Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Happy Halloween!

After work today we got ready for the trick-or-treaters.


Some kids said, "your house smells like cinnamon buns!" Haha, the pumpkin candles are adding a nice glow to the house, and they'll have to do since we didn't bother carving pumpkins.

We snacked on cheese and crackers while waiting for the kids to arrive.


It's our tradition to order in on Halloween.  We usually order Pizza Hut, but we felt like Chinese food this evening.


There are a lot of leftovers, so we should have lunch for the next couple of days.  I think we order in Chinese food maybe once a year, so it's a nice treat when we do have it.

We didn't dress up this evening, but we got dressed up on the weekend, and went out with some friends to a Halloween event at The Artful Dodger.



  

My friend Jeff had the creepiest costume - eeeeeep!


Christopher's band was playing, along with three other bands, but unfortunately the event as a whole was terrible (poor organization, technical difficulties, disjointed) ...

His band played a great set, but since they were headlining at about 1:00 a.m., not many people were there to see them 😞


They had fun anyway!


Well, we've had 20 kids show up for treats so far tonight, but I'm thinking most are done for the evening.  It doesn't help that the city has had the street lights out on our block for weeks now; it's so dark!

Did you dress up at all today?  How many trick-or-treaters did you get?

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Thursday Things

It's almost Halloween!  How!!???  I don't feel ready, although I guess there isn't much we have to do, as we have the goodies for the trick-or-treating kids already.  I tried to find a good costume, but the junk they sell in the stores here is thrown together about four-hundred times more poorly than Urban Planet clothing ... and that's bad.  I can't justify spending $80 on a costume, when our Costco garbage bags are more durable. 

That being said, it looks like Christopher will be wearing his trusty skeleton costume, and I too will be wearing something we already have.  His band is playing on Saturday night, so we're dressing up for that.

In the spirit of the season I made pumpkin pie oatmeal a couple of mornings recently:


Other recent eats have included a simple pizza, with leftover meat from Christopher's birthday sandwiches:


Smoked meat sandwiches, with sauerkraut, mustard and mayo:


And then a poutine with the leftover smoked meat:


On the weekend Christopher made breakfast both days:


And then on Sunday we cooked up a turkey, which we ate throughout the week for lunches and dinner.

Last night we had planned on eating turkey, but it was gone already, so we had nachos for dinner.


Okay, and tonight we had another smoked meat poutine 😆😝😜 #notourfault #someoneatealltheturkey #iblamethehubby #weneedgroceries 

We have a busy weekend ahead, and I am pretty sure we don't have a completely free weekend from now until the new year! 

Do you have any plans for the upcoming weekend?  Do you have Halloween candy for the kids yet (if you hand out candy)?  Are you dressing up at all over the next few days?

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Snacky Evening with Friends

On Saturday we had two other couples over for a snacky evening


The day was spent preparing various goodies:


I made cupcakes, cookies, and a loaf of focaccia bread:


We marinated char siu pork for two days, and then grilled it and cooled it:


I opened this new condiment we found in Saskatoon recently:


And we did a bunch of other little things before our pals arrived at 7:00 p.m.


When Matt, Alissa, Fanta and Keith arrived, we started with a cheese board/ platter.


Next up we used the char siu pork in fresh rolls, and made a coconut milk-based peanut sauce for dipping.


The next snack was a beet perogy, with some sour cream and sriracha.


After the perogy we fried some cornmeal-crusted shrimp:


And then used those in shrimp po boys:


We moved down into the basement for a while and listened to vinyls, and then had super crispy chicken wings.


Finally we had some sweet snacks - double chocolate merlot cookies:


And pumpkin cupcakes with salted caramel buttercream:


What a wonderful evening with these lovely friends 💜


I have actually known Matt (on the far left) for 20 years!  His wife Alissa and I hit it off as soon as he started dating her many, many years ago; I liked her right away.  When they got married (such a fun wedding) I got to add a personal touch to their wedding by making cake pops - mmm!  I met Fanta through Alissa quite a while back, but didn't know her too well.  When Christopher and I were at Matt and Alissa's home last summer we got to chat with Fanta and her newer boyfriend Keith (now husband), and really enjoyed their company.  Since last summer we have gotten together with these couples quite a few times, and we always have a lot of laughs.  

How was your weekend?  What did you do?  
How is your week going so far?

Saturday, October 21, 2017

A Surprise Wedding!

Last Saturday we got to witness a beautiful union of one of the happiest, most head-over-heels, in love couples, that we have ever seen.


Earlier this year Keith surprised Fanta with the most fairy tale proposal ever.  She didn't even know she had time off work, let alone that she was headed to Paris for the surprise of a lifetime.  It was a masterful plan that Keith executed flawlessly, and she figured she had to surprise him right back.  He definitely met his match with his sassy, quick-witted little bride; they couldn't be more perfect for each other.


October 14th - he thought they were eloping, but really Fanta had planned a surprise wedding

She arranged for friends and family to meet at Peg's Kitchen (owned by Keith's parents, and a gem of a restaurant/ store/ catering company in the city).  We got onto a charter bus, and made our way to The Hotel Saskatchewan, where Keith and Fanta were on the steps.  We pulled up and Fanta had Keith look toward the vehicle, as family and friends started to pile out.  He was so surprised and shocked; it was awesome! 

She was initially in the dress that he had proposed in, and he didn't know she had a wedding dress.  She lagged behind a bit, as people kept Keith moving to the Blue Room in the hotel.  Fanta went to change, without Keith realizing, and when she walked down the aisle in her dress, his reaction was priceless.  Luckily someone captured his reaction on video 💜


The ceremony was short and sweet, and allllllllll about the vows, which made my heart smile.


Their wedding reminded me so much of when Christopher and I eloped.  You could feel their incredible excitement, and the love radiating from both of them.  The vows were raw, sincere, and from the heart.  You could tell that they were present in the moment, and that the words they were saying, and the promises they were making, were all that mattered.


Their words and their joy brought tears to my eyes; nothing makes me happier than true love, and it's beyond evident that what Fanta and Keith have is true, and will be everlasting.


There were a few dances, and some hors d'oeuvres (they were fantastic), and all in all it was a lovely evening celebrating a beautiful couple.


Congratulations Fanta and Keith! 


We couldn't be happier for you, and we wish you a lifetime of wild, intense, knock-your-socks-off, giddy, mad-about-you kind of love 💕😍💑