since moving a few weeks ago it seems like there has just *never* been any time to relax. so we made up for it in spades this weekend, doing a lot of nothing (except for my brief foray to a baby shower, and a ton of hours waiting for a plane to arrive, bearing both my sister and BEEP).
we spent lots of quality time with our new bbq, and even made it all the way out to gatineau park for a wander around pink lake.
inspired in part by a conversation about food, and then china, and then food in china, I’ve posted photos (finally!) of a menu we picked up in beijing as a souvenir, the night before we headed home. you can check them out in my China Menu flickr set.
we first came across this place in one of our “is there anywhere that looks safe but not “western” for dinner?” long walks down wanfujing. The truth, of course, is that there’s always somewhere safe (and often great!) if you’re brave enough to tackle the not-necessarily-english menu.
This place advertised an ‘english menu’ and was packed to the brim with locals, so we figured it would be a safe bet. And it was. The food we managed to order was yummy, and well, the laughs were worth every penny.
When we first arrived, there was no room to be seated up front with the rest of the patrons, so they shuffled brett and I into a back banquet room, where we were face-to-face with about 16 chairs, a huuuuuge table, and two of the funniest menus I’d ever seen.
Once we opened them up and started reading, we (or at least I – brett is slightly more composed than I am) couldn’t stop laughing. I laughed so hard I cried. In part, it was because we were pretty much ready to go home, because we were in beijing and it was soooo nice to see english words again, even though they were very very wrong, and well, the menu was just funny.
We managed to order though, and we made it through a full meal without any more fits of laughter. But we *wanted* the menu to take home. It’s just so…representative…of a good portion of our trip. So we went back, and we bought it. Bargained for it, even. And it *still* cost us $45 CDN, which is about three or four times what dinner would cost there on a special occasion. But it was worth it.
Thanks to lex and andrea for prompting me to actually put this stuff up!
if things keep going in this direction, pretty soon we are going to be like the kitten version of six feet under.
Ducky had a cold, and unexpectedly, passed away last night, en route to the emergency vet. We tried hard to give him the best chance we could, but I guess he was just not meant to be with us for very long. We fed him by hand and held him and cuddled him for as long as we could, but in the end his poor little heart just gave out and he just stopped breathing.
The cynic in me feels as if I should almost take the stance of being surprised when my kittens *actually* live, these days. I know it’s not my fault and there’s nothing I could have done to change things, but man, do I ever feel guilty that I couldn’t have done more, and sad, and so sad for Iris and Olive who have been wandering around our apartment trying to figure out what happened to their brother – I am pretty sure they have decided that he somehow got under the door they *can’t* get under and is secretly exploring the kitchen….by himself…because Iris and Olive SO BADLY want to explore that kitchen and the world on the other side of the french door. Give them somewhere they can’t go, and they want it. So much so that they will sleep crammed up against it in the hopes that they’ll know *whenever* you move the door the slightest hint.
I drove around for a long time last night, listening to my favourite albums really loud and alternating between weeping and feeling lucky to be alive. This city is a different place at 4 am. Serene and unimposing, and well, kind of beautiful. Maybe it’s best seen through sad eyes, sometimes.
We are going to miss this little one and his nose nibbling antics.
