the day after

What a lovely time had by all. And wholesome too! We couldn't have asked for more gourd-geous weather.

Thanks to EVERYONE who came out. Next year, we take it to the park!

For pics and post-mortem, be sure to visit our Punkinpalooza site! ^_^

the night before

Do we have whole milk?
No we only have 2%
I need whole milk
YOU SHOULD HAVE READ YOUR RECIPE! I thought you needed buttermilk
18 tablespoons of butter
For 1 recipe?
I've tripled it... so 2 ¼ sticks of butter. Hmm. Guess we’ll just have to do classic Belgian with Pumpkin Topping
Nooooo! Belgians are banned from this party!
Banning Belgians, that’s in-FLEM-atory talk!
Nyuknuk
Huh?
Belgian -- Flemish -- get it?
Oh.
My phlegmish jokes are nothing to sneeze at!
Snort
That I got.
Baking soda and baking powder are the same thing right?
No
Oh this is very easy to make compared to the complicated book version. We have no folding in of egg whites to worry about.
I’m still wondering If I should make three at a time or just one...
If you feel you have the energy to do one waffle at a time -- the thing is, we’re supposed to rotate -- AND we might run out of bowls
My cookies are done!
I can’t do math. What’s 2/3 times 3?
2
½ times 3 is 1 ½ right?
Yes. Ok I’m ready to go –– got my recipe.
Why does it smell like bacon? Oh your cookies? Are they out of the oven?
No. They’re kinda burning. Oh yeh, so we might have a celebrity dining with us tomorrow...
Craig Davidson?
Yeh.
You know him?
No. But he said he might come...
Is he bringing an entourage? If he’s from the States we might have to frisk him
Why?
Because we’re an international checkpoint. Château Nîce: open borders…
You just want to frisk.
I should start thinking about my pumpkin. A scary one. Fewer knife angles.
I gotta go to bed soon
Your cookies are black.
Maybe we can tell people they're chocolate wafers.
Smells like burning.
:(

The Big Day Approacheth

A little bit o' reminiscing as we lead in to 'Palooza '05.

little challenges

Woohoo! I made the mouse work again! Be gone roller-ball lint!
You shoulda seen that stuff. It looked like a caterpillar. Now I'm speedin' all over this monitor like a demon on a sugar rush.

I'm becoming a 'blog hog'!

one last post before I give someone else a turn - check out the announcement for the Giro di Toronto!

Start training!

Scandal?

For those who shoot first and ask questions later, read this.

Did one man just get royally screwed over, by a police organization that is accountable to nobody?

Or was it the province and people of Ontario that got screwed over, being robbed of one of its savviest political leaders?

Time will tell whether the answer to the first question is yes. As for the second, I think the answer is already clear.

Pics from Europe

A week late, but click the Arab-Norman cathedral below for some lovely pics from Italy (incl. Sicily!), Spain and Portugal.



Sigh.

PunkinPalooza update

Witness Flavio's delirious Punkinpalooza vision...

Also - Musical guests Vakum confirmed (Vakum also performing Nov 4th at the Opera House - check them out!).

Trains, Planes, Automobiles

Do I get around?

In the past 15 days here are all the modes of transport on which I have lugged all my baggage.

1. Voula drives me to the airport (auto 1)
2. Air Canada to London Heathrow (plane 1)
3. London Underground to Liverpool St (train 1)
4. Liverpool St to Stansted airport (t 2)
5. Ryanair to Palermo Falcone-Borsellino airport (p 2)
6. Shuttle to Palermo (bus 1)
7. Shuttle back to airport (bus 2)
8. Meridiana Air to Florence Michelangelo airport (p 3)
9. My cousin's wife picks me up, takes me to Florence (a 2)
10. My cousin drives me south 6 hours to my dad's hometown southeast of Naples (a 3)
11. Drive back to Florence (a 4)
12. City bus to Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence (b 2)
13. Train to Milan central station (t 3)
14. Train to Bergamo (t 4)
15. Ride with a kind stranger from hotel to Bergamo's Orio al Serio airport (a 5)
16. Ryanair to Seville, Spain (p 4)
17. Airport shuttle to Sevilla centre (b 3)
18. Taxi to Seville train station (a 6)
19. Taxi to Seville bus station (a 7)
20. Overnight bus to Lisbon, Portugal (b 4)
21. Train to Aveiro (t 5)
22. Commuter train to Porto (t 6)
23. Porto airport shuttle to catch flight (b 5)
24. Ryanair to Stansted, England (p 5)
25. Stansted Express train to central London (t 7)
26. London Underground to Heathrow airport (t 8)

Totals so far:
trains - 8
planes - 5
automobiles -12 (includes 7 cars and 5 buses)


still to come:

• Air Canada return flight to Toronto (p 6)
• Voula and Ming pick me up at the airport tonight - I hope (a 8)

One word: frantic.

NB (The above list does not include the many city buses, cars, taxi, trams, funiculars, metro and suburban routes I took while staying within in any one particular city/town/locale)

Come on down to the Distillery this October for an amazing show!

highlights from home

We have acquired yet another kitchen implement: a rice cooker. Now Voula can fall asleep on the couch and not worry about burning brown rice!
Look how happily she beams at the thought of rice porridge for breakfast every morning! Nummers!
Curry Buffet Parties, here we come!!!

Somebody finally came out of her shell and made waffles and pancakes for anyone brave enough to eat them! All brunchers present (Francesca Fiore, Baroness von Monkeyfartzen and a real dish named Trish) decided that the Lemon Ricotta Souffle batter worked best in pancake form. The side of chicken bacon let us feel like we were eating somewhat healthily. Surprisingly, it wasn't so horrible.