My first attempt at making Xmas dinner

Christmas day was a bit different for us this year. My sister & her hubby decided they wanted to spend Xmas Day alone with their two little girls and my brother had a gathering at his place with his little guy, his girlfriend and our dad. So Dan & I invited my mom over to our place for Christmas.

We're all quite used to having a traditional turkey dinner on Christmas Day, but this year was different. Dan & I don't cook much, as our kitchen isn't the best for it (it's super small and the stove is butted up against the fridge, so it's not a good idea to have the oven on for long periods), but I came up with the idea that we'd have an Italian dinner this year. Have a few appetizers and then the main course ... it was my first time making any of these foods, but they all turned out quite well (phew!).

We started with Roasted Apple & Prosciutto Wedges

Then had some super yummy Potato Croquettes, stuffed with mozzarella cheese

Then onto Beef Spezzatino al Chianti

And for dessert, a super delicious Panna Cotta con Mango

The original plan was to also have a pasta dish (Spaghetti al Limone) after the potato croquettes, but we decided to skip it, as we were all SO stuffed by that time (and we still had stew and dessert to go). But Dan & I made the Spaghetti al Limone for dinner on the 27th and MMMMMM!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness, it was so unbelieveably good - I can't wait to have it again. :D

Xmas 2008

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

Best little wedding ever!

The fab Thoughtful Day featured a few pics of my bridal bouquet on her blog the other day. She had a posting up about DIY-flowers for weddings and I had left a comment about how I had made my own bouquet for my wedding in Italy a few years ago ... the next thing I knew, she posted a few pics for her readers to see!

Of course, it made me start thinking about all sorts of things - our wedding in Siena, the overall time period (2005), friends who joined us at our wedding on the other side of the world ... I guess I was what you would call "reflecting". Oh how I'd love to do it all over again!! Who knows, maybe Dan & I will have to be one of those cheesy couples that does a vow renewal at the 5 or 10 year anniversary mark. Hey, it's a good excuse to try to wrangle up our peeps and head back to Italy!! :)

Bottom photo by Ricardo André Frantz

Brrr!

Holy bejeebers, you sure can tell I'm a true Vancouverite. I say this because I find the temperatures we've been having BRUTAL! I cannot believe how cold it is! I just got home and honestly, the temperature outside right now has got to be the coldest that I've ever experienced. EVER.

It's currently -11°C (that's about 12.2°F to my American friends/readers) outside, but with the windchill it feels like -18°C (= -0.4°F). Ummm, hello?! -18°C?! Crazy cold.

So basically, I've never been outside of the lower mainland in the winter and this is the worst I've ever had it ... and I think I'll keep it that way! And yes, I am well aware that I probably should be ashamed to call myself a Canadian if I think this is cold, but hey, what can I say? :)

Photo courtesy of the City of Vancouver

(picture taken from City Hall, which is just down the road from where I live)

View from the living room window

It's a snow day! Here's the view from our front window ...

At 10am:

At 12 noon:

And it's still snowing ... which is kinda surprising, as usually our snowfall here in Vancouver is pretty short lived.

Not Printemps!

Explosives found at Paris department store
By Basil Katz and Katrin Bennhold

International Herald Tribune, Europe
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

PARIS: French police found a package of explosives at the Printemps department store complex in central Paris on Tuesday, a spokeswoman at Paris police headquarters said. The spokeswoman, Mélanie Leprettre, said a warning about the explosives had been sent Tuesday morning to the French news agency Agence France-Presse, which alerted the police. A previously unknown group demanding the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan claimed to have planted the explosive devices. Officials said that five sticks of dynamite had been found.

An editor at AFP, André Birukoff, said the news agency had received an earlier warning that an attack on Printemps was imminent. He said that one of AFP's journalists had received an anonymous telephone call on the morning of Dec. 10 warning that there would soon be an explosion at the department store. The caller broke off before identifying himself or giving any other information. Employees said that the store had been on high alert for several days.

The discovery of the explosives at the height of the Christmas shopping season threw the area into confusion, with traffic backed up as the police cordoned off streets around Printemps. The store, on the elegant Boulevard Haussmann in the heart of one of the French capital's main shopping districts, is packed with shoppers and tourists at this time of year.

Security agents at the scene said the explosives had been discovered in a rest room on the third floor of the Printemps men's store, one of three Printemps buildings in the complex. All three stores were evacuated.

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How horrible would that had been? Not only could people been injured and/or killed, but another one of my fave department stores in Paris would be gone! Eeep!

Bone sequestra

Soooo ... those of you who know me know all about my dental anxieties. I've been freaked out by the dentist and dental procedures since I was little. The first time I ever went to a dentist I was quite old (6 or 7 years old) and I had to have a tooth extracted. On my first visit!!! I've been traumatized in regards to dental-issues ever since.

You may recall a post I did in April 2007 regarding a dental issue I had. My back molar cracked in half and it had to be extracted (MY WORST NIGHTMARE!). It wasn't a very fun experience but I survived.

Now get this - over a year and a half later, a minor complication has come about as a result of that extraction/dental surgery. Seriously! Ever heard of bone sequestra?? Apparently a good chunk of root from the extracted tooth was left in my gums and has been trying to work its way out ever since (your body will naturally reject/expel things like this). Usually this happens within weeks of a difficult extraction, but with me it took over a year and half (sheesh!). Anyways, the bone fragment finally found it's way to the surface of my gums, but was having difficulty finding its way out on its own. So yesterday I went to the dentist and he removed it. Luckily it was small enough that I didn't have to get stitches - phew! My gum is a tad achey but that's all; the dentist said it will just feel like a really bad canker sore for a few days.

It was no biggie, really. I only had to remind myself to breathe while in the dental chair a couple of times - not bad for me. I think I'm getting braver in my old age. Yay for me! :)

Canada reaches aviation pact with European Union

Canada reaches aviation pact with European Union
at 9:38 on December 9, 2008, EDT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union and Canada have reached a landmark deal to open up their air services markets to each other. EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani says the pact will lead to more transatlantic trade and spur competition in the air services sector. He says the deal, which removes restrictions on ownership and direct flights, makes "the EU-Canada market one of the most open in the world."Expected to come into force in the first half of 2009, the deal will allow airlines based in the 27-member European Union bloc to operate direct flights to Canada from anywhere in Europe.It removes restrictions on routes, prices and the number of flights allowed between the two sides.It also foresees a phase-out of restrictions on investment and foreign ownership in airlines and could lead to European investors setting up airline operations in Canada.

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Nice! This can only lead to good things for us Canadian travellers!! WAHOO! :)