Saturday, July 17, 2010

Ban on Crayons.

Today was the big multicultural festival.

My work co-sponsored the Canada pavilion (okay, seriously, that word is weird. It's like papillion but not) so the last week and a half, I've been doing lots for it. I spent all yesterday formatting a booklet of authentic Canadian recipes and folding each of the 400 copies. Yuck.

My boss brought Tim Hortons doughnuts around noon and passed them out to all the volunteers, and as I was handing out mini flags, a man saw my doughnut and his whole face lit up. I laughed and apologized saying no, we're not selling them, but yes, they're very very Canadian.

In a less fun encounter, one man stopped just outside the pavilion and looked in. I asked if he would like a flag, and very gruffly he said, "No, I don't want a French pavilion." and then stalked off.

Now, if I had been a regular run-of-the-mill festival volunteer, I probably would have corrected him. Actually, I probably would have sneered and corrected him rather condescendingly. However, I was not a regular volunteer, I was representing my work, and therefore, I asked a small child if he'd like a flag instead.
In the morning, we spent a couple hours setting up and getting things ready and then the kids were upon us and the sun got mean. I was planning on staying under cover the entire time so I didn't bother with sunscreen. I now have a bunch of tan lines, plus a random white rectangle in the middle of my chest thanks to my necklace. Whoops.
I also spent a fair amount of time colouring. You are never too old to colour. However, crayons suck. No wonder all kingergarten drawings never stay within the lines, crayons are all over the place. No more crayons. Ban on crayons.

Then came the parade. All the different countries lined up alphabetically, except for Canada which came last. A local celebrity, the dad of some of my friends, carried our flag and we marched up and down the grounds, thousands of people watching and cheering. Most people were chattering but when they saw our flag, they started hollering and waving.

I waved my mini flag and smiled real big.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I'm a profeffional.

I got business cards today. They've got my name on it and everything.

I feel very impressive. I'm a somebody for the next month and a half.

Oh yeah ;)

like a serial killer with blood trickling down my wrist

"Is it supposed to be lumpy?"

My friend made cookies for the first time when he was seventeen. The recipe called for salt, and he thought salt and pepper always go together. He was wrong. He also placed the dough really close together so in the oven, it merged into one giant peppery cookie.

I made cherry tarte today.

My little cousin was very adamant this morning that she does not like pie. Any pie. Pie bad.

I was tempted to say, "Well you've never tasted my cherry pie!" but to be truthful, neither had I.

So I made this Cherry Pie but have renamed it Cherry Tarte because she won't start French classes until Grade Five. 

I used this dough recipe because I've made it before and it worked out well then. I really hate cleaning the mixer though. Like fiery passion against cleaning this mixer. It's an evil, albeit fully functional, little mixer.

Pitting the cherries was waaaay easier than everybody made it out to be. Yes, it took time. Yes, my fingernails are stained. Yes, holding the knife I looked like a serial killer with blood trickling down my wrist. But c'mon.

Once the cherries were done, it came together really easily. I would have taken pictures but my camera has run away with the Scarf of Sexual Preference. You'll just have to take my word that it looked pretty, smelled pretty, and tasted like it was actually cherry pie.

I'm always afraid I'm gonna make something new like pavlova and instead of tasting like pavlova, it tastes like chicken. Or cat food. Or nail polish remover.

My little cousin also got over her aversion to all things pie and declared it edible. Cool.

I also pitted more cherries and used our new blender for the first time. It worked okay but I remain less than impressed. Although it is rather shiny. I was making cherry yogurt popsicles and when I poured in some sugar, a lot more than I'd anticipated poured out. I thought the jar was almost empty. I was wrong. On the plus side, those popsicles are gonna taste great!

Excuse me as I go paint my nails. Gotta cover up the cherry gore stains before I scare small children on transit.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Tuesday

My seven year old cousin is staying with us--like literally, sleeping in my room.
I spent two hours at the gym, then went for ice cream at the Marble Slabbery. That's balanced, right? We picked out an ice cream to bring home for dad and the woman making it called it the coolest ice cream she's ever made (it had gummy bears, marshmallows, fudge sauce, sprinkles and cookie dough on chocolate ice cream). I was quite proud.

Also, the fridge door handle is sticky. I think that's the ultimate sign of a child in the house.