The End Of Summer


I've been a little MIA because I was having problems with my internet service at home. I am one of those people still using DSL (because it's cheap and fast enough for me since I don't game or watch movies online). My modem died and then it took them 10 days to ship a new one to me (from the West Coast, no less). When I tried the new one, guess what? It didn't work either! But then they figured out it was actually my DSL connection too, somewhere in the Main Frame of the telephone company (blah, blah, blah, didn't understand, didn't care, just fix the damn thing). Now all is okay. I was living on dial up at home and that was very painful.


Another year of TIFF has gone by and I plan on doing a post reviewing the films I saw. But this post will just lament the end of Summer. Boo.


It wouldn't be the end of Summer without going to THE EX, which I did on the Labour Day Long Weekend. I ate my usual Ribs and Ice Cream Waffle Sandwich, though I did search around for a Deep Fried Pop-Tart and had no luck (and did not feel like Deep Fried Butter/Coke/Kool-Aid/Jos. Louis or that disgusting Krispy Kreme Donut Hamburger made popular by Paula Deen).


We checked out the Flower Show and there were some pretty winners. I love flowers, just can't seem to grow them. But I have my Mom for that.

This was my absolute favourite Dahlia. It's like it was splattered with red paint.

This arrangement was pretty too.

This was quite a cool pumpkin. Grey Ghost. My Mom tried to grow a blue pumpkin this year. It flowered but did not grow into a pumpkin. We were disappointed. She still has regular pumpkins though.

This sand sculpture made me sad. It was part of the Sand Sculpting Competition and was titled Fukushima Melt Down, sculpted by Katsuhiko Chaen. It amazes me that they can sculpt these things from blocks of sand.


My Mom wanted to go to the figure skating show. Us Canadians sure do love our figure skating. The rink was PACKED. It was a tribute to Broadway shows and was quite good. Joannie Rochette was the star. Though she only skated one number.

Kind of hard to get a clear picture of her while she was skating.


I will miss getting the bounty from Mom's garden once Winter comes. It was a great year for tomatoes and cucumbers. Not so great for zucchini but lots of squash. Her fruit trees didn't produce though. No plums this year and not a lot of raspberries, but plenty of blackberries. Gardens are a strange lot.

Swiss Chard. It was delicious.

I live for Zucchini Blossoms and when she gave me some, I promptly tempura-ed them up that night and served them with a delicious tomato puree from the tomatoes & basil from the garden. This was SO GOOD. I am getting some more blossoms this week and that will probably be the end of them. So sad.

Here's a Pizza I made with fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce & Burrata. That is it. No other ingredients (save a drizzle of olive oil). So simple yet so yummy.


My Mom was so hilarious when I was complaining at THE EX about not finding my Deep Fried Pop-Tart. She was all like, "Why don't you just deep fry your own?" Well, guess what I did?

I used the S'Mores flavoured Pop-Tart. Of course I lightly battered it before deep frying. My verdict? Pretty damn delicious. I was actually shocked the whole thing didn't just melt when frying. It had a nice crispy texture while the inside was hot & gooey. I'm glad I got it out of my system! :)

This was my Siamese cat, Simon, who we had from the time I was 8 years old, until he died when I was 12 years old. He was actually the same age as me. First off, not sure how the hell he got up there. Secondly, I love how he is sitting next to my Dad's microscope. I loved Simon, even with his weird babyish meow. I was so heartbroken when he died. After that, we never got another pet. It's funny but I believe my allergies got better when we had a cat and then when we didn't have one anymore, they came back. Now whenever I'm around cats my nose gets stuffed and my eyes get red and puffy. I love them but I can't be around them for long periods of time. We also had a Budgie named Bobo (do you like the alliteration in naming our pets?) who I had when I was like 4 or 5 years old. We went on vacation and left him with my Ye-Ye and lo and behold, Bobo was dead when I came back. I guess my parents felt guilty because then we got a cat named Honeybear (who was the colour of honey). He was a little devil. Climbed up the curtains, up the wallpaper, would not use his kitty litter box. One day he ran away but I am convinced that my Dad's friend, who was visiting from Hong Kong, let Honeybear out on purpose because he didn't like him. We never did find him.


Not sure why I just went down Pet Memory Lane?!