Manhattan memories

Steve is a big boxing and UFC fan. Every time there's a fight on he always claims it's the biggest fight of the year. I get a chuckle out of this and it has become a running joke -- wasn't the last fight the biggest fight of the year?

For Chrismukkah back in 2001, I decided to be all daring, spur of the moment, non-plannerish and buy two tickets to see Arturo Gatti fight at the Theatre At Madison Square Garden in New York. Little did I know (or maybe I did know but, hey, it's New York) this would be a contributing factor to Steve's obsession of watching people get punched out, ripped open, blood dripping welts -- I will never understand the joy and fascination one gets from this sport. Two guys beating the shit out of each other only to shake hands at the end and train all over again for the next fight. The poor parents who have to watch this. Oh, wait. We were sitting right behind the mother of Vernon Forrest at the match, cheering her son on -- it didn't seem to phase her. Now that's what I call support!

Anyway, we had a blast in New York -- all three nights, four days of it.

It was only a few months after 9/11 so the charred, soot smell still lingered in the air. The memorials on the street were still up in front of St. Paul's Church and parts of New York were still closed to the public.

We used the double decker red tour bus a lot to get around. I think we were too nervous to venture underground to the subway or too chicken to try to flag down a taxi without getting run over. I seriously wonder how many people get run over daily in New York. It must be the jaywalking capital of the world. I also had it stuck in my mind that flagging down a taxi in Times Square was pretty much impossible, even in the movies it seems like a daunting task unless you're smokin' hot in heels and have a whistle as loud as a freight train.

Our first day in New York was the best. We walked over to the International Soup Kitchen -- you know, the one from Seinfeld (it has since closed). It reminded us so much of the episode -- we were Elaine hum-ing and ha-ing over what to get while the guy behind the counter gave us an evil look like we were going to hell if we didn't quickly decide on our order and move along in an orderly fashion -- keep the line moving, chop chop.

We brought our brown bag of soup to Central Park and found a bench. It was one of the best soups I have ever had. It was thick and rich and hardy and warm and filled with lots of mushrooms and barley. Mmm! It's a lunch Steve and I remember fondly. Anytime someone mentions New York Steve and I look at each other and we both know what the other is thinking -- soup in Central Park.

My birthday fell on the day we left to come back home. The day before we left, Steve surprised me by taking me to Le Cirque -- a reservation he made before our trip. Since the temperatures in New York were hitting record highs for January, we were able to walk there without freezing our butts off.

The food was wonderful and we couldn't stop raving about the water. I have no clue why the water was so good but it was, kind of like the water you get at a Chinese food restaurant, it always seems to be the right temperature. We had two wonderful desserts. One was white chocolate clouds floating in vanilla cream with raspberry coulis. The other was a sample platter of everything chocolate. They were both heavenly. It was all worth the $200+US for the two hours that we were there (and when I say that it cost more, well, the Canadians who are reading this will probably understand the cursing and swearing I muffled under my breath as the thought of the damn exchange rate crossed my mind) -- two hours that included two main courses, two desserts, a glass of pop and a glass of white wine. I don't want to imagine what the cost of our meal would have come to if we had ordered appetizers or more alcoholic bevies.

Oh right, the fight -- The fight wasn't all that bad. I think we took the red bus there and then we were able to walk back (I still can't believe how warm it was while we were there).

I had a hard time picking out seats for the fight but they ended up being pretty decent as we were sitting right behind the family of Vernon Forrest (one of the boxers fighting that night). He ended up winning his match (I was told this was a big deal, or a huge upset as it is called in the world of sports or so I'm told)-- his mom and wife screaming at the million dollar plus win. We just watched someone win the lottery!

Arturo Gatti won as well.

It was a win-win situation for all of us that night, that weekend.

Over the last few weeks we have seen the end of these two boxers -- Arturo Gatti and Vernon Forrest. Steve is not a fan of reading or watching the news. The Sports section is all that he takes out of the newspaper when it comes in the morning. I mentioned to him the other day that the paper said something about Gatti's Will. Steve commented about how the reporters are so interested in Gatti's life now but rarely did they ever cover Gatti's boxing life as it was happening -- rarely a story on his win, hardly every publishing the results from his fights. Steve is right. This is why he doesn't like the news. It really is a pretty big downer to read over and over again about all the negative happening in the world.

Anyway, I started this post because I was looking at a few of my favourite pictures from this trip that I have hanging on the wall in our living room. I get compliments on them often and I'm quite happy with how they turned out. Who says you need to spend tons of money on artwork -- just make your own!

Here are the pictures. I took them while we were riding around on the red tour bus. The one on the left is the entrance to John Lennon's apartment (I think), the middle one is the place where we got our soup, the one on the right is a church in lower Manhattan (I can't remember which one though).

I am...

taking a moment for myself.

The kids are at the grandparents, Steve is taking a nap, the couch is comfy and HGTV is great company.

Now if only I could get my ass up off the couch to get a glass of wine.

I guess I didn't plan this very well.

I did manage to remember the laptop though -- the slow dying laptop but, hey, I managed to type this much. Let's see how long it takes to load.

Caramel Skor Bar Apple Dip

One of my favourite quick dessert recipes...

Caramel Skor Bar Dip

1 container cream cheese (softened)
1 container caramel sauce (the dip kind you find in the produce section)
4-5 Skor bars
Apples, cut-up (mix both green and red apples for colour. I prefer the green)

Spread a layer of cream cheese into a serving dish. Spread a layer of the caramel sauce on top. Break the Skor bars into pieces and sprinkle on top.

Use the apples to scoop up the sweet goodness.

Enjoy!

Before we had kids

Steve and I in front of our first house in 2001

Back when we lived in our first house, before we had kids, there were many things I remember doing spur of the moment like driving 30 minutes to downtown Toronto on a warm summer Saturday night just to get Chinese food from Hong Shing.

We would jump in the car, roll down the windows, turn up the music and off we went.

When we were half way there, we would use the cell phone to place our order of Garlic Beef with no vegetables, General Tao's Chicken and Mushroom Fried Rice so there wouldn't be any waiting once we reached our destination.

Once we got there, Steve would park the car on the street right beside the restaurant and then run in to get our piping hot, ready to go order.

I loved sitting there in the locked car for the few minutes by myself listening to the hum of the traffic, the muffled voices, shouting and laughter echoing off the buildings and street, the tapping of heels hitting the sidewalk, the nervous excitement of constantly checking the rear view mirror and behind my shoulder hoping that some dude with a big toothless grin on his face wouldn't be standing there at the car window the next time I turned around -- ah, the city life.

The aroma driving home was just too much to handle so we would sometimes open the container ever so carefully to take out a little bit for each of us -- a tease taste. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

It took me about a year to realize that this place was right around the corner from where I used to work. How I didn't realize this before, I don't know. I'm not sure if this was a good thing or not as I'm sure we would have made Hong Shing a weekly meal (if not more) if I had known sooner.

After making this realization, I would sometimes take a quick detour to Hong Shing before getting on the subway to Union Station and then catching the Go Train home. I always had this feeling that people were staring at me with this thought of "who the hell does she think she is stinking up this train". No one ever seemed to move away, turn up their nose or yell profanities at me -- not that I noticed anyway. Or maybe they were all quietly thanking me for masking the scent of the hundreds of people who had just crammed on to the train after being at work sweating in their business suit all day.

As I type this I seem to have developed a craving for some Ginger Beef from Spadina Garden.

I love living where we do but it's these memories and cravings that remind me what's missing from life in suburbia.

Actually, there are some great restaurants out here -- but I'll save that for another day.

Lions and tigers and stingrays, oh my!

Yesterday, we went to the Stingray Bay Exhibit at the Toronto Zoo.

It reminded me of the time Steve and I went to Cuba back in 1999. I was wading in the ocean when I noticed a black object slowly moving below the water not far from where I was. While I'm thinking it's probably just some piece of seaweed bobbing along, others start noticing it too. Not a moment later the buzz in the water turns into "Is it a shark?". Then we can finally see the outline of what appears to be a stingray and we were all like "Oh, thank goodness, it's only a stingray". Um, ya, only. Wasn't that how The Crocodile Hunter lost his life?

Anyway, as I pushed the thought of someone becoming the next Crocodile Hunter out of my mind, we watched these oddly shaped creatures gliding around, lifting up their sides almost as if to wave, that is until two butted heads right in front of us splashing us and our mouths with a good dose of salt water and who knows what else.

I wonder if yesterday will be one of those days that becomes one of Luke's fond childhood memories? I can just hear him the next time he eats a salt and vinegar chip, "Remember the time we saw the stingrays?".

Good times!

Black is back: Our Kitchen

We moved to our current house back in July of 2005. The kitchen in this house is the opposite of everything our kitchen in our old house was -- meaning what was light cabinets and white appliances are now dark cabinets and black appliances.

For five years we have been living with a white toaster oven. It's been the only white appliance in our kitchen aside from the white KitchenAid mixer that sits in my basement collecting dust (oh how I miss you mixer). We've been living with this toaster oven for five years for one because it has been working just fine, sure you had to make sure the bagels were face down when toasting or flip the toast half way through the timer but it still toasted, and also because I could not find one that I liked. Trust me when I say regardless of how many toaster ovens are out there, the right one is never there when you're looking for it.

Last week, we made a family trip to Costco. Not sure if we were just headed there for lunch (who can resist a cheap meal when you have kids...just a little kid-friendly tip) but whatever we were there for we obviously came home with more than we were looking for if we were even looking for anything specific, which I highly doubt.

So, as I was walking down the aisle of good ol' Costco, there perched high above the tower of boxes was a black, perfectly sized Black & Decker Toaster Oven for $20 off the original $70 price tag -- a $50 bargain!





I also found a black knife set with block at Costco for $50 (our other one was light wood and the knives had seen better days) and a black bread box that I found at Solutions.




Our kitchen table was a great find. It's fully open right now so it looks a bit big for the space. We found it at Costco for $900 a few years ago (have I mentioned I love Costco?). It came with 8 chairs with seat covers (covers I would never ever put on because I can just hear it now, "Oops! Mommy, I spilled).

The round mirror is from one of my favourite little shops in town called A Stones Throw. The store is in an old house and is one of those places where you just want to bring a coffee and get lost in the moment. They have such great pieces!



We only need four chairs at the kitchen table so the other four chairs are in the dining room. The table was my grandmother's table (I also have her bedroom set in our master bedroom and a few other pieces of hers around the house). I like the way the chairs work with the old table. Can you tell we rarely eat at this table -- note seat covers in place.



After I find some new light fixtures (not really sure what I'm looking for so suggestions would be great), my kitchen will be complete!

Puddles and Pasta

It poured rain yesterday but that didn't keep Steve and the kids from playing outside.





After a good romp in the rain, we all sat down for a family dinner -- shrimp pasta, caesar salad, milk for the kids, pop for Steve and a glass of white wine for me....yum!




After dinner, the skies cleared, the sun started shining and it was outside time again -- just long enough to tire them out for bedtime.

Work in progess

The changes have started, starting with my blog. I got all inspirational yesterday after reading All Things G&D. My friend recently introduced me to the blog and I'm really enjoying it. Thanks G&D and Perpetual Bounce for giving me the little push I needed.

I started changing the colours of my blog and even made a new masthead. Not sure I'm lovin' the green but I'm not hating it so for now it stays. I can always change it later. It goes right along with a few of my other favourite colours I've been enjoying this season -- brown, pink, turquoise, and pale yellow. I think I'll keep the layout the same as it seems to be working for now.

I was trying to come up with a logo for Keep On S'myelin! When I put the first letters of each word together I realized it sounded like chaos -- K*OS! There's no real reason for the asterisk except to put more emphasis on the K to make it sound like chaos -- a bit catchier than just saying the letters K-O-S, I think anyway.

It's still a work in progress so please bare with me.

Happy blogging!

Time for a change

Happy Thursday, everyone!

It's been raining here all day....yuck! Actually, I'm not minding the rain too much today because it gives me a chance to veg for a bit -- something I desperately need to do.

I took Luke to his swimming lesson this morning. We didn't end up going to Tims because he ate four pieces of toast this morning -- yes, I said FOUR! The only thing that stopped him from eating five pieces was that we were in a rush to get to swimming on time.

I went out for lunch yesterday with one of my bestest friends for sushi to our favourite little restaurant. Mmmm, sushi! She moved back from New York a few weeks ago and I'm so happy she's back.

After lunch, I realized how much I really missed her. She left six years ago on her own when I was pregnant with Lucas and is now back with a wonderful husband, the sweetest little boy and a cute dog too. She also made me realize that I'm stuck in a rut and that I've been stuck like this for awhile.

I had to leave work almost four years ago (next month will be four years) because of my MS. I had all these plans to get our house organized, workout, do things with my family while I still can. I haven't really done any of that. I don't know if it's this feeling that's making me more tired (is that even possible?), if it's the MS progressing, having two kids, or all of it combined. I seem to do so much for others that by the time I get to doing something for myself, I'm exhausted.

All these memories of before kids started flooding back the other day -- how Steve and I used to go out for dinner to nice restaurants (we never were clubbers or people who bar hopped), our camping trips, trips to Cuba, Costa Rica, Vancouver, New York, hanging out on the couch watching tv or movies without being interrupted. We haven't done those things in ages and I miss it.

I love having kids and doing things with them but everyone needs some downtime, to do something for them every so often that doesn't involve changing diapers, watching kids shows, playing referee or trying to tame a meltdown because they can't find one of those damn little Bakugan balls. I say this to myself but have yet to listen. It's just easier to say than actually do.

So, for the next little while I'm going to figure out what I can do to give me the lift I need. I've been doing some organizing around the house which is helping declutter my mind a bit. There is so much more to do though. I'm not very good at finding a place for everything so I've been searching for ideas on how to better organize my life, house and everything in between. If you have any good tips, websites, books or suggestions please let me know. I'm on a mission to get my life in order!

I think I'll also work on this blog a bit since it's been helping me find myself. I'm trying to figure out how to design a new masthead/banner but I'm not very artsy. I'll keep plugging away at it though.

I've also enjoyed reading other peoples blogs as well. It's amazing how many blogs are out there and I seem to find a new one daily. It's like a whole new world to me!

Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. I'm really enjoying the reads.

Sugar rush

Lucas has swimming lessons every morning this week and then we head off to good ol' reliable Tim Hortons for brunch.

Today, after he finished his usual whole wheat bagel, not toasted, with cream cheese on the side and a vanilla yogurt with berries, he asked if he could have a donut. I told him if he wanted the donut then he would have to go up to the counter to get one by himself. As I passed him a toonie (a Canadian two dollar coin), a proud "I'm a big boy" grin started to spread across his face.

I showed him where the end of the line was. He stood there next to all the other people towering over him, trying to blend in while the giants glanced down below at this mini version of them grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm getting a donut!" he explained as if he had to state his purpose in line.

Lucas got up to the counter, his chin barely touching the top, he opened his hand to display his somewhat shiny coin that looked over sized in his small little palm and asked for his deep fried circle of sugary goodness.

The ultimate sugar rush!

As I watched the red, blue and yellow sprinkles melt on the sides of his mouth, I was amazed at just how big a donut can appear when a kid is eating it. Even next to Luke's head. This was a boy who always needed buttons around his neck or two sizes bigger in hats just for his head to fit. I guess he's finally growing into his head.

Sniff, my boy is growing up.

Next he'll be asking if he can have the keys to the car. He already asked if he could have his own cellphone on the way home.