I’m getting really bad at updating this thing. I haven’t posted since Thursday! So, what have I been up to?

Thursday evening Julian lent Alastair and me his car so we could drive somewhere in midtown to check out a sale happening on old stock of base layers, ski jackets and various other wintery things. It was a small shop in one of those big warehouse/office buildings, attractive because the rent must be very cheap. Plenty of people were there to get a bargain, and the line was pretty long throughout the hour we were there. I chose a couple of merino shirts (one long-sleeved and one short), that I can wear while skiing. I picked up various other items, all the while messaging Glen so he could act as my ‘buyer’s conscience’ and tell me what was reasonable and what wasn’t. I refrained from buying about three shell jackets, but I did pick up a pair of comfy pyjama-type pants that have fast become my new favourite thing to wear around the house. Alastair got a couple of shirts too, and some ski socks. Surprisingly I talked him into waiting to buy a new ski jacket.

We got back to the apartment building at about 6:30 or so. We were meant to be going to a restaurant with the neighbours that night but various people weren’t feeling the best, and we didn’t want to spend $45 on a meal we weren’t really psyched about having. Instead, Alastair, Julian, Glen and I went to Oja, picked up some Japanese for us, Pete and Royden, then went back to Pete and Royden’s to eat and watch a couple of episodes of Archer. You can really see how much that show developed, and how it improved from the first few episodes. We then had an early night.

Friday night we invited Antony over for dinner. Dave and Josh are in Australia so we thought of Antony home alone and pining for his family. I made a chicken pie, then steamed lemon puddings. We caught up on what’s been happening with his ophthalmology fellowship and what’s to come in the year ahead. We then watched a couple of episodes of Mindy and called it a night at about 10:30.

Saturday Julian invited the neighbours around for breakfast. Each of us brought something for the table, but Julian prepared the most by far. There were waffles, gluten free pancakes, tater tots/potato gems, two types of bacon, scrambled eggs and fruit. He’d also bought some thick cream in a tin as us Aussies had been complaining there wasn’t any thickened cream in the stores here. I didn’t try any so I don’t know if it was comparable. It looked it though. It was a lovely way to spend the morning, and of course we stuffed our faces with so much food. Having friends living so close, on top of each other in fact, is such a treat.

Glen went to work in the afternoon for a couple of hours. I stayed at home and edited. In the afternoon we went to the gym with Julian, and then in the evening Glen and I stayed home, and watched tv like an old married couple. I did get a bit of FOMO as I wondered what else we could be doing. It was a pretty cold night so it didn’t last long, and I was probably in bed by 11.

Sunday Glen went to work in the morning for a couple of hours, and then we went for lunch at the Eaton Centre. We also went shopping. Glen was keen to buy a onesie from Abercrombie and Fitch, so we checked out what was on sale. The onesies were still full price but we found other things that were on sale. I bought two pairs of jeans (so hopefully I won’t have to buy any for the next five years at least) that were 50% off, and Glen bought some track pants and a zipped up jacket for around the house.

We then met Julian at the movies to watch Big Hero 6, the new Disney animation. We weren’t the only kid-free adults in the audience. I’d wanted to see the film ever since I’d seen the preview where Hero (the main character) is trying to fit the suit of armour to the inflatable robot. I wasn’t expecting the movie to be as sad as it was, yet luckily it wasn’t completely Bambi maudlin. The storyline was good, not too sappy and stupid. We left on a high.

In the evening it was Pete and Royden’s turn to host the Sunday roast. Pete prepared dates wrapped in bacon, homemade spanokoppita and cheese-koppita, then there was a big bit of beef (he cooked chicken for me as an alternative), garlic mash and carrots. For dessert there were Greek pastries. We watched Elf, that god awful Will Farrell movie, and filled our faces. An enjoyable evening for sure, and this Sunday it’s our turn. I have no idea what I’m going to make yet.

Monday was fairly quiet. I’m aiming to finish the latest draft of my book this week so it can go to Nikki for feedback. At the same time I’ll be going through it again to tidy it up even more. I would really like to get it finished by Tuesday evening, which is when Julian and I fly off to New York. Not sure it’s likely though. In the evening I made a chicken and leek risotto (I had some leftover leeks from a potato and leek soup I made on Saturday night), which – shock horror – Glen liked. He even had a second helping. This doesn’t happen very often, not because my cooking is bad, but because Glen’s tastes are so particular. I might be the no-red-meat-or-pork pain in the arse, but he’s much more pernickety than I am. I’ve been given permission to cook it again. It also snowed a lot on Monday. It was magical.

Tuesday has been more of the same. Editing in the morning. I got up at 6am as I’m trying to be a bit more regular in when I wake up in the hope that I can get more done in the day but I didn’t start until about 8 and then I felt tired. I still got over 3000 words written today so that’s not bad. I’m just hoping I can get to the end and it still all make sense. I went to the gym in the afternoon and hopefully haven’t put my back out again. (I did legs and for some reason I’m injuring myself or pinging something.)

Glen and I went on a date night in the evening to Los Colibris, a restaurant Glen had seen reviewed online in the Globe & Mail. He’d seen a photo of a chicken breast with crispy skin and pomegranate and wanted that. We’d tried to go on Saturday but there were no seatings at a reasonable time. Tonight we made a reservation for 8pm, later than we usually eat but it meant Glen could stay at work and do some overtime. I met him at the General and we walked down University Ave in the freezing wind to King St. It was nice going for a walk together but it’s now getting to the point where you can’t feel your face if you stay outside for too long.

We got to the restaurant, removed our oversized-yet-warm winter coats and sat down. Unfortunately the chicken thing Glen had seen wasn’t on the menu so we had to choose something else. We ordered a ceviche, empanadas and guacamole to start, all of which tasted fresh and flavourful. The mains were ok, but not amazing. We shared a baked halibut – the fish was perfectly cooked but the accompanying flavours didn’t suit our tastes – and a chicken roll – which unfortunately had capsicum in it so Glen didn’t like it. We then shared a chocolate flan for dessert.  We then caught the train home.

Phew! We do a lot more than I think we do.