When Cathy is feeling good, she eats well and actually cleans the house!

David Rocco’s recipe is super yummy: achovies, red wine, pasta!!! AND I think I need not get into my LUSH advocacy here…

It’s been ages since I last bought a Vogue magazine….the last one was in Taiwan in 2008 (and it was in Chinese so I really couldn’t read it!). Sure, the articles are frivolous (did you know that strong brows R back?) and some of the ads are downright disturbing (Lanvin!??! Cute designer but I do not get these at all!) but it’s ok once in awhile for a fun lil treat.

I’m leaving this house at the end of April so I gotta enjoy while I’m here….and yes, there will be a BLOWOUT party before I go!

PS Who else LOVES Susan Boyle?

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So I had a dinner party, VNese style… = I cook, U eat

[caption id="attachment_468" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="fresh herbs n pickled onions"][/caption]

My mom said that the dish would not be complete without all the fresh herbs and condiments on the side. She was right. Rice porridge is a standard for Vnese, Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese (I think) but the sour cabbage salad is 100% Vina style.

Classic Cathy: I forgot to take pics of the dish when it was all pretty and complete

ODDLY enough, this dish is NOT easy to find in Vietnam…I think it’s more a family dish than a street food or restaurant place but I found two places in Saigon/HCMC in the south. One was right near my old ‘hood in Binh Thanh District and the other was in the alley BESIDE my line-dancing class in District 5/11! Let’s just say that I stumbled randomly upon it and was blessed with a full belly every time I went dancing after this discovery!

I thought I could wait until after my grad program to return to VN…but I’m not so sure now…let’s just say I’m working out a way to go a bit earlier Wish me luck!

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Check out my backyard:

It’s been like this for a few months. Snow is better than rain: flakes don’t leave splatter marks on my glasses.

So yesterday I was eating a very gooey, sticky caramel apple (thx Cassie!) and immediately I thought, “By golly gee, this could NEVER happen in Vietnam for two reasons: the caramel would be melting like crazy and the army of a billion+ ants in that country would be all over my wrapper, me, and the apple before I could blink three times!”

Today, I put the sticky wrapper in my garbage pail after leaving it out blissfully all night and NOPE, not an ant in sight! Oh Canada!

Caveat: please note that Vancouver is NOT at all like this in terms of snow output. BUT ants aren’t usually a problem there either.

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All part of vacay with Kai Glad we had the time!

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Winterfest at University of Ottawa = la tire (frozen maple syrup lollies), dogsledding, outdoor snow camping (count me OUT!), beaver tails (fried doughy snacks with cinnamon sugar), a traditional Quebecois sugar shack meal (boo, I was in class) and it was all in the spirit of celebrating winter

In Ottawa, ppl skate to work and to school!

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“What you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Courage has genius, power, and magic in it;
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated.
Begin it and the work will be completed.” –Anonymous

= encouragement for you dreamers out there

I don’t have a bucket list of things I want to do or places I want to go in this life, but I have many ideas of things I could possibly do. This quote just reminds me to actually start them.

“Every calling is great when greatly pursued.” Agree or disagree? As for me, not sure yet.

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Me and my pals from CGA-Canada, Kim and Peter
Sept 2010

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PRAYER CHANGES THINGS. PRAYER CHANGES YOU.

I pray and I believe this. Many ppl pray. For me, it’s a time to set aside the tasks of daily life and think, seek peace, and give thanks.

People pray to different “entities”. So what do you think? Agree or disagree? Never tried or thought about it? In my mind, it’s a great thing. Yeah, prayer!

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I guess this is a way to cheat for posts.

1. I had the most interesting rideshare experience on the weekend. Sometimes I hope the driver will just drive so I can study like the dork I wanna be, but I know that it’s actually much better to BE PRESENT where you are, as in be fully alert and available, ie not distracted etc. So that’s what I did and we chatted bout lots of good stuff: marble, intl business, franchising, universities, Ottawa etc. and what I learned that was most refreshing was that indeed, Muslims and Christians can and do get along. (He was telling me about growing up in Karachi, Pakistan.)

2. I have a title: “Fun and facts about that white stuff SNOW” but alas, no time yet to write! But let’s just say car plugs, freezing nostrils, and sidewalk plow machines R TOTALLY AWESOME!

3. Today I woke up with a topic….ummmm…..darn! Oh well, it’ll come back. I’m starting to see the world in blog posts but as I’ve said, I’m a pretty un-bloggy writer. Not consistent at all. Don’t take photos.

OK but since you kinda gotta know me to be here, THANKS and LOVE to those precious few!

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So the cake says Happy BirtHay FYI I have iced cakes before for ppl’s bdays and I have never seen this before No, it was not an ESL error. It was just kinda funny And no, I did not eat that cake all by myself

Thanks, Setos!

Oh and that’s some soju mixed with chromium water…not tasty

I’m at school but I can’t resist a lil elaboration on this post….although, academically, I probably shouldn’t. (Time management is not my forte…please don’t tell that to my future employers )

So it’s the first bday I’ve celebrated in Canada for awhile….for the past few years, my bday hasn’t been a big deal. I haven’t gone all out for whatever reason. It’s close to Tet, Vietnam’s new year (lunar) so ppl were always not around, I was not around etc. But back in the day (~2004), I used it as an opportunity to coerce my friends into going rockclimbing (Don’t worry, those days are gone )

Anyway, today I’m studying happily. What about you?

And I appreciate my days living on this earth more and more as I get older

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