Slowly but surely...hehehe

Whooohoooo! I installed the spot in the kitchen!

Props to me!!! Logically the concept of electricity is relatively easy....Black wire to black wire, white to white, ground to ground...But installing light fixtures in a old house...another story!

So whenever I have to do it (I'm the house electrician and plumber) I shake in my underwear!

So I'm really proud of myself, I did it!!! I have to install a 3 spot track, but I don't know to which breaker those wires are attached to because they sit in a hole in the ceilling and have been that way for 8 or 9 years....And the guy or gal that wired the house was a joker for sure...I explain: By turning off the breaker to install that spot, I turn off my electric alarm clock in my bedroom on the second floor....How's that for funny? So I figure I'll have to buy a thing-a-majing to check if the current is running in those wires....LOL

Like my father would say: It keeps you occupied!

Dad is in Milano,Italy ,working and coming back next week. I can't wait! I really miss our nearly daily chats!!!

Guess what? I have to go and paint something !

Tired I am....

Not the most beautiful pictures.....So we decided to paint the kitchen...and started by going to get all the materials at Home Depot on good friday. Saturday morning bright eyed and bushy tailed (I love that expression!) we began slowly but surely....One of my jobs was tackling the microwave stand. It's not used to carry the microwave but a tv stands on it and the rest id full of my cookbooks. Of course I would've prefered a hoosier, but not right now...lol

As you can see on the first pic, the scheme the kitchen was before. We had some khaki sand (on the wall) a lighter vserion of it on the top cabinets and the molding, the bottom of the cabinets was this dark indian blood-whew let me tell you it was time we changed those colors!!!

The red turned a kind of fushia and the other colors a kind of yellow ( could it be because of the smoke??? We smoked like chimneys before) 4 years smoke free in September 09!!! YAY!

Back to the program....And we had some funky faux finishes and varnish on a lot of surfaces. Dan is certainly the grand poobah of faux finish....On the top of the microwave stand was aluminum foil,all textured with some dark stain and varnish on it...quite nice at the time!

Suffice to say the kitchen is not done yet! LOL

I must go and give the last coat on some cabinet doors...It's gonna be GORGEOUS! Corn husk green and snow fall white (Behr paints).

I want to welcome the new followers, I hope you'll enjoy reading my blog!

Salut!

Sugar shack

The picture is courtesy of www.bonjourquebec.com.

I always enjoy good value, especially at the restaurant.

I don’t want to pay for the name, the hype, the celebrity chef; I just want to pay for good honest food.

Take the sugar shack for example; in the greater Montreal region a typical meal would cost around 20$, which I find really, really overpriced considering that sugar shack food is eggs, potatoes, ham, lard, thick cut bacon, beans and maple syrup.

Okay there is the tradition, the facts that this supports maple products producers etc….But 20 $ is still too much for eggs (in my humble opinion).

For that price I could provide a similar kind of meal for 4 people.

Well in the Montreal region we have a visionary that will not only serve you a sugar shack meal but will charge you 45 $ for it. Yes you read that right! That is a lot of mullah!

Granted he is a well known chef and the food is fancier…. but enough is enough!!! I am certain I will not make any friends in the Montreal foodie world, but this guy is laughing at us all the way to the bank!!!

I have members of my family (not immediate) that think that this guy is a GENIUS…I ate his food once (Cassoulet), it was good but nothing to write home about!

So for that price you get…. pea soup, gravlax (marinated salmon), cretons (meat spread), mesclun salad with oreilles de crises (fried lard), and a souffléed omelet topped with mackerel and smoked beef.

I got this information in the Montreal Gazette. And imagine that, the omelet was bland! And the pea soup was good but couldn’t quite compete with the critic’s family recipe.

So far no ham….and no pan fried potatoes…strange! But get this if you want tourtiere (meat pie) you need to spend 15$ more. I hope it’s for the whole pie, but I could be wrong! LOL

They are now taking reservation for next year….

So Mr. Picard don’t count on me to make your bank account fatter.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Happy Passover!

Don't eat too much chocolate...LOL

The 10 Commandments

Ok I admit it I'm a 10 commandments junkie!!!

I love biblical dramas. Just before Easter I feel the deep need to watch that classic movie.

I deplore the lack of biblical movies nowadays. I remember growing up in the 70's you couldn't watch anything besides a good old biblical drama.

Oh Charleston! You are definitely the king of those movies!

After I watch 4H45 min of that delicious film, I will feel the need for BenHur! Fo'sure!

I know myself....I love that melange of vintage,tacky,hollywood,history,religion,epic that is the biblical drama!

Thank you Cecil B. DeMille! And by the way, please notice that Yul Brenner's ponytail keeps changing place....

Sleep tight and keep an eye opened for Charleston!

Schmap Montreal

I got a nice email yesterday informing me that this picture would be included in the Schmap Montreal Seventh Edition!

I find this very cool that one of my fave pics of one of my favorite places would get chosen to appear in this guide about my hometown!

This very retro sign is of the Wing's chinese noodles company on Cote and dela Gauchetiere street.

The Wing Building may be the oldest building in Chinatown. It was built in 1826 by James O'Donnel, the architect of Notre Dame Basilica in Old Montreal. The Wing Building has been a military school, a paper boxfactory, and warehouse. Wing Hing Lung is a Chinese expression for "a long life" and Wing's is known for its fortune cookies and noodles. The company was founded by Arthur Lee who was born in Chinatown over seventy years ago.( courtesy of Montreal walking tours www.vehiculepress.com/montreal/chinatown )

Well now you know just as much about that building as I do (lol). I couldn't find anything more in the web. But one thing is for sure, the next time I walk by I will look at it differently!!!

Problem fixed!

Well I fixed my guitar problem! I'm not to follow the 'advanced' class just yet, I will wait for September.

I stopped my check and slept like a baby. I will practice from now on, so I can play the !@#$%^&* bar codes. Then I'll probably feel ready for the next step.

I always had music fantasies growing up, but it never was within budget (as per Mom). I did get to figure skate for 4 years until the private lessons were inevitable and not within budget...

I was an only child and things had to be just so (as per Mom). It was all I knew. If something was not in my Mom's vision I could forget about it!!! Dad worked most of the time so he probably was never aware of this. I had a great childhood, but oh so different from all my friends and of course I wanted to be like them!

I wanted roast beef and mashed potatoes and I got shrimp tempura! Now I see the luck I had that my parents were so different, it definitely broadened my horizon!

The first time I had a hot chicken sandwich I was 24, and I found it soooo good that I had the same thing for supper the next day!!! LOL

Also nothing, I say NOTHING at the Salvation Army...It was as if someone made all the cool stuff disappear! Weird....

I also did 2 church basements and NOTHING...ok not true I found a weird looking little beaker of sorts...definitely not Pyrex, but interesting. After a good cleaning, I'll take a picture for your viewing enjoyment!

Be good and Happy Easter!