pasta from the gods

Desperately low on substance in the fridge, i needed to eat something... and i needed it fast.

One of the beauties of having a house, and some yard, is the veggie garden. This year i planted a bunch of tomato plants, basil, red peppers, lettuce, and cilantro. The tomatos have been good allthough a little sparser than i would've expected (considering i planted 13 plants), the basil has been great, cilantro had its times (remember to pick flowers!!!), and the lettuce much the same as the cilantro. The peppers are just coming in full force now.

So back to lunch. I needed some, and had very little in the fridge. Some sundried tomatos was about all that was in there. So i went out to the garden, picked a bunch of basil, and the one tomato i could find. I came inside, pulled some shallots out, and sauted them down with some balsamic till tender. Then added sliced sundrieds and garlic. Of course s & p and oil al mucho. Once done, i took the whole bit along with the pile of washed basil, into the cuisinart with you!!! They had a bit of a pesto party in there they did. Cooked the de cecco pasta (the spooled fettuccine, best dried pasta money can buy), spooned directly into the original saute fry pan, added the pesto, and voila, lunch. Chopped my one tomato on top, some red pepper flakes, and now it is in my tummy, but not before taking this pic on top of my new filing cabinet. What a way to kick off what will likely be paradigm shiftastic weekend.

omg all your can eat sushi in ottawa

When i was in Vancouver a few weeks ago i got to partake in the glorious transcendence that is all you can eat sushi. It was good, great, amazing... but now, upon my return, i have heard of not one, but 2 all you can eat sushi restaurants in Ottawa!!! Yes, its true!!!!!

Having heard that, and having spent the vast majority of my weekend 5 feet underground under extreme physical duress (more on this later), i knew the only thing that would appease me was a mountain of raw fish. It was risky, considering the place we were going hadn't been open long, but i was game.

The place we went was on carling between maitland and the 417. It is called 1000 Sushi Islands. O man, we were not disappointed.

There's just nothing like the tenderness and flavour of fresh raw salmon sashimi (i don't know how they get it here so fast, but man i'm glad they can!!!). The texture is like a really thick al dente noodle, but a little more forgiving. The smell, o so good. No need to bathe in soy/wasabi, these babies are islands unto themselves. The quality told me right away that this place was legit. Their seaweed salad was probably the best i ever had. Tempura, of which we tried the shrimp and squid (i know, squid tempura, wow!!!), and it was all delightful. They did rainbow rolls which were killer, and their spice salmon rolls were a little different as far as ingredients, but man were they good. Unagi. Awesome. The pieces were a little small, but it was ALL YOU CAN EAT!!!! SO WHO CARES!!!! The only thing that didn't blow me away was their hand roll thingys, but i'm not a big fan of those anyways.

The service was good, but it seemed one or 2 of the things weren't what we ordered, or stuff we ordered went to the wrong tables. They come around and fill your water and tea quite regularly, as well as take additional order sheets whenever you have new ones ready (i think we went through 4 sheets). No liquor license yet, but pops are included with the buffet, as is everything - nothing on the menu had a price, except the whole buffet which was 20.99 for fri-sun, and 19.99 (lunch was cheaper, and there are kids and seniors discounts). The menu does say you'll be charged for what you don't eat, but i assume this is only if there are piles of things untouched (if anyone has experience with this i'd love to hear about it).

So ya, 1000 Islands Sushi is an ALL YOU CAN EAT sushi place. Its in ottawa. I think the food was better than sushi 88. Which might mean i never go back there, as even being the cheapest sushi restaurant in town i've never left there with a bill under 50 bux, and never full, and our bill was 43 and change... o man. I'm totally stoked.

The best thing about it: sushi full. Normally when i'm full, and i mean stuffed, with other types of food, i kinda want my body to digest. I go for indian buffet, i stuff myself on 2 plates or so, and i feel like i'm going to die. I recognize it is not healthy to eat so much in a sitting, but when i do so with sushi, i feel like i'm in heaven. No bloating, no barfing, no tooting, no burping, no nothing. Just pure peace. Pure sushi full. And this is something you only get with all you can eat, cause i never eat "enough" at a regular place to reach this level of gastronirvana. O baby, ottawa has never seen so bright.

sonotube dimensional annoyances

I've bought some sonotube's lately. Not branded "sonotube", likely cheap rip offs, i got 8" versions from both rona and home depot. The ones from rona are actually smaller than 8"'s, would probably make a 7.5" concrete form. The ones from home depot are a little bigger than 8", likely to make and exactly 8" concrete form. Am i the only one bringing a tape measure to these places to pick stuff out cause whatever dimensions are printed on whatever are not to be trusted??

While not the most exciting thing to happen to me lately, i thought it was worth mentioning. Its been a great summer, but now its time to build!!! I'm building a balcony in my backyard, i'm all permit ready, and now i have to dig 6 feet into the ground in 2 places. This isn't going to be pretty.

so hard for it honey

This video came to mind recently and i thought i would share this massive flashback with the rest of you.

do not safedrop

I've had some dealings with the post office lately, i'm hoping someone can shed some light on some possibilities i have not considered.

A few months ago i placed an order with amazon.ca for 8 or 9 music cd's. About a week and half after i received their shipment email, i still had not received them. I checked canadapost's tracking site, and it said the parcel was delivered to the recipient a week ago. I phoned canada post, and they said they can't do anything, i should call amazon. So i did, and they said "this happens", and said they'd resend the entire parcel. It surprised me how easily they agreed to do this, but whatever, i was happy.

This time I followed this tracking number a little closer, and when canadapost said this package had been delivered and it had not, i grew worried. I called amazon again, and again they were very nice. They said they rarely send a parcel 3 times, but made an exception for me cause i really wanted these cd's (they also would've just refunded my money at this point). The availability of one of the cd's was a little off, so they graciously offered to split the shipment up into 2 chunks.

Again, i followed the tracking info, the bulk of the items being the first thing shipped. I added myself as an email recipient for updates on changes to the status of the package tracking. When i got the email telling me this package was delivered i was home. I of course went straight outside, again to find no package waiting for me. My guess is this info isn't "up to the minute", and likely was reported delivered the previous day (when i was not home).

A few days later, the lone late cd did arrive in my mailbox. My mailbox is pretty standard, big enough to fit a small parcel, but any larger parcel would stick out the top. I've gotten books from amazon before, and they did stick out the top. This was the first time i've ever had any issues.

I called amazon again, they were apologetic, but we both agreed there was nothing left for them to do. They refunded my money, and someone out there might very well have 3 copies of neon bible, joel plaskett's new cd, and a variety of other kickass albums. I ordered all the missing cds again, this time shipping them to my work, and they arrived safely there within 5 or so days.

So what happened? Is it possible that "bad people" stole these parcels off my doorstep 3 times, when previous amazon packages that were sticking out of my mailbox arrived in my safe hands? This is the only possibility i can possibly accept. Did someone in the middle (ie an employee) scam them? Unlikely considering the parcel did arrive to my work. Is it possible amazon never actually sent them? Very unlikely considering canada post did note tracking info. Can anyone think of any other possibilities?

I was told by someone (can't remember who) that you can request canada post not deliver parcels to your door without a signature. I called canada post and asked about this. They said i can not do this, but i can ask that parcels not be left at my house. They referred to this practice as "safedrop" (not sure whats safe about it though!). You are allowed to request that letter carriers "do not safedrop". The lady asked me to put a note on my mailbox that says "do not safedrop" and that she would put a request in to the depot marking my address with this same bit of info. So i did these 2 things. I got a call today from the local centertown postal outlet. The lady there informs me that letter carriers never leave parcels that do not completely fit in the mailbox. I said... ok. I didn't know what else to say, as well, i had no additional ideas. I was tired, frustrated, and bewildered.

With the package that i did successfully get delivered to my office i debated filling it with cat poo, arming my house with cameras, eagerly hoping to catch a culprit... but i lost interest. The cat poo woulda been fun, but some possible outcomes could've been disastrous for my property, so i opted against it.

I really hope it isn't skids walking by scoping out folks' mailbox's in hopes of treasures... i really really hope this isn't the case... but the whole situation has added to my cynicism, which was sparse before but increasingly grows as i do. Which kinda blows.

regrets

I may have mentioned this before, but i don't often have regrets. Serious ones that is... i may regret calling a bet, or not paying more attention to some zinfandel's flavour, but i rarely am sickened by a choice made badly.

Recently though, i was. I decided to get a full refund on my roger water tickets as i knew he would be playing the same night as the sens, game 5. That was a big mistake as one of my coworkers told me i basically missed one of the 10 best shows he's ever seen, and he's seen a lot. One of my childhood dreams was to see this guy, and i set aside the one best chance i'll have to do so. Damn.

Another regret i have, but not nearly as serious, is not writing in here enough... i've said that before though haven't i!!! Well, i'm not going to vow to do anything about this one, but i tell you, if mr. waters comes back to the shite old corel centre again (or place d'scotia whatever), i'm there.

jaks kitchen redux

Ok, so i've now been a few times. Went for breakfast there last weekend, and what can i say, it was much improved, so much in fact, that i almost want to remove all my previous reservations about the switch over.

To summarize, there were a ton of homies, the fruit was massive, juicy and better than ever, there were specials, one of which i had, and hot damn it, it was overflowing with what it promised. We were out on the balcony, and hot diggidy the service was almost too god in that my coffee never got below half... below HALF!!! I don't even like drinking that much coffee!!! Ya, it was really good.

Partially by chance and partially because of that previously quite large breakfast, we hit it up for dinner last week as well. Again, not disappointed in the least, in fact quite delighted (i need to start using words like 'delighted' when i order bottles of white wine instead of bottles of beers). Non spicy curried cream farfalle!!! Giddeup!!! The mussels were rippin hot too (not like spicy hot, like sexy hot), with pancetta and portabellas in a red wine kickass broth, they were unlike any mussels i've eaten recently (including the ones i had at savanna last night, which you'll likely hear about elsewheres). And the wine, i think we just had house wine, not even bottles, was super crisp and perfect.

So, since i'm just an individual who has little moral responsibility to the community at large and can bounce from one location, to the next, and then back again, i am in the business of second chances, as they often bear juicier fruit, and damn, this time it was falling from the trees. I can't help but feel a little flushed or perhaps setup, as my original posting is on their cork board, but i'm going to pretend no link up was made and these were just natural changes and in no way directed at yours truly. Bye bye stoneface, hello jak. Thank goodness for second chances, proximity will no longer be the only thing bringing me back (again and again).