B.O.

You all know it. You've smelt it. You've smelled of it. There are times when it is unavoidable. There are times when it is.

At the gym I believe it is mostly an avoidable occurrence. You get up in the morning and put on your deodorant. If you go to the gym you make sure that you're suitably covered in this department because hey, the people around you have no desire to smell your sweat. If, for example, you work all day and then go to the gym, I would suggest applying your deodorant once in the morning before work and again before beginning your work out. I'll tell you why. There is no excuse why I should have to smell your nasty B.O. in a gym when I'm a good 2-3 metres away from you. Honestly.

And while you're at it. That towel you keep wiping your sweaty brow with, you know how it's kinda grey, brown and just not terribly clean looking, well, you can buy these kind of towels for less than $2 and wash them. In fact, they wash very well and can be used over and over again. And if you wash the towel every week it's possible that it will remain white for a long time to come. I know it's a lot to ask - doing your wash and all, but I'm assuming here that you wash the socks you're wearing and your t-shirt too. You could throw the towel in the same load of laundry. Although, given the smell coming off you, maybe you don't wash your t-shirt and socks and that would explain the crunchy brown towel and the vile stench of B.O.

P.S. You can shower for free in the locker room, but I suppose if all you have to dry yourself is that mangy dirty towel, you might be happier changing into your clothes still sweaty.

Girls Night

Girls Night tonight with Cecilia and Sina. Am looking forward to much cackling, giggling and snickering.

On the menu:
Salad with homemade dressing, pasta with a shrimp and spinach rose sauce, crusty bread, and a surprise dessert that Sina said she'd pick up from M&M. And of course, a little vino to get the party started.

Gonna be a good night!

Nightmare

It had been a while since my last nightmare. But thanks to last night's new episode of CSI: NY, I am back to square one.

Watched the show from 10-11pm, went to bed, fell asleep within about 30 mins. and then woke up at 12:30am in a start from the terrifying dream I had, sweating like a pig, heart racing.

The opening sequence of the show showed a deaf mother getting up to go check on her baby in the middle of the night, going back to bed and then feeling some vibrations on the floor. As she was walking down the hall to get back to the bedroom, all you see is a brief glimpse of a dark shadowy figure crossing the hall behind her (hello nightmare). Well, of course, by the time the mother comes back out to investigate the vibration she felt, her eldest daughter is dead on the floor. The show ended with a happy ending - they found the killer.

That wasn't good enough for me. I had to go and dream about that opening sequence. I had my own version though. I'm at home, it's the middle of the night, I get up to go to the bathroom, as I'm reaching for the bathroom light, I notice there is the shadow of someone standing in the hallway of my building, in front of my front door. As I switch on the bathroom light suddenly some guy with blond curly hair up in a pony tail on the top of his head, charges into my apartment. I'm too scared to scream and wake up as he swings to hit me. It took a while before I was able to fall back to sleep. Go figure.

Think I will have to start taping these shows and watch them on Sunday afternoon or something.

Something weird going on

Is it possible that the elliptical trainers at the gym are, I don't know, calibrated differently or something? This morning I worked out at level 8 for 30 minutes. I worked hard. My heart rate was up in my cardio training zone (approx. 165), I had on average about 80 rpm, I was sweating buckets, my legs were tired and hurting by the end. However, after all this, I only burned 427 calories. I have burned that many calories on other machines while working at a lower levels and not going as fast. What is up with that?

Think I will stay away from that machine from now on. Hmph. Am so going back tonight to do the muscle toning class.

More Where is my Head?

Good thing it's Friday. On my way to the gym this morning I was practically falling asleep on the metro. At the very last second I realised we were already at my stop and I made it out of the doors just before they closed. It is entirely possible that I made some kind of "wha ...?!?!" sound when I realised where we were.

Think maybe I should sleep in tomorrow. Yeah, until like, 7am.

Where is my head?

Apparently not on me.

Seems I left the house this morning without my exercise pants. This I did not realise until I was unlocking my locker at the gym when I suddenly pictured them hanging over the back of a dining room chair. Bugger.

I exercised anyway, albeit at a very low pace, wearing my t-shirt and my black pants that I'd worn for work. Not much sweating or burning of calories this morning (only about 350) and I will be heading downstairs at lunch to pick up a new pair of exercise pants so I can at least do the muscle toning class is proper attire.

Last Reminder

Eric, Marc, Cecilia - I need your Christmas wish lists by the end of tomorrow. No list, no present.

Giving until it hurts

Saturday I volunteered my services at the Montreal Santa Shuffle, organised by The Running Room for The Salvation Army.

It was sunny. It was windy. It was cold. It was so very, very cold. Talk about giving until it hurts.

The reason I helped out in the first place was because I (mistakenly) thought I had to raise money to participate in the run. Because I had already hit up a lot of friends and colleagues for donations to the Panama project I'll be involved in in Februrary, I decided not to take part in this "fun run". As it turns out, I could've just paid the entry fee and run the race. As it also turns out, I would've been outside for less time had I run.

But noooo ... I volunteered to help and ended up standing outside, at the windiest corner, cheering people on and directing them on the path, for over an hour. Despite having 5, if not 6, layers of clothing on, I was still cold. Even after an hour of cardio work at the gym following the race, I was cold to the bone. When I finally did warm up it was about 6:30pm - thanks in part to a lovely fire at my parents' place and a delicious curried shrimp dinner.

Next year I'm running. And so are my lazy brothers ;)

Good Sleep

Must've been having a good sleep last night as I didn't hear my alarm until 5:23am - a whole 8 minutes after it went off. Good thing tomorrow's Saturday and I can sleep in! With any luck I'll sleep until 7am! What a treat!

An Alternative Ten Commandments

I like this.

What a great movie

Saw the movie Stranger Than Fiction over the weekend. What a great movie. What a great story. What a great Will Ferrell. What a great soundtrack.

The only downside to this experience was the audience. There were about 20 people in the theatre (a plus) but about 6 of them clearly thought this was a comedy in the style of some of Will Ferrell's previous movies. It wasn't that kind of ridiculously juvenile comedy. Why were they laughing like it was some Saturday Night Live skit? They completely missed the subtle and charming comedy. I would like to see this movie again but think I will wait until I can see it in the comfort of my own home. This kind of behaviour is why I have been known to say "I don't like people".

Why doesn't my butt hurt?

On Monday night I did a muscle toning class at the gym. Tuesday morning I felt like someone had taken a hammer to my butt - I thought for sure I would see bruises - that's how much I hurt. Wednesday I felt mildly better but decided I'd try another of these muscle toning classes. It was with a different teacher and was at a more advanced level. It was a great class - it challenged me and a couple of times I didn't think I'd be able to do the whole set of repetitions. But I made it through and was quite proud of myself. This morning I expected to have a repeat of Tuesday morning's soreness but I don't. In fact the stiffness from yesterday is completely gone. Dare I say it? I feel good. Huh.

Thanks to Why for inspiring me to provide you with a little smile.

Enjoy a little song about my favourite lady bugs.

Dr. Elder

Our family's pediatrician, Dr. John Munro Elder, died last week.

What I remember about him: he always smiled; he always gave us a plastic ring after the check-up; he had a fish tank in the office with cool fish and a deep sea diver; the chairs in his office were white wicker.

More crap from my kitchen

Ugh. What is the matter with me? Or what is the matter with the recipes I'm choosing recently? After last week's disaster I thought I'd try this before feeding it to a big group. It's OK. It's not fabulous. It doesn't make 28 shrimp cakes (using their suggested size). To tell the truth - the best thing about this recipe was the pineapple relish. It's sweet, fresh and delicious.

So I'm back to square one. And at this point I think I'll make my favourite mushroom burgers (recipe to come soon). I can make a whole pile of little mini burgers. They also taste great cold.

Decided.

Adventures in Babysitting

Babysitting my niece Darcy was pretty much a snap last night. We played for a while, had dinner, played some more and then to bed. No attitude, no problems.

The kid's a riot. While she was wrapping up her dolly in her blankie she demanded that I sing "Rock a by(e?) baby". So while I sang she rocked the baby. Six times of that song was enough for me. Then we played the drums (mom's tupperware collection), pulled Barbie apart and then put her back together again, coloured with markers, played with Play-Doh and made a puzzle.

For dinner she ate 3 bowls of pasta. I was shocked after the third bowl she asked for "mo' pas'a, peez". There was none left! Instead I decided that we could share an orange. Well, so much for sharing. All I got were 2 little segments. She ate the rest faster than I could get them cut up.

Later we played one of her favourite games, hide & seek. For Darcy though this really consisted of me counting, her crouching on the floor beside the mirrored hall closet with her blankie beside her (not on top of her - beside her). I wish I could have a video of this. Her little bum up in the air, plumber's crack for all to see and her eyes squeezed shut.

As I put her on the toilet (who ever would've thought I'd be writing about a kid going to the bathroom ?) I didn't quite get the potty seat on right, so Darcy sort of slipped around and nearly fell in the toilet. I did grab her in time and joked that she'd nearly got soaked in the toilet. Well - she thought that was funny. She told me I was "silly, Auntie 'Tef" and "you funny". At least she didn't cry!

She went to bed without any problems. Even got into her pjs (backwards the first time) all by herself.

It was a fun night. Hopefully she enjoyed herself a little too.

Roasted Tomato & Mushroom Casserole

Made this earlier this week. Thought it might be the dish I bring to our potluck at the office but nooo ...

The bread stays soggy and wet and quite frankly that is not terribly appetizing to me. I couldn't possibly serve it to 50+ people.

This weekend I may try some shrimp cakes with pineapple relish to see if that'll be my item. Anyway - here's the recipe. Maybe somebody can improve on it.

Roasted Tomato and Mushroom Casserole

2 cups each halved grape tomatoes and quartered button mushrooms
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp ReaLemon Lemon Juice (I just used fresh squeezed)
1 Tbsp Corn Syrup
1 tsp each dried thyme and basil
8 cups cubed focaccia bread
8 eggs or 2 cartons/250ml each Naturegg Break-Free Liquid Eggs, well shaken
1 can Nestle Carnation 2% Evaporated Partly Skim Milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup shredded Asiago cheese
2 Tbsp finely chopped green onions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Toss the tomatoes with the mushrooms, oil, lemon juice, corn syrup, thyme and basil. Place mixture on a greased baking sheet. Bake for 30 mins., stirring twice. Remove from oven and cool.

2. Toss the cubed focaccia with eggs, milk, salt, pepper, roasted vegetables and any juices from the baking sheet. Place the mixture into a well-greased 9x13-inch glass baking dish and cover with foil. Let stand for 15 mins.

3. Bake the casserole for 35 mins. or until centre starts to set and edges turn golden. Sprinkle evenly with cheese and bake uncovered for an additional 15 mins. or until cheese melts. Garnish with chopped green onions.

Makes 12 servings

Zero Emissions Trip

Read in the paper the other day about this Vancouver guy, Tim Harvey, who completed an around-the-world, zero-emissions trip in 893 days. Guess he took the scenic route, eh?

This guy cycled, rowed and sailed his way around the world. Pretty cool, I think. But it took a little more time than your standard 2-3 week holiday. He left Vancouver in June 2004 and just got back! It's an incredible story and something I could only dream of doing.

Check out his website here.

Hershey Recall

For me this is just another reason to stay clear of Hershey chocolate. I'm a chocolate snob and would much rather munch on a variety of gourmet chocolates, preferably Swiss of course. Hershey Canada has recalled a wide range of chocolate products nationwide and closed its Smiths Fall plant after salmonella bacteria was detected in the candy produced there.

Yvette - in your Christmas package I sent a 4-bar pack of Reese Peanut Butter Cups - you need to check the date codes. If they range from 6417 to 6455 - THROW THE PACKAGE OUT!!!

Here's a listing of the products affected by the recall:

Oh Henry!, Reese Peanut Butter Cups, Eat-more Dark Toffee Peanut Chew, Lowney Bridge Mix, Lowney Cherry Blossom (Dad - stay away from these for now!), Glosette Peanuts, Glosette Almonds, Glosette Raisins, Hershey's Creamy Milk Chocolate with Almonds, Hershey's Creamy Milk Chocolate, Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate, Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate with Almonds.

If you really need to you can contact Hershey at 1-800-468-1714.

Catcallers beware!

Ever felt like you can't take one more man (and I use the term loosely) shouting after you "Hey baby, what's your name?" or some variation?

Fear not - HollaBackNYC is a blog started by a group of men and women in New York City last October, that has inspired more than a dozen sister sites across the United States and Canada. Many women say street harassment is a national problem - and they're not going to walk on and ignore it anymore.

We've all experienced this in one way, shape or form. Maybe my attitude has changed (or maybe it's just because of my age) but I do find these occurences happen less often now. Not to say they don't happen. They do. It's never a comfortable situation but at least now I'm old enough not to be intimidated by this kind of behaviour. I have even had my wits about me to respond to a few of these morons. My most memorable experience was actually walking up to one offender and asking if he would speak that way to his mother, wife, sister or daughter. The other guys standing in line (they were queuing up to buy football tickets) all sucked in their breath and looked away, suddenly finding the cracks in the pavement very interesting. As you can imagine, he had no response other than to look down abashedly. "Yeah, that's right, look away, you coward", I said to him. It was quite empowering to walk away that morning hearing the guy's friend say to him "You stupid bloody prat. You couldn't just keep your mouth shut, could you?" Maybe it was the power suit I was wearing, or the high heels - whatever it was something gave me the power to meet that confrontation head on. Score 1 for me.

I say go for it ladies. Check out the various sites in San Francisco, Boston and Texas. And for us Canadian women there is HollaBackCanada.