Since we can’t go to the apple farm this week because of the rain, we decided to get some oranges and banana for Chloe’s class.  We have been doing this weekly sine school opened because we believed that fruits is the best treats for the children.  Her teachers don’t mind us sending fruits but as for candies, they don’t encouraged it and I’m grateful for that.  I know the children loved that we send fruits every week for them and they seems to enjoy the treat and I’m happy that we are able to do that.

We don’t really celebrate mid-autumn festival in Nova Scotia because there isn’t much people in my town that is Chinese and knows the meaning of Mid-Autumn festival and playing with lanterns and eating mooncakes.  But that did not prevent me from getting some mooncake from a famous Hong Kong brand – with the help of a dear friend in Toronto.  Jen from Passion4food.ca – dear Jen was so busy with her own baby – because he was sick and yet had to get the mooncake for me and mail them out to me.  How nice is she!  so folks – want good food from Toronto – visit Jen’s blog – www.passion4food.ca.

Anyhow, the mid-autumn festival is mostly celebrated with family and a huge meal with the children playing with lighted paper lanterns and the adults would sit around and chat and enjoy the mooncake after dinner and enjoy the round moon.  The mid-autumn festival is celebrated to celebrate the harvest of the lunar year.

But it had long since been tied to the dragon boats and a chinese mythology  -  Houyi and Chang’e.  Anyhow, back to the mooncake, they are made with lotus paste and duck egg yolk.  I never used to like mooncake when I lived in Asia but now that I can’t find it anymore, of course I had to have them.   Humans are really strange aren’t they?  so do cherish the things you have now and not regret not having them later.

I love having breakfast with my insurance guy Real and since it was his birthday, we decided to get him a present since he insisted on buying me breakfast.  Knowing that he probably wouldn’t mind having a new briefcase since he carries one everywhere he goes, we went shopping a week ago for  mens briefcases  and yes, we did find one that I’m sure he would use often.   I don’t know about you but our insurance guy is like family to us, since he was there whenever we needed him and he is not just someone that fly by night, in fact, he actually took care of my in-law’s insurance and helped my father-in-law out big time when grammie passed away in February.  Anyhow, he loved his briefcase and we had a lovely breakfast at Jungle Jim’s  – and Jungle Jim’s does give good value for your money when it comes to your breakfast.

There isn’t much place to get good coffee in town – well, except for Tim’s and the Old World Bakery down on the other end of Main Street.  The coffee I’m used to uses the grindmaster  for their coffee machines when I used to work for the hotel industry and they had coffee art with every cup of coffee they sell.  I’ve not seen many places in town that does coffee art yet but I would love to see someone do it here – so when I was in Halifax and I had gotten a cup of coffee with coffee art on it – I had to take some pictures and bring my other friends along with me.   I’m absolutely amazed and intrigue with the barista in Halifax, and it was only a small coffee station at the farmer’s market – definitely talented but what I’m more pleased with was the fact that the coffee was really good – yes better than my Tim’s coffee that’s for sure but a lot more expensive but worth every penny.  Coffee with my friends in Halifax was definitely one of my favorites now.

I loved weddings and I would go to all weddings if I can – weddings are such happy occasions and of course, there is the wedding food and I wished I have had this food blog long ago – when I was in Asia – or when I was traveling for work because the food in the wedding around the world are so unique especially a Chinese wedding.  A 9 course dinner is nothing unusual.  And then there is the music, I love the Western wedding when it comes to music because the Asian wedding’s music are very rarely with live bands.  And the weekend wedding that I had just attended had a DJ and they were using some very high tech DJ equipment like the  Numark MixDeck  and I know everyone enjoyed the dancing and the music played by the DJ they hired for the wedding. They had professional photographer for the wedding, the food was great and it was a beautiful wedding.

I’ve tried many Korean food but I cannot believed I didn’t try Chap Chae – I think we are so stuck on Kim chi alone when we eat Korean food that we forget about the good noodles that the Korean make.   I had the Bulgogi and theBindaeddeok – the Anju and a lot of banchan and the Soondubu Jiggae – a tofu dish that i adore.  I’ve tried the Seolleongtang – but didn’t liked it too much and Ddukbokkie – a kind street food you can get in Korea.  The Yangnyeom Tongdak is really yummy – great for westerners and of course the Bibimbap – a must try if you are trying Korean food – but yes, I failed to try the Chap Chae because it always looked so plain – almost like our chinese food – so I skipped it.

Little did I know that I was missing so much – till a dear girl pal made it for me – the other day.  I tell you – it was really, really yummy!!  and I want to learn to make some for my friends and family as well.  I loved the Korean glass noodles and this is unlike the chinese glass noodles that we have I think – I’m going to check out how she makes it and cook them for myself.

Many years ago before Chloe was born, we lived in the country where we had a huge plot of land.  We also had a garden musical with friends just before the weather turned cold.  For years, I had wanted to do the same at our current home but time did not permit it and now once again I’m revisiting the idea of having a garden musical/concert.  I can’t really call it a concert because it would be just some talented friends playing musical instruments as well as singing.  I suggested getting some accessories from  Keyboard Parts guitar center  so that the people who wants to play the keyboard don’t have to carry everything with them since we already have some musical instruments at home.

Some suggested a potluck that day, so that there will be food throughout the day and evening and we will provide some good local wine for everyone.  It would really be a fun night because some of PB’s relative loved playing the musical instruments and with lights all over the backyard, we might just make it work.  I don’t know when the garden musical with friends will be but I’m so planning it as I typed.

When Grammie passed away, Chloe’s classmate sighed and told her – “no more apples and plums from now on?”  it was really cute – kids eh!  so we made sure that this year even without Grammie, we brought Chloe to the apple farm at Wallace Brothers in Port Maitland and bought 2 huge bags of apples and 2 boxes of plums for Chloe and her classmates.   The school and teachers welcome all kind of healthy stuff for the kids and I loved getting it for them.

Andy the owner of Wallace Apple Farm told me that they missed Grammie everyday and every minute – my heart just felt like crying and of course Chloe went home crying for her grammie that night.  Oh my!  so sad !  For those who are not aware of this – Chloe’s Grammie – Olivette passed away in February this year – suddenly – due to liver cancer.  By the time she diagnosed nothing can be done, she left within 2.5 weeks.

The apple farm is one of Chloe’s connection and memories of the times she went there with her Grammie – Grammie was really a hard worker, she would never miss a day at the Apple Farm and was always ready to go help when the Apple Farm needed her.  Many a times before Grammie passed away, I would tell her to spend more time with Chloe first thru’ PB but she didn’t.  I’m guessing it’s because she never knew she was going to be gone so soon.  For those out there, make sure you spend time with your loved ones and don’t let a moment slip by regretting not spending enough time with them.

Thank God for  truck seat covers  else these food that we had carried to the church would have gone all over the car and would be really hard to clean – hahah!  we were invited to a church gathering and because of the rain, we had to pick up the food from various people who couldn’t make it.  Since we have a truck, we decided to do a good deed for the day but little did I know that some of the food didn’t come with covers, so some food did spill of course, but thank god for seat covers, else it would have been really messy!  We delivered the food on time and I managed to get the seat covers cleaned out in a jiffy and PB didn’t look too mad after the cleaning.

Marco’s Grill does have one of the best desserts in town and even if you are not going for lunch or dinner, you can always stop in for some desserts like we did.  My girlfriend had the crepe with ice cream because she already had lunch, so we told her to come along for dessert and like how it looks – it was yummy to the max.

PB and I had a brownie fudge, I wanted to have something sweet with my coffee and it was really good.  While chloe had a chocolate sundae.

Both chloe and my best gal pal aka my sister from another mother enjoyed themselves so much.  We really loved Marco’s – now only if it wasn’t so hot all the time.

Food portion at Boston pizza is really huge – even when you order the half size plate – mannnn!!  we certainly were stuffed by the time we got out of Boston Pizza.  Definitely value for money – and the Baked Chipotle Bacon Penne was really cheesy and creamy – unfortunately, there weren’t much mushrooms to be seen but lots of bacon though. The dish cost about $14.95.

Kim had the tuscan pizza at $12.95 – and it had Pomodoro sauce, pizza mozzarella, cheddar, spicy chicken breast, roasted garlic, fresh spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and feta. And Kim said it was really good.

My gal pal had some spicy shrimp and sausage fettucinni called the Jambalaya Fettuccini  – at $15.95 and it looked really good – I want to try it the next time.

Chloe had her usual chicken fingers that came with a monster cookie at $6.25 – so all in all it was a $60 meal + tips.  Kinda ex – for just pasta – no desserts but it was ok.  And yes, the service was not as good as the last few times we were there – could be better.

It was a busy weekend for me – finally I’m able to sit down and have lunch on my own and I took my netbook along with me for lunch of course, so that I can watch my tvb drama while enjoying a bowl of seafood chowder at a local cafe here.  I got PB to  speed up my pc  so that when I watch my show on it without any lagging on the show.  I loathe it when my netbook cannot handle playing a avi. movie – and my one enjoyment of the day is being able to enjoy good food and a good show anywhere I am.  A little bit of home is a great comfort to someone so far away from home, so really my netbook or PC needs to be working properly without any freezing and crashing in the middle of my shows.