Empanadas

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A Debutante Ball

Last night was the first time in a long time that Norm and I attended a Debutante Ball. On this night Jamie Jo celebrated her 18th birthday. As we walked in I immediately felt like I was 18 again. The girls were dressed in simple pink dresses and the boys were wearing brown ties. I was totally expecting the celebrant herself to come out in a big white traditional poofy dress but instead she was wearing a brown poofy dress with a pink sash. She looked stunning and all grown up. The cotillian entertained us with the waltz and the tango but with a modern twist. Hazel, my sweet shy Hazel, danced Hawaiian in front of 200 guests. I was so amazed and although Has was a little concerned with her outfit and her swaying hips, I could see him beaming with pride. Then it was party time so as per tradition, it started off with the bus stop to...you guessed it, Follow Me. Again, I felt like I was still in highschool until Hazel and Jonathan ran off and danced with their crew. It didn't stop me and Flo from dancing like no one was watching. No, I'm serious. I think I was busting out with moves from the...dare I say...'90s. Norm and I had a great time but our age slowly started to show as we got tired and went home before midnight. Happy Birthday Jai. Cheers!

Yah Man

It was Norm's turn to cook on Wednesday but instead of keeping it simple he brought it up a notch and a half. Guests arrived to a nice stream of reggae music and were given some Ting to cool them off from the hot Jamaican sun. (Okay, it was a cold day in TO but it's nice to pretend that we were on the Island). As everyone sat at the table, Norm brought each guest a plate of jerk chicken paired with some rice and beans. It was a bit hot for some of us but not hot enough for Ev, although she almost choked when she bit into a scotch bonnet. It seemed like the Habanero exploded in the rice which gave it a nice kick. For dessert, Norm made us a treat called Banana Foster. The bananas were simmered in rum, sugar and butter...and more rum. It was paired with Haagan Daaz vanilla bean ice cream. If it sounds good...let me tell you...it was so good! Norm also had some homemade sweet potato pie in the oven but by the time it was ready we were satiated. Good job Norm. It was a great dinner. Yah Man.

One Big Happy Dog Family

Remember Zoe? Our little pup is happy as can be living with her big brother Cisco. Seyla loves going to her Grandparents house so she can play with the dogs (and watch Treehouse!). When Seyla eats, Zoe is sure to be right underneath her chair in case any food falls right into her mouth. No wonder she's a little chunky. Tim and Louise have two little rascals running around their household. First came Coco (coconut is her nickname) and then came her little brother, Cashew (nut!). I think we should get Sammy in here and see how they all get along. But like Paul, Sammy is always MIA.

Dogs rule!

Go Leafs Go

Looks like the Leafs have to fight extra hard to get a playoff spot. Go Leafs Go!

Lent

Tuesday night we joined Trae, Fran and Sey at the Keg. They were giving up meat for Lent so they wanted to go out with a bang. During dinner Norm and I were trying to decide what we should give up. Chocolate? Coke? Coffee? It's all been done. What can we give up that would really be a sacrifice? And then it hit me...Going out to eat. And with that I decided to pair my steak with a pina colada and we topped it off with a Billy Miner pie.

After Ash Wednesday mass, we had dinner at Di's place. Gerwyn did not have enough time to cook so instead he ordered Swiss Chalet. Because it was Ash Wednesday, Ev and I opted for the Vegetarian option. Everyone else ate meat. That's right, even when I reminded Norm - he still wanted meat. Meathead.

On this Friday night we usually end the week by going out for dinner. Instead, we reheated yesterday's Sinigang dinner. Not too bad two days in a row but God help me if we have it again tomorrow. That's the problem with being a family of two. I must learn to make smaller portions. Or have a bigger family.

Apparently Fran and Trae want us to come over for dinner next week. They will be buying Lin Garden. Is that cheating? They've given up meat. There's absolutely no loop holes there.

I look forward to Easter.

BRAvo!

As usual Norm presented me with a Valentine's Day Card. That's all I really expect. A mushy card with meaningful mushy things although I never turn down presents! Norm has made arrangements with a friend who owns a lingerie store to have a proper bra fitting. That's right guys, I'm gonna get my breasts measured and buy some expensive brassieres. I saw an episode on Oprah which revealed 7/10 women are wearing the incorrect sized bras. I'm sure I'm one of them because I'm constantly readjusting almost to the point of having turrets. Thanks Norm for the thoughful gift.

Happy Birthday Norm

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dear Norm
Happy Birthday to you!

Addicted

My name is Mel and I'm addicted to Wii.
Sorry for not posting. Wii've been busy.

Wii

I finally got my hands on a Wii. It was hard but with determination and a little flirting, I got it! Hmm, I wonder if I should sell it on eBay? ha!

Weekend Pix

This is Baby AJ.
Mae & Glen's second baby.
Looks identical to Jared.
Very much a Soriano.






The girls decided to get together to welcome Ev back from her
romantic getaway to Hong Kong and Phuket.
She brought us back each a pashmina from HK. Thanks Eb!
Ron held a baby for the first time! Maybe he's ready?






We met up with the family to celebrate Jonathan & Flo's birthday.
We went for an all you can eat Sushi.
Hayden was hillarious during dinner. It must have been the coke.
The girls out ate the boys. I don't know if that's a good thing.

No Show

Yesterday we all gathered at a community centre to have a baby shower for Christine aka Ms. Fonzie. Turns out she was a no show...but for good reason. She was in labour and en route to the hospital. How crazy is that? Chances are she had the baby already (a boy I'm sure) and is now resting. Poor thing didn't even have her baby bag ready so we had to go through her gifts to see what she can use at the hospital. Sometimes its better when it takes you off guard so you're not lying awake at night closer to the due date wondering when it's going to happen. Anyway, we still enjoyed the party and played all the baby games. As competitive as I am, I held back and let the others win. Sharing is caring, right?

Happy Birthdays

Happy Birthday to Jonathan who turned 14 on January 17th. As each year passes he looks more and more like Has but his sweet personality is what he got from his Aunties. This year he graduates from Grade 8 and in September he starts high school. Yikes! I'm so proud of this kid.









Happy Birthday to Rayanne who turned 5 on January 20th. She is such a little princess who is obsessed with shoes. She has over 20 pairs I'm sure. We've added to her collection by buying her little Ugg like boots. She also enjoys makeup. One time after dinner she went into her purse and pulled out her lipgloss to reapply. How cute is that?







Happy Birthday to Seyla who will turn 4 on January 22nd. She loves to sing and dance and does not care who is watching. She also loves to eat at Lin Garden but still finds a way to hide her vegetables under her rice or noodles. Although Seyla is taller than the 5 year olds, her baby voice is a tell tale sign that she is only 4. I love when she leaves us random messages on our voicemail. I keep resaving them for when I have a bad day. It makes me smile in an instant. When asked what she wanted for her birthday she simply said, "Uncle Nom's coffee cake".






A new addition to our collection of godchildren is Baby Ella who was born on January 9, 2007. She is such a good baby who loves to sleep. I can spend hours just looking at her and smelling her. Can't get enough of that baby smell. I have a feeling she's going to be a silly little girl like Seyla.







Happy Birthday Kids. Ninang & Ninong are so lucky to have you in our lives!

Hold the beans please

Last night 3 of the 5 members of the Wednesday night dinner group went out for Mexican. Norm's friend opened up a new restaurant along Yonge & Dundas near Ryerson called Chimichanga. Because there was standing room only, we took our chimichanga and brought it to the Eaton Centre. As Di would say, it was just like those good ol' University days. We devoured our burritos and tacos and did not have enough napkins to clean our hands and to wipe our sweat. After dinner we headed home but not before stopping in the stores that were "on the way". Di and I went to the Baby Gap so I could buy a cute little outfit for Baby Ella. We searched the sale racks and all of a sudden I noticed an offensive farm-esque odour, almost as if a billy goat with a stomach infection from eating spoiled milk, had passed gas in the area. I quickly looked around me to see what that awful smell was and found no one...except for Di. Who does that?! Who are you?! Where did you come from?! I tried to run away but she kept following me yelling "it was the beans! it was the beans!". Well, next time we go to Chimichanga, I'll have to tell Dave to HOLD THE BEANS PLEASE!

Welcome to the family

Today Baby Ella came into the world weighing 6 lbs 7 oz at exactly 3:36 p.m. She is the sweetest thing. It kinda makes me want to have one of my own. I said kinda.

I also want to welcome another new addition to our family. Norm and I purchased a brand new camera - Sony 007 DSC-T50. As all of you know, I absolutely love taking pictures. I'm ecstatic! Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it. Ha ha. This should keep me busy for awhile.

Global Warming?

Okay, it's January 5th and it was 10 degrees today. In fact, it was double digits for most of the week. I am thoroughly enjoying it but I must admit, I'm a little scared about our environment and why we no longer get "snow days" where snow would be up to our hips and we would be summoned to stay home. These days our kids don't know snow the way we once knew it. Anyway, I am enjoying every minute of our wild and mild weather but I still have my long janes ready for when that snow storm catches us by surprise. Can you believe there's not even an inch of snow in Ontario for skiing? There were some people actually swimming and having picnics. How crazy is that? I was actually itching to go away - somewhere warm - but why bother? I can get a tan at home.

Mother's Dumplings

Yet another blog about food. Gosh it's getting hard to lose 5 lbs. Norm brought home some Mother's Dumplings - shrimp of course - and oh my gawd they were delish! The restaurant is a small, even tiny little whole in the wall but it's clean and everything is homemade. They also have frozen dumplings that you can take home - you should definitely get a few bags Sal and bring back with you to Montreal.

Mother's Dumplings. Another great find. Check it out!

http://www.mothersdumplings.com/

Lin Garden

If you haven't been to Lin Garden you are indeed missing out. It's my favourite Hakka restaurant by far. I do like Fredericks as well but the line up is incredible and it's a little farther now that I live downtown. My favourite dish is the house shrimp and yesterday we discovered they also have great deep fried squid! Our usual includes: hakka noodles (ordered the Hakka way), chicken pakora, chilli chicken, green beans, house shrimp and a big bowl of white rice.
We frequent this place usually once every two weeks. You should definitely give it a try...and give us a call if you do so we can meet up with ya'll.

Happy 2007!

Our New Years group had dinner at the Keg...well all but two. Rennie and Eric went to Hy's to celebrate a much needed romantic dinner for two and the rest of us went to the Keg to eat for half the price. The kids got full off of their salad. Go figure. The adults pretty much went all out with lobster and crab. I got the usual Oscar Sirloin that had shrimps and scallops with bernaise sauce. After dinner we walked home and found Rennie and Eric already home. Paul and Carlo also joined the group in time for games. The first game we played was Family Feud. How fun was that? Girls versus Boys. Take a wild guess who won? That's right, girls rock! Paul, our Barrista, spoiled us with hot Starbuck's like drinks using our espresso machine. We had chocolate & caramel sauce, marshmellows, whipped cream...you name it. It was awesome! After the countdown Fran made ham sandwiches and not just plain old ham sandwiches...we're talking about Uncle Vic's hamon in large kaisers. How is it that we're still eating? Anyway, on to more games and then later watched some stand up comedy. Somewhere around 3:30 AM I snuck into the bedroom where Seyla was sound asleep and joined her. Right now I'm the only one awake...just waiting until someone wakes up so we can go to breakfast!

What a great start to the new year. Oh wait a minute, do I have to go back to work tomorrow? That sucks.

New Years Eve

We will be having Norm's cousins over for New Years Eve - 10 adults and 3 kids. Last night we were rearranging our condo so we can all fit comfortably. We moved the dining room table to the den so that our living room will be more spacious. We won't need the table since we'll be going out for dinner (whew!). I think the plan is to go to the Keg for 5pm. I know it's early but the Keg does not take reservations and we don't want to wait 2 hours for dinner - especially with 3 kids. After dinner we plan on heading back to our place to hang out and play some games. If it's not too cold we will head over to Nathan Phillips for the free concert and the countdown - since I'm a bit sick, I'll stay home with the kids and watch it on TV.

For 2007 I plan on learning how to swim; doing more scrapbooking; filling my walls with art/pictures; losing the 5 lbs I gained over the holidays; or maybe getting pregnant and gaining 30 lbs.

I look forward to what 2007 brings.

Happy New Year Everyone!