Gardening....

Every summer I look forward to getting plants and do my balcony garden. I do not usually have flowers as I like to harvest after a month or so. I always have tomatoes and peppers and herbs and others if I can find plants that will do well in pots. This year I am trying different kinds of tomatoes.

I will take pictures every week to see how fast they grow. Also this year I am trying planting the no fuss, no pots way which I have seen in the UK.

So for all those who do not garden, this could be a way you can try and have fresh tomatoes for salads, or pasta sauce.

This is the Cherokee purple tomato, a first for me.

Basil, tarragon and rosemary. 

This is my new way, I bought the bag of potting soil and just cut an X on the bag and planted my plants. I have to be a bit careful when watering but hopefully it will work.

Those are roma, cherry and golden boy tomatoes.

My peppers, red, green and jalapeno.

Since my balcony faces south west, I get a lot of sun and I have to water in the morning and night as the soil dries up fast.

I hope they will do well, keeping my fingers crossed.



On the menu.......weekend

I was busy this weekend but I managed to try the choco flan recipe. I have not perfected it yet. I think I have put the flan mixture over the cake mixture fast and did not do it slow so it showed a bit in the finished product. It was yummy!!!!

It is amusing because I put the cake mixture on the bottom and flan mixture on top. But when I turned it over the flan mixture is still on top. Gravity!!!

My specialty strawberry margarita. I got the glass a long time ago when Kelsey's first opened in Edmonton.

We had wings, salad and corn after getting plants on Saturday. The drink is an invention of mine, clementine juice, pineapple juice, grenadine, dark rum, and cointreau blended with ice cubes. Good expecially because I have no clue about bartending.



Early planning gets great results....

It was a short work week but a bit stressful. Finally, the residents of Slave Lake came home. Our building suffered only minor damage. But power has not been restored to them because of some miscommunication. I am hoping power has been turned on as electicians went to each suite and turned on the breakers.

I had to order close to 150 fridges and The Brick will deliver all of them on Wednesday. There was no firdge to be found in Edmonton. As the residents got home, they had to duct tape the fridges and remove it. We had a company to take them out for them.

The Red Cross or some disaster group had given every resident's home a bucket with cleaning supplies, gloves, garbage bags, masks, flashlights, ducct tapes and whatever else was needed to get started to get their homes back in shape.

Personally, I was busy trying to get tickets for my short holidays in the fall and Christmas. I was going to use Aeroplan points. So every lunch time this week at work, I was busy online looking for best flights, less points to use and less costs for taxes.  I finally got my tickets for Yellowknife in October for my birthday, one for San Francisco for almost 2 weeks at Chrismas break.

Starting this week, I will be looking for escorted tour to Europe or Asia in the spring as a birthday present for myself as I reach a milestone. I had seen one to Turkey but it is in November, I hope they have them in the spring and one for Italy which is in April 2012 which is the right time but I am not sure yet if that is the best priced one.

I got my plants and saved some money. I also got some Aeroplan points using email coupons when I shopped at Sobey's. I am starting to be really aware of how can I save and get something when I shop.

I will have pictures of my no fuss balcony planting and will track it with pictures every week to see how it works. I think it is so easy and smart way to do it.

A fun and productive weekend....

What a fun weekend although the weather got a bit cooler Monday. I got my balcony ready and pots cleaned and thrown the old soil. Saturday I spent washing and scrubbing my balcony and getting everything ready for my plants.

Sunday, we went out shopping. My friend was looking for a dressy summer outfit for their awards luncheon Tueday, She found a nice white jacket at Winners and will find a colourful cami for it. While I was looking for two chairs and a small table for my balcony and I got them at Walmart. I was also looking for a small barbecue but did not find one I like.

We had Japanese dinner and decided to go to the casino at WEM. I won $70 and she lost a lot of money. I did not get the plants as I know it will be showering today.

I baked a chocolate raisin banana loaf and made spicy almonds which turned out really great. I also did a bit of spring cleaning in my place. I have friends coming next weekend so I did not do my planned choco flan.

My two chairs and table, will be well used once the weather gets warmer..lots of strawberry margaritas and nachos.

Spicy almonds which turned out really great...will try some other kinds of nuts next time.

My chocolate raisin banana loaf ...every 2-3 weeks I have enough bananas (frozen to do a loaf/cake)and I always try to put something differrnt. Next time it will be figs and dried cranberries.



All in all, a great weekend, work and a bit of play Looking forward to a short week.

Long weekend....what to do?

Finally an extra day to enjoy this weekend but what to do? A friend of mine and I were talking about to do this long weekend. We thought of driving somewhere but with forest fires all over the province, we decided to stay in the city and figure out what to do.

May long weekend usually is the start of planting season....people go to green houses to buy their starter plants. I always go the week after, as it is just way too crowded everywhere. I am trying a different way to plant this year. I will not be using pots but something else and if it works...I will post it. I know that it works as I had seen it somewhere else. I call it lazy way of planting and it is not too messy.

Now for what to do...we decided we will go out to dinner and try maybe the Lebanese restaurant close by because they have belly dancing ladies on Saturday nights. We will walk by the river valley and maybe stop by another restaurant which serves good desserts. Before all these, we are going to go window shopping but I am sure we will buy something. I would like to pass by my favorite bakery and get some fresh breads or pastries or to Duchess for croissants and tarts or macarons.

Sunday, I am going to try to make choco flan and another new recipe I have just seen online. So no matter what I will be busy.

The weather is like summer 25 degrees. The driving range across from my building has been very busy lately, the cricket court is being prepared and a lot of bikers/joggers on the promenade.

The driving range and the cricket court on the left as seen from my balcony.

Enjoy the long weekend.



Slave Lake Fire Disaster

I have watched fires, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes on tv and it is sad and at times overwhelming but most of the time, I personally do not know the people.

I am in the property management/investments business. This fire disaster has been too close for me. As property manager I have a portfolio of projects I manage. They are apartments, condos, town houses or high rise buildlings. I supervise site and resident managers. I have 3 properties in Slave Lake which consists of 6 buildings. There are 3 managers and maintenance and cleaning staff.

Last Sunday night when the news came on tv that the fire has started to affect the town of Slave Lake, I was glued to the tv to figure out whether we still have properties there or not. Monday morning I had to try and made sure all the staff are accounted for and safe. It was amazing that I paged one of them and she managed to take her pager with her. That afternoon, I only had one staff unaccounted and before I got ready to go home, I finally got a hold of him. That made me feel good.  By Tuesday, we had confirmation that one of the buildings has been leveled.

I started to get calls from residents and was trying to calm them down, Some of them I know because they at times would call me. It is hard to hear them and know the situation they were in. All day Tuesday, I was processing the return of their Security deposits and refund of this month's rent. I had to make sure that it was done right away as they only had minutes to evacuate and most did not or could not take things with them. At times like this, consideration, compassion and understanding are life's values we need to have. This afternoon a few had managed to get to the office to pick up cheques or have called to give forwarding addresses.

I still have no idea how the other 5 buildings are, though we had reports they are still standing but whether they are habitable or not, we will not know for weeks. 50% of the town is gone.

My prayers and thoughts are with those residents who are in evacuation centres. The outpouring of support has been incredible. The best news is that nobody lost their life.

The single life.....

A friend of mine and I were talking and the topic of conversation went to being single. I have been asked a few times if I get lonely. And usually my answer is no. I always say that to me there is a big difference between alone and lonely.


I actually like being on my own. I don't have to answer to anyone. I enjoy my privacy, I don't cook if I don't feel like it and just have leftover or a bowl of soup. I go anywhere at my own pace and time. I don't clean if I am a bit lazy. A friend once told me she is tired of being alone and lonely. As I see how she lives her life, I am not surprised. Once in a while I would call to ask her if she wants to go out and her usual answer is no. Yet she complains a lot. I don't think she has a lot of friends and lately I have not been in touch as I do not want to be responsible for her happiness.


I try to go out with a friend at least once a week and that is my choice. We either go to dinner and do a bit of shopping or go for a walk and have coffee or hot chocolate on our way home. A few times we just hang around at my place or their place and chat and experiment on making different cocktails.

Right now the close friend I go out with for dinner is on holiday in Ottawa. Another friend just got married and is moving to Rocky Mountain House.


I like to stay home especially if I have had a stressful week at work. Just like this past week. I slept in, had a bath and did some preparation for planting for next weekend. I keep busy and have no time to be lonely.

What a long week.....

This past week was such a long week, a lot of stress and tension at work. I guess that happens when it is an all female staff. It got so bad on Thursday that I almost walked out of the office. Friday afternoon, I had a headache when I went home.

I decided to go to the bank, got some cash and went shopping. I did not really have anything in mind but I got good deal on toiletries. I had watched an episode of the show "Extreme Couponing" and was amazed at the amount of saving the men and women get doing or saving coupons. I don't know if the stores here do that. One lady shopped almost $1200.00  worth and after she gave her coupons, only paid $5.79. That was awesome!!!!

Anyway, I went to Rexall Drug and got all kinds of stuff and they were all on sale, which I think was great as well and also got Aeroplan points. Next on to Sobey's to get groceries and I have their coupon which they email to me. If I spend $35 or more I get 350 Aeroplan points. I spent $39.00 so in total I got 389 Aeroplan points. Much as I did not want to gas up because of the hike in prices, I had to and on to Esso I went, gassed up and got 45 more Aeroplan points.

I feel that this is my small way of "couponing" not that extreme but it makes me feel good, saved about 20% and added points to my Aeroplan account. I have enough points to go Business class to Asia or Europe twice....so whichever continent, I will be on my way soon.

Happy Mother's Day...

To all the mothers out there....Happy Mother's Day!! I hope that you get pampered and spoiled today.
The hardest job in the world is being a parent and most especially for mothers who do a lot in raising their child/children.

From the time the child is born, the mother takes a big part of the responsibility when it comes to raising them. Sometimes we are lucky and at times we have to deal with problems. But we still do what we have to do.

So today, let us just enjoy a day dedicated to us. I feel that it should not only be a day but everyday.

photo by MM

Driving playlist......

One of these two songs is the only song I will sing when I am with my sister and she is almost forcing me to sing. I don't really sing even if my life depended on it. This is usually when we are driving. And these were songs from when we were in college/university.



On the menu....weekend

This was a bit of a busy weekend. I have started my spring cleanup and got my pots ready for when I do my planting. I have no idea what I would plant except I want some tomatoes again.

I had cleaned my patio door and windows and my balcony. Thank God the pigeons are not coming as often as they did a few weeks back.

What I cooked/baked this weekend.

Pineapple upside down cake minus the cherries...

Vegetable tempura