Monday, November 19, 2012

Congregation....hallelujah!


So the BF and I went on a lovely little road trip / weekend getaway this past weekend (more about that later perhaps, we made all kinds of cool discoveries!) and on the way, BF put these guys in the stereo:





They are called Congregation, and they are fantastic and I was immediately smitten and wanted to......spread the good word.  Please, please check them out above!  Sadly, I can't find much info about them online, and they seem to only have one (great) album (Congregation).  Anyone know anything about them?

Anyhoo, hope you'll dig 'em as much as I have been!

Till next time!

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Four Things That Make Life Grand Right Now

1.  That we live in a pretty teensy city with so many amazingly great restaurant choices.  Like seriously.  Oh, for the cheapo-Saturday-morning-brekkie down the hill at Durty Nelly's; the not-to-be-beat Brooklyn Burger at the amazing Brooklyn Warehouse;

 the greatest little after-work-with-beer pizzas at Tom's Little Havana; the decadent Lobster Ravioloni at The Bicycle Thief; the rare beef and beef balls pho at Star Anise;


the oh-so-good-but-feel-guilty-about-it-anyway donair plate at Venus; the not-to-be-believed elk tenderloin at Gio; the best-you'll-ever-have-and-if-you're-lucky-Patrick-will-deliver General Tao chicken at The Great Wall; the wish-there-were-ten-more fish cakes at The Wooden Monkey;

Photo from:  http://scotiatoday.ca/nova-scotia-ns-canada/life/17-couchtime/5302-my-big-day-downtown-dinner-at-the-wooden-monkey.html
the Volcano Rolls at Fujiyama; the I'll-eat-like-a-king-even-if-I'm-po' $10 pizza and pasta night at Saege; the I-can't-believe-this-is-a-food-court vegetarian platter at Taste of India, my god, I could go on and on.



2.  That I have the world's most interesting friends.  Just to name a few, there's T who is a fabulous chef, who recently braved the world of the "mature student" to study food science so she can make sure we can all be safe when we eat the things we eat, and who has sewn and gifted me four of my top six favorite purses.

There's M who runs the local film co-op and has an unparalleled love for colour, quilted jackets and being a secret spy.


There's J who helped put the recent Halifax Pop Explosion together and can make everything from wine to fascinators to music videos.
Some of J's pretty fascinators.
There's D who spends his days helping people who suffer from addictions to drugs and alcohol, and his spare time playing bass in a heavy metal band and doing almost everything in another band project, mixing sound for people in other bands and going on random camping adventures with no tent or sleeping bag.
(If you like things funky, you have to check out one of D's projects:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Slippery-Moustache/55165983485?sk=app_2405167945 )

There's G who is currently traveling around Europe, who makes snowboards for a living, once took a two month course on making surfboards from a 70 year old man in Bali and has an adorable chinchilla called Rolly who hides behind the toilet when he's peeved and whose favorite snack is stickers.
Rolly deciding about his next meal.

3.  That my brother B is visiting from British Columbia right now.  B is an interesting cat.  He is a really, really talented chef who is about to embark on a new chapter in his career as the head chef at an out-of-bounds heli-skiing resort in BC.  (http://www.MicaHeli.com/ ) I love when he visits because he's not one of those chefs who doesn't like to cook when he gets home from work.  So far he's made us an amazing Paella and a delicious chicken curry, MMMMMMM!  He is practically a pro rock climber too, 
That's B up there!  Don't tell Mum...
and on account of his passion, has travelled pretty extensively and has seen some mind-blowing sights. 

He's also one of those guys who annoyingly ends up being really good at whatever he tries, which means he kicked all our asses at bowling last week, and ended up being the apartment Yahtzee champ too.  I still love him though.

4.  Being In Love.  (Awwww!)  My boyfriend is the greatest guy in the world and that makes me the luckiest girl in the world.  I love that he hates mornings, yet when I sometimes work at 6am, he gets out of our warm, cozy bed hours before he has to, stumbles into the kitchen and makes me a coffee, then stumbles back to bed.  I love that we are almost always on the same wave-length - we love spending hours roaming around in bookstores, or going to see live music,
One of dozens at this point, but this is Springsteen, so maybe the best!

or sitting around a campfire with a box of red wine and some steaks, or having sushi-saki-movie night at home, or cooking a delicious meal together.

I love that we can be in the middle of cooking said delicious meal and suddenly drop everything for a quick kitchen dance party.  I love that he's just as bad at singing as I am but we both sing all the time anyway.  I love that, even though it often stresses him out, he's got such an interesting and important job and I have so much respect for him for dedicating his life to helping cancer patients. I love that we are the first person the other wants to talk to when things happen and that we are each other's very best friend.


Honorable mentions:
*sitting in front of my bookshelf trying to decide which book to read next and having a hard time because I have so many I'm excited to get into.
*having the whole weekend off and being able to sleep in and have a leisurely Saturday morning snuggle with my honey.
*opening up the mail box and finding the latest InStyle or Style at Home in there instead of just ads and bills.
*discovering and falling in love with a new blog that has lots of old entries to browse through before getting caught up to the present.
*my super talented Mum's homemade salsa on nacho chips and her incomparable relish on a homemade burger.

Ah, life is good.  What are the things that make you happy right now?