It has been a while.....

I was talking to two friends of mine today and the topic of why I have not blogged in a while came up. I really do not know why but I can't seem to think of what to blog. It is not for lack of things happening in my life but I just thought some are just too personal.

I finally got my Kindle Fire HDX and I have been getting used to it and I have read a book and it would be nice to have it when I travel.

Maybe it is the weather. I am really beginning to hate winter that when the temperature went down to -42 one day last week or was it two weeks ago, I thought of becoming a snow bird when I retire.

This weekend, some snow and then the nasty freezing rain on Saturday night while we were on our way to some kind of volunteer work. The fact that I also worked Saturday till about 2:30 pm did not help my feeling depressed. Then today it was melting as it was 4 degrees.

 In a few days I am on my way to visit my sister and whenever I am there, we always have a good time and crazy fun time. Lots of shopping. I have my bags packed and I hope I have not forgotten anything.

After this I am starting to look for trips I will take next year....something different. Well, last few days at work. I am off Thursday to get some rest so I am well rested for my trip.

Hopefully I will start blogging again. Thanks for stopping by.

Philippines....

Our thoughts are with the survivors of the biggest typhoon that just hit the Philippines. For a while I did not see the news but knew that it was a bad one. I saw coverage of it finally on BBC. And then on CBC and CTV. Then I was watching CNN and saw that Anderson Cooper would be reporting from the Philippines.

I thought then that this is probably worst as Anderson always goes to the most devastated are of any natural disasters. Sure enough it was. The pictures of the area and the survivors could make a macho man cry.

So every night during AC360 I would watch and after about 2 days, it seems like some, actually a few Filipinos did not like what he was reporting. And one reporter did a blind item on him which did not come as blind really. But if she thought, I would not mention her name here, that the Filipinos would support what she did...well she had it coming....nasty backlash from the people. It was interesting to read the comments and I hope somebody sent AC the link so he would know that 99% of the people supported him.

I also hope that with all the donations, that most of it will go to the survivors and not the pocket of some politicians. No wonder the people do not trust the officials from previous experience.

As what most Filipinos know, we are very resilient people and we can move on. Let us all try to help in any way we can. Our prayers are with those who will have to rebuild their lives. 

White fluffy stuff.....I hate them

Yes, the white fluffy stuff has arrived yesterday. At first, it did not bother me so much as it melted as soon as it hit the ground. But then it got a bit cooler and now it is staying on the ground and I just checked now and it is the start of winter. I don't care if technically it is not winter yet but as soon as I see snow, to me it is winter.
It could be -15 and no snow and I will feel okay.

As I was looking down from my suite on the 23rd floor, I can see one jogger down by the promenade. It was about 8:30am ....the diehards!!! I remembered to set my clock back just before I went to bed.

Two weeks ago I celebrated my birthday and a friend of mine who owe me lunch took me and his assistant to Pampa, the only Brazilian grill in Edmonton. You can google as I never remember to take pictures. I was there once and was not really impressed but that was a while back and this time, I still feel the same.

Our Christmas party will be early, it will be November 22, and I am taking with me C, my friend. It is being held in the best hotel in the city as some people may say. I am just hoping I will not be seated with one person I dread to be really close even if it is only for a few hours. It would ruin it for me.

On Halloween or days before, we had pumpkin carving at work and there were female staff who joined and one male staff. And of course, he won. I can show you pictures but there are names on the pumpkins and pictures of the staff so I would rather not post. I thought I did a good job since I had not carved one since my kids were 10 and 12. Now they are 26 and 28 so that is how long it has been.

Another week of work and I am counting the weeks when I will go and visit my sister in CA. I am startinf to have a list of what I would want to do and experience. Have a good week.

It has been a while......

I realize that I have not blogged in a while and while I told a friend of mine that I would sign in and then after a few seconds I would sign off. I don't know if that is being lazy or just not in the right frame of mind to get started. Anyway, I had been sick with the flu since our Thanksgiving, October 14 and I have not completely recovered from it.

I went to see my doctor and now I am being tested as my blood count is very low. A lot of things have happened and I have been busy at work and gets easily tired because of the low blood count. I have had 2 blood tests done and I have two more to do. Yes, a lot of poking. And I am petrified of needles but being diabetic I have learned to cope with it.

Sometimes I admire those people who blog almost everyday, my sister is one of them. Today, I slept in and took naps and watched tv and did nothing else as I have no energy. 

We had a dusting of the white stuff but not a lot. In the southern part, I believe they got more. This time I am prepared as I have my winter tires installed a week ago so I am ready.

Thanks for dropping by and I will have some pictures to post later. Enjoy the week.

First day of fall.........

It sounds good but feels ominous. It means that the cold weather, white fluffy stuff is not far behind. The trees have started to turn different colours of orange, yellow and red. But I believe this year the trees are still mostly green and it is almost the end of September.

This weekend, I washed my vehicle and I was going to have it detailed but it is not as messy or dirty so I feel like it will not be worth it so I did it myself. I like doing it and I have different kinds of stuff that I use to get it all cleaned and dusted and wiped. I had vacuumed it at the car wash and I thought it would be really dirty but the mats kept my carpet clean.

I also did a bit of fall cleaning in the house and in my balcony. I had started my Christmas shopping as well so I have time to think of what to get and not be in a hurry and it would be enjoyable. 

At work, it is still a bit stressful and a never ending supply of drama. I was offered to take a different position and I am considering it as it will take me away from all the stress and drama of the main office. So I am doing a lot of audits and clearing documents just in case I take this other position. I will be working with a person I get along really well which is good. So it is another work week for me. Enjoy the rest of the week.

Now too busy....

About a week or so ago, which was my last post, I confessed of my being lazy to blog. Now, in the past week, I was just too busy. Today, I was at work to do a random parkade mirror tag check and I was at work at 6:15 am and together with one of the security staff went down to start the check.

It was just a check of vehicles and that they have their tags. Well, we found drivers who are going way too fast and there was this lady who drove down so fast we had to stop her to tell her to slow down next time. She was so rude and it was really nothing to get upset about. So after the check, I called their parking coordinator to complain about her and that she be sent a memo to slow down.
I found out she is a manager and I guess she thinks she is entitled. While the rest of the drivers were so nice and thought it was a good idea. Some people.....their ego should be checked in at the parkade door.

Last week, I had lunch at the new restaurant across the street from our building. A Vietnamese restaurant, Hoang Long, it was busy and I had the grilled beef with lemon grass which was ok. Then another day, we went to Allegro and I had the linguine frutti di mare. It was really good and had a lot of clams, mussels, calamari and shrimp with white wine garlic sauce. I would go back to this restaurant. The price for that pasta was $21.95, a bit expensive for lunch but worth it. Besides, the company paid for it or was it the Vice President. All the same.

Was home early since I was at work early and had a nice nap. The weather has been warm for this time of the year so I will not complain, I will just enjoy it. So hump day tomorrow....until next time.

Just lazy......

I had a friend asked me if I have stopped blogging and I just realized that I have not posted in a long time. I am just lazy. I would go and think I would post something and I just did not have the energy to think of something to write so I would just go off line.

Some days I thought of something to post but I thought about it and it feels like I am just venting. Now summer is almost over and I am getting to that dreary feeling of winter coming. In fact, I had scheduled an appointment already to get my winter tires installed. I do not want to be in that position last year when snow has come and I still have my all season.

Then I thought I would try to blog everyday just like my sister but I think the longest I had done was a week or maybe 9 continuous days. I have been busy at work and when I get home I am so tired and I am in bed by 9:00 pm.  The fall tv line up has started and I watch shows that are back for this season. I am watching a new series, Cedar Cove and of course Duck Dynasty and Border Security. There's also shows on HGTV which will be starting later this month.

So, I am just lazy and I am ok. Thanks for asking. Maybe I will get the creative juices back in the coming days. Hump day, enjoy the weekend.

Wonderful memories....

Today, he would have been 32 years old. I wonder if he would have been married, with children. Perhaps not. Would he have been successful with the business he started, probably. What kind of car would he be driving? What electronic toys would he own? What kind of music would he be listening to?What kind of food would he prefer to eat? What places would he have visited? A lot of questions and really no answers.

For the last five years, that is what I struggled with. Questions and no answers. But with time, I have learned to have questions and I am beginning to learn that I will get no answers and now it is fine with me. I have accepted the fact that, this is how it will be.

I lived with the pain and now it is not as hard as before. Maybe the cliche time heals everything is true. I do not know about closure. Sometimes I think closure is forgetting and I do not want that.

Memories, that is what I have left and it is a good feeling to have. I remember a lot of them when he was younger and there are times when I can smile about them. There are memories when he was an adult and those I really treasure. I am thankful that there was this time in my life that I was trying to find out what to do and I spent a few months with him and my sister and we got some kind of bonding. And not knowing that would be the last I would spend time with him.

Now I can say I am at peace with what happened, though there are times I still do not understand why.But I am fine with it.

So Gino, Happy Birthday and I believe where ever you are, you are also at peace. You will always be in our hearts. 

Plant sculpture....

When you are looking at buildings, especially in the summer time I find I am always trying to see what kinds of plants they have in front of the building. Since the weather is an important factor that decides what one will put in to make the building look different from the rest of the others in the block.

There is a restaurant two blocks away from my building and they always have very nice plants and containers in the summer time. The city or the business association has the summer program of businesses ordering wave petunias in big planters that decorate the sidewalks and it makes the downtown area alive.

This summer our management staff decided to be a bit different and we had our landscape company do a plant sculpture. It is quite different, the only thing that I would have changed is the time they planted the flowers so it would have covered the whole sculpture.

 

This is what is in front of our office building, I call it the plant sculpture.



Plants.....

Over the long weekend a friend of mine called to ask if I wanted house plants. Her sister goes on vacation a lot since she has retired and did not want to worry about her plants so she is giving them away. So she picked me up that holiday Monday and we drove to get the plants.

The plants were big that I decided to only take two of them. They were both ficus plant and are tall and healthy. So we dragged them out and into her SUV. At leasetshe was prepared with blankets and rollers so it will be easy to transport it.

When we got to my building, I realized how tall the plants were and I was thinking it might really reach my ceiling. I sort of have an idea where to put it and at that time came to the realization that there is only one spot i can put it where it will look okay.



 

There that is how tall the plant is, there is only about 6 inches of clearance to the ceiling. The painting on the wall I bought in the Dominican Republic when my niece got married. The guy who helped me haggled for the good price passed away suddenly a month or so after we got back. I always think of him when I look at that painting.

 

 

That same weekend, C and I went to the farmers market and I bought this herb pot with basil, sage, chocolate mint and lavender hiding behind the sage. Since I did not plant anything this summer, this was a good buy for $10.00 as the pot alone I believe it is at least worth that.



Too hot.....

I am lucky to be working in an office where the air conditioning works all the time and if there is any problem, I know it would be solved that day or the day after. When the weather gets too hot, it would be nice to have AC working.

In my building, my home the AC has not been working for weeks!!! And we have no clue as to when it will be repaired as the management keeps telling us that the parts are being ordered. On any given work day, I am out of my suite by 7:00am and I am off to work but this last Friday, I had to wait for delivery of something I had bought so I had to wait for it. The darn suite was so hot as I am facing south that I could understand the wrath that some residents are heaping on to the manager. I must add that she just surrendered her keys the Friday before and left.

Residents are leaving notes by the elevator and anyplace that they could vent their frustration. The insulting part I think is that when you come into the lobby, the AC there is working and it is comfortably cool there so the office staff are not suffering. Another thing is that they, the management is doing some cosmetic work outside of the building which is nice but not at the expense of the residents who are suffering inside.

So I bought two electric fans but it is not the same. So last Thursday I almost wanted to sleep in the balcony and if I had one of those loungers, I would have done so. Yesterday, it was a relief that it rained but did not last long and yes I am contemplating going to the store and buying one of those loungers as they are now on sale as summer is almost over.

Okay, enough of my venting. I am sweating just doing this post.

Rain, and more rain

I was going to blog about something else when I saw the lightning and heard the thunder and went out to my balcony and then the heavy rains started.

I was ready to clean the balcony floor when hail started and hitting me and so I went inside. It was something else as it pelted on the balcony door and hit me before I finally went inside. We have had this kind of rain this summer and there was one time when I went out the balcony and cleaned and washed it with the rain water and I was soaked but I quite enjoyed the experience.

It reminded me of when we were kids and we used to go out and just get soaked by the rain and when it was hot it was kind of refreshing. It was hot today and I was busy cleaning up and rearranging stuff in my suite.

It is still raining and the thunder is loud and I don't know why but it seems like it is a lot louder when you are high up...23rd floor. One time it rained so hard I could not see the river and it looked like there was heavy fog. It is almost 11:00pm and it is still going on. It is hard to sleep with that noise but I guess it is good for the farmers or for the grass.

Time to get to bed, another work week is upon us. I wonder if I will hear from the company I had an interview last Friday.

Taste of Edmonton 2013...

Last Wednesday, the staff at work went to Taste of Edmonton, This was the first time I had gone to it at lunch time. I had usually gone after work because we do not have to worry about time and we can stay there for as long as we want.

This year I did not try a lot since that morning we had Tenant Appreciation breakfast and I had 3 pancakes and 2 sausages so by the time we got there I was not really hungry.

I got a glass of heavenly lemonade, then we tried spicy chicken, vegetable tempura, churros, sirloin with lemon grass sauce. I can't remember what else I had. Anyway I had leftover tickets and gave it to my son. They went on Friday and the only thing he talked about was the deep fried Mars bars. He ate 3 of them which could easily have been 1000 calories.

It was crowded and I still would have preferred to go after work. Coming  back from that, I heard that my cousin had passed away and so I did not go that night with two of my friends.

Hopefully it would be good again next year. I apologize it was hard to take pictures when you are standing holding your drink, a small plate and a purse. It was hard enough trying to eat.

A very sad news....

After I got back to the office after enjoying our trip to Taste of Edmonton, I had this strong feeling to check my cell phone. I don't take my phone out of my purse when I am at work. If it is an important call, people know to call my office number.

So I got the phone and noticed I have mail. So I checked it and it was a very short message from ny niece...Tita Nil is gone. That's it. It was sad but was expected. It is hard to get a message like that at work as you can't really process it because you have to continue working.

It hit me once I got home. I will miss her as she always stay with me when she went to Yellowknife to visit her mom. We had fun and talk a lot about everything. I also remember when she drove with us when we left Yellowknife to go to Edmonton. We also went to Waterton and that was really a very nice trip.

There is only one member of her family left, her daugher. Her parents died of cancer, her young daughter of cancer and the same with her brother and a son from a tragic accident and she succumbed to her cancer as well. I am glad though that it was quick and she did not suffer long.

You will always be in my heart and pray that you now have found peace and will meet your family in heaven.

 

 

 



Good news.....Sad news....

Last Wednesday while checking my mail, I received a wedding invitation from family friends of 30 years. We all lived in Yellowknife and they came from Ontario.

This couple have three kids, all girls, two are twins.  The youngest one is getting married this September and I am thinking of attending the wedding so I can also see family and friends there.

Almost the same time, I got a call from my cousin and she told me that another cousin who has cancer is really not doing well and might only have days to live. I am close to her and she is such a very good and generous person. I did not know that the cancer was in stage three when it was diagnosed and the treatment was really hard on her. I am praying that it will be short and painless.
Love you Nil and thank you for your generosity and kindness. I will remember all the conversations we had and your understanding specially about one really difficult situation.

And then my sister called me this afternoon letting me know of a childhood friend had passed away in San Francisco and that she is going to the visitation. It had been a lot of deaths lately and it is really sad. To all their families, my sympathies and love.



For you Nil.



Dining out....

I have gone out with friends or office mates for lunch or dinner but have not posted anything about it. So I will just list the different places I have gone out if I can remember it all.

There are no pictures as I usually forget and would remember it halfway and I don't like taking pictures of food I have half consumed.

C and I went for dinner at Niche which is just down half a block from my office so we just walked there. We decided to eat in the patio as it was such a nice day. I can't remember if we ordered appetizer but I think we did not as we wanted to have dessert.

I ordered the beef cheeks which is beef stroganoff. Nothing special about it except it costs $26.00. I do not mind paying that price but it was just regular stroganoff. There was nothing served with it, no garlic bread or a small side salad. C ordered lobster risotto and it was nothing special and that was $27.00. So we were there having conversation of how expensive it was and not much to say about the meal. We decided to have this chocolate dessert that was made of chocolate, the vesssel which was in the shape of a cup with chocolate mouse inside it and fruits on top. They pour some brandy or something and lit it and the chocolate cup started to melt. Since we were outside you can't even see the flame although when C took a video of it, you can a bit of the flame.

We will not go back to this one, although according to an advert in one of the magazines, it is supposed to be one of the top 20 restaurants in Canada. Really??

Next, some ladies at work and I went to Earl's for lunch. I ordered the dynamite crab roll and it was really good and at only $11.00. The others ordered lobster roll which was also good but was hard to eat. Then 2 of the ladies ordered dessert, chocolate concoction and I guess, that it was good.

One day, I forgot my lunch and I went to Central Social Hall which is on the main floor of our building. I know a lot of the staff there and since they have changed their lunch menu, I asked what is good and was told the fish tacos were really good. So I ordered it, and it was delicious. There was also anothertime when I forgot lunch and ordered mushroom salad with fried polenta and that was really good and reasonable price as well.

This will be it for now, I will do another review next time. I still have 2 places I have been to which I have not done a review.

Enjoy the rest of the week and thanks for stopping by.

Hot, hot weather....

Today, the temperature reached to 33 Celcius and it felt like 43 Celcius. Now that is hot and then you come to work and then later realized the air conditioning is not working. Fast forward to about 3 or 4 hours of no AC and the office is getting stuffy and hot because the sun is directly shining on my windows.

So we send one of the guys to buy as many fans as there are desks in the office. Then the receptionist and I drive literally across the street to escape the heat. We bought bag of ice and iced tea mix and watermelon to help cool us down. It actually did not help, maybe just a bit.

At quitting time which for me is 4:00pm, I was excited to be in an airconditioned suite only to find the AC at my home is not working either. So I go downstairs to the office to complain and then the power goes off.

So now, I am stucked in the lobby with other residents, since we cannot even use the stairs. But I wasn't about to go up 23 floors after I just had pulled muscles in both my thighs and it is starting to just heal. We were told it will be about 6:00pm when power could be back. It is not even 5:00pm yet. So I sat in one of the chairs and just waited.

My son came down the stairs, knowing I had just gone down and thought I might have been stuck in the elevator but he kind of knew I had taken it a few minutes before.

By 5:30 the power came back on and we all trooped down the lobby to go up. We were told that it was because of the heat, a lot of AC were turned on and it was just too much so they had to do rotating power black out.

I bellieve it will still be another scorching day tomorrow. Right now, we are expecting thunderstorm and the wind is starting to blow and dark clouds are hovering around us. I just hope the AC at work has been repaired.

Fire works

It is Canada Day, 11:00 pm. I used to be able to watch the fireworks from my balcony but now this stupid 35 storeys high condo is blocking my view. At least it is not blocking my whole view of the river valley, just that special space where the fireworks are going right now.

I can hear the sound but can see only a tiny bit of the whole show. I guess it is time to move where I can have the river valley view and still see the fireworks.

I am glad it is only the fireworks, I still have a pretty good view of downtown and the valley.
I hate that building. I guess I have to go down to the promenade and watch the fireworks from there next time.

Just venting. It is annoying you can hear the whole thing and not see anything from my balcony

Does this mean?...

It is early morning and I can't seem to get to sleep. It is July 1, Canada Day. While lying in bed, it just occured to me that the saddest day of my life has come and gone and I did not realize it until now.

June 29 is that day. My nephew had passed away and usually it will just come to me automatically. For some reason, I did not remember it nor it came to me. Does this mean, that finally the healing and closure has come to me? I feel that I have finally accepted it and I had moved on.

It is not that I don't think of him, it is that feeling of not being so sad anymore. It is knowing that he is at peace and I believe that. While I was at my sister's place in May, we started to talk about opening a box containing his stuff. We were going to do it and then we just forgot. I even asked my sister. will the contents of the box make us cry?

I have a picture of him with me taken when I visited them in Toronto and I have that on my night table. I only had put it there this year and I don't cry now when I look at it. Sometimes, I think of what he would be like if he were alive and what he would be doing. At times I think of all the electronic gadgets and wonder if he would have bought them. But most times, I look at the picture and feel at peace. So I guess time has finally healed this wound.

Gino, we will remember you always as you are in our hearts.

 

Just did not feel like it.....

I did not realize how long has it been since I have posted here. A friend of mine had asked a few days ago if I had lost interest in blogging.

A lot has been happening and sometimes I would have wanted to write but it feels like I will just be whining. I have been really busy at work and by the time I get home, I did not even want to turn on my computer after having worked 7.5 hours doing stuff on the computer.

I had gone for a job interview and the job was offered to me but there was one condition about the offer that I felt was just prying too much information so I actually turned it down. And a few of my friends thought I was crazy. But when I went for the second interview to see if I fit the team, there was one person I did not feel good karma and that was bothering me after that.

As the saying goes, it is not always greener on the other side. But after I had turned it down, I got a text from the recruiter that they might something better to offer me. I wonder what that would be.

In any case, I will just have to wait and see.

Downtown farmer's market....

I thought the downtown farmer's market does not open until July but I was wrong. It had started the day before I left for my vacation.

So today, an officemate and I went to check it out. Since the city is doing a lot of road construction downtown the market had spilled into Jasper Avenue which is the main drag downtown. I was not expecting to see a lot of veggies but actually there was a lot fresh stuff.

I wanted to buy white baby potatoes as I am planning to have roast chicken tonight. They did not have the really baby ones so I ended up going to the grocery store close to where the market is and bought my baby potatoes.

I ended up buying a dozen coconut cookies and chunky chocolate with skor. Also, I bought fresh baked loaf. I did not bring my camera or cell so I don not have pictures.

While at the market, we realized it was Gay Pride day in Edmonton and the parade was just about ready to start but they are going through a different avenue so we did not bother to watch. I see enough of them in my building and they are friends of mine, so I hope they enjoy today.

Johnny Garlic's in San Jose...

Last time I was in San Jose, I wanted to try this restaurant owned by Guy Fieri of the Diners, Drive Ins and Dives fame on the Food Network.

But at that time, I believe it had just opened and a lot of people want to try it, so it was a bit busy and crowded. But this time we went for lunch with a friend of my sister and it was not busy at all. It was the Friday before the Memorial weekend.

We sat there and waited for her friend and we ordered Garlic potato chips. It was really garlicky with parmesan and finely chopped fresh garlic. It was really good but I did not have to worry about the garlic smell as we were shopping after that.

I was not really hungry so my sister and I shared sashimi wan tacos. It had sashimi grade ahi with mango jicama salsa and wasabi soy. It was really good.

Our friend ordered bison burger with garlic potato chips on the side. We all ordered iced tea with different flavours, I think mine was raspberry. I would go back here and try other stuff on their menu.
Service was really good.

Garlic potato chips

 

Sashimi Won Tacos



Restaurants....food

While visiting my sister, we always go to places/restaurants I want to try or just food I have not tried yet. Before I get there I would google places and see if I have a place I am interested in going.

Sometimes it is an ad on tv that I remember I want to try. This time I wanted to go to Sonic and so after our trip to the Artichoke Festival we passed by a Sonic location and tried their food.

I ordered cheeseburger with onion rings and pineapple milk shake, my brother-in-law ordered the chili dog with sweet potato fries. I think my sister also ordered a burger with something else. The burger was big and the onion rings were good. I like the milkshake as it was quite thick and had  really pineapple you can taste.

These are all the flavours of the drink you can order from tea to smoothies.

Sorry about the imperfect bun but I just wanted to show how big the burgers are and they are a lot better than the one from the very well known arch.

 

The chili dog, as you can see it was a drive in and it was hard to take pictures of the food.

 

While shoppping at a Mexican grocery store, we decided to eat there as they also serve cooked food to stay or take out. I ordered the Mexican version of poutine.

The fries under the carne asada with sour cream and guacamole. I could not have salsa or pico de gallo as I do not like cilantro. As usual I could not finish as it was too much.

 

And for my sister's birthday, I cooked a big pot of jambalaya which turned out well.

 

 

 

 

 



A very sad news.....

I posted an item about  weeks ago about a lady who celebrated her 100th birthday. It was a successful get together for friends and relatives. I was told there were more than 200 people who came to their open house to greet her.

I was able to talk to her and wish her Happy Birthday.

After a week, I heard she was in the hospital maybe from all the stress and excitement and some sad news she received. A nephew who attended her birhtday bash died and a month later, her brother died.

She also fell and broke her hip and had to have surgery. Sad to say, she did not really recover from that and she passed away on May 23, I believe.

I am just glad that she was able to reach her 100th birthday which she had been looking forward to for so long. I also know when she told me, the last time I visited that it was hard to be just waiting.
Now she is at peace and resting.  I believe she has now gone home. We will miss you, Wiwa.

 

 

Picture taken on her 100th birthday celebration.

 

She is a very religious and spiritual person so I think this song is appropriate to dedicate to her.



Fruits.....Spices....

Every place I visit I always like to go into grocery stores to see what kind of food, fruits or spices I can see and buy. Most especially fruits I have not seen or tasted for a long time. I enjoy looking at fruit trees and always say I would like to steal them if I am walking close to them.

Thank God, I have relatives who have fruit trees where I can enjoy picking or they give me fruits I have not tasted.

Visiting my sister is the same, we go around stores and look for exciting stuff.

Cherimoya which is like sugar apple and sour sop and my sister refers to it as mutant. We found them a week before I was to leave and these were not ripe so we had to google how to ripen them faster and it says it needs sunny place. So here I was moving it from one sunny location to another even taking it outside. Lucky for me two days before I had to leave they were ripe and enjoyed them.

 

These are loquat and my cousin has a tree filled with fruits and I asked what they are and she brought a little bag filled with these fruits. I tried to eat as much as I only had a day to enjoy it, sadly you cannot take it with you.

 

I also bought spices...sweet paprika, Mexican vanilla, bay leaves, Badia complete seasoning and my cousin sent me Santa Maria seasoning.

 

 



Artichoke Festival....

After I landed at SFO, my sister told me we will be picking up her mother-in-law and go home to drop my suitcase and then we will be on our way to Castroville to go to the Artichoke Festival.

It was not a long drive and soon we were there and we had to park and get on the bus. The parking attendant told us not to miss the deep fried artichoke so we knew we had to have it.

As we go to the gate to pay the entrance fee, they asked if we were seniors 55 and over and we were never so excited to get a discount 50% off.

This is just like a fair or small exhibition where they not only have food vendors but also crafts and other displays.

Half way through we remembered to take a picture of the deep fried artichokes which were reall good, I could have eaten a second plate.

The spiral spud which was fresh and crispy and we sprinkled with different salt and spices.

One of the displays all made ot artichokes.

Bear made of artichokes

 

There was also a display of old classic cars.

 

It was enjoyable and it felt like being in Mexico as the community is where farm workers live and all you can hear is Mexican being spoken.

 



Cache Creek Casino in Northern California.....

I have gone to different casinos, here in Alberta, Ontario, Nevada, California even in the Dominican Republic and they are ok or great.

When I was visiting my sister, we decided to go to a casino resort...Cache Creek Casino. She did not want to drive so to make it relaxing, we took the tour bus to the casino. So I was expecting a nice drive, until we got on the bus and it was one of those older tour buses. Then the driver started the engine and we were sitting very close to it and it was awfully noisy.

I guess that was a sign of bad things to come. Then we heard that the washroom is not really working and only for emergency.  I took my sister's Kindle Fire and started reading and it was good as it made the ride go faster and less boring. My sister was taking a nap and has head phone so she could sleep.

Arriving at the casino, we had to get to the washroom and when we registered, the CSR commented that we should have registered right away and this was done in a very rude and unfriendly manner.
By this time I was not looking forward to anything and then realized there was smoking and a little area that was non smoking.

I played for a while and soon was winning and if I was at home, I would have cashed out and gone home but since we have to be here for 5 hours, I walked around and then played some more until I had lost my winnings and then I found a machine out of order and decided to sit there and took out the Kindle Fire and read until it was time to go home.

All in all.... I would not ever, ever going back.....

Back from vacation....

I just got back this afternoon. And I am glad to be home after the annoying incident at San Francisco airport with United Airlines.

Usually I don't get annoyed with airlines and I have only complained twice and got results with Air Canada.

But today, I was checking in at United at Terminal 3 and I noticed that gate 35 is in Terminal 1 so I took the shuttle to go to 1 and after getting to gate 35, it was announced that there was gate change and now it will be gate 70 which is in Terminal 3 so I took the shuttle back to 3. When I looked at the departures board, it says there gate 77B.

Finally, I asked the agent if it was 70 or 77B and she replied she did not know yet but there is gate change for sure. A while later there was an announcement that it was gate 70.

Now you can do pre check in on line and they issue a boarding pass. You still have to check in your baggage and there have to do another check in and you have to print your boarding pass. So what is the point of doing it online 24 hours before a flight. And then once in the gate, you have to get your boarding pass checked to get the DOC OK stamp.

Oh, the hassles of travelling after 911. And to top it off, we had to get up really early to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight. At least I do not have to do it again until before Christmas which is worst because of it being the holidays.

Vacation....

Yes, today I am on my way to visit my sister and to join her when she celebrates her big 60. Oops, I don't know if I should that number but I know she won't mind.

We have a lot to do and she had planned on a trip to go to a casino which will be our bonding day. Then I guess we will be busy shopping, shopping and more shopping. Also, preparing for her party.

I am sure we will try to play tennis and eat at restaurants I want to try, one of them is Johnny Garlic owned by Guy Fieri of the Diners, Drive-ins and Dives Fooe Network show.

My flight is so early that I am thinking of just not going to sleep so I would be so tired and just sleep on the plane and the flight would be short. Or I can just read, of which I forgot to buy a book. I should just get Kindle.

Anyway, I don't know how often I will blog but I will try.

See you when I get back..../enjoy the long weekend and the warm weather although I saw forecast is rain for the next few days.

Famoso pizza.....

This is supposedly one of the best pizza places in Edmonton. There was a lot of buzz when it opened and I guess they lived up to that reputation.

So tonight, some of us friends and a family member decided to order as they were saying as well that is what they all heard about this place. So we ordered their pepperoni and roasted mushroom with additional smoked mozarella, capriciosa which has artichokes, Italian ham, olives, mushroom and something else and an order of mozza balls. We only had to wait 10 minutes and order was ready.

So we went to pick pizza and one opened the box and it smells good. When we got home, we got ready to eat and each took a piece and one mozza ball. When we started eating the center part, a big part of the pizza was so dought, it was not even edible. Everyone complained how bad it was and we also started to watch a movie on demand and nobody was watching the movie as we were all busy complaining and givine comments of how bad it was and it was the worst pizza ever.

I have taken pictures to capture but it did not do it justice.

That is the top of the box...which says what you can see there. Well, this one did not last long as it went to the garbage right away after we took photos.

 

That was the first were two people took slices and this was moved to a pie pan to see if we could get it in the oven to save it so we could eat it. But everyone decided it was not worth saving.

 



This is the other pizza where I took my one slice and it went to the garbage like this. The only edible part was the 1 1/2 inch of the edge. They were supposed to be thin so you would think it would be cooked and not like raw dough.

This was my plate with just the edge eaten and the topping.

Most of the other plates were almost the same maybe a bit worse as they just left most of it uneaten. It was not even worth it to drive back to return and show them.

 

I was so upset that we talked of doing reviews on Yelp, Urban Spoon and all the other on line review sites but I was thinking they, the management would not see it.

So I called them up and complained and told them I do not want anything from them but that I did not want any other customers to have the same experience. The manager asked for my name and I gave it to her and she told me there will be a certificate waiting for me there. I can tell you now, that certificate will remain unclaimed and that would be my last and I will never ever ever (just like that Taylor Swift song) go back there. And all of us have said when we hear about that place again, we will mention our experience. The worst so far and I have been to a lot of restaurants here and abroad and my gosh that was on the top of the list of the worst ones.

Two thumbs down.



Happy Mother's Day......

To all the moms out there.....Happy Mother's Day.

A special day dedicated to us but I believe this should be celebrated more than just a day. I know all the hard work mother's do for the family.

They have two jobs....one they go out to and the other one when they get home. So for us mothers, the job never ends.

I am sure for the lucky ones, the family appreciates all the time and not only on this day.

I received an orchid plant one Mother's Day. I prefer to get plants or flowers than being taken out for dinner. That's just me. The plant will last longer than the dinner.



Baking and cooking......

For quite a while I have been baking and forgetting to take pictures. I found it hard to blog about baking/cooking when I do not pictures to go with it. I have also been trying same recipes but refining or adjusting it to my personal taste preference.

I have tried so many corn bread recipes and now I think I may have found the one I like but then again when I was at Smokehouse BBQ and had their bacon/jalapeno shortbread, I now want to find something like it. It was really good.

I don't like cilantro and I love Mexican and Vietnamese food. It is hard to request not to have cilantro in their salsa as it is prepared with it. The Vietnamese restaurant we go to all the time has been very accommodating and will omit cilantro when I ask not to have it in anything I order.

Today I am trying yet again another banana bread/muffin recipe. This is the only way to use my over ripe bananas.

Chewy peanut butter cookies

 

Pineapple/orange chiffon cake....I had a hard time cutting it as it was so soft and moist and not too sweet

 

Spaghetti a la carbonara....I made this after that disastrous carbonara my grand nephew ordered at an Italian restaurant and this was a lot better, I put a little bit more bacon.

 



Too hot.....

I never would have thought I will complain but today it was too hot. At home and in the office, the air conditioner has not been turned on yet and I do not have any electric fan. I gave it away when I moved here as I never had a need for it.

Now, I wish I had one. The temperature went as high as 31 degrees....whew that is too hot for me. I would not want to walk in that kind of temperature. I saw on the Weather Channel that there is forecast of rain tonight. I hope that cools it down a bit.

When the weather is like this, I do not even try to cook. I made myself a glass of strawberry margarita, ate some mixed nuts and some taquitos. That was supper.

Then I watched The Voice. There are some very good singers this year and I like the way Usher is coaching his team. I will wait until Shakira's and Blake's team tomorrow and I will pick who I think I would like to win. I will choose one for each team and see if I can choose the winner.

For those of you who like hot weather, enjoy while it lasts.

A nice warm weekend......

Finally spring here but the temperature is like summer weather. I will not complain. On Friday at lunchtime, I went to see another tower to check out if the place is nice and what kind of view they have.

I thought my river valley view was spectacular but this was 10 times better than the view I have at present. I hate moving but my building has gone through 4 managers and it has not been good for us residents. Besides that, they are increasing the rent and I could get better and great places for the amount I will be paying if I renew.

Of ourse I forgot to take my phone to take pictures. I have put my name on the waiting list. I walked here from work and it was about 5 blocks so I can walk winter and summer. Saturday, the temperature was 21 degrees and Sunday was 26. The only problem is I don't know if they have opening for the month I want to move in. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Next weekend I will check out some other places. It was nice going for a walk with the warm weather upon us. Now I can really have my winter tires taken out.

Enjoy the work week....

Dinner out with a friend.....

Every few weeks when we both have free Friday night, C and I go out to dinner and it has been our way of connecting and chatting of what has gone on in our lives.

When we go out, we always look for and try new places to eat and this time we went to Smokehouse BBQ which was closed because of fire when we went to try it a few weeks ago. This last Friday, they had reopened.

The place was clean and decorated simply. The menu has all kinds of smoked meat. C tried the Works which is a sandwich made with all kinds of smoked meat, pork, beef and chicken. It was presented well and it had the deep fried pickle on top of the bun. I tried the smoked chicken wings with just salt and pepper. There are 4 different sauces you can pick.

The service was good and as usual we always have dessert and this time it was presented in a very different way. We had lemon pie in a jar.



This was real lemony and you can taste the lemon rind.

I will go back to this place.

Passwords.....

Tonight, I was trying to access an email account I have but have not used lately and I can't reme the password. I thought I am really good with remembering passwords or PIN numbers but I guess there is just way too many to remember. The annoying part is that they send me a link to get assistance and the link no longer works, but I finally guessed what the password is.

So I finally decided to write them down. With personal and professional email and whatever else we do that need passwords, I have decided to start writing them. Then there's the system at work where we have to change it after 90 days and I am beginning to run out of really good passwords.

I do not know how many passwords I have at work, I would guess more than 10 and for now I can remember them all. It is the ones I have to change that I sometimes have to think hard to remember. Maybe I should just have 3 that I should use but I think that will not work.

It has been busy at work and I hope nobody else is leaving, 5 left in two weeks. No wonder I am now second in seniority in terms of service and I have only been there 15 months. And when the first one goes which he might, heck, I will be top one.

Well, enough of this venting.....tomorrow will be a new week and hope it settles down at the office.

Lunch time.......

There were 3 staff members who left our office in the last two weeks. All three I worked with closely and all three I consider great workers.

Since I started, there have been a lot of staff who have left the company and it had been a tradition to take them out for lunch. I am in charge of our petty cash and so I am in charge of taking them out. It used to be I invite everyone.

But this time, the staff leaving just wanted a few people so it was almost like a covert operation. The first lunch was at a Malaysian restaurant. I have been going to Tropika for a long time and it has never disappointed me yet. There might be one or two dishes I do not like but most of the time, they are all good.

The second one we went to was buffet at New Asian Village which is Indian restaurant. I have East Indian friends and I have eaten a lot of Indian dishes but the selection here was not so good. I enjoyed the naan bread, lamb curry, and another stew like dish. I did not even like the tandoori chicken here.

Then we went to Trang Tien which is Vietnamese. It is always good here and the servings are very generous, sometimes I think it is too generous, most people can't finish them. I like the calamari here and beef hot plate.

I hope nobody leaves the company in the next while. I have gone to a lot of lunches. And with me trying to lose weight, it is not easy. They went again on Friday to another Vietnamese place where they only serve  pho and I did not even go, besides I had a report to finish that afternoon.

I hope you enjoyed the weekend.

Winter is back....

Yes, what a short spring time. Today winter is back. Just yesterday people were enjoying the nice weather and I believe some were even in the golf course.

I almost made an appointment to get my winter tires off and install my all season tires. I am glad I waited. This nasty weather always come after I had just washed my vehicle.

My plan to go out for a walk was postponed as it is a mix of rain and snow, mostly snow.

The lottery is the biggest ever and so yesterday I bought tickets with a hope of winning, anything even just a free play.

Since the weather is not so nice, I started a little bit of spring cleaning. I am thinking of finding another place as the building is starting not to be maintained properly as before. I hate moving but will do it if things do not improve.

Enjoy the weekend....

100 years.......

Today, up north in Yellowknife, a wonderful woman is celebrating her 100th birthday. That's right 100. She has been so looking forward to this. The last time I was there to visit, she talked about it a lot and I am so glad she reached this great milestone.

I was told there was a big write up about her in the paper and a friend of mine has been so kind to send me a copy.

A lot of her relatives have come from different places to celebrate it with her, unfortunately I could not go because of work related responsibilities.

I have called her while the party was going on and she had a hard time hearing so I will call her again just to check up how it feels to be 100.

So Wiwa, a very heartfelt wish for a really great birthday.

2 pounds.....

I saw my doctor last Tuesday. My lab tests were not bad but it was not good either. My cholesterol is 2.9 and I should be 1.9. My blood sugar was 7.7 and it should be under 7. My blood count is down 107 and it should be 120 which is normal

My doctor had put me on different prescription for cholesterol but I experienced really bad side effects. High cholesterol and diabetes run in our family. So that in itself is double whammy for me.
He said we just have to accept that fact and try to lose a bit of weight and maybe cut out some carbs which worked for me before.

I am petrified of needles and so I tried hard not to go on insulin but I need to bring my weight down. I need to lose 12 pounds and maintain and I would not have to go on insulin.

I started my diet on Friday and lost 2 pounds. That is a big deal as I am one of those persons who have a hard time losing weight and I do not eat a lot. A lot of my friends and office mates and relatives can attest to tha.

So two pounds is really good. I will post my progress as I feel that would be a great motivation. The fact that a lot of the female staff at work are trying to lose weight is also adding to the extra motivation. I hope to accomplish this goal.

Easter weekend.....

It will be a nice weather for the Easter weekend, I went out with flats on and hardly any snow on the sidewalks. I don't know if this trend will continue as I have seen the white stuff on the Weather channel, I think sometime next week.

I have plan of walking to work starting April 1 but will see how the weather turns out. While I was out Good Friday, a friend mentioned that it does not even feel like Good Friday. Before the stores would be all closed and it is not busy on the street.

The only day stores are closed during the year is Christmas day and even then there are some stores/business open on that day. How times have changed.

I don't know what we are having for Easter dinner but it will possibly be salmon. Usually I would have ham but nobody feels like eating ham this time around. Maybe we will just order pizza!!!

Crispyoatmeal cookies with nuts and raisins, I haven't baked this in years.

 

Mocha chiffon cake with chocolate frosting, have not baked this so I just wanted to bake and it turned out good, brought most of it to work and they liked it, moist and not too sweet.

 

I bought a box of mangoes with 8 of these big fruit from Peru and I made salsa which was so good, followed a recipe I saw online. These were so big, I can only eat half of it and save the other half, I brought them to work as my dessert.

 

I hope you all have a Happy Easter and enjoy the extra days off work.