Let's Play!

Let's play "Who Am I?"!

So here's how the game goes: I give you a few details, and you guess who I'm thinking of. It's simple. Really. Are you up for the challenge?

Okay, here are the details:

• I was born in 1972.
• I step-dance
• I speak Gaelic
• I have a BSc in PhysEd
• I live and work in Nova Scotia
  Who am I?
  

Post your guesses, and I'll mail a congratulatory postcard to the winner/s! (Hey! I'm cheap, what can I say!?)

"This little piggy went to the market...."

Hmm....I'm not quite sure I like the piggy analogy, but for the sake of having a clever title, I'll stick with it. Today I went to the Halifax farmer's market.

My friend who visited a couple weeks ago made a comment about how this is the most attractive market she's been to - and that it is. It's located in the Alexander Keith's Brewery buildings, built in1863, and modernized with a glassed atrium/courtyard. The combination of the grey stone walls, cobblestone/plank flooring and sun shining through the glass overhead onto the market stalls makes for a wonderful atmosphere. And then there are stalls: flowers, herbs, knitted wooly things, watercolour paintings, baked goods, farm produce, bottled jams and jellies, homemade jewellery, sausages, cheese, spices, and teas. You can find almost anything there if you have the time.

I arrived late in the day, so most vendors were packing up their stall before I got to them. But I wandered around for a bit just looking (and thinking about buying). Fortunately I showed some self control and left with only a bouquet of sunflowers, a sampling of homemade squares and lunch.

For lunch I figured I might as well follow the majority and get to the back of the long line-up for Cheelin Restaurant (which was actually just a table set up with a rice cooker, buffet servers and a couple frying pans).And here is what I ordered for lunch:
Yummy!

I should also mention - since I'm talking about markets - that on my way home I also stopped in to the Hydrostone Market. It's not really a market - jus a series of highend shops in the Hydrostone neighbourhood of Halifax. I've been there before, but most of the stores close at 5, so I haven't had chance to pop in.

What's for dinner?

I think I've mentioned this before, but one of the things I miss the most about Toronto (aside from friends), is the food. The abundance of good food from all over the world.

So, of course, now I'm on the hunt for good ethnic eateries. Without a car, it was a bit difficult as these places are often spread out throughout the city. Now that I have the car, I can be more proactive about finding places.

Today I decided to try a Lebanese Restaurant I've had my eye on for awhile - Issa's Saj House. I've stopped by several times with other people intending to try it out, only to find it was closed. Today it was open.

If you're looking for it and you're in Halifax, look for the Middle Eastern Bakery on Alma & Titus.

I ordered the chicken shawarma plate for 6.99 and it included the chicken shawarma, tabouli, hummus and a lentil/rice/onion dish, served with a freshly baked pita. All very tasty. I have to admit, I was a little concerned when I walked in and the place was empty. All I could see was a man in the kitchen cutting up dough (presumably for pita?). He promptly left the restaurant and came back with a young woman who took my order.

I was a little surprised when I watched them put together the take-out plate. First, she went into the kitchen and came back with chunks of chicken shawarma in a tupperware bowl and put that in the microwave; then she went to the fridge and spooned a large helping of the lentil side onto a glass plate, which was microwaved after the chicken. Lastly, the tabouli and hummus all came from small tupperware containers from the fridge and were spooned into the styrofoam take-out dish. I think part of the charm of ordering Lebanese in Toronto was the preparation of your order - slicing off the shawarma from the roasters behind the serving counter, seeing all the vegetable and dips/purees and colourful pickles (which I never really liked anyway) lined up neatly behind the glass serving counter. There's no ceremony at Issa Saj's, but the food is good. I really like the lentil dish, and prefer it over the bland rice I usually used to get at Red & Whites in Toronto.

I'm pleased to have found a Lebanese restaurant - especially one with such low prices - though my preference would be to order take-out. There wasn't much to the atmosphere, and didn't really strike me as the best place to go to eat out.

I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a Persian restaurant in the city. Believe it or not, Chinatown Restaurant has a Persian menu. Apparently the chinese restaurant was bought by an Iranian who added Iranian food to the menu. If this sounds unbelievable to you, here's the menu.

Choose your own adventure

One thing that has occured to me this summer is that my slate has been wiped clean. I have no commitments (aside from my 8-4:30, Mon.-Fri., commitment to work). I'm literally starting from scratch - building a new social network, finding new organizations to offer my time to, plugging into a new church community, and trying new activities and hobbies.

And there are so many things that pique my interest!

Here are just a few I'm considering:

1. Pottery classes - Turnstile has an open studio night where you can go in and play with clay (and wheel if you so desire) for $15. They offer courses too, but NSCAD also offers fall courses and it looks like you get more time (30 hrs over 10 wks) for about the same amount of $$.
2. Knitting classes - The Loop is not far from work and has knitting workshops for Absolute beginners. I believe I fall in this class as all I seem to be able to knit are squarish things (scarves and my version of a hot water bottle cover). I admire those who can teach themselves to knit, and I think I could probably do it too if it was not for my stubborn refusal to follow instructions (printed or otherwise!).
   
3. Geocaching - This has intrigued me for awhile, since my mother (of all people) introduced me to the concept about 2 years ago. It's one of those things that I would probably really enjoy, but I've been told by K&S that it's really something you need to do with someone else. I'm logged geocaching.com in as "inspiredbyhope", if you must know.
   
4. Volunteering with Big Brothers, Big Sisters - Being an only child has taught me one thing - actually, many things but for the purpose of this point, one thing - and that is: it sucks being only kid sometimes. I can appreciate what the organization offers and I've been thinking it'd be nice to put some time into being a BigSister. Knowing that this is a big commitment, I'm not jumping in full force right away. This would be another way of investing my time with a youth on a one-on-one basis...which I really enjoyed in my past experience as a Youth Group leader.
5. Volunteering as a YMCA Host - At Acadia and in Toronto I got to know a lot of people from all over the world. I'm finding that since I've been here in Halifax, though it is still a diverse city, my paths don't intersect with people from other ethnicities as much as I'd like. So, maybe I need to be more intentional about it. I could volunteer as a YMCA Host and get to know a few new immigrants.
   
6. Take a French course - Okay, so this one I'm actually doing. I signed up for a French refresher course, starting at Beginner, Level 2. It's been 11 years since I've taken French, so this is definitely needed. I'm terrible at languages (there are some days I'm lucky to master English!), but it's a great opportunity and who knows, I may be better at it now that I'm an adult. Maybe.
   

I guess I'll stop here, though it's not the end of my list. If anyone else has any suggestions, I'm open to them.

Catching up

I'm back to blogging again. This summer has whirled by, and I'm only just settling into a routine. This past week I had a blast visiting with a friend from Toronto who made Nova Scotia her vacation destination this year. Hooray! We managed to put a lot of kms on my new car - 1402 kms to be exact! - putting it to the test. It passed with flying colours!Our route was pretty ambitious, and though there are wonderful views and sites to see I don't think I'd do it again.
We travelled from Halifax to Blomidon/Scot's Bay for gorgeous views..back to Port Williams and through the Annapolis Valley to Annapolis Royal to see Port Royal and Fort Anne and sample yummy pastries from the German Bakery.
We spent some time in Bear River looking at a couple shops, then on to Digby......for a scallop dinner.From Digby we travelled along the Bay of Funday, driving through many Acadian communities to Cape Forchu in Yarmouth.At Yarmouth, we decided to follow Rte.#3 through Shelburne, but soon found it wasn't the scenic Lighthouse Route as promised in the brochures. It was actually kind of boring. We turned onto the 103 shortly after hitting Shag Harbour to mail some postcards...

...and travelled the even duller highway (just trees and asphalt) until we got to the Wile Carding Mill in Bridgewater.From Bridgewater on, the Lighthouse Route lives up to its name, so we continued on, admiring the beautiful coastal communities of Mahone Bay, Lunenberg, Chester and finally Peggy's Cove.

And from Peggy's Cove, back to Halifax.

Naturally this trip took more than one day. We managed to spread it out throughout several days, though a bulk of the driving (from Yarmouth to Halifax) indeed was in one day. We managed quite well with numerous picnic lunches, music and good company.

Now it's back to the grind, as they say.