Birthday Dinner

For my birthday, Dan surprised me with a dinner at Beckta, one of the city’s top restaurants.

It was a wonderful evening of indulgence in both fine food and fine wine. The restaurant is housed in an old house, and is small and cozy. It’s the kind of place where you get between-course treats compliments of the chef, where they refold your napkin when you leave to go to the washroom, and where instead of a basket of bread you get a bread girl who circulates between tables with a platter of tiny slices of delicious artisanal breads.

Dan often accuses me of being a foodie, and when I go to a place like this, I have to agree. I love good food. And Beckta didn’t disappoint. One thing that often strikes me at nicer restaurants is how small the portions seem – “It will never be enough!” you think. But it is! A big disappointment for me with most “average” restaurant visits is that I’m so stuffed after my meal, I never want to order dessert. Here, we shared an appetizer and both had desserts, and I was simply pleasantly full at the end of the evening. Yay for variety!

[I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures - they had some serious mood lighting (read - lack of light) going on, and I didn't want to be "that person" whose camera flash is going off every 5 seconds]

For the appetizer, we went all out and order the foie gras. Mmmmmm. It was the first time for both of us, and it was delicious! Incredibly filling, though, and so buttery/rich that it’s not something I would indulge in very often, even if the price tag wasn’t a deterrent.

Dan had the quail (cornish hen?), which came with a pork belly, beet salsa (I appreciated it way more than he did!), on a bed of greens which I can no longer remember (broccoli rabe?).

On the other hand, I went for the lobster, which came on a bed of delectable smooth polenta, mushrooms, and a balsamic-ey sauce. I really need to plan that trip out east, because I do love my lobster.

Remember how I said that we still had room for dessert? I had a holiday-themed eggnog crème brulée with caramelized chestnuts, while hubby had a sugar tart (which was probably the first time I really appreciated a sugar tart, as this one didn’t immediately make my teeth seize up) with powdered olive oil.

What is powdered olive oil, one might ask? We did as well! As far as the waiter could explain (after checking with the kitchen) it involved cornstarch, tapioca and olive oil… but I’m still not clear on the process.

I also had a whopping two glasses of wine, and they were both amazing (and previously unknown) – Beckta’s other claim to fame is as a wine bar, and it did not disappoint.

It’s definitely a place we’ll keep in mind for future special occasions, but sadly it is a bit on the expensive side for regular outings. I’ve also read that they have a sister restaurant named Play, run by the same people but billed as being more casual, so we may check that one out at some point as well.

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Knitting

Remember how I’ve said before that sometimes the kitties fight over who gets to lie on my lap? Well, they’re at it again!

I can’t remember who was there first this time, although usually it’s Shakey trying to wedge himself in when BB is already on my lap.

They’re both pretty good craft companions. If they’re in a playful mood, they will swat at the yarn periodically, but usually quiet down if I turn around the yarn/them in such a way that they can’t see the yarn. With respect to crafts, BB is also hilarious because she’s terrified of absolutely everything – and yet when I’m sewing, she’ll inevitably come and curl up on my lap, despite a big loud machine clattering away less than 2 feet from her head.

What was I working on, you may wonder? A scarf for Dan’s niece! In all the madness before Christmas, I forgot to take a picture – but this was the inspiration. Now, I’m working on another scarf – for myself this time, and using the awesome new circulars from the Addi Click set I got for my birthday.

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Christmas decorations

I’m quite proud of our tree this year.

I’m finally getting to the point where I feel like I have a good amount of variety in my ornaments – enough (just barely!) to decorate a big and a small tree, not quite enough to do colour themes. Although I have to admit I’m not really on that bandwagon, having never done it as a child. I like the mismatched, unique ornaments. Maybe I’ll start by bringing in colour themes with tinsel or ribbons. And learning how to make large pretty bows out of wide ribbon – because I have to admit that despite trying to learn for at least 10 minutes this year, I had nothing to show for it but a set of clothes covered in glitter. Glitter-covered ribbons? – very cute when catching the light and sparkling on the tree. When the glitter sticks to you, and everything within a 10-foot radius, as you try to twist it into bows? – not so cute.

As requested, the little tree in the hallway.

It was a bit of a last-minute decision as we were walking out of the tree lot, and I’m very glad we got it. It fills in that corner of the foyer quite nicely, and it just a treat to look at as I’m walking back and forth throughout the house.

Behind it is my christmas card display for this year – 3 ribbons strung up on the stairs, with cards pinned (with real wooden pins!) to them. I have to admit that I cheated and put up a couple of years’ worth of cards in order to make the display look more impressive. We most definitely do not receive upwards of 40 holiday cards every year.

And our own christmas cards?

Done surprisingly early this year! With everything else going on, we managed to get them out right on schedule by the start of December. We decided to outsource the printing since our own printer was getting to be too much of a hassle, and I have to admit that it felt like this saved time. It probably didn’t really, since I still had to do the same amount of folding and addressing and envelope-sealing, but somehow it still felt faster.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and many other winter holidays to you!

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Box reloaded

Not content with the previous record, Shakey decided that this time he’d go for FOUR boxes. Not sure this is a fair count of four, though, since not all of them are technically full boxes.

We were rounding up the random boxes on the main floor before a party we recently had (yes, I’m aware we moved 6 months ago, thanks for pointing it out) and stacked them all near the door. Next thing we know, this guy took over the stack. As if he knew we were planning on getting rid of these, he zealously jumped in and curled up in it anytime we were anywhere around it.

Eventually, Dan found a moment when the cat was occupied, and snuck the boxes out. What’s a poor cat to do when faced with losing his favourite perch? Why, find a new one, of course. A much more cushy and luxurious one, to boot.

I kid you now, he now sleeps on top of the bag of reusable canvas shopping bags, with his head stuffed halfway inside. Is the world such a scary place, Shakey?

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The 2011 Christmas Tree hunt

Yes, that’s right. I know it’s silly, but I’m still calling it a hunt. You may start to as well, after you see pictures of hubby with his kill!

The drive out to the farm started out perfectly, with some lovely flurries spiraling down. November and December in Ottawa have been absolutely dreadful this year – I think we’ve had 2 snowfalls so far, with a grand total of maybe 10 cm of snow. The high tomorrow is supposed to be 10. That’s plus, and celsius. I heard a statistic on the radio at one point that throughout November, the average temperature was consistently 2 degrees above the normal. But less complaining – back to our fairytale tree story!

This year the farm had built a brand-new building in which to warm up, and also moved the parking area. We were confused when we first got there, but eventually found our way to the tractor. Not to be confused with the sleigh wagon ride (which was for leisure, as opposed to for getting out to the trees).

We made a beeline for the Fraser Firs (conveniently marked with orange ties!), because we had one two years ago and loved it. When taken care of, it is pretty much the no-shed tree. It stood well into February with only a few needles shed. Meanwhile, I don’t remember what we got last year, but I had to sweep the dead needles almost every day (especially since I would inevitably jostle it a bit every time I’d water it, and needles would rain down on me).

We walked around for a while looking for the perfect tree. Well, actually, I found the one that I thought was perfect near the start, and both Dan and Lorraine had missed it because they didn’t cross over to this row until later. We meandered back to my tree, and it was agreed that it was the one.

It was this tall!

Dan sometimes gets confused about what he’s supposed to do…

but he always figures it out eventually.

After bringing the tree to the tractor wagon, and taking it back to the main building, the fun of getting it ready for transport begins.

It gets shaken (notice the spinning top?),

baled,

and carried by a manly stud all the way to your car.

[Stud not included]

Look at all those cars. They’re so happy to be making friends with those trees! One thing I love about getting a tree straight from the farm is that I think it’s quite literally 3 times bushier than a tree you’d get from a grocery store stand. These guys are healthy and resilient, and happily spring back out as soon as you bring them inside. And then they start guzzling water… you better keep up!

Speaking of guzzling…

how is this for a well-deserved reward after a hard day of work!?

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Christmas potluck dinner

This year, we hosted the annual Christmas potluck. Yet again, it reminded me how much work large parties are, and also why we almost never have sit-down dinners at our parties. Trays of nibbles are so much easier than figuring out the logistics of finding enough sets of dishes, cutlery, chairs, and tables to seat 29 people. As always, I over-prepared, so now we’re left with tons of drinks (and not a small amount of food).

While somewhat stressful, I did perversely enjoy the kick this party gave me to get the house all decorated for Christmas. But that deserves a whole post to itself.

By the way, the “1 pound of turkey per person” guideline? Overrated! Maybe it works if you’re feeding a team of football players… But we got a 20-pound turkey for the 26 people in attendance (3 of the 29 were kids, so I’m not really counting them as turkey-eaters), and I think we’ll be eating turkey leftovers until the end of the week.

There was a gorgeous (if I do say so myself ) tree, which we acquired the day before (more on that in another post).

There was quite a bit of food (you guys are all amazing cooks!),

and good conversation flowed freely.There were some adorable babies,

and tired parents.

The boys decided to forge their own path and congregated in packs (while looking highly mischievous)…

as did the girls, eventually!

The gift exchange was run by hubby the elf.

Much stealing and merriment ensued, although the gift exchange didn’t get nearly as vicious as in prior years.

Although I think Hubby wins the prize for most ridiculous gift exchange gift, and I think Boj’s look here captures it perfectly… “Really Dan? REALLY??!” (if you can’t see it from the picture, it’s a (single) 25-pound dumbbell)

So thank you all for coming to our house and sharing this Christmas dinner with us. We had a blast, and are very grateful for having you all in our lives.

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Mexican food

Why is it that I need to go to 3 different areas of a store to get ingredients for our taco night (and I’m not even counting the veggies and cheese, which I already had on hand)?

One aisle for the soft tortilla shells. Another aisle for the “generic” taco ingredients like beans, hard tacos, and generic salsa. And yet another aisle for more “specialized” ones like tostadas and fancy salsa. Why, Superstore, WHY?!

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Yarn!

Today I was reminded of something that every cat-owning knitter should know.

You can’t leave balls of yarn lying around. The kitties may consider them an early Christmas present.

Luckily, this was the extent of the damage – unlike when I was maybe 9 or 10, and I woke up one morning to find my room (which included a table and a few chairs) strung up in a web made from a few hundred meters of yarn. Over and under and around… in places, you had to watch where you were stepping in order not to get tripped up by the web. That cat must have had fun playing with the ball of yarn, because it took forever to unravel that web (no way was I cutting all that yarn!)

Here is one of the guilty parties guarding the other ball of yarn they had gotten their paws on.

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