Last entry in the blog for a while

Okay, so I am going to take a break from this blog for a little while.  Life is so so busy right now, with work, with the travel coming up, with the press releases and sales stuff, and with all our summer plans, that I am not keeping the blog up the way I would like to do.  I feel like I am short changing myself on the blog and not giving it my all and I don't want to do something if I cannot give it all my passion.  So I have decided I am going to take a mini vacation from writing the blog for a month or so until things calm down a little and I can devote to it the attention it deserves.  I hope you understand.  I will miss writing every day, since it has been almost a year since I started this blog, but right now there is just too much going on!! A great indicator of a full life for me, but not nearly enough time to do a good job on this blog.  So I am signing off until August.  Keep cooking, keep loving food and soon I will be back with more wild food adventures.  I hope you will still enjoy hearing of my tales when I return!  Enjoy the summer sun, have a bbq and think of me and I will see you all in August!! Happy cooking!

Press release time again

Today I have been working on my next press release for the cookbook.  After having spent some time with my colleagues from work in the marketing department, I know I need to keep regular communications about the cookbook out to all media.  It is amazing what you can learn just by taking some work colleagues out to lunch.  I think I know have the formula for writing press releases done but the trick I still have to learn is how to make them so enticing that reporters pick them up and turn them into articles.  Seriously how interesting can you make a press release about a cookbook?  But when I think about all the press releases out there, about new bolts and nuts, mixers, chemical compounds, or scholarly research to name a few, I figure a cookbook isn't really that bad.  Interesting to some, not to others.  I just have to find the hook these days that will generate some interest.  At least I have my profiles set up with a variety of press release distribution services so that saves some time.  Let's hope that this time the one I am currently writing is so interesting, exciting, life changing that newspapers around the world will pick it up and make it front page news!

Enjoying wonderful birthday parties

It was a wonderful day yesterday.  Well to begin, we have to clean the house from top to bottom.  Moving from a condo to a house, wow, there is so much more to clean, extra floors to wash, carpets to clean, two bathroom, rec rooms, laundry rooms.  I think we clean the house for four hours and if I haven’t said it before, I hate cleaning.  I hate everything about it but I do love a clean house afterwards. Unfortunately with me no amount of promised reward at the end makes me any more interested in getting started!  But in the end it was clean and looking beautiful.  My guy had even worked late at night and painted the ceilings and new crown moulding in the rec room so we are now ahead of schedule with the renovations.  We hadn’t planned on working on the lower level until the fall.  I kept telling him not to worry about it but honestly he can just keep going and going and never seems to tire, well I think he is tiring now, but mostly I think he wants the house done.  And he got extra incentive.  A house just six doors down went up for sale and had an open house.  Of course my guy poked through and they haven’t done near the renovations we have done already and they are asking 80K more than we paid for our place.  I really hope they get it!  Instantly raises the value of our place and we have only owned it for four  months now!  Anyway, in the afternoon my parents came down for a visit and we got to show off the new house to them.  Funny how even now you look for your parents’ approval!  Mom and I left and did some shopping in the afternoon at the mall, she buying some new blouses and Capri pants and me buying fresh bread and wine for dinner.  You can see where our interests lie!  It was great to be able to walk up to the mall, shop, talk and spend time together just us.  Then back to the house for Dad’s birthday dinner.  I made his summer favourites, dilled potato salad, pasta salad, tossed garden salad, Dijon devilled eggs, grilled asparagus with balsamic vinaigrette and grilled chicken breasts, oatmeal honey crumbled apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert.  It was a great meal and lively conversation.  They left by ten; I think we were in bed by ten fifteen!!  Today, we are going to paint the rec room walls and then head to my brother’s for my nephew’s birthday party.  Lots of birthdays this time of year in my family!  And we decided yesterday that my guy and I would host the family Christmas eve party this year at our new house!  I am pretty excited about it.  It is the first time we will actually have space to do it.  How pathetic is this, I am already dreaming about all the things I can prepare for the evening to eat!!  I seriously need help!

A busy weekend ahead

A busy evening and weekend ahead for me!  Later this afternoon it will be a frenzy of shopping for birthday gifts, wrapping, groceries and of course the weekly trip to the hardware store.  We are going to have my parents down tomorrow for most of the day and it will be the first time they have seen the house mostly finished so I am pretty excited about their visit.  We are going to celebrate my father’s birthday with a meal and a cake.  I am not sure what I will make but I will have to certainly make one of his favourite.  Somehow dates are going to be involved!  It will be nice to have the day with them and then Sunday it is all about painting and working on the rec room.  And I still have to get my head around the fact that we are leaving for Amsterdam next week. So much happening so quickly.  And a special congratulations to our friend Christian on his new job!  An exciting new phase of life beginning for him and his family!

Rachel Ray - want a guest?

Today feeling back in control.  Well mostly in control. It is amazing to me how much work you can get done either at work or at home by squeezing things into those little cracks between everything else you are doing.  I got my baseboards painted, cleaned the house some, did some cooking and still had some time to watch a bit of television.  Today I am flying through my work which I love and pretty soon I will be on my way to dinner with my best friend.  I spent some time this morning on the subway thinking about what to do during the summer to promote the cookbook and I think I may try reaching out and see if I can get the cookbook featured on either a cooking show or talk/variety show. I was thinking it would be great to have it discussed and maybe even a recipe prepared on the show.  You know like one of those classic Julia Child episodes, only cooking my recipes.  I could be the laughing jolly chef on television bantering with the host and whipping up a delicious meal for the viewers.  I am not sure if it will help at all with sales but it would be great fun to do. Now if I can just get myself on Rachel Ray!!

Life is moving too fast

I have lost my routine of writing every day.  Work has been so crazy busy the last few days I have hardly had a moment to myself at work and then I get home and I have been busy painting baseboards, unpacking, cooking, general tidying up that I have fallen into bed each night exhausted.  On top of that I have been sick I know and am only now just starting to feel better.  But I can tell I am still tired, I am short tempered and impatient at work, unable to focus effectively and don’t feel like I am in control this week.  Double that with all the ideas swirling in my head to promote the cookbook and the stress of having no time to do them and I am swamped.  I can hardly imagine that we are leaving next week on vacation to Amsterdam and then a small holiday in Madrid while I am at work there and then back, a quick trip to New York for work and suddenly it is the second half of July and where has the summer gone.  I find now to make plans with friends you have to book everyone including us months in advance.  How did life get like this?  Tomorrow night I am taking a night off and having dinner with my best friend.  Outside of phone calls we haven’t seen each other in almost five months, between competing busy schedules.  To me that just tells me I have my priorities wrong.  Anyway enough excuses and enough complaining!  I truly hope if you are reading this your life is full and you have time to enjoy.  I feel like mine is full but where is the downtime to enjoy it!

Martha Stewart eat your heart out

A Monday blog.  Yesterday turned out to be quite a good day.  First thing we were up early and drove up to my parents, stopping for bagels and coffee on the way.  We celebrated Father’s Day with Dad and it was really nice just to drop into my parents’ home, relax, catch up, with no big formal dinner to have.  Just family and relaxing.  We headed home after lunch and spent the afternoon doing touch ups on paint, and unpacking.  We set up the living room in anticipation of our new couch arriving, put together my new tripod Pottery Barn photographer’s lamp and unpacked countless boxes.  Hanging pictures on the wall and arranging our memories has suddenly almost instantly made our house our home.  Easy quick pizza with tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms for dinner and then an early bed.  A perfect day.  And great for me as well, since I am almost certain I am fighting a cold!  Again!  Or still!  Tonight, just heading out to get some pictures framed and then painting baseboards.  Oh I wish I was back at the days of transcribing recipes!!!

Dreaming of jumbo tomatoes

Just a quick note today.  I am going to head downstairs and watch a movie with my guy on the new television!  We spent the day painting, my guy the hallway, me the living and dining room and then together the laundry room.  It is looking pretty good but I have to admit I am now ready for it all to come to an end.  I realized today what tires me.  It is not the renovations or the work that tires me out it is the mess and the disorder.  Mess, disorder and piles cause me stress if you can imagine!  I will be happy when the house is just for living.  And to add to that, we bought a new living room sofa and end tables for our bedroom.  See we are getting closer.  The best surprise coming home from Chicago is the size of my tomato plants, they are enormous.  I hope it foreshadows jumbo tomatoes and a bumper crop.  I love sun warmed tomatoes fresh from the plant!  Okay off to flop on the couch with my guy!

Televisions are sprouting like weeds at our house

Can I tell you how hard I laughed when I got home?  So I walked in the door and my guy was waiting for me after my week in Chicago.  He had been working on the house and did an amazing number of things, sealing the grout on the tile floor, installing new mirrors in the washrooms, even putting up all the crown moulding in the rec room which was an unexpected treat.  Many thanks to Christian for lending a hand!  I ended up downstairs in the rec room admiring their hard work only to see the new television my guy bought while I was away.  For a while now, my guy has been complaining in the new house that sitting in the rec room he can’t read the printed text on the television ro the tv guide well.  So rather then wearing his glasses he bought a 55 inch new television!  The thing is enormous. And to add to it, we are going to put the old television, perfectly godo flat screen in our bedroom.  For a long time I argued against having a tv in the bedroom for any number of reasons.  To be honest, I almost never watch tv so I can’t see the point.  But then recently I realized I was arguing out of principle.  I was arguing against it just to get my way.  When I am honest, it really doesn’t matter to me.  It is something my guy loves and really is it worth the arguing and stubbornness and setting in my heels.  So one day I simply said to him install a tv in the bedroom if you want to.  I will likely never watch it, but really, do I want to be one of those people who denies things, for no real good reason.  If it makes him happy, then I want to see him happy.  Our life together is too short to be worried about things like tvs on the wall. If it is what he wants, I will be rewarded by seeing him happy.

Otherwise the last few days in Chicago have been so draining.  I know why I would rather be working on my cookbook than sitting in those meetings if for no other reason that I can feel a sense of accomplishment and the feeling of moving forward.  I know corporate culture is the genius of groups but honestly sometimes I find it exhausting.  After two weeks away, this weekend I just want to focus on my guy and I, our home and spending time just enjoying each other.  Maybe in front of the television!

Dreaming of Indonesian food in Amsterdam

A rainy day here in Chicago and I am currently on lunch from my meeting.  No walk today, too soggy. We just had a much improved lunch, fresh salad built to order, chips and mayonnaise, cheeses, burgers, dogs.  A good lunch washed down with fresh, home made iced tea, no sweet tea, real ice tea.  I spent some time researching restaurants to visit while on holidays in Amsterdam.  I found an amazing Indonesian restaurant that I want to try while we are there.  The Dutch of course had strong ties with Indonesia and there is a significant influence on their cuisine from Indonesia.  The menu actually got me excited and my mouth salivating.  I love trying new foods.  And for sure we are going to enjoy fries with mayonnaise, pickled herring on the street beside a lazy canal, and delicious pancakes they prepare covered in almost anything you can imagine from Morrocan lamb curry to Nutella to pears and cheese.  I love eating!  Tonight we are all, all 20 of us, are heading to a local steak house, called Pete Miller’s, for dinner.  Honestly, I am more excited about trying all the sides available with dinner more so than the steaks!  Macaroni and cheese, spinach in cream sauce, purred sweet potatoes oh the list goes on.  I hope though it isn’t a late night; it is the late nights and foreign beds that make traveling for work so difficult.  Best of all I am going to shoe shopping with Vicki and Tara before dinner, yippee.  Okay better get back to work, ugh.

Lamenting today's poor food offerings

Okay some random thoughts today on food while traveling.  This morning I sat through a terribly boring meeting at the Marriott and, at break, fled from the room to see what was available on the “light breakfast buffet” table.  Somehow soda doesn’t feel like breakfast food, there were small plates of unripe fruit, green cantaloupe and fibrous pineapple.  Off to the right a plate of drab, oily bran muffins.  Seriously, even bran muffins can be made to be delicious with butter milk, raisins or even some orange rind mixed into the batter.  But these poor little orphans were crying out for some attention.  You could almost see the bored chef somewhere in the hotel, trotting out a bag of premix from a dusty storage cupboard, blowing off the dust and mouse droppings and pouring it into a bowl to add water, mixing while talking on their cell.  Popped in the oven and served on a plain white plate, never loved, never cared for.  And they tasted of neglect.  This morning, when I woke up, the Holiday Inn served their version of neglected breakfast breads, rubbery eggs and watery juice from soda fountains.  Now I know businesses have to make money but seriously could you pop for a sliced strawberry to spice up a serving platter.  I am always amazed at the indifference people display towards food. 

To add insult today’s food presentations, we just were served the poorest example of Chinese food I have ever experienced.  Limp chicken strips and shriveled beef strips languishing in brown grey sauces, over cooked broccoli, minute rice doused in soy sauce and doughy deep fried egg rolls, all to be accompanied by brown yellow hot and sour soup, neither hot nor sour, but covered in beef fat.  It is almost a sacrilege what has been perpetuated against the food today.  I feel slightly naseaous.  I went for a walk though seemingly endless parking lots surrounding this hotel until I found a verge of grass against a still pond.  Signing warning me not to fish, swim or ice skate aside, I found a quiet place to feel the shade of the trees, the sun on my skin and some quiet amid this day.  The food has not been a highlight; fortunately I am here with people I enjoy.  Tonight I may just retreat to my room, order some pizza and hid from all these food abominations!! Hopefully tomorrow will show better food offerings.  Suddenly the airport food is looking good from yesterday!!!

Off to Chicago

Yesterday was a pretty nice day.  We got up and started putting up all the new curtains and dressing the beds with the new comforters and pillows we bought.  Honestly our bedroom looks gorgeous. Now I just have to find some end tables and the room will be complete.  Suddenly the house is looking near done!  In the afternoon we went and enjoyed a family birthday party at my guy’s brother’s place, it was his birthday and his son’s.  It was so funny to watch a 17 year old obviously enjoying his birthday but trying to look nonchalant and carefree in front of his buddies when the cake came out.  All in all a good way to finish the weekend.  Today I am off to Chicago on a six o’clock flight.  I am in Chicago for four days this week.  I don’t like this feeling of being away from guy two weeks in a row.  It is the longest we have been apart since we met.  Totally not loving it.  And I am a little sick which is not helping things; I have a feeling it is going to be a really long week. Deep breath just to survive it. 

Amsterdam, Madrid and beautiful new bedrooms

It has been a couple of days and I am behind in sharing the news!  I came home Thursday night to find my guy sitting in the back yard have a tea.  He went to work and was sent home, still sick, so Thursday night we just got caught up for the week and had a late dinner together.  He had spent a few hours each day dragging himself around the house unpacking and tidying up, poor thing, which I imagine prolonged the sickness.  He would do a bit he said feeling a little better but after a box, he would end up back in bed sleeping.

Yesterday was a regular work day and then we had two good friends over for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.  Tara and Lesley arrived around six and the fun began.  I got to show of the house in progress and then we ended up outside with mango pineapple mojitos that I prepared, cheese platters, Mediterranean snacks, veggies and of course blue corn tortillas and salsa.  We caught up on the news, Lesley was the photographer at our wedding and is now taking a course to further her talent.  But the most exciting thing is we all have the opportunity to take a last minute holiday to Europe this July.  We are going to fly into Amsterdam, have six days or so there and then from there on to Madrid and the surrounding cities on the plain!  It is too fun and today Lesley booked an apartment for all of us in Amsterdam during our stay.  Flights are booked, now apartment is ready, Lesley is working on itineraries, Tara is going to work on EasyJet flights from Amsterdam to Madrid for us, and I am going to work on hotels for our time in Madrid.  It came out of the blue but something we have to take advantage of now that it is offered.  Dominican Republic, Mexico and now Holland and Spain, this is turning out to be a pretty amazing first year of marriage.

Today we got up relatively early and my guy made me some breakfast and then out the door we went and we spent literally all day from ten in the morning till after six tonight shopping for decorating pieces for the house. We bought complete new bed coverings, including shams, skirts, pillows, comforters, gorgeous stuff, new curtains and rods, bathroom finishings and we found the most amazing photographer’s tripod light for the living room, all chestnut legs and brushed nickel lights.  We spent way too much money today but it is all the finishing stuff for the house and tonight we dressed the spare bedroom bed and put up the curtains.  We bought new bedside lamps for the room and suddenly it is looking finished.  We put up the rod in our bedroom, tomorrow we dress the bed and put the television up on the wall.  Our house is coming along and I am loving it.  But to be honest pretty tired now.  I am going to put off during the ironing until tomorrow and just flop on the couch with my guy and relax.  Tomorrow more decorating and a birthday party, ah, I am loving life right now!

Wouldn't trade a moment of life right now

Well, it has been a couple of exciting action packed days.  Work here has been so busy, the day just flew by yesterday and before I knew it, it was over.  I almost feel like I have had more meetings while I have been away than I ever have at home.  But it makes the time fly by and makes heading home that much sooner.  My guy is still sick but getting better, slowly, and it is hard to be away while he is home sick and I can't be there to take care of him.  It is just not the same consoling him over the phone when you can't just reach out and take active care of him.

Last night, I went for dinner at a friend's from work who lives here.  It was such a great friend.  It is truly amazing how you can build deep and great friendships with friends from work and it has been amazing to journey along with them as they have built their first amazing house on a beautiful country road and have their first son.  We had a marvellous time sitting on their veranda, sipping sangria and then they made me a special treat for dinner.  If you can imagine I have never had fondue before in my life, so we had an amazing cheese fondue to start, then we made fresh spring rolls filled with veggies and fresh cilantro and mint, accompanied by tasty dipping sauces.  For dessert, a chocolate fondue with fresh fruit made the perfect end to the evening.  It is so great to me to actually be able to enjoy normal life, outside of work, with friends from work, since it is so rare to be able to do that particuarly when you work with someone who lives in a different city.  I got in, bragged breathlessly to my guy about my evening and collapsed in bed.

Today already it is flying by.  There is a tonne of pollen and stuff in the air here so my allergies are acting up a little bit, making me slightly irritable, but hey, I have little to complain about, bright sunny day, the beginning of summer weather, a delicious dinner in a local French restaurant on the horizon tonight and work which I am enjoying these days.  I talked to my guy this morning who seems to be on the mend, tomorrow they are installing our new backsplash and the painters come on Friday to repair the paint on the hallways and staircase.  Pretty soon our house will be done hurray!!!  Life is busy, like yours I am sure, but I wouldn't trade any of these moments.

Here I am amid French food and sunshine

Well here I am in Sherbrooke Quebec for work again.  The flight out and travel was completely uneventful.  One great thing, I got upgraded to first class on the plane and it was one of the new planes so I was in my very own first class pod.  The drive out to the office was easy, the sun shining on the greening and growing fields and soon I was at the office.  The day has passed quickly and after work I wandered the aisles of a local grocery store, admiring the breads, the baked goods, buying myself some local specialties that I can only find here to take home to share with my guy.  I love this little town!  I went into a little depaneur, a local convenience store, with uneven wooden flooring and bought myself a lottery ticket, the whole time speaking French.  I hope my courage to speak French and the charm of the store and the madame selling me the ticket all conspire to add luck to my purchase.  I am back in my wonderful hotel room, all exposed concrete walls and uber modern furniture and artwork on the walls and I am snuggling up on my bed, all for me, with a good book to read before bed.  Tomorrow night, a walk around the lake beside my hotel and more exploring.  I feel somewhat guilty since my guy at home is sick with a chest infection, and here I am away for work and not home to take care of him.  At least he has taken a couple of days off work to recover.  Poor guy.  I love my work and this trip is an unexpected perk to have some time to wander and dream about foods I have never tried.  I only wish my guy was here to enjoy it with me!

An awesome ride for a great cause

This morning we were up as the sun rose and found ourselves eating oatmeal in the kitchen, so early we were still waiting for the birds to begin to sing.  But soon enough we were loaded into the car and on our way down town to the begin the 50 km charity ride for the Heart and Stroke Association.  There is nothing like joining 13 thousand other riders all dedicated to raising money for a good cause and today the weather agreed with our good intentions and created a picture perfect day of sun.  Our team set off, the six of us, riding in the sunlight, enjoying the pleasure of feeling the world go by at your speed, your body in rhythm with your bike, your lungs filling, the sun  on your face, your teammates faces laughing, telling stories, caring for each other, and waiting for each other, encouraging and forgiving the outbursts caused by fatigue or frustration.  We rode up the loop, battling hills and valleys, and stopping for cut up bananas and water, then the long gentle ride back down to the lake, feeling amazed at the distances slipping by.  And suddenly we were passing the finish line and then off for beer, burgers and more conversation before heading home. It was a great day and a perfect early summer day and now tonight we are just enjoying lying low.  We had a cold dinner outside on the patio and now I think it is just time to snuggle up and watch a movie before an early bed.   I have an early start for my flight tomorrow morning so I am going to make the most of being home with my baby at the end of this perfect day.

It's coming together

Just a quick note since I am off to bed!  We spent the day painting the house. The kitchen is now a wonderful colour they call heavy cream which really sets off the hardwood and dark cabinetry.  The original colour we picked turned out to be too green looking, so different from the paint chit, so we changed course and now it looks amazing.  I painted the upstairs bathroom a medium grey colour and honestly it looks amazing too against the gleaming white trim and blue tiles.  Very pretty and very liveable since we won't be remodelling the upstairs bathroom any time soon.  My guy is feeling a little under the weather today, I think he is fighting something.  So hopefully we will both be well and rested for our big charity ride tomorrow. Sunshine and bicycling tomorrow, yipppeee.  Off to bed, night night!

Anticipating Father's Day

Well, today like a well oiled machine, my pre-saved press releases loaded to a number of press release distribution sites all fired off successfully over the lunch hour and right now as I type my press releases are winging their ways electronically or on web feeds to news outlets all over the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.  It is first amazing to me how simple some of this technology and tools really are to use; even I can register, load, add links and photos, set a pre-set release time and boom I am done, without ever thinking wow I am not sure how to do it.  It was the same when I created the Kindle version earlier in the week and I have noticed that you can now purchase the Kindle version in the US and the UK, with Canada and Germany to come.  Second, I am amazed to discover that I have a bit of a knack for writing press releases. I did quite a bit of research on the web on the dos and don'ts of writing a good press release.  After that it is all about getting creative and letting it flow out of you.  The real test will be to see if any of them get picked up and included in must have gift lists for Dad on Father's Day!  But I figure every little bit will help and when you can write the draft one night, edit it the next, load it and set it to release and then forget about it, there is absolutely no down side that I can see in releasing them.  Now just keep your fingers crossed that it works!

This weekend is a big weeked of painting the kitchen and getting it finished and painting the upstairs bathroom and then on Sunday we have our 50 km charity cycling ride for the Heart and Stroke association.  It is forecast to be good weather, sunny and warm, so despite the early 7 am start, it should be a fun day all around and a nice break from the usual.  And I like doing something for charity like that, that combines doing some good with something you love.  Next week I am away in Quebec for work and the following week away in Chicago for work, so I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to fly by!! 

Heading to a patio in the sun

Not a lot today.  It is a bright sunny perfect early June day and today after work I am meeting with my friends Tara and Lesley and we three are going to intrepidly seek out a sunny patio and enjoy cool drinks and munchies and do nothing but talk, laugh, eat, drink and catch up.  A perfect end to a glorious day.

Crazy day at work

What a crazy day at work today and tonight equally so.  After leaving the office late, I came home to meet a contractor who is going to paint the staircase and hallway again after the delivery guys scuffed and marked the walls and ruined the new paint.  Thankfully Sears is going to pay for the repainting which is fantastic and by next Friday it will all be finished.  In fact by next Friday our mirrored back splash will be in, we will have painted the kitchen and it will be finished!  Which is nice since while waiting for the contractor I got a chance to meet the two young women with families in our row of townhouses.  They were both bright, funny and full of laughs; it was nice to meet such nice neighbours and after talking about our renovations we all promised to open a bottle of wine and visit each other's homes to show off I am sure but also to see what others have done with their space!  Sound be a lot of fun.  And I have been thinking we should have a housewarming and book launch party soon but honestly I am not sure when it will happen.  Next week I am away for work for four days, then a birthday party on the weekend, away the next week for three days for work, party on the weekend and between all my nieces and nephews we have a birthday party every weekend until July!  Then hopefully we will be taking a little vacation, I know I can hear you groaning, didn't we just go on one but hey I think we are due!  And amazingly pretty soon it will be our first wedding anniversary!  Can you believe it, I know I can't. Where has the time gone!  I am still revelling in all these days of fun!