…rotisserie turkey!

We’ve never used a rotisserie before, but hey, if we’re taking a first stab at cooking turkey, let’s make it exciting and challenging! Hopefully the weather holds up – we’re expecting rain tomorrow, but since the lid will be down during the cooking it shouldn’t affect our plans. And if the turkey explodes or the motor dies, I’ve got the oven as a back-up.

Wish us luck! Happy Thanksgiving, Canadian friends.

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

We caught the free shuttle from an extremely busy Canada Place and sat back for the (bumpy) 30 minute drive up to the park. There was no queue to buy tickets and we were inside within minutes, greeted by girls in heritage dress and a sound system pumping out some classic fiddle music.

Here’s an insider tip: After buying your tickets, head to the little shack on the left. Present a valid government-issue BC I.D and they’ll give you a free annual pass card, it’s as easy as that! I don’t have my BC driver’s licence yet so I took a copy of our lease and they accepted that. Did I mention it’s free? For the price of one adult admission, you can return as many times as you like for a whole year! We’re definitely going to be coming back once the newest attraction cliff walk is operational – that thing looked crazy!

Pretty much the first thing you have to do when you arrive at Capilano is walk over the suspension bridge, since the bridge is the only thing connecting you with the rest of the park. The bridge was very wobbly and it swayed a lot. If you’ve been to Lynn Canyon and crossed the suspension bridge there, don’t even think about comparing them – they are so different! Lynn Canyon’s bridge is like crossing concrete compared to the movement of the Capilano bridge, which can get a little… disconcerting… when you’re halfway across and feel like you’re stumbling drunk.

The bridge is 70 metres above the water and 136 metres long and did I mention it sways?

Once you make it across, there’s a few different paths to follow and some lovely scenery. There’s also a canopy walk, which was good (but I wanted to be higher!) There’s a lot of platforms to stop on during the canopy walk, which gives you the opportunity to take photos and pose with some of the biggest trees you’ve ever seen, like this one:

The walking paths are all pretty easy – there’s a few steep parts but nothing a little huffing and effort won’t get you up. For the daredevils, the cliff walk will be opening soon and we managed to catch a glimpse of part of it from the viewing platform and it looks awesome(ly scary).

Looks like fun, hey?

We had a really good day, but after a few hours we had pretty much exhausted all the walks and were ready to catch the free shuttle back to downtown at 2:30pm. It worked out well because we had planned to visit Granville Island that afternoon too, so we walked over Granville bridge and had a late lunch (Chinese for Phill and me, a burger for Mum) and walked around the market. Needless to say, we weren’t there long as our legs were about to drop off, but we still had enough time for a walk around the market and try some candied salmon (ew, just ew!) before heading home.

I know it’s expensive, but coupled with the free shuttle there and back, and the free annual passes, I think it was definitely worth it, and we will absolutely be back to check out the cliff walk!

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

I know everyone says it’s a tourist trap, but it was on Mum’s to-do list and it actually ended up being a fantastic day.

More photos to come…

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

The first thing we did once we arrived was to head to the gathering area – the bar. I was keen for something alcoholic (even though it was only 9am!) but made do with an apple juice and a muffin from the spread they’d put out for us. The numerous female instructors greeted us and introduced us to fellow snowboarders or skiiers. At about 9:30am, they welcomed us to the Ladies Free Day and put on a video they had made which took us through what was about to happen and also some basics of learning to either snowboard or to ski. Then we separated into groups of six, met our instructor and then headed downstairs to hire our equipment. My shoes were easy to fit, since I’d worn them before I knew what fit I was looking for, but my helmet took about ten attempts. Apparently my head is rather small. Finally, I got myself a snowboard and I was ready to go.

Argh!

We headed out onto the snow and wow, it was such a beautiful day! It was pleasantly warm, with blue skies and sunshine. In fact, it was so warm that some people were stripping off their outer layers and just snowboarding in their hoodies. I could have gone back inside to take off my thermals, but to be honest I was a little worried I’d panic and not come back out, so I sucked it up and left them on. We started out by sitting on the ground, feeling how our boards moved on the snow when they were flat, compared to when they were on the edges. Then we strapped one foot on and sort of shuffled along the ground, then graduated to pushing off with our free foot, then planting it on the board so we glided along the snow. That was fun.

We moved onto a tiny slope that looked to me like it was the biggest slope in the world. The plan was to glide down it, then turn to stop. Yeah, easy huh? I started off halfway down the slope, but I did end up trying it from the top after a couple  turns. The hardest part was getting through the first attempt, since I have a big fear of speed after my incident in Japan. My instructor was awesome – she came with me and I held onto her. The next couple turns she worked on getting me to let go of my death grip on her, which was really hard to do. I wasn’t bad as such, but I did lack confidence big time.

Then it was time for the bunny hill. Well, not even the real bunny hill, but the beginner’s bunny hill – a little roped-off area at the foot of the bunny hill. Now, the slope was friggin’ huge! It was to practice getting up (there’s a hard way and an easy way) and going down front-on, controlling your speed by rocking from your toes to your heels. I actually wasn’t that bad – I think I was actually better at this than at the little slope. I’d had a bit of practice when we were in Japan – I took about an hour to go down the family run exactly this way, clinging to Phill who was going down backwards in front of me. After a couple tries I started getting the hang of it (until I over-analysed it, panicked and fell on my butt of course!)

We graduated to the “falling leaf”, where you go to the left, then to the right, then back to the left, floating down the slope like a leaf falling from a tree. I must admit I didn’t try that – I was still struggling with the previous step and I figured I’d just get frustrated trying something harder when I couldn’t do the last thing! There was a lot of falling down but the snow was so cold and lovely, I didn’t mind. Before I knew it, our two-hour lesson was finished and it was time for lunch. I hadn’t given up, I’d tried pretty hard and I’d survived – YAY!

All in all, the day was really enjoyable and such good value. The only costs involved was the bus to go up and back (initially Phill was going to rent a car to drive me up but that fell through the night before because the previous renters didn’t return the car(!!) so I went up alone – I think this worked out well because I didn’t have to worry about anyone else being there) and $2 for a locker. Everything else was free – equipment hire and a full-day lift pass.

I was so sore the next day – the whole left side of my body was aching! And I think I must have got a little whiplash in my neck because a few hours after I got home, my neck started hurting. It was so bad I had to take a couple Tylenol before I could sleep, but by the morning it had disappeared.

It hasn’t turned me into an avid snowboarder but I did learn some basic skills that are going to help me when I go up next. As I said to my friends, I still suck, but now I might suck just a little less. My instructor was amazing (all of the ladies there were!) and I was lucky to be put in a group with five other really kind, genuine girls who were so supportive and positive. Every time one of us successfully did something, we all cheered and clapped. Every time one of us fell on our butt, we all cheered and clapped. It made “giving it a go” much easier, knowing there was no judging or humiliation.

Thanks Cypress for such a great day!

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

Pathetic, I know, but it’s true. The mere thought of going “up the mountain” gives me anxiety. Ever since our trip to Japan where I stacked it on the first day while snowboarding and ended up with a couple of broken ribs, I have been too scared to get back on the board and try again. I think it’s partly due to the “risk factor” – the possibility of more injuries and pain – but mostly due to the “humiliation factor”. I hate failing at things so sometimes it’s easier to just say no, rather than to say yes and fail miserably as a result, especially when it’s something like sports.

It’s not a healthy attitude to have, I know, so I’m changing. I have decided to suck it up and try again. All I needed was the perfect opportunity and it has come along. Next weekend, I am going snowboarding. I am having a lesson and I am not going to freak out about it. I am going to fall over, I am going to stack it, I am going to humiliate myself, but I am going to do all of this so I can learn how to snowboard. Eventually, I will be able to go down the mountain without  crying or stacking it every few minutes and that will be a very momentus day.

I’ve been feeling pretty low because of Puddy’s disappearance, so it’s been good to have something else to think about. It’s been two weeks now and she’s still missing. I hear about cats that go missing for months and then come home, so I am keeping positive. Thank you for your support and kindness – it’s been comforting reading your comments. I really hope that I can get on here soon and announce she’s come home – until then, I hope she is uninjured and safe.

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

Even though there were estimated up to a million people jammed into Times Square, it wasn’t very loud at all. Or cold. I guess all the body heat kept us warm. We were too far back from the stage to hear the music from the performers on stage, so I put on my big lens and zoomed into the television screens to figure out who was singing. We came up with a random guy who sort of looked like Keith Urban crossed with Billy Ray Cyrus, the Backstreet Boys and Ke$ha. We spent most of our time playing a card game that didn’t require sitting down or a table. Some people had brought camping chairs and snacks but we didn’t plan ahead that well – we didn’t have any food or drink, which was probably a good thing since we wouldn’t be able to take bathroom breaks.

Six o’clock marked the raising of the ball ceremony, then every hour after that had it’s own mini countdown, complete with mini fireworks. It was actually a good idea, since it kept us all entertained and got us all practicing our ‘countdown chanting’. The time flew quickly, especially with our card games taking about 15 minutes each. With a couple hours to go, they released confetti, which turned the crowd into eager crazy people, grabbing at the strips to catch some. Yeah, we were being entertained with confetti – it showed just how bored we were!

This picture says it all – pretty much the same view and the same people, except this time there’s confetti, wooooo! Oh, and we either moved closer to the front barrier of our section, or I zoomed in. I’m pretty sure we moved closer. Apparently more than 1 tonne of confetti was dropped over us and we decided that whatever colour we caught was going to be our colour for the year. I think I ended up with red, so 2011 is either going to be really romantic… or really angry.

Phill was on video duty because he was taller and could get a clear shot of the ball as it dropped. Unfortunately he forgot about the ball for part of it and got distracted by the countdown screen, but well, you get the gist. Oh, and there isn’t an echo – for some reason there was a second countdown underneath the top one that counted a second or so earlier than the other, so some people were following the bottom one while others followed the top. Go it? Now enjoy!

We managed to leave Times Square without much fuss. There were rumours that the subway wouldn’t be operating and we figured it if was, it would be jam packed anyway, but we took our chances and headed down to the station and caught the first train that came through and it was thankfully empty. We all gathered together in one of our rooms with bags of chips and some drinks from the corner store, talking and laughing and letting the buzz calm down, before heading to bed, absolutely exhausted yet again.

I’m glad we did it – the atmosphere was absolutely awesome and we’ll keep the memories forever, but next year we’ll be watching the countdown on television from the comfort of our warm home, snuggled on the couch with our wineglasses in hand, most likely reminiscing about that time we spent new years eve waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square.

Stay tuned for day three!

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

We passed the Empire State Building on the way. It’s pretty magnificent, especially seeing it at night, all lit up. It’s funny but the thing I thought of when we were standing at the bottom of the building was when we used to mock kids at school who would copy other people: “If Johnny jumped off the Empire State Building, would you jump too?” It was pretty cool to finally be seeing it in person.

We made it to the ferry stop and joined the crowds of people waiting for the doors to open. There was a man there shouting Bible verses at us. We don’t really get that in Australia, so it was a bit weird. Everyone was just ignoring him – it was only the tourists who were staring at him. There were so many people packed in there and for a while we were concerned we wouldn’t all fit on the ferry – then it arrived and we saw how big it was – it was huge! Crazy big! The doors opened and we rushed on, racing outside to snag a good Statue of Liberty-viewing position.

I took so many photos as she slowly turned towards us as the ferry went past. I loved the snow at the base of the statue and the wintery trees in the background – so beautiful. I didn’t realise how big it was until I saw it in person. The tiny people at the base of the statue just reinforce how massive it is.

I can’t decide which photo I like better, so I included both. I guess it comes down to landscape vs. portrait. I don’t mind portrait photos but Phill detests them – he’s a landscape photo guy. I must admit, I’m leaning more towards the landscape photo out of the two above. Which do you prefer?

We got off the ferry at Staten Island (isn’t that where Carrie Bradshaw misses the last ferry and ends up getting a lift back with the senator?) and had a snowball fight. Mature, I know. We got the next ferry back and headed to Wall Street to see the stock exchange building.

It was pretty busy so after taking a few photos, we decided to go to Times Square. We were meeting up with our friends at 3pm in preparation for the new years eve celebrations that night. If we were going to get a good spot, we’d have to be there early – apparently the people wanting spots right up the front got there as early as 6:30am that morning. We weren’t that dedicated! We had a quick dinner near Times Square so we’d be ready at about 5pm to get into the crowd. We could see from our the window that it was steadily getting busier outside. Just before 5, we paid our tab and left.

Looks like New York was prepared for what would come, because we passed a group of police standing on the corner having what looked like a briefing. Some of them grinned at us and posed for photos, while the rest looked serious. It was nice to know there was going to be a big police presence.

We kept walking down 7th Ave until a policeman stopped us. He was just about to close off the block but he let us in just before he closed the barrier. For those of you who don’t know how New Years Eve works in Times Square, this is what happens: the police cordon off sections of blocks on 7th Ave with barriers. Once a section is closed off, nobody else can get in. If anyone inside the closed section leaves, they can’t get back in. No bathroom breaks, no food breaks, nothing. Once you’re in, you’re in. If you leave, it’s all over. The police work their way down 7th Ave, blocking off the sections depending on the amount of people arriving, so obviously the earlier you arrive, the closer to the ball you’ll be.

We ended up at about 7th & 49th St. The ball was due to be dropped on Broadway & 42nd Street, so we were quite a few blocks away but could still see it clearly (apparantly it’s visible all the way back to 59th Street). There were probably about a couple hundred people in our section and some of them had come prepared with camping chairs and snacks. Other people, like us, had only a pack of cards to keep us entertained for the next seven hours…

New Year’s Eve is a whole post in itself, so stay tuned!

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

New York was beautiful! Even with the dirty snow from the crazy blizzard piled throughout the city and even though we were there over new year’s and there were literally millions of people crushed into the city (think the usual population of over 8 million people, plus all the tourists who flocked in to see the ball drop!) I thought it was wonderful. I was so pleasantly surprised that New York felt like somewhere I could actually live, if only I could afford it!

After dropping our luggage at our hotel (which turned out to be a hostel/hotel – our friends all booked rooms in the hotel part which meant private bathroom, double beds and televisions while Phill and I booked our room in the hostel part, which meant a cell of a room containing only bunk beds (at least it was a 2-bed dorm) and a single sink in the corner, and a shared bathroom which was not the nicest of places to enter – but hey, at least we saved some money) we decided to jump on the subway and head right into the heart of it all – Times Square.

Can you say…

holy

sensory

overload

Batman!

There were people EVERYWHERE! We literally jumped into a sea of bodies and then inched our way around. If you stopped for one second (to take a photo for example) you were bumped and jostled and nudged by the passing bodies. We looked around and thought to ourselves… what have we done? If it’s like this today, what’s it going to be like tomorrow, when we’re here to see the ball drop?! Don’t get me wrong, we were all still super excited… but slightly freaking out too!

We crowd surfed our way to Rockerfeller Center, where the Christmas tree stood proudly, next to the ice skating park. There were so many people, you had to jostle your way to the front in order to get a photo of the sunken park. I held my camera up in the air and snapped random photos. See the queue to ice skate? Craaaaazy.

Oh and here’s a hot tip – don’t wear black! Everyone was wearing black. I went in my white coat and even though it ended up looking a bit grotty by the end of the trip, it made me much easier to spot in the crowds. One of our friends wore a bright blue beanie which made him easy to spot. And trust me, it’s very easy to get swept away by the crowds and separated from your friends, so you need to plan for it.

After watching the ice skaters for a while (two of them got engaged, aww) we headed to the Observation Deck at Rockerfeller Center. Phill and I always end up visiting observation decks wherever we go – it’s a great way to see the cities. We always try to go mid-afternoon because you can often go up in the daytime and then stay as it goes dark, so you get daytime photos and night photos all on the same ticket (which can often be quite pricey). It was pretty cold up the top, even with my coat and scarf I was still shivering. We got some good photos of New York (I didn’t realise how big it is!) and even caught a glimpse of Lady Liberty but it was too dark to photograph her well and anyway, we’d be seeing her the next day.

We headed back to our hostels around 9:30pm, absolutely exhausted. We’d pretty much lost a whole night’s sleep during the plane ride over so we were eager to flop into bed and recharge our batteries. The second our heads touched the pillows, we were out like a light.

Stay tuned for New York: Day 2!

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

We just got home from watching the ball drop in Times Square! That’s right… we’re in New York!

We were due to leave Vancouver on Wednesday night, but we were delayed by 6 hours, so we ended up leaving at 4am Thursday morning, with six other Aussie friends. By the time we arrived in New York it was midday and we were exhausted, but still managed some sight-seeing after checking into the hostel and eating a hearty lunch.

There are more stories to tell and photos to share but I am too tired right now, plus there’s no Internet in our room (so I’ll be hitting “publish” tomorrow morning as I pass through the Lobby on the way out to see more of New York)… Goodnight all, and HAPPY 2011!

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.

Behold:

A turducken, for those who might not know, is a deboned chicken… stuffed inside a deboned duck… stuffed inside a  deboned turkey. Sounds delicious, right? There’s also stuffing inside to fill the gaps – this one had three different stuffings, one for each bird.  It’s just like three different roast dinners in one meaty package! As you can see from the picture above, this one was a pretty big beast – it was about 12kgs (about 26lbs) and would feed approximately 30 people. There were eleven of us there, so the hosts were prepared for plenty of turducken toasted sandwiches for the next few days.

Our friends got up at 6am on Christmas day to put the turducken in the oven. It was going to take about twelve hours to cook, so they needed an early start. They seasoned it with some olive oil, salt and pepper and some herbs before wrapping it in alfoil and popping it into the oven. They basted it as it cooked and then removed the foil for the last little bit to let it brown on top. And oh my goodness, here is the finished result:

Sorry for the bad quality photo, it was hastily snapped on Phill’s iPhone as camera flashes went off everywhere. The turducken smelled amazing and looked perfect! It was allowed to rest for about thirty minutes while the gravy was prepared. I’m pretty sure they used drippings from the pan, mixed with gravy powder. The side dishes were prepared by friends – we brought potato bake and nibblies, there was also a really tasty pumpkin and spinach salad, potato salad (with sultanas and apple), roast potato and sweet potato, and a selection of breads.

And then everything was ready and the moment of truth was here… time to carve the turducken!

The image above is a still from a video we took – unfortunately I’m having some problems uploading the video, but you can still make out the layers of the meat, interspaced with stuffing. The turducken had been cut in half, then the two halves pulled away from each other to show the insides. Yum!

The turducken was really delicious! You could taste the difference in the meats and they were all really moist and tender. The stuffing was tasty too. It’s a bit messy when it’s carved because, well there’s nothing holding the meat together. I believe some butchers use “meat glue” to hold it together but this one was glue-less. It was all okay though, because once it was on your plate and smothered in gravy, who cares if it’s in one pretty piece or not?

The only downside was that there was quite a lot of soggy skin in amongst the meat, because the chicken and duck hadn’t been skinned before being stuffed inside each other and of course, the skin couldn’t crisp up if it was inside. I’m not a huge fan of the soggy skin taste or texture, so I left those bits to one side. I’m not sure if you’d have much luck stuffing the birds if they were skinless – I guess because it’s been deboned it needs that skin to hold it all together, otherwise you’re just left with a pile of meat.

All in all, the turducken was a big success and we went home nursing extremely full tummies.

What did you have for Christmas dinner? Did you go the traditional turkey or something completely different? Whatever you had, I hope it was delicious!

__________________________
Thank you for subscribing! This post is from A Byootaful Life and is copyrighted © 2011.