"Sunday" dinner

Yesterday's run was a bit of a disaster- we were supposed to do 17 miles, but I hadn't been feeling great on Thursday (about once a month here you eat something bad and feel sick for about a day) and woke up feeling the same on Friay AM- I debated not going, but thought I'd try and see how it was- unfortunately I had to give up and get in the support car (it follows us and carries our gatorade and collects our jackets, gloves and extra shirts when we get too hot) after 11 miles. I was annoyed since the marathon is only 7 weeks away and we're building every week (next week we are doing 20 miles) so if you miss one week it is really noticeable the next run because you haven't laid the foundation. In any case, there was nothing I could do so I am trying to look on the bright side- 2 months ago 11 miles would have seemed a long way to me.



So, as the hotel gets closer (we hope) to opening, a few more expats have joined the team. Most of us live in the same area and since we're all away from our families we decided to start a weekly "Sunday" night "family" dinner (of course Saturday is our Sunday here)- last week was the first one, at Ryan and Esther's, and tonight is my turn to host. Since there are a few chefs in the group, usually the food is pretty good, but I have to say, my contribution this week is pretty good- I am supplying appies and was at a loss since I couldn't put together my signature appetizer- goat cheese and raincoast crisps- THEN I remembered that a few years ago, Jen had a recipe for them-- I know she emailed it to me but couldn't find it (Jen can you send it to me again?) but I googled it and found a pretty good one -I didn't have all of the ingredients, but they still turned out pretty well. Here's a picture of them. I suppose the real test will be when people try them tonight. tonight's dessert will be served by candlelight in honour of EARTH HOUR! Don't forget to do it too!

Saturday morning is usually a shopping day for me- since Ryan and Esther don't have a car, we all went on a field trip to carrefour (the French version of wal-mart) and then to Gourmet Egypt- it's pricey but it's one of the only places here you can get meat that isn't raised in Egypt (which I've heard can be infested with screw worm, a particularly nasty parasite). After that we went to our favourite organic fruit stand. Ryan is sourcing some veggies there for our California restaurant so they bent over backwards trying to help us- when Ryan asked for Jicama, they said they didn't have it, but to write down the name and they'd get some seeds and grow it for us! I was admiring this rosemary bush (plant?) and the guy gave it to me- I insisted on paying but he wouldn't hear of it.



Today I told a woman in Starbucks that I liked her shoes, and we got talking and it turns out she's from Vernon. Small world. Also, apparently there is a new clownfish delivery service in town... I got this flyer under my door... no clue what they sell...


Okay, I have to prepare for the feast, but I'll post some earth hour pics later on. Hope you're all having a great weekend!

xoxo C

Book Report

I was always a voracious reader as a kid- I remember devouring Sweet Valley High, Nancy Drew (Jen!) and Babysitters Club books in one sitting, but in the last few years, with full-time work and swimming, running, grocery shopping, paying bills etc taking up most of my free time, reading had sadly taken a back burner. But here, I have an hour a day to and from work to read and I've really been enjoying it. I've read quite a few books since I've been back and some of them are really great so I thought I'd share a few:




The Twilight series: I don't think this needs much of an introduction- unless you've been living under a rock for the last year, you've likely read or heard of this series of teen vampire romantic fiction. It's a guilty pleasure, but you'll get hooked (just ask Anna and Taylor who scoffed when they heard I was reading them and now are addicts themselves!)

Shadow of the Wind: Dan lent me this book and I was a bit skeptical when he told me it was one of the best books he'd ever read, but he was right- I loved it- translated from Spanish, it had a great mix of mystery, suspense and romance and it kept me guessing almost until the last page.


Hotel Babylon, Beach Babylon and Fashion Babylon: These are easy reads but they describe true events in a narrative style and provide an inside (sometimes shocking!) look the industries named in the title- since I've worked in the hotel/resort industry for so long, the first two were fun reads but not very surprising, but I'm halfway through the fashion one now and I must admit, it is very interesting. There is an Airline Babylon that I'm going to read next. Hotel Babylon has been made into a series on tv.

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade: Dad gave me this book for xmas and I was surprised to find that it was almost exclusively about gay sex! He swears he's not trying to tell me anything, but I'm not so sure! But to be fair, I read Diana Gabaldon's last series, Outlander, and there wasn't any gay sex at all, so really, he wasn't to know... if you don't mind a few racy scenes, it was a pretty good book. {**Ha ha, one of the only sites I could find to hyperlink was a gay historical fiction book review blog.. in fact, if you'd like to read more gay historical fiction, here is a list - enjoy!!!}

That's all so far, but if anyone has any reading suggestions I'd love to hear them- I have a lot of time to read right now.

Amanda, Kate and I are booked for Crete now, we're going here in 3 weeks! YAY!

Okay off to bed soon, we're running 17 miles tomorrow (that's 27km!)

xoxo C

Earth Hour

Going from one of the most environmentally-friendly, plastic-bag-lacking, recycle-everything places on earth to almost the polar opposite, where nothing is officially recycled (there is a lot of re-using and scavenging here though...) I get pretty excited when I find something "green" that I can participate in.....I try to do my part... for example I have about 10 cardboard starbucks coffee sleeves in my desk right now, because I always take them off the cup before I throw it away, thinking that I'll use it the next time i go, but somehow I never remember till I have the burning hot latte in my hand.... maybe I'll just take them all back at once.....In any case, being green here is not very easy at all- in fact, I think I'm lucky I've lived in Victoria till now and was able to log all those green brownie points by walking to work for 6 years and recyling everything, using unbleached toilet tissue and eco-friendly cleaners like vinegar in my home because my carbon footprint here is a lot bigger...It actually makes me feel sick sometimes thinking about how many water bottles and meat trays are used here. Not to mention the fact that I sit in traffic, by myself, for over an hour every day.

Needless to say, when I heard about Earth Hour, I was happy because it's something we can all participate in- March 28 at 8:30pm local time, wherever you are in the world, just turn off your lights for one hour..... here's a video...

Okay off the the track, xoxo C

PS: Crete is booked! YAY!

Greece

I just got back from the track- I felt like I needed an extra workout during the week since I'm not swimming here, so I joined one of the runners who does stairs on Mondays...we did 12 loops of the track, with a 5 story set of stairs in the middle of each lap. sounds fun eh? Actually it wasn't too bad...
So I can't remember if I mentioned that I'm planning a trip to Greece with Amanda and Kate in mid April. We have narrowed it down to Crete, but are still trying to figure out where exactly to go- anyone have any suggestions?

x0x0 C

I forgot about photobooth...

Running pics from this week...

These are all pics of the running group, from the past week. Today's 13 miler was windy (as in lots of wind, not twisty) and hilly-- but we all finished and had a great brunch and a swim afterwards at Nabil's.

Poolside brunch at Nabil's















Some of the runners in the pool- soaking after 22km















Post-run Korean food















Michael and Lameece stretching before a speedwork session

New house rules

I've never been in the army (yes surprising, I know!), so I'm not sure what the exact phrase is, but I've heard that new recruits are advised to "never pass up an opportunity to eat, sleep or sh@#" (I've also heard the last item replaced with f!@#)... I'm not sure which is correct... but in any case, the new rule in my house will be "never pass up an opportunity to SHOWER!"

I got home last night from track practice sort of sweaty- I contemplated taking a shower, but was pretty tired, and I wasn't sweaty enough to necessitate immediate showering, so decided to do it in the morning- for a split second, I thought "what if there's no water tomorrow though".... but the water situation has been good for almost a month, so I thought I should stop being so pessimistic. The same thought occurred to me, when I looked in the fridge and realized that I was almost out of bottled water - I wasn't worried about what to drink (that's what starbucks is for), I was worried about having enough to boil and wash my face etc, do my teeth and somehow style my hair... but again, I thought, "no, think positively, it will be fine,,," so I went to bed.

And of course today, I woke up with no water. Thankfully I did have about 2 cups of water left in the bottom of a bottle so I don't think I smelled too bad, but, the funniest part was sitting at a table at lunch telling this to a couple of other expats who just nodded sympathetically and knowingly, because they've all had to do the same in the last month...ironic isn't it- executives at a luxury hotel and still bathing daily is not a guarantee...oh cairo!

Anyway I just got home and elhamdoulilah, the water is back (apparently a pipe burst and the whole neigbourhood was affected) so I'm off to take a shower! Tomorrow's run is a "short one" only 13 miles.

xoxo C