Fiston

I'm sad to say that my mom's kitty Fiston made his last trip to the vet yesterday. Today mom sent an email out with this beautiful picture of Fiston.

Mom thinks he may have been 16, but she's not really sure since he was a neighbourhood feral that she took in. I think his name is the french (Quebec) word for son (mom or db will have to correct me on that).

Fiston was always people shy, but not with mom. He seemed to always know that he was safe with her, and that he could feel safe in his home.

I'm always grateful to those who take in the "unwanted" street cats or ferals because sometimes they need extra love and care. Fiston was one of those cats. Thanks mom for giving him such a loving home.

Run Vegan Run

I had a great run today. It was easy, breezy (for real), and I felt strong even though I was running into the wind half of the time.

My ipod has become a regular attachment during because it can be a great way to lose myself in thought or a rhythm and think less about an ache or how hard that hill is to run. However, sometimes I turn it off especially when I'm running along trails so I can hear the birds, or in today's case hear the river.

Compared to last week's long run where I spent the whole time struggling, stopping and starting, and feeling completely unmotivated, this week's run was a pleasure even with the hills. I thought about why this might be, and considered that maybe much of it depends on my mental preparation. I'm not kidding. For 2 days I've been thinking about Sunday's long run, looking forward to having the day off, and hoping to have a little break in the rain to make the running a little easier. Last night I thought about what I was eating and how it might affect my run, and I had the same thoughts this morning when I ate a light breakfast. I went out without a plan in direction, but knowing that I wanted to run for at least an hour and a half so I could break it into three 30 minute runs. I really think it made a difference. I had mentally prepared myself to be out there for a certain amount of time, and with no pressure on where to go.

I use to go for a run with a certain route mapped out so I would know exactly what distance I had covered, but I've stopped doing that for about a year now, and I find it's so much easier to go out and just run with a time goal in mind.

I ran for an hour and 20 minutes.  At the bottom of the hill I decided I'd walk the rest of the way. I didn't want to end my run by struggling for 12 minutes running uphill. It's steep climb on the lower part of the hill, and my legs just didn't have enough. Walking up the hill is a great way to cool down though.

When I reached our turn off I saw a deer dart across the road. The traffic slowed and crept passed. Then another deer trotted across the road to join the first one. They stood on the side of the road and munched a little. I called db so he could come out and see them. He seems to always miss the deer sightings. By the time he reached me, the deer had just gone down into the woods. There's a creek and a trail that cuts alongside the road, and leads to our street. We went into the trail and saw their tracks, and headed alongside the creek. There they were on the other side of the creek watching us, and they had probably been watching us for a while before we even saw them.

I ran home and grabbed the camera. 

We could only see one by the time I got back. The second one had moved further into the brush.  The light behind this deer is coming from the road above. So they were still fairly close to the road, but if you were walking along the road, you would never know they were there.

some food highlights of the week

Butternut squash and parsnip soup was on the menu on the night that we had the wind storm. It was a miserable day being cold, rainy, and extremely windy. Stanley Park was closed as was the Lions Gate bridge. Our backyard was scattered with small branches that had blown from the trees. It's quite something to watch those very tall trees sway back and forth in the wind. The wind blew right through me, and I felt like it would take hours to get warm again. I needed to make something quick and warming. We also had a butternut squash that had been sitting on the counter for a couple of weeks. Soup is such a simple meal to put together and is so rewarding.

More cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. These are Chocolate Fudgy Oatmeal Cookies. I have perhaps an unrealistic goal of baking every cookie in this book. There are 100 recipes. I've now made 9 recipes from this book. Hmm. It could take a while. db figured out that it might take me 2 years to make every recipe. I think I can do it in less. He may have been saying that to see if I would bake more cookies more often since it's his favorite sweet treat.

I'm also trying the gluten free flour mix from the book to make my cookies so I can enjoy them without too much worry. These were loaded with chocolate chips and cocoa so they were very chocolatey.

Okay these aren't mine. I'm not a maraschino cherry fan so that's one sign that I didn't make these (no offense to the cupcake maker though. They do make them look beautiful). Another indication would be that I could never frost and decorate a cupcake to make it look so beautiful. I guess a third give-away would be the packaging. They are packaged in a take-out container.
These were chocolate (note the past tense because they didn't last long) cupcakes with vanilla icing. Actually, I would call them a Black Forest cupcake because there was a cherry filling in the middle.

They were very generously given to me from the baker. She came into the store yesterday to load up on some vegan goodies, and mentioned that she'd just come from the market. I found out that she goes to a few markets on the weekend and sells vegan sweets including cupcakes. She asked me if I liked chocolate. That's an easy one to answer. Then she dashed out to her car and came back with 2 containers of cupcakes. She also gave me some mini chocolate cupcakes with a mint frosting that I shared with customers in the store. It was so kind of her. I got her card that has her website and reads, "Sweet Delights from the kitchen of the Vegan Vixen." I think I'll be seeking out which market she's at on the weekends, and try to make it to one. We have the best customers.

My Pen

I'll tell you an odd thing about myself. When I'm at work, I always use the same pen, and I don't really like to share it. If I loan it to someone it's usually with reluctance.
I was mimicking this character from Kids in the Hall to db, but he didn't know the reference so I had to look it up for him to watch. Thought I'd share.

Earth hour menu

db and I started a tradition of making an all raw meal for earth hour. The idea is that we'll be using less energy if we're not using the stove and/or oven. We still had to use the food processor, and blender, but they used far less energy than having the stove on.

Anyway, the idea is to try something we don't always do like turning the lights off at night, and just use candlelight to see, and making a raw meal.

I made a Swiss Chard soup for our starter. You can just barely see my glass of pineapple, ginger & pear juice. I forgot to take a photo of the juice.

Here's the main course. We made vegetable fettucine with a macadamia nut alfredo sauce. The sauce was amazing! I think creamy nut sauces are my favorite now. It's the best way to make a cream sauce. We also consume less soy that way, and being vegan you can consume quite a bit of soy if you let yourself. We're actually not too bad though.

Anywho...the dinner was delcious. (The heavy shadows in the picture must be from the candlelight. I like how the basil is casting a dark shadow on the pasta).

The desert was a chocolate mousse made with avocado (don't knock it until you try it!), dates, raw agave syrup, and cocoa. It's so creamy and smooth. I also added some cacao nibs for an extra rich chocolatey flavour. The mousse was so rich and delicious. I finished mine before I could take a picture, but I'll be making this again soon because it really is so tasty, and again no soy or refined sugars. It's all good.

2010 Paralympics Men's Cross Country Skiing.MOV

Apparently this wasn't accessible the first time I posted it. So here it is again.
I did not catch them crossing the finish, but you know how it ended.

Paralympics 2010

db and I bought tickets to an Alpine event for the last day of the Paralympics. Everything was selling out so fast, and we couldn't see all that we wanted, but we were happy to get Alpine event tickets.
Alas, it was not meant to be. The Alpine events for Sunday were canceled in anticipation of bad weather. The only tickets left were Cross Country Skiing. We had seen Olympic Cross Country Skiing, and although we weren't as excited to be going back to the last venue we had been at, we were happy to at least be going to see something.

The Paralympics were much more relaxed. We could drive to the venue since the Sea to Sky highway was opened to regular traffic once the Olympics left town. From the parking lot, we were taken on a short shuttle bus ride from the parking lot to the entrance. There was no security. Our tickets were scanned, and we walked through to begin our climb to the venue.

There was a good crowd with flags from Norway to Mongolia. It was a good atmosphere.

Once there all of my enthusiasm returned. I was so inspired and in awe of these athletes. By the end of the day I was perhaps more in awe of these athletes than the Olympic athletes simply because they are competing with a disability. Imagine being blind and skiing with the help of a guide ahead of you. Imagine skiing with no poles, or having to rely on your upper body strength to climb a hill while on skis. I found it very moving to see these athletes perform at this world class event.

We saw several events: the men's and women's sit skiing 1 km sprints, the men's and women's visually impaired 1 km Classic sprints, and the men's and women's standing 1 km Classic sprints. db and I saw from the qualifying to the medal round, and were able to follow the overall performance of an athlete.

In this picture you can see that the Olympic rings have been covered over, and the Paralympic symbol with the three "agitos" (latin for "I move") replaced the Olympics symbols.

The weather wasn't the best. It rained on and off and the wind picked up at one point.  We made several trips to the "warming tent" that was set up near the concession stand.

Even the Aussie's inflatable kangaroo was in the warming tent at one point. I think everyone made a trip there at some point during the day.

We probably lasted as long as we did because of the warming tent, and we were pretty well dressed for the weather, but clearly not dressed well enough (I could have worn my long underwear, for example). However, I saw some young girls there who were horribly dressed. One girl was wearing a mini-skirt with leggings and some flimsy looking boots. She had no hat or gloves that I could see. Ah kids. At least she had her phone to message her friends about how cold she probably was.

Anywho...

The Russian men swept the sit skiing, and took a moment to celebrate together, as well as before their Russian fans that were present.

They did have to be moved off the course though because another event was already underway, and soon skiers would be entering the stadium.

Perhaps most exciting was watching Brian and Robin McKeever win their third gold medal in the Men's 1 km sprint.

Here's Brian McKeever warming up before his event.
Many skiers jogged near the start gate before their event.

We were standing at the final corner where the athletes take their last turn before heading towards the finish line. We watched Brian's sprint to the finish, and it was remarkable. What a race.

I wish we had stayed for the medal presentation, but the weather got the better of us, and had worn us down. After their medal win, we headed home.

I have some more shaky video of the sprint to the finish for the McKeevers. I'll have to post it. I stopped my camera before they crossed the finish line though because I forgot all about the camera, and wanted to watch them finish. I'm not the best when it comes to sport video since my enthusiasm tends to get the better of me. 

I think I'm a bigger fan of the Paralympics now than I am of the Olympics. It was frustrating to not be able to see much of it on t.v. Maybe next time the networks will get it right, and give the Paralympics the coverage it deserves, and has earned. Or maybe next time I'll stick to watching what I can on-line.

Happy Anniversary

It's our 7th anniversary with Primavera. 7 years ago we drove to Richmond Hill to pick her up from her foster home. It's been an active 7 years! Prima is so loving, and sweet. She's got her crazy side. I always thought she'd settle down a little as she aged, but she hasn't really slowed down much.

It was pure coincidence that we picked her up on the first day of spring, and her name was Primavera. It suits her, but she also has picked up a few other names such as, Chicken (the most common one now) or Chik, Babs, Ba, Farfallina, and Suprima. She is, though, first and foremost our Primavera, and I'm so glad that we found her.

Run Vegan Run

The cold weather suprised me. Seeing that the morning sunny and clear, and after hearing a weather report that was promising mid-teen temperatures, I was ready for a good run. I wondered if I was perhaps overdressed since on Tuesday I had to peel a layer off after only 2 minutes of running. Then I stepped outside and brrr. I hopped back in and put on my hat and grabbed my gloves. It was almost frosty. It's got to be the higher elevation. Problem one was solved. Problem two was that my legs felt like lead. I hate the lead leg days. It's so tough to keep going, and I spend a lot of time fighting the urge to walk. I kept running. The lead legs did not pass.

I decided to run the exact route I ran on Tuesday just to see how the lead legs would affect me. On Tuesday I had felt good after completing a short run up the hill, over a few streets and back. That's my short run route. Tuesday's time was okay for a short easy run. Today's time was faster! Huh? Even though I felt like I was running slower than ever, I actually did the loop 45 seconds faster. I know 45 seconds doesn't sound like a lot, but it is when you feel sluggish, and have to fight almost every step of the way.

Very strange, but at least I'm consistent, and I know if I work through the tough bouts then it will pay off.

The paralympic coverage

What coverage? I was hoping for another run of olympic viewing, but alas it is not going to happen. Instead we get highlights. Oh well. It's a start. Perhaps by the next winter paralympics there will be more televised events. I guess CTV wasn't prepared for the demand. After all most of the events have sold out in ticket sales, leaving those who couldn't buy tickets with nothing but highlights. Well done CTV.

We do, however, get full coverage of the sledge hockey, which is great. I'm enjoying that, or at least I'm enjoying the Canadian sledge hockey games (even though it was a 10-1 blowout against Sweden. I didn't hear a peep about maybe it shouldn't be an event because it's not competitive enough like they said about the women's hockey. It's probably not a great comparison, but I'm not going to rant now). So, yes I am enjoying the hockey. There doesn't seem to be coverage of the hockey unless Canada is playing though. I really wanted to see Norway play, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow when they play Canada.

I guess we have to take what we can get for now.

db and I did manage to get tickets for some Alpine events next Sunday, but we're not sure what it will be since they had to reshuffle the whole schedule after poor conditions cancelled some events this past weekend. Whatever Alpine event it is, I'm sure it will be fun and exciting. I'm looking forward to it.

It seems funny though to be going to the winter paralympics when the daffodils have already bloomed, and maybe by then I'll have a few tulips as well. It's a good thing the event is at Whistler.

International Women's Day

I invite you to check out the International Women's Day website to find out what is going on around the world to celebrate women today.

I think it should be a national holiday as it is in some other countries.

CBC News - Politics - PM defends spy agency's Afghan role

The plot thickens.

CBC News - Politics - PM defends spy agency's Afghan role

My Olympic Photos

 

The Olympic coffee (decaf of course) courtesy of db, our resident barista. He called it the Whistler Blackcomb coffee.

We didn't get to visit the city on the weekend as I had hoped, but went on an evening after work. We were a little concerned because the men's hockey was that night, which would determine who would go to play for the gold medal. However, we timed it well so that by the time we did our route, the game had just finished and we were one our way home. 

 

The broadcast centre.

 

The cauldron as seen through the fence. 

And through the gap in the plexiglass. 

The Vancouver Art Gallery was not only open for free to the public, but was also screening short art films on an outdoor screen.

Near the outdoor skating rink. The steps to the gallery. 

Granville St.

  

First Nations Pavilion. 

We saw a few spheres outside of pavilions that were projecting images. It seemed like a popular idea to give this sense of place on a global shape. 

The Quebec pavilion, however, was cube shaped. It was a glowing blue cube.

The cube also projected images from La Belle Provence. 

We had to go in the Quebec pavilion (db is from there). The interior also had projected images. There was a band playing some blues on stage, and there was a Quebec beer being sold that intrigued db, but at $10 a glass we decided to pass, and wait until we're actually in Quebec this summer to sample it.

 

View from near the Science Centre (also known as the Russian pavilion during the Olympics). 

The orb is the Saskatchewan pavilion. 

Sunday at Whistler Olympic Park, we went to the men's 50k cross country skiing. Here's the start line. 

 

  

We had a view of them on the trail up above going into a downhill section. 

  

And then just in front of us after climbing an uphill section. 

And again there they are on the outer track. 

db and I both agreed that this guy had too much cow, and not enough cowbell. 

 

The Norwegian fans were about to see a great finish.  It was very exciting to watch Petter Northug do his thing. He sprinted to the finish and took the gold. 

Devon Kershaw, the Canadian skier, had a great race. He was near the front for the entire race, and came so close to a bronze. Very exciting.

I became a real fan of this sport over the 2 weeks. I only hope to take it up myself next year. We'll see.

skiing2.MOV

We had a great spot to view up close and see down into the stadium.

Olympics2010Skiing.MOV

I thought I'd share some of my Olympic video. It's a bit shaky because I was also ringing a cowbell. I just couldn't help it. I wanted to capture a video and cheer.

Where does the time go?

I ask this question again. I'm always thinking about blogging, but like many things I do, I often think about them more than actually doing them.

This morning, for example, I got dressed for a run, and then realized that there was no way I was going to get in a decent run, come home, shower, and get ready for work all in time to leave for work on time. Some days I feel superhuman like I can do anything, but this is not one of those days. I did a little yoga before I ate on the fly while getting ready for work. I can dream though, can't I?

My run on Tuesday was interesting. As I was running up the hill towards home, a deer came running around the bend towards me! I think it had just crossed the street, and may have been startled by the traffic. I stopped running. The deer darted into the woods. I stepped into the grass to look down at the trail that runs along the edge of the woods, and I waited. Sure enough that deer came sauntering along. It didn't see me standing there watching it, not 20 meters away, munch on the greenery. I made a slow movement just so it would know I was there. I expected it to run off down the trail deeper into the woods, but instead it started walking towards me! I slowly backed up. The deer turned back onto the trail, but was in no hurry to get away. That was a pretty exciting run. Oh, and did I mention that I had planned to take the bus up the hill, but missed my bus so I had to walk/run it? If I hadn't missed that bus...

Anywho...

To answer my title question...

Monday is a workday (any day I'm not home count in 2 hours of travel time for each day).
Tuesday I go to Wildlife Rescue (for 4 hours only, but again count in that travel time).
Wednesday is a workday.
Thursday is a workday (at my old job, which is 1 hour longer than the rest of my work days).
Friday is a workday.
Saturday is another workday (shorter hours - only 6 hours on Saturday).
Sunday is a get out of jail free day!

Does your week look anything like this?

Am I complaining? Maybe.

db and I had to start meal planning in a whole new way to be sure of who is cooking what on what days. That way I can do some prep for dinner before I go to work. Did I mention that our new slow cooker went on the fritz? It's under warranty so it's somewhere being fixed (I hope). It was a sad day when I came home and my Minestrone was cold and uncooked in the slow cooker.

Obviously if I need more time I should give up the volunteer work at Wildlife Rescue, but it's the one place I enjoy the most. It's so rewarding to be looking after all those birds, and hopefully help them to recover for release back into the wilds of the lower mainland. This past week, one of the pigeons laid and egg! They put 2 bully pigeons together in one of the cages they stay in before they're acclimatized. No other pigeon could be paired with either one of the bullies. The staff put the bullies together, and next thing we know there's an egg. Aww pigeon love. Apparently, there's a second egg on the way. One of the staff told me she could feel the second egg was on its way.

There is also a Snow Goose recovering from a broken bone in its wing. It's been difficult because he can't go in a larger pen or pool until his wing has healed a little more. He's beautiful though. It's important that he makes a speedy recovery to continue his northern migration.

So, no I won't leave Wildlife Rescue unless I absolutely have to.

I do like job #1 even with its minor annoyances. I want to stick with it as long as it continues to grow, as long as I get to contribute to how the business functions, and as long as I continue to enjoy it.

So let's focus on Sunday. I love Sundays! It's been a little hectic lately with the Owe-lmpics, but I had a great time this past Sunday at Whistler watching the Cross Country Skiing. It was impressive, and we had a great view of the arena while we stood right next to the trail on an upper level. It was fun. We did have to get up at 3:30 am to catch the 5:30 bus to Whistler Olympic Park. Ugh. Let's not relive that morning.

This Sunday will be a stay-at-home kind of day. I need to get caught up on everything. The garden has just gone on ahead without me and is growing up like crazy. I missed my chance to prune any of my clematis so I'm stuck with this years growth as it is. Hopefully I'll still get lots of blooms. I need to tidy up the garden, and check in on the compost to see if I can start spreading it around where needed.

Last night I noticed lilies poking up an inch or two through the soil (please no frost, please no frost...). My daffodils have already bloomed along with 2 azaleas in the front yard! The cherry trees have all bloomed, and it is all too early. Here's the link to the cherry blossom viewing map if you need to get out there and see them. Our winter has clearly been too mild. I think cherry trees usually bloom in late March or early April. I've even seen some buds on Magnolia trees. So it could be an interesting garden season.

I'm looking forward to Sunday and spending the whole day at home. The cats will love it too. 

Look out garden, here I come!

Yet more Olympic grammar

Here's another one I missed. I've never heard the song because I've been avoiding the "I believe" campaign. When the song came up during the ceremonies (I think that's when it occurred), I hit the mute button. 

Does the Olympic Theme Song “I Believe” Have a Grammar Error?  

 

More on Olympic verbs

Here's an article I found on podium being used as a verb. I thought it was kind of interesting.

On Language

 

Podium

 

By BEN ZIMMER

Published: February 7, 2010

A triumphant verb retakes the Olympic stage.

Olympic verbs

I did not go into the city yesterday. db and I assessed the situation, and given that it was Canada/USA hockey day, we decided that it was probably best to stay close to home and avoid the surging crowds. We're probably going to go on Friday evening. I'm sure the crowds will still be crazy, but we'll take our chances.

Yesterday I heard a reporter who was covering the games use the word "podium" as a verb. "She didn't think she was going to podium." Ack! I'm pretty open with popular culture's use of grammar. "I'm lovin' it", for example I will let slide, but let it be a lesson to you that if McD's is as sloppy with their food as they are with their grammar then you probably shouldn't eat there, which is one more reason why that place should be avoided at all costs. I know I make all kinds of grammar errors throughout my day, and am always struggling with improving it, but I can't accept nouns turned into verbs when it is unnecessary.

I was speaking to my mom, who is an ESL teacher, last night and brought this very issue up with her. She also reminded me of how the same thing has been done with the word "medal." "He is a strong contender to medal." Is it so difficult to put those extra words in? "He is a strong contender to win a medal?" That wasn't so difficult.

Does sports broadcasting seem particularly guilty of this to you?
Have you noticed any other nouns becoming verbs when they've never been used as verbs before?

Do I need a holiday? Or maybe I should say, I need to holiday.

just curious

I think I might venture downtown tomorrow and see what the party atmosphere is like.

I thought I'd avoid the whole Olympic thing as much as possible, but I have to say that curiosity is getting the better of me. I don't want to line up for hours for zip lines or ice skating or to approach the viewing platform for the cauldron. I just want to see what it's like in the downtown hub with people milling about, streets closed to traffic, and get a sense of the general vibe. There is supposed to be lots of buskers, and public art to view, so I think it'll be worthwhile.

The biggest draw for me is that the art gallery is free until the end of the month, and I'd like to see the Da Vinci sketches, which are here until May. They are also screening art films on one side of the building.

I think I should go.

Vegan Soul Kitchen

For Christmas I bought db Vegan Soul Kitchen
and then eagerly awaited for him to crack it open to discover a recipe that would inspire him.

Well, it finally happened and db did not disappoint. He pulled several recipes together to create this tasty colourful dish. What we have here is Blackened Tofu with Succotash Salsa (there were many Sylvester impressions of "sufferin' succotash" being said whenever the word came up). db served the Blackened Tofu with Citrus Collards, Brown Coconut Rice, and Grilled Asparagus with Rosemary Sea Salt (that didn't quite make it into the picture).
It was a colourful and delicious plate, and everything went together so well. It felt like a real treat to be served such fine food. 

One of the unique aspects of this book, Vegan Soul Kitchen, is that each recipe has a suggested soundtrack. So with each recipe db worked on, I found the accompanying song and played it while he cooked. I'll have to do a review of this book once I read it and we make a few more recipes from it. So far so good.

Get in line for the line up.

We went to the women's hockey on Saturday to see Canada and Slovakia. When we got our tickets last year, we only knew we'd be going to an early round women's hockey game, we had no idea it'd be Canada. So, we got lucky. However, after seeing a women's hockey game for the first time ever, I would have been happy to see anyone play. It was so great to see women's hockey! I loved it.

What I did not love was getting into GM place, or BC place or whatever it's called now. The game was at 5pm. We got off the skytrain at 3:30 pm, and got to our section just as the women were skating onto the ice. Why did it take us so long? Can you imagine why? Olympic insanity was the reason.

There was no one at the exit of the skytrain to direct people to the entrance. Usually you come out of the skytrain and just cross the street to enter GM place, but with the fencing surrounding the area, there seemed to be no entrance anywhere, and no one to tell us where to enter.

There were people everywhere looking completely lost and confused. I finally asked a cop on the other side of the fence where we could get in. He gave us several options. As we walked to one entrance, we got to an area where the sidewalk was closed. We asked another cop. He said that the first one didn't know what he was talking about because he was probably from out of town, and that we needed to go the other way. db and I headed back. Finally, one solitary blue-jacketed volunteer called out that this entryway was closed and we needed to go down this street to get in line for the entrance.

Hmm...

I started to regret not bringing a book along. 

db and I stood in a line that was merging with another longer line from another street. Once we all merged into one big happy line, we shuffled forward to an opening in the fence. This was the entranceway to the security zone. The entrance was the size of a regular doorway. So we bottlenecked through this little doorway into a holding pen, where we lined up again to get into the line ups for the security zone.

After we mazed our way through that, we were told we could go into the express security line if we had a purse and not a backpack. I just had my camera bag so we zipped into the "express" lane. I use quotations around the word express because from what I saw, our line did not move any faster than the regular lines. In fact one of the regular lines was moving much faster!

Finally, we made it to security. It was like going through security at an airport. They looked in my bag, and I walked through the metal detector. I should mention that no one had yet asked me if I had a ticket or not. I walked right up to the entrance of GM/BC place without anyone ever asking me for proof of a ticket. If you wanted to sneak anything in on your person that could make it through the metal detector you could. Almost a billion dollars spent on security, and I felt like anyone could walk up to the venue and do a lot of damage. Fortunately, no one did.

We finally made it to our seats just before the puck dropped, but many didn't, and had to wait in the section doorways until the next whistle blew.

The upside? I enjoyed the game. I also know that by the time we go to the men's 50k cross country skiing on the last day of the Olympics, that many of the kinks will probably be worked out so that moving people into venues will go a lot more smoothly. I'm definitely taking a book with me next time.

my olympic view

I don't know why I'm feeling so grouchy about the Olympics. I mean I don't live in Vancouver or near any of the sites, but it's close enough so that my bus & skytrain were more crowded than usual this morning, and that made me grumpy. It also made my bus late because the bus driver had to answer so many questions at every other stop from new passengers who have left their SUVs in their garages to take public transit to get to events. 

At first, I thought these people were tourists who had to find accommodations way out where I live because everything was booked up closer to vancity, but then I realized these are my neighbours. They looked amused by the whole novelty of taking a bus. It would seem that it's a very exciting experience. There was so much noise on the bus from giddy passengers, and people on their cell phones ("I'm going to see the torch! What? I can't hear you?" BTW, if you can't hear the person on the other end of the phone, it doesn't help if you talk louder.)

See, I'm very irascible today. 

My morning radio show has turned into the Olympic broadcasting corporation. I now get Olympic weather, Olympic traffic reports, Olympic entertainment news, and news stories related to all things Olympic.  I can't listen to my morning radio show any more. There's no balance. So I shut it off. 

***

I was glad to hear that the protesters forced the torch to re-route. The protesters voices needed to be heard through the din of "Go Canada Go." Their voices are important! So far I've only heard news reports that talk about how disappointed the children were who lined up to see the torch. How about we get into the problems of massive homeless, mental health issues, and drug addiction of the downtown eastside? These issues also relate to the Olympics, so let's talk about them. With all of the money spent...you know where I'm going. Housing, healthcare, and social programs all need help in this province (as they do everywhere). 

***

Where do I stand? It might seem clear based on what I've written so far. Honestly though? I'm torn. I'm neither pro nor anti Olympics. What I really don't like is the corporate control of the Olympics. There's something about the willingness of people to let VANOC control what we can say or do that really makes me angry, and I find the whole "you're either with us or against us" attitude offensive (I've gotten this from both sides). People seem to want me to be one or the other. Do I have to be? I don't want to be. 

I do appreciate athletic achievement. I enjoy watching many sports. I don't care if Canada wins medals or not, I just like a good competition to be fairly played. I am going to a women's hockey game, and men's cross country skiing, but as a fan of sport, not as a fan of any particular country. I just can't wave the flag like that. I'm not looking forward to the circus of it all, but the events themselves I hope will be good. 

***

I think maybe it's time that the Olympics took some responsibility for what it does around the world (dumping debt on cities). Why can't the Olympics work with the host city (and its corporate sponsors) to resolve local problems instead of trying to sweep them from view? Why not make it a partnership of some kind? Why should the host city be forced into taking on all of the burden, and bending to the will of the Olympics? What if the IOC had to approach cities instead, and ask for their permission to hold their event there? Then they would have to make the deal sweet for the host city. 

It's just a thought.

***

You Are an Omelette

You are a light-hearted, roll with the punches type of person. You're open to the world around you. You like to draw from many influences. You like to mix things up a lot, and variety inspires you. You don't let much weigh you down. You have a sunny outlook that starts first thing in the morning and continues throughout your day. Even if everything around you breaks down, you pick yourself right back up again. You are good at making do.

What Kind of Diner Food Are You?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

I found this via Wandering Coyote. Considering my last post, this seemed appropriate. It's a vegan omelette in the photo above of course. 

a whole lotta food

I was scanning through my ridiculous amount of food photos and couldn't leave out my cookies!

These are called Lazy Samoas from my favorite cookie book Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. What could make these cookies better?

Why chocolate, of course!

These were not only fun to make, but are also very tasty. They are chock full of toasted coconut (2 cups to be exact), dipped in chocolate, and then have a little more chocolate drizzled across the top. Since I used unsweetened coconut and dark vegan baking chocolate, they are not overly sweet.

Another success from our kitchen was inspired by our slow cooker. We got an awesome slow cooker with our rewards points. It's one with a timer that automatically switches into warm mode when it's done cooking Now that I'm working until 7 in the evening, and not getting home until 8, I can make something in the morning and let it slow cook all day.

This recipe is called "Almost Irish Stew" from my Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker cookbook, which actually is all vegan recipes.
I don't usually make stews, but this was flavourful and easy to put together. It's definitely a keeper.

Now onto brunch...

Sunday I made omelettes. Yes it's true, vegan omelettes are possible. I had a lot of silken tofu to use up, and I was planning on making a fritatta until I saw the omelette recipe in my Vegan Brunch book. It looked so easy, I had to try it.

I filled them with sauteed mushrooms and collard green. When I folded them together, I added a little Daiya cheese. They were delicious! They actually surpassed my expectations of tastiness.

I don't know what made me do it, but I cut of a corner and put it between two pieces of toast with some ketchup, making a little omelette sandwich. Then I remember the fried egg sandwiches my mom made me when I was a kid. I loved them. I had a nostalgic moment with this omelette sandwich as it tasted just like those sandwiches mom use to make me for a snack.

This is what comfort food is for me. It's nostalgia.