Okay, so it’s a little early… but for those of us working office day jobs, many workplaces are celebrating Halloween today… so, I dressed up today instead of tomorrow. I don’t have any particular Halloween plans this year. I think I’m going to enjoy taking a little break at home, as it’s been a mad rush the past few weeks. With starting the new job, apartment makeovers, party planning, and events with friends, my life has been crazy hectic.

Anyway, back to Halloween

This year at work I recycled an old costume and dressed up as Minnie Mouse. I don’t have a photo of me in costume today, but it looks kinda like this, except with bright red pumps. I know, lame right? I have to admit I was feeling a little uninspired.

Here are some of my costumes in previous years, which were a little more creative.

My absolute favourite costume, Cortana from Halo. It’s a little nerdy, but it’s works well at a video game company

Some sort of fairy with wings. Okay, so maybe these aren’t creative at all. I believe this is now called the “duck face”.

Trevor Linden! My all-time favourite Canucks and hockey player.

I hope everyone has a fantastic day today and of course, night out tomorrow for Halloween… hope you all stay safe and have a lot of fun!

We celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada this past weekend. I hope everyone had a good one!

My long weekend was filled with Canucks hockey, a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and time with the family, and of course… more furniture sanding, painting, and refinishing.

Thanks to the awesome people at Canucks Hockey Blog (Hi JJ and Mozy!), Allan and I won tickets to the Canucks Open Practice this past Saturday. Now, tickets were free anyway, but they scored us awesome seats in Row 1 right beside the players’ bench!

It was great to see all the fans come out to support the team… and also great to see all the families and kids there. It’s a great event that everyone can afford to go to, and the team put on an exciting performance.

The practice was filled with various drills and scrimmages, and lots of goofing around from the players. I especially enjoyed the showboating during the shootout at the end of the practice. We had an awesome time and it got us all pumped for the game on Sunday night (which the Canucks won in an awesome shootout of course… must have been all that shootout practice … right?).

The rest of Saturday and Sunday was spent mostly hunting for furniture, and sanding and painting. It’s amazing how much time it takes. We’ve spent dozens of hours already on just our dressers.

I spent Sunday afternoon cooking in the kitchen with my mom… and I think we put together a pretty nice spread! My dad did the turkey, which is (in my opinion) the best… he makes an amazing overnight brine for the turkey with fresh herbs from the garden… and of course it is cooked all day in the oven until it is fall apart tender.

We also had Kansas City ribs (no pre-made sauces, only fresh herbs and tomato sauce made from tomatoes from the garden, and oranges), avocado and beet salad, home made Ciabatta bread, roasted potatoes with carrots and blue potatoes from the garden, a vegetable tian with parmesan and bread crumbs, sparkling grape juice punch made from homegrown grapes, and some homemade chocolate crème brûlée from dessert.

Judging from the amount of food on Allan’s plate I think it turned out pretty good!

Monday was spent hunting for furniture, and finally completing the last coats of lacquer finish on the dresser. Here’s a shot of our setup in my parent’s garage. I will have before and after photos for you when all the bedroom furniture is done. We still have the bed to do!

Although I try to remember what I am thankful for every day at some point during yoga or prayer, Thanksgiving is always a good time to formalize it. So, here is what I am thankful for…

- Allan… my wonderful partner who means everything to me in this world! Thank you for always making me laugh and that we never get bored of spending time with each other.
- My amazing parents and my little brother… my whole family who I’m so grateful to be so close to.
- Our beautiful city and province where we can do all the activities we love to do
- Friends, for always being there for me
- My job and my coworkers
- A healthy body and mind!

What are you thankful for? What did you do this past weekend?

I really love baking, especially when it starts to get a little bit rainy and cold. There’s something about having the heat of the oven warm your living space, and the aromas of freshly baked goods spreading through the apartment…

First up, I tried out the Barefoot Contessa’s Buttermilk Cheese Biscuits recipe from the cookbook Back to Basics. I found a copy of the recipe online here so you can check it out as well.

I really loved this recipe. The biscuits came out flaky, cheesy, and savoury. I will admit I was only slightly disappointed, because the best cheese biscuits I have EVER had were at this little bed and breakfast at Apex Mountain. Maybe it was the snowboarding that made them taste better… I don’t know. I think I will play around with this recipe a bit to get it tasting exactly how I remember them. Or maybe I’ll call up the B&B and see if I can get a cheat sheet

These are SO good when they just come out of the oven. They actually keep really nice in the fridge for a few days as well and you can heat them up in a toaster oven or the microwave when you are ready to eat.

In other baking news, I have fallen in love with a new banana bread recipe I have been working on. I originally found it in one of my mom’s cookbooks when I was younger, and have adapted it over the years in university and so on. This is the most recent iteration Try it out and let me know what you think!

The Most Absolutely Delicious and Moist Banana Bread Recipe

3 or 4 extremely ripe bananas (over-ripe)
1 stick of butter at room temperature (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup regular sugar
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons real Vanilla extract (I like Madagascar Bourbon vanilla)
1.5 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 heaping teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon (Cinnamon is really good for you, so I use a bit more, but you can use less if you don’t like it very much)
1 cup good quality dark chocolate wafers
3/4 cup of toasted walnuts, chopped (Just toast them gently at 350 degrees F for about 8-10 minutes)

1. Cream the room temperature butter with a mixer. Add in the sugar. Mix in the eggs one at a time.

2. Using a wooden spoon, mash the bananas until mushy and relatively smooth. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, and the bananas into the first bowl (with the butter) and beat. This is Bowl A.

3. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a separate bowl. Make sure they are mixed well. This is Bowl B.

4. Mix some flour into the chocolate wafers and walnuts in a separate small bowl. This is Bowl C.

5. Mix Bowl A and Bowl B together gently, until smooth. Do not overmix. Then using a spatula, fold Bowl C into the mixture.

6. Grease a bread pan with butter if you have one, or you can use a casserole dish, and gently fold the batter into the pan. Bake for one hour (or until done with the toothpick test) at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Let it rest before cutting! Don’t make the same mistake I did and let your boyfriend get into it too early!

I really loved the way this banana bread turned out. It was crispy on the outside but sooo incredibly moist on the inside.

Does anyone have any of their favourite recipes to share? I’d love to hear some if you have any so I can try them out!

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In others news, it’s the first game of the regular season tonight for our beloved Canucks! Canucks vs. Flames tonight. Should be absolutely incredible.  Check it out on CBC… I can’t wait!

Huge game tonight, Canucks vs. Blues for Game #4. The Canucks have a chance to take it all, and for the Blues it is do or die. Will St. Louis be able to elevate their game tonight and play desperate?

So far my playoff streak of wearing a jersey every day of the playoffs continues. I’m not stinky yet, but the playoffs ain’t over yet either… *cough* I haven’t had a chance to go to a playoff game yet this year and with trying to save up for all the surf trips I have planned this summer, I don’t think I’ll get a chance to. That said, if they make it to the Stanley Cup finals (and I think they have a pretty decent chance), I’ll be there

For most bandwagon fans, the Canucks continue to surprise them with their speed and toughness. For us die-hard fans, it’s just the good team we’ve seen playing most of the year taking it to the next level. They got better and better as the season progressed and now they are finally showing what they can do when they play with a little heart… something that has been sorely missed on a Canucks team for a long time, especially since Trevor Linden retired in my opinion

Mats Sundin is supposed to be a game-time decision tonight. I’d like to have him back, but definitely don’t want him rushed through his injury to play. Kariya has said he’s not going to play tonight, but if they make it to Game 5, I’m almost certain he will. Special teams is going to be the story again for tonight. Canucks will need to continue their excellent penalty killing and continue scoring when they get power play chances.

Tonight is going to be a tough game. The Canucks aren’t known for their killer instinct and have only swept a playoff series once before. We’ve seen a lot of the young guys on our team step up, like Burrows, Kesler, Bernier, and Raymond… and even the Sedins! Now I’d like to see some of the veterans really pull out all the stops and play hard tonight. The Canucks are going to need to play every game like it is their last and not get complacent if they want to keep up their momentum into the second series. But let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. It isn’t over till it’s over.

As I mentioned, my friend who is a Blues fan is a little unsettled by the series so far but I have to give it to him — he hasn’t jumped ship and continues to support his team. I have something to admit that no self-respecting Canucks fan would ever admit. I secretly want St. Louis to get the next game… not just so my friend can have a smile on his face, but also so the Canucks can come back home… and win the series in Vancouver for the fans. But don’t tell anyone I told you that!

In other news, what’s with Library Square kicking out a guy for wearing his Canucks jersey? What a shame. I’m boycotting them from now on. Come on — get with the program! It’s playoff time and this is a hockey town. Here’s the link for those who haven’t read the story yet on CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/04/20/bc-canucks-jersey-ban-library-square-pub.html

Shame on them.

It’s playoff time in Vancouver and the city is buzzing. The Johnny Canuck car flags come out, the jerseys are on show, and the Canuck fan in every Vancouverite seems to come to life (*cough* bandwagoners *cough*).

Since I’m a girl and can’t rock the playoff beard, I’m wearing my jersey every day for good luck – even to work. Every April and May my coworkers will have to deal with the stench, but at least they know it’s coming.

When it was first announced that the Canucks would be playing the St. Louis Blues in the first round of playoffs, a ripple of nervousness spread out across the city. All of a sudden, the most die-hard fans I knew were questioning whether the Canucks would be able to handle the toughness of the Blues, and if we’d be able to handle the eventual comeback of Kariya. Playing the hottest team in the NHL for the second half of the season? No thanks, we’d rather take on Chicago.

But last night the Canucks won an important game: their first playoff game of the year, and the first game of the series. Statistically, we know that the team that wins the first game of the series has often led to the same team moving on to the next round. I think the Canucks put a lot of the city’s fears to rest and calmed a lot of their own uneasiness by pulling out a victory in the first game of the series.

That’s not to say that it was an absolute beating. The Canucks, and by the Canucks I mean Luongo, weathered the storm in the first period as he stopped a number of significant scoring chances from the Blues. 5 penalties in the first period really sent the Canucks reeling against the hot special teams of St. Louis.

Thank goodness Daniel scored a nice goal from Demitra and Edler to take the lead. I wonder how many Canuck fans around the city breathed a sigh of relief when that happened. I know I did!

The second and third periods were played much better by the Canucks, as they came on strong, scored another goal and ended up winning the game 2-1. I have to say the real difference makers were the Sedins, who surprised pretty much everyone by playing tough, finishing their checks, and being physical while on the puck. If they can keep this up, I think the team we have now is the deepest and most competitive in Canucks history.

And so the city eagerly awaits for the second game of the series on Friday. Sadly, one of my good friends is a die-hard Blues fan, and I refuse to let him walk around for the rest of the year with a smug look on his face. So Canucks, please go on to win the series. For my sake, and for yours!

Go Canucks Go!