Vancouver – Page 3 – The Daily EO

The Daily EO: March 28th, 2013

These are my problems:

April 21st, 2013: Sun Run or Stay home to wait for Ice Cream

April 26th, 2013: Attend Cowboy Junkies concert (my Christmas gift to Emile) or Accept invite to go to Whistler for the weekend

April 28th, 2013: Stay home and wait for Ice Cream or Accept invite to go to Whistler for the weekend

May 17th, 2013: Go to Underground Supper Club Social Dinner or Opening Night of Star Trek

March 28th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: It’s a good thing I had to take Consumer Education in high school as a graduation requirement, or I may never learned the concept of Opportunity Cost and how to reason it out.

There is just so much to do in this city!

The Daily EO: March 23th, 2013

Starting on April 7th, people are going to knock on my door and deliver unique flavours of home made ice cream each Sunday in April.

Yes, that’s right: KNOCK ON MY DOOR AND DELIVER HOME MADE ICE CREAM!

March 24th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: HOME MADE ICE CREAM!! TO MY HOUSE!! My house! My door! ICE CREAM!

Sunday Morning Ice Cream Delivery

The Daily EO: March 22nd, 2013

I signed Emile and I up for an “underground dinner party”. This is an event where you go to a mysterious location and eat dinner and then donate to the chef. Which is really just a way to get around the legalities of paying for a dinner that isn’t totally sanctioned.

We are going to one that is a “social” dinner which means unlike many of the these type of events, it isn’t just for your group, there are a whole bunch of strangers. I thought it would be a good way to meet people. Most are BYOB, which really is okay with me. We are going with The Endless Meal which we only know is it is located in Gastown – we’ll be told where to go the night before.

So, I must admit, I am a bit nervous about it, but worst, it will be an excellent blog won’t it? But more than likely, it will be a fun night out that we can spent with strangers to have a good time and expand our social circle.

March 22nd, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Feeling good and engaged when I do this kind of thing!

The Daily EO: March 20th, 2013

It’s the first day of Spring! Don’t try to tell me that the first day of Spring is the 21st. Cheryl Johnson – a girl who was pretty mean to me in grade school – tried to tell me it was the 21st because that is *her* birthday. Whatever, Cheryl. My self esteem is too strong to be bullied into Spring Submission.

Today is the first day of Spring because my mom told me that my brother was born on the first day of Spring and that is March 20th. So, planetary alignment aside, March 20 is upon us and Spring is here.

Except. Well. . . when did winter start? I am still waiting for Fall to end and winter to begin. I need some tobogganing, people!

Happy Birthday, Todd! Enjoy that Cobra Wallet!

March 20th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Vancouver needs to get some seasons. And I gave the coolest gift to my brother.

The Daily EO: March 18th, 2013

For a couple of weeks now I was pretty certain I was going to enter the Vancouver Sun Run this year. That was until I found out it is 10K not 5K. I’ve never run 10K, I’ve moved 10K certainly. I’ve run 5K, and I have run/walked 7K. I have walked 17 km continuously and I’ve worked several 12 hour shifts serving that included only one 15 minute break.

So, can I enter the Vancouver Sun Run? And run/walk 10K? I have not got enough running in for the last month for a variety of reasons, so I am nervous. The race is only 30+ days away. Can I be physically prepared for such a race?

Even as I type this, it for some reason seems to be a bad idea. I asked Emile if he would do it with me, and he said – unfortunately – that he would.

I just checked the balance of our bank account – we can afford it.

March 18th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Running out of excuses, we are now registered.

The Daily EO: March 16th, 2013

We celebrated my mom’s birthday today. She was born on St. Patrick’s Day several years ago, but Saturday night seemed like the night to go for a lovely and restful dinner. We tried out a new place by our place – Lily Mae’s – which billed themselves as French Comfort Food.

Paris to me was not comfortable – as much as I loved it there, it was much more chicness that I could only aspire to. French to me means fussy, detailed, precise and exclusive. So, I didn’t know what totally to expect from this new restaurant. The French I encountered in Paris were only so welcoming to me – a tourist with very little French skills.

But the restaurant we visited was straight forward, charming, friendly and precise in service, rules and food perpetration. A perfect combination comfort and French.

March 16th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Add a little bit of North American comfort to the French ways and you get a boeuf bourguignon to write home about (or at least to blog about).

I’m going back to get the bacon apple caramel cake.

The Daily EO: March 9th, 2013

Like most Vancouverites, Emile and I enjoy walking the Sea Wall.

So often we make our way down there – winding through the tourists – and walk the sea wall. Saturday was a particularly gorgeous day – and we spoke frequently about how spring is so much better when you don’t have to go through the melt.

Often I’ll run along the sea wall and I feel like I belong here. Running in my Yoga jacket with my iPhone. Yes, I’m that girl. Running along. There she goes. . .

Anyways, we enjoy walking and talking down the sea wall. Our route almost always takes us around the outside of the Vancouver Convention Centre with the Water sculpture. Located there is a restaurant called De Dutch. Emile – being Dutch – and I always talk about finding out what a Dutch restaurant serves but have never been.

We finally made it on Saturday morning. We laughing reviewed the menu as Emile told me stories about his mother’s cooking. The traditional luncheon meal at Emile’s house is a piece of bread with ham and a fried egg on it. He told me it is actually called an uitsmijter as listed on the menu. He remembered his Dutch when he ordered a Boer’s Breakfast. His Farmer’s Breakfast featured all the regular morning offerings and included a large Dutch Pannekoek (pancakes). Dutch pannekoeks are somewhere between a regular pancake and a crepe.

He bit into his pannekoek and stated “There is that tang.” Emile started to tell me about stories from Holland that I had never had. His dad’s mom made Emile and his sister pannekoeks for breakfast when they were in Holland. Not cereal on most mornings like at home, but his Oma’s pannekoeks. Made without a mix, and without a recipe probably just like her mother before her did.

The next morning Emile tried to reproduce his Oma’s Dutch pannekoek. He called home to ask his mom how to make them. Her side of the family wasn’t a pannekoek home and his dad was no help. Afterall, he only just ate them. A first attempt using an internet recipe was heavy, dense and lacking the tanginess.

March 9th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: A unexpected memory from breakfast and the beginning of a quest for a Dutch Pannekoek recipe like his Oma’s.

The Daily EO: March 8th, 2013

There is a CPR war memorial in front of Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver. I’ve admired it many times when I’ve walked by. It features an angel carrying a dead soldier to heaven. I read up on it and found out that the same sculpture was placed in Winnipeg and Montreal by CPR as well.

And I am glad they did because the sculptor did a magnificent job. It is at the same time both achingly sad and almost soothing to see the sculptor’s belief that those who died were cared for after death. And yet the angel grieves as well. I often admire it when I walk by.

But as brilliant as the sculpture is, it is the words etched on the base that give me pause. I find so many phrases and terms are now trite due to over use, but not so here. The author is not known to me, but his words match well with the sculpture itself – grief and care.

To commemorate those in the service of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company whom at the call of King and Country left all that was dear to them, endured hardship, faced danger and finally passed out of sight of men by the path of duty and self sacrifice, giving up their own lives that others may live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names are not forgotten.

“Out of the sight of men” is my favorite part. Written as if those who died remain – but just not within our sight. A little hope in amongst the sadness.

March 8th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: To be able to write or sculpt that still imparts your intended meaning 90 years later. A gift.

ETD_2187 — I hope they restore the monument while they do the work to Waterfront Station

The Daily EO: March 2nd, 2013

With some prodding from my husband, I went to bed at 9 pm on Friday and found myself self awake at 6:45 am but feeling pretty well rested. The thought occurred to me to go to the gym and I bounced out of bed and into my gym clothes before I could roll over and snooze that idea away.

By 8:30, had hd run 5 kms, done 120 Russian Twists, pulled 45 lats reps and finished stretching. All that was left was a protein shake and another big glass of water.

I wasted an hour or two doing something on the computer – so wasted in fact that I cannot remember what it was. I went down to London Drugs to pick up a couple of things.

That afternoon – after a break in the rain – Emile and I headed out to do some shopping – well, really browsing at high-end stereo equipment and high-end hand bags. Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything.

March 2nd, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: An agendaless amble through Vancouver’s downtown core with a hot tea in hand.

The Daily EO: February 15th, 2013

If you’ve ever walked the perimeter of Stanley Park, you will have seen the cannon there. It’s called the 9 o’clock cannon in our house because, well, it goes off at 9 pm. But I think that is what is it called, anyways. It’s been firing off for more than 100 years.

My husband has an alarm on his iPhone (a revving car if you must know) that is set for 8:59 so he can watch the cannon go off. There really isn’t much to see, but there is a pattern: first the light turns on (from our angle it is just about the third sail on Canada Place), then it goes out, then you see the muzzle flash and then – 10 seconds later- you heard the rumble.

It’s become a “thing” in our house to watch the cannon go off. And although I tease my husband for being a dork, I am glad that we take the 1 minute to watch the cannon together. But when we have guests, they too seem to enjoy pausing and watching the cannon go off. Inevitably, they comment on how amazing it is that it is so long before we actually hear the cannon compared to seeing it.

The other interesting thing is the fluctuation in sound. We speculate that it is based upon the weather and pressure, but I can’t say that I am a sound engineer. Some nights it seems to ring through the rafters, other nights it is just part of sounds of downtown.

February 15th, 2013 Extra-Ordinary: Constancy in cannon firings.