Category Archives: Fun

Invasion of Las Cucarachas

Posted in Finding Home, Fun, Life by

This is something I’ve gotta share, because it’s so gross and so ridiculous I can’t keep it in. (Wow – that’s a really tempting opening line, no? High five for gross and ridiculous!)

Right: Last Thursday Zsolt and I finished our dinner, and were putting away the dishes when outta the blue Zsolt starts raising his voice: “There’s something on the counter!”

Our counter is plastic, but pretends to be marble with a dark marble-like pattern. So at first I don’t see it – but then, hello! Movement on the counter.

Oh. My. God.

For some reason, I’m holding Zsolt’s favourite mug and I begin trying to both catch or smash this bug that’s booting it across the counter. Zsolt stops worrying about the bug and starts freaking out over the mug, saying over and over it’s his favourite mug and ‘not with my favourite mug’.

The bug shoots off to the corner of the kitchen counter, then – with no escape in sight, turns around and starts running back at me. “Give me another cup!”

We somehow switch mugs and now I’ve got my English Stamp mug in my hand, which is nice quality china and a gift from my library friends when I left the UK. But at that moment it became a smashing tool.

This bug is hoofing it! I’ve never seen an insect run like this. And in the back of my mind, all I can think is “Oh shit.”

But! The front of my mind is on the ball, and “BAM” I cup the sucker. No, I didn’t crush it. I cupped it. My thing with insects is that I’m continually pulled between cupping them or killing them. So I have a rule: if it isn’t a threat, I cup; if it is a threat, I KILL. At this point, the bug was unidentified.

After cupping this thing, we spend like 5 minutes figuring out how to flip the cup over and plastic wrap the top so we could examine the insect up close without losing it. Zsolt took care of the flipping and I handled the plastic wrapping. Then we headed to the computer and I google-searched the word, “Cockroach.”

Mother Tucker. I won the prize.

The cockroach was only about ¾ an inch to an inch large, but it had all the google-listed items: the antennas, the wings, the little things that stick out the back and the Olympic-race-winning legs that run really damn fast.

So that was Thursday. Over the weekend I was at the Ultimate Wake Up, but still managed to amass an arsenal of roach-killing goodies in between sessions. Now here is the plan:

  • Check with neighbours to see if they also have roaches. This is likely, whether or not they’ve spotted the f*kers.
  • Set out traps of jars filled with water, which I’ve done, with the inside greased with vasoline. DROWN ROACHES, DROWN! And make some baking soda balls with which to poison them.
  • Find a shop that sells cockroach traps and stock up, purchase extras to give to the neighbours & entice them to co-operate in the effort. (Plus, this is a good excuse to maybe actually knock on a door and say hello; so maybe there’s some good in this bad, eh? “Building community through cockroaches.”)
  • Seal up cracks. I need to buy some steel wool, will be duct taping closed the access to the water pipes (it’s really big), and will stuff cracks between wall & cupboard and by the door with steel wool.
  • May spray areas with bug-killing poison . . . but we are trying for non-toxic methods before heading down that road.
  • Email Landlord to have holes in walls patched (we’re kinda mid-renovation here)
  • Take out garbage every evening, as well as recycling.
  • Wash, dry and put away dishes whenever necessary. Sweep for crumbs. Wipe dry wet surfaces.
  • DESTROY ALL ROACHES.

So I’m not totally worried. I adore this apartment, and some stupid disease carrying bugs aren’t going to stop that relationship. Screw them and their tiny antennas. Zsolt and I are becoming roach busters.

Orange, Not Pink, and Halloween!

Posted in Fun, Life, Love by

Quickie post just to say hello and wish you a very happy Halloween. I love Halloween, even though I basically do nothing on the day itself. But with pumpkin preparation, and building up to this time of year with all the fallen leaves of reds, brown and yellow . . *sigh*. . . how could you not love Halloween? I know that October is meant to be painted with pink – and for sure it is in some places, but for me it’s about the falling leaves and how they crunch underneath the foot. And honestly, I’ve been so wrapped up in how pretty it is this time of year, I hardly even noticed it was breast cancer awareness month. Really, it’s October –which means, it’s the month for HALLOWEEN.

Anyhow. Zsolt’s been working like a nutter these past several weeks, so this weekend it was all about bonding. We had my brothers over for brunch, we went to the market, looked at costumes for Z’s workplace, roasted a chicken, portioned chicken soup for later, watched a movie and carved this pumpkin. Sometimes I think you need these lazy and yet emotionally productive days.

I just want to say, I love October. And if you decide to focus on the things that warm your heart, I reckon the other stuff just fades into the background.

Happy Halloween, from Bumpybooooooooooos!

Vanier Snack Shack – Poutinized!

Posted in Finding Home, Food, Fun, Life by

This evening, I ate a cheese-stringy, gravy covered, steaming hot bite of the neighbourhood at The Casse-Croute Vanier Snack-Shack. That’s right, we poutinized our evening and discovered another charming go-to destination amongst the streets of our new home. (And I watched a networking/marketing master at work – talk about having people invest in your business . . . oh my goodness, it was fantastic.)

Here’s the thing about Vanier that’s awesome, and what I never really anticipated before moving here. This area of Ottawa has a whole lot of community sunk right down deep into its streets, venues, and parks. And bit by bit – through the neighbours Zsolt gets chummy with, the fellow who bikes around with his trailer and waves hello, the dad who plays with his daughter every morning outside, the house that’s covered in ornaments, the park that hosts a spring-time sugar shack, and now our night excursion to the snack shack – we are learning more and more about this community.

I’m going to tell you about this Vanier Snack Shack right now, because I feel like it’s only right. You’ll see why in just a second.

Okay, this evening I had planned on baking salmon (still marinating and raw in the fridge at this moment) to eat along with the Naosap Harvest wild rice I was given at the Shesconnected conference this past weekend. Very healthy, no? Yes. But through a combination of feeling damn lazy, a wee bit discouraged from an unexpected bill (can you say, “whoops, I spent how much?!”), and being about a day away from my period – I was like, screw the salmon! I want to visit that remote snack house we noticed the other day by chance.

Zsolt wisely consented.

So we were off! Walking along the dark streets of the neighbourhood, we pass through an empty lot and approach the snack shack. Thankfully it’s open (we’ve tried to visit before and failed), which I can tell because there’s light coming from inside and there are little Christmas lights around the doorway and window.

In we go!

First impression: Inviting. There are little neon coloured poster boards all over and in different sizes advertising various food deals – two steamed hotdogs and small fries for 3 bucks, something called a bacon cheese hotdog, a variety of burger sizes, a poster for an American hotdog (?), an arrangement of styrofoam containers up on the wall with different prices, situated above a chest-high wooden counter, behind which is the kitchen, a fellow in an apron, a young lady looking on, and the owner – Serge.

And here’s why I think I have to write about this restaurant. (Not including the fact that Zsolt has labelled this his favourite poutine so far in Canada, citing the “harmonious mix” between the cheese, gravy and fries.) We were given such a warm welcome. Serge asked me firstly whether I was French, because I had a French sounding accent . . .I blame this on the word ‘poutine’, which I happen to say in a way that’s rather French. If ‘poutine’ and ‘croissant’ were the only two words I ever needed to say in French, I could be mistaken for a native speaker. . . anyhow, he then asked if we were new to the neighbourhood, advised us to buy property as Vanier is about to boom, talked with Zsolt about his new patent job & the office move, let us know there’s tons of art and music festivals in this area and we’re welcome to contribute if we have any ideas, and gave us a tour of his entire menu. All the while the young lady was trying to get our order, bue Serge wouldn’t stop telling us all about the area and his snack shack.

We did eventually get a big poutine. Not the biggest poutine, but a fairly large one nevertheless. Before leaving he gave us his card, and said he was looking into the facebook thing but never had any time for it. I’m not surprised. This fellow strikes me as sunk into his community and his restaurant. He’s organizing festivals, recruiting whoever walks through the door, and running what seems to me a successful small business. So no, he’s not online as of yet, but you can find ratings for the Vanier Snack Shack at www.urbanspoon.com – which he asked me to visit and rate, if I was so inclined.

So, are we going to go back? Duh. He made us feel like part of the community – he welcomed us to Vanier, and his long-waiting-customer-behind-us (apparently they are old friends) welcomed us to Vanier too; from now on, going to the Snack Shack will never just be about a harmonious poutine, it is  about being part of the neighbourhood. (But of course, the yummy food  also matters!) Brilliant welcoming – brilliant marketing – and just plain brilliant poutine.

Bonne Appetite! And yes, I am glad we moved to Vanier. 😉

P.S. I loved the huge helping of cheese curds. If you have poutine without the curds, you are missing out!
Vanier Snack Shack on Urbanspoon