Archive for January 12th, 2007

Jan 12 2007

Christmas and things

Published by Jooree under Canadia, Food, Life, Party, Relationship, Voyager

OK, have fallen way behind on the updating on the life and stuff….

SO voila.

I had become fairly proficient in cooking by now.

I have even gotten Alex to eat even the worst of American cuisine.

Yes, that is a FRENCHMAN eating a Monte Cristo. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a cheese and ham sandwich battered and fried, then eaten with jam. He originally turned his nose up at it, but soon ate the piece I left on my plate. See? Inside everyone is a fat kid who loves fried food.

It has finally snowed a decent amount, as it can be attested to one Saturday we ventured out of our tiny apartment.

My poor, poor car.

I have learned a new routine in Montreal. The obligatory scraping of the snow off the car. (Well Alex mostly does it)

And me, the Los Angelitos freezing. In the snow. With 4 layers on. DO you not see my shoes crusted, CRUSTED in show??

Alex and I finally went to Mado, a gay cabaret. He had worked here part time, as part of the cleaning crew and one of the bartenders had developed a mad mad crush on him.

This is him/her:

Going by the stage name of Tracy Trash, she delighted us with a song from Triplettes de Belleville. (Btw, run and watch that movie! A fine example of animation and that even the French CAN make fun of themselves). She put my body to shame and flirted shamelessly with Alex. I told him he should quit looking at gay men in the eyes, which is what makes them fall for him.

“but Jooree, I look at everyone in the eyes when I talk to them! That is how you fell in love with me!

“Yes, but Alex, gay men can tell if other men are gay if they are looked in the eyes.”

“Merde”

Mado is a pretty famous place in Montreal, having operated for +10 years. It’s smack in the middle of the Gay Village.

This is the Queen herself, Mado

Some very funny singers. The one in the black dress (don’t remember the name) sang a rather hilarious version of Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on” and the black, hippie style chick girl was probably the moved the sexiest. (Well I thought so anyways)

Alex, said it was “interesting” He had plenty of JD to keep himself sane.

I, on the other hand, was thrilled!

So I had finally set up my christmas tree

I love how Ikea can make anything artful.

And me and the cat. This was our Christmas photo, which I was too lazy to send out.

Christmas!! Alex and I went to Quebec City were we stayed at a cheap 3 star hotel Ambassadeur Hotel. It was an enormous building in the middle of an empty little town, where a Subway and PFK (that’s poulet frites Kentucky for those who wanted to know KFC en quebcois). BUT the best part was the the sauna and exercise room! I FORGOT TO BRING SHOES. So I ran on the treadmill barefoot, but it did feel good to sweat a bit and realize that hey, maybe I did need to lose those 5 lbs.

The highlight was the Montmorency Falls, located a mere 10 minutes from our hotel.

It was partially frozen because it’s winter (duh) so Alex and I sneaked in behind the closed gates (I know bad bad tourists!) and headed out onto the frozen lake.

And nous

Do you see the water spot behind me? I attempted to reach it, but my foot ended up sinking in and blurgh. Alex took a rather hilarious video of it, which I will post later on.

We went to the top and although i wanted to sneak under the lines again to get closer to the falls, there was a worker there (a government worker on Christmas Eve? Why??)

But by then, the sun had come out and it looked glorious.

Then it was off to the Christmas Markets! Was it like the one in Aix?

“Of course not. The market in Aix is so much betther” Alex said (imagine a haughty french accent)

The most popular item was EMU oil. Yes, you heard me. EMU oil. They made them into facial creams, face wash, hand oil, EVERYTHING. All the ladies in the booth kept on offering me samples of it. The problem was it smelled exactly like the way I thought emu oil would smell like: fatty and oily.

But we did buy this beautiful Buche Noel. It was vanilla and raspberries. And it was so good, I devoured half of it when i got home.

Then we went by the Christmas street.

This was a scene right out France. Alex and I were delighted! Especially with Alex, when he kept on mumbling how he wanted to move here. I can see why, the historical touches were amazing. Quebec City has the oldest city walls in North America, so that tells you about how the rest of the city is like.

I wished we had stayed longer, but now we’re planning a trip for his birthday to the Winter Carnival! We cannot afford the Ice Hotel :-(, but the carnival should be fun.

And at least, notre chat, who has developed a strange habit of drinking water out of the faucet.

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Jan 12 2007

Goddamn republicans

Published by Jooree under Current Events

It’s stories like these that make me realize how powerless I am in the world. Or how stupid Republicans are in our country. Or how stupid the world is in General. Mayhap I’ll make a trip to Idaho just to kick this guy’s ass. OH and his congressional voting record is abhorrent.

Idaho gov calls for wolf kill

BOISE, Idaho - Idaho’s governor said Thursday he will support public hunts to kill all but 100 of the state’s gray wolves after the federal government strips them of protection under the Endangered Species Act. ADVERTISEMENT Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told The Associated Press that he wants hunters to kill about 550 gray wolves. That would leave about 100 wolves, or 10 packs, according to a population estimate by state wildlife officials. The 100 surviving wolves would be the minimum before the animals could again be considered endangered. “I’m prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself,” Otter said earlier Thursday during a rally of about 300 hunters. Otter complained that wolves are rapidly killing elk and other animals essential to Idaho’s multimillion-dollar hunting industry. The hunters, many wearing camouflage clothing and blaze-orange caps, applauded wildly during his comments. Suzanne Stone, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife in Boise, said Otter’s proposal would return wolves to the verge of eradication. “Essentially he has confirmed our worst fears for the state of Idaho: That this would be a political rather than a biological management of the wolf population,” Stone said. “There’s no economic or ecological reason for maintaining such low numbers. It’s simple persecution.” Wolves were reintroduced to the northern Rocky Mountains a decade ago after being hunted to near-extinction. More than 1,200 now live in the region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to start removing federal protections from gray wolves in Montana and Idaho in the next few weeks. A plan drafted by Idaho’s wildlife agency calls for maintaining a minimum of 15 wolf packs Ã¢â‚¬â€ higher than Otter’s proposal of 10 packs. Jeff Allen, a policy adviser for the state Office of Species Conservation, said 15 wolf packs would allow “a cushion” between the surviving wolf population and the minimum number that federal biologists would allow before the animals are again considered endangered. Allen said Otter and state wildlife officials agree on wolf strategy and will be able to reach a consensus on specific numbers. “You don’t want to be too close to 10 because all of a sudden when one (wolf) is hit by a car or taken in defense of property, you’re back on the list,” Allen said.

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