I would love to listen to some  alto sax from musicians friend  but live singing and coffee or tea in downtown is just as good I have to say.  At the end of the month, find time to visit our local cafe at the corner of Main Street where City Drug Store is – and listen to one of our local artiste play and sing for you.  Enjoy a lovely after lunch coffee/tea with yummy pastries or try their gelato.  I would loved that they extend the live music to the evening hours – and some saxophones would be really romantic but I’m sure it will come.

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.

We were pleasantly surprised to see Gary – our favorite customer at our store – singing at the Farmer’s market.  Gary being such a romantic, I knew that I would enjoy any song he sings.  I think the Farmer’s Market should invest in some kind of standard music equipments for the entertainers that comes and sings for a few hours for the crowd.  I’m going to suggest to Natalie – the next time I see her to  buy boss me 25  for the Farmer’s market entertainers  because I’ve seen someone using it at the Farmer’s Market in Vancouver last summer.  I think it’s a really cheap investment to entice more people to come listen to the entertainment at the Farmer’s market during the summer.

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.

While getting some  clarinet reeds at wwbw  I came across a dinner theater deal in the city and after checking out the menu, I booked tickets for them – as a birthday present for myself and a girlfriend who is having a birthday in the same month as I.  The things you can find on the internet these days is really amazing and I’m glad I came across these tickets for the dinner theater.  I loved dinner theater, not only do you enjoy the food, you get to watch a good play and some music played too.  The food are usually good – and the best part of everything is dressing up and painting the town red.  For those who’ve never been to a dinner theater, it’s never too late to start.

I’m looking forward to this year’s Multi Cultural Fest because I’ve heard that a new family from Africa would be presenting to us the use of the djembe.  I know there is a  djembe guitar center  where you can buy them and have them shipped to you because I hear they are holding music classes for such classical music.  It’s great to expose our kids to different cultures and different food but I wished that is a little less chaotic.

Chloe would loved to go too if only there was a children section where she can play with other children her age and also get to try out different musical instruments from different countries.  Performing for the massive audience is great but when you go with your children, you want them to participate too.  Anyhow, this year, I hope that the new African family will make such suggestions, so that it will be more kid’s friendly.

Shopping and weekly lunches are great with my girlfriends, we not only exchange gossips and play catch up – we also learned all the good buys around town and on the internet.  If I asked a girlfriend  where to buy tv brackets  they would have a few good suggestions for me and if I needed a good pair of ski pants, they would know where to find them if I cannot find them in town.  I loved our weekly lunches and shopping spree, it’s something I looked forward to every week and although not everyone can attend the lunch together, I know I can count on them for just about anything.  Don’t you just loved friends like that?  now if you haven’t planned for weekly lunches and shopping sessions with your girlfriends, make this year the start of a new social calendar, it’s really good for the health.

Meeting up with my investment banker every 6 months is pretty much a routine thing now and I loved our meetings because he is so funny sometimes but so smart.  I sometimes pick his brains on other investment that I have back home in Singapore and he would extend his help and contact my citibank’s private banker.  Mostly during these kind of lunch, we also get to meet other people from the bank and I’m glad i have a  business card printer  at the store to print out all my cards so that I have enough to exchange with others just like myself.  I think we’ve formed quite an exclusive network here – and we pretty much exchange ideas and throw each other our experiences to ponder on.

Usually, we meet up in the city but this time, they’ve decided to come visit me and like any true Asian – I played host to a few people that I’ve been networking with for the last 12 years. Amazing how time flies – anyway, we had brunch on their last day in town and we headed to Jungle Jim’s for breakfast.  Loved the service at Jungle Jim’s and loved their food.

So cheap and really value for money.

I showed them how one of my g/fs had her eggs the other day – and we all did the same that day – just to see how it tasted like. hahah!  yes, we can be funny sometimes too – and it was not all about work during these meetings.

I was invited for a luncheon not too long ago in the city and met several interesting young women entrepreneurs that opened my eyes to many other business opportunities in this country.   Most of these ladies that I’ve met came from all walks of life and one important aspect of these ladies were determination.   These ladies had stories to share and to me it was a learning experience, I also learned about business opportunities like  Web To Print  and franchises and what are the pros and cons on taking up the challenges of these businesses.  Real life stories – albeit not all happy ones but still an eye opener for me.  I brought home some ideas and me and PB are actually discussing about the feasibility of taking up another challenge soon since Chloe is much older now and don’t need as much attention as when she was younger.  Wish me luck now!

There are many places in town where you can bring someone for a business lunch, just like when I had lunch with some powerful  San Diego Employment Attorney  last week.   If you’ve worked for a company in the States, you would know how important it is to know some powerful attorney because you want them to be there to help you out if you have trouble with your employers.

Of course, I didn’t need to use an attorney when my employers were from USA but it was good to know that I can count of these folks to help me out should I have any problems with my contract or pay or even if I was being treated unfairly being an Asian.  But like I said, I was pretty happy with the company that I had worked for many years ago.

Valentine’s Day is just round the corner and I’m sure you’ve been asked what you want to do on Valentine’s day.  Sometimes, I wonder why the men don’t take the initiative and be a little romantic even though one had been married for many years.  I know of a friend who had a blast one year – when the spouse bought some  cheap brass instruments  and blast the horns at their home during dinner with a few friends.  Being romantic need not be the classic candlelight dinner, being romantic can be  a lot of different ways and if music is something your spouse like, why not pick up a cheap musical instrument and surprise her with hamburgers in the garden, I think that could be very romantic too – serenading the wife or girlfriend.  This Valentine, don’t make the excuse of being together for so long, that you cannot inject some fun and spice into your life.  Come on ! you only lived once!

Sometime during Christmas, we went up to the city because we were invited to an opening of a cigar bar in the city.  As a food blogger with lots of following, you get perks like this – and even though I’m no cigar smoker, I loved buying cigars for my father-in-law and my ex-boss from Spain.  Yes, I still keep in touch with him because he was so good to me when I worked for him – those were the 2 best years of my life.   Anyhow, coming back to the cigar bar – they had a  cigar auction  and it was awesome because I bought some good stuff just in time for Christmas presents.

Cigar bars are very common back home – for those who loved the cigar and wants to have a drink and try different kind of cigars.  My previous bosses were club members of various cigar bars and they used to entertain there a lot.  I met some very interesting and intelligent business people at these clubs.  If you haven’t been to a cigar bar before, you should check it out sometime when you get a chance.

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?

We were invited to a Christmas tea and a gift exchange amongst friends and the turned out was bigger than I had expected.  There were  lots of food as usual but most importantly, friends gathering and chatting and rekindling our friendship.  We also had a gift exchange and some gave out military coin  to our kids because their spouses’ are still in the army serving the country.  In this part of the world, serving your country whether here at home or in Afghanistan as a peace maker, it’s a highly respected profession, and most of us who received the military coin felt very grateful for these men who ware there to keep us safe.

Some of the food here are home made as you can see but they were absolutely delcious!

Lots of cupcakes for the tea party and if you want to knwo where it’s all pinkish – because we had a lot more ladies than men that day.

Yummy chocolate cupcakes for the children.

We were invited to a Christmas party by a business acquaintance and it was not in town – but in the city.  We didn’t have any trouble getting there but I wished they had arranged for transport for us because we were not very familiar with that part of the city.  Anyhow, we made our own arrangements for transportation and even though it’s not quite like the  limo service tampa fl  , it was still pretty good.  I was all dressed up – for the party and didn’t want to be waiting for a cab – no way!  I wanted to party in style – the hotel rooms were paid for and so was the short air-flight that we took – but I don’t understand why they didn’t arrange for a limo for us – that baffles me really. After the party, there was no cab available to take us back to the hotel and once again, I wished a limo service was arranged, the next time we go for this kind of party, I’m going to make sure we have a limo service to and fro the party.

This year for Christmas, we are going out for a dinner and dance with some friends and family – well not for Christmas itself per se but to celebrate Christmas.  It had been a good year for us – except of course with the passing of the mother-in-law but everything else seems to be going well on the home front and the business and it is time to reward those who’ve helped us make things work.  So PB knowing that I loved listening to music like  ibanez 7 string – he made the reservations up in Halifax for our Christmas dinner.  Good food, good music and good company for this year’s Christmas celebration – what more can a woman ask for right?  I hope everyone will have a great Christmas too this year !

They say that healthy eating means healthy living and if healthy eating means eating Lebanese food like these – I could eat these everyday.  The food at the Little Lebanon is by far the best i’ve tried here in Canada.  And not only are they good they are not expensive at all.  But of course, healthy eating must come with some healthy living – so I have to find yoga clothes  for myself and attend some yoga classes to begin my healthy living as well.

For starters we ordered some avocado with feta cheese – they were so yummy ! to die for !  we could eat these alone for the entire meal with some pita bread.  But I was so greedy – I had them on its own – I bet the owner must think I’m a bit weird! hahahah!

Anise tea for my sister from another mother.

And she had the mixed plate extra with a little of everything.  I highly recommend this plate  – because it was so good.  I especially loved the falafel.

And I had the beef sharwma plate.  In fact, the food was so good we went back the next day for more – yums!  try the little Lebanon in Yarmouth, down on South end – directly opposite the Red and White grocery store.

Nova Scotians are known for their love of cheese and PB loved his cheese, in fact he loved any kind of cheese and uses cheese for just about anything he eats.  From sandwiches to even chinese rice – yes, you heard right !  crazy but that’s how he would eat certain things – even my chinese noodles.    So this Christmas, I got him a perfect gift – guess what ?  a cheese making supplies  – yup! you heard right!  and I think he would really like it.  Now he can make all the cheese he wants and loved for a fraction of the price he pays for them.   Everything can be missing in our home but not cheese or cheese whiz – now, PB can have all the cheese he wants – with these cheese making supplies.  I am buying something he loved – I bet he would be really surprised this year – he said I can’t get anything he would like – lets just see what he says to this cheese making kit!

We went out for lunch last week at the Farmer’s market for they were celebrating Halloween at the market.  Most of the vendors were all dressed up for the occasion and a farmer we know at the market came to the market with his tractor and all but I guess he needed new  hydraulic cylinders  for something wasn’t working right as he was trying to lift some bale of hay for display.  The market was busy that day and as usual lots of goodies and lots of things one can buy handmade.  We had an awesome time at the Farmer’s Market and had some yummy BLT on Bagel and a cup of coffee with it.  Of course, we bought sweets and cookies as well as a few bottle of jams and Pretzel for the kids.

Decoration ideas for Halloween.