades. We all know who we want on our various teams...my uncle will throw in his token "country" song...the best one was something along the lines of "My love got run over by the wheels of an eighteen-wheeler." When we were kids, my grandma often talked us into doing a little carol singing or making up a little play.

Our Christmas dinner this year will be much quieter - only eleven people and only one child.

Christmas morning breakfast

This is part of AndreaClaire's Christmas Memory Challenge series.

One of the things I look forward to most about Christmas morning is the breakfast. We ALWAYS have cranberry coffee cake and fruit salad and hot beverages (hot chocolate when we were kids, "special" coffee as adults) with whipped cream. In recent years we've also added my dad's scrumptious cinnamon buns, but those only happen when we're in Kelowna.

This breakfast has found its way to our house...this was our only Christmas in the Blue House and you'll notice that the whipped cream is in a can...I made meringues that Christmas with hand beaters. There was no way my arms could handle doing whipped cream too...

Christmas breakfast was important at our house - so important that it took precedence over gifts...we opened our stockings and then ate and then opened gifts. When we were younger sometimes we got to open one gift before we ate, but not usually...this is a tradition we're going to try to carry on this year with J.

Pyjamas

This is part of AndreaClaire's Christmas Memory Challenge series.

On Christmas Eve we usually got to open one gift - Alex did too. And usually it was pjs. Sometimes the pyjamas were Christmas themed, sometimes they weren't. This year little J is getting reindeer and snowflake pjs on Christmas Eve...nice and toasty warm for Christmas morning AND perfect for photos!

Christmas in Trail

This is part of AndreaClaire's Christmas Memory Challenge series.

When I was a kid, my parents didn't like to travel much around Christmas...who could blame them? We lived in Kelowna and pretty much anywhere we would want to go would involve driving in the snow. But when I was 11 and then again when I was 12, they decided we should go to Trail for Christmas.

My grandpa lived in Trail (where my dad grew up) and my aunt and uncle and one year old cousin lived up the hill in Rossland. Christmas in Trail was very different from Christmas in Kelowna.

First of all, it was quiet. Christmas in Kelowna is a multi-day, boisterous affair. The first year in Trail I think there were nine of us. Maybe ten. One toddler. Two in their late 70s/early 80s. The second year there were more because another aunt and her family joined us.

And we had to go to Mass on Christmas Eve. And the Colander restaurant figured prominently. And there was some drugstore Christmas shopping. And lots of snow. And my grandpa was up first. Before all the kids. Armed with his camera. Sitting in an arm chair, facing the stockings, ready to record our faces when we came around the corner.

I think that's my favourite memory of our Christmases in Trail - how excited Grampa got. We only got to spend three Christmases with him (well, I think I spent my first Christmas with him too, but I don't remember it) and it was pretty special for sure!

New Traditions

This is part of AndreaClaire's Christmas Memory Challenge series.

When Alex and I got married we knew we'd be amalgamating some of our traditions and making some new ones...the new ones are fun! This will be our third Christmas in Vancouver together: the first year, our new tradition was that we only spent part of the day together and then Alex went to work; the second time, my friend Paula and I took J to the aquarium while Alex recovered from his silly work schedule; this year, who knows what special new tradition we'll come up with, but depending on how the day goes, we might end up back at the Aquarium.

Edited after Christmas: No aquarium this year...

Uncle Harry's Roast Beef

This is part of AndreaClaire's Christmas Memory Challenge series.

I have a large family and an even larger extended family. I know I've mentioned it before, but in my family there is no distinction between cousins (first cousin, second cousins, eighth cousins nine times removed, they're all just cousins) and in the same way we don't really draw a line between families. Uncle Harry is my mom's aunt by marriage's uncle by marriage or something like that. But he's just Uncle Harry.

Because my family is so big, Christmas celebrations tend to span three or four or even five days, depending on the year. Often we would go to my aunt and uncle's house after church for appetizers, have Christmas dinner at another aunt and uncle's house, our house or my grandma's and then have a ginormous Boxing Day party to eat Uncle Harry's roast. As our family grew, the day for the roast moved a few days further from Christmas, but it was a family tradition.

Uncle Harry would come from Alberta with a side of beef that would be cooked slowly all day and was always perfect. There was usually a ham. And a million side dishes. And lots of people. I'm positive that there were always at least 40-50 and I know that a few times we were pushing 75 or 80 people. And they were all related somehow.

When I was younger my aunt and uncle had a large piece of property on the way to Big White. My uncle would flood part of the back yard and we'd skate like crazy people. When we got older and the community centre had a rink, my uncle stopped flooding his yard. Instead we'd traipse down the side of the highway with our skates over our shoulder and skate in the dark, under the flood lights (maybe the ice rink was a tennis court in the summer?)

As much as I looked forward to all kinds of things at Christmas, Uncle Harry's Roast Beef party was certainly something that got me very excited.