Foodie

Along the lines of "You might be a redneck"

YOU MIGHT BE A FOODIE.....

...if you have more than four kinds of mustard in your fridge.
...if you have two kinds of capers in your fridge.
...if you have friends who went to Greece, and brought you back olive oil they stomped themselves.
...if you know there are two, and only two varieties of rice that can be used in Risotto.
...if you're willing to pay $17 a pound for salt.
...if your kid doesn't understand the term "cheese wrapper".
...if you have old Christmas/Thanksgiving/Men's Cooking Day menus posted in your kitchen.
...if you WROTE OUT menus for Christmas/Thanksgiving/Men's cooking.
...if your (out of country/town) relatives and friends send you restaurant reviews for your city.
...if the only books you didn't put in storage while in banishment lovely rental accommodations are cookbooks.
... if you have a cheese budget.
...if you have 3 different books on the science of cooking (this also makes you a geek).
...if you have carnal lust for Alton Brown.
...if you wish the casting call at the FoodNetwork had an rss feed so you didn't have to keep checking up on it.
...if your kid won't eat KD (Am trans; boxed mac&cheese) without Parmigiano Reggiano.
...if you have both received and given as a gift meat purchased on the internet.
...if your brother-in-law tells strangers that your son was conceived after a meal in their restaurant.
...if you order your spouse a sausage for your anniversary, and it's just what she wanted.

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Social Conscience

We've been back in Canada for a little over two months now. Things have been progressing, but not exactly smoothly. We've often been lying in our not King size bed after another day of chaos, confusion and two bedroom condo claustrophobia wondering if we did the right thing. A few reminders in the last week or so, and confirmation that we did good.

The 2006 quarter was released this spring with a coloured ribbon. A pink one. With the hope of increasing breast cancer awareness in Canadians and to spread a message of hope and support for anyone fighting the disease.

Responsible Advertising. Until lately, any TV that McKay has watched has been on commercial free toddler channels. Now that his horizons have expanded a little, or rather, his horizon wakes up an hour or so before ours does on Saturday, we have to be pretty on the ball to explain some of the things he sees. However, last weekend, we saw this. (click on photo to be taken to video)


We were stunned into silence for the minutes it took to watch it, I even put my book down. The silence held for a good 10 seconds after the clip had aired. Would this, could this ever air on American TV?





Canadian Heritage Minutes: For those of you who live here, these are just background noise. You don't think twice about them, but you learn something with each one. We had a date night a few weeks back, and went to see a movie. During the 15 minutes or so of previews about cell phones, buying popcorn, movie trivia etc, was a hokey vignette on Canadian heritage and the implementation of the pension plan. Take home message here was that this was being played during PRIME advertising time. For free, no one paid for it to be played, no one made any money off of it. (These really are very very sappy/melodramatic, but I've become fond of them again, stay tuned for a post JUST on my favourites and Hinterland Who's Who too!)

I think it is experiences like these that pull us together as a country and have been essential in forming our national identity. We're often mocked (no, really, it's true) because we are so FIERCELY Canadian. I don't think it's superiority, or even inferiority that is responsible. I think it's parental pride. When I saw these things, and knew they were Canadian, I felt the same bubble of joy as when my sweet sweet boy offers to share his (disgustingly grimy) blanket with a crying child from his class.

In the days before the floods...

Shadows are getting long...and it's already officially fall. Why is there no fall ground hog tradition? If your shadow makes you look like a size 4 model on or before September 23rd then you have 2 more months until the rains start. Thankyou Please.

Then again, is the tradition behind old Wiarton Willie (Am trans: Punxsutawney Phil) just a blurred vision from the hallucinations of a winter starved brain?

RECHTSSCHUTZ...

RECHTSSCHUTZVERSICHERUNGSGESELLSCHAFTEN
I was recently reading about language development in young children. I don't remember where I saw it, so no link, sorry, but the post/article/book was about how young kids feel very comfortable making up a word for something that they don't know or can't think of the correct word for. This is something that adults have a harder time with and often have the "tip of the tongue" scenario. They KNOW there is the exact word that they want, and they'll halt the conversation rather than just managing the sentence with a lesser word. The Germans, however, seem to have been cured of this inhibition. Anyhow, since reading this there have been a few interesting observations in our test subject darling son.

Paper Maker. "Mom, can we colour on this, then put it into the papermaker and make it come out white again?" Several questions later (MAN, I'd be good at 20 questions now if I needed to play) I figure out he's talking about the printer. How logical.

Firepants. "Mom, What do those monsters, Firepants, that are all in black and wear capes and eat people eat?" No questions this time, just logic. Vampire.

Toiletries. Story that came from one of his teachers. Talking on phone to another teacher, "We're ok at the school for toiletries right now." McKay overhearing this; "Toilet trees? Toilet trees???? Is that like when we're hiking?"

Where I have been, and where I want to go

create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands




create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Too Many Tabs

Decided I'd steal a feature from Neil's site. I find myself with a dozen or so tabs open of stuff I want to show Dan, send to people, post about, or are just plain cool and I want to bask in them abit longer.

So a new semi regular "feature" of TMFP.

The good

http://www.peekaboom.org/cgi-bin/play_game
Online photo identification game. Fun for about 13 minutes...then the "partner" blame starts.

The bad

http://vancouver.metblogs.com/archives/2006/09/starbucks_roasts_seattles_best.phtml
Am I the only one who didn't know Starbuck's had bought Seattle's Best????

The ugly

http://www.bendshire.com/
"It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance."

-- Frodo, in the Mines of Moria

Test Picture upload with Picasa....

Well, THAT was easy wasn't it???

What do you get

when you mix atmosphere, surfaces with varying degrees of specific heat and thermal radiation?

A fun afternoon at the beach.

...lived by the sea, and frolicked in the ocean mist...

Consumer Reports

Three new products have made it into our home this week.

Adjustable toddler skates. Why did no one think of this before? FINALLY people are starting to realize we'll pay a bit more if we know it will last. A winter coat bought for McKay at REI (like MEC, but 'Merican) last year had "growth tucks" that could be unstitched to give us another couple of inches of room. The rink opens in a few weeks, and we are READY!


Compact Fluorescent light bulbs. Ok, I know these have been around for awhile, but with our new improved social conscience, we're trying to do what we can to save the Universe (WHAhhhhaaa, Flash Gordon's alive???). The jury is still out on how we like them. Hate them above the dining room table, maybe ok in the bathroom and we'll try a few other locations in the next few weeks. Stay tuned. However, this is the propaganda that got us:

What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people. One bulb swapped out, enough electricity saved to power all the homes in Delaware and Rhode Island. In terms of oil not burned, or greenhouse gases not exhausted into the atmosphere, one bulb is equivalent to taking 1.3 million cars off the roads.

Carcassonne. Again, something that has been around awhile. But we're BUSY living our lives here (or something...). We didn't find out about FireFly or Dead Like Me until after they'd been cancelled. Typical tile playing (think Catan) but with none of the annoyingness of the dice. Still having fun making pretty cities, but I'm sure there's strategy involved somewhere too.


Anything else out there that we should know about? If it's come out in the last four years, there's a good chance we don't know about it. Please educate us so we too can be good consumers!

7.7 on the parenting Richter Scale

We were asked last week to make an Earthquake kit for Mckay to have at school. "No Problemo", I thought. Lots of problemos actually. To do this, it meant I had to think of what he would need/want if he were at school during an earthquake....without me. Which means I'm not with HIM. During an earthquake. 2.2 million years of evolution (+/- a primate or two) told me this was just NOT OK. Started with the easy stuff, Name (check); Address (check); Phone number (check); contact outside the region (er....)

If they're calling outside the region, it means they can't find us. If they can't find us, should they call H at work? H&C at home? C's cell? Someone in Atlanta.....????? K&K because they're closest? Wait...is Portland in the same Earthquake Zone?

Ok, back to the easy stuff; "In event that the school is unsafe, your child will be taken to the Dunbar Community Centre."

Quick google-quest. Ok...I can find that. Walking. 7.2km away. While buildings fall and burn around me. If I take KingEdward I should be able to avoid any Tsunami effects.

After much procrastination, and avoiding eyecontact with it, I had to write the damn reassuring letter.

Dear McKay: Mom and Dad will pick you up soon.

But what if we don't, what if we're dead? Would it traumitize him for life to see in the letter that we SAID we'd pick him up and don't?

You are such a brave sheep, it's ok to be scared.

What if he's not being brave, will this make him feel bad? What if he wasn't scared until he read it in the letter? Ok, Ok...wait, back to Google: "earthquake letter toddler"

I love you very much. I am so happy that God gave you to me. I am so proud to be your parent. You make my life better. I will try my best to be the best parent that I can be.

Great...perfect. This letter is all about the parent....well, and God. Ok, back to the drawing board. Two hours later I came up with the 86 words (342 characters) that are supposed to make up for me not being with my first (only) born during a lifethreatening event.

-------------------------------

Dear McKay;

Mommy and Daddy love you very much and will pick you up as soon as we can get there safely.

So good, so handsome, so smart.

Your teachers are going to take care of you and make sure your body stays safe because there was a scary earthquake. You’re being a very brave sheep.

Do you remember when Grampa took the picture of us above in Chicago? It was a great day.

We love you best and will see you soon;

Mom and Dad

Sleepless through the night: A poem

Dinosaurs in the closet (carnivore, green, three toed).

Batman coming in a window.

I peed.

Coffee Maker too loud (BRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrr noise).

Trixies in the alley behind our house
annoyingly enough,
their migration pattern
has not been
contained
by the great lakes, or the rockies.

What are you watching?

Can I sleep with you? Dad can sleep in my room.

Murphy's TOUCHING me.

Can I watch TV?

Yawn!
Yawn!
Yawn!

Vocation or Avocation?

M: So in the mornings when I wake up, I can switch so I'll be a wrestler or an astronaut.

L: Really? I thought you wanted to be a chef.

M: A what?

L: A chef. You know, someone who cooks. You've got the hat and jacket in your dress-up stuff.

M: Oh yeah! And you could come to my restaurant.

L: Oh good! What would be on the menu?

M: (pauses) Well, there'd be a LOT of hot dogs. But there would also be some special rice and some potatoes.

L: I thought you didn't like potatoes.

M: Yeah, but YOU do.

L: What vegetables would there be?

M: ...carrots.