Blast from the past!

A while ago I wrote about Opening Pandora's box - reconnecting with someone from the past, and whether or not that would be a good idea. In the end we did reconnect through email and Facebook. So far it has worked out okay... we've caught up on each others lives and seen some recent photos. And that was enough for me.

But the internet (especially Facebook) has a way of letting the past find you.

For example, I give you Exhibit A:Can you guess which one is me? There are 2 rows of girls, and if we number them from left to right, tell me who you think I am.

I have just reconnected with 8-9 people from that picture on Facebook. This was a grade school picture, a split class of grade 7-8. The emails are flying around as everyone gets caught up and suddenly there are plans for a reunion, or at least a get together this summer. Some still live in the city we grew up in, some are close and others, like me, have moved far away but still make it back to visit family every year.

So it seems that the past is coming back... as long as the fashions and hair styles don't!

Even the Lesbians think he's Hot!

Way to go Firedad!!!!

Check out his bio in Redbook's Hottest Husband of 2009. Even better... Go VOTE for him.


And check out this great video that Firemom did up (showing how cute he was even as a baby!) or read her blog tribute to Firedad on Stop, Drop and Blog.

Now go VOTE!

Oscar Recap

or the party that almost wasn't!

The original plan was that we would be 10 people, 5 couples, for our Oscar party. Hilary, being Hilary, of course made enough food for 15 - you know, just in case. She has 2 big fears every year: 1) that we won't have enough food and 2) that no one will show up. For the first year EVER she was confident in how much food we had. And then the worst happened (worst from a party perspective, not worst from a life perspective)

The 5 couples consisted of us, our friends Sandy and Jason, Sandy's sister Colleen and her husband Jason, and Sandy's brother Jerome and his fiance Colleen (yes, they keep marying people with all the same names, it's very confusing) and one other couple.

We got the call from Colleen (no clue which one) at 9:30 Sunday morning to let us know that Sandy was in labour! We knew this was a possbility since her due date was Feb 26. We all assumed that first babies never come early, so she could come to the Oscar's, eat lots of spicy Indian food and get things moving. Being a close knit family all 6 of them were planning on being at the hospital till the baby was born, and so none of them would be coming to the party.

Alrighty then. We changed our mindset to a nice quiet evening of 4 (Sandy's family's from Newfoundland so evenings with them are anything but quiet). We went ahead with the food prep, since most of it was done and we had already rented the chaffing dishes. Just being 4 people was no reason we should have cold curry.

The house was cleaned, the table laid out, the ballots printed. and we waited. and waited. and waited. Just as I was about to call to make sure everything was okay, they arrived! Phew, crisis averted!

We had a great time. I loved the new format of the show, and Hugh Jackman was an excellent host. I especially liked that it didn't run late. We live in the AST time zone (this one doesn't even exist in the U.S., we are that much further East) so the show didn't finish until 12:55 AM here. Very much past my bedtime.

Hilary was the winner once again, with 12 correct guesses. I came in second with 11, I think an all time high for me.

Oh, and baby Catherine Theresa (thank goodness they didn't name her Colleen, though I fully plan on calling her Oscar myself) made her entrance via C-section around 6:00 PM yesterday. Mom, Dad and all the Aunts and Uncles are doing well.

Cauliflower and Pea Curry

This is one of the final dishes being prepared for tomorrow's festivities. We have this one frequently. Sometimes Hilary makes it with peas and sometimes with soya beans. Either way, it's very good.

Frying up onion, ginger, garlic and cumin seeds

Tumeric, cumin, corriander, salt, cayenne and cardomom

Adding in tomatoes and the spices:

The final product:

My Oscar predictions

There is now less then 1 day left till the start of the 81st Annual Academy Awars. And what am I doing? Not cleaning, not rearranging furniture, not helping with the cooking. Nope, I'm working on my ballot!

Our party isn't just about good foods and fabulous friends. It's about being able to hold your head up high all year long as the winner of the "Bragging Rights" Being the one from our group who predicted (or guessed!) the most winners. There will be a flurry of last minute activity once every one arrives and the ballots are handed out. Some keep theirs very secret till the last minute, others are begging advice from anyone who will listen to them. Then we collect the sheets and hand them out for marking. We often miss a lot of the speaches as the shouts criss-cross the room~ "Who did I put down for this one?" "How many do I have right so far?" "I can't find this category on the sheet!!!"

So here are my early predictions (subject to change as I troll the internet for more insight tonight.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Sean Penn in "Milk" (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Angelina Jolie in "Changeling" (Universal)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Penélope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (The Weinstein Company)

Best animated feature film of the year
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Andrew Stanton

Achievement in art direction
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

Achievement in cinematography
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Anthony Dod Mantle

Achievement in costume design
"Australia" (20th Century Fox) Catherine Martin

Achievement in directing
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Danny Boyle

Best documentary feature
"Trouble the Water" (Zeitgeist Films)An Elsewhere Films Production Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Best documentary short subject
"Smile Pinki"A Principe Production Megan Mylan

Achievement in film editing
"Slumdog Millionaire" (Fox Searchlight) Chris Dickens

Best foreign language film of the year
"Waltz with Bashir" (Sony Pictures Classics) A Bridgit Folman Film Gang Production - Israel

Achievement in makeup
"The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.)

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"WALL-E" (Walt Disney) Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Down to Earth" from "WALL-E" (Walt Disney)
Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas NewmanLyric by Peter Gabriel

Best motion picture of the year
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Best animated short film
"Lavatory - Lovestory"

Best live action short film
"New Boy"

Achievement in sound editing
"WALL-E"

Achievement in sound mixing
"The Dark Knight"

Achievement in visual effects
"The Dark Knight"


Adapted screenplay
"Slumdog Millionaire"

Original screenplay
"WALL-E"

100 days

Today is the 100th day of school for Liam's class. Everyone had to find 100 things, count them and bring them into the class to show how big or how little 100 things can be.

Liam brought in 100 Pokemon cards. I'm glad that he picked something small and manegable and not say, 100 Webkinz or 100 Bionnicles or even 100 Hot Wheels (and yes, he could do all of those..... maybe not the Bionnicles, but it would be close!)

It will be interesting to see what everyone else brought in.

Food

After my last Oscar update commenters asked if Liam liked all this food that Hilary is making.

The very easy, short answer is a loud and emphatic

NO

Liam is easily one of the pickiest, finickiest kids I have ever met. He would survive on fruit if allowed. He does eat bread products (bread, toast, bagels, cereal) but it's not something he would pick first off. He will eat raw carrots and occasionally green beans. He was 5.5 before he would even consider eating a French Fry and still rarely has them. Lately we have seen him eat more chicken (homemade nuggets) and he did actually have a piece (bite sized, not serving size) of turkey at Christmas. I can probably count the number of hamburgers he has eaten in his life. Transportation Style noodles continue to be a regularly served item.

Hilary and I used to question how we got to this point. Where did we go wrong? Now however, we have accepted that Liam is not an adventurous eater and that food does not hold a whole lot of appeal to him.

From the very first serving of mushed up carrots, he has expressed his dislike of food. Hilary was a stay at home mom who is also a foodie. She made all of his baby food, exposed him to all sorts of textures and tastes. Yet most nights the only way to even get him to try the food would have been for me to get him in a full nelson with one arm, pry his mouth open with my other arm while Hilary shoveled the food in and ducked before he spit it back out. Needless to say we never actually tried this approach. We eventually figured out that he liked Minigos and if you put the real food on the spoon first and then dipped the whole thing in the Minigo, you might be able to sneak it past him. Only if he wasn't paying attention.

Liam trying to injest his food through his skin so he wouldn't have to eat it.

We still offer him new foods and we don't cater to him by cooking him a seperate meal every day. I have lot of food "issues" (I like to call them likes and dislikes, others call them "issues") and I would not want someone to be constently forcing me to eat foods that I don't like. Hilary once offered me a spoonful of something that I didn't like. I thought it was something else and she thought I knew that it was the yucky food (I've blocked out what it was, even though it was only last year). The moment it hit my mouth I spit it out and burst into tears. I cannot and will not inflict that on Liam every day. If he doesn't want to eat something, then who am I to force him?

I do believe that as time goes on his palate will mature and he will become more adventurous. And if he doesn't, then more yummy stuff for the rest of us!