Broughie Christmas 2013

I met Karen and Meghan the day I moved into Elgin Hall at the University of Western Ontario, during my second year of university. We would be living together in the “suite-style” residence that year. Little did we know that we would become super close friends and end up living together for three years, travelling to Hawaii on a big vacation together, and going on weekly girls’ nights five years later in Toronto. Needless to say, we have a great friendship and these girls are like sisters to me.

Here are some flashback photos of our final year at Western. We lived at 187 Broughdale Avenue…”Broughie” as we like to call it. Every year we had a “Broughie Christmas” where we would cook an entire turkey or chicken dinner, complete with mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberries, rolls, stuffing, pie, etc. etc. etc. We’d exchange gifts, admire Karen’s Ugly Santa Collection, and watch some sort of Christmas movie. For years this tradition lapsed, as Karen was off in Montreal being a super amazing biochemist, Meghan was bouncing between Nunavut and finishing her Masters at Western, and I was in the Netherlands and then completing my MBA. But then, by a miraculous stroke of luck, we ended up all in Toronto at the same time. This is when the girls’ nights began, and our friendship picked up where it left off. Don’t you love those types of friendships? The ones where you can go months without seeing or speaking to each other, and then bam, you get back together and it’s like no time has passed?

For last year’s Broughie Christmas, I hosted the girls at my apartment. Meghan (aka Serpy) made a festive punch, and we enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and chocolate covered strawberries.

If we look a bit bedraggled in the above photo, that’s because we were. That punch packs a punch. Anyway, this year we decided to do more of a potluck style thing. Karen brought a crock pot of beef stew on the subway (during rush hour, which caused many people to comment on her delicious-smelling stew), Serpy of course brought her infamous punch, and I prepared hors d’oeuvres and sugar cookie dough to make Christmas cookies. We all sat around my island, devouring the stew, sipping the punch, and catching up. Amanda brought over some wine and cookie decorations, which were a hit as well. Then we spent the rest of the night making the finest creations we could out of the thin gluten-free cookie dough I whipped up.

Above: Ecstasy Santa makes his annual appearance at our Broughie Christmas celebration. Below: Karen and Amanda creating some beautiful cookies!

Karen’s Rob Ford cookie creation, above! Ha ha ha.

Needless to say, it was another successful Broughie Christmas. Here’s to many more years of good friends, re-living undergrad memories, and festive punch!

Ottawa: High Tea at the Chateau Laurier

On my final day in Ottawa, April and I visited the Chateau Laurier for high tea. The Fairmont Chateau Laurier is a beautiful old hotel in the middle of downtown Ottawa, and it looks like something straight out of a fairy tale. After wandering the cavernous hallways, and checking out the wood-clad bathroom (straight outta the Titanic), we traipsed into the tea room to indulge.

Initially we were going to visit for brunch, but when April heard that they offer a gluten-free high tea, we were all over that. Usually high tea is all about sandwiches and scones, which obviously have gluten in them. April got the normal high tea, and I had the gluten-free one…and we both agreed that the gluten-free one was better!

To start we splurged on champagne to eat with our fresh fruit.

As we sat in the beautiful sunroom, watching the snow falling sporadically across the city, kept oohing and aahing over the beautiful details at the Chateau’s high tea.

We each chose a pot of tea. April chose the darjeeling, while I stuck with something more mainstream, an earl grey. Then it was time to daintily dig into the three-tiers of wonderful treats – freshly baked scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream, raspberry mousse, warm banana bread, and finger sandwiches made with salmon, chicken salad, egg salad, and cucumber. Everything was so delicious. The gluten-free tea was phenomenal, and the scones were a highlight. I kept wondering aloud whether it was actually gluten-free, semi worried that it wasn’t…I mean, it was just too good to be gluten-free!

We left with full tummies of clotted cream, and dashed through the cold on our way home. Then it was time to pack up, head to the airport, relax in the Porter lounge, and take my 45 min jaunt back to Toronto island. What a whirlwind trip packed with amazing experiences and so many new memories! Thanks April!

Ottawa: A Day of Gluttony

On my third day in Ottawa, we woke early and leisurely headed out to Le Nordik in Gatineau, Quebec. It was only a 20 min drive from April’s place, but seemed a world away. Nestled in a little forest area, Le Nordik is a rustic outdoor Scandinavian spa retreat. April and I had planned to visit Le Nordik, and it was definitely a high-light of my time in Ottawa. It started, however, with a super long line winding along the inner entrance area. After waiting roughly an hour, we finally made it inside, where April surprised me by purchasing the entire spa day for both of us! Such a nice hostess she is. With robes and towels in hand we headed off to begin our day of relaxation.

During our wait, I watched a video on the preferred “spa-ing” method. First, you spend 10-15 minutes in a hot sauna. Then, you plunge into freezing cold water for 5-10 seconds. Finally, you finish things off with 15 minutes of relaxation. Repeat 3 times for maximum relaxation. Le Nordik has a ton of saunas (dry, aromatherapy, or steam) where you can complete Step 1. We opted for the aromatherapy sauna. As soon as we entered, I immediately started to panic. The steam was so thick and hot that I began to feel claustrophobic. Standing near the entrance, I whispered over and over to April that I didn’t like it! She kept telling me to breathe, and I was panicking like a whiney baby. After a few minutes of standing there like fools, with April trying to calm me down, we sat down on the little benches. It was only after we were in the sauna for a few minutes that I began to realize that it was FULL of people who could see my entire panic-induced episode because we were right by the door! When we realized that, we could not stop laughing. Then when we heard squishy noises that sounded like sweaty flesh moving around, we really could not contain our laughter!

After popping out of the sauna, we dilly-dallied outside where we got super cold. In order to do Step 2 effectively, we needed to get warm again, so we ducked into a nearby dry sauna. After another 10 minutes of that, we walked outside and directly into a freezing cold plunge pool. AHMYGOD it was cold. Frrrrreeeezing cold, we wrapped ourselves up in our fluffy white robes with hoods and padded down to an outdoor fire-pit to warm our feet. We spent the rest of the morning in the hot steam pools, and didn’t duplicate the “cold” part of the experience again.

When we had worked up an appetite, we walked over to the lounge for some lunch. In our robes, we ordered wine and some platters to share. Pure decadence. The fire-places were crackling, the wine was flowing, and the food was delish. It was the life. Seriously.

After lunch we traipsed over to the one of the hot pools, which was the only non-silent area of the spa. In all the other areas there were “guards” with little signs saying “SILENT PLEASE.” on them. How can we have our girl talk when we had to be quiet as mice all day? Yeesh. So rude. Needless to say, by the time we got into the non-quiet pool, we were super talkative and had the guy next to us in stitches as he eavesdropped on our hilarious convos (like April fainting during a C-section). As we floated there, in our wine and food induced comas, the biggest prettiest snowflakes began falling all around us. It was absolutely gorgeous. The trees began to get dusted in snow, and it really made the whole experience feel even more Scandinavian than it already did.

When we finally emerged, April’s robe was gone…including her iPhone. Terror. Panic. Anger. RAGE. Kidding, she handled it all surprisingly well. We made some attempts to track it down, asking people we knew were in the pool with us if they had mistakenly taken the wrong robe, and inquiring at the front desk if anyone had turned it in. No luck. After one more round in the sauna we glumly got ready and left Le Nordik with our bodies relaxed, but our souls a little sad.

That evening, we had dinner at Whalesbone, a cute teensy seafood restaurant located in a nondescript area of Ottawa. I had a variety of oysters to start, followed by the lobster risotto. April had a seafood medley for her app, and then the steak. The service was super slow, and there was an incident with a deep-fried clam shell…but overall the meal was quite good.

My lobster was slightly over-cooked, and when I mentioned it to the waitress, she took it off my bill (which was a big deal, considering it was $45). The rest of the evening we spent watching “The Internship” with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson (horrible movie), and eating candy from the convenience store in April’s building. See? I told you it was a day of gluttony…

October round-up (belated)

You know all those random photos you take on your phone? Well, I like to put them here, at the end of the month, to show the little things that made that month unique. I’m a bit behind on this one, so here goes:

We celebrated Yvonne’s 27th with a dinner at Asian Legend, cocktails at chez McGuire/Kwok, and dancing at Dance Cave. Sandra made an appearance and taught us all how to do her infamous poses.

Chris cooked up some of the best hamburgers I have ever eaten. They had cheese in the middle, sandwiched in the patty, and we made a homemade mayo/ketchup/relish “special sauce” from my Bite Me cookbook. It was SO GOOD. He grilled them up on the rooftop and we ate them, snuggled in hoodies, as we looked out at the twinkling city lights. The next day, I made a left-over one for dins.

I finally got my coveted baby blue cable knit sweater from the Gap! Yay! I also purchased some leopard flats to round out my autumn wardrobe.

On a particularly busy evening, Chris came over with grocery bags laden with ingredients for a fresh chef’s salad. OMGsogood.

I took the train home to Niagara a few times. I absolutely love Niagara in the fall. I especially love the apple orchards, and the gorgeous autumnal displays at the orchard down the street from my parent’s.

Kendra, in anticipation of my arrival home, made me a “snack”. She ran into the kitchen and put an apple and a banana in a little container for me to enjoy when I got back from the train station. Too cute! Love her.

Kendra, Maxx, and I had fun raking up all the little leaves in the front yard, and then jumping in/throwing them all around.

I savoured every walk to and from campus, especially past all the gorgeous red-leafed trees. Autumn was warm and pretty this year.

Speaking of school, check out the photo below of the classroom we have to learn in this year. Yes, those are pews. Yes, those are little bible perches that are too high for anyone to use properly. Ah well, that’s what $28k in tuition will get ya.

Chris and I took the train to Niagara for Thanksgiving. We walked to the orchard, where Chris met his little kitten friend, Juan. I oohed and ahhed over the produce. Doesn’t this place just scream “photoshoot”?

We also went to Grafton for Chris’ family's Thanksgiving. His sister, Candace, hosted at her new house. The following weekend we drove up there again for a charity dance at the local Legion. The harvest moon was STUNNING on our drive up there. It’s hard to tell from the photo below, but it was massive. Chris pulled over so I could get a proper shot on my phone. Candace & Chris, Matt & Vanessa, and Chris & I attended. We drank lots, danced lots, and bid too much on all the silent auction prizes. Whoops. Chris ended up with two group of seven prints and a pack of hockey cards from 1991. #drunkbidding #don’trecommend

Chris’ garden is in full harvest-mode. We picked so many tomatoes, and I was forced to make roasted tomato soups, tomato salads, tomato toast, and tomato casseroles for a couple of weeks! Not complaining! Chris made some green tomato relish with those that hadn’t ripened. We also enjoyed a ton of rainbow Swiss chard, spicy cayenne peppers, baby eggplant, herbs galore (parsley, chives, basil, sage, thyme, rosemary, stevia), bell peppers, garlic, cabbage, and strawberries.

We also received some really good news this month – I’ll be staying in Toronto! I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. I’ll never forget the moment I told Chris. It was one of those special experiences that we’ll remember forever; knowing that I’ll be in the same city as him and having that weight lifted from our shoulders. We finished off the month by carving some pumpkys and roasting up their seeds. All in all, October was fantastic. So full of good friends, good hearty fall food, lots of family time, and some amazing news that we had been waiting for. November, this one will be hard to beat!