Mad Cow

The cats have gone berserk. But maybe I should start from the beginning...

A week and a half ago, our shipment of cow-ey goodness arrived. I should probably give you a bit of background on that- basically, last spring we agreed to split a quarter of a grass-fed, organic beef with my parents. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line (because my Mom let my Dad do the ordering), wires got crossed, and we ended up with a quarter each. That's 148 Lbs of beef for those of you counting. And yes, that is a heck of a lot of money that we hadn't planned to spend.

When it arrived, I was day 2 into a very bad cold- we're talking plague here- and poor Sean had to bring it all up by himself, but I helped get it into the freezer.

So we have a considerable investment of the bovine variety in our freezer. Then of course, murphy's law kicks in and... we lose power... for 24 hours. Luckily, the freezer is a good one, and we piled some blankets on top to insulate it, so all's well.

Why did we lose power you ask? Well, there was a gigantic fire on the next street over; a newly built condo complex went up in flames and the blaze spread to adjacent buildings... did I mention that we're adjacent? It was very, very scary, I was home sick and ran around packing up a bag of essentials and important documents aswell as trying to get the cats into their carrying cages in case we had to evacuate (by that time phase 1 of our complex had already been given the order to evacuate, so I wasn't even overreacting). We never did have to evacuate, but our power went out shortly after I started to relax again. Take a look at the fire for yourself below.

Anyways, back to the cats, we had some wonderful burgers from our beef stockpile (because thankfully if one has a BBQ & a flashlight, one can still cook dinner!) and the cats were going crazy begging for raw burger. I relented and they both had some, which is weird because Max usually doesn't like to eat anything other than catfood. Ever since, they've been tearing around like maniacs at all hours and I swear, our crazy downstairs neighbour is going to sue us for harassment. I think she probably has mad cow too.

Summer Vacation

Sean & I had a wonderful summer vacation visiting family in New Brunswick. At first, I was a little leery of the legendary heat and the bugs, but as it turned out, the weather was perfect all week. I won't mention the bugs.

We spent 4 days in Fredericton with Sean's sister Jody, her husband Jeff & little cutie Sawyer. Sean & Jeff got little bits of guy time here and there, and Jody even took me out to see the Boyce Farmer's Market in Fredericton. It was the best market I've ever been to, and we had a great time... even if it was 6 in the morning!

We also spent 4 days in Stickney visiting Sean's Mom & Dad. Jody & Sawyer came too, but Jeff couldn't come as he had to work. Boy, did Sawyer keep us busy! Uncle Sean soon became the clear favourite, and slept very well at night from all the exercise he got! We both marvelled at how clever Sawyer is and how much he'd grown since last Christmas. We all relaxed a bit and enjoyed the entertainment.

On the second to last day in Stickney, Don & Susan invited some more family over for a BBQ lunch. I met Susan's sisters Sylvia & Darlene (with husband Dennis), and Don's sister Sadie. I really enjoyed finally meeting them all, matching up the faces with the stories and seeing everyone together.

Our last 2 days in New Brunswick were spent in and around Moncton, Dieppe & Memramcook for a wedding. It was a beautiful and unique ceremony, and Alex & Julie seem like wonderful people. Congratulations to them both!

Who's your Papa?

Today, Sean & I went to Japan, and it only cost us $10 in gas.

Sometime this week, Sean heard about the newest Asian sensation to hit North America; Beard Papa's Creme Puffs. After reading all about them and watching the story of their creation online, we decided to venture into Richmond to snag a couple to try.

The city of Richmond is directly south of Vancouver (and North-West of Surrey, where we live). The demographic is about 85% Asian, mostly from China and Japan, as is demonstrated by everything from an eastern style of architecture, to Chinese signage. The Beard Papa store is located in Aberdeen Centre, a mall neither of us had been to.

As soon as we entered the mall, we felt like we'd been transported thousands of miles away. Everyone there was Asian, and most were speaking languages other than English. The stores were all very unique, selling everything from clothing (where a size 8 is an XL), to pottery & art, to digital 'Lotus' toilet seats (If you need a laugh, you should really watch this educational video promoting Lotus Toilet seats. A picture really is worth a thousand words). On the bottom level (no pun intended) of the mall, there was a large organic foods display with real veggies growing in a portable garden and plastic animals and farm paraphernalia. It was a wonderful exhibit and a great opportunity for little city kids to see how vegetables grow. I was also very glad the animals were of the plastic variety...

Oh, I should also mention there was a store showing/selling Ferraris, Maseratis and accessories. That was pretty sweet.

We bought a box of Beard Papas, (which come in three varieties; original, eclair and the daily special (which was matcha/green tea today) and took them over to my parent's place to share them. They definitely lived up to all the hype! Light and crispy outside, smooth and creamy inside, and not too sweet or heavy. My sister has demanded them for her birthday in September. Yummo.