The majority of our friends goes to Cuba or the Bahamas and some to Jamaica during the March break but we chose to go later, to avoid the crowd and also to have the beach almost to ourselves.  But we didn’t want to go where everyone has already been to, so we are choosing the turks and caicos resort , which came highly recommended by a family friend and my family doctor.

The Turks and Caicos Island is very near to Cuba – I was told and flight would be almost the same as if we were going to the Bahamas or to Cuba. I read that scenery was incredible and the sand were white, soft and clean – with turquoise water to dip into whenever you feel like it.  There are many towels, loungers and umbrellas and unlike the more popular spots like Cuba, you don’t have to wake up really early to put your towels on them so that you have a place to sun tan or just relax. They even have wifi around the pool area – so those of you who must have internet access, you won’t feel lost here.

There are many resorts you can choose from and as far as I can see, all the properties are pretty nice.  There is a special offer on some great hotels/resorts at this very moment and although it is not an all inclusive for all hotels, there are some offering the all inclusive if you check.  It’s a gorgeous place, and  great for a family vacation for folks  like us – with a huge water park and many beautiful attractions.  I can’t wait to try out their different cuisine.

Easter has always been a family thing for us – but we focus more on the kids than ourselves but this year with my girlfriend around, she bought gifts not only for Chloe but for Aunt Helena and Grampie as well.  She is too sweet – but she found some  patagonia down sweater sale  and knows that the weather here can stay cold for a while longer, so she had to get it for them and of course chocolates for everyone.  Aunt Helena cooked this year since Grammie isn’t around with us this year, it’s at times like that that we missed her most.  No one talked about it but I’m sure they feel the same way as us.  Aunt Helena made a potato and egg salad just like what Grammie used to make for me, I almost cried.

We had lemon meringue and a chocolate cake for dessert with ice cream as well.  Cantaloupe were very good too – sweet.

BBQ Pork ribs were really good as well.

Asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots for veggies.

Rappie pie and mashed potatoes.

Baked Hawaiian ham.

Veggies

And a game of pictionary to end the evening.  We had a really good time and lots to eat.

So we haven’t been to the Farmer’s market for a long time – all because Saturdays are the days we get to sleep in because the kid is in school and we get up really early every morning.  But it’s Easter Sunday, so have to go see the Easter bunny right?  Chloe was so tickled to see the Easter bunny for she knew who was inside that bunny suit.

Everyone in the market was dressed up for Easter – and I’ll have to say that this hat is so nicely decorated.

Painted gourds – a craft that gave me an idea that Chloe can do this during the summer too because Grampie has lots of these during the summer.

An old cash register at Chef Gary’s who had butter chicken to scoop out for everyone – but a tat too spicy for taste I’ll have to say – but nevertheless very good food.  I had it for supper and lunch the next day.  At $8.50 it was definitely value for money.

An artist at the market – maybe Chloe can go to him for classes.

And our very lovely Natalie with her scones and bakery goods – unfortunately, it was all sold out.  Natalie is the anchor for the Farmer’s Market – without her steering the project – the market may not have been as successful.

From our favorite cookie store – some rice crispies with chocolate – very clever I’ll have to say.

And music in the market of course and many more stores with lots of goodies.  The Farmer’s market remained as vibrant as when it first started.  I’m really happy for them but wished they were nearer to our store – because downtown does need a little bit more people coming around.

Chinese New Year was yesterday and as usual, a few friends with chinese kids like mine loved to gather and preserved a little of our chinese tradition even though we are so far away from home.  So a fruit basket full of good wishes for the Zhu’s at the Chinese restaurant and hoping it will bring them good luck and lots of money at the restaurant.

Some traditional chinese goodies from home for tasting and sharing.

Chloe all dressed up in cheong sum bought by her kai mah Lina from Singapore.

Eating at the restaurant, special noodles cooked for her.

Eating her favorite fried chicken with chinese noodles.

I had the buffet – yummy!

And here Ms Jasmine chomping down the peking duck with gusto – just loved the way she tried everything.

The chinese kids.

Adele and Sarah.

I love eating at the outlaws – Aunt Helena cooks lots of stuff to choose from and today she had thought that my g/f was visit – therefore, she had a feast brought out.  Unfortunately, my dear friend didn’t come – so I gotta eat extra and brought home some for her.  Appetizer of  oriental mix spring rolls and dumplings  - baked of course from M & M’s.

Garlic bread for starters.

Followed by very yummy lasagne.

Salad.

French bread.

Timbits was our contribution – heheh!

And a chocolate roll made by Aunt Helena.

Yummy!

And apple crumbled – they were yummy yummy!

Sunday lunches are precious to me because I get to go out and eat with the spouse and even though he doesn’t like food as much as I, I still think that it’s a good idea to sit together and have a meal.  Chloe loves eating out although she only eats either fish and chips or nuggets and chips – limited selection for her because she is still so fussy.

But she is happy to eat with daddy once a week because she is after all a daddy’s girl.

PB had his favorite fish chowder – and even then I don’t think it’s much.

Jin Jin had a veggie pasta.

We shared a bruschetta together.

I had a lasagne – but I had wanted a seafood one but don’t like the creamy texture, so I settled for a regular lasagne.

We shared a peanut butter cheesecake together.  Of course I had coffee and Jin Jin had earl grey tea and PB had water – Chloe had apple juice.

A year ago today, my brother-in-law decided that he had to stop drinking and get his life back together.   He drank all thru’ Christmas till New Year’s day and he knew that he had to get help.  Unfortunately, in our small town, we don’t have  alcohol treatment facilities  and when he went to the hospital to seek for help, the doctor told him that he didn’t have a spare bed to help him.  How tragic was that?  This town really needs a good alcohol treatment facility – not many – I’m just asking for one.  Can you imagine asking for help and being turned away.

Anyhow, fast forward a year later, my brother-in-law haven’t touched a drop of alcohol since and he is now driving again after 10 years.   Yes! 10 years!  We are all very proud of him but wished that he had an easier time when he needed help and that the rehab center in the hospital would be more sympathetic to people like him instead of turning him away.

Tomorrow, we celebrate his milestone – but it’s sad that my mother-in-law who passed away a month after he quit drinking isn’t here to share this happy moment.  Olivette, here’s to you ! both Richard and Chris are good boys ! you can rest in peace now.

As a mom, we usually have to bring our kids out with us if we want to meet up for lunch or supper with our other friends, therefore, it would be awesome if the family restaurants around here has tvs mounted on the wall with  premier mounting  and has cartoon channels on them instead of news or sports.  It would make sense for family restaurants to have areas set aside for families with children to have some sort of entertainment, so that the adults can have a proper meal and play catch up right?   I see in UK – where some of my friends are permanently, they have special cafes like that for kids and moms – and I would love to see something like this in this town.

Every chance I get to go eat – is with my kid and my g/fs kids – as moms we just loved bringing our kids along but sometimes, it would really be nice, to be able to chat and the kids are being entertained.  This is Kai from Petawawa – and we only get to see him maybe twice a year – isn’t he too cute or what!

Food is always good at Jungle Jims of course, we have no problems with the food and service excellent as well and our favorite waitress was there working – so excellent ! Lynette had the festive meal – this was some sort of BBQ chicken bites.

Curly fries and chicken fingers from the Safari Kid’s menu for Chloe.

Fettuccine for Ms Jasmine from the kid’s menu.

Burger for Josh – i think this is a BBQ Bacon Cheddar – for $10.99.

A steak for Lynette – that comes with her festive meal.

I had the breakfast menu – but shared my sausages with my g/fs.

Extra crispy bacon.

Jumbo Shrimp Stir Fry

Huijing got some mexican thingie I think.

And this chicken burger  for Kim.

Yummy! lots of food and lots of drinks !  now if only we can entertain the kids with some mounted tv in the restaurant – it would have been perfect – don’t you think?

Chloe loves inviting her friends for lunch with us during the weekend.  And Boston Pizza is one of the places that we bring them because they do have a kid’s menu but no fish and chips in their menu.  One cannot even order a half and order of fish and chips even though you can for pasta.  Unfortunately, I’m not a fish person, so Chloe had to eat chicken fingers whenever she goes to Boston pizza – and she doesn’t really like the chicken fingers here – I don’t know why.  Probably not as tender as other places or the ones made at home.   We always feed the friends whatever they want to eat and they usually enjoy a treat out to anywhere that serves children food.  Boston Pizza is quite kid’s friendly because they do have boxes of kiddies stuff for the kids to enjoy and occupy themselves with but sometimes they don’t have the box, so the kids had to share a container of used crayons – which I’m not fond of.  But yes, kids do eat at Boston Pizza.

This was the other birthday cake that we’ve ordered for Chloe’s birthday celebration in school.  This one is from Sobey’s – a lot cheaper and they provided us with candles for free.  The cake was just as good, not as much frosting but who needs more frosting than this right.  So the next time, i will order from Sobeys instead.  But Chloe is a lucky girl, 2 birthday cakes for her birthday and 1 more home made by Aunt Helena.

Chloe had her birthday party at the bowling alley last week and of course like every birthday, we went out to order her a birthday cake and since we really liked Superstore’s decoration better for cakes – we went there.  The cake was definitely great – and the icing on the cake was even better – lots of icing – and the price as compared to Sobeys was like $5 more and no candles to offer you.

We also bought another cake from Sobeys and even though it doesn’t have as much icing as Superstore, it was just as good.  Personally, I don’t like too much icing but for the kids – of course, the more icing the better.  The other cake was for Chloe’s school – that way no one misses out on her birthday party.  The next time, we will order from Sobeys instead.

Whenever we are in Halifax, we try to go for dim sum – and this trip I was hoping to order more because I had my sister from another come with me to the city.  But overall, it doesn’t seems like we’ve had a lot.  The hor fun was really good as usual but the kid just wouldn’t eat it.  PB ate some but not a lot – but the hor fun is by far the best I’ve had in Canada.

Then we had radish cake – pan fried – it doesn’t have a lot of small dried shrimp in them but it did have some mushrooms and chestnuts.

Fried wanton with mayo was something I wanted to try new – and it was ok – with a huge ball of shrimp in the middle.

We ordered 2 glutinous rice because the brat would only eat this – but alas, it came so late and the poor girl was starving and didn’t eat a lot.  This trip up to halifax – Chloe definitely didn’t eat a lot at all.

This is how the glutinous rice looked like.  The Great Wall in Halifax does have one of the best dim sum – authentic that I’ve eaten here in Canada.

Chloe eating with chopsticks of course – showing off.

And my special find this trip – was egg tarts – so yummy! to die for – they actually don’t have it anymore – but they specially made some for us.  So nice of  the people from The Great Wall. Located in downtown Halifax – Bedford Row – right off sackville street. Dim sum serves every sunday from 11.30am – 3pm but don’t be too late because all good stuff will be sold out if you are late.

Breakfast at Cora’s in Halifax rarely disappoints.  We went to the one located on Dresden Row next to Pete’s Frootique – you can’t missed it.  Cora served breakfast and lunch in this location only.  It was a late breakfast – about 11.30am actually when we arrived – we were on vacation – so no hurry. Chloe was with her favorite aunt.

I cannot remembered what this was called – but it certainly looked good.  This was Chloe’s aunt’s.

Chloe and PB shared a pancake – because this was only what she would eat.

PB’s breakfast – he’s easy to please.

And this was mine – I’m being very good – had lots of fruits and french toast – it was certainly yummy!

Chloe was all happy after breakfast – she had her energy back.

Cora’s kitchen

We wanted Japanese of course during our trip up to Halifax and sushi nami we went – thinking that food would be quick but they were quite packed that night after the Christmas Parade and we weren’t expecting that.

Chloe and her favorite aunt playing with the iphone while waiting for our orders to be taken.

Some miso soup to start off the meal and green tea of course.

Agedashi tofu for me and Chloe’s aunt.

Sweet potato tempura for PB – but no more teriyaki chicken – they changed the menu.  Poor PB – those were the only 2 dishes he eats at any Japanese place.

The fusion sushi – the Royal Nami roll.

Chloe wasn’t going to eat any.

She ordered some udon with tempura chicken but they came so late – poor chloe she was starved and after taking a few bites – she didn’t want them because the udon was hard.  But the manager explained that udon were supposed to be this way – because they were “fresh”  but the waitress had already told us that they came pre-packed and pre-cooked – *sigh* and I’ve never tasted hard udon before.  Chloe didn’t eat it and neither did we.  I wasn’t happy with the explanation – but that’s alright – we won’t order any noodles for Chloe no more.

The tempura chicken was good but Chloe wasn’t eating it – so PB and I ate most of it.

We ordered some margaro sushi and sashimi  (forgotten to take pictures of the sashimi) because we were too engrossed with the manager on the discussion on the noodles.  But both the sushi and sashimi were good.

Chloe trying to be gung-ho with her noodles but she just couldn’t stomach it – I don’t blamed her – I tried the noodles myself – I wouldn’t eat it too.  Some $90 later – the kid didn’t get her meal – we had to go to macdonald’s to get her some french fries and mcbites.  This wasn’t a good trip for Chloe.

Peg’s on Main Street is still opened for business !  Yes! very much so – and the food are still as big a portion as ever!  so folks ! support your local business if you are in Yarmouth.  Located on Main Street – near the Tourist Promotion Board – you cannot missed it – it’s in a green long building and lots of parking.  And parking is also free too!  Since I haven’t had liver for a long time, I decided to try the liver at Peg’s.  It had 2 portions in the meal and a piece of garlic bread.  I would have preferred it to be chopped and stir-fried but this was still pretty good.  But I could only finished 1 portion because it was huge.

The kid had her usual pan fried fish with chips.

And PB had the Cordon Bleu – lots of chicken as you can see here.

And my sister from another mother had clams – they were really yummy!

Free ice cream for the kid after her meal.  Although there is only 1 waitress, the food came promptly and service was good.  At the moment Peg’s do not have a debit machine – so bring cash when you visit.  I do loved the food here – so support your local business.

Chloe is not that young anymore and even though we bought a a new swingset this year, it certainly isn’t going to do her any good for too long now.  If only we had some playsets richmond va  to help us with the above like playset, I think she will be quite happy.   Problem is, the playset we get here isn’t as solid as the ones you see above here because these are customized playset.  I know it cost a little more but it would be worth the money if Chloe has fun with it and is able to share it with her neighborhood friends. So my mission for next summer is to find someone who can build me a playset that will fit the age of my kid – who is going to be 9 years old in a few months.  I don’t want to buy a generic playset anymore, I want a customized one – with experts who will put them up for me and get the material and everything up and going without us having to do anything.

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.

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.

I know I’m more than a month late with some of the good food that we’ve eaten lately, but there is just so much that we’ve eaten of late – especially this summer.  But here it is – McGinnis Landing is situation in the hotel we stayed in during the cousin’s wedding in Moncton, the service was great, I feel that we didn’t tip them enough, the food was good – they had a good menu and of course the Sunday Brunch buffet is something they can brag about.  The whole family gathered there the morning after the wedding.  And these are my favorite people – Andrea, Troy and Aunt Renette.

Some more extended family, Guy, Simone, Lucy and Denise

The other Denise and Simone’s daughter.

My breakfast – of course, that wasn’t all i ate but the egg benedict was really good but a tat dry.

My breakfast from the day before, we arrived a day earlier to settle down.

Chloe’s breakfast from the day before too.

PB’s breakfast – to share with chloe.

Chloe’s waffle.

My favorite people in the entire world.

Aunt Carmen and Mario

All the aunts and Mario.

Aunt Mariette and her family.  We had a really good meal at Mcginnis Landing and I recommend it – we were so noisy, and they didn’t tell us to keep quiet and they were so good. The prices were fair too.

We were at PB’s cousin wedding in Moncton a month ago and we had a blast.  They had some finger food late in the evening after the wedding ceremony and speeches and we do liked the food – they were really tasty.  We didn’t eat much because it was already late and we had to bring Chloe back to the hotel to sleep -but it was overall a good snack – and can make a meal if you are very hungry.  Chloe had some plain Ritz crackers because she wouldn’t eat anything else.  Now some hot dog right about now would be very nice. hehe!  But who’ve heard of hotdogs during a wedding right?  but wait a minute one of PB’s friend had Macdonald’s for his wedding – now that was too funny – but he used to work at Macdonald’s so it’s not that strange at that time.