After a couple months of basically being a recluse and feeling rather cooped up, we finally threw a small party. My skin has mostly cleared up now, and things are looking much brighter for the future. I’m feeling very happy these days. Plus, in 4 days I’ll be in Costa Rica!

It was Allan’s birthday on Sunday so we decided to have a little get-together over at our place on Saturday night.

Allan likes beer, so we stocked the fridge full of his favourite beers for the party.

There was barely any room in the fridge for food, including the fridge door!

Allan got a new BBQ for his birthday and we finally made use of our new patio. We got the Weber Q300 barbecue and we LOVE it! It heats up really hot, really fast and evenly distributes the heat no matter how high or low. It’s also really portable, and has a good-sized cooking surface. Good value, too! (Despite us looking all over town and them being sold out EVERYWHERE we finally found it in a small independent and I haggled till the bitter end for a good price)

We provided some small appies for the party. I made up some cheese and bread spreads. Pictured here is the double cream brie and red pepper jelly, fig spread with parmigiano reggiano, smoked mozzarella and ham, and cheddar.

We cooked up some 3-night marinaded Maui-style ribs from Granville Island, along with homemade hamburgers, ribeye steak and beef filet mignons. Sides were risotto and grilled veggies.

There weren’t many leftovers!

I also found THE BEST rum EVER in the liquor store the other day. I’ve never had expensive rum before and wow, is it ever worth it. It’s called Zaya Gran Reserva, aged 12 years and handcrafted in Trinidad & Tobago. 5 times distilled. It is really, REALLY good. We made some mojitos from it, although some people preferred to just sip it.

Shelley McArthur, AWESOME Communications Director from Top Table Restaurants (some of my fave restaurants in BC) sent me this incredible mojito recipe from Keith Trusler, Bar Manager at Blue Water Cafe. Top Table has some of the best bartenders in BC so definitely check out Araxi, Blue Water Cafe, West, or Cin Cin for divine drinks. The taste is all in the careful preparation! We used the Zaya Rum, but the Havana Club rum still tastes great for this recipe:

Blue Water Cafe Mojito, by Keith Trusler

1/2 lime, divided into 8ths
10 mint leaves, bruised to release flavour (roll into a ball and clap with your hands)
1 1/2 ounces Havana Club Anejo Reserva Rum
Club Soda and Crushed Ice

In a tall glass, muddle lime and mint with the simple syrup. Top with crushed ice. Pour in rum and stir together. Top with club soda. Enjoy!

Sooo good.

After mixing drinks for a while, I decided to sit down and believe it or not the BOYS got into the kitchen and started mixing up their own drinks.

One of the best ones was the watermelon martini made with Grey Goose, Sourz and Simple Syrup. Yum!

Other not-so-good drinks the boys made was mixes of beer and gin and gatorade. Not so good.

Believe it or not, there are THREE people on this chair, haha.

Here they are mixing up more drinks.

Here we are outside, after inspecting a huge beetle that was on the porch.

It was a great night! Lots of food, drinks, and fun. It was great to have some of our friends over too, since it had been a while

What did you do this weekend?

My good friend Dave M. has been trying to convince me to become a Lions fan for a long time. Personally, I’m not a big football fan, but I do love sports and I consider myself a BC girl. So hey, why not give it a try?

It just so happened that another friend of mine, Tom, was having a birthday yesterday and got a bunch of tickets for all his friends. We started off with a few shots of my favourite tequila each, and then… to the Lions game!

After going to numerous Canucks game at GM Place, I was completely floored by how much bigger BC Place was. The sheer number of empty seats was surprising too. I was happy to see a lot of orange in the crowd, but it really did seem like only a quarter of the crowd actually knew what was going on. I think everyone else was there to drink.

I was also surprised by the selection of food… not nearly as much as at GM Place. There were fewer stoppages in play (no “advertising breaks”), and definitely less ads and commercials in the stadium. That was actually really nice. I think hockey would be much more enjoyable without the flashing ads and loud commercials all the time. I will also say this — the DJ was way better at the Lions game.

Not just that, but the Lion claws and the orange were much more eye catching and “fierce” than the blue Canucks colours and the Orca. I mean really… an Orca?! I decided to get myself a Lions hat, and I tried my best to pay attention to the game. Geroy Simon was definitely one to watch, and (in my very little football knowledge), it seemed like the Lions played pretty good defense last night. Lions beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 40-10.

So Dave, yes, I had a lot of fun. I’m not sure if I’m going to convert to a Lions fan anytime soon, but I really had a great time. I’ll always be a ‘Nucks fan at heart, and I think I only have room for one sports team in me

After the game, the group headed to Library Square for some drinks and dancing. What a funny name for a club. And it was 80s night too. Perhaps a little too “cougar-ish” for me, a little too old school as well, but we still had an awesome time.

Good night!