On Sunday night I got ready for the week ahead by polishing my shoes.
First, I made some homemade salt-stain remover and treated my shoes (my boots that I wear outside and my work heels that I wore from my office to a taxi and back, and that still managed to get salt stains on them!) Then, with help from Devin, I polished them.
Now obviously I have polished shoes before, but with two pairs of my shoes, and a pair of Devin's shoes, we had a bit of an assembly line going on. And something about it made me feel very grown-up, cleaning and polishing three pairs of shoes, and not for any reason or special occasion, but just because adults don't wear salt stained or dull shoes.
I promise you that I am not always this boring. Often, but not always.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Beckta
Last night I took Devin out for dinner to celebrate his birthday. We went to Beckta, one of Ottawa's premiere restaurants, arguably Ottawa's only premiere restaurant, or at the very least the only restaurant that has had two episodes of different TV food series made about it :)
It was fabulous. I may have been the nicest restaurant I have ever been too, possibly in terms of food, but most definitely in terms of service. Upon arrival the host took my coat (pretty standard). However, throughout the course of the meal we had our waiter (who was amazing), the man who brought around the large bread basket from which you chose the type of bread you would like, which he would then put on your bread plate. There was the man who brought around the complimentary amuse bouches before the meal and the complimentary dessert bites at the end of the meal. There was the other man who checked on how things were going. There was the waiter's constant attention to our water glasses. And this is first time I have ever had my crumbs cleared between my main course and dessert (and for the record, there were not that many crumbs).
And this was just the service. The food was amazing. The wine was fabulous. There was lobbsters and duck and steak tar tar, cornish hen, risotto, and more!
I can guarantee that in six months, after we have saved up lots of money, we will be going back there. Unless in the meantime someone wants to come to Ottawa and take us out to dinner there :)
It was fabulous. I may have been the nicest restaurant I have ever been too, possibly in terms of food, but most definitely in terms of service. Upon arrival the host took my coat (pretty standard). However, throughout the course of the meal we had our waiter (who was amazing), the man who brought around the large bread basket from which you chose the type of bread you would like, which he would then put on your bread plate. There was the man who brought around the complimentary amuse bouches before the meal and the complimentary dessert bites at the end of the meal. There was the other man who checked on how things were going. There was the waiter's constant attention to our water glasses. And this is first time I have ever had my crumbs cleared between my main course and dessert (and for the record, there were not that many crumbs).
And this was just the service. The food was amazing. The wine was fabulous. There was lobbsters and duck and steak tar tar, cornish hen, risotto, and more!
I can guarantee that in six months, after we have saved up lots of money, we will be going back there. Unless in the meantime someone wants to come to Ottawa and take us out to dinner there :)
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Academy Awards 2009
In the past two weeks I have seen two excellent movies - Slumdog Millionaire and Milk. They were both excellent for different reasons.
Slumdog Millionaire was a visual feast, and filled with a fabulous ensemble of talented actors. There were many moments in the film that lifted you up and demonstrated what is so wonderful about humanity, but there were many (more?) moments that reflected all the fear and hate and exploitation that exists in the world. Parts of the narrative were very black and white, and those parts were entertaining and fun to watch, but in some ways, I preferred all the parts of the story that were gray. All the characters who were not obviously good, or even obviously evil, but how circumstances and life caused them to enter into these gray areas that the world is full of. And just because I have the luxury of not living in a world that is so obviously morally ambiguous, doesn't mean that I would able to navigate such a world with strength or conviction.
This brings me to Milk. It was amazing and Sean Penn and Emilie Hirsch gave beautiful performances. Watching a snapshot of the story of the gay rights movement in the 1970s effected me on an emotional level, insofar as when proposition 8 was not overturned in the most recent election I was disappointed, but not in such a visceral way as I was after I seeing that film.
If I try, I can maybe understand (not support or condone) the bigotry that exists in the 1970s because it came from ignorance. But now, 30 years later? We have come so far in so many ways, and yet really, how can we still, as a society, have such an intense fear (because I think it is fear, rather than hate) people who love other people?
It also makes me wonder how brave I could have been if I had been gay in the 1960s or black in the 1950s, or how much support I would have shown to those groups as someone who is straight and white. The strength that certain people have had to show across history, or even the past fifty or sixty years is amazing. And as a woman, I know how far women have come, and I also know that it can be easy to forget how hard or how much different groups have come and become complacent, and how important it is not to forget the struggles of certain groups, or to forget the struggles of your own group in history.
And looking from Milk to Slumdog Millionaire, while I can't believe there was a time when gay people were so vilified and marginalized by the general population, I hope there is a time when I am ashamed, and when my children and grandchildren are ashamed, at the way people in the developing world are treated by those of us in the developed world, and their lack of basic necessities of life; the way I ashamed of how women, and black citizens, and other visible and sexual minorities have been treated in the past.
That is what these two wonderful movies have made me think about.
Slumdog Millionaire was a visual feast, and filled with a fabulous ensemble of talented actors. There were many moments in the film that lifted you up and demonstrated what is so wonderful about humanity, but there were many (more?) moments that reflected all the fear and hate and exploitation that exists in the world. Parts of the narrative were very black and white, and those parts were entertaining and fun to watch, but in some ways, I preferred all the parts of the story that were gray. All the characters who were not obviously good, or even obviously evil, but how circumstances and life caused them to enter into these gray areas that the world is full of. And just because I have the luxury of not living in a world that is so obviously morally ambiguous, doesn't mean that I would able to navigate such a world with strength or conviction.
This brings me to Milk. It was amazing and Sean Penn and Emilie Hirsch gave beautiful performances. Watching a snapshot of the story of the gay rights movement in the 1970s effected me on an emotional level, insofar as when proposition 8 was not overturned in the most recent election I was disappointed, but not in such a visceral way as I was after I seeing that film.
If I try, I can maybe understand (not support or condone) the bigotry that exists in the 1970s because it came from ignorance. But now, 30 years later? We have come so far in so many ways, and yet really, how can we still, as a society, have such an intense fear (because I think it is fear, rather than hate) people who love other people?
It also makes me wonder how brave I could have been if I had been gay in the 1960s or black in the 1950s, or how much support I would have shown to those groups as someone who is straight and white. The strength that certain people have had to show across history, or even the past fifty or sixty years is amazing. And as a woman, I know how far women have come, and I also know that it can be easy to forget how hard or how much different groups have come and become complacent, and how important it is not to forget the struggles of certain groups, or to forget the struggles of your own group in history.
And looking from Milk to Slumdog Millionaire, while I can't believe there was a time when gay people were so vilified and marginalized by the general population, I hope there is a time when I am ashamed, and when my children and grandchildren are ashamed, at the way people in the developing world are treated by those of us in the developed world, and their lack of basic necessities of life; the way I ashamed of how women, and black citizens, and other visible and sexual minorities have been treated in the past.
That is what these two wonderful movies have made me think about.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Everything Old is New Again
Okay -
So I am trying again. I know I must seem ridiculous, but it is okay because I am. This title continues with a theme, it is a secret them, except now really.
Here are my goals for this blog.
1) Start writing again
2) Review books that I read and movies that I watch
3) Reveal state secrets that I learn in my capacity as CIA-CSIS secret double agent
So I am trying again. I know I must seem ridiculous, but it is okay because I am. This title continues with a theme, it is a secret them, except now really.
Here are my goals for this blog.
1) Start writing again
2) Review books that I read and movies that I watch
3) Reveal state secrets that I learn in my capacity as CIA-CSIS secret double agent
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
