Seen in Chinatown

I always get a kick of exploring Chinatown...

Saturday I went to a grocery store that took me directly to China!

                                            Dried salted fish hanging on a wall?
                                             Not for me....

I have no idea what that is...

It looks like crescent rolls in brine.

 

Chinese sausages, yep I like those...a lot

 

They are great white rice

 

 

The meat counter

 

This is actually from a Dim Sum restaurant.

I can see Peking Duck and BBQ Pork.

Sounds delicious.

We had a great meal with my Dad and my cousins.

It is a yearly tradition

                    
                                                                Be well!

Essential Embrocations...

Ok I love the title of this post and have been toying with it for quite a while now....

em·bro·ca·tion (mbr-kshn)


n.


1. The act or process of moistening and rubbing a part of the body with a liniment or lotion.


2. A liniment or lotion.
 
The other day I was cleaning out the bathroom cabinet for expired products and I found these...
 

 Ok count them....9! 9 rubs, oils and linimments....

Yep 9!

 And they say 3 or more is a collection! Could I be suffering from Essential Embrocatiis?

Look at the cool graphics on the boxes! They look so vintage and mysterious....Truth be told I need these...

Maybe not 9, but I have pain. Not just pain in the ass, LOL!

But back pain,neck pain,tennis elbow,shoulder pain all from 18 years of Bell Canada. A lethal mix of stress and computers...

 Also when I was a kid the smells of BenGuay, A-535 and Tiger Balm  were familiar and reassuring ones.

So whenever the air turns colder (it has been unseasonnably cool this past week) I turn to my essential embrocations...The bottles are priceless as well! I'll be hitting Chinatown today and the chinese pharmacy too. So much fun and relief and all under 3$!
 
I'll also be hitting the Salvation Army....Bring out the Pyrex people! the Queen's in town! LOL (I always wanted to say that!)

Thrifty Finds....Yellow

It seems that with the mild weather,people have started to clean their attics,basements,garages....And that is GOOD for us thrifters!

So yesterday I took the train to downtown Montreal and went to my fave thrifty haunt: The Salvation Army. First thing I noticed was that the shelves were full, full of interesting stuff...And not so interesting. I saw a medium size cardboard box (15x9x8 inches) full of those little soaps you get in hotels....unwrapped and dusty. Who donates that? If I worked at the SA I would've thrown that out big time! Would would buy that??? All wrapped up maybe... And then I saw it, I saw it in a big cart they put the stuff in before placing it in the shelves....

A pristine Pyrex yellow 503 fridgie! Oh my! Oh my! I squealed and knelt on the floor to grab it.OMGOMGOMGOMG! IT'S MINE,MINE,ALL MINE! DON'T EVEN LOOK AT ME OR AT THE DISH,DON'T COME NEAR MY CART YOU INGRATE!!! Ok that was a bit much, but it's basicaly what the Pyrex crazy woman in my head screamed. It was in better condition than the one I already had...so of course I had to take it home...

Also some mini yellow Syracuse China cups....Could they be for expresso??? They are so tiny! They would look great with a tiny plant inside.... and that strange star shaped glass mold with tiny legs and the word Queen Anne under and phoenix...could be used as a jello mold....It might be Glasbake but quite early 

. It made me think of my Dad...he might have a fun story about that mold!

And last but not least....

3 little birdies to hang in the tree. They have aluminium clamps. One was missing a tail but I bet I can fix it....I'm guessing they are quite old, before 1950.And the best part is they were FREE!

FREE!FREE! My favorite word...GRATIS (french).

FREE stuff, FREE food,FREE booze....It's like music to my ears!LOL

Have a great weekend everyone! Don't stay in the sun too much!

Henry's Chinese Lunch

Before taking a well deserved vacation with Santa Claus and gang; Henry asked for a lunch in Montreal's Chinatown.

What a great idea! I love chinese food! My favorite restaurant was closed until Jan 6th-Big bummer! I could almost taste the shrimp wonton, the shrimp in lobster sauce....sigh

So I asked Henry if he minded going to another one of my fave chinese dives, Mon Shing A.K.A Samourai delicatessen.

While employed I went there every week, the food was good and cheap but had the worst service EVER! Henry's always up for new and different!

Here Henry is enjoying some shrimp with lobster sauce and some beef chow main...YUM!

Henry's thinking: Wow those Singapour noodles sure look good!

Henry had a whirl on the lazy susan, but by then the waiters were scowling....so no pictures!

We laughed a lot, we ate too much so we were faithful to ourselves-It it's not broken don't fix it!

Henry had a nice nap in the car on the way home...

We watched Deck the Halls later at night and had a lot of fun, then off to bed!

Ooooh flowers!

I still don't have fresh pictures.... I'm usually a compulsive shutterbug but since the computer incident I only take 30% of my usual quantity.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. I finished working on the front border: defining,weeding adding new soil and planting the annuals I bought the day before. The temperature has been really cold and wet lately and yesterday was supposed to be the only nice day, so I was outside most of the day.

Except that I sneeked in inside long enough to bake some water crackers and make a nice pasta fazul (pasta e fagioli) for supper. What's not to like? Vegeterian,low fat,full of fibre and oh so filling!!! You can even enjoy it at room temperature!

Well that was a success! Dan said I could make that everyday for ever (I don't think so!).

The crackers weren't dry or thin enough. But delicious as well, I'll just have to roll them thinner and leave them longer in the oven. I'm itching to try that recipe with different kinds of flour....

Today I'm heading to downtown Montreal to have supper with girlfriends and a visit to the Salvation Amy (YAY!) maybe I'll even have time to grocery shop in Chinatown.....

Have a nice day! :)

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!!!

Taking the tree down

So I was supposed to start yesterday but didn't do much....

At 6 this morning I was pulling out Pyrex from the armoire amd filling them with ornements.

I give myself a big pat of the shoulder for thinking about 'separating' the ornements so it's easier to put in the boxes....Of course Yoda was there to check everything and do the inventory...LOL

Third picture you can see the gorgeous cupcake ornements my dad gave me before he left for Spain...He's coming back tomorrow...I can't wait to see him...Probably next week for some Dim Sum in Chinatown.

Besides losing most of my social network, the thing I miss the most now is Chinatown. Sigh,

I would go every week, get weird veggies and ingredients and desserts and gross out my co-workers ( who were not very adventurous...) One exception my dearest collegue and friend Ann, who would treck to Chinatown with me and eat basically everything....Too funny!

She never thought the joint was too dirty to eat in (amazing) and followed me wherever I went. I miss her dearly...We talk nearly everyweek but we live very far away....Oh well!

So I can report that most of the decorations are in their boxes...supper is nearly ready...Oops I need to make coffee...hehehehe

I'll write soon, I promise!