Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Timbits Post

Full disclosure: I have PMS and I was in a suck mood when I wrote that last post, but I thought you, my loyal reader(s), deserved a little somethin'. You know what they say, suck-mood Gillian is better than no Gillian at all!

Anyway, I went for a (sucky) run and followed it up with a nice phone call and a delicious cheddar & avocado sandwich (even though there are about 8 servings of veggie moussaka in the fridge - sometimes a girl needs cheese). I'm now self-medicating with Nutella and the internets.

The Other Gillian's comment on my last post and my gluttonous enjoyment of Timbits last weekend have inspired me to write tonight's post.

I'm not kidding when I say that I ate a lot of Timbits last weekend. In a 3 1/2 hour drive, two of us consumed almost an entire box of 40 Timbits. When we were down to about a dozen, we started a Timbit "drinking" game, wherein we would only eat a Timbit when we passed a Tim Horton's (which, at least in Ontario, is about as frequent as you pass a Starbucks in New York City, that is to say, A LOT).

I am happy, then, to present:

The Official Ultra Fine Flair Guide to Timbits

1. This dude used to be the Timbits, uh, dude. I don't know what happened to him (and I'd forgotten he even existed until I started googling images of Timbits). I'd forgotten about him, actually, but I used to have a stuffed one. I know. Weird.

2. The best Timbit variety: Chocolate. That's one there on the right, behind those two honey dip Timbits. Chocolate Timbits are perfectly chocolatey and cakey, but not too sweet. When I open a restaurant, chocolate Timbits are going to be on the dessert menu. I'll serve up maybe 3, in a little box that looks like a full-sized Timbits box. It'll be awesome. So will the profit margin.

3. Speaking of honey dip - they used to be my second favourite, until I discovered the French Cruller. It has just the right ratio of icing-y outside to creamy, puffy inside, and I'm kind of amazed that Tim Horton's gets the texture exactly right.

4. After chocolate, French Cruller and honey dip, my next favourites are: Sour cream glazed, apple fritter, old-fashioned sugared and old-fashioned plain. I'm kind of medium on the jelly-filled varieties, although I like them better than filled doughnuts (again with the better ratio, kind of like Hallowe'en-size chocolate bars - yum).

5. Down with Dutchies. Raisins don't belong in stuffing, and they certainly don't belong in doughnuts. Nature's candy, my ass.

6. If you want to smugg^H^H^H^H^Hbring Timbits across the border, stop at a Tim Horton's BEFORE you enter Terminal 3 at Pearson International, or you will be very, very sad. There is a Tim's on the Canadian side, which you can see through the glass once you're at your gate. It's heartbreaking.

Long Time No

Did you miss me?

Once again I'm grateful for the magic that is RSS.

Anyway, here's what's up:

Last weekend was spent in The Bruce, hiking and eating lots of delicious meat (and don't even talk to me about the number of Timbits I consumed. Also, any good intentions I had of running remained just that - good intentions. I did hike, though, and took some pictures with Sirrah! & Gregoire's camera, which I won't see again until I upload them somewhere myself at Christmas.

Memphis is the feline queen of BP:LE, and has on multiple occasions put Grapple in his place.

I still have a bunch of unpacked, unstored boxes. I tolerate them for a few days at a time, but today they are seriously adversely affecting my feng shui, and I got on a bent this afternoon to find them a home. According to a nice gentleman at American Self-Storage, a 4x4x4 space should do it and will only run me $31/month. Now I just have to get off my ass and move them.

That's all you get for now. I'm going running.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Happy Birthday :-)!


:-)
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Today be the Smiley's 25th birthday! Arr!* I was lucky enough to visit its birthplace yesterday.

The eternal question: Nose or no nose?


*It's also, apparently, Talk Like a Pirate day, as evidenced by the pirate flag on Flickr's logo. Who thinks of these things?

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Best. Quiz. Ever.




You Are Orange



Bright and intense, you embrace the world and all its opportunities.

Change does not intimidate you, even if it's a complete life overhaul.

You're a very real person. You aren't scared to show the world who you are.



(via How About Orange)

Martinis and Marathons

Last Thursday DC Dave was in town and invited me out for dinner with a bunch of Sales people. We were at a relatively swank restaurant in my 'hood and were waiting for a table, so I ordered a martini (Grey Goose, straight up, olives, very cold). I have fond memories of my first martini - it was on my 28th birthday at Daniel, also waiting for a table, and I decided I could be Grown Up and order a martini, and that at a place like Daniel it'd probably be as good as I would get anywhere. For better or worse, it was delicious. Anyway, while I can remember the first time I had a martini, on Thursday I couldn't remember the LAST time I'd had one, so I decided to splurge.

It should be noted here that a martini is not a slippery slope to drunk. As Bob put it, it's a big hole. And I stepped right into it, voluntarily. My martini was followed by a glass of Zinfandel, which was followed by the dessert cocktail (which was SUPPOSED to be shared with the other three people at my table, but by the time it arrived one person had left, another was on her way out, and DC Dave is, apparently, a lightweight). I made the sacrifice and drank 'er down, because I am just that generous.

Those drinks were followed by a shared bottle of wine at BP:LE, which was followed by a late bedtime (1:30 a.m.) and an early morning. By 4 p.m. on Friday I was considering freebasing coffee to get the caffeine into my bloodstream faster, and I was asleep by 9:30 on Friday night.

Despite that tale of woe, Saturday morning I managed to haul myself up to Central Park at 7 a.m. to run - GET READY - 18 miles! The last two of those were particularly tough, and I did think about the martini (and the subsequent fermented beverages) and figure that with 47 (yikes!) days left, I'd better stick to that promise I made back when there were 60 days to go and lay off the tasty beverages.

But I'll tell you right now that November is going to be a fun month.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Hard at Work


Paws
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

What she did while I ran 16 miles.

Thursday, September 06, 2007

DYKWIL? Volume 3: New Neighbourhood Edition

1. Seeing Cameron Diaz filming a scene for a new movie right outside the door to my new apartment!

2. That my routine training run takes me across the Brooklyn Bridge and back.

3. Seeing the Empire State Building every morning when I step outside.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

T-Minus 60 Days and Counting!

Last night I decided to trek to Central Park to join the TNT group there. I am SO GLAD that I did. For one, I didn't have to run the same loop around Prospect Park for the upteenth time. I also found a running partner who was slightly faster than me, and managed to stay with her for the 6 mile loop, which resulted in my fastest 6 miles EVER with a pace of 9:25/mile! (Since the first mile was a warm-up and took me 10 minutes, I averaged 9:19 for the 5 mile tempo run!) I went to practice feeling tired and a bit under the weather and came home feeling like I could have run another 6 miles. Good times indeed.

The NYC Marathon is just 60 days away. This last 2 months is where all the training will really count. In addition to my weekly TNT group runs, my training schedule includes:

The NYC Marathon Long Training Run (18-20 Miles)

The NYC Marathon Tune-Up (18 Miles)

2 Half-Marathons (Grete's Great Gallop and the Nike Women's Half-Marathon) (I love that half-marathons are part of my training schedule for something else!)

+ Some other 20 mile run (hopefully a trail run with TNT)

It's time for me to buckle down with eating properly and drinking less. The acquisition of a new kitchen was well-timed!

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Where's The Door?


Where's The Door?
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

Just as boxes are irresistible to cats, a cat at the end of a lamp box is irresistible to me. She crawled in, and I set the box upright. I know I'm going straight to hell for this, and the hilarity was totally worth it.

So far BP:LE is working out just fine. I have unpacked many, many boxes. One stack has been designated for storage, and there's still more stuff to cart to Goodwill. (I know, makes a lot of sense to move that stuff in the first place, right? Shut up.) Yesterday I did laundry WITHOUT LEAVING THE APARTMENT and this evening I baked cookies and made dinner ALL AT ONCE with stuff on the counters (did I mention there are counters? More than one, even! Good times). Memphis is quite content (when she is not trapped in a box).

More pictures soon.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

New Digs


New Digs
Originally uploaded by Kitty LaRoux.

We moved into BP:LE today. Memphis has already hissed at our new roommate (one of the humans; she hasn't met the other feline yet). She seems content, if a little suspicious.