Sunday, November 25, 2007

We had a really good dinner on Friday night. I was surfing around eyeweekly.com (it's a Torstar site that my group supports), and saw a restaurant review that had chanterelle risotto on the menu. Sounded good so I found a recipe on the web. For the main I found a recipe for veal tenderloin with carmelized shallots and onions on the LCBO. Both turned out really well. It was the first time either of us had tried chanterelle mushrooms -- they are sort of nutty, like walnuts. There's a few varities of mushrooms at Loblaws so we may try another kind next week.

Heaney was in town this past week for training, so we got together on Tuesday for a drink or two at Fionn MacCools. It was pretty busy there at first, but it was a pre-game crowd for the Leafs game. We split three pounds of wings, which I think is a record for Heaney and I. (In university we would be lucky to get through two pounds between the two of us -- we like wings, but could never eat a whole lot).

Wednesday was Ultimate, and we were playing the second-last team. We won, although their pseudo-zone defense threw us off a bit. Went back to Fionn MacCools for a quick drink.

Our hockey game on Thursday was early (6:30), so I planned to work the afternoon at VPC. (It's only a five-minute drive from the rink). Good thing I did, as traffic was a mess. There were two serious accidents on the 400, shutting down all lanes both northbound and southbound. Traffic around the press centre was a mess. (In fact the press centre was in the background of the MTO camera that was showing the scene). Plus it was the first snowstorm of the season. We still had a good turnout with 11 skaters, but lost. The other team had good breakout patterns and generally passed the puck well, something we can't seem to do. Got upstairs for pizza and a beer just in time to catch the first half of the Colts game.

Well that's it for now.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Watching the Patriots toying with Buffalo, (it's 35-7 at the half with 4 TDs for Moss), which is a good opportunity to catch up in my blog. (Heather's working on her chapter).

I decided to start working out again, to strengthen my shoulders. They still feel sore after a physical hockey game, so I'm hoping this will help. I used to work out 2 - 3 times a week until I first hurt my rotator cuff in 2004, and have never got back into it. So today I set up my bench in the basement and dusted off the weights. I didn't use much weight today, we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Tried another LCBO recipe, Lemon risotto with grilled tiger shrimp. It was very lemony, almost too lemony. Still, it wasn't too bad and we'll try it again (with less lemon).

We had a late Friday night at Celine's little celebration at the completion of her PhD, and were feeling a bit out of sorts on Saturday morning. Went for a walk around the neighbourhood, which turned into a two hour walk up to the Danforth and back. The leaves have finally started falling in bunches and it was beautiful with the ground covered in yellow leaves everywhere. We had lunch at Queen Pita (a Lebanese restaurant on Queen just east of Leslie). We had tried it out last weekend and it was pretty good.

We started Friday night at Baldini's. Tony (the owner) had given us a gift certificate as a wedding gift so we used it for dinner. It was excellent as usual. The restaurant was pretty busy which is good to see.

Raccoons had started to get into the roof above the front porch so I closed it up today. As part of the rebuilding of the front porch this summer, the plan was to have Tony (our electrician) install pot lights, and then I was going to finish the ceiling. However, Tony broke a couple ribs playing football and hasn't been able to make it over here yet. I'll finish the roof properly next spring, for now I just put up plywood.

Our green bin went missing after garbage day last Wednesday. I thought about putting up some posters on light posts but Heather didn't think it was such a great idea. It turned out our neighbour had accidentally picked it up (the garbage folks sometimes throw them on the neighbour's side of the fence).

We tied at Ultimate last week, and lost at hockey. The Ultimate game was fun. I dropped a couple passes that I would normally catch. I think playing only once a week is affecting my timing. In hockey we got burnt by the other team's speed. We held the play in their end for most of the game, but then they'd end up on a 3-1 and score. It was a bit frustrating.

Well I should get ready for bed.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Are you in a gouda mood?

Usually I go grocery shopping after work (the Queen's Quay Loblaws is right beside the Star), and give Heather a call to decide what we're having for dinner. If Heather doesn't want something that night, she'll say e.g. "hmm, I'm not in a steak mood". I was picking out a cheese to have with a baguette before dinner, so I asked if Heather if she wanted gouda. Of course she answered "I'm not in a gouda mood" which I found funny for the next few hours.

We won our Ultimate game 33-8 yesterday. The other team wasn't that good, and we played good fundamentally. A lot of short passes, and our junk d was pretty good. (Junk d is when we're on defense and there's someone assigned to take the first guy cutting in, and everyone else switches off). My timing is back on catching which is good.

After we went to Fionn MacCool's for a quick drink and a game of Wizard. It's hard to believe that the last few weeks we sat on the patio, and yesterday it was only 3C or so.

Oh yah, I registered my name as a web address! www.ericdsouza.com Right now it's just pointing to this blog, but at some point in the future if I'm running a consulting company or whatever, at least I'll have my name as a website. The cost of registering a name has really come down compared to a few years ago -- it's only about $10 a year now.

Even more restaurants and shops have opened up in Leslieville. There's a Thai restaurant (one of the few chains on Queen E) opening next to Tomi Kro, a knitting store opening soon near Jones, and a couple others I forget.

We tried to eat at Tomi Kro's a couple weeks ago with Chris and Roseanne, but couldn't get in. Chris and Roseanne couldn't make it to the wedding because of Chris' health, so we got together for dinner. I called on a Thursday to reserve for Saturday but they were fully booked already! (This is after they've doubled the size of the restaurant!) It looks like they're expanding again, possibly to the location on their east. It's now painted the same colours and the renovations inside seems very similar. ...We ended up at Baldini's, which was really good as usual.

We wrote and mailed out our thank-you cards for the wedding. That took quite a bit of time. We created our own stamps at canadapost.ca which turned out pretty good, and are only twice the cost of a regular stamp. Although it was odd to see ourselves on a stamp. I think more people would create their own stamps if they knew about it.

We tried a new recipe from the LCBO website last week that was really good, roasted sea bass with braised lentils and aioli. We had it again last night. I made my own aioli from scratch, which is actually quite easy. Although, I didn't know what aioli was until this recipe.

Went to Doaner's last Saturday. Heather's been on a roll and so stayed home to work. Last time I saw Doaner was at the wedding when he was (accidentally) running off with my car key. Jenn and Doaner are now moved in together! She's spruced up the place, it now has plants and other knick knacks.

Wonderboy now has a digital media subcommittee. Roach's brother (Roach Jr) has put together the start of the website. The more obvious websites were already taken, so we've registered thewonderboy.org. Hopefully it will be done before next Wonderboy.

Almost forgot, some of the web guys at work started up a little contest. You have to put up a web page, whose primary use is to echo the user's IP address. The winner is the web page with the most hits from outside Ontario. Please visit my site if you are! It's also a useful site if, say, you're lost somewhere in the world and stumble into an internet cafe -- you can find out where you are.

Well I should go start dinner before it gets too late. I have hockey at 9:30, which is too late to eat after.