I'll be in Toronto for Christmas

[festivities]

it was a white Christmas, despite not being in Québec City, and brucebruce’'s apartment was warm with guests who arrived on time. beingboring and eL were in charge of the appetizers and they were late. we had beingboring’'s stuff with us, but we were running behind because Y insisted on going to the gym before we had turkey and stuffing. once in the apartment, brucebruce swept us into the kitchen, while sunshine bf remarked how hungry he was. the turkey was being carved, the vegetables were being cooked.

brucebruce made a wonderful turkey, I made mango salad, Y made his superstar cookies, eL brought over dip, crackers, olives, cheeses and a baked camembert. there was so much food that I couldn'’t stop eating. thankfully, dessert was not several courses large. among gifts of homemade chocolates and sweets, eL gave us all finger puppets. after a brief debate on the legitimacy of the Christmas-ness of The Sound of Music with A&I-A (as A was home sick with the flu), I had re-enacted fraulein maria’'s jaunt over the mountains, but the alien version.

out of the last eight years, this was only the second Christmas in Toronto. I won'’t be going to mass, I won'’t be having tourtière, I won'’t be running in the snow in Petit Champlain on Christmas eve. it felt, however, like I was home. seeing beingboring devouring the newfie stuffing, seeing Y chat with eL about cultural stuff, seeing brucebruce and sunshine spent their first Christmas really together, I really felt like it was home. for years, brucebruce had always moaned on about having one’'s own traditions whenever I took off to Québec with Y. I never felt tradition was such an important thing, because rituals never held much meaning for me. my attention span probably didn'’t allow for repetition. for me, it wasn'’t the rituals, the traditional food, the presents or anything that symbolizes Christmas. it was the feeling that they were all family to me. so it was nice to be with my immediate/extended family for Christmas, as mixed up as we are. I won’'t deny the possibility that next year I may be somewhere else, with someone else. I won't pretend that this is a new tradition. but deep down, I know that if I am halfway around the world on Dec 25, 2005, a part of me will be thinking of brucebruce, Y, eL and beingboring…... probably with a drink a hand, drunken finger puppets singing Madonna, mistletoe misplaced, too much food on my plate...

hope everyone had a happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

[cheer]

happy christmas to all! wishing everyone a wonderful time with family and friends.

thanks for all the cards and wishes to my friends and family. for those abroad, please come back and visit! for those close by, I will see you soon!

I've been busy, but will post soon.

like a flower leaning toward the sun

[celebration]

saturday night, brucebruce, Y and I joined eL’s friends Rb, Sugar & SuperMario at Bistro Tournesol for a quiet celebration of eL’s two years in Toronto and her birthday. the bistro was a cute tiny little restaurant on Dupont, just steps down the way from the Indian Rice Factory. it was virtually empty when we got there, but within minutes, the entire place was packed. we had no choice but to order from the prix fixe menu. eL and brucebruce volunteered Y and I to choose a wine. I had some wonderful mussels in white wine to start and unfortunately chose the grilled Atlantic salmon as my second. the fish was mediocre and Y remarked how we could’ve made it ourselves. but brucebruce's lamb shank and Sugar's bouillabaise looked quite good. a couple of easy-to-drink bottles of Côtes du Rhône and wonderful service made the evening quite splendid.

brucebruce just got back from South Korea and told us stories of his visit. he and his sunshine bf visited Seoul and Bussan, visited traditional bathhouses, an ancient Buddhist monastery variously preserved since 781 AD, a hotel built exactly like a ship on the side of the mountain. listening to him, I wondered if -s- would get to visit, or has already visited, these places and wondered how long he would stay in Seoul.

while Y scraped off the edible salmon meat from the charred skin, while SuperMario pushed his cauliflower and broccoli over to Sugar, and while brucebruce devoured the delicious frites and sweet potato fries from the communal bowl, I asked brucebruce how he managed to eat only Korean food for his entire trip. he sighed, and confessed he made a deal with sunshine bf to have western food every second meal, western food meant McD’s, Burger King, KFC, and Outback. there wasn't much choice otherwise. I love spicy kimchi (check out JR's kimchi recipe link) and mandu (Korean dumplings), but I will confess that I'd be hard pressed to restrict myself only to Korean food. I’'m too used to variety and variety apparently is lacking in Seoul.

we had variety that night, in conversation, in the people around us. Y & SuperMario practised their Québecois, Sugar demonstrated her inability to roll the R's in her name, we talked briefly of mahjong. the warmness of the bistro made me thankful for the company I had. I’m not a big fan of birthdays, the years that go by now are just a number and a blur to me. but it was wonderful to note that eL has been here for two years and to hear brucebruce stories of his travels. we celebrated her time here and compared his time there. I posted once that home is where the heart is. for at least a couple of hours last satruday night, my home is here in Toronto.

merde de goéland

[lucky charms]

it's been 5 business days since that stray bird shat on me. so far, no luck. just a whole whack of green shit I had to carefully clean off my jacket. in fact, it's been one crappy week, since my boss and colleague went on vacation, leaving me behind with the new girl. I feel like I have to work for three, because she's so darn slow. she's new ya know, as I keep telling myself under my breath. but is someone going on 7 months still considered new?

but maybe the good luck will be just around the corner. a new guy (who's not leaving the country)? a new accessory for my icyPod? finally finish my Christmas shopping? the cleaning ladies actually cleans my cubicle? the cute new guy is actually gay and single?

if my luck turns, I'll let you all know. I think there's still enough bird poo left on my jacket for some luck. eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww!