I am officially funemployed!

Four must-eats I found at chowhound.com, about which I will blog in a couple of weeks:

1. A gelatto place Les Glaces Ali-Baba. 521, route 132 Est Cacouna, Québec G0L 1G0 Canada.
2. Fromagerie des Basques, just before Trois-Pistoles.
3. Cantine de la Gare for Poutine de la gare, which is a poutine steak haché but with creamy coleslaw on top. 2 Rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste Est, Rimouski, QC G5L 8Y3, Canada
4. Capitaine Homard in Ste-Flavie, less than 10 minutes east of Ste-Luce.

After reading this review of Lobsterfest at Magnan, I knew I had to finally try it out. Magnan is an institution in Pointe-St-Charles and has been for 75 years. Here I am with my lobster:

I ended up going bibless. It was delicious! I skipped the rice and corn it came with; I was really there for the lobster and melted butter. After a couple of frustrations at work, cracking that sucker open felt pretty good. We started with the shrimp and cucumber salad (just like in the review) and some grilled vegetables - all delicious.

F.A.Q

Margaret asks "Which one of you has more than 2 bikes?!?"

I suppose they are all Mark's bikes as he's the one who bought all of them and maintains all of them.

Margaret asks "I don't meditate. Yet. I'd like to. I think I need to. I've been thinking about it for a while and would like to hear more about where you did your group thing yesterday."

It's an 8-week program about using meditation to manage stress. If anybody is interested, email me and I'll give you the details so you can sign up for the next session!

Margaret asks "Well, of course I'm still asking why!" (about why I want to give up coffee)

I just know that if I don't have even the smallest coffee, I will feel like sleeping all day. I think I'd rather wake up feeling refreshed than have to wait until after I've drunk a coffee to feel awake.

Dana asks "What the heck are you wearing in that picture?"

It's a cotton robe Mark brought back for me from France.

Margaret asks "Just what exactly does 'guf' mean? Is it an acronym?"

I really have no idea what it means. I take it to mean, "Wow, what a day!" or something like that.

Ah, Los Planes! The best (albeit only) El Salvadoran restaurant I've ever been to! Here is a picture of Mark's recreated typical Los Planes breakfast. Refried beans, sour cream, sliced apple (at Los Planes you usually get pineapple, apple and some other fruits), tortilla (at Los Planes they give you real tortillas, these are just from my chain supermarket), scrambled eggs, rapini (our addition) and salsa. At Los Planes, you also get plantain and tamale. And that is because Los Planes is the bomb!

And here is Mark riding home on the new (to us) folding bike he bought last night. He insists we need two of these for our trip to the Gaspesie. I suggested we get a bike rack for the car or rent bikes at the parks we're staying in but when he gets a bee in his bonnet, he can't let go.

So here are the two bikes he bought in a matter of 24 hours all folded up and waiting for action:

We now have 5 bikes between the two of us!

There is nothing much to report, not even a few pictures. Mark and I took a beautiful bike ride along the canal today to Parc Rene Levesque, had lunch there, biked back along the river. Last night we spend a couple hours planning our trip to the Gaspesie! I'm so excited! We will camp the whole time which is a bit nerve-racking for me, I'm not a very laid-back tent sleeper, but I'm going to try. We just came back from setting up our tent in a nearby park to see if it has any rips. It's perfect!

Edit! I thought this post was too boring, so I'm adding a few photos...

First, here is my balcony where you can see I'm all set up to enter final grades for the year.

Here is Willow caught in the act of trying to get to the neighbour's balcony. She spends a lot of time hanging out here even though there is a balcony railing, chicken wire and a shade preventing her from getting there.

This is a view from my balcony down to the sidewalk. I'm on the third floor, so you can see the very edge of the second-floor balcony, plus the outside stairs.

And here is the view of the street to the right of me:

I spent almost the whole day yesterday meditating. Starting at 9:45am, I stopped talking and started meditating with a group I've been learning about meditation with for the last 5 weeks, led by an instructor.

From 9:45am to noon, we did some kripalu yoga and a sitting meditation. From noon until 1:15pm was a lunch break; I went to a park and soaked up some sun, totally in silence. From 1:15 to about 2:30 we did a body scan meditation and a walking meditation.

Finally we sat in a circle and everyone was invited to say a few words about how the day affected them. Let me tell you, that was an intense way to wrap up the day. A few in the group became very emotional, including me!

Today I'm still feeling the effects of yesterday's meditations: peacefulness, calmness. I never thought this meditation program would have such an effect on the rest of my life, even though that was my goal in getting involved. I wasn't so much suspicious, as much as simply not convinced that it could be so powerful.

Do you meditate?

Ahhhhh! That was so much fun! Last night, Mark and I joined 11998 other cyclists for the Tour la Nuit, a 20km bike ride along city streets. It was really so much fun. The sidewalks were filled with people cheering us on! It's so funny to ride down the streets, very very leisurely I might add, and have all these people yelling, "You can do it! Keep going! Don't give up!" - it's certainly undeserving, but makes you feel so good and happy!

So much about the ride was great: getting to see parts of Monteral I'd never been to like the Complexe environmental Saint-Michel, seeing all the funnily dressed-up cyclists and riding down the most supportive street ever, Avenue Louis-Hebert. I don't know what it is about the people who live on Louis-Hebert, but they were out in droves with noise-makers, lawn chairs and babies waving us through!

And of course the big party at the end at Jeanne-Mance park - it was bigger than I thought with circus acts, all the sponsors giving away free stuff (none of which I took) and the other 11998 cyclists. After that we biked home which meant biking along the path that cuts through the new intersection at Parc and de Pins which since that intersection was completely redone, I'd never biked through. What a breeze it is now! So clean and organized. Ta-da!

Today, during second period (first grade), one student said qu'il me trouve belle (three weeks ago he told me liked my shoes), another gave me a little cutout drawing he'd made (after spending the last 10 months spending each hour-long class disrupting pretty much everything) and another punched his friend in the stomach. What a year!

Well I'm thinking of giving up coffee. Margaret might remember me saying this..oooh, sometime during our History of English class back in 2006 (! that long ago!) and her reply was, "Why?". Good question. I don't know why I say these things, but I just feel it's time. And I don't even drink that much, one measely little stove top espresso each morning. And I mean TINY. But still, I'm addicted.

In the past when I've tried to give it up, I ended up having to take a 3 hour nap in the middle of the day so I this time I'm going to wait until my summer vacation which starts July 1st.