barque.ca, baseball game and moose steak

we met up with friends at barque for an amazing brunch. and when i mean amazing, i mean AMAZING! doug ordered the barque benedict which was on top of a smoked brisket which was on top of two toasted cornbread which was all covered and smothered with a bbq hollandaise sauce.

i was very tempted in ordering this but my gut instinct was to give their smoked trout omelette a try. and i was not disappointed at all. in fact, i don’t recall such a good omelette!

we’ll be heading back to this restaurant again… and again! the aim is to try everything on their menu at least once.

view from their seats

the husband of our friends, who happens to be my director, had two company tickets for the next day – toronto blue jays versus the new york yankees! doug and i have had these seats a couple of times in the past so we fully knew the view was going to be outstanding. but as there were only two tickets, i told doug to take chaeli since she’s been wanting to go for the past couple of years.

new blue jays fan in the making

luckily, chaeli’s first game resulted in a win for our team – 8 to 4. and daddy could not resist buying her her very first team baseball cap. he got one himself and i’m trying to forget that we now have $60 less in our pockets (not including the cracker jack, cotton candy, water and beer – all these things are so much more jacked up in price at a game!) but it was a great day and chaeli scored amazing seats for her first game.

to just back-track a bit, doug, chaeli and i also took hobbes back to high park after brunch with our friends, since barque was only a few minutes away. it gave hobbes a chance to burn out some of his canine energy and for the rest of us to walk off our brunch. the day was windy but the walk along the leash-free trail was nice. plus chaeli got another chance to visit the high park zoo.

as mentioned the other day, we had moose steak for dinner. doug’s had moose meat before but it was a first for me (and chaeli… and yes, hobbes, too). i have been wanting to try moose meat for awhile now. i’ve tried many other types of meat such as reindeer, elk, alligator, snake, frog legs, shark (not fins – actual shark meat), sea turtle (farmed, not the endangered type), bison, buffalo, ostrich and chocolate covered cricket. moose was definitely up their on my priority list.

it was a great way to end another wonderful weekend.

eyeing our leftovers

we had moose steak for dinner tonight. and some one else was eyeing our leftovers…

mmm…. can i have some, too?

board games, high park zoo and duck confit french toast

this weekend, as do all good weekends, went by too fast. but it was a good weekend indeed. the type i wish i could just put in a jar for a rainy day.

doug did have to work saturday, so that day was low key. chaeli and i took hobbes to the vet for a routine heart worm check-up. not fun for him since they had to put a needle in his hind thigh to draw some blood. the poor guy starts to shake whenever he’s on top of the examining table.

nothing special happened for the majority of the afternoon. chaeli had homework and i had housework. but then, being the amazing, domesticated mom that i am, i told her to put socks on because we were going to wendy’s. and not just eat food from wendy’s. but eat there.

which is fun for a kid. for me? it just means the garbage can be disposed of THERE and not at HOME. and the mess, should there be a mess would be THERE. and no, not at all at HOME.

i made up for my lack of domesticated skills after dinner though. well, sort of. my intent, in order to win mother of the year, was to just turn on netflix and veg out in front of the tv.

chaeli, however, wasn’t in the mood for tv. she asked, “can we play board games?”

i looked at her and replied back with a question, “really? with just the two of us? don’t you think it would be more fun if we did family game night with daddy home?”

“no… it can be fun with just two people.”

i will admit. i took a moment to think of all the excuses i could think of. i had my heart set on being lazy in my pj’s, lying in bed watching whatever netflix had to ofer, at least for kids. plus, do you know what it is like to play boardgames with kids? they either don’t follow the rules or they take a long time to decide on their move or they whine when they lose.

well, maybe not all of them and not all the time. the potential for any of these things to happen can very well happen.

but suddenly, i was in the mood to play myself. and i’m glad we did play that junior scrabble game, even though it forces you to limit your choices to the words already on the board. because it was a great way to spend the evening.

the next day was quite nice. we met up with ada and hoa at high park so doug could go for a run with them. while they ran, chaeli and i took hobbes to the off-leash trail to get some fresh air and move our muscles a bit.

i was not at all feeling guilty for the fact that i wasn’t joining them. in fact, i was rather happy to announce, “i don’t run. yoga, p90x and wimping out on gym cardio machines… that will do it for me!” they’re all marathon/triathlon types. or at least 10K types. and due to this, doug has been eating healthy and cutting back on the luxuries that happens to be beer. that’s why i don’t do marathons. i like to eat.

ada only did 30 minutes with them and then text-ed us to meet up with where ever we were. which was good. chaeli wanted to go to the zoo but with hobbes, i have to keep him away from the fenced in animals. ada was able to stick closer to her while i stood back whenever hobbes got overly excited from seeing an animal which he probably took as being a very, very large dog. except when he saw the turkeys and peacocks. then he just took them as very, very large birds.

we ended up at origin afterwards for an awesome brunch.

duck confit and french toast… heaven!

just one more…

i know i said i would do my christmast 2012 posts in just three posts, but chaeli walked in while i was doing the ‘best of’ collages… and reminded me i had to do one for hobbes.

so here it goes for hobbes’ 2012 ‘best of’ christmas loot:

hobbes’ 2012 ‘best of’ loot

1. stuffless stuffed toys
2. rollover beef california wraps
3. petsmart’s annual charity for animals holiday toy
4. pig’s ear
5. fleece booties
6. rollover roast beef roll-ups
7. beef pretzels
8. smoked lamb bone
9. bacon-flavor beggin’ strips

hobbes the firecracker

he hates wearing anything so i imagine he wasn’t at all pleased with the costume i picked out for him.

“god help me”

i wouldn’t have bothered buying that firecracker costume yesterday except that, well, first of all, it was only a couple of bucks since it was bought after halloween and most of all, we were invited to a halloween party for small pooches at a local off-leash park.

the party was only for small breeds and was held in the small dog, off-leash area. the only problem was that we normally cross through the off-leash area for the bigger breeds to get to the gate of the small dogs only area.

not a second after we entered, a couple of big dogs came running up to hobbes and started to chase him. as we walked, i noticed hobbes was getting quite a lot of attention. it only dawned on me that they were actually after the firecracker on hobbes’ back.

the fact that hobbes would run away from them basically made it a game for them – look! it’s a moving toy! lets get it!!!

poor hobbes.

i also figured out that dooce probably edits her photos of chuck when she requires a modesty patch right within flickr. thought i should try it myself – and the perfect opportunity came about today when hobbes saw me coming downstairs and immediately rolled onto his back as if to say, “ah. you’ve arrived. rub my belly.” typical male behaviour.

a patch for hobbes’ thing-a-ling

hobbes’ new nap place, pancake cookies and grade 3 homework

every week, i wash about 3 to 4 loads of laundry and fold everyone’s clothes/towels neatly… putting away mine and chaeli’s only. i would put doug’s away but he has a system.

it involves cramming his clean clothes in his overly filled drawers and closets do the fact that he needs to go through and throw away some clothes (the ones that have holes in them – especially his socks and underwear).

so for doug, i often just pile his clean laundry on our massage chair and then wait. and wait. sometimes, it will be close to a week before i cave and nag him to please put his clothes away.

one day, i came upstairs to find this:

this is what happens when you don’t put your clothes away…

i quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a photo as proof  to doug. notice how hobbes has the top layer of what was neatly folded all scrunched up – he does this with blankets, too. whatever it takes to make his day-bed nice a poofy, i suppose.

while visiting with ada and hoa during our trip to vancouver, chaeli and ada baked some of ada’s famous chocolate chip cookies while doug and i went out for a mid-morning coffee break.

first of all, i just want to take a moment and say this is why i love my best friends. it’s not that she did this just to let doug and i take a break – but the fact that she got to spend some quality time with chaeli, her god-daughter, will always be one of those memories i will never forget!

anyway, chaeli wanted to re-invent that moment with doug and i – mainly because she was craving for some of those delicious cookies. i wasn’t exactly sure how ada made her batch but figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find a simple, basic recipe online. i found a couple and sent it to doug but he had already started making the dough.

i asked him if he mixed the baking soda in with 2 tablespoons of water. he said he didn’t. i asked him if he was sure that would be okay because the recipe i was going to used said it was better to do this but he assured me it would be fine. i let it go.

about 10 minutes later, we took the cookies out of the oven. they were flat like pancakes. and kind of runny.

chaeli immediately said, “that’s now how auntie ada dose it.”

doug then turned to me and said, “i think i forgot the baking soda all together.”

see what i’m married to?

recently, i was reading dooce’s post on grade 3 homework. this post resonates exactly how i feel this year since chaeli is also in grade 3. it’s not that i’m complaining about what they are learning or how it is taught. the curriculum is very well thought-out so far. as it’s always been these past two years. but what i’m struggling with is the fact that i’m now getting a glimpse of what it is like to not always be able to help chaeli with her homework and studies.

for example… this ‘new’ math. i get why they re-invented how to teach math. i mean, they didn’t re-invent math, of course. how could they. math is math. 1 + 1 will always be and has always been 2. the way they teach math makes the children really think and understand the results of their answers. but some of it involves some very abstract thinking that i either do not get myself or have difficulty teaching her. i leave it all up to the teachers, this year. the only thing i encourage her to do is to not be afraid about asking for help. and if i see a repetitive problem in her homework, i will bring it up with one of her teachers.

presqu’ile park 2012 – last camping trip

i have to admit, i was tempted to just give up on our last planned camping trip.

it was an enthusiastic plan up until we started the school year. and then i was reminded how tiring it can be – just the mad, autumn and back-to-school rush.

but i pushed myself to make that reservation, make those plans and pack our clothes – i just blindly went along with it knowing i would regret it if i didn’t just suck it up and do one more last camping trip.

the incentive was returning to presquile – our old friend, one that never disappointed me in the past.

where i found a great spot for yoga

doug and chaeli are late-risers. i can be but chose to wake up early just to enjoy a longer and fuller day. the mornings are always my favourite with camping. plus, we got a great site just steps away from the lake. i found a spot on the long flat, rocky surface to do my a.m. yoga. obviously, i had to modify my moves as to stay off of my knees (a yoga mat is not protective from the bumpy, rocky surface) and balancing was a little hard due to the uneven ground, but i pulled off a beautiful and fantastic 45 minutes yoga session.

hiking right into the thick of the marsh

go for a walk on the boardwalk

one of my favourite features of presquile park is their unique marsh trail. they built an actual boardwalk that lets you get right into the thick of the marsh. it’s high enough as to avoid flooding on the path should the marsh water level ever rise during a year of high percipitation. but low enough for us to have the privilege to spot some frogs on the lily pads. this truly is a beautiful feature of the park – and i’ve yet to see something like this in other parks we’ve visited.

handsome boy

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. it’s important to adopt a dog who has just the right colouring to match the environment of one’s favourite park campground. though, hobbes was not thrilled to be ‘stuck’ on a long boardwalk that seemed to just go on and on.

skipping rocks by the lighthouse

there were at least a few other trails but with just a 2-night camping trip, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the lighthouse point. there are a lot of good skipping rocks available. plus, if you look closely, some of the rocks even have fossils (mostly of prehistoric plants, invertebrates and shells).

dipping little toes and feet in the water

all in all, it was a fantastic weekend. plus, we got to use our little old trailer one more time before the end of camping season.  looking forward to the camping trips for 2013!

view rest of our presquile camping trip 2012 photo album.

a few days as a single woman

doug left early sunday to visit with his family for a few days – thereby bringing chaeli home with him from her summer visit with my in-laws.

i can’t say i am thrilled of having my baby so far away for over a week. last year’s one week visit was hard enough. don’t get me wrong – i love the time i get to be on my own and all the solitude that’s quite rare in my life. but i’m a parent. a mom. worrying is second nature to me.

i did, however, take some advantage of being on my own.  i had an evening with a girlfriend – one of my highschool friends. we’ve seen each other off and on for the past several years and finally got together. as soon as we started to gab and catch up, i had one big, blaring thought in my mind… why didn’t we do this sooner?

what a fun night – we actually were the last to leave. the staff was cleaning up, even.

aside from that, i’ve been able to have longer workouts and so i took this opportunity to try out a new yoga dvd – shiva rea’s yoga shakti. i borrowed it from the library so will need to return it in a couple of weeks. the price on amazon.ca is quite high – $38.99! i question, actually, why it’s only $20.99 on amazon.com (US site). even with shipping fee, i will probably still save $10-12. i figure i would try it out before committing to the purchase.

it’s amazing. first of all, the scenery and music is exquisite. shiva rea is an excellent yoga guru. but what makes this dvd unique is that it has over 250 minutes of yoga. she includes 4 different yoga workouts – one finally focusing on the lunar salutation (i’ve been trying to find something to teach me about lunar salutation flow). on top of that, and this is the beauty of it all, there is a yoga matrix which you can program thereby having an infinite amount of routines right at your finger tips! the different sequences are explained in the dvd guide – along with how long each sequence is so that you can create the length you wish to practice yoga.

p90x plus both upper body strength and total body strength workout dvds were also revisited this past week. the upper body workout isn’t too bad but one of the reasons why i rarely do the total body dvd is simply because it is HARD! my aging body just can’t take the beating from such an intense workout like it use to! but i’m glad i did it – i was dripping sweat at the end but it was well worth it.

i’ve also been reading a lot. my reading list is long and i’m far behind. but as it turns out, a book i had on hold from last year finally came through – i got he automated email message from my library last week and didn’t waste any time to pick it up. and i’ve found it hard to put the book down ever since…

water for elephants – not a hard read but the author really does seem to capture that history of the traveling circus lifestyle so well.

somewhat annoying is that i keep on picture edward cullen’s face whenever i envision jacob, the main character.

i took today off so i could enjoy my last day of solitude. hobbes and i will head out to a dog park and i’ll most likely stop by starbucks on the way back for a nice, cold beverage!

red curry mussels, date in the woods and bbq-pool party

with chaeli visiting my PILs, doug and i had a date-weekend rather than just a date night. we actually hummed and hawed about going out for a nice dinner but by the time the end of the week rolled around, neither of us actually felt like leaving home.

friday night, we ended up making some thai red curry mussels for dinner. we accompanied it with a fresh baguette and some apple riesling wine. i can’t tell you how amazing it was! to dip the bread into the spicy, yet savory, creamy broth. we’ve been trying to replicate the first time we had red curry mussels from the san francisco food-haunt, fog city diner. which is still the best we’ve ever had. this recipe is about the closest we could fine. i recall the red curry ‘soup’ from fog city diner was thicker – creamier. i suspect it was just them adding a heavier type of coconut cream (or just cream on top of the coconut milk).

definitely a lovely dinner. and before that, while having a pre-dinner drink (gin & tonic), we sat in the living room and talked. i mean… really talked. a nice conversation. no serious stuff but just one of those good talks one finds with a best friend. luckily for me, this best friend also happens to be a life partner.

saturday, we went just on the outskirts of our city, north of us, to a conservation area. it was an idea i had awhile ago, to check out some of the trails at the bruce mill park. while most of the time, our hikes involve chaeli, i have to admit it was also nice to go just the two of us. we can cover more mileage and be a bit more adventurous. in other words, we got lost. not on purpose, but we certainly didn’t seem to care to follow a direct path. it was good – just over 3km in an hour with some hilly areas to boot.

hobbes definitey got his workout!

we stayed home for dinner again – this time making maple glazed, buttermilk grilled chicken, kelp chips and some small potatos. doug made plenty for leftovers (which was eaten tonight). a good recipe – the buttermilk really does marinate the meat, making it nice and juicy.

sunday, our friends, di and rick, had a bbq pool party. it was such a good time – with a crazy amount of food! of course, like most weekends, food is a symbolic part of our lives. i made a pasta and asparagus salad with a lemon-honey dressing (definitely better to make the night before to allow the acidity of the lemon rind and juice mellow out a bit). i left the pasta in just a smidge too long to be on the al dente side but after chilling in the fridge it surpassed. it was my first time making this recipe – next time i’m going to up the garlic and lemon a little and use less pasta. even though i used a whole bunch of asparagus, i felt it could have used more – it would certainly pump up the nutrients!

as a bonus, we got go hang out with rita, harry and their boys – they live in the connecticut and it was just so nice to catch up with them! i definitely miss it when they were living in TO.

guilty pleasures no. 47

why i’m fascinated with puppy paws…

read more from my latest guilty pleasures no. 47 post…