I'm Back!

It's been so long since I've last blogged.  Why?  Because I'm just too lazy to update anything and really feel like there's nothing to write about!


It's been about a month now since I've gotten back from Europe and it seriously feels like I never even left.  Work just started piling up, same plans are being made with the same friends and life goes on.  


This year, we were back in time for all the fun festivities that Edmonton holds.  Capital Ex, Taste of Edmonton, Heritage Days, Fringe Festival, Street Performers and some more I can't remember right now.  We are the "City of Festivals" indeed.  I'd much rather be a cooler city all year round than be somewhat cool two months out of the year, though.


CMA is going to start again in September which is probably also when I will start blogging more again.  Anytime the word "study" or "school" comes into my vocab, my blog posts seem to skyrocket.  I forgot to mention that I was luckily exempt from the CMA Entrance Exam and was admitted right away.  Thank God for that otherwise my last few weeks before Europe would have been a nightmare!


I have a goal.  I want to fill my recipe book that I bought a few years ago with delicious recipes so I don't feel like it went to waste.  There's about three recipes in there and two are practically the same salads.  Can you tell how much I cook?  I actually do try out some recipes sometimes, but always forget to include them in my book.  It's time.  I'm going to update my food blog and fill my book as much as possible!


I have another goal.  Stop shopping.  I've actually been pretty good so far!  I can't really remember the last time I shopped? Maybe about two weeks ago?  I know it doesn't sound like a long time, but it's a start!  I need to start saving money for bigger and better things than just another pair of shoes.  *Sigh* growing up just ain't as fun as it seems.

Say Hi to...

...ROLLIE!  Can't wait :)

Finished?

Please pinch me.  It feels so surreal that I am finally done my undergrad degree, but I know at the same time I shouldn't be too surprised since most people in my year are already done.  It just feels weird that I won't be returning to school in September.


The feeling of excitement for Europe is slowly creeping up!  We have our main plane tickets to London and our accommodations there booked and last night we just booked plane tickets to Madrid and accommodations there as well.  I like how every little part of our trip is slowly coming together and I'm super excited to actually go!  Also, I forgot to mention that we will be in London during their Taste of London event!  It's like Taste of Edmonton here, but obviously on a much bigger and better scale!  All of the top chefs in London seem to have booths there and it runs from June 17 to 20th and we are there from June 16 to 19th.  What are the chances?  We decided this was definitely fate, so that's one of the many activities we'll be doing in London!  


I start my full time job on Monday and am going to miss the sleeping in and lazing around, but I won't miss the lack of money :) I will finally have a decent source of income!


Ok, I know I'm supposed to be done with the studying, but I'm not.  I'm writing my CMA exam on June.15th (which also happens to be the day we leave for Europe) and need to study until then to get a passing grade!  Time for me to go study now :(

Food Blog

Since this one was turning into a food blog, I decided just to make a separate blog for my food talk and leave this one for other things in life (although I can't imagine anything more important than food to blog about..maybe my health?)


bigappetites.blogspot.com


Enjoy :)

A New Array of Good Eats

After much planning, doddling and second guessing, we booked our Europe trip!  J and I are officially going to Europe for one month!  We leave June.15th to London and return on July.13th and now that we have the main flight booked, we have to ACTUALLY start the planning process.


What countries do we want to visit?  Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey are a few on the list right now.


I am excited for the yummy gelato and coffee everyone seems to rave about after they go to Europe.  I'm sure there's many other types of culinary surprises I will discover and enjoy along the way :) I will update on the planning process and what countries we will be going to for sure when we have a better idea!!!


Now the hard part is getting through my last set of final exams, EVER!

Kabuki

So Jessie and I tried the new sushi restaurant, Kabuki, today.  It opened at the beginning of March and was at most mediocre.  It's right across the street from Kyoto on 109th Street (University location) and I think I would much rather go to Kyoto next time!  Anyways, here are the photos we managed to snag with the iPhones:

Salmon Sashimi - Tasted kind of like Zen sashimi, so definitely nothing great

Left:  Edmonton Roll - Prawn Tempura, Spicy Tuna and Crab

Right:  Chopped Scallop Roll

The Chopped Scallop Roll was probably the best roll, but they both kept falling apart, so it wasn't very impressive.

Beef Tataki - The sauce was sweet and watered down tasting, the beef tasted kind of strange and the onions were WAY too raw

Assorted Tempura - Probably the best thing we had all night because you can't really mess up tempura!

In conclusion, this is another one of those try-hard Japanese restaurants that just doesn't make it in my books.  Maybe I'll try it in a year or so if it still exists?

Red Pianos

I think I will see some on Friday :)
What should I order??  They both sound delicious!


grilled duck twofer

pan roasted brome lake duck crisp confit and aux champ d’elise foie gras finished with a red wine demi

filet black and white

house cut 8 oz sterling silver beef tenderloin, cajun spiced and finished with alaskan king crab butter and demi glace 

Fun Wildflower Date

I am following up with my last post and showing you the delicious breakfast Michelle and I had at Wildflower Grill this morning.  I started with a fresh glass of apple juice while Michelle had coffee in a fancy coffee press!  


And here is what we devoured:

 The cornbread we started with (came with the brunch).  Michelle also taught me an interesting fact about cornbread today, but I don't think it's very nice to repeat so I won't.

Michelle's delicious meal and description:

Eggs Benedict Two Ways
red wine poached egg | maple glazed back bacon | bearnaise
saffron poached egg | chicken breast | roasted red pepper charon | brioche crouton

The thing she got on the bottom left was AWESOME.  We're not really sure what it was..some kind of cubed scalloped potato dish?

My also delicious meal and description:

‘De-Constructed’ Seafood Frittata
seafood ragout | vol au vent | fontina cheese | sundried tomato frittata

 

I also learned today that a frittata is a type of Italian omelette.  Yum!

 

Yes, there was alot of food and it definitely was very filling, but when our server put the dessert menu in front of us, we couldn't resist.  We decided if we shared something it would be ok and we had the Sorbet Trio. 

The sorbet was strawberry, mango and raspberry flavoured.  We figured eating a dessert made of ice and juice is healthy, so we devoured this in no time :)

 

After receiving our bill we came to the conclusion that we are definitely aging because our taste is getting more and more expensive.  What happened to a good old Egg McMuffin in the morning?  We blame our bad habit on our immaturities 3-4 years ago when we all first met.  All we ever wanted to do for birthday dinners was to dress up and fancier restaurants are the only place to do this.  As we got older throughout the years and learned to appreciate food, we are now going to restaurants for the food more than for the sole purpose of dressing up.  Poor bank accounts!

On a side note, AWESOME WORK CANADA!!!!!!!!!!! Great way to end the Olympics by winning that Gold medal!

Yummy Brunch & Other Food

I have a feeling that a new obsession is emerging.  I think I am becoming addicted to brunches.  I blame Cora for this addiction, but it's so delicious...how can anyone resist?  Take a look for yourself:

Johnny's "Cora's Special"

My Mushroom and Brie Eggs Benedict

My "Eggs in a Skillet au Gratin"

Last week, I went to Blue Plate Diner and had great Eggs Benedict there as well.  It was really good and not as heavy as the one I ordered at Cora.

I'm going for brunch tomorrow morning at Wildflower Grill.  I hope it's as delicious as the menu sounds!  These are the two I'm deciding between and don't know if I should go with the Traditional Eggs Benedict (which is what I get at every restaurant, it seems to be a benchmark to compare each place) or the delicious sounding Seafood Frittata.

Traditional Eggs Benedict

poached eggs | maple glazed back bacon | hollandaise | english muffin

‘De-Constructed’ Seafood Frittata

seafood ragout | vol au vent | fontina cheese | sundried tomato frittata


Since we're on the topic of food, I went down to Calgary a couple of weeks ago with some friends and found a place called Wa Sushi.  It's supposed to have pretty decent ramen (considering we pretty much have nothing in Alberta) and we tried it amongst other things:

My Tonkatsu Ramen

 

Salmon Skin Roll, Nagi Toro Maki/Cone, Salmon and Toro Sushi, Chop Chop Sushi

Cynthia's Katsudon

The ramen was ok, but nothing super special.  I miss Japan more and more when I realize I can't find much here that's comparable to the food there!

I miss you Yokohama Ramen!

Eurotrip 2010

J and I have been researching some places to go in Europe and think we have a decent idea of what countries we want to visit.  The hard part is planning everything and dishing out the money.  Once the tickets are booked and everything is paid for, I will no longer be able to focus on school.  


Last semester = last strands of patience.  I just have to hold on for a little while more!

Congratulations!!!

To Jessie and Timothy Wong on their recent engagement!  So exciting!!!!!!!!

People Watching

This song is dedicated to J since he thinks it's strange that I watch people :)


People Watching - Jack Johnson


Well I'm just people watching, the other people watching me
We're all people watching, the other people watching we

We're as lonely as we want it to be
We're all as lonely as we want it to be
Just as lonely as we want it to be
I'm just you, you're just me
It's only true, if we believe

Well there really ain't no use in stopping
What nobody never told me not to do
So I'll keep people watching
Watching me now
Finding my way back to you

We're as lonely as we want it to be
We're all as lonely as we want it to be
I'm just as lonely as we want it to be
I'm just you, you're just me
It's only, true if we believe

I see so many feet going so many ways
People passing by they got nothing to say
On our own just watching and confused
Well if nobody told me what to do
I guess I'm breaking all the rules

Well I'm just people watching the other people watching me
We're all people watching the other people watching we

We're as lonely as we want it to be
We're not so lonely as we want it to be
I'm just as lonely as I want it to be
Not so lonely 

Yay!!

I just found out about an hour ago from my coworker that I get reimbursed for my last year of school from ATCO!  It's a new program they just started last year and I wasn't really expecting to get it!  Now I can actually go travelling :) woo hoo!!

Coffee Time!

We had coffee night today which was nice!!  It's been a while since we've all gotten together and humiliated ourselves in public.  I think today was no exception for sure.


The free pastries were a nice bonus.  We are not cheap Asians.  If we were, we would've asked for the whole tray of pastries, haha.

Sleepy Days

I don't know why, but I'm getting sleepy every afternoon and need a nap right when I come home.  Maybe this arm tires me out more than I realized.  I start work tomorrow afternoon.  It'll be interesting to see how that goes.  Hopefully I don't fall asleep of exhaustion.


On a side note, Heroes is a terrible addiction.  I never watched it until now and I am madly addicted!!


Dilemma of the moment:  Vancouver Olympics 2010 over reading week??  Yes or No??

Stiffness!

So I went to see my doctor today and he decided it was time to take my cast off.  He wants me moving my elbow as soon as possible and I could see why.  I have such limited motion in my elbow and wrist it kind of scares me.  He assured me if I worked it out 3x a day that it should get better.  *Cross Fingers*  I really don't want another surgery to get it moving which is the only other option if it doesn't work on its own.  At least I can wear warmer clothes now!  Too bad the temperature is going up this weekend, so it may be unnecessary.


Physio should start for me in two weeks or so once I have one more xray done to make sure all my bones are in place!


The hospital is not a fun place to wait, but I like seeing the nurses and doctors interact with their patients.  Their jobs are so selfless and they actually make a huge difference in the world and at the end of a workday, I'm sure it feels nice to know you have touched someone's life in a special way.  Our professions as business students seem so selfish next to doctors and nurses.  We deal with money to make more money for the rich.  I never really saw an issue with that before, but now it seems so clear.  I think I want to start volunteering at the hospital once school is over :) they have helped me so much and are so nice everytime I go in that I feel a little more guilty each time.


I wonder if I could've ever been a nurse?  I used to think I couldn't deal with squeamish things, but I think a lot of things don't phase me so maybe I could've been a nurse.  Ever met any accountant turned nurses?

Foodie

I looked up this word today because I think I am one of these.  And I am :)

Poooor Elbow :(

So a lot has happened since my last update.  First of all, Happy New Year to everyone!


On Monday, I went snowboarding at Rabbit Hill and on my fourth run down, I somehow managed to fall backwards while on toe side and I tried to block the fall with my left arm.  I managed to dislocate my elbow and Johnny, Jessie and Khads brought me to U of A hospital.  At first, they thought it was a normal dislocation so they put me to sleep and popped it back in.  My arm hurt like hell afterwards which is not normal, so they did further xrays and realized my elbow wasn't staying in because I had broken the bone that holds it in.  They put me to sleep again and popped it in a second time and put a cast on it.  I then had to wait around for surgery because I was on call (meaning they bump me back if other more important surgeries came along).  I wasn't able to go in Tuesday, but went in for surgery Wednesday instead.  The worst part was I'm not allowed to eat until my surgery actually happens!!  So they only let me eat late at night when it was around midnight and they knew I wouldn't go in for surgery that day.


In short, they fixed my radial bone which was split perfectly into four pieces (luckily they were able to fix it and didn't have to replace it with a titanium one which they thought they would have to) and put pins through my elbow to hold everything in place.  I'm now constantly dizzy and drugged up on T3s and classes start on Tuesday...eeps!


I'm just resting at home now and see how I feel next week.  Hopefully I'll be able to make it to classes.


Thanks to everyone who visited me at the hospital and brought me flowers, balloons, bears, magazines and snacks, I really appreciate it :) it definitely made the waiting process for my surgery a lot shorter!  Also, thanks to Johnny and my parents for helping me out SO much throughout the process!  Hopefully I heal soon and can manage things on my own again :) Unfortunately, they did say my elbow will never be able to reach the full range of motion ever again and future surgeries may be necessary to get it moving :(.  I hope physio will help alot!!


I'm going back on Friday to see the doctor so I'll see how things are then.  More updates later!