My dear husband is starting his new laboratory here and we have all uprooted from NYC and moved up to the Great White North. Settling among the moose, bears, and caribous have always been our dream. ;p It would have been even more perfect if the Northern Lights were above my house every night too.
And so, we are now living in a constant flurry of snow(like in a souvenir snow dome) and have decided to follow the footsteps of Lindsay Lohan and buy FUR. Just kiddin'...(we can't afford it anyway). ;p We're more likely to buy clothes made of bamboo but that ain't gonna keep us warm here, is it? Anyway, I don't wanna be "flour bombed" everywhere I go.Keeping in step with the "open mindedness" of the Canadians, I am growing attached to Steven & Chris, a pair of charming(and very animated) talk show hosts who shows you how to be a little bit more "FA-Bu-lous" every day in your home or in your life. They are a pair of ingenious gay interior designers who inspire homeowners in their Discovery Homes series "Design Guys". Who better than them to get design advice from, rrrright?
Talking about homes, we will be moving in 6 days' time to our new apartment! It is a spacious, newly renovated, lofty high-ceiling apartment with marvelous marbled walls and the best thing? The walls and floorings are actually made with cement instead of the usual flimsy wood floorings(shocking, i know!) and that means... I can NEVER hear my neighbours EVER again!!! Whoohoo!!! I don't care if they are throwing a sex orgy party upstairs cos I CAN'T HEAR THEM or THEIR BING-BING-BONG-BONG FOOTSTEPS!!! Finally, some well-deserved peace and quiet!
P/S: A note to all HDB dweller back home in SG - be happy with your cement apartments!!!
It's funny how space-deprived we became coming from the cramped city of Manhattan. Suddenly, we're thinking of 4-5 bedrooms with 2 bathrooms(space, glorious space!!!)! We're thinking of garage and more storage space! We're thinking of garden and flat roads in the neighbourhood for the kid to go cycling safely! We're actually buying APPLIANCES!
In all, the move to Quebec made me feel like it's time to GROW UP. We took appliances for granted in NYC when it was all provided for by the landlord. Even when Emmanuel was in Japan, he picked his appliances up for free(sometimes new and in box!) on the street when the Japanese do their spring cleaning and they simply just upgrade to the latest models and trash their perfectly good condition "old" appliances. Gee, how I wish I am a hobo living in Japan.Anyways, we went through a phase of doing serious research for the appliances since in effect, it is the first time we are buying them and we are no longer poor students living on a budget. OMG - we learnt shitloads in a short time. It is frightening really. The amount of things you n.e.v.e.r knew before... ;p
What I do know, is that the food here is GREAT! Sure, it is not gastronomic France per se but we found Corsican-inspired but locally cured saucissons and ham in the market! There are plenty of vineyards around QC, cheese farms(yumz), and fresh fruit orchards to keep us happy. So far, we have not been disappointed in any of the restaurants we have dined at, without the help of any food reviews. Even the Thai food at the foodcourt is good!
Cat - you would have loved this lovely little bistro called Le Cochon Dingue! My breakfast waffles was served with apple butter(to-die-for) in this cute piggy plate(cochon means pig) and everything was wiped clean off the plate.
I was happy to find that they sell apple butter in the Marche du Vieux Port. Once we are nicely settled in our new apartment, it is time to make waffles with apple butter and fresh fruits for Sunday Brunch! *YUM-O!* Right now, I have this little pot of foie gras with apple wine liquor that is simply heavenly creamy and the supplier also sells whole foie gras - which is best eaten fresh in December. Guess what we're having for Christmas???? ;p
Everything is near in QC(everything but France and Singapore, that is).
The ski slopes are just a 20minutes drive from the city. The bisons park(you can even buy bison meat) is just a hop away on another island. The solitary moose is lurking around the woods 1hr away. Dog sledding, whale watching, apple picking, caribou migration and gosh, I'm sure there will be more to add on to this list after I've lived here long enough! Haha! But you can sense my excitement, yah?
I am just so happy that my son is going to be able to see beautiful snowflakes, slide down in a toboggan with his father, eventually learn to ski fearlessly and see all the wonderful nature and animals without having to go to the zoo.
Just this morning, we both woke up and sat on the bed rumpled with sleep, watching the snowflake flurry outside the window in silence for 10minutes.
The snow had accumulated to more than 4inches by then and everything was a beautiful white. For a baby, 10 minutes of silence was worth more than gold to me and I quietly embraced this moment and stored it away in my heart for another time to remember.The start of our new life. Our own personal snow dome. =)
