Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Ouch

Oh dear. I was feeling pretty good yesterday considering Monday's practice. But yesterday's slight stiffness is more of an ever-present ache today. Tonight's practice will focus more on strength exercises so I'm pretty much guaranteed to be crawling by tomorrow and dragging my body by Friday.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Parc Jean-Drapeau Weather

Parc Jean-Drapeau has something against me.

Last night I went to my first winter training for Dragon Boat. We still train at the Olympic Basin, but indoors (of course). Remember how this summer it rained for what seemed like almost all my Dragon Boat practices? See where I'm going with this? Yes, last night it was raining on my way to practice and still raining on my way home. I'm not on the bike anymore so I got to trek from the metro and back. Ugh. Cold winter rain, heavy winter boots, slippery path ... going to be an interesting winter.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

And so it begins

Winter, that is. Day after day of static from dry air, hat head, snow-hair, boots, layer upon layer of clothing.

Winter officially (in an unofficial sense) hit Montreal this morning. When I went out to pick up my newspaper it was snowing enough that I felt I needed to wear my boots for the first time this year. As I left the gym and walked to work, I was glad to have them because the sidewalks were very slippery with snow, slush and ice.

It's November 20, remember this. What date will it be when I wear my boots for the last time?

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Final Total

Finally took my bike down to my locker this past weekend (after watching it collect dust behind my dining room table for the past 2 months) and was astonished to read on my bike computer that I biked a total of 744.8 kilometres this summer! Is that amazing or what?! The timing of that is from about the beginning of June until mid-September.

So friggin' impressed with myself. Who knew I could do that? Certainly not me!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Leeky Goodness

Yvette sent me a fantastic recipe a little while ago. I finally made it the other night. If you like leeks (Mom, for one) this is for you. This one's a keeper!

Leek and Potato Quiche
(adapted version especially for Stef)

Ingredients:
As much leek as you want. I usually use about 3 big ones.
2 large onions, chopped
2 – 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced finely
3 eggs
1 container sour cream (mine comes in a 180 g pot)
2 tbsp cornstarch
Drizzle of cream or milk, if needed
Ready-made dry bread crumbs
One rolled-out pastry crust

Cut the leek into rings and wash them. I sometimes half them and then cut them. Depends if you want big rings or half rings. Wash the leeks.

Heat some oil in a skillet and fry the leek and onions. Add the diced potato and fry until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Or Aromat if you’re Swiss. Let cool.

Mix together the eggs, sour cream and cornstarch in a measuring jug. Fill up to the 400 ml mark with cream or milk if necessary. Season.

Prepare the quiche dish with the pastry. Either butter the dish first or use parchment paper to line it. Poke the pastry with a fork. Sprinkle some bread crumbs on it. Add the leek mixture, then pour on the eggs and cream.

Bake at 200°C for 1 hour in the lower half of the preheated oven.

Note from Stef: I cheated and bought a ready made pastry, also must've used really big potatoes and leeks because I ended up with enough filling for two pie crusts. Added an extra egg another 60ml of sour cream (to equal 1 cup total), splash of milk and also a sprinkle of nutmeg. I could hardly wait until this came out of the oven to eat it. Let it cool for a few minutes and then dive in - soooo delicious!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Some explaining to do

Seems I have some explaining to do.

Eight weeks ago Yvette introduced me to an old acquaintance of hers via Facebook. After some email back and forth, we met. Went to dinner, had a drink. It was a pretty good night, nice enough guy. A few dates and weeks later I got the first drunken 4am phone call, other dates ended with him telling me he'd gone out "to drink" after our date. Another date where I made sure there was no alcohol involved, had me thinking perhaps this really wasn't going anywhere. The date that decided me once and for all ended with him drinking the better part of two bottles of wine, him leaving to go home but instead taking a taxi downtown to drink and calling me at 4am.

And there you go. I have no intention of getting involved with someone who thinks better of alcohol than he does of me and so ended things.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Check, Check, Check

Break off with guy I've been seeing for last 7 weeks - check
Leave work early - check
Meet up with friend #1, meet kid #3, play with kids #1 and #2, have dinner, good chat, comfy bed, a trip to the grocery store in a car - check
Bake pumpkin muffins - check
Make way to see friend #2 on the ever so civilized train - check
See how baby has grown - check
Eat, talk, laugh - check

It was a good weekend. Got all kinds of stuff accomplished, saw friends that I haven't been able to see in a while (because they live so damn far away!), did some window shopping, treated myself to a little musical melodrama (Bollywood style), ran into my mother at The Bay, made pumpkin soup, went to bed early, slept well. Does it get any better?

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Flurries?

According to Environment Canada, they are forecasting a chance rain showers or flurries for today.

Ugh. I hope not. I'm wearing my oh-so-pretty brown dress boots (as opposed to horrible, heavy, clunky, warm winter boots).

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Long time no post

Apparently there hasn't been much action on my blog (according to Wild Bill) so I better get a post up before I forget all about blogging.

What's been going on? Bit of this, bit of that. Christmas presents for my friends in the UK have been bought, wrapped and sent (last week). Christmas presents for my friends in Switzerland have been bought and wrapped and will be hand delivered by me in December. Christmas presents for the rest of the family will be very few as most of us are going to be spending all our hard earned money on a Christmas vacation in Switzerland.

I have been doing some good cooking. Great pumpkin muffins (so says Grandma), yummy pumpkin soup and an amazing pizza dinner, where I made pizza dough and served three different pizzas (a starter pizza, a main pizza and a dessert pizza) for dinner. Now I'm thinking of doing a fondue dinner or a "diner gateaux" along the same lines. Reservations are filling up fast, so book your seat now!