University Shenanigans

The CBC posted an article today about a Dalhousie professor who quit his job at the school because of a particularly long wait to get a university parking pass (we're talking hours).

Here's the article.

Now while I don't believe it's right to have people waiting in line for a ridiculously long time to buy a parking pass (which is WAY overpriced to begin with), I don't think it's necessary to quit because of it.

I was quick to respond to the CBC article, and it seemed that as of 12:30 today 68 people liked my comments while 12 didn't (click the photo to make it read-able):

I also like the person's reply to my comment...but you can't comment on a comment like Facebook so I thought I would post about it here.

After sharing the article on Twitter/Facebook I got some comments and posted more of what I thought there as well:

   

I wonder if the actions by this professor will result in anything other than his retirement? I'm also curious if/how Dal will respond.

Saturday Night Eats: Indian Themed

Earlier this week Greg and I attended a lovely retirement dinner for one of Greg's co-workers. For the meal we both opted for the vegetarian option, Chana Masala. The dish was really tasty and simple, the spices tasted great! But it was a little too simple, more veggies would have made it perfect.

Excited to try our own hand at the dish we decided that Saturday night would be Indian food night. I scoped out the inter-webs to see if I could find a suitable side dish and what could be more perfect than Naan bread? So that's what was on the menu, Chana Masala and homemade Naan bread.

Greg took on the role of chef and I baked it up...as per usual. He adapted this Chana Masala recipe. And I used this Naan bread recipe. There are a bunch of other recipes for Chana Masala on FoodGawker - check it out here.

We had most of the spices but needed to pick up mustard and corriander seeds:

The fixing's for the Chana Masala

The bread needed to rise twice. Once as a whole ball of dough, and the second time as individual balls which I rolled out just before frying them.

After rolling them I fried them in a bit of oil for 1.5-3 minutes on each side. It seemed like each piece was different so I had to watch them carefully. It was really satisfying when the bread started to bubble up.

This is the other side of the bread, I now understand why one side of Naan is always flat and the other is bubbly:

It turned out really well, especially for my first crack at it. The bread was soft and light - hooray!

Shout outs to Matt and Sarah who guessed what I was up to after I posted a poor quality camera phone picture to Twitter/Facebook last night. 

The finished product - yummy!

The almost complete Chana Masala, Greg's giving it a stir:

TaDa! The finished product, it was really great and much more satisfying with added vegetables. We decided that next time we'll just add more hot pepper to kick it up a notch.

Remembering Jack Layton

I stumbled across a link that George Stombolopolus shared on Twitter where you could download a mustache (a trustache) to place on your profile picture to show your remembrance/support/admiration/sympathy/inspiration of Jack Layton.

I don't like crying, so I put off reading his letter to Canadians but I finally did and needless to say I was moved.

We will be watching his funeral on CBC tomorrow and I'm sure tears will well up once again.

I am happy to be able to pay tribute and remember the man behind the mustache through something as simple as a jpg

Thursday Evening Hike

Last night Greg and I took a stroll off the main drag in the Irving Nature Park, it was a beautiful evening despite the flies (SO MANY!) I'm currently scratching an unfortunate amount of bites. Last time we visited it was in March, so we were eager to take the actual trails, rather than the road since the snow wasn't stopping us this time.

We took the Squirrel and Seal loops:

Source

Watching the waves roll in

This picture doesn't capture the beautiful colours,
but it WAS a very pretty sunset, even in the fog

Greg and part of Saint John's west side in the background

Cheese-ing. Please note my blustery hair

Many, many seagulls

Nice view. A crow was trying to fly when we
looked out this way, but the wind was too strong
so it turned back...it was windy yesterday

I'm not sure if this is going to be something the public can access
as of right now it isn't, but it would be neat to get to the wetlands

TV Guilty Pleasures: The Summer Edition

While the fall and winter are full of mind numbing TV shows to waste way too much of my time, the summer doesn't offer quite the same spread. But I've managed to find a few shows to pass the time, whether it be downtime in Labrador, or lazy mornings of unemployment.

I started watching Pretty Little Liars (season 1) earlier in the year and then I wasn't sure what was going on with Season 2 until I stumbled upon updates about the show in mid-June. Just in time to have time on my hands since classes were over. So I'm back on the PLL train and some parts of the show are just terrible, but I can't seem to stop watching.

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Another show is True Blood. I watched Seasons 1 and 2 straight through, but it seemed I was too busy impatient to wait each week for a new episode to come out, or perhaps it was because I was disappointed with season 2 and was hesitant to start 3. But again, with too much time on my hands I resort to TV and I gave True Blood another chance. I watched Season 3 way too quickly and was onto the current Season (4), where I'm now one of those people excited for each week where there's a new episode.

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And finally, the last of my summer's TV guilty pleasures is The Glee Project. I didn't really know about this show until half way through. And I'm not usually a huge fan of singing/dancing competition shows I was roped in with it being about Glee. This show wrapped up this week with a modest 10 episodes. But with Glee starting again pretty soon you don't have to worry about me going through any sort of musical high school withdrawal. And who knows? Maybe I'll get a teaching gig at a school where singing and dancing in the hallways is embraced and promoted?

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So I know I'm not the only one with TV guilty pleasures, so please validate my sharing by commenting with YOUR summer TV shows :)

Muppet Fun

I LOVE the Muppets! A Christmas isn't Christmas without watching at least 1 but preferably 2 Muppet movies.

Perhaps you've already watched this new edition of the Muppet Show Theme Song, but just in case you missed it, here you go:



I hope you laughed out loud like I did!

The Time We Went To Sussex

On our way back from Fundy we decided to stop into Sussex for lunch, and boy did we luck out! They were having a GIANT flea market on something like an exhibition grounds. Here are some of our sweet finds:

Real My Littlest Ponies, and fakes - nostalgia!

Not sure what's going on here, but it was in the back of a pickup

Instead of a regular tricycle this kid got a head
start on the farming business

We learned that "Dick'r" means to haggle!

The most basic skis, ever

We then wandered the streets of Sussex, where we took in a lot of lovely murals. We also learned that Sussex has 26 murals, the second most in the country. Number 1 is a town in BC. I believe most if not all represent something that happened in Sussex. The one below is all about the Royal Family and their visits to Sussex:

This one is a bit more modern, as the artist captured Greg's likeness exactly:

We also spied this sign, and I really wasn't sure what the shop was all about...take a guess at what you think it's for:

It's for your pets! I'm not sure if I'd take my imaginary dog to a chop shop...eep!

Before hitting the road back to Saint John we did what we set out to, eat lunch. After finding out all of the cafes in town were closed on Sunday we were told about the All Seasons restaurant  so we hit it up. As you can see, their menu caters to all audiences, with a Tiny Tummies section as well as the Freedom 55 items. Greg and I both chose items from other pages.

Not one to drink pop, but I really wanted
root beer!

A Weekend in Fundy National Park

After a slow and lazy Friday morning we packed up our camping gear and headed to Fundy National Park where we spent two nights. Despite the comings and goings of fog and mist the weather was great (particularly for hiking) and we had a good weekend of outside.

 

Stopping for a picture at Matthew's Head

A sea cave, perhaps accessible at low tide

On the return we spied a pile of bricks that use to be a building, so of course Greg did what any guy would do...

Found a gun shaped stick and set up shop:

On Saturday we hiked a nice long loop with a number of waterfalls and a great view of a river.

Trail marker

Taking a break, taking in the view

With rain expected we made good use of a tarp, as well as the surrounding trees, branches and rocks to make a stellar kitchen:

An what's Greg and Ali camping without Pizza!? So here they are, we used our new camping stove that has a grill to cook without burning anything. For the most part it worked out,

Camping breakfast is also a treat, where eggs have that extra special flavour of bacon given they were cooked in the same pan. 

I made blueberry jam, which turned into a very hard product after not much time. So in order to eat it you need to heat it up. Given my love of tinfoil I made a little boat to heat up the jam in...it worked pretty well!

The Rising Tides Music Festival was happening in Fundy the same weekend we were camping, which was not planned but very well timed. We took in a set by the Olympic Symphonium and Issac and Bluett. I'm impressed that Fundy has an amphitheater, it had great sound with a good view: