Christmas 2007

With it being the last day of the year I thought I had best get this years Christmas pics up. So for those who want a brief snap shot of how we spent Christmas day click here.

Christmas was a great day – too much food. We got up, ate breakfast of kippers and lots of fried food (as if we needed it after the Ulster fry of Christmas Eve!). At the breakfast table we opened our stockings – which is lots of fun – lots of sweets. Then we watched the Queen’s speech (which is on at 12pm here). She looked great!

Then it was time for present opening. Lots of presents! thanks to everyone it was great. We got some fab baby stuff – books, a baby snow suit, china cups and much much more. Thanks!

Then I went back to bed! at about 6pm people arrived for dinner which was just fab! all in all it was a great day – too much food! bit that’s Christmas.

Have a great 2008 one and all

Photos of the “Big” Drive…

So for those who are interested here are some photos of the drive – sadly my camera kind of gave up battery life around Winnipeg (figures! see below).
Click here for the pics:

In case you are wondering why I am outside so many Tim Horton’s it is simple. They had an advert a couple of years ago that claimed you could drive coast to coast and eat in a Tim Horton’s for every meal. Jen told me this was impossible – so I was just proving the Tim Hortons publicity department right! (I am willing to be in their next TV campaign!

Now for some observations on the drive:

1. Not many people seem to drive the Coquihalla highway in December – we passed about 3 cars and about 2 trucks on the whole drive – see the snow on the pictures!

2. When we got over the Coquihalla our windscreen washer line froze and we were left without windscreen washing for the rest of the trip. What we did was buy a sports water bottle thing (you know the type of thing – a litre bottle with a sippy top type thing). The person in the passenger seat leaned out the window and sprayed the window – works ok!

3. The Rogers pass at the edge of BC is much higher than the Coquihalla – which was a surprise!

4. Sunshine in Banff is not a patch on Whistler – the runs are too short

5. Calgary is a nice town – we really enjoyed the Irish pub opposite the Ramada downtown. A great lamb burger!

6. Why do so many people smoke in Regina??? Ok it is a bit grim – but drink whiskey or something – every hotel, shop, bar whatever had hoards of people smoking outside. It was freezing cold and you had to brave the smokers and lung damage to get into any establishment. Regina is a little sad. It seems a very nice, friendly, but depressed town. I liked Regina. The biggest thing it seems to have is the casino. It was packed the Saturday we were there.

7. Winnipeg is just about the most grim city I have ever been in. Maybe it was the hotel (never stay at the Marlborough downtown – it is just awful), maybe it was the 1960s grim architecture, maybe it was just the town, I do not know, but I do not want to live there, that’s for sure! It is cold, it is dead, it is just bleak. Maybe the summer is better – who knows!

8. The North Dakota landscape is flat. Very flat, with very straight roads. What I was expecting Highway 1 to be in Canada is what North Dakota actually is.

9. Minneapolis is nice – try the Brit pub downtown. The Guinness beef and the Lancashire hot pot were a treat!

10 Chicago is great! although don’t get into a discussion with the staff in Walgreen’s – painful!

11. Indiana has the worst roads I have ever had the misfortune to drive on. I used to think that no roads in the western world could be worse than rural Republic of Ireland. It always amazes me when you cross the border in the rural areas and how bad the Republic of Ireland roads are compared to the UK (although they are improving). Indiana roads must have been built by some Irish road building immigrants – truly awful.

12 It was great to cross back into Canada and make it to First Line!

Sushi, baby, and Christmas

I realized I hadn’t written in quite some time, so I thought I’d post an update.

Today, we got to see the Shihs and the Davis’ in Toronto at a sushi place called “Big Sushi”. For those who know “the rules” – I followed them and reluctantly passed on yummy looking seafood sushi and stuck with a Vegetarian Bento box. Not bad at all considering how much we’ve been spoiled by Vancouver’s excellent and inexpensive sushi.

Speaking of “the rules” – we’re nearing the end of being pregnant. I will post a picture later on – but the little guy is definitely popping out. That or I’ve enjoyed too much Christmas food. It’s probably a bit of both. I have a new family doctor and a new Ob-Gyn. We’re hoping that there won’t be too much difficulty with me being on BC Care until February 29, but who knows – the joys of Canada. I’m now 32 1/2 weeks gone. And the due date has been moved to February 17th. I’m still opting for the “sometime in February” due date. But either way – Tim and I have realized it’s definitely time to buy a car seat just in case!

Christmas here was lots of fun. Nick and Yolandi (brother and sister-in-law) were looking very tanned, having spent this past semester in Florida. The seven of us (Mum, Dad, Julian, Nick, Yolandi, Tim and myself) enjoyed an Ulster Fry on Christmas Eve and another fried breakfast on Christmas morning – complete with kippers. Very tasty!

I’ll leave it there for now since I need to get photos up and haven’t yet got them onto the computer.

Hope you’re all having a lovely holiday!

Christmas Eve Ulster Fry Up

For the last however many years it has been traditional to have an Ulster fry on Christmas Eve. Usually it is fried up by the expert hand of Mrs Boyd of Coleraine. Last year Jen had her first experience of a Coleraine Ulster fry and two years back we introduced the tradition to Jen’s family in Ontario. They love it! So this year we had another Ulster fry. It looks set to be a fixture on the Ontario and the Coleraine Christmas tradition.

Sadly there is no Mrs Boyd to make it nor is there an Ormeau bakery to bake the bread. So Jen made the breads (soda, potato and pancake) and I did the frying

As you can see I am hard at work! and look at that lovely soda bread!

.

A Death in the Family (at Christmas)

It is with deep sadness and regret that we mourn the passing of my Compaq computer. Following a long illness, today at 10.44 he was pronounced dead. He has been a faithful friend since 2004, but was rather sickly from birth. His death is causing quite a hassle (especially since I now have to use a Mac – which I have no idea about). Anyway he will be deeply missed. He is now being placed in his final resting place (the back of the wardrobe) until being chucked out in about 10 years time. In lieu of flowers we request that you send me cash for a new computer!

On a happy note his death was anticipated and last week Jen had been backing the computer up – so we got most of the stuff off – only a few files remained unbacked up – so that is good!

Oh well I guess the sales await for a new computer!

The big drive over – but………..

not driving! I have now discovered that everyone in the greater Toronto area lives on/near/by/just a bit away from a motorway. Add to that the aggression of the drivers.

Anyway – we have arrived safe and sound – but have to do Christmas shopping, so blog updates on the drive (which passed off largely without incident) will have to wait. Although if you live in North Dakota you might want to skip the drive story as I found your state rather dull to be honest. If you live in Winnipeg you will absolutely want to give the drive update a miss as your city was………..well……….all I can say is – dull! sorry.

Drive update to follow – glad you have all enjoyed the great cheese debate. That’s about the level of Cairns’ intellect! although I have to say it was my wife who gave it the title “why so orange?” which is not a reflection of how my politics has gone whilst in Vancouver (although I do have to say that whilst I stay the course of “no terrorists in government” it is good to see some others taking a less moral stand!!!)

Why so orange?

Tim, Mac, Melissa and I were asking why North Americans dye cheddar cheese orange. I did talk to one person who thought that that was just how it naturally happened. The reality is that cheese is made from milk and milk comes out white.

I checked Wikipedia first (the ultimate source of all knowledge on the Internet):
“Like many cheeses, the colour of Cheddar cheese is sometimes modified by the use of food colourings. In parts of the United States and Canada, Annatto, extracted from the tropical achiote tree, is used to give Cheddar cheese a deep orange colour. The origins of this practice have been long since forgotten, but the three leading theories appear to be:
- to allow the cheese to have a consistent colour from batch to batch
- to assist the purchaser in identifying the type of cheese when it is unlabelled
- to identify the cheese’s region of origin

From a site called Food Reference I found out that: Cheddar, Cheshire and Leicester cheeses have been colored with annatto seed for over 200 years. Carrot juice and marigold petals have also been used to color cheeses. Coloring may have originally been added to cheese made with winter milk from cows eating hay to match the orange hue (from vitamin A) of cheeses made with milk from cows fed on green plants.

It would seem that cows used for producing milk have a orangish tinge to the milk so they dye the cheese to make it prettier. However, for whatever reason Brits don’t dye all their cheeses. Regardless, it should not cost more for white cheese (naturally white) than it does for orange cheese. But no matter – I love cheese anyways!

Spice Up Your Life!

Yes, the rumours are true. This past Sunday night, Tim and I joined the throngs of hyper-active first-year-university girls at the opening night of the Spice Girls Reunion Tour here in Vancouver.

Tim speaks fondly of nights in the Wellie Park dancing to the Spice Girls hits (it’s hard to believe that a certain mother of two and London solicitor led the charge to the dance floor on those nights (Mary Jo, I don’t believe Tim’s stories! Honest!)

Here are some pictures of the night.

Tim waiting at the bus stop – singing! (very loudly) (yes that’s snow in the background – it only lasted for Sunday)

Tim waiting in the seats

Me and everyone else in sold-out GM Place

Geri looking quite fit in her Union Jack dress

“It’s raining men!” (And there were lots of quite good-looking male dancers).

The “Surprise” Encore – who would’ve ever thought?!? Definitely not pre-planned given it was “Wannabe”!

Tim’s favourite was definitely when Geri was wearing her Union Jack dress. As for me, I just enjoyed the show. The baby seems to be a fan too given his kicking throughout – especially when there were drums!

The concert was lots of fun despite the mixed reviews. Very entertaining – especially given the lack of time they had to rehearse given that Mel B did so well with”Dancing with the Stars”. Definitely worth it – especially since it was free thanks to some generous people  (I’d spent the last while selling tickets so that our concert experience was free!)

Invoking the Spirit of Breath

Usually it is Jen who does the baby update stuff. I thought I would give an update. We went to our prenatal class yesterday. I have to say I lost it!

We were being taught breathing techniques. Anyway the woman said that the pregnant lady should sit down with back to partner. Then the partner puts his hand on her back and says “I invoke the spirit of breath” then you move your hands up the back and say “release.” The pregnant person breathes out with a loud groan.

I completely lost the plot. The woman dimmed the lights and put Pachelbel’s canon in d major on the CD. Then we all had to try out the new breathing stuff. I completely went off. The tears streamed down my face – what a load of old Kitsilano rubbish! I can’t wait to try it out in the delivery suite! “I invoke the spirit of breath” oh what fun the birth will be!