A trip to the North Pole

Last Saturday we gathered together at Rachel and Eugene's. As Francis pointed out, we're all grown up now as can be noticed by our well planned potluck. We had oxtail, afritada, roast beef, churasco chicken, vegetables, leek and artichoke dip and a selection of cakes for dessert. While the big kids watched the UFC fight, i took the opportunity to get to know my godson. I don't normally get a warm welcome and usually there are a million other kids for him to play with but this time he gave me a chance and I wasn't going to let it pass. He was great at playing Pictureka - a game similar to Where's Waldo. Every now and then he would do a little victory dance after shouting out "Pictureka"! Upstairs he was eager to show me his Halloween costume, both of us giggling as I struggled to get him in it. After a million pictures and 6 hours later, Benjo and I were buddies. Mission accomplished. At least for now.

Girls Night Out

The cougars were on the loose Friday evening at Kennedy Commons to watch Whip It. To our surprise there was a bacci table so a few of us took off our jackets and got down and dirty. I would have been okay with playing bacci all night but after we got our snack pack of popcorn, a drink and your choice of candy we made our way to the very back row of the theatre. It was like we were in highschool all over again except some of us now wear glasses, we're heavier or should I say healthier, one was experiencing heart palpitations as she squirted fake butter on her popcorn and I am sure one or two of us dozed off during the movie as it was a late showing. Our original plan was to go to Wonderland's Halloween Haunt but who are we kidding?

Too cute

I love this. It's a card that I received from Seyla. I asked her why she made my hair so big because i know she was way too young to remember my big, thick hair. She said it's hard to draw thin hair with her markers. Mental note: buy Seyla thin markers.

Why does she call me Ninang Medium you ask?

4 Year old Seyla: Are you coming to my birthday party?

Me: No Seyla, it's only for small kids and not for adults

Seyla: ...But you're only medium!

I am sure she will be calling me Ninang Medium until she is 20 and I will continue to call her Seylaboolaboola. Let's just hope I stay medium!

Yoga Monday

Monday nights are reserved for yoga night with Diana. It's perfect because the yoga studio is located smack dab in the middle of our condos. Soon (as in next month!) Diana will be moving...not too far but far enough to make it less convenient for her to go. My hope is that we can continue our Monday night downward dogging. It's always a great way to clear our minds and start the week off on the right foot.

Sacher Torte

This weekend in class we made a sacher torte. I know you're all probably wondering what the heck is a sacher torte...but it's nothing to write home about. I'm not a big fan of european cakes. This one in particular is dry. Inside the layers we added apricot jam and we topped it off with a chocolate ganache. If I had to do this cake again I would add a little oil, use raspberry filling instead of apricot, and put some whipped cream somewhere. Apparently you can order a real sacher torte straight from Vienna. It comes in a wooden box and will cost you $100.

Looks like Norm got a hold of my password. See post below.

My husband is the BEST

Thought I would let everyone know how much I love Norm, my husband. We have been married for 7 years, but we have been a couple for almost 20 years. He is really something else, like out of this world GREAT. I don't know what to say, but he is really great. So great, I wanted to do a collage for him. I love you Norm!

How do you solve a problem like Maria?

The Sound of Music is one of my favourite movies of all time. Once I heard that the musical was coming to Toronto, I was so excited! Not only did Norm manage to get tickets on my actual birthday but he also scored nice box seats. When he called the box office he asked where the best seats in the house were for his "small wife". It was great to give my neck a rest from looking over other people's heads or shoulders. Elicia MacKenzie who played the role of "Maria" did an extraordinary job. And all the kids: Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta and little Gretl were a joy to watch. These kids amaze me because they are so young yet they put on a perfect performance. I must admit, I had doubts that a musical can re-create the Swiss Alps but the hills were definitely alive at the Princess of Wales theatre.

Marquez Thanksgiving

My sister in law and partner in crime Floree had to work on Thanksgiving so we all pitched in to create a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. I made turkey, macaroni pie, mashed potatoes and apple pie; Mom made ham; And of course Mama (Floree's mom) brought enough food to feed an army. Instead of transporting the kids to our place, we thought it would be easier to transport the food to my brother's place. We came extra early to put the bird in the oven and most importantly to spend some time with the kids. Before sitting down to have our dinner, we said our prayers and asked the kids what they were thankful for. Hayden's response was, "I'm thankful for God and for apples". Apparently he's a fan of my apple pie.

Barrientos Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays because of the fall foliage, family gatherings and all the great food! It's a time when family and friends can gather together without the gift giving obligations that often come with Christmas. It's a great chance for us to take a step back and see how fortunate we are and give thanks to all the goodness that surrounds us. This year each unit of the Barrientos family came dressed in a certain colour - particularly so that we'll look coordinated in our family photos. These photos are then taken to to a photolab to create the traditional Christmas photo cards - which is why I will not post those pictures here. I do not want to ruin the Christmas card surprise. Instead, I have posted pictures of us playing Headbands. It doesn't matter what game we play, it just seems to get louder and louder and more fun by the minute! We also played a BiMgo (our version of Bingo), majong and cards. Special thanks goes out to Dancing Queen & Big Dog for coordinating the food and for hosting this event for the big Barrientos clan.

A visit to Pumpkinland!

Instead of going to Buffalo for the weekend (Plan A) we opted to go to Whittamore farm (Plan B) with the kids for some fun at Pumpkinland! Seyla had a great time running around through the corn maze, jumping on the bale of hay, feeding the animals, milking a (fake) cow, playing in the treehouse and sitting on all the pumpkins! Ella, the more conservative one, took her time getting acquainted with her surroundings but quickly followed her Ate around always asking, "Can I go, too?". The line up for the wagon ride was too long a wait for my tired little friends so instead they enjoyed some ice cream and in lieu of picking out a pumpkin, I got some pumpkin

pie!

Are you a morning person?

I used to love waking up at the break of dawn and getting a head start on the day. Saturdays I would clean, do laundry and make a run to the market all before 9am. Lately I've realized that I can't get up. I've even changed my cooking classes to the afternoon. This morning my mom called at 645 am. Note: I don't have to wake up until 8 am today since I'm working downtown. However, I had to wake up because I thought it was an emergency. Turns out she just wanted me to know that she is going to make ham and wanted to make sure that I was making turkey for Thanksgiving. Is it possible? I don't blame her for calling so early. It's usually the only time she can catch me. My aunt from South Carolina (her sister) also calls me this early on a weekend. I'll have to inform them that I am no longer a morning person.

I need coffee.

Engagement Party

Tonight we gathered at Saadia & Raju's place to celebrate the exciting times ahead for Diana and Gerwyn. Everyone helped in putting together the delicious spread of chicken with basil, lamb chops, mushroom risotto, noodles, fried rice, salad and appetizers. We always worry that we won't have enough food but in the end the Soriano's had a ball packing away tomorrow's lunch or dinner. As expected, I was in charge of dessert. I made the caramel crunch cake (featured in an earlier post), red velvet cupcakes and bought a PC cheesecake. I think we all had a great time eating, chatting and toasting to the soon to be Begonia's! Congrats again guys! And thanks again for staying in the 416...

Nuit Blanche

Once a year, certain parts of downtown Toronto are converted into "art projects". We usually think of art in the traditional Louvre-esque sense: sculptures, oil paintings. Nuit Blanche produces a different art experience! For instance, the art project at Bay St and King St was a carnival ride that swings people up and down, free cotton candy and free popcorn: this was an artist's impression of how the stock market took all of us for a wild up-and-down ride this past year.

"Suspended 65 metres in the air between the Viljo Revell-designed Toronto City Hall towers, the four 7m square alphanumeric quartz lamp arrays will display codes, DNA sequences and elemental words. With each of the four "characters" consisting of 16 light segments, the machine is capable of displaying nearly 4.94 billion distinct graphic combinations, facilitating the expression of any word in any language. Automated code sequences will run between live performance times".

To add to this, there was food this year! Organic burgers, roasted corn, the indian-food vendors. Now THAT, is art that I can appreciate.

Let the blogging begin

At the end of every year I normally have approximately 87-88 blogs. It has been consistent every year but presently I am only at 46 entries and we are now in October. I do apologize to my blogger buddies but I'm sure we can all agree that it has been a rough year for everyone and blogging has been left at the wayside. My goal is to reach 90 blogs this year so let the blogging begin. Oh, and has anyone figured out how to print these blogs into nice little keepsakes?

How sweet it is

That's right ya'll, I learned how to make the infamous caramel crunch ooey gooey goodness cake! Mom & I are on mission to learn how to make sans rival. It's a filipino cake with meringue layers similar to this but in between are layers of butter. Now that I know how to make the meringue, I think we can attempt the sans rival and just in time for Christmas!

It's about time...

You all know that I don't have a cell phone. If you wanted to reach me, you can call me at work and in the evening and weekends you can call me at home. When I drive I simple borrow one of Norm's many work phones 'just in case'. Lately the old fashion way of meeting hasn't been working. When I meet friends at the Eaton Centre, I still meet them at 'the clock' even though the clock no longer exists. Well, the other day Norm and I met after work but we were waiting at different spots. After 15 minutes of waiting, I went to a pay phone and slipped a quarter into the machine to call Norm. It quickly told me to add another 25 cents! Wow, where have I been? Norm picked up his cell phone but didn't hear me on the other line yelling, "Norm! Don't hang up! Norm? Can you hear me?" and click, he hung up. To make a long story short, we successfully found each other and we went straight to Rogers to pick up a cell phone. I promise not to be one of those people who have a cell phone but never answer, unless of course I'm at work, school, gym or church. Let the fun times begin...

Confirmation

Hazel, my 12 year old niece, called me last night to ask if I can be her confirmation sponsor and of course I said Yes. When we are baptized our godparents are chosen for us by our parents. Up to this day, I honestly do not know who my godparents are. When I was confirmed, my mom once again influenced me to choose her friend. I have not heard from this friend since. After my conversation with Hazel, I asked my sister in law if she or my brother influenced her to choose me but apparently it was completely her choice. I am completely honoured. Growing up, my aunts and uncles were a very big part of my life so I make every effort to be a part of hers.

Coldstone

Last week Norm & I stumbled on what we thought was only available in the US. Coldstone Creamery is now popping up at select Tim Hortons. They take plain ice cream with your choice of toppings and smack it around on a cold, granite stone. It's quite the experience when you're in the US where there are many Coldstone Creamery stores but here in Toronto, you will find them inside Tim Hortons which changes the whole experience. We ordered vanilla ice cream with banana, caramel and pecans. Sloppy Jo behind the counter slapped it around the granite a couple of times and scooped it in a cup while leaving some ice cream drippings on the sides. It looked gross but I must say it tasted good! Although I found it weird to see Coldstone in our Canadian coffee shop, and although Sloppy Jo needed a lesson in the art of ice cream smacking, I still give the ice cream itself a thumbs up! Yet another reason why we don't need to go south of the border.