Qing Hua Dumpling and Chinatown

So today I finally got around to going to Qing Hua Dumpling with my friend Stephan. Here he is in front of the restaurant laughing at me cause I was standing in the middle of the street in the rain trying to take this picture and hold my umbrella and not get my camera wet all at the same time lol:



Here's the front door:



Inside, very nice decor:





Our table:



And... the dumplings! I got a 1/2 order of cabbage mushroom and a 1/2 order of pork and shrimp, they were delicious:



We also wandered around Chinatown a bit. Here's some "wife cookies" they had at a bakery:



Here's a cross-section of the ox-tongue pastry, you can see it's a different texture in the middle:



More pastries:



Here's some ornamental cabbage that I mistook for roses at first sight at a flower shop in Chinatown, they're so pretty!:





Here's the view from my livingroom window today:



The chandelier at the Red Ruby in Chinatown. I want to go there for dim sum sometime too:



The two-toned sky on the way to work the other morning:



This morning I was woken up at 9am by one of those pneumatic bolt-tightener-thingies since the janitor and his friends had decided to set up a makeshift garage under my balcony so they could put their winter tires:







Simple breakfast is delicious:



We didn't go to Ikea finally cause Mat wanted to sleep in, we'll go next weekend instead. It's just as well cause I'll be out of money after I pay the rent and my buss pas lol.

So it's all set, I've invited a bunch of friends to Kam Fung for my birthday dinner on the 15th, I can't wait:D

Dim sum at Kam Fung

So we're going to Ikea for Swedish food tomorrow morning instead since Mat worked on Thursday. Then tomorrow afternoon I'm going to Qing Hua Dumpling with Steph for the first time, I can't wait! I've been meaning to go there for months now. And for my birthday I've decided to go to Kam Fung in Chinatown for some dim sum on Sat. the 14th. I'm going to invite a few friends and see who shows up.

Schroedinger's rapist

I found this an interesting read.

Casserole, patty melts and artichokes

I saw this on my way to work yesterday morning. I've never been able to get close enough to a live pigeon to take a good picture so I took a picture of a dead one instead :P



Here's my patty melt and artichokes. The patty melt was ok, but turned out more like a hamburger with rye bread for a bun than what I was expecting. Maybe thinner meat next time?:



The artichokes:



This old military vehicle was stopped at a light near my job last night:



Here's the view out the windows at work yesterday, I liked the contrast between the dark clouds and the sunlit trees:



And here's the pics of the chicken and ham casserole I made last night. I forgot to check if I had enough croutons and I didn't, so I sprinkled the last few with the crumbs in the bottom on top instead:

Homemade puffed snacks.

I have to try this soon!

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Fall leaves, patty melts and artichokes

Autumn Days by ^budgie on deviantART

Last night I was so busy. I went to the grocery store, they had artichokes on sale at 10/$1 so I got some along with the other stuff. When I got home I started a load of laundry, made a giant ham, mushroom and cheese omelette for Mat (with leftovers for my breakfast this morning on toast with mayo, garlic salt and freshly ground white pepper that I ate on the bus this morning) and artichokes and patty melts for me. I'm so proud of Mat, he actually tried some artichoke! This is amazing for someone who hates trying new stuff. I offered him more but he didn't want it. Oh well, maybe next time.

It was my first time eating either that I can remember, and they were both delicious. I had to look up how to cook the artichokes since I didn't know how. It's simple, just cut off the stems, stand them up in a pot (I had to wedge them in tightly together otherwise they'd float on their side), cover 2/3 with water and boil for 20-30 minutes. When they're done remove them and turn them upside down to drain. Melt some butter and add garlic salt and/or herbs, and eat them by taking the leaves off one at a time, dipping in butter and scraping the soft inside off with your teeth. They're soo yummy! I overdosed on too-salty garlic butter last night though lol, I'm going to try dipping them in herb garlic bechamel sauce next time :P

After dinner I slumped on the couch in a food coma for 10 minutes until Mat pointed out that it was already 9:30. I wanted to try to be in bed by 10 so I dragged myself off the couch to finish hanging the laundry and get a few more things done before bed. I only managed to get to bed by 11:15, but it's better than Sunday night anyways. Hopefully tonight I'll be in bed at 10:30 :P

I took pictures last night but didn't have time to put them up online so hopefully I'll be able to tonight.

I forgot to take my cortisone pumps last night but thank God there seems to be a bit of an improvement, I didn't hack my lungs up before going to bed last night for the first time in a few days, I didn't cough as much this morning, and it's a bit better today too. I'm praying it keeps getting better.

Modern Gypsies

Just in case, I don't associate any negative meanings to the name gypsy, the only definition of it I have in my head is that of self-sufficient people who move about. So with that said, I came across this blog, which makes me yearn to live like them, although I'm sure that after a week or two I'd be fed up and yearn to go back home! But it's just all so beautiful when you look at it from the outside.

I can't remember the last time I laid down in a field of tall grass. Or walked in woods full of the smell of wet fall leaves. Sigh. I grew up in the country and hope I can return there some day. In the mean time I'll just have to make do with visits to my parents place in their town in Lanaudiere.

I'm really frustrated with my cough right now, although I know I should thank God for all things, I wish it would go away. I think it wouldn't be as bad if I didn't feel like I was bothering my coworkers with my incessant throat-clearing and hacking. I had been taking my cortisone pumps for a month, then my throat got too dry, and the cough had mostly cleared up, so I decided to stop cause I was fed up of taking them. Two weeks later and I'm hacking my lungs up morning noon and night. I'm going to start taking them again, I have to do something. I wonder if I'll have to take these non-stop the rest of my life? Last year it cleared up for a few months during the winter. I'm hoping it does that this year.

I went to bed way too last last night, I have little self-discipline when it comes to going to bed on time. I'll have to force myself tonight though. Yesterday we ended up not going to Ikea finally cause Mat didn't feel like it after having gone to exchange our wireless router, and I didn't want to spend an hour and a half by bus instead of 20 minutes by car so Mat agreed to drive me on Thursday night.

Oh, and I have to watch these videos and find out how much this album costs when I get home tonight. I like the sounds of nature, and this music seems to be composed of it. I'm gonna go find out more about this so-called "folktronica" (Electronica with nature sounds? I like the idea, I hope I like the music...) and where I can buy some more nature music. Oh, and aren't those pictures just beautiful? Wow. Especially the fuzzy seed-thing. I want to make a 2x4' print of it to hang on my livingroom wall! If only prints weren't so expensive.

Chicken and ham casserole, more chinatown goodies

I was on the phone just now with my mom and she mentioned that she had made one of my favourite meals, chicken and ham casserole, so I asked her for the recipe. I have all the ingredients except for the mushrooms and pepper so I'm gonna buy those and make it this week. I can't wait! And tomorrow night I'm gonna make the patty melt, I couldn't make it tonight cause I had to finish off my Dagwoods.

1/2 lb mushrooms, cut into pieces
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tps dry mustard or 1 tsp prepared mustard
1 tbsp ketchup
1 1/2 cup grated cheese
1 1/2 cup cubed chicken (or turkey)
1 1/2 cup cubed ham
2 cups of cooked egg noodles (or any pasta)
1 cup croutons

Sautee in butter the mushrooms and green pepper. Mix together seasonings, add to veggies with flour and stir. Gradually add the milk and the broth. Let it simmer till it has thickened, stirring occasionally. Add cheese and stir it in to melt. Add the chicken, ham, and noodles, mix well. Put it in a buttered 9x9" pan, and put croutons on top, then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

So this morning I went to church and was greeted with a cloud of incense when I walked in. It normally smells strongly of incense, but I've never seen a cloud this thick in the entrance:





My parish is in the basement of a stone church that's probably a few hundred years old, and you can see the beautiful old stone walls inside the entrance. After church I went to Chinatown again:



And discovered the Place du Quartier, a mini-mall:



Inside on the ground floor along with the stores there were two miniature restaurants that I want to go eat at some day:









And another restaurant and a takeout counter across the hall from eachother. Here's the takeout counter:





And the restaurant:





And on the mezzanine there was one large restaurant that was packed with people, there were people lined up down the hallway waiting to get in. I want to go eat there sometime too:



After exploring the Place du Quartier I went to the Calla bakery on La Gauchetiere and got a sweet coconut bun that was mislabeled as a ham bun:



And some pork cookies. They were made with sticky sweet pork, I found them a bit too sweet though:





And some mini egg tarts, they were so yummy. About 4" across, and the filling wasn't too sweet, like custard, and the dough was really flaky and light:





They also had some walnut date cakes but I didn't get any:





And I couldn't resist getting another "Ox-Tongue" pastry, they're just too yummy!

Afterwards I met up with Mat at Angrignon metro and we went and exchanged the wireless router we had bought, then went home and installed it and watched the two latest episodes of House, then had dinner. I finally finished off my dagwoods, and had an egg tart for dessert. I'm going to have to bring a dozen of those to my parents next time I go visit, with some ox-tongue pastries too.

Cell phones in church

This made me laugh :P

So I didn't get the laundry or the vacuuming done, but I cleaned off my desk, put the plants on it, took a nap, took a shower, put away some laundry, and made myself some toast with cheez-whiz for a goodnight snack. Here's what the bedroom looks like now that Mat's computer/playstation setup is in the livingroom (here's how it looked before):



My desk looks so empty! But it also looks a lot neater lol:



Here's Mat with his little jam-packed computer desk in the livingroom. I told him we should switch desks but he said mine wouldn't fit in the livingroom, although it would if he switched places with one of the couches:



And here's the makeshift curtains we put up tonight, I hadn't had any in the livingroom for over 2 years lol. I didn't really need them since I'm hardly ever in there:



Tomorrow after church I'm stopping at Chinatown again for some "Ox-Tongue" pastries and pork cookies, then we're gonna go exchange the wireless router we bought yesterday for another one because it doesn't work. Afterwards we're going to Ikea! I can't wait :D And hopefully tomorrow afternoon I'll have time to make that patty melt. Or maybe not, I'll probably have stuffed myself with Swedish food after the trip to Ikea :P And I still have some Dagwoods left over to finish soon too...