Welly West and Hintonburg New Year’s update

With the weather warming up this afternoon, we decided to take a walk towards downtown. Many of our walks have been towards Westboro, so it was about time.

A picture says a thousand words, so here goes:

Top 10 Reasons I don’t have turkey @ Christmas

10. I HATE sticking my hand inside to take out the innards

9.  I don’t have a big enough carving plate.

8. There’s no room in the fridge with all the beer and Christmas cream.

7. If I gobbled it all up, I’d be stuffed like a turkey.

6. The cooking time interferes with fun winter stuff like tobogganing and skiing.

5. A turkey is just a chicken on steroids.

4. I’d have frozen turkey meat for sandwiches for a month.

3. I’d be eating turkey soup for a month.

2. I’d be eating turkey stew for a month.

1. I ate leftovers from a 30-lb bird by myself and have only had one slice since.

A winter wonderland

For Christmas this year we decided to visit Lake Placid. There is so much to do there, and we weren’t disappointed.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza and decided to buy our lift tickets through Liftopia. When we booked the hotel, there weren’t any stay and ski packages and we had no clue how much snow would be on the hill. It worked out well, because later on I discovered that you could do the bobsled and SKELETON! We’ve already down the bobsled once, at Igls in Austria. But skeleton was new. So we booked those for Boxing Day, and bought lift tickets for Christmas Day, thinking that everything else would be closed.

We drove down Friday afternoon. When we got to Adirondacks light snow began to fall. Main Street was all lit up, with Christmas trees adorning most store fronts and lots of fresh evergreen boughs in window boxes. We spent Friday evening wandering up and down Main Street, going through the outlet stores. It seems odd to find outlet stores in the middle of an old town. I’m so used to seeing them in farmer’s fields. One of the restaurants even had a wood fire on its patio, where you could stop to warm up your hands.

New Zealand shaken, but not stirred

My Christmas Cream recipe

I don’t often post recipes on this blog, but people often tell me that this tastes better than Bailey’s. In fact, it’s probably my only Christmas tradition that I know everyone loves to receive. The hats and socks I’ve knitted may not always fit properly, but Christmas Cream goes down like a dream.

I’ve painted reusable bottles with the expectation that they are returned clean. If you don’t return your bottle, you don’t get a refill next year. If you decide to give this as gifts, find a few nice bottles and paint them with glass paint or use markers made for glass. If you’re not very confident doing it by hand, use the computer and make labels.

Winter hiking

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about hiking, but it doesn’t mean that we haven’t been doing it. In fact, we’ve made it out every weekend and are now going for 13km treks in the Gatineau Park.

Mmmm beer

Last night we went to the new Clocktower Pub in Westboro for supper. The place was packed, and I’m glad our neighbours weren’t able to join us or we would have waited even longer. Going out as a couple simplifies so many things.

When you walk in, the wall welcomes you with clocks of all types. There was a free table right by the door, but with groups of four waiting for their tables anyone sitting there would have been gawked and have to wipe the drool from the other customers chins as they watched you eat. So we got a table by a pillar, which was good because it blocked us from the family on the other side. C’mon people, leave your kids at home, or take them to the diner. What is with people taking their kids out on a Friday night?

Am I dreaming of a white or green Christmas?

It’s now official, I have cycled to work past mid-December.

I was expecting to see snow or ice on the ground this morning, but it was still wet and fairly mild. The wind was a bit cold as I got near Tunney’s, and it wouldn’t have been nicer to have it coming from the southwest, but other than that, this morning’s cycling commute was uneventful.

Fishin’ for news in Westboro

An interesting nugget in the Ottawa Citizen this week, copied below:

The Valente brothers, who in 15 years have built the Fratelli brand into a successful local dining enterprise, have plans to expand into Westboro with a new fish restaurant as early as mid-May. Called Westboro Fish, the venture represents a complete departure from the traditional, comfort Italian fare Robert and Richard Valente have become known for since opening their first Fratelli restaurant at 749 Bank St. in 1996. The fish restaurant will be in the current leased Fratelli space at 309 Richmond Rd. in Westboro, while that Fratelli namesake will be relocated to nearby property the brothers purchased two years ago at 275 Richmond Rd., formerly occupied by The Village Quire stationery store. Fratelli currently has four locations in the Glebe, Westboro, Kanata and Barrhaven.

I hadn’t even thought that we’re missing a fish place. You can buy it wholesale in Hintonburg. And you can order salmon and fish and chips at most places, but I guess a fish place would work. Will keep you posted on progress.

 

Are you wondering how I’ve been getting to work?

I have no crushed my old record for cycling to work in the second coldest capital in the world. Previously I’d ridden the bike to December 6, but I’m already 9 days past that and there’s no end in sight this week!