Food: the element that links us

So, since so much has gone on since I last wrote (summer is a busy time!), I figure the best way I can tie everything together is through food (big surprise there!) Yes, most of our friendly gatherings revolve around or at least involve food.
I love my friends and family!

Hiking in Charlevoix, way back in June, was lots of fun. The weather was perfect for hiking, not too hot and only a sprinkling of rain when we started off on Saturday. We didn't have to fight off the bugs too badly either. Tim had bought us some trekking poles and I am definitely sold on them. They made the climbing bits much easier to undertake and helped on the descents too. The group (there were 9 of us) ended up separated in two, with the slower, picture-taking, enjoying the scenery, catching our breath, having conversations crowd bringing up the rear. But all was good since we had the evenings at the refuges to socialize with everyone.

Oh, yes, the food...We certainly did not go hungry. Our trip was a 3 day hike with day 2 being the longest, at about 14km, I believe. We were staying in cabins with no running water and we had our gear carried from cabin to cabin so quantity of food was not an issue. The first evening's meal was prepared by Stéphanie and Olaf, consisting of chicken fajitas in vast amounts. Day 2 , again, did not see us go starving. We started with breakfast, courtesy of France and Julie, made up of French toast with candied apples, sausages and bacon.
Everyone pitched in that evening to help Maya make a bean and avocado salad, the perfect entree to delicious chicken mole which was served with corn bread. And can you believe that we had cheesecake for dessert too!
Tim and I served breakfast on the Monday. We had made 2 varieties of waffles at home, banana chocolate chip and whole wheat nut, which have a very good crunch factor.
Stéphane and Geneviève were responsible for lunches , supplying us with rolls, cold cuts and cheese for each of us to make our own sandwiches in the morning before beginning our hike.
We got back to town on Monday afternoon and spent Tuesday doing some shopping, having a nice lunch at Café Passion in St-Lambert and then had Tim's friend Kelly over for supper. We discovered something new while shopping at Loblaws and tried salmon sausages. They are quite tasty although some are of the opinion that they have a weird, unexpected texture they're not sure about.

Wednesday morning, we met up with Catherine, Eric and Vanessa in Mercier and then drove on to the cottage in Mountain View for their first visit there. In the afternoon, we went for a pleasant stroll in the woods at Paul Smith's Visitor Interpretive Center and then visited their butterfly house. Evere wonder what mating monarchs look like???





We pulled out the charcoal bbq from the garage and had some tournedos and more salmon sausages with corn and salad for supper.

The Colby-Critchlows made their way home via Plattsburgh on Thursday while Tim and I stayed on until Friday. We'd brought our mountain bikes so we tried out the Hatch Brook trail where we'd been previously swarmed with bugs when we went with Heidi. The bugs weren't anywhere near as bad as last time. We just had to contend with a few wild turkeys and a very territorial hawk.

On Friday, before heading back, we tried making our way to High Falls with our bikes but the trail is not meant for biking, no matter how serious you are about it. We ended up walking our bikes on and off when the going got tough and then finally gave up and left them in the woods just before the Falls.




So, I'll end this here before you lose interest and I'll hopefully be back soon with another post!

SUMMERTIME!

I really need to stop saying I will try and post more often cos that seems to backfire on me...Anyhow, Tim's birthday was a week and a half ago so we celebrated the weekend before. We went out to supper with a group of friends on the Saturday evening at Fourquet Fourchette. It's a great restaurant with great ambiance and great beer! They serve Unibroue products and much of the cuisine is prepared with beer. We went to the one in Chambly on the South Shore (they also have a resto in the city at Palais des Congrès). Chambly is a very nice community, I suggest a visit, there's the fort to see, bike paths and I'm sure lots more.

To continue with the celebrations, I took Tim to Kooza, the Cirque du Soleil show, on Sunday afternoon. The show has now moved on from Montreal to Toronto. It was pretty entertaining and the air conditioning under the tent was definitely welcome as it was one of our first hot, sticky, humid days. Ahh, Montreal in summer!

And then began my last work week before vacation! I only biked back from work on Monday (Tim had driven me there in the morning with my bike on the car rack) so it was a bit of a lazy week (outside of work, that is)

Friday was a nice way to end the week just before vacation...we had a semi-activity day at work. We finshed at 11 and then went and played softball followed by a catered lunch of pulled pork and roast beef.

Then it was our usual Friday evening softball game with the Curling league which was awesome. We played against the Royals from TMR and gave each other a run for our money but we, the Granite, came out victorious in an extra inning!

Then it was home to pack for our hiking weekend.
Which I might get to telling you about.
Eventually.
Maybe.
When I take the time to do so.

That's all for now!

Tim & Heidi stream crossing

Adventures in Biking

Remember last Wednesday morning and how cold it was? Probably not as we sit here in now 30 degree-plus weather...Anyhow, I should have seen it as a sign when the back brakes on my bike were jammed when I headed out at 6:20 that morning. But no, I didn't woos out and take the bus (stupid me). I forged ahead, against the howling wind. The howling wind that kept me from feeling the drizzle that was falling. I did make it to work in one piece and with a bike lock this time, although it did take me almost an hour and a half to get there. Not to mention the fact that my hands were so numb, I could not unclasp my bike helmet. Let's just say the bike ride home that evening was much more pleasant.
Thursday morning was also much better. Tim drove me to work with my bike so I only had to do the trip one way that day.

And what about the weekend, you ask? After playing softball (and losing) on Friday evening, we headed to my parents' cottage on Saturday morning with Heidi in tow (or more like in VW following us.) In Chateaugay, New York we encountered strange people sporting t-shirts with hearts on them offering us a free car wash. We encountered another group of them upon entering Malone and these folks were even stranger. They were offering free car washes, free blood pressure tests and free hot dogs! Do you take the blood pressure test before or after having eaten the hot dog?!

Well, we got to the cottage hot dog-less, settled in and had some lunch then headed towards Saranac Lake to do some trail riding. If a tree falls in the forest and three people are there, you definitely hear it! Craaaaaaaaack!!! It was quite a bumpy ride with lots of tree roots to maneuver over but we had a blast and didn't have to fight the bugs off too badly.

Sunday was quite a different story. We went back to Hatch Brook where we had gone on Victoria day weekend but this time we took the trail to the left. The bugs were a little more pesky this time out but nothing we couldn't handle until about half an hour in. We must have hit lower boggier ground cos it was HELL I tell you! We couldn't stop for a second or we got swarmed. And I wasn't wearing dark colours. And I was covered in Skintastic AND Muskol. And then we missed the cutoff for the other loop back. Sooooo, we ended up at the end of the trail at Meacham Lake campground with no way back but INTO THE BUG WOODS FROM HELL!!! There was no way we were going back in there for another hour and a half's ride back. So I called my dad from the pay phone at the campground and 20 minutes later, he showed up in his pickup and we loaded up the bikes and crammed ourselves into the, ahem, king cab and headed back to Hatch Brook to get our car. Thank god for dads!!!

I would post some photos but someone's busy at the computer downstairs so you'll have to wait, sorry!

Weekend fun

Our softball game was cancelled on Friday due to the wet weather so we had an uneventful evening instead.

Saturday was a little more exciting. I went to La Ronde (sans Tim, he hates amusement parks) courtesy of the social club at work. We only did 6 rides but went on all the newest rollercoasters. The Goliath and the Vampire are definitely the best. My throat still hurts from screaming on the Vampire. Didn't peg me as a screamer, didja?!
And I also won tickets for the fireworks in July, yay! I've never been to the actual site to see the fireworks, it should be fun even if it's on a Wednesday night, zzzzzzzzzzzzz, it'll be past my bedtime!

I left early to go to a potluck at Paul & Murielle's. The theme was North American cuisine. So we had chips, chicken meatballs, ham casserole, maple salmon, coleslaw, sausages, macaroni salad, apple sucre à la crème pie, fruit kebabs drizzled with chocolate and I think that was it! We were all stuffed!

And yesterday we finally bought our annuals to plant in front of the house. I stick to Impatiens. I know they will do well and they don't require too much maintenance. I also hacked away a bit in the backyard to try and make it less jungle-like.

Tim made it to the beerfest yesterday with Carolyn & Heidi. I stayed home to garden which apparently was not a bad choice. It was crowded and it being the last day, there were a lot of products that were no longer available.

That's it for now, I promise I will write more soon!

Transit strike

I was one of the lucky ones, I guess, having no problems whatsoever during our short-lived transit strike. The bus was a little fuller than usual on a couple of mornings but everything was on time. I actually had more delays in the morning last week, I think my regular 211 bus driver was on vacation so the bus was later than usual making me miss my connection for the 202. But I give myself enough time to still get to work before 8 when this does happen.
On Tuesday I decided to give biking to work a try. It took me 1hr19min to get there and 1hr15 to get home. 25.5km. And I wasn't completely exhausted when I got home. Not completely. So I plan on biking to work maybe once or twice a week. When the weather is on my side. Which it wasn't today, darn. And I'm going in for 6:30 tomorrow so I'll be driving in.

I've been bad.

It's high time I write a new post as I'm sure you're all probably tired of checking out my blog and seeing "Brain Donation" ! That is if I still have any of my captive audience left...So is it too late to tell you about the Victoria day long weekend?
It was excellent.
It got off to a good start with our first softball game of the season on Friday evening. We actually won! 17-16 against TMR. That means we already tied our winning record for last season!
Then on Saturday morning we headed off to my parents' cottage in NY state via Plattsburgh. Surprisingly we didn't have to wait at all at the Lacolle border crossing. We got to the cottage in the afternoon and after unpacking we went for a short bike ride around Mountain View.
That evening we tried a recipe out of my new cookbook, King Arthur Whole Grain Baking. We made whole wheat pizza dough and it turned out very good. And the secret to an even more delicious pizza experience is eating it drizzled with honey and green tabasco sauce. Try it, you'll like it, I swear! My friends Bonnie and Michael introduced me to the concept and anyone who's tried it has become a convert.
On Sunday we packed a lunch and went biking at Deer River State Forest. A nice ride, muddy at times but the black flies didn't get to us too much as long as we kept moving.
On Monday we did the trails at Hatch Brook (which you can also see on the Franklin County North map).

Brain Donation

Here's my public service announcement for the week...

Everyone is pretty aware about organ donation now that we can sign the back of our medicare cards if we wish to donate our organs after our demise.
I've signed mine, what about you?
Don't want your body desecrated? I've always been of the opinion that once I'm gone, I won't know the difference so I might as well help someone prolong their life.

Anyhow, that consent does not include one's brain. In order to give your brain up to science, specific consent forms must be filled out.

The Douglas Hospital requires both healthy and diseased brains (they are all inclusive and non-discriminatory!!!) in order to conduct their research.

You can read more about it on their site...Douglas Hospital

2 concerts in one week...

And the first one on a weeknight. Wow, I live a wild and crazy life!
Last Tuesday I went to see David Usher at Club Soda. It was excellent, although Heidi and I felt our age with all the 14 year olds there. We seemed to be some of the few to know the words to the Moist songs that he played.

Saturday I went out again with Heidi to see the Frames, an Irish band from Dublin. Again, it was a really good show, they played for over 2 hours.

That was just part of a busy but fun weekend.

On Friday night we went out to supper with Catherine and Eric at Gourmet Hot and Spicy to celebrate his 35th birthday (old fart!)
I wouldn't recommend their General Tao chicken or thier chicken satay but everything else was quite yummy, especially the dumplings and the Won ton soup. That is according to the others. I had the Tom yum soup which was also very good.

On Saturday afternoon , we headed over to Katja & Jouni's for a bbq to celebrate Élise's 3rd birthday. Unfortunately, Elise was a little under the weather, but the adults had fun stuffing their faces, as we usually do when we all get together!

Then on Sunday, we headed out to Rigaud to celebrate Olaf's birthday by making sushi. Tim, France & I enjoyed a bit of the outdoors before with a walk on Mont Rigaud.
We also had a few failed attempts at making pop & Mentos rockets.

Click on Tim to see the video!

So it goes

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

On Deceit

I inadvertently found out a pretty important fact today about someone I used to know but have lost touch with lately. I had my doubts about this fact and indirectly asked them about it a while back but they did not respond to my question. (It's a little too easy to do that in emails sometimes and this person is the master of avoidance!)

Anyhow, I don't know if I should be mad at this person for not being honest with me or sad because they might not think I can handle the truth.

But in reality, you know, I don't think I really care. Which is pretty sad in itself considering how important this person used to be to me.

Such is life. You move on and evolve and some things or people don't have a place in your life anymore. Sad maybe, but true!

(And, yes, I am avoiding giving specific details to protect the identity of the guilty party!)

Top o'the mornin' to you!

We started celebrating last night with an evening at the curling club, drinking Kilkenny, Irish coffee (and Labatt 50, it has a green label!) and music courtesy of Salty Dog.

And today? Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Baby news!

You'll have to excuse me if I get overly emotional in this post, I've been up at 5 o'clock the past 2 mornings and at work for 6:30...

So the big news is Tim has become an uncle!

And since no one else has said it (or almost), well, I will - I have become an aunt!

I can assume that title, right? Hey, after all, for all intents and purposes, I figure if I hadn't been married before, Tim and I would probably have gotten hitched by now, so there, I'm an aunt!

Catherine and Eric's bundle of joy arrived on Tuesday afternoon. That's Uncle Tim there holding Vanessa Anne. She is absolutely adorable. No bias here whatsoever! But what else would you expect from such great parents?!

It was well worth being stuck in traffic for a good hour and a half to get to the South Shore to go visit them at the hospital last night. Anyhow, my bad for leaving the West Island at 5 o'clock on a foggy and rainy evening.

Today's traffic escapade was only about 15 minutes long on the 40 just before Decarie to about Rockland. Yes, I do usually use public transportation to and fro work but I can't get to work for 6:30 by bus so Tim has been good enough to let me use the car and he gets my bus pass in exchange.

But I did go pick him up at work on both days. And today I took a side trip to L'Équipeur to see if they had the boots I wanted. And can you believe it, lo and behold, they did. In my size. And they fit. And they were regular $79.99, reduced to $39.99, further reduced to $29.99, less our 20% discount family card (Tim's cousin used to work there), less $10 on a purchase of $50 or more (I also bought socks, lots of socks!) So a true score!

What a week!

Boots, socks AND a niece! :P

Good Intentions

What better way to spend a snowy Friday evening but to meet up with your significant other and a few of his old co-workers for a "6 à 8."
On my way to McCarold's on Côte-des-Neiges, I figured 1/2 a pint would be my intake for the evening. Didn't happen.
Here's the catch...I ordered a Chouffe.
La Chouffe is an 8% blond, not so much a problem.
But little did I know that La Chouffe comes in 750 ml bottles.

Tee hee hee, and we had a pleasant evening!

Not as pleasant, I'm sure, as Steve who had at least 5 Maudites and a mistakenly ordered scotch which we didn't quite catch the name of but tasted like very bad disinfectant.

The pub is kewl and easily accessible by Metro. We will have to make a return trip there soon.

This, that and the other

Well, I seem to have been too busy to bother blogging lately. Busy with what? Nothing special, more or less just the regular routine.

Last Saturday we had a little outing to Ottawa. Steph & Olaf organized it to celebrate Steph's birthday which was the previous week. (Tim & I had also celebrated with them on the day of by having them over for pizza from Andalo's and then going to see Volver at the AMC.)

So a gang of us met up for lunch at the Royal Thai on Dalhousie and stuffed ourselves silly, as usual. I had the chicken pad thai, which was really yummy.

Then we eventually all made our way to Dow's Lake and skated for a good hour and a half. It was a beautiful day and we had a good time although not everyone was at the same level of ability.




Five of the gang of 11




After skating we all parted ways. Ysabel, Tim and I headed back to the Byward Market area and had a beer and dinner at The Olde Dubliner.

Sunday was supposed to be a productive day (no, the kitchen is not finished yet!)
but we got up late and then did a few messages on the Shore. By the time we had done groceries and headed home for lunch, I think it was almost 4 o'clock! We had a late-ish supper of really tender steaks and homemade baked fries which I got to enjoy all over again with leftovers at lunch on Monday!

I am Easy Rider

What Classic Movie Are You?
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I am Abraham Lincoln

What Famous Leader Are You?
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Today's interesting encounter

On the way home on this more than frigid evening, I encountered the nutjob of the week award winner. Said dude was wearing a warm looking hat with ear-flaps à la Elmer Fudd, a parka (not zipped up, mind you), SHORTS and BIRKENSTOCKS WITH NO SOCKS! I have nothing more to say...

Latest change

Oh boy, it's been already a week and I haven't shared...I got my hair cut! Woohoo! It just got too annoying. I had it tied up all the time to stay in the hairnet at work but then I had to have it down to fit my hat on my head to go outside and it would get half untucked out of my coat and I'd get hot in the metro with it on my neck. So it was time to get it chopped! Sorry, no pictures, you'll have to see it in person! It's about the same style I had three years ago, just above shoulder length. Nothing exciting.

I had the pleasure, as I will again this week, of starting work at 6:30 2 mornings last week as one of my co-workers is on vacation. So I got to drive in as I can't get there on time by bus at that hour. Too early! The upside of starting at that hour is I get to finish at 2:30. Or I'm supposed to anyhow. On Thursday it was just too busy so I ended up staying til 3:45. Needless to say I was asleep in front of the tv even before 8 o'clock rang!

I got closer to 50 blood donations this week too. That might have also contributed to my lack of energy. Although I did make it to the gym 3 times during the week.

I've been reading Nora Roberts' Key Trilogy as my public transit divertissement. Decent mindless reading, but man, I can really do without the smutty love parts. I actually skip the pages with those scenes. It's worse than Harlequin romances! Not that I've read any, but, like, totally gag me! I guess desperate housewives have to get it somewhere!

ALL THE BEST FOR 2007!

I count myself to be very lucky, this was the first year ever I've had to work between Christmas and New Year's. And it was pretty busy at work. Luckily on Friday we were allowed to leave by 2 o'clock and I did not have to do the usual Friday inspection. Normally on Fridays they stop production before lunch and then they spend the afternoon hosing down the production and packaging departments after which I have to make sure everything was cleaned properly. Since we only had 3 days of work last week, they forwent the big cleaning.
Tim left the office early, his last day at Montrusco, and came to get me at work. As of Wednesday, he'll still be working for his present employer, ConnecTalk but will no longer be permanently at the same client's office (which was Montrusco.) So he will now be driving to work in Ville St-Laurent instead of walking to the office downtown.
We then did some shopping for the weekend and dropped in at Tim's mom's.

This year we decided to do something different for New Year's as it would be falling on the weekend and various people would be away or unsure if they could make it to a dinner party due to pregnancies and other excuses!
So an ever-shrinking group of us, which was the perfect number in the end as no one had to sleep on the floor, ended up at my parents' cottage in New York state.
Ysabel also backed out on coming so Tim, Maya and I headed down early on Saturday morning in the blowing snow and made it to Mountain View by 11:30 or so after picking up some more groceries in Malone. It's such a pain to not be able to bring meat or fruit across the border. Luckily our dollar isn't at such a bad exchange rate these days.
We went out for a walk in the afternoon and showed Maya the hood and at some point Tim checked his phone and we had a message from Stephanie that Olaf was under the weather so they would only be showing up on Sunday. AAAAaaaaah! They were supposed to be bringing chocolate for fondue for Saturday evening's dessert! So I made the chocolate cake I had planned for Murielle's birthday (on the 1st) instead. Chocolate in any form is always a must!

Murielle & Paul showed up at suppertime and we had fajitas followed by watching Batman Begins. We had brought our projector and screen for the full movie experience.
Steph & Olaf showed up on a beautiful Sunday morning and we spent the afternoon walking in the woods towards "High Falls". As always, go to Tim's site for all the photos but here are a few for now...