In Other News

The whole Daylight savings nonsense was this weekend, as usual I got confused about which day to "fall back" on and nearly went to work an hour early today. I was actually in the car with the engine running when Selena came screaming down from Mum's to stop me. //sigh//

Yesterday I mentioned to Chris, the sous chef (ie supervisor), that I was planning to make potato leek soup on my days off and he suggested that I make it today at work. I thought he'd forgotten but after service when I'd finished cleaning the 20 pounds of chanterelles I've been working on for 2 days, he said to get started on the soup. Yay! So I made a lovely pale green potato leek soup for tomorrow and the next day. He also said I was welcome to take over all the soup preparation. Woo hoo! I'll probably be making two soups a week.

So yes, I did get the job. It's still up in the air what my hours are going to be but I've already had more hours in one week than I managed in 2 weeks at Vinoteca. So fingers crossed for more hours.

Happy Halloween!

I'm just back inside after sitting out in the rain watching our annual fireworks show. It was quite nice except for the damp. //grin// We had a roaring bonfire, roasted some marshmallows, but cooked the hotdogs in the house, and watched Jay & Ry set off fireworks.

Here is one of our jack o'lanterns that Selena took to school for the carving contest. She didn't win but tells me I carve "great eyes."

Bibliomaniacs Beware!

More from "Night & Horses & the Desert." A warning for bibliomaniacs - books can kill you! The back cover blurb mentions the book contains "a treatise on bibliomania by Al-Jahiz, possibly the only writer to have been killed by books." Talk about piquing curiosity!
Apparently Jahiz used to pay bookshop owners to lock him in their shops overnight so he could read their stock. "It is reported that he was killed when an avalanche of books collapsed on top of him."

His treatise on bibliomania is quite good but too long for a lazy typist like me to reproduce here, so go to a library or perhaps get locked in a bookshop to read it. Wait, I found someone not as lazy, Chandrahas Choudhury at The Middle Stage has an excerpt and argues a relationship between bibliomania and blogging. I think he's onto something. //grin//

Unusual Word

I've been reading (nothing new there) a book Niko gave me ages ago called "Night & Horses & the Desert: An Anthology of Classical Arabic Literature." It's a bit dense so I'm alternating it with "One Thousand and One Nights" translated by Sir Richard Burton (not the one who married Elizabeth Taylor //grin//) and "McGarr and the Method of Descartes" by Bartholomew Gill.

Anyway, there is a section that discusses how in early Islamic times poets and lexicographers used to go out to the desert tribes in search of "lexical rarities" and to improve their knowledge of Arabic (because they thought that Arabic was in it purest use in the desert). One of the words mentioned just really appealed to me and I must find a way to use it somehow. "Bahlasa means 'to arrive suddenly from another country without any luggage'."

I imagine that really was a rarity back then when most people travelled by caravan for months to get anywhere. Maybe the aliens who built the pyramids gave them a hand "arriving suddenly." //grin//

Boondock Saints - Watch It

So I went to the video store in search of Shaun of the Dead, as recommended by Niko, but it was out. Since I was there anyway and Selena had to get the latest Inu Yasha movie, I picked up Boondock Saints instead. It had been recommended to me by a few people who had also seen the Guy Ritchie flicks - Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels(both of which I enjoyed). It was fairly bloody but funny and fairly similar in style to the Ritchie movies, and also has Young Indiana Jones cutie Sean Patrick Flannery. When I take it back I'll try again for Shaun of the Dead.

Job Interview Update

Well, I went in on Sunday, Monday, and today. I worked with another (very experienced) cook who was hired last week. I was told before I went in that after a few days the chef and I would have a talk about hours and pay rate, etc "if everything goes OK." Today he was only in for an hour to have a meeting with the owners and on his way out, said "we were supposed to talk today weren't we?" Um, yes. Then he asks me to let him know what my Vinoteca schedule is and if possible, can I come Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Arrggh! Make up your mind already. I've decided I'll ask him to elaborate when I email my hours (if Fatima even knows when she'll need me). So I think I got the job, the other cook seems to think I've got the job, but I don't know for sure. //sigh//
On the up side of things though, it is a nice place to work, people are friendly and I think it will be pretty busy. The new menu is very tasty, has lots of advance prep but is easy to finish and get on a plate. Yummy, yummy things like risotto with smoked salmon and chanterelles or quesadilla filled with yam, toasted hazelnuts and brie or duck sandwich on focaccia with apple cider aoli. MMMMMmmmm.
So going against my mildly superstitious nature, I will tell you where it is and say if you have the chance, take in lunch at Merridale Cider. Yes, Merridale Cider has a restaurant - la Pommeraie Bistro. Right now it is open Friday to Tuesday for lunch from 11 to 4. It's 10 minutes further to work for me but really pretty, smells like apples, and the restaurant is cozy with lots of windows looking onto the orchard.

Need Some Positive Thoughts on Sunday

If you can spare a thought or two on Sunday (sometime I need all my thoughts just to keep my brain working //grin//), send 'em my way. Two momentous events will be going on almost simultaneously (okay, not world shattering momentous but very important to me):

Ryan and Jay will be at the Victoria Toy Show hoping to sell off everything left from the World's Most Unsuccessful Garage Sale. If you are attending the sale be sure to stop by and say Hi, even better, buy some stuff. //grin// Jay will have his Dragon 12" military figures, Niko & I have tons of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, some Harry Potter, Babylon 5, Hercules, Sylvester the cat and even a stuffed Vitalstatistix from Asterix (I just have nowhere to put him //sigh//).

The other event on Sunday involves me cooking. Yeah, odd I know, since that is now my job. However, it may be obvious since I am blogging at noon that I am not currently at work. I haven't had any hours yet this week //sigh//. I know I'll be working tomorrow and Saturday but that won't pay the bills. Anyway, my point is that I have a sort of cooking interview on Sunday. It's for the job that I mentioned applying for below, I had a phone and in person interview this past Tuesday and on Sunday I get to cook. Basically the chef said come in for a few days and we'll see how it works out, then Tuesday we'll discuss hours and salary. I really, really want this job. I don't want to jinx it so I won't say where (Superstitious? Me? Nah.) but it's a fairly high traffic venue and will be open 7 days a week for lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. //fingers crossed//

Caffeinated!!

Holy moly! I just realized why I've been so hyper these last few days. Usually on work days I have max 3 cups of coffee, one to wake up, one when I get to work and one about 3 in the afternoon. Sometimes I only have 2 and usually drink water or juice the rest of the day. Well, since I've not been at work this week I drink the whole pot of coffee in the course of the day. Time to go buy some more juice and put some water in the fridge.

What's Been Going On?

In a word, or two, not much.

Selena had her first field hockey tournament. A practice/fun one with just 3 schools. They had a lot of fun while parents froze their parts off watching. Next time I take coffee, a hat and a warmer coat.

BC teachers are still on their illegal strike. So basically both kids are here eating everything in sight and trying to stay up to all hours "because it's not a school night." Yeah, right.

This past 2 weeks I've had the least amount of work so far - 25 hours. That's over 2 weeks - not one. This paycheque is going to suck so bad. Anyway, so I'm hitting the bricks (again) and have started applying for jobs. I applied to one today that I'd really like, so keep your fingers crossed.

Weather has been mostly wet with the odd attempt at sun.

I made a really good cake yesterday, yummy, yummy chocolate. Similar to the one we serve at the restaurant for $7 a slice.
Very easy - whip equal parts sugar and whole eggs, melt equal parts good chocolate and butter, cool the chocolate a bit, mix with eggs, add about 3/4 cup flour (Fatima never measures so this is a guess), a dash of booze (I used Drambuie, Fatima uses rum) and pour into spring form pan(s). It's easier to get out when finished if you line the pans with parchment paper or butter and flour. Cook at about 250 for at least an hour, until middle is set (kind of like cheesecake) and top cracks. It's meant to be moist and rich, and boy, is it!

I finally finished reading The Muslim Discovery of Europe by Bernard Lewis. I started it so long ago that for awhile I forgot I was reading it and had to skim what I'd already read. Not one of his more gripping works but interesting none the less. I'm also still working my way through the Burton translation of One Thousand and One Nights, I remembered I had a copy after reading the lovely illustrated selections that Niko gave me for my birthday. This one could use some illustrations, reading it all at once makes it easy to notice the repetitive themes. Still entertaining though. I think I may go for something lighter for my next reading material.

Fatima gave me a really nice cookbook for my graduation present, she's been driving around with it in her car since September. It's called Bouchon by Thomas Keller of The French Laundry (a restaurant) and has the recipes from his new restaurant of the same name. Some really nice looking food, I can hardly wait to cook some.