A beautiful day for a hike...

Sunday was a gorgeous day to go for a walk. So we did. We hiked the path that follows the shore near Cyrstal Crescent Beach. Actually, truth be told, we went the opposite direction of the path from the Beach. The path seems to start on your right, but we headed left , with the hope of finding wild blueberries (no luck!). So we trailblazed, sort of. There was a path, but much of it had eroded and it wasn't a well travelled path. We had to walk through thickets of brush, climbing over and through rocks and avoid getting sucked into boggy soil. Being warm I had the brilliant idea to wear shorts, so naturally my legs give evidence to our off-trail trekking. Sigh. Lesson learned.
The view was certainly worth it. We landed on a beach, somewhat removed from the more popular spots (which were crowded, not surprisingly!).

We rested our tortured feet ... and took a dip in the Atlantic. The freakin' COLD Atlantic!!! It took a little getting used to, but once your feet adjusted to the temperature (think: brain freeze for the feet), it was hard to walk away.
Waves crashing on a white sand beach. Nice! This was my first beach trip since I can remember, perhaps since summer camp at Malagash...

After our dip, and then trying to get the sand off our feet so we could put our hiking shoes back on, we doubled back, crossed the main beaches and headed onto to the trail proper.
It was a much different hike, still following the coast, but not always with a view of the ocean as we had earlier. This path was lined with taller brush and these aromatic flowers (anyone know what they are?). Parts of the trail were actually a boardwalk, which was a nice change.

But the real view came down the path a little ways...when we hit the naturists' beach. Yes, my friends, we had quite a view!...full view of very tanned people (without tan-lines). We walked a little further up the trail, just enough beyond the naturists' beach, sat on the rocks a baked a little while - just long enough to get a little sunburn on the patch of skin I must've missed when I was applying sunscreen! Sigh.

All-in-all, it was a fabulous day!

A moment of weakness...

I went into Winners looking for a backpack, and came out with...

...Cute red patent mary-janes! Oops!

"I sing because I have joy"

Last night I witnessed the truest profession of hope, joy, faith and potential I've seen in a long time. The African Children's Choir performed at Birch Cove Baptist, and the packed house (with standing room only) was treated to a fantastic show full of harmony, energy, talent and enthusiasm. These children, aged between 7 and 11, from Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya..., have been performing on the road for almost a year, but you would hardly know it. I'm sure they must be tired of performing the same songs, the same dances, but it certainly didn't show.
This is truly a good news story. These children represent the hope of Africa. They are touring across Canada/USA/UK and Europe to demonstrate their potential, not just as singers and dancers, but as children who will grow up to be teachers, doctors, pastors, secretaries and Presidents. They don't flash images of improverished African villages, refugee camps, emaciated children, or inhabitable drought-filled landscapes; but show you the vibrant culture through music and dance and show you that when given the educational opportunities, they will thrive and live out their potential.

More about the African Children's Choir here and to see a tiny bit of their perfomance:


See YouTube for more clips of their performances.

More about the parent organization, Music For Life.

Check out their Itinerary, they're still on tour and they might be touring near you. If you live in the Maritimes and you're kicking yourself for missing them
...they're coming back in April 2009!

An Engineer's Guide to Cats

Corporal cuddling....tee hee hee!

Eat & Fit

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, one of the things I liked about Toronto was knowing that I had the world's cuisine at my fingertips. I could easily find a restaurant of almost any ethnicity and often within walking distance of where I lived.

Here in Halifax, it's not quite the same. There's not as much cultural representation, and what is available is definitely more expensive. But I'll grab any chance I can get to try a new restaurant, and sample new cuisine. The latest restaurant was Eat & Fit, an Iranian restaurant that's just opened on Quinpool Road. Quinpool Road seems to have become a Middle Eastern hub - with about 4 Greek restaurants, an Iranian restaurant now, and a Middle Eastern restaurant, called Aleppo, in place of the now-closed Ethiopia Restaurant.

To celebrate another pay-day, a small group of us at work went out for lunch. We chose Eat & Fit because it had an online menu, and because reading said menu initiated cravings for delicious food that lasted most of the morning.

Though there were mixed reviews of the food, I quite enjoyed it. It was what I had expected it to be, and definitely very tasty! We started with an appetizer: Kashk-o-Badenjan with pita and then followed it with Friday's Special, Ghormeh Sabzi. Each of us ordered the same, which wasn't perhaps the greatest idea, but the dish sounded truly delicious and none of us could resist (I'm assuming). Our server, who I assume was an Iranian and was very familiar with the dishes, introduced us a little to the food. With the Ghormeh Sabzi, he instructed us to puncture the cooked lemon in the stew to give the dish a tangy flavour. He warned us that some people (who aren't used to Iranian food) find the dish unappealing, but to look beyond it's appearance. The dish was excellent - very tangy (thanks to the entire cooked lemon you can see it covered in stew in the photo above), hearty, and fairly healthy I would expect.

We ended our meal with a date roll and an aromatic Iranian tea spiced with cardamom. We were instructed to put a sweeten the tea by putting a sugar cube in our mouths and drinking the tea through it....but this was difficult to do when you were also trying to eat a date roll.

Anyway, I would definitely visit this place again and recommend it to friends and family. Unfortunately while we were there Friday 12:30-1:30ish we were the only people in the restaurant. I just hope it gets enough business to keep it open.