lexophile v. pro tem (in the meantime...)

2008-07-04T20:14:00.002-04:00

nerdy teacher humour ahead, proceed with caution: so there are a variety of learning styles which include, among other things, auditory learning (i hear it, i learn it) and kinesthetic learning (i do it, i learn it). the other day mom was doing a crossword puzzle and the clue was for a 5 letter word meaning surrender. the answer was uncle, but mom had never heard of crying uncle as a term for surrender. so my father and i explained it to her. thus, mom had an auditory lesson on the use of the term uncle.

today, mom got a kinestetic lesson. she hired a new cleaning lady to come to the house. this woman was so painfully slow at her job that eventually mom had to cry uncle and ask her to leave. i have a feeling that you had to be there to fully appreciate the hilariousness of it all. the whole reason for hiring the lady is that mom's arthritis prevents her from doing a lot of the work, but even she could have done it faster than this lady - who, by the way, was engaged the entire time in incessant conversations and arguments with herself.

current mood: laugh riot

2008-07-03T18:12:00.003-04:00

keeping up with the joneses: i forgot to mention the other day that our neighbours got the exact same car as us. different colour but otherwise same car. definitely gives you a strange vibe when they are parked side by side in the driveway.

eating habits: took out steak for dinner last night and it totally wasn't done defrosting by dinner. cooked it anyway. two days ago i took a chicken out of the freezer and put it in the fridge. totally still frozen solid today, so that meant bacon and eggs for dinner.

nose to the grindstone: i am so completely out of student mode. reading scholarly articles is driving me absolutely batty. i'm trying to do as much as possible outdoors to decrease the tedium but it isn't working for me. at least the course is only 22 incredibly intensive days long. i did manage to accomplish a lot today though, doing a rough draft for one of my assignments and researching/making notes for another.

my laptop rules: it is going to take me a very, very long time to get used to the shift button on this keyboard. i hate it. otherwise my laptop is the best in the world. so there.

current mood: exhausted

2008-07-03T11:02:00.002-04:00

stream of consciousness: we've eaten nothing of interest since we got back. just usual summer fare like grilled steaks, corn on the cob, and cauliflower. lunch has been cleaning out the fridge fare. the dog took a tumble off the couch yesterday and has been really sore so i've been stressed about that. plus i just started a course and am not entirely clear on some of the directives/expectations. hopefully it will become clearer soon. not to mention the fact that my surgery is next week. oy! trying to work ahead. better go get my readings done.

current mood: frenzied

2008-07-01T16:09:00.001-04:00

eating habits: yesterday k and i decided to do brunch at schwartz for some of those delicious smoked meat sandwiches and fries. the fries pushed me over the fried potato edge though, so we had to cancel our tentative plans for a poutine dinner. this sent us down to old montreal to see if garde manger would be open mondays. alas it wasn't and we ended up strolling the old town for a few hours shopping (and discovering a cupcake store, the sweet scent of which made me very queasy).

later in the evening we walked down the street from the hotel to a local fast food type thai restaurant. i know, i know. my green coconut curry was insanely spicy so we ended up walking a few kilometres to ben and jerry's to cool our palates.

this morning we decided to take part in the great montreal bagel debate and got a sesame bagel each from st viateur and fairmount. we ended up falling on opposite sides of the debate, but for the same reason. k liked fairmount better because of the slightly crunchier crust. i prefered st viateur because it did not have the slightly crunchy crust. go figure.

on the way home we ate cinnamon apple danishes from olive et gourmando for lunch. who knows what dinner will bring. something simple, i imagine.

current mood: good to be home

2008-06-30T08:49:00.006-04:00

eating habits: last night was dinner number two at au pied de cochon. our stomachs are not too happy with us, but i am sure they will forgive us eventually. we were so full yesterday that we barely snuck in a brunch of a frozen lemonade and a pastry at noon before heading off to pdc. once there we started off with the foie gras cromesquis (the little melted foie fritters) telling ourselves that we'd go easy on the appetizers and then negotiate with our stomachs about dessert.

for mains, k got the signature pied de cochon and i got the happy pork chop and we split an order of their killer duck fat fries. both orders ended up being about a pound of meat. k's came with choux croute, garlic mashed potatoes with cheese curds in them, and a large porky pate filled fritter. mine came with the restaurant's standard wine/stock/mushroom/carmelized onion and some mustardy savoy cabbage cooked with carrots and bacon. i'm proud to say that it was the best pork chop i've ever had. it was juicy, tender and delicious - the exact opposite of all past chops. the pig's foot was actually quite delicious as well, but i avoided the fatty, gelatinous bits. k said it was a little too fatty even for him and he loves fatty pork.

even though we were both stuffed to the point of being in near food comas, we couldn't resist the pecan pie and ordered it at the last minute. needless to say, our stomachs spent the rest of the evening in fully stretched screaming discomfort - but it was worth it!

highlights of the evening include: the couple sitting behind k. the lady ordered the braised lamb shank while her partner ordered the foie gras stuffed pigs foot. after polishing off her own shank in less than 5 minutes (again about a pound of meat) she dug into her man's pdc.

the couple sitting behind me ordered the duck in the can and the lamb shank. then got very upset when they thought that there might have been some sort of pork product in the sides that came with the duck in a can. keep in mind that the restaurant is called the pig's foot so cross contamination with pork is pretty inevitable. turns out they were kosher. what they were doing at pdc is beyond me if they were really concerned about pork touching their food.

the couple next to us were also from toronto and it was their first time at the restaurant. they decided to order and share the seafood platter for two with a venison tartare starter. they loved the tartare and then almost fell off their chairs when they saw the size of the seafood platter. the woman was clearly taking deep breaths and trying to pace only 1/3 into the thing, but i am happy to say they determinedly made their way through the whole thing. unlike us, though, they managed to resist the call of the pecan pie. they wanted it, but they said the room was starting to orbit.

complaint department: when the air conditioner in our room turns on and off it sounds like a natural disaster and wakes you up. it also causes bad monster nightmares.

current mood: thinking about skipping breakfast

2008-06-29T08:02:00.004-04:00

eating habits: traffic was pretty bad. weather was terrible. we arrived after a long, long drive to find our hotel's parking lot full and the complimentary breakfast mythical. slightly stressed, but not completely deflated, we left our car in the 15 minute hotel loading zone, hurried to our room (only to be impeded by an interminable elevator wait - two tiny elevators for 256 guest rooms? c'mon!), changed, and headed straight out for the restaurant. we found parking and nervously/excitedly killed the hour before our reservation.

the excitement was normal but the nerves were two-fold. first, what if we had built it up in our minds into something better than it was? second, i knew we were going to try the foie gras poutine. this wasn't going to be like the creamy, hard to identify gravy like melted foie from last time. this would have some of that same creamy goodness in the foie gravy (oh lord my arteries cringe!) but it would also have a nice, thick slab of the lobe. there would be no escaping the fact that this was fatted duck's liver. would i be able to bring myself to eat it? oh yes. even as it came to the table i was worried and uncertain but after that first bite (creamy soft inside, crispy bacon/chicken skin taste outside) i dove right in. it was a little on the salty/fatty side but that's what poutine is supposed to be. it was unreal.

k ordered the bison steak frites for his main and i got the duck magret in mushroom sauce. i have to admit that i was jealous of his fries. pdc fries are pretty amazing. the bison was good too, like slightly gamier beef. the duck was oh so very delicious. i want to order it again tonight, but know i should get something different.

dessert, yes we found one last cranny in our stomachs to stuff with dessert. we ordered the maple churros with the most luxurious custard dipping sauce ever. we ate every last drop and bite. nothing completes a meal started with foie like the added fat content of deep fried batter.

did i mention we had bar seats? as in right where bourdain sat with full view of the open kitchen? we were like kids in a foodie store watching them prepare everything, drooling, counting scars, laughing giddily.

current mood: another somewhat sleepless night

2008-06-27T17:26:00.003-04:00

eating habits: yesterday i got a delicious but imperfect butter chicken wrap at the staff luncheon. it was oh so very tasty but i thought there was room for improvement. for one, the chicken was served piping hot in copious amounts of butter chicken sauce. this meant that it sogged/tore through the hole and oozed out lava-like burning your fingers. this also meant that the cilantro/cucumber/carrot salad that was mixed in was cooked by the radiant heat and tasteless. it would have had much more of an impact had it been crisp and cool. lastly, it came with mango chutney. but it came with so little chutney, and so much sauce, that you only got two chutney-ey bites.

i'm a little concerned with the fact that this stuffed me so full that i couldn't even eat dinner. this doesn't bode well for two back to back nights of au pied de cochon. what's a girl to do?

reading habits: i finished citizen girl. i was totally disappointed. the first half of the book was great then it just trainwrecked. you knew something bad was going to happen but the something bad was just so uninteresting. even if i agree with a lot of her views, i didn't need to be bashed over the head with them. and the fact that she sold out for so long was pretty unadmirable.

luckily my diane schoemperlen book finally arrived and i am so, so, so very excited to read it. i quickly read the first ten pages before falling into a coma/nap and i was so pleased to be drawn completely in within less than two pages. hurrah! too bad it's such a short book (190pgs).

current mood: tired

2008-06-27T10:19:00.001-04:00

bragging rights: dude. my new computer is so awesome. i'm all kinds of nervous about getting all my old files off of the other computer / breaking it when i replace the fan. still though. this one's a beaut.

current mood: starving

2008-06-26T17:39:00.001-04:00

randomization: summer holidays have officially started.

i ate way too much at the end of year party and am totally stuffed.

i am writing this on my new laptop which is so very cool and even has fingerprint id for extra security. oooh la la.

current mood: stuffed!

2008-06-24T19:37:00.002-04:00

complaint department: oh the stress! today was just a total big ball of stress day. not really talk-about-able stuff but basically the first and last weeks of any school year (plus the weeks before xmas vacation and spring break) are stress central. tomorrow is the last day, so this is one of those weeks. then, on top of that, i got this total stress bomb dropped on me right before home time.

coming up roses: on the plus side, i ordered my new laptop, and was told that my old laptop should be fixable for MUCH less than the $400 i was quoted.

eating habits: i made a cream cheese and rhubarb sandwich for lunch. on a panini. how did i manage this, you ask. and why would i bother, others ask. the answer to question the first was that i had made stewed rhubarb with strawberries and a whole whack of sugar and it turned out very deliciously jammy. the answer to your second question is that i wanted an adventure!

reading habits: i'm gonna go read some of my book right now! yay! and the diane schoemperlen book that i've had on hold for 2000000 years is finally in. i'm so excited!

current mood: delegation is key!

2008-06-23T18:59:00.001-04:00

eating habits: rodeo this weekend so the food was... rodeo food. this generally means some sort of egg sandwich product for breakfast and either a hot dog or hamburger for lunch, then the opposite for dinner. however, saturday night (after the total freak hail storm that sent our tent flying 15 feet) we decided to drive 20 minutes to town for amazing calzones. they were enormous and only $4.99. love it! dinner last night was a sour cream glaze donut from tim hortons because i couldn't bring myself to eat another burger.

also since it is the last week of school, i am on a stress eating binge which means that i ate doritoes, cookies, and a timbit today. the shame! i should lie and say that i am just trying to get my stomach ready for TWO visits to au pied de cochon!

reading habits: i couldn't resist. i started reading citizengirl. the best way to describe it (and the nanny diaries) is to say that it is like watching two cars in slow motion going into a brutal/fatal head on collision but not knowing why or how the accident is going to happen and not being able to turn away. i'm totally hooked.

current mood: scrabble!

2008-06-18T18:23:00.003-04:00

death in the family: my laptop has more or less passed on to the great unknown. it is only three years old but the fan died and it is more or less unreplaceable. this means that my presence is going to be very sporadic for the next little while.

eating habits: out to a friend's for sunday dinner. he made an incredible sour cream rhubarb pie. oh man was it good. monday was burgers with asparagus and corn on the cob. tuesday was really unpleasant quiche. i tried using the cheese even though it smelled like gym socks.

tonight, i made honey garlic pork chops with broccoli and roasted taters. then my neighbour brought over his homemade gumbo. feeling adventurous i tried the gumbo and the crawdaddies, crab, and chorizo that were in it. the gumbo itself would have been great if it weren't so fishy. the crawdaddies and crab were... seafood. still hate it. the chorizo had this crazy spicy afterburn.

reading habits: still finishing up the parker-bowels book. it is pretty good. but i highly recommend that if
a) you have eaten chocolate cake, which you are allergic to, and suffered major gastrointestinal distress as a result,
b) are very anxiously/nervously awaiting your pre-op appointment, and
c) you love dogs
you should skip the chapter about eating dog at least for the time being.

current mood: no fish thanks

2008-06-14T19:17:00.002-04:00

eating habits: dinner at johny banana as expected was intensely filling. so much so that we couldn't really bring ourselves to eat ballpark snacks as the cubs lost to the jays! boo! (side note: i wanted to go to today's game which they won, but nooooo k picked friday. ha!)

today was an eating frenzy. went to the bakery up the street for apple walnut cinnamon rolls for breakfast before heading out to the disappointingly sparse farmer's market. then it was off to the school fun fair for burgers, hot dogs, and fudge. i returned home to cook brownies and lemon/lime squares for my mom's potluck dinner tonight. then, after church k and i picked up and devoured a bbq chicken pizza and some pilfered lemon/lime squares.

reading habits: i've been a little lax with reading this week on account of report cards. i am still working on (see: on chapter 2) of the tom parker-bowles book. mostly i just can't get over my disappointment that it is pronounced bowls not bowels. in summer reads news, i got citizengirl for 50cents at the library. i did enjoy reading the nanny diaries, so i'm looking forward to this.

current mood: totally wiped out

2008-06-13T16:36:00.002-04:00

reportcarding season: over.

eating habits: dinner last night was very boring hot dogs with steamed broccoli. i was finishing up reports so that was the best i could do. plus i forgot to defrost anything else.

dinner tonight is burritos at johnny bananas followed by a jays/cubs game. i was wondering, does anyone else look at the menu before they go out to dinner to plan what they want to order? do they do this sometimes even for restaurants they have been to several times before? i don't know why i do this. i think it just increases my anticipation and potential for a let down.

current mood: sore! tired!

2008-06-11T17:16:00.002-04:00

matrimonial bliss: monday meant meeting with the priest after work to officially set a date and fill out the forms to be married at the church. tuesday meant meeting with the reception venue after work to secure the date and put down a deposit. all systems go!

earth-shattering news: i went to the hairdresser last night, before the meeting at the reception venue, and he got so totally carried away. i asked for it to be short but had no idea it would even be possible for my hair to get this short without using a razor. egads! it is a bit of a shock to the system but i'm getting used to it. as usual, kids said the darnedest things (ie: "you look like a boy" and "well, at least your hat covers it"). ironically, quite a few of the grown ups seemed genuinely thrilled with the cut.

eating habits: monday was chicken caesar for dinner. tuesday was hot dogs with spinach/strawberry salad. today will be chicken and veg stir fry i think. mom's in charge. i think her cooking dinner is a reward for me bike riding to work. my parents are big on pushing exercise.

also, i am totally addicted to the quaker crispy minis. some flavours aren't all that great... but they grow on you. the first time i had the dill pickle ones they were so vinegary they burned my tongue. now i love them. ketchup seemed "meh" the first time i tried them, then they grew on me too.

current mood: wobbly! boo on exercise!

2008-06-08T17:11:00.002-04:00

eating habits: when the weather gets as hot as it has this weekend, we aren't that big on eating around here (see: last night's dinner menu). one thing my parents love as a beat the heat dinner is the avocado and tomato salad i make for them. if i didn't hate tomatoes i'd probably love it too, so i thought i'd share the recipe.

beat the heat salad

2 ripe but firm avocadoes
1 or 2 ripe but firm tomatoes
2 tbsp diced onion
2 tbsp diced feta cheese
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oil (your choice)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch salt

i start by making the "dressing" which means putting the oil, sugar, lemon juice, salt, cheese and onion at the bottom of a bowl. i don't even stir it, i just let it sit while i cut the tomatoes and avocadoes. i seed and dice the tomatoes and dump them in. now i give it all a good stir because i don't want to stir too much when i add the avocadoes.

then i take the pits out of the avocadoes, cut them into medium chunks (about 4 cuts lengthwise and 6 or so across) then scoop into the bowl too. mix it all very gently to avoid mushing the avocadoes. either enjoy immediately, or refrigerate for a few hours before eating.

in my house this amount serves two very greedy eaters. i imagine it'd serve four normal eaters.

current mood: good :)

2008-06-08T10:54:00.002-04:00

prognosis positive redux: things are looking very, very good. almost done. so i will spend the afternoon with my mom at some silly garden tour she is dying to go to. hopefully my knees will cope with the walking, they are in pretty bad form this weekend.

eating habits: last night for dinner i ate a pear and a scoop of cookie dough ice cream.

travelogue: for the long weekend, k and i had planned to go to washington dc. we were going to see the sights, eat the eats, and all around enjoy ourselves. the problem was that we hmmm-ed and haw-ed for too long and hotel prices went way, way up. then the reality of gas prices for 20 hours worth of driving plus the thought of actually spending 20 hours in a hot car kicked in. soooooo, we've booked ourselves into a decent hotel in montreal and have two (that's right two) reservations at au pied de cochon. the best part was that i called to book saturday, then called back four hours later to book sunday and she recognized me and seemed amused that we'd decided to come two nights in a row. we got seats at the bar just like bourdain! we've never been to montreal in nice weather! this is so exciting!

current mood: happy

2008-06-07T11:36:00.002-04:00

prognosis positive: things got off to a heck of a rocky start but have steadily improved as the morning has progressed. i'm not one to swear at computers (THAT often) but i was more than tempted when the system repeatedly skipped randomly from box to box, erasing grades and comments on whim. when i finally got that sorted out, and it seemed as though one pesky problem was solved, my computer shut down of its own free will erasing much of my progress - and further confirming my belief that i need to either get a new fan or a new laptop altogether.

still, i got past both of those unpleasant setbacks and have actually made a surprising amount of progress. i don't want to jinx it, but it almost feels like things are progressing too well.

eating habits: we went to phil's bbq for dinner last night. oh the glory of smoked brisket with phil's unbeatable bbq sauce. and the fries! they are just so crispy and perfect and delicious. not to mention the hush puppies. yum.

reading habits: the michael chabon book had to go back to the library unread, but i got tom parker-bowles' (yes camilla's son) book. turns out he is a popular, funny, and interesting food writer over there in the good ole uk. the book is titled the year of eating dangerously and has so far started well then gotten a little bit on the boring side. hopefully it picks up. nigel slater loved it, so it has to be good right?

current mood: take a break

2008-06-05T19:09:00.002-04:00

untitled: i can't think of anything pithy, witty, or interesting to use as a title. my brain is pun-less. although i wish it were full of puns because then i could say it was puny. see! i'm so totally overtired. more un-talk-about-able stuff happened at work that just totally threw me for a loop yesterday. i'm still trying to deal with and sort that out.

ideally i need to get past the chaos of the week before saturday because reportcarding season is coming to an end soon (see also: deadline approaching! panic!). we'll see how that goes.

eating habits: dinner last night was frozen pizza with salad because i so tired and stressed out. dinner tonight was blueberry peach pancakes for some, strawberry pancakes for others, fried eggs, and bacon (yuck!).

current mood: yawn!

2008-06-03T17:29:00.004-04:00

to protect the innocent the body of this post will be written in top secret code:

.yadot loohcs ta em no llef draobkcalb dnuop derdnuh eerht eht

oh man that was way too hard.

don't worry, i didn't get hurt.

[update] sked asked that i add the how and why to the code. these facts are unknown. i pulled a puny piece of tape off and almost got squashed. luckily i have cat-like reflexes and managed to save myself. [/update]

current mood: silly

2008-06-01T19:31:00.004-04:00

eating habits: less than exciting on the food front. bacon and eggs for breakfast. hot dogs for lunch. french vanilla white chocolate hot chocolate as a mid-afternoon pick-me-up that i had a bad reaction to (and had to take a nap as a result of). not you too white chocolate?! why hast thou forsaken me? dinner was roast beef, taters, and arugula/strawberry salad.

reading habits: the book that i picked up at the library (the memoir of the boy soldier from sierra leone) was supposed to get read today. too bad i ended up having to take a nap on account of feeling sick. so far it is really interesting and written in such a way as to feel slightly removed and therefore less depressing than it should be.

pleasant surprises: this weekend i expected to get a grand total of no reportcarding done because the system was down for servicing. clearly i underestimated the genius level of my reportcarding talents. i made a huge dent into them in less than 90 minutes!

current mood: STOP MAKING THAT NOISE, COMPUTER!

2008-06-01T07:33:00.004-04:00

general disbelief: i really cannot believe that it is already june. time really flies. this means that it is the season for report cards and varied interruptions (see: assemblies, masses, concerts, play days, field trips). at least the weather hasn't been up in the 30s like last year when it was too hot to function in the classroom. also, breaking my newly instituted "keep june easy" rule, k and i are booked solid pretty much through to the end of the month with stuff (see: cubs games, al green concert, rodeo with k's brother).

comparative studies: went to see dirty dancing the musical last night. beforehand we spent the day wandering downtown. love to live in a city where you can stumble upon a south asian festival and have a delicious (and cheap!) midafternoon snack of pakoras. dinner was at salad king, also incredibly delicious panang curry. then off to see the musical. eh. not sure what to say about it.

i think i was at a serious disadvantage having seen the movie 200,000,000 times. i had a lot of trouble getting over the fact that i wasn't seeing jerry orbach, jennifer gray, and patrick swayze up there. i think that for what it was, it was well done. however, pretty much every added line or scene was unnecessary. dirty dancing is not supposed to be a political diatribe about the american south and civil rights. as k pointed out, it is a coming of age love story centered around trying to get a girl an illegal abortion. oh the silliness!

current mood: slept really badly

2008-05-29T19:13:00.002-04:00

for your information: i have had a very long day. i am tired. i don't feel like blogging. i just want you to know that i picked up two books at the library today: the yiddish policemen's union and the memoirs of a boy soldier. i intend to start reading again. however, good intentions often come to naught.

current mood: not too bad

2008-05-28T19:47:00.002-04:00

eating habits: my favourite bbq sauce mixed with cider vinegar, brown sugar, and peanut butter used as a braise for chicken legs. the "pan juices" de-fatted and used as a sauce for the chicken. oh lord does it taste good. wish i could have some of the leftovers for lunch tomorrow but peanuts are banned in schools. oh, and it had been more than 7 days without coleslaw so i had to make some.

earth-shattering news: the fence that i built with my own two hands 10.5 years ago has met its end. it was still fairly sturdy and standing but it was getting arthritic joints and was looking a little worse for the wear so mom insisted it be euthanized before things got worse. i am proudest of the fact that it withstood 10 particularly stormy canadian winters.

back by popular demand: i know many of you have seen this photo a zillion times, but just file it under "places i'd rather be". i am having such nostalgia for k and my trip to france. plus, it was warm and sunny there.

current mood: full!

2008-05-27T19:04:00.002-04:00

eating habits: dinner tonight was all about sneaking (and blatantly smearing) blue cheese into and onto everything to mixed results. i put a bit of blue cheese into the steamed baby spinach to give it some smoky, salty depth. then i put some blue cheese into the mashed potatoes because k wasn't eating them and really i didn't add enough for the olds to complain. there was still more blue cheese (which i'm not trying to get rid of or anything, wink wink) so i smeared more on my steak and added extra to my potatoes. all in all, i think i went overboard. it didn't really do it for me when added right onto the steak but when the cheesy taters were eaten with the steak it was luscious.

plus, i just feel like showing off this beautiful sunset photo from the wedding on the weekend. so here it is. (also the bride was a puppeteer if you were wondering about the giant bird puppet leading the guests to the reception.)

current mood: sore shoulders