WS(as in Wah Sing) Book Club

The first WS Book Club (not including Hannah, who's taking the picture)

Our Mascot.

All our various copies of Persuasion.

Lovely Hannah discussing the book with Laurie and Halina.

Absolutely delicious Chicken Pot Pie...Maureen I need that recipe!

Last month, when a gang from WS went to Wah Sing to try the Lobster, we decided to start a book club. We had so many willing participants. Tonight was our first meeting at Maureen's place. Maureen made the most delicious chicken pot pie and salad, and everyone else made an appetizer or dessert. I made my lemon bars and chocolate chip cookies. Our book was Persuasion by Jane Austen. Over wine, tea and yummy food we discussed Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth and 1800's England in Jane Austen's last work. It was a really lovely evening filled with laughter and good conversation. The next meeting is at Anne's in May. The Glass Castle. I'll have to pick up the book soon.

Elijah's 1st birthday party

The birthday boy. How quickly you've grown.Before the festivities begin. How can you tell he's Grandma's boy?

Now that's a good looking family!

Just looking at the buffet again is making me hungry.

Cutting the "Pooh" cake

Grandmas and Grandpas on the Lee side enjoying the food.

Table number 5...the party table. Talia and Marley were animals!

See! Marley and Talia making the rounds, or the other side of the table.

Another great looking family.

We are a happy bunch!

So the day has finally arrived. Elijah celebrated his 1st birthday (a little early Mar.9th) About 100 people showed up. I've never seen so many babies under the age of 1 in one place. So many babies. They even had a blow up bouncing castle for the little kids. Everyone was in their finery. Elijah was a little overwhelmed by the attention. When it came time for him to pick his future, he was paralyzed by the crowd. Eventually, after a good 20 min...he picked the little basketball. Later on they tried to get him to pick another item and again he just sat there. He eventually crawled over the items to get to one of his grandpas.

The food was plentiful, a crazy long buffet line. We all ate till we couldn't fit anymore in. Then they even packed up stuff for us to take home. Everyone was impressed with the cake. I made it there and on display in one piece, so I call it a success!

Happy birthday Elijah! Wishing you a long and happy life. Lots of hugs and kisses, Aunt Carol

Winnie the Pooh

Eunho and Nancy asked me months ago if I would make Elijah's birthday cake. It had to be a big cake, enough to feed 100 people. No small task. I decided on Winnie the Pooh, Elijah reminds me of Winnie. I purchased all the ingredients, and was ready to go. I started to make the layers, then realized, I would be short on baking powder. I needed 4 tbsp...I had exactly 3 tbsp and 1tsp...Ugh! I even knocked on my neighbour's door to hopefully get some, but they weren't home. So in the middle of my baking, I had to go to FreshCo to buy some. Putting the cake together was another thing. Mixing the colours, trying to smooth the icing...if I had another cup of frosting it would have been easier, but at least it turned out okay. It looks better if you don't look too closely. Boy does that thing weigh a ton. Containing 4 pounds of butter, about 2kg of sugar and 12 cups of flour...it's so high that I can't actually close the box's lid. Hopefully everyone likes it.

Charlotte and Elijah

Charlotte loves taking pictures

She's actually pretty good.

He's just gotten his third haircut, in honour of his birthday.

Although I do miss the Elvis wave.

All fresh and clean from a bath...Daddy couldn't resist a squeeze.

I took the day off to prep for Elijah's birthday party. Nancy and Eunho treated me to lunch and dinner...Chick'n'Joy for lunch. It was the first time in ages. The biscuits were so yummy....they tasted like they were baked in butter. That also meant spending some time with Charlotte and Elijah. They are so cute. Charlotte is so funny. Elijah just wants to walk...he's so close. If you hold his hands, he takes off on his wobbly legs dragging you behind him. It was a lovely afternoon.

Yummy Pizza!

Last week, for Nelson's birthday, we went to an Italian pizza place called Pizzeria Libretto on Ossington. I'd have a picture, but I forgot my camera that day and Ron has yet to send me the picture of my pizza I had begged him to take. The claim to fame for this place was that it makes pizza just like they make in Italy (Naples specifically). They have imported a special oven that cooks the pizza at a whopping 850F for only 90 seconds. The crust is thin, tinged with black on the edge but soft and tender in the middle. Instead of being completely dried out, it is slightly wet in the middle and completely delicious. Even now, I'm dreaming about it.
When I was at work yesterday, I mentioned to Antonella this new "place" I had tried and she immediately said "I told you about that place! It's the closest pizza to what I've had in Italy.":) Then she mentioned another place Queen Margarita on Queen near Greenwood that has the same oven, but they take reservations. That's so close to Diana, Sooky, and Mark and Mer...I may have to convince them to try it. (Antonella also mentioned Marcello's, her favourite Italian restaurant in the city...St Clair and Dufferin...I have to try that one too!) Anyone interested in joining me?

Lunch with the Cousins.

The hostess, my cousin Sooky and our littlest Bumble bee...I mean Talia.

The spread...yummy!

Charlotte and Samara had their own special table.

The presentation of my birthday cupcakes. Charlotte helped me blow out the candles.

A little cake anyone?

Samara enjoying her rare sugar treat.

Talia, 2 1/2 months and Marley 5 months old, are almost exactly the same size. WOW!

Marley is such a cutie pie.

Who can resist this face? Her crying one, however...

This is the most alert I've ever seen Talia. Obviously a good eater!

I'm so lucky to have a large extended family who gets along and truly cares for eachother. Despite our age differences, we're so close...like sisters. Sooky decided to host a lunch in my honour to celebrate my birthday. She did an amazing job making all the food and organizing the lunch.

It was "Women only" so even baby Elijah had to stay home with his dad as Charlotte explained to me. The babies were so adorable. I hadn't seen Marley and Talia in ages. They are growing so fast. Charlotte and Samara are so precocious and smart. The things they said kept us laughing all afternoon. I just wanted to eat them up! It was a lovely afternoon of good food, love and good conversation. Who can ask for anything better?

My birthday.

Cutie pie!
Since we went out for dinner on Thursday, I had Friday free. I was craving dim sum...it had been too long. So, while I was speaking to Hannah and Laurie, I asked if they were interested in joining me for Dim Sum at Rol San. The food is so good there. It was also the first time I've seen Evan (Hannah's baby) in forever. He was so cute.

Afterward, I went home to meet my brother. He had been gone for a fews days. I had mentioned to him a few days ago that I was free on friday and wondering if he wanted to have dinner with me. It was sweet to find him home to have dinner with me. But, after such a huge lunch, I was indecisive about dinner. I didn't feel in the mood for anything in particular. So I took a page from my cousin Diana's husband Gerwyn's book of eating something totally bad for my birthday. So we had deep fried panzerottos, really garlicy creamy caesar salad and chocolate sticky paws for dessert. It had been so long since we had the panzerottos...they were so good.

I had totally planned on baking some cookies for Thank you packages for the cousins I was meeting on Saturday, but I just felt so lazy...I'm sure deep fried dough and cheese had something to do with it...:)

Dinner at Linda.

Beef Panang (3 chilies) The meat is so tender, it falls apart topped with a crispy coating...YUM.

Mango and Pineapple Ice Cream, very yummy.

The queue for Ron's attention. He finished all of the dishes. Unbelieveable...


Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to celebrate my birthday over a few days.
This year, because Vivian had a work function on friday, I had dinner with my friends on Thursday night at Linda (a thai restaurant in Don Mills Centre) The food is very good. I forgot to take a group photo, but there was plenty of pictures of food. Ron enjoyed the food so much that he finished his Beef Panang (3 chilis) and mine (also 3) Vivian's yellow curry chicken and Gar's Beef curry (5 chilis). Obviously Ron enjoys the food there...:) Unfortunately this year Pippette and Steve were still in Mexico and Nurit in Ghana, so they weren't able to join me but it was still a relaxed evening with friends which is just what I wanted.

Super Sports Weekend

So...it was a big sports weekend. UFC on Saturday night. The gang got together at Willie Stouts despite a winter snowstorm. Anderson Silva beat Vitor Belfort with a front kick to the head. (Unbelievable) Forrest Griffin beat Rich Franklin (Handily) and Jon Jones dominated Ryan Bader (Scary).

The very next night, we met up at Willie's again to watch the Superbowl. Willie's had a ginormous sausage and pepper sandwich, in honour of the occasion. I couldn't believe how huge it was. I didn't bring my camera but Garson took a picture. Unfortunately it doesn't do it justice. Imagine a half an italian loaf stuffed with sausage, peppers and cheese. Both Dave and Alain tackled that big boy. After seeing it, I was too afraid. I went with nachos instead. Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers for their fantastic win!

WS at Wah Sing

Chinese Lobster with Ginger and Green onion...Yum!

Just as we're about to get started....The look on Louise's face when she actually saw the platter was one of the funniest I've seen in ages. She was shocked how huge the platter was. Thank goodness she and Rita were sharing.Out of all that food, this is all that was left....Louise and Rita's platter. So close to the finish, they declared defeat. To be honest I was surprised and very impressed that everyone finished all the food. There was not a grain of rice or snow pea leaf left anywhere.
Everyone full and happy.

Last week at Claudette's party for Maureen, Antonella brought up that it was time to go back to Wah Sing. It had been almost 11 months since I introduced them to the Lobster goodness. Maureen enthusiastically agreed. Since Maureen is headed to Florida on the 9th, I thought it might be nice to visit Wah Sing before she left.
So, I sent out an email to a whole group of women, members of my current and past WS family. I gave Tuesday, Thursday and Friday as potential options....and 10 people committed to Tuesday. Wow! We had some people new to the Ginger and Green Onion goodness... Debbie, Claudette, Louise, Rita and Bonnie. We ordered 8 x 2 for 1 Lobsters...(Yes that's 16 lobsters!) some steamed rice and a couple of orders of snow pea leaves sauteed in garlic. Yummy. When asked who would be up for coming back, everyone raised their hands.:)