Canada Day Weekend

I drove to London for the first time this weekend. Normally my parents don't like me on the highway but they were next to me so it was okay. It wasn't a very fun drive. It's very long and tiring actually. We went to visit a friend who recently had a second baby. He was so precious! (Look! He's yawning ^^)

Our friend's parents made us some yummy lunch. I think it was a Taiwanese specialty dish, not sure though. They own a restaurant in Montreal where they handmake their own noodles. They told me to visit them every week while I'm there haha. I guess it'll be a bit of home away from home :) We stayed there awhile and played with the older son. He has so much energy! He's really smart too, he was reading us Chinese pronunciation words (I don't even know them!) We went to the mall in London after...it's worse than Conestoga Mall. They didn't have anything. We killed a bit of time before finding a Korean restaurant for some authentic Korean food. The restaurant we found was actually really good. When we first walked in, there were a lot of Koreans there which we took as a good sign. The food turned out to be much better than the Korean food we have in Waterloo. Side note: my mom loves Korean food and she said she would not mind at all if I married a Korean boy -_- haha

This was my Canada Day dinner. Doesn't it look delicious?

It almost looks like it could be from The Works ;) hehe We went to my friend's house for a BBQ. My burger was so so so yummy. There were sauteed mushrooms and sauteed onions which I love! The bruschetta my friend made was also so good. I don't know what she did too it. The bread was the perfect crunchiness and the tomatoes were sweet and juicy. I brought macarons but they didn't rise very well. They looked like green tea cookie sandwiches instead haha

We didn't end up going to Columbia Lake for fireworks which is a first. It's the first year I haven't gone if I was in Waterloo. We were going to but decided it was too crowded and took too much effort so we stayed home and play boardgames instead :) It was nice seeing them again. I love that we are like family. We don't have to talk to see other constantly or see each other all the time, but when we do spend time together, it's fun and comfortable :)

We had a BBQ at our house the next day. It was a feast. The T-bone steaks we had were HUGE. I couldn't finish one. We had chicken wings, sausages, garlic bread, potatoes...so much food. I had major itis afterwards but there was always room for ice cream :P

I made Sangria to celebrate Spain winning the EuroCup (wooot!) There wasn't much wine taste to it which made it just really fruity and sweet like punch!

 

The cutest kids ever <3 We played with bubbles outside as we were waiting for food and then watched Cars 2 and Lion King after :)

These are my daddy's shoes. They almost look like they could be mine haha

I forgot to mention that Spain had won the EuroCup! Puahahaha best game ever. Italy got owned so bad and Spain played so well! I was so happy!!! I made patatas bravas and we had carlsberg to get into our Spanish pride as we were watching :) heh so proud of my boys ;P

Toronto

I went up to Toronto last week randomly. Originally, I was going to go with a friend but she ended up having an interview so I decided to go by myself anyway. It was a nice little getaway from Waterloo :)

I met up with my friend and we had lunch in a nice little neighbourhood. It was really hot that day but we decided to sit out on the patio anyway. We went to a place called John's Italian Cafe. The service was terrible (I think the waitress was having a really bad day...maybe cuz it was hot). The food was good though.

I order the smoked salmon sandwich. It was really yummy. It had goat cheese, pesto and tomato. I never used to like smoked salmon but now I do :) We ended off with gelato at a place a couple shops down. I had tiramisu and hazelnut.

Afterwards we walked along Queen st. I loved all the little shops and wall art. You can find cute little things that you never see anywhere else. I didn't buy anything though. Everything is too expensive.

This is my attempt at being artistic. I think her dress compliments the wall quite nicely :)

We found a macaron place as we were walking. I wanted to try the neon pink one on the end. It was cotton candy but my friend said it'd probably just taste like sugar so I tried salted caramel instead. I didn't like how the filling inside was cold. I like the colours though :)

I went to Salad King for dinner that night. This place never seizes to satisfy :)

Seafood Fried Rice. This is what my friend ordered. It was so good. I am going to order this next time.

I ordered the Mango Chicken. It was still really good but I ordered it too spicy. Next time I know I can only order 1 chili. The 3 chilis made it too hot. I drank a lot of water and didn't have much of the sauce. I normally love lots of sauce on my food but I had to choose between burning tongue and burning lips or not so my choice was easy :)

I'm glad Toronto isn't too far. It's always nice making mini day trips, and I don't mind just hanging out by myself too. I didn't get a chance to hit up a cafe this time but I found one I want to visit next time!

time and time again i see God's faithfulness, yet why am i still so afraid?

Spain vs. Portugal #Euro2012

photocredit@nationalpost

That was the most stressful game I've watched in awhile. I was so tense the whole game and I hate penalty kicks. I'm so glad Spain pulled through and won. Portugal plays so dirty. I love the country and the people but the soccer team...ughhh I get so frustrated!! Hahaha the look on Ronaldo's face when they lost was priceless. He didn't even get to shoot :P bahaha yay Fabregas for shooting the winning goal :D so close to another Eurocup victory! I'm guessing Germany will win against Italy tomorrow. Another Spain vs. Germany showdown. It's gonna be exciting!

Success!

Yay!! These are my best macarons yet :D Green tea and Chocolate but this time with the meringue flavoured as well! The texture of it is probably the best out of the two other times I made it. It's soft and breaks easily on the outside (so vulnerable!) but it has that cookie-like texture when you bite into it. I was lazy and put the filling on with a knife rather than piping and meringue breaks so easily because of the pressure. Next time I will pipe the filling so that it's prettier too :P Regardless, I'm so happy I am finally able to perfect them :)))

K-W Multicultural Festival

Pashminas! This reminded me of Cox's Bazaar. I miss Bangladesh!

Shalwar Kameez! It was awesome seeing these everywhere!

Katie with her lemonade. I never realized how nice Victoria Park was!

Papusas. We didn't get to try them because they stopped taking orders but it looked good. It was a patty stuffed with cheese or beans. They have a place at the Kitchener's Farmers Market. Gotta check it out!

Awesome music. It was so fun and there was THE cutest baby ever.

I love looking at random objects I have no use for :P It reminded me of the random markets we would find when we were in Europe.

I had a lot of fun at the Multicultural Festival. There was so much stuff to see! There were booths where you could explore different cultures more and talk to individuals. There were a lot of  Different ethnic food vendors and a fashion show/dance type thing where people wore clothes from their country and performed. You could also buy things that are made in or unique to certain countries. It was pretty cool seeing the different cultural communities that are actually in Kitchener! I'm glad my friend dragged me out. I gotta stop hermit-ing :P

endorphins are such wonderful little things. i ran 2.5k today! yay :) i am slowly training myself back up. it feels so good to run at night. it's cool and there was a nice breeze today too. i stopped by the small park behind my house on the way back. i never realized how nice it was. there's a mini pond surrounded by trees with sleeping ducks. behind it you can still see cars driving past but it feels hidden away. in reality it really isn't. it's right along an open street with kids there all the time. the cars get loud too if it's during rush hour. funny how different things can feel at night or in the daytime :) anyhow, my goal is to get back in shape this summer! i keep saying that but i'm gonna aim at 5k by the end of july! :D and i gotta stop eating sweets. why do i have such a tongue for sweets?! haha oh well...the more i run means the more i can eat! hahahah