My July Adventures!

These might be some unusual times but July has been right on cue with the hot and humid weather along with some random downpours. There’s a few changes as things get back to some form of normal since Montreal is pretty much in their last phases of deconfinement as offices has the okay for up to 25% of staff to get back to work and masks are mandatory on public transit and indoor public places. I’ll talk about all those things below as well as some updates of July.

Hiking: La Boucle du mont des Trois-Lacs

After some rainy weather, we finally found a day to go out for a hike to hit the other trail in the same spot where we went in the previous hike. You can see the recap of this hike HERE.

Movies and Tea Podcast

Movies and Tea Podcast is still going pretty strong. We’ve been wrapping up Season 4 for Ang Lee and After Hours this month and will be starting up Season 5 for David Fincher shortly.

On Youtube, we’ve been posting up on a weekly basis and we’re pretty much updated almost the entire first season. As we step into Season 5 for Movies and Tea, it will be updated on Youtube while still catching up on the older episodes in between. Above you can find the latest episode updated on Youtube.

Back to the Office

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As #workfromhome ends for me, I've been preparing by checking out different #facecoverings as it becomes mandatory to wear #masks on public transit. In the last few weeks, I ordered from @sofsdesigns @hoplagogosses which both are pretty good. For both, I had to make slight adjustments to the ear loops to fit more snug. #sofsdesigns has a space to put a 3rd layer for filter and nose band. It has its pros especially in high heat to choose whether to add that extra layer. #hoplagogosses has a nose band and is 3 layers fitted which is good as already all done so very convenient and the nose band is good quality. The black cherry one is a free trial from my friend @surprisesdephoebe who has been trying to make her version of the best mask suitable for her family and kindly made me one to try which turned out really well. Its not for sale but I had to share it since it fit the best. #buylocal #madeinquebec #quebecproducts #handmade #covid19life

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Jul 12, 2020 at 3:38pm PDT

Back to the office doesn’t really have much to talk about. I wasn’t exactly excited about it since the whole public transit thing is rather stressful mentally. It was okay for the first week or so until the buses started getting more people, probably because of 25% capacity of office able to open. I’m trying to keep a relaxed mindset about it all and just make sure to stay on high alert. Of course, with masks mandatory not only on public transit but expanded to indoor public places, its all about amassing face masks since the government has said that its something that will likely remain mandatory for the foreseeable future.

Gardening Update

All the garden vegetables are doing fairly good. Everything’s have some kind of vegetable growing. We have an abundance of cucumbers and Hungarian Wax peppers. I’m hoping that at some point we’ll get more than the one or two squashes. The downpours will hopefully  help.

Quick Road Trip to Ottawa

I didn’t take any pictures but I went to Ottawa for quick Chinese grocery store run since I had some things that I needed but some Chinese grocery stores here don’t have a lot of. At the same time, it was mostly also a chance to take care of a wrong delivery item from an online order for Eddie Bauer that I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of calling and getting a Fedex pickup and whatnot. Its just nice to take a road trip since there’s no other form of travelling that seems reasonable in the current times. I got a chance to pick up a hiking bag on discount at Eddie Bauer, half a dozen of donuts from Maverick Donuts, ciders from LCBO as well as the above-mentioned grocery run. At least one less thing to deal with for the whole Eddie Bauer wrong item situation that got sorted out fairly easily.

Workout Update

• Run: 8.19km/ 1hr1min
• Pool Workouts

With only one hike and one long run this month due to the extreme heat, I’ve been moving every week’s workout into a few pool workouts. Its been mostly about endurance and resistance workouts as well as swimming. Going back to the office also means that I can get back to the normal everyday walking. Point is, I’ve been trying to get more active and lose some weight and stay fit.

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s it for this July Adventures!

My December Adventures!

Its the last day of December. Isn’t that crazy? I’m doing this on the last day instead of tomorrow since we have 2020 business to take care of then so shifting things up a little. We’re going through the very busy December and all kinds of recap and seemingly a bunch of shopping and gifts and fairs and outings, etc.

Fingers crossed that all will go as planned as writing in December has been a bit all over the place… (it hasn’t because this is going up much later than expected)

CRHS Annual Craft Fair (December 1)

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The @officialcrhs annual #craftfair was today! There were a lot of stalls showcasing all kinds of unique things. In the end, this was my #shoppinghaul . #Teas from #NamasteKitTea ; #Snowflake #Ornament by kids (can't remember the store name..Little Fairies something); #Anthurium from #CactusofHope #cactusdelespoir (for a charitable cause); #Crochet #Wand as a gift from #2SistersCrochetandKnitting

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Dec 1, 2019 at 12:55pm PST

DIY Christmas

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Its December already! And it means channelling the #crafty #diy side of me! I've made a few #wreaths but couldn't resist making a #branchwreath for the first time. Here's how it turned out! #plushie #snowman #cupcakes #sparkly #glitter #gingerbreadhouse #gingerbreadman #pinecones #berries #Diywreath #christmas #christmasdecor #decorations #xmas #holly #winterberries

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Dec 2, 2019 at 7:00pm PST

You can see the post on it HERE.

Next up, I went along and tried out some Marbled Ornaments as well! Which was mostly a failed attempt in general but did decide that its a project to further pursue and figure out. Plus, its some nice way to use up old nail polish so that its not just thrown out without some form of recycling/repurposing. You can check my post on that HERE.

Marché Casse-Noisette & Mini-Comiccon

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Went to check out the #MarcheCasseNoisette and #MiniComiccon today both at @palais_montreal #palaisdescongresdemontreal ! Here's some fun little items I picked up (and a gift) – #catcollar gift from @surprisesdephoebe for my cat at @zoelulupetboutique – #scarf at @leoncemtl (for the husband) – #maplesyrup aged with #TennesseeWhisky from @virgin.mady Then some free #posters from Mini Comiccon for upcoming #films, #TheGrudge and #FantasyIsland as well as a little card for #selfpublished #comic by @erik_teren_mullins . #mtl #events #shopping #shoppinghaul #buyinglocal #quebecproducts #quebec

A post shared by Kim (@tranquildreams) on Dec 7, 2019 at 1:28pm PST

Marche Casse -Noisette took place from November 28 to December 8 at Palais des Congres which happened to overlap with Mini Montreal Comiccon held December 7 and 8 also at Palais des Congres just one was in the main hall and the other was upstairs. With that said, it made sense to go and check out both at the same time. While the haul wasn’t particularly a lot, it was a first time visit for both place for myself. Some nice discoveries to be found. I will definitely go check the Marché Casse-Noisette again but probably not the Mini Comiccon as its rather lackluster.

Salon des Metiers d’Art 2019

• Coach House Shortbread Company: Dark Chocolate & Salt; Almond & Rose; Ginger
• La Nougaterie: Salt Flower Caramel; Dark Chocolate; Christmas
• Nutra Fruit: Chocolate Covered Cranberry; Dark Chocolate- Cranberry Spread
• Cidrerie du Minot: Des Glaces
•  Choco Chocolat: Dark Chocolate; Dark Hazelnut

A lot of the SMAQ 2019 sales is about the same as previous years, the exception being that I bought the spread from Nutra Fruit and the chocolate from Choco Chocolat, which I believe is a new booth this year at the Salon. Most of this stuff is for festival party time and gifts and whatnot.

Ottawa Day Trip

We took a quick trip with a friend to go to Ottawa to do some quick errands. We had a nice lunch at Fatboys (post about our first time HERE) and then finally found time to go grab some donuts at Mavericks Donut, which they had 4 dairy-free flavors and the husband and the friend each chose 4 to get a dozen. After that, I finally brought home Pumbaa from Disney Store to join Timon at our place and then picks up some wine at LCBO and some food in preparation for NYE dinner plans at T&T Supermarket.

Holiday Festivities: Christmas Dinners & NYE Hotpot

Christmas Eve dinner was a ton of fun with a lot of people at the in-laws. It was a fun little event with some surprise gifts for ourselves which we didn’t expect to get anything in the first place. My mom wanted to have a turkey feast (as shown above) so she held a dinner and invited us and some of her own friends for dinner and here we have the overzealous food galore. Everything was delicious as usual. NYE is a hotpot meal and part of the Battle of Ingredients festivities so a separate post will be done for that.

Boxing Day Shopping Haul

Boxing Day this year has been a little less exciting. It has to do a lot with the fact that we’ve been trying to decrease expenses and its truly changed the spending habits into being very cautious with our expenses. Its not going to seem it since we’ve done a lot of shopping this past month…seemingly..but then its all useful things or food. Either way, without further ado (as this is the last part before this post ends)..the shopping haul from Boxing Day.

• Adidas outlet: Running Shoes
• Dynamite: Sweater and 3-pack scrunchies
• Steam Sale: Life is Strange 2: Complete Edition, Detention, Gris, The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker, Glass Masquerade
• Playstation Holiday Sale: Overcooked 2, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
• Amazon: Playstation 4 Controller Charging Dock
• Walmart: John Wick 2

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s it for this December Adventures!
How was your holidays? Had a lot of fun with family? Did you do some Boxing Day shopping?

Restaurant: Fatboys Southern Smokehouse (Ottawa, Canada)

In the string of restaurant visits that we’ve been on, vacation week off means a little day trip out to Ottawa. After a little research and whatnot, we decided to head out to check out Fatboys Southern Smokehouse in Ottawa, somewhere that we’ve never been before but the whole description from the food it offers to the biker ambiance really had us intrigued. You can check out the menu and everything else HERE.

Going for lunch on a weekday has a lot of great things. For one, its usually less crowded as everyone else has work. Second, less people means faster service and better service. I’m not sure it would make a difference as our waitress was incredibly friendly and helpful with everything from menus to making sure about my allergies and intolerances and what I could have and not have. She also came to check on us frequently and in reasonable time, ie. not when I’m stuffing my face with food (which you’d believe a lot of other restaurants don’t quite time well). Not to mention that, the menu is really good which makes us want to go back to check out more of the food that they offer, especially the ribs since being lunchtime, we didn’t have quite as much appetite for it and all the fun things like milkshakes and their detailed bourbon list as well as the great and unique list of sides.

It sounds crazy that I didn’t take anything else in the restaurant other than the bathroom entrance and the bathroom decor but I think its a good idea of how its biker ambiance in general. Its very nice and a lot of great things to look at from its bar counter to along the walls and the industrial interior above on the pipes above and such with stickers and other posters. Everything is really charming!

Appetizer

Kentucky Popcorn Chicken

As appetizer to share, after much debate between Fried Rib Tips and Kentucky Popcorn Chicken, the latter won the debate. Luckily it did because this was delectable and also our first initial choice. The chicken had a beautiful well-spiced batter that had a lovely kick to it. It was also thin so didn’t have the really thick floury texture but just blended right in each bite with the perfectly cooked chicken. Its so delicious!

Main Meal

Smokehouse Burger with added bacon with a side of Smoked Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese

Carolina Pulled Pork (no slaw) with a side of Dusty Shoestring Fries

We only both had the burgers/sandwiches. My husband had the Smokehouse Burger which he liked quite a bit especially with the added cheese. The Smoked Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese also impressed him a lot also as he really enjoyed the flavor of it all.  I had the Caroline Pulled Pork but had to have the slaw removed due to lactose intolerance. At the same time, this lead to the choice of dusted shoestring fries which turned out to be a great choice because it had some lovely “dusting” with what would seem like barbecue spices and sugar or something sweet. Two very awesome dishes which are full of southern flavors.

Overall, Fatboys Southern Smokehouse is a great restaurant. We tried a very minimal part of the menu but there is so much to offer here as just the little that we had was all very delicious whether it is the meat or the spices or the overall service or the restaurant style which all fits together in a lovely package. Its one to definitely visit and one that we’d definitely return to.

My Weekly Adventures: Let the Gardening Begin!

And May has come to an end! Man, this year is flying by. Its hard to imagine that we are almost at the half year mark. I’m not sure how to recap the last half of the month, probably in frequent garden oriented content. As mentioned before, Gardening updates might just stick to these updates now since I don’t really have too much on the schedule once festival seasons start and such (depending on situation and work, of course) so to keep things interesting, I’ll be tracking some other stuff in this segment starting with this Adventures post. 🙂

Gardening Hauls (over 2 weekends)

1st Haul: Geranium Citronella, Green Lettuce, Kale, Foliage, Monarda, English Lavender, Cabbage, Phlox

The first haul was quite disorganized. The main thing was that I wanted to go but had a lot of unformed ideas and unset plans on the whole landscaping aspect. Plus, the weather was still a bit too chilly for vegetables be in ground, without risk of losing the crop so I stuck with some safe choices and perennials. You may notice that I picked up cabbage when I had completely planned on getting brussel sprouts and only realized when I got home that it was the wrong thing. Oh well, guess that’s my experimental crop for this year.

2nd Haul: Marigold, Snapdragons, Phlox, Campanula, English Lavender, Thyme, Sedum, Aster

On Victoria Day, after some debate and discussion with the husband to clear my mind a little, we decided to go back with a solid plan on how to take care of the the bee garden plans I had wanted to do. We settled on where to plant it and how to set it up and then what flowers to get along with getting the final pieces to my mosquito repellant container garden as well.

3rd Haul: Eggplant, Cherry Tomato, Cucumber, Zucchini, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Carmen Pepper

The weekend after, we went again for (probably not the final) time to get the vegetable plants. We decided since the last visit to get a hanging tomato plant (which might not be hanging anymore after some observation) and a bunch of other ones: the husband’s must-have is cucumbers and peppers, my must-have is zucchini and decided to try another variety of eggplant, hoping that its the type that I like.

Battle of Ingredients

We finally got back to Battle of Ingredients with the whole gang and trying out our new barbecue. The husband was the grill master while Phoebe and I got all the food prep done. You can check out the recap post and some of the marinade and recipes HERE.

Ottawa Day Trip & Haul

Disney Store: Steamboat Mickey

LCBO

KT Tape

T&T Supermarket

Eddie Bauer

Ottawa marathon weekend happened last weekend. While I don’t go with my friend to help with the racing anymore, my husband and I do head down to check up and hang out on the Saturday before his 5K and 10K race in the morning and leave in early afternoon. We also go because Eddie Bauer usually has great sales to replenish some hiking gear. This year, I ended up being the big purchaser and getting some new long hiking pants. I only had capris, which made the last hiking a bit complicated as I had to go in my jeans. We stopped at LCBO to pick up some Ontario Ciders and the husband wanted to get more Hard Root Beer. I went to Disney Store because to add another Disney plush to my collection. While there was a heavy debate between Timon (The Lion King) and Steamboat Mickey, the latter won the debate mostly because its price tag matched its size and Steamboat Mickey adds to my Mickey collection. I should do an Instagram post of all my Mickey plushes. We also went to the running convention to get some tape and ended up picking up KT Tape. The husband needs it for hiking while I need it for running. One of the main reasons that my running season hasn’t started yet. After that for the final visit is always T&T Supermarket to get some hot food for dinner, get some fun snacks and pick some cute stuff. We tried out this very interesting concept of heat-conducting hot pot sort of cup noodles. I’ve seen it in TV series before so was interested about how it works. It works fine except they only have extreme spicy varieties so we ate two pieces, had a bowl of ice cream to wash away the burning heat in our mouths and threw it out. If you like spicy things, its pretty cool though just to watch the process and then have this cool eating experience.

Gardening Update

Bee Garden

The bee-friendly garden has gone next to the vegetable garden. Its a good spot because its next to the blueberry and the echinacea which are also bee-friendly plants that was already there. We left some space for all the perennials to grow into place while leaving room to swap around the annuals every year as I like to other bee-friendly flowers. I still have some grass and weed removal to maintain this space but I’ll get around to it soon.

Cabbage & Marigold

Since I got the cabbage with not a whole lot of knowledge, I did some quick research and found that it companions well with marigolds so hence, these containers are now all over my garden. The hope is that the cabbage will grow well and have enough room. If not, it’ll be leaves I guess and beautiful flowers. I do have some cabbage going in ground so we can see which works where better.

Lettuce

Lettuce

Geranium Citronella

Kale

Much of the same as last year. I have some lettuce in hanging basket and some hanging off the back patio. This year, we are changing up the garden as well so where I put my kale is where I’ll have more container gardening while also opening up a raised garden.

That’s the update for now! I’ll be doing more gardening to finish getting everything planting this weekend.

Restaurant: Yunnan Rice Noodles

Not going to say too much about this restaurant visit but a new(ish) restaurant opened up on the South Shore of Montreal and I went with my friend to check it out. I’ve never had this Yunnan Rice Noodles which is quite unique in how its presented especially the traditional rice noodle variety. I will do a recap post on the experience very soon (probably next week)!

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s it for this adventures post!
What have you been up to?

Hiking: Gatineau Park -Sugarbush Trail/Waterfall Trail (Gatineau, Canada)

Hiking season has officially started for us! At the point that this post is going out, most national parks and provincial parks around us should be open. It wasn’t quite the case the previous week when we went to Gatineau Park as they were in a transition phase and only certain trails were open.

The first stop we made was at the information center at Gatineau Park. In that area, the only path open was the Sugarbush Trail. We ended up doing that one as a warm-up since we were already there before heading to the next area.

Sugarbush Trail

The Sugarbush Trail is one of the winter hiking trails at Gatineau Park. It runs for 1.9 km all around. Its a fairly flat trail with just the normal nature scenery like a mild walk in the forest. Its a good place to warm-up especially since its our first hike just to warm up the legs. There are a few little things to see but it also is quite packed with people. We weren’t sure if its because its an easy trail or the fact that it was the one at the Visitor Centre and people just went because they were already there. Whatever the reason, good warm-up but not really something challenging either.

Moving on to the next trail..this time at P6 of Gatineau Park running through Mackenzie King Estate is the Waterfall Trail.

P6 is the parking at the Mackenzie King Estate which we also haven’t been to before so it was an adventure to also see the parts of it that were open. I didn’t really take any pictures of it other than this Window To the Forest one.

We had to cut through the Gardens to reach the Waterfall Trail.  Here’s a few pictures of the the constant running creeks along the way, which is exactly the type of hiking trail that I like because water sounds are about the most soothing in the entire world (at least to me). There is a little bit of elevation here as well but it is fairly gradual.

The trail starts in its first part with a creek running alongside. As we we walk further on, its a fairly tame experience. The forest is calm and quiet.

As we head into the second part crossing towards the waterfalls area, we need to traverse through a tunnel which is pretty much a giant pipe. Cue in all the horror films that I’ve seen before where it was in some dark passageway. This one is done pretty well however because it has a nice wooden pathway inside.

On the other side of the tunnel, the ground elevation still is fairly gradual in change but there are more of the little drops in water throughout. Its one of those parts that are particularly  nice to see. The water is still more of a creek winding to the waterfall, which marks the end of the trail. You can see it below.

Waterfalls are a my thing for sure. Its one of the reasons a lot of the times, our trails have some kind of waterfall for my likes or some peak of the mountain view. The waterfall isn’t exactly the biggest we’ve seen but then its also quite surprising that hidden in the woods behind the Mackenzie King Estate is this beautiful walk in the park. You can’t say that Mackenzie King didn’t know how to enjoy life back in the days, right?

That’s it for our first official hike recap at Gatineau Park. 
My guess is that we’ll go back to Gatineau Park later in the summer to check out another trail.
Or at least until the summer trails officially kick in because when we went it was still the winter trails which were quite limited. 

My Weekly Adventures: Recharging

Welcome to this Weekly Adventures! I’ve been in recharging mode before the crazy April work month starts. I took a day trip with the husband and then just finished off a few days off this past week. Its been all about recharging (and burning some of my leftover vacation time from last year).

Ottawa Day Trip – Shopping Haul

Lush – Shampoo Bar

T&T

Disney Store

LCBO

I was super stressed at the beginning of the month and needed a day out of town as a little refresher. After some debate, we ended up doing something familiar to us and headed to Ottawa for a day trip. It was the normal rundown with a stop at Rideau Centre, a stroll through Byward Market and then a grocery run at T&T Supermarket. Above is a little haul that I had.

Sugar Marmalade & Herbal Jelly

I have been having these skin breakouts (hence the partial reason there has been no vids) and changed up my skincare routine and eventually gave up and went to Sugar Marmalade to have some herbal jelly which technically helps counteract the effects. I haven’t had it there but it was done pretty well.

A Beautiful Bouquet & Old Navy Haul

This last Saturday was the first day of a 5 day weekend and the first mini vacation in a while. I celebrated by buying some tulips at the florist to revive some springtime feeling in the house. Its a pretty nice mesh of colors. Its a nice burst of colors as well.

After that, the husband and I went for a little shopping time together which sparked by buying some cat snacks and accessories because its our darling cat’s 9th birthday. We did end up seeing that Old Navy had opened there and caught a decent sale. I managed to find some pants for half price and for a buy one get second one half price, a t-shirt. Mine was the Sonic the Hedgehog, which I think its so awesome.

A Date with my Mom

To kick off the time off, I had promised my mom a few weeks ago to take her to the buffet at the Casino de Montreal so that’s what we ended up doing for lunch. I’ve never been there at lunch so it was interesting to say the least. The selection was alright and the food was pretty decent as well. Although I couldn’t eat any of the desserts other than the meringue and biscotti, the last platter is my mom’s and she enjoyed it. There was pancotta, creme brulee, lemon cake roll and a sugar tartlet. We did end up going to play some slots and walk around a little before heading back home. It was a nice afternoon out to say the least.

Ultimate 2000s Blogathon Done

Finally, the last thing that happened was the almost 4 weeks of Ultimate 2000s Blogathon concluded officially yesterday. If you missed any entries or didn’t know it happened and wanted to see the reviews or check it out, you can find all the links to the entries HERE.

Cute Kitty Pic

That’s it for this Weekly Adventures!
I had a good time recharging and probably will have a few more days to recharge to fill in a week off combined.
It’ll be nice since April is going to be the hell month!

My Weekly Adventures #66

Welcome back to another two weeks! We’re getting closer to summer now and the weather is getting hot and humid!

Lots of stuff’s been going on as I look back at the past two weeks with multiple day trips and gardening updates and so much  more. One of the biggest weekends of the year for gaming and of course, Game Warp is just around the corner so I can imagine the next Weekly Adventures might be just a disaster of almost nothing (since Grand Prix weekend is also that same weekend).

Let’s take a look at what’s been up in the last 2 weeks!

Movies and Tea in Full Swing

Movies and Tea Podcast is in full swing this month. Elwood and I have been in quite a groove as we dive further in Paul W.S. Anderson films. After the Event Horizon show at the beginning of the month, we dove into Soldier, featuring Kurt Russell which also saw us joining into our first blogathon held by Return to the 80s and RealWeegieMidget Reviews as well!

Following that, we just released our mega episode taking a trip down the Resident Evil franchise as we take a look at the 6 films!

Take a listen and give us your thoughts over at our blog where we also have each of our takes on each of the films that we review in the podcast. Check us out and give us a follow here.

Hiking on Victoria Day

View at the Observatory

You can see the full recap HERE.

Victoria Day in Canada is a lovely statutory holiday. My husband and I went for our first hike of the season. It was a lovely day and super awesome. We are having some great hiking plans of going out to hike at least twice a month. I truly hope that it’ll work out. Next on the to-do list is to get some new hiking shoes. Doing some research on what to get right now.

Cinema Recall Guest

You can find the episode right HERE.

If you didn’t know, we had a mega That Moment In podcast network gathering organized by The Vern, the host of Cinema Recall. We sat down in our different time zones at all hours of the day to record this mega episode sharing our movie firsts: the scariest, the saddest and the sexiest. The choices were fantastically diverse and it was a ton of fun to sit down to everyone! Its awesome! Hopefully we will be gathering for another meeting eventually.

Ottawa Day Trip

Last weekend was the Ottawa Marathon. I usually would go down with my friend but with my husband’s change in work schedule, we ended up just going down to visit and hang out with him. We did a little bit of a haul HERE. It was a lot of fun. We had some food at Shanghai 360, a fast food restaurant in Rideau Centre. I really love this place and eat here almost every time I go to Ottawa. It was a great trip nonetheless. We had fun walking around and shopping. We took care of some business since my engagement ring needed to be fixed and I had bought it down in Ottawa. Anyways, I’ll be heading back there eventually to pick it up and maybe then I’ll take my husband to check out the diner and explore Byward Market which we ran out of time this time.

Dentist Update

Last time I talked about my overdue dentist appointment. Well, I went for my second cavity filling session. The dentist decided for my own good to split the original session into two visits. Let me tell you that at this current moment and even when I was going home and that evening, I was ever so happy with that choice because the anesthesia took forever (like 4 hours) to go away and then my jaw feels like there is a bruise on it. Not sure why.

Cute Kitty Pic

When the heat hits us, my cat looks at me meows and then lies down. Not sure if its protest or just enjoying the cool floor.

That’s it for these two weeks!
I’ve had lots of things from hauls to garden updates and a ton of movie reviews, TV binge and just an assortment of stuff. 
What have you been up to?

Ottawa 2018 Haul!

Hey everyone!

Sorry for the radio silence yesterday and well…today as well, I guess! Its been a bit of taking time off every week to sort out my own stuff. Usually, this weekend is when my friend has his Ottawa half marathon and I tag along to help him out. However, this year, I opted out of this duty. Instead, my husband and I both went down to Ottawa to hang out for a little today before his first race for the 5 km. Its humid and a little rainy and well, the sun has arrived back in Montreal but not sure how its doing in Ottawa since I’m home as I’m typing this.

The trip came with a lot of stuff on the to-do list. Yes, I shop with to-do lists if not, I might end up going crazy and just buy everything or sit there and be indecisiveness. Shopping with a goal is what my husband calls it. With that said, we had an idea of what places to hit at Rideau Center and Ottawa before heading back home. This is as timely as this post can get because we just unloaded and I took pictures and here we are!

Rideau Centre 

Eddie Bauer

Marathon weekend is always sales weekend for Eddie Bauer. Normally, Eddie Bauer’s stuff is expensive and usually rightfully so because its very durable especially for the hiking lovers like me and my husband. However, the only time we buy it is during sale time or else it would just be way out of budget. This year was a 40% off on everything in store. We both wanted to get new caps and new hiking pants. I got the blue capris and the blue cap and he got the beige pants that can be changed to shorts and the lighter color cap.

Disney Store

For those who don’t know, I collect Disney plushies. I had stopped the actual normal sized plushies for a while and was trying to get all the Animator series ones which are much more reasonable in storage. Regardless of that, when I see one that I like, I always tend to pick it up. I’m actually planning on keeping track of my collection over on Avenue of Daydreams some time this year. It would be fun to have an archive of the many things I collect and that seemed like a nice place to do it. Either way, Flower from Bambi was on sale so I picked it up. At the same time, I also saw little Piglet as well. I have a Tigger which is in the same style. These two were definitely coming home with me.

Squish Candy

Last year I had gone to Squish and got the Prosecco Bears and they were super delicious. They expanded their cocktail line and this time, my husband chose the Bourbon Cubes ans Sake Sakura and I chose the Wine O’Clock. I’m hoping that these will turn out to be equally delicious. They had a few other ones with sangria and such and those definitely has peaked my interest but for another time.

LCBO

Embracing the love of trying out VQA Ontario wines, LCBO was a must-go. I found a Riesling to try out eventually and my husband’s colleague had recommended the Big House Pinot Grigio and we saw it so we ended up picking up the bottle and he wanted to also get the can version. As for myself, I also saw another Cider from Brickworks Ciderhouse. I had tried another one earlier this year and was really impressed so having some high hopes for this one also.

Second Stop: T&T Supermarket

I mean, I’m pretty much thinking about groceries all the time so T&T Supermarket is always one of my stops. I don’t usually post about it but this time, we had some interesting finds. The herbal drinks from Hung Fook Tong had a new flavor. My husband picked out the Orange Ramune soda drink. I always get some dimsum, which I did but ended up eating on the trip back so not shown here. But there is also some pot stickers and vietnamese chicken lunch box and some BBQ Pork. The main goal this time was to get some sticky rice for the Dragonboat Festival. They had fresh ones which would be preferable if I had gone 2 weeks later but for now, I got the frozen in case I don’t end up going. However, the snacks we picked (and saw) were quite unique to say the least. Lay’s had these cucumber chips (and they also had lime flavor). I wonder if its an excuse to feel like you were being healthier when making that choice. Then we saw these Potato Wish brand which had the Steak and Red Wine Flavor and well, it looks like Ringolos but they are called Roller Coaster.

That’s it for the haul!
Nothing too special but a few unique finds!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

My Weekly Adventures #44

June is here!

The last two weeks of May probably was two of the most hectic but I can already see the next two being pretty eventful as well. I’m working on some housekeeping stuff for both Game Warp and Tranquil Dreams mostly. Work has taken a slight toll on me and I’ve been taking more time to relax, watch some videos and gaming streams. You should check out Splat Panda if you haven’t. These guys are awesome fun to watch especially as they now are playing games that I personally wouldn’t attempt but like watching others play (aka currently is Dark Souls 2 and The Surge). I’ve also been watching a few other people stream Friday the 13th: The Game. I’ve learned that I’m not suitable to play those games as they stress me out too much which probably will change with more practice so maybe I’ll eventually pick up one of these multiplayer games, perhaps when Friday the 13th releases their single player campaign which I think is in the works.

Either way, back to my last two weeks and what has been going on!

Day Off: Time with Family and Friends

I had mentioned that Victoria Day weekend had passed and I took a day off on the Friday so that I could spend some time with my mom and my aunt visiting from Australia. We decided to go out for lunch and I invited Phoebe and her little bunbun. It was a challenging day to say the least as bunbun was a little irritated by her teething issue. However, we still enjoyed our meal quite a bit. We proceeded to have a much longer than expected walk back to the bus station to catch our ride back to my place and do some gardening preparation. We ended the evening with a lovely dinner and also tried to show bunbun My Neighbor Totoro, at least part of it.

High School Friend’s Wedding

One of my high school friends got married on that same weekend. They had it at a pretty convenient location and the reception was done really well. There were a few familiar faces which was cool. The food was alright. I’m pretty snobby about Chinese food in Montreal because its pretty subpar however, we’re there to celebrate a happy event and that is what matters. I also luckily won the raffle right as I was stuffing my face with fried rice. It was super elegant. 😉

The raffle gift was a little egg-shaped toothpick holder which is pretty awesome. We’re going to put it to good use. And of course, my husband making faces as I attempt a selfie. It was cool and went much better than we anticipated. We didn’t stay too late either since Sunday was going to be a hectic day also.

Kick-off Marathon for my Friend & Other Sunday Events Already Blogged About

Some of you know that I’m the backup driver and water support for my friend who has been training for half marathons. Its pretty cool because it forces me to wake up earlier and sit around reading or writing outside in some park while I wait for him to get back. Marathon environments are a lot of fun. I am planning on training for a 5 or 10km however my foot decided to join into my other issues and I haven’t been able to train yet. It is getting much better now so I should be 100% very soon (hopefully). My friend usually just jumps into the Ottawa Half Marathon but this year, he decided to do a warm-up and did a 10 km at the SSQ Longueuil marathon. He did pretty alright time-wise and it was a nice day and the site is pretty nice also.

He drove me over to meet up with Phoebe and her family as we were going to prepare for Battle of Ingredients and go to the greenhouse. You can see my gardening haul HERE and the Battle of Ingredients HERE. We had another couple join us for dinner as they always do. The evening ended with a dramatic event and some happy ones like co-op play in Broforce.

Since we’re talking about the long weekend, I might as well add in the Monday where we took it easy and headed out on date night to see Alien:Covenant. My review is right HERE.

Ottawa Marathon Weekend

As the last four years have been, I’ve gone away to Ottawa for the marathon. My friend now runs both 5K on Saturday and Half on Sunday morning. I pretty much hang about and have water when he’s done and make sure he gets to point a to b safely. Aside from that, I take it as a weekend away to relax: shop a little, eat a little and walk around to take in the city a little.

My companion PSP

My furry companion

New discovery: Butterfly Jasmine at David’s Tea

Canada 150 celebration at Byward Market

My new Animator’s Series haul

Candy haul at Squish

I dusted off my PSP for the trip and was playing through LocoRoco and just like every 30 year old should, I brought my Thumper with me. David’s Tea ran out of Dragonwell which is my tea of choice for the morning but I ended up trying out Butterfly Jasmine which was pretty smooth as well. During Saturday, there was some shopping like the Disney Story and Squish  for candy as shown above. I also picked up some hiking pants for my husband at Eddie Bauer which were 40% off, got some stuff at La Senza (40% off bras are a rarity) and my friend got me a Fuel Belt to motivate me to go out and train in the summer as a belated birthday gift. We also had a breakfast at a King Eddy’s Burger or something and I’ll be doing a separate short post for that soon since this post is getting a little crazy.

This weekend ended with the drive back so that I could make it in time to do recording for the 50th episode of MBDS hosted by Elwood, my Game Warp co-host and MBDS is his own movie podcast on obscure cinema.

New Shoes

I finally found some comfy flats suitable for work! Its taken me at least two years. I’ve been trying to extend the life of my last pair of flats and then ended up giving up and swapping between sneakers and running shoes but the fact is when the weather is really hot, it gets very suffocating to wear it and most importantly, its not very professional for the office. My office is semi-casual so these actually work really well and comfy also. I had originally ordered the whites but somehow I got these and I think that everything worked out for the better.

And that’s it! I think that was packed enough!
If you didn’t think so, I sure did because all I want to do is sleep all the time! 🙂

What have you been up to?

Chesterfield’s Gastro Diner (Ottawa, Canada)

Lots of eating posts lately, eh? Expect a few more! Actually this one is rather timely!

While I normally would be sitting at home on the last weekend of NaNoWriMo doing word sprints and just in small, writing till my wrists hurt and ending this thing, I’ve been oddly relaxed about the whole thing. I’ll talk about it further in the recap post whether I finish it or not. However, I ended up having a little brunch date with a friend! It was a fantastic day where I drove two hours in the morning to get to her place, had a little time to hang out before heading out to breakfast at this little joint she took me to called Chesterfield’s Gastro Diner.

Chesterfield’s Gastro Diner

Chesterfield’s Gastro Diner is definitely a little cozy joint. There aren’t a whole lot of seating and it was bustling with line-ups at the front door. We ended up waiting for maybe about fifteen to twenty minutes before getting a seat, which is pretty good. The kitchen is open in the middle and you can see the chefs and staff walking around doing their stuff. The seating is pretty original with odd pieces of one thing or another to sit on. Some look like rather rustic yet elegant pieces but with some antique-ish feeling to them. The waitress we had was friendly and the service was pretty fast.

Tea

They had a pretty nice selection of tea choices. I took the green tea. It isn’t any fancy brand but it was a good tasting one. What I’d like to show here is the cute little tea cups and the tea pot that they used. It has a pretty older style to it.

Breakfast/Brunch Meals

Traditional: Two Eggs (over easy) with bacon and a side of roasted beets

Classic Benny’s with a side of roasted beets and pita chips

I took the traditional eggs since I wasn’t too hungry and can’t be too full to head back on the road later on. Mine actually also comes with toast and homemade jam. I have to say that the jam is pretty good. The flavor was raspberry. My friend took the classic benedict which came with two sides. She told me about how this was super delicious even before she ordered it. Unfortunately, hollandaise sauce, I believe, has milk so its a big nono for me. (I’ll have to research that later on.)

Overall, a pretty nice little breakfast joint. I’d recommend a visit. The menu is pretty extensive unexpectedly and I’d probably eventually come back to give something else a try. However, maybe earlier hours going would be better than when we went at busy breakfast/brunch time on the weekend. Still, we had a nice chat and it was a delicious meal and the portions were great.