Lucky number 13

Considering the circumstances, this has been a nice weekend. First I had my friend come over on Saturday for the first time. Then an old, dear friend dropped by on Sunday to offer more moral support. It was a gorgeous day out, as well as our anniversary, and so hubby said that we should go for a walk and then he'd cook me dinner. To me, a walk means a pair of shorts and runners, so I was a little surprised when he was all dressed up in dress pants and a jacket. He finally admitted that we were going out for dinner and he was hoping I'd dress up.



We drove downtown and surprisingly, he didn't bite anyone's head off for being a stupid driver. It took a little while but we managed to find a parking spot and went for a nice long walk from Sunset Beach to Stanley Park. I was a little overdressed for the walk, in my little black dress, with a black blazer and black shoes, but then again, there's a real cross section of people down there, including one guy we saw who was probably only 2 inches taller than me, except he had his hair teased up so high, he must've stood 5'5" to 5'6". Here's a picture of the guy. It's hard to really tell from this picture, but his hair is quite high.











Dinner ended up being at The Fish House at Stanley Park. We began with martinis, I ordered hubby a Lemon Drop (Absolut Citron Vodka, lemon liqueur, Triple Sec with a sugared rim), and I had the Lost Lagoon (a variation on Blue Lagoon). These were our substitutes for our appetizers. Maybe not the smartest alternatives, but they were tasty nonetheless. For our entrees, hubby had the Salmon Wellington, and I decided to indulge (at the server's recommendation) and had the Ahi Tuna "Diane". Both were served with roasted organic new potatoes, asparagus, two types of summer squash, (pattypan and a mashed butternut) and kale. The nice thing about finer restaurants, as I pointed out to hubby, is that the food is about quality, rather than quantity. We were both too stuffed for dessert, but since it was our anniversary, the resatuarnt provides a free dessert, so we shared the raspberry sorbet.



So for us, 13 wasn't such an unlucky number afterall.

Good company, good food

I'm always stressed about having the parties; having enough food, not having people wait for the food, etc. We had a friend over today, a gal I met at work who's over from Ireland. Hubby and I have been wanting to expand our repetoire of friends, and she seemed very nice when I talked to her at work.

We ran a bunch of errands prior to picking her up from they skytrain, and so I didn't have as much time to prepare as I wanted to. I had my menu set out already, but I was thinking of more of a sit down event. We spent part of the time in the kitchen as I had to make the crepes for our entree. Thanks to mom, the chicken broccoli filling was made, and with the addition of some fresh sliced mushrooms, no one seemed to mind (or notice too much) the plastic cheese mom used in the sauce. Or maybe that was because we were drinking sparkling wine at the time which makes everything seem good. To complement the crepes, we had several varieties of cheese, chips and salsa, bread, olives and biscuits.

Hubby had bought a beautiful sauvignon blanc we had that to go with our meal. It had an incredible peach scent and a very light taste which sparkled on the tongue.

For dessert, we moved to banana chocolate chip cookies and a chocolate cake. I whipped up fresh whipping cream and mixed into it, fresh strawberries and blackberries. A delicious way to end the meal.

My friend is a wonderful conversationalist, having travelled to many parts of the world and also gave us a sampling of the Gaellic language. The time just flew past before any of us knew it, and she had to go home again. Next time she might even stay overnight and we can get really drunk.

A silver lining to every cloud

And it was a very dark, ominous cloud too. When it's in the form of your boss, it makes it all the more scary.

Last Thursday, my boss asked me for a moment of my time at 4:20pm. Sure, I say, thinking she's got a project for me. Turns out they're "reorganizing" and my position was no longer needed. Imagine the shock, there was no warning, no performance reviews. Terms of my termination letter was 2 months pay. I went home and had a few glasses of wine and a good cry after telling hubby. Of course I decided not to go in on Friday, preferring to stay home to lick my wounds. I called into my boss and she had the nerve to ask if it was a mental health day. Hubby was sweet enough to come home and take me for a walk on the beach.

The weekend was spent wallowing a little bit, but then I realized that I wasn't happy there anyway, and I would've been leaving if I could. I just wish I could've left before they kicked me out.

Monday, I went to see the management union for advice. I was informed that the letter was missing a number of things, including the options I have in terms of how I would like to be paid out, and better yet, the terms should be based on a month's pay for every year of service at UBC, not just the time I've been in this position. This means I get 15 months pay if I decide not to go back to work right away. I could go to school full-time or sit around and eat bon bons if I so wanted. Life is good afterall.