It was another beautiful day here and I was in the mood for another summer salad. I paired it with some baked catfish and a light macaroni salad. Yesterday I picked up some nice veggies at the Downtown Farmers Market, so I was all set to go.
First, I got my fish ready to go and set it baking. I just defrosted (mostly) my catfish and then covered it with a self-created marinate. I used about 1tbs olive oil, 1 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, and a sprinkle of salt. Baked at 400F for 20 minutes. I also put my water on to boil for my macaroni salad.
Aren't they cute!
Next, I cut up my veggies for the summer salad. Mine was fresh farmer's market English cucumber, zebra tomatoes, and black olives with a light sesame dressing. The zebra tomatoes I have are actually a black zebra tomato (green and deep red). They are rather unbelievably delicious. I wouldn't want to do too much to them. A light dressing like this or just salt. They are that good. I believe they are an heirloom variety. The more heirloom veggies I eat from farmer's markets etc, the more I can't believe we eat anything else. I'm not much for gardening (I can do it, I just prefer not to . . .), but I am considering it to have lots and lots of black zebra tomatoes.
Now that's a summer salad!
I made a light dressing for the macaroni as well. Just a bit of light mayo and hot mustard. Maybe 1 tbs for the whole serving. Since my catfish was spicy I wanted to be able to cool it down and make sure I wasn't blowing out my taste buds with the heat.
Ninjas like balanced meals!
In the end it was a very delicious meal. Another great success.
Today is my birthday. At my age Birthdays aren't really the super exciting fun they were when you were young. At the same time at 29 I don't feel old, nor am I having an attack over the nearness of 30. I'm doing pretty good with my time on Earth. No real regrets . . . I'm not the type of person prone to regrets anyway, but it is still a good sign I think. I had my birthday celebration last weekend. Dinner and a movie.
Paint by number stripper . . . for real . . .
We at at Louisiana Purchase here in Edmonton. It was great and supposedly cajun. I have learned that Canadians don't really know what Cajun food is . . . but still it was nice. We went to see X-men: First Class.
Before the split
I actually really really enjoyed it. I like geeky stuff like X-men, but it was very well done. Good balance of plot and action. Nice use of the period (60s). James McAvoy was actually really good as Charles. I had worried that he would look to young for the part. Michael Fassbender was fantastic as Erik. The story of Charles and Erik is really very sad and dramatic and McAvoy and Fassbender did just fantastic with it. So, overall I would say if you like action movies you should see it. Or if you like comics. Or if you like very pretty men. I suppose if you like pretty women too . . . I'm not as good of a judge of that. Also, Kevin Bacon was absolutely creepy and awesome in this.
See pretty . . .
Today for my actual birthday I went for a nice walk in the beautiful weather and had a cupcake and gelato from some nice specialty bake shops near campus.
S'more cupcake and pistachio gelato!
Super delicious. A very nice day. I may use my Wee Book Inn gift certificate tonight and maybe get Taco Bell for dinner. I know horrible, but there is no Mexican here. :( Plus, I never eat Fast Food, so it is always a little fun.
I have finished another book for my challenges: The Queen's Necklace by Teresa Edgerton. This book is for the What's in a Name Challenge and specifically the jewelry/gem category. This means I am very nearly done with this challenge I have the number book left to go. I have a few books in mind for this one, so it should be a smooth transition. Now back to this challenge.
I picked up The Queen's Necklace at a used bookstore . . . mainly as the title fit the challenge. (The WEE BOOK INN, best used bookstore in Edmonton). I had no ideas for the jewelry challenge going in to this and was therefore on the look out. It was a reasonable price for a used book in Canada, which means not very reasonable at all - but that is another story.
The Cover
The book is set in the human control world after the fall of the evil goblin empire, which ruled long long ago. When the humans took control they made the world better and then institutionalized everything to stop things from changing and empires from being created. This is the story of the goblin's trying to seize power again and the people who try and stop it.
This is how I imagine everyone is dressed . . . based on their discriptions
I'd like to start by saying I found the book to be enjoyable . . . but there was simply tons not quite right with it. First, it is a long book and yet everything about the book seems rushed. Time leaps forward, important plot points are never actually written about, and character conflicts just appear and disappear at an astonishing rate. The book just seems like an outline of what is happening without too much depth. Like I said it is a long book, so it may have benefited from being two books.
The author
I also never felt any real concern for the characters. Why? I didn't know any of them well enough. They got introduced their purpose was told and they acted accordingly or they never did much of anything and you wonder why they exist at all in a book already busting with characters. Speaking of characters, I did rather like the main characters. But, they were acquaintances not friends. It held my interest and made it an okay book, but nothing more.
The plot itself was passably interesting. I did want to know what happened. Particularly after I was committed to some number of pages. However, the plot just kind of moved along and never seemed like it was directed by any of the characters . . . not even the evil goblin conspiritors. It just kind of seemed to happen because it did. The world and the way goblins were depicted made me seriously doubt they were any real threat to toppling the human regime. Your telling me almost immortal beings have no real forethought? Well they can't be very good conspirators then.
Unfortunately, the ending was also lacking as certain key parts were simple skipped. Leading the reader with no information as to what happened. Instead of peeking interest it just seems odd. Plus there is no sequel, so what was the point or hiding small details.
In the end I didn't hate the book. It was simply kind of okay, but definitely not worth seeking out. I would welcome the opinions of anyone else who has ever read the book who may be able to shed more light on it.
This is my first full day back from my conference. I'm exhausted. But, it was great. It is always nice to have your work appreciated and people tell you your brilliant. That is not really what this post is about though. This is about fun T&T bakery food. The bakery is just one of the many things I love about the T&T.
Awesome!
I love the T&T bakery as its very reasonably priced and I only really know what about 80% of the stuff is (and that is higher than what most non-Asian people can do as I'm slightly obsessed with Asian baked goods). I love how the savory stuff is always a bit sweet and the sweets aren't really that sweet. Usually I limit how much new stuff I buy here as I would go crazy and buy one of everything. I ended up getting a few things for my dinner as it got late after I didn't my mall shopping.
Cute Asian style cakes
I got a Beef Teriyaki Bun and a Green Bean Bun for dinner . . . though apparently Green Bean Buns are sweet. Both were delicious. Particularly the beef bun - every bit as good as a pork bun.
The beef is marked by the nori.
I got an individual serving Japanese Cheesecake for dessert as well. So, I had two desserts . . . I didn't know though that is just the chance you take when you buy stuff and you don't know what it is.
Cheesecake?
First, japanese cheesecake is not like cheesecake as it is much more like cake and has little to do with cheese. It is a really nice fine textured sponge cake if you ask me. Ingredients are as follows: four, egg white, egg yolk, sugar, veg oil, cheese plaster, salt, leavening agent. So, you can see why it doesn't taste like cheese. It tastes like really rich vanilla cake. Yum . . . but not cheesecake, Boo.
image with cheese
Also, cheese plaster frightens me. Cheese should not be used for medicinal purposes or for smoothing holes in walls.
I have a great love for sausage (real sausage, stay out of the gutter). It has not been overly documented on this blog, though I have talked about blood sausage. Once of my favorite hardcore sausages. It frightens people, but really its a good sausage that is some times spicy and always delightful. This particular kind of sausage is often referred to as blood pudding (the Brits have weird ideas about pudding . . . be careful what you order). Haggis is like blood pudding even scarier cousin. Not to me personally, but to many many people. Why is this? Many people don't know whats in it but that scary Scot word sounds worse than blood.
Doesn't that look great!
What is is is a sausage made of sheep's heart, liver and lungs, minced onion, oatmeal, suet, and spices. Usually it is cased in sheep's stomach. She not so scary right. Heart and liver are both pretty good on their own. I generally avoid the lungs ans I stay away from mostly gray tissues, but it is all ground up so its fine. I did enjoy the haggis with my breakfast when I was in Scotland. By why post about it today? The Haggis adventure of course.
Its a pretty classy hut . . .
So, in honor of my friend making it back to Edmonton we are going to the The Bothy Wine and Whiskey Bar. I don't drink, but I do like Haggis! The haggis was great. In fact, the food was all fantastic I would definitely recommend the place. Absolutely fantastic.
So, I like the Chronicles of Narnia and I like science . . . so it seemed like a good idea to try The Chronicles of Narnia at the Telus World of Science. The blurb says "Encounter topics like geography, archeology, engineering and humanity's impact on nature through hands-on interactive elements and genuine film artifacts."
I've liked Narnia since I was a kid. The books are quietly funny and just well written. I've watched the movies as well (which is what is being combined with the science), but I've never loved them. The first was pretty good . . . but not as great as the books. James McAvoy was fantastic as Mr. Tumnus though. But, one to the show!
Result: Disappointing. So, very very disappointing. Just not worth it. In fact, the entire Telus World of Science wasn't worth it. The space center is great though.
The Metro Theater is a neat theater in downtown Edmonton that plays old movies and independents. It is pretty reasonable $8 for students. Snacks are available. The theater is inside the Citadel Theater on Churchill square. Its like a small lecture hall . . . but a nice one with pretty comfortable seats. It provides an enjoyable movie going atmosphere.
My friends and I went to see The Princess Bride on the big screen (okay is a fairly small screen) for the first time. We all love the movie and new what we were getting into. As the movie started it was clear the whole audience was pretty familiar. The film they got was a bit beat up from it years of use and few frames were missing and some were scratched, but it was still good seeing the movie in a theater.
true love . . .
For those of you who don't know The Princess Bride is a funny tale about true love . . . and torture and rodents of unusual size. The special effects are bad and the lines are cheesy, but in a good way. Its the story a grandfather (Columbo) is telling his sick grandson (Kevin Arnold). If you embrace the cheese and poor sets etc it is both hilarious and touching. To my mind Mandy Patinkin is the best part as Inigo the Spaniard trying to avenge his father. Also, his final sword fight with the 6 fingered man is one of the bests on film.
Hello my name is Inigo . . .
Overall, its just a fun and silly movie. I would recommend it. If you didn't watch it as a preteen you probably wont love it as much as me. But, you should still enjoy it.
-----------------------------So, I meant to post this awhile ago and apparently didn't, oops--------------------
I've never been to the opera before, this is my very first time. In fact, I'm not much into classical music etc. Recently I went to the symphony and had a very nice time, so when my friend Retep-bot suggested going to the opera here in Edmonton I said yes. I had not been to the Jubilee Auditorium previously, but I had heard good things about the venue. I had heard nothing about the Edmonton Opera . . .
Clearly not this time of year . . .
So, we went to get tickets from the campus Ticketmaster . . . which took 1 hour with only the three of us at the kiosk buy tickets. Yes your read that correctly. The girl behind the counter has reinforced my rule - if your server is wearing a see-through shirt, the service will be bad (that is why they aren't working in clothes). Service will get worse in direct proportion to other missing clothing items. So, far this rule has never been wrong.
The opera playing is The Abduction from the Seraglio. The website told me the following "Laugh out loud on a journey of the imagination, resplendent with musical misadventure as only Mozart could create. The young Belmonte journeys to the exotic east to rescue his beloved Konstanze from the clutches of an amorous Pasha, and madness ensues as the lovers battle to outwit a bumbling and jealous vizier." Sounded good to me.
Looks alright . . .
So, the version we watched was updated to be the James Bond 1960s version . . . kind of . . . it was also very 80s (ie project Hammerpants) and had multiple references to facebook in it. While none of this is a deal breaker it did make the opera a bit more uneven then I assume it was originally. The talky bits also seemed to go on a lot to make the time period appropriate jokes. On a whole it was funny in a pleasantly amusing kind of way.
Hammerpants do not go with Bond
The Pashas bad Bill accent from Bill and Ted was super distracting and made my ears hurt. There is no Valley in Bond. Many of the accents were annoyingly stereotypical, for example Pedrillo's Mexican accent. I would have been happier with normal accents and the same lines.
Thats like so awesome . . .
The Staging was good as were the costumes and effects etc. Their were Bond Girls/Solid Gold Dancer minions that needed to practice more, but as a whole the human set decorations did a good job.
The singing was good, not the best ever, but solid. As an odd contrast to his accent, I really enjoyed Pedrillo's singing. Osmin had lots of good lines about putting heads on pikes, which was fun. The songs all sounded rather similar, however. There really wasn't a climax to the music in my mind.
The cast!
Overall, I had a good time though. I enjoyed the atmosphere and most of the opera itself was pretty good. The translation of the German lyrics was funny and accurate? I would definitely be temped to see another opera they put on.
For my friends 30s birthday we went out for karaoke. I've never been the biggest fan, but I thought I'd give it a try . . . plus we went to a place where you can rent your own room! I'd only ever seen that in jdramas, so I was super super excited. We went to 99 St Karaoke in Edmonton (I would definitely recommend it).
We had a disco ball . . .
And lots of Linsday Lohan (what?) . . .
And interesting background images and control of our own sound . . .
And damaged awesome 90s furniture . . .
I love the big screen lyrics that let you know when to take a break . . .
We also had a sink and some weird cupboards . . .
with Christmas decorations . . .
And fake flowers (those could come in handy . . .)
I had an awesome time and the 2 hours we planed on turned in to 3. It was nice being able to just keep on singing and being stupid without having to wade through idiots you don't know. The song selection was kind of weird, but we managed to find stuff we liked. Overall, it was a very positive experience and I don't know why we do Karaoke any other way.
I went to a candy shop recently. It was a great shop called Carol's Quality Sweets on Jasper. They have a wide variety of sweets. They seem to focus on old fashioned hard to get candies and interesting imports. Like I said it has a great selection, but is a bit traditional. For a kind of kooky candy experience I suggest Coney Island Sweets on Whyte.
Enough about candy stores. While at Carol's Quality Sweets I noticed a small basket of Cadbury Magical Elves Popping Candy, which came in a variety of types (I wasn't sure if they were flavors or not). The fine print said they were magical popping chocolates. Having eaten my share of candy in my life I assume that this magic involved pop rocks . . .
Magic!
I decided to try two to determine if flavors were involved or not. So I picked Quartz and Amethyst. As you can see they have different elves on the wrapper. So, I opened them up to find traditional molded chocolates, much like a Christmas chocolate, though these elves do not appear to be Christmas themed.
Quartz Elf with magic speckles . . .
No noticeable difference in appearance . . .
You can almost see sparkles in them . . . though it is difficult even when they are cracked in half.
the whiter bit is actually a pop rock . . .
I ate Quartz first. He was alright. Generic chocolate flavor with lots of pop rock action. He was kind of boring and i didn't notice a flavor. So, next I sent for Amethyst . . . and it was better. Better chocolate taste more pop rock action. No flavor difference that I could detect the chocolate just seemed to taste better.
In the end I'm not sure pop rock chocolate is necessary. It was kind of fun and I'm sure kids would really love it . . . or adults who love pop rocks. I will say the pop rock action lasted long after I completed eating the chocolate. If you fine these in your local candy shop it might be interesting to try, but not crucially necessary.
So, yesterday I went to the Canadian Finals Rodeo which was held in Edmonton. . . I wasn't super excited about it really and thought it would probably be kind of lame. With our rodeo tickets we also got tickets to the farm expo. I'm from Wisconsin (the city), but you know I've been to animal shows, fairs, farm expos, and a rodeo long ago so I assumed the magic would be gone.
Look A Maple Leaf!
Now, I was a bit excited to see this fine example of Western Canadian culture. Despite being in Canada for 2.5 years now I'd not really seen much of. For a place that most people refer to as the Texas of Canada (that is Canadians not me) it Edmonton seemed pretty devoid of cowboys unless the Rodeo or Garth Brooks was in town.
Crazy Russian Cowboy
We arrived nice to at the Expo Centre and I must say it was probably the most upscale ag fair I've seen. Cowboys were abundant as were sellers of hats, boots, saddles . . . you get the picture.
Lasso!
Then we saw the other side that had a very strange "petting" zoo. There were not many animals . . . but there was a calf and a evil sheep. The calf would say moo in its high baby voice and then evil sheep would say baa in its scary deep evil voice. It was interesting in its way and generally fun.
Calf, lets call him Earl.
Evil 4 horned sheep, lets call him Damian - note the glowing eyes
Then we had dinner corn dogs! I love corn dogs . . . and then we went and saw the stock animals!
The prettiest cows I've ever seen . . .
Or animal really . . . tons and tons of cows . . . not even horses. Fluffy cute cows. Note the vacuum cleaner that is used to get the wood chips off the cow's bottoms. Next, it was the rodeo proper!
The comb is a beef byproduct!
Me and the skeletal cow!
If you wanted to know . . .
Like all sporting events the Rodeo starts with the anthem (Canadian). There was a whole big production this night as it was the day after Remembrance Day (Veterans Day). It was pretty crazy . . . lots of army guys, horses, and a flaming maple leaf!
Flaming Maple Leaf!
Finishing up with fireworks!
Than the Rodeo started . . . and it was awesome (I had to retract my original statement from the opening ceremony that it was like a sporting event from the 50s). First, the announcers are total gossips . . . like so and so got married last month and they are having a baby in 4! The announcers are also kind of mean . . . like so and so did great and may be he'll be old enough to shave soon! The announcers also told poop jokes for about 15 minutes. Their was lots of normal rodeo type events and then two additional scary/exciting events.
bucking
time to run
getting set
wild horse
still on . . .
not anymore . . .
So, the first event that we thought would be the one we told people the next day was Cowboy Poker (the link has a video). The "game" goes like this. Four guys who don't know anything about being cowboys sit at a lawn table in plastic chairs while a crazy bucking bull is sent into the arena. Whoever is in their chair last is entered for a change to win 40,000 - yes that is right, a chance! You must watch it to really understand . . . not for the faint of heart though.
Why?
Normally you'd think that would be the pinnacle of crazy for the evening, but no. A bull actually jumped into the stands . . . it was one of the weirdest things ever as I really did not see it coming. I actually thought to myself surely the bull will not jump into the crowd . . . but it did.
Warning - this is a kind of scary video, so don't watch it if your faint of heart. No blood or anything and it seems everyone will be alright.
It was a crazy night. I had way more fun than I was anticipating and got quite the shock . . .
