A BIG "Happy Birthday / Bonne fête" to Karine and Bob's baby boy Xavier! .e  09:15  1 comments [ leave comments ]

Mag and I were invited to dinner at Karine and Bob's place on friday. the fondue chinoise, the wines, the delicious birthday cake, the gracious hosts and good friends made for a very enjoyable evening.

before the dinner, John announced his engagement with Christine. i was very excited and surprised about the news and apparently my facial expression did nothing to hide the excitement, ie, I gave a goofy surprised look. I'm very happy for you two, congratulations!

saturday was grocery shopping day coz my parents, my brother and my cousin Regina were coming to my place for thanksgiving dinner. we selected a couple of new but risky recipes. because I trust my cooking ability so much, I bought some frozen entrees as backups. for one dish we did the preparation early coz it takes the most time: mag emptied out the pineapple halves, and I pre-cooked the rice.

dinner was set on sunday as a conglomerated celebration of (early) thanksgiving, (belated) birthday and my brother's new career opportunity in Mississauga. I started preparing the dinner after I dropped Mag off at work sunday morning. mom was in charge of the turkey so she (and dad) arrived around noon to allow enough time to prep the bird and roast it. soon after Edward had arrived, we started a game of mahjong. I'm going to miss the family time with them after my bro moves to toronto.

by 5pm I was back in the kitchen again. Maggy came back home from work around 6pm and made her smoked salmon appetizer, and then dinner was on. here's a quick look at the night's menu:luckily we didn't need to fall back to any of the backup dishes. I'm glad that dinner was a success, eventhough the kitchen looked as if hurricane Katrina had passed thru it twice. .e  23:52  3 comments [ leave comments ]

.e  15:16  0 comments [ leave comments ]

last night my colleagues and I had a farewell party for Mathieu Beauregard. I showed up at Mayflower II around 5pm while the others had long arrived (and drinking). after a few pitchers and some food, we headed back to my place for some poker 101. Mathieu with his pocket pair streaks ruled the night. Mike and Sylvain followed closely behind. Ben gave the first two losers Monte Cristo cigars. he also brought over a bottle of rosé and a bottle of red. the rosé was quite good, contrary to other rosés I had tasted before. after the game we hit the Black Bear pub to have a pint and smoke our cigars. almost everyone in our team had joined our little gathering at some point during the night, except:

Aco - who had to drive his children to appointments
Roy - who was sick (this time physically)
Cornelia - who was volunteering at a hospital
Roger - who was no where to be found

I was quite drunk by the end of the night. it is a good thing john cancelled our golf day on us; otherwise, I don't know how I'd be able to get up at 6am this morning.

I saw a guy who looked exactly (EXACTLY) like Jack Black waiting at a bus stop on Queen street two days ago. exactly... .e  12:48  2 comments [ leave comments ]

it was a nice afternoon so i took mag on a ride in the Gatineau park. the leaves were still green so i headed north in hopes to find more red ones. after an hour of driving we turned back. we stopped by the docks in aylmer and took a nice stroll by the beach.

by dinner time, we went to Big Daddy’s Crab Shack and Oyster Bar. I ordered 7 raw oysters and a fried seafood appetizer with calamari, gator meat, fish and prawns. Maggy ordered the Big Daddy's mixed platter which was very good: king crabs, scallops, garlic roasted jumbo prawns, blackened catfish, grilled veggies and rice. though the presentation was simple, the food immediately got our taste buds excited once it arrived coz everything looked just so succulent and savoury. the condiments were very extensive too: 5 different spicy sauces for the oysters, four different dips, garlic butter heated over a candle for the seafood, and of course, plenty of lemon wedges scattered on every dish. the meals are a bit on the pricy side. the above dishes plus drinks came out to a bit over 80$ plus tips. however, the excellent service and food were worth every penny. .e  22:02  3 comments [ leave comments ]