Summer 2011
I drive by this bush everyday and for some reason it always stands out to me regardless of the season.
Julie and I were having a conversation about remembering names. I told her that I used to be really good with names, sometimes even last names. And now? I suck! I don’t even try and if I do, my brain doesn’t care to cooperate. Why? My name is An; it’s spelt A–N. Not A-N-N, not A-N-N-E, not A-N-H. It’s effin short! And it’s not Anna or Amy either! If they can’t remember that then why should I take the time or memory power to remember theirs?!
“I know what you mean! They can’t remember my name either and it’s Julie!”
I GLARE at Julie, mouth open and speechless. “I KNOW! That’s what I was just saying! If they can’t remember a one syllable, two letter name do you think they’d remember yours J-U-L-I-E?!?!?!”
One of the nice things about warm summer nights is having dinner outside. Boxwood is a relaxing and friendly restaurant located at Central Memorial Park. The décor of the restaurant is light, fun, and open with large natural wood paneled windows. The servers’ casual attire keeps the place from feeling overly fancy.
Julie and I were excited to try Boxwood because of it’s fresh menu and optimum location. We shared the selection of Canadian cheese and herbed crostini and roasted broccolini. If you’re a vegetarian keep in mind that dinner here will consist of “appi-like” dishes as all entrées feature some sort of meat.
I can’t remember the names of the cheeses and it’s not listed in the menu but the selection of cheese consisted of something blue cheese like, something brie cheese like and a white cheddar aged 3 years. I like cheese and nothing can go wrong with cheese and crackers. This dish also came with olives and a sweet jam which complimented all the cheese. The roasted broccolini was nice and the hint of lemon was a great touch to the Nostrala cheese.
We both had a beautiful fuchsia coloured drink made of mashed up flowers. Who can say no to dinking flowers?! Julie’s flower drink had gin while mine had vodka – both equally great, although the gin had a little more kick.
We both really enjoyed Boxwood because of it’s vibe and easy approach to eating although I wish that there was at least one vegetarian entrée.
Our server was nice, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu (I’ve been to places where the response to questions about the menu is “I don’t know” or an unconvincing “Ya it’s pretty good”).
Happy eating 
Everyone loves a patio, especially one on a roof top!
I have been on a poutine rampage since Steve and I were talking about how awesome they were.
The patio at Broken City is very spacious with nice murals to take in if you’re tired of people watching.
When my poutine arrived I immediately thought “Wow, it’s soooo huge! Yum Yum!” The poutine tasted like what a poutine should taste like: mounds of fries with gravy all over the place and enough curds that you can enjoy it freely not worrying about rationing it for every bite. There was no “special” kick that made this poutine exceptional but there was also nothing that made it not special. It is a poutine that is a poutine classic. It’s what one expects when they want a classic poutine that will satisfy a poutine craving.
Steve and I also tried the veggie burger and we both agreed that it wasn’t very satisfying. He said it was too “beany” and I think it lacked punch and flavor. We won’t be back for the burger but we will be for the poutine!
The service was ok, not overly friendly but who really cares when you have beer, poutine, sunshine and wicked company.
Happy eating
I’m going to say that Tubby Dog is my new favorite artery clogging goodness!
The first time I had it was a few years ago (when I ate meat) and it was a pretty good hot dog on steroids overflowing with a ridiculous combination of ingredients.
When my brother came home for a visit I took him there and he was like “Wow! This is 3 meals in one sitting!” He was also sweating quite heavily trying to finish the bacon wrapped, deep fried, hot dog smothered with cheese and a sunny side up egg on top.
I recently rediscovered Tubby Dog after a night of wicked drinking. Not only did it fill the void Wicked Wedge gouged out when it left it’s 17th avenue location but it made me wonder What did I do all this time without this wonderful goodness?!
I’ve always gotten the A-bomb and it has never disappointed me. I love the tang I get from the mustard and ketchup and thoroughly enjoy the cheese sauce covered chips. It’s just perfect. The crumpled chips make this hot dog ridiculously messy to eat which only adds to the fun and the best surprise of all is that the A-bomb still tastes amazing when you haven’t been drinking your week away and needing greasy food to settle your stomach.
Julie:
My initial thought of the Sumo dog was, “Weird? That does not sound so appealing.” However, I went ahead and tried it anyways. The sumo dog consists of pickled ginger (the kind you get at Japanese restaurants), seaweed, wasabi, and Japanese mayo. I thought there was a little bit too much ginger as it was over powering, the seaweed added a nice texture to the hot dog, and the wasabi gave it a nice kick. I really like the wasabi in the hot dog because it was very different and who thought to put wasabi in hot dogs? It gave it a nice subtle spiciness and the seaweed gave a “coolness” to balance it out. Mmm Mmm mmm, delicious. Every time I go to Tubby Dog, I am always drawn to the Sumo dog!
Happy eating
Hardlocked phones are not the same as locked phones. A hardlocked phone will have a “0 MEP counter” and depending on the model you might not be able to unlock it at all. A hardlocked phone is locked to its service provider. A lot of people will think that they are the same and they are not. Make sure the person who claims to be able to unlock your phone knows that you understand the difference (you might not get your money back). If you’re looking to unlock your phone and don’t want to attempt it yourself you can check out “Cell Phone Repair” – they’re in Calgary.
When I inserted my SIM card the Blackberry asked me for an MEI number. You are allotted 10 attempts and MOST IMPORTANTLY you do not want to hit zero!!! Why? When you hit zero you HARDLOCK your phone and there is NOTHING you can do reset it. TRUST me, I’ve looked everywhere, read everything and asked everyone! Cell Corner is not able to unlock HARDLOCK BB9800s even though their website says so, I emailed them. I tried everything from a soft reset to a hard reset meaning I restored the factory setting, went through the OS and command prompt it on my computer. Remember you have 10 tries IN TOTAL for the MEI and MEP and you don’t want to use it all up as you’ll be needing more tries to actually unlock your phone. Your MEI number can be found on the box of the phone or behind the battery. Keep in mind that hitting the “End Call” button will not bring you to the home screen, it will actually count down the MEI attempts! Try to be mentally awake and don’t multitask if you’re not tech savvy otherwise you might hardlock your phone like me.
I found this site: www.freemyblackberry.com extremely helpful and they emailed me my unlock code within 24hours. I’m sure I would have been able to unlock my phone had I not hardlocked it!
This video was also really helpful and super easy to follow:
Best of luck!
If you’re with Virgin Mobile and want to buy a brand new Torch I will sell you mine. If you’re with Virgin and your Torch is not hardlock and you’re super nice and want to trade Torches I will be your best friend! Haha
Higher Ground is a coffee house I like to relax at. They have a wide variety of specialty coffee, tea and food, including a couple of veggie selections and dessert. Every Wednesday night is Vegetarian Night (you have to make reservations in advance). On June 22 Julie and I finally had dinner there and yes this post is more than very delayed!!
First on the menu was a Dill Potato salad. I liked the bite this dish had and of course being a FAN of potatoes I obviously enjoyed this dish. It was surprisingly not heavy at all even though you’re consuming a lot of starch. I also really enjoyed the cheese that gave this plate a nice punch that wasn’t even lacking in the first place.
Next up was the Italian Flatbread; the presentation of this dish made me think of summer on a patio. It was nice and colourful – exactly what I haven’t been eating in a VERY long time. I was slightly disappointed by the lack of flavor this dish had since it was so colorful and all. Luckily my second bite had sun dried tomatoes giving my palate the excitement it was looking for. (Lesson: make sure all your elements are on the fork to get the full flavor experience)
For dessert we got not one, not two, but three popsicles each! The popsicles instantly brought me back to my childhood of carefree days playing outside with a popsicle melting down my arm! We had a strawberry popsicle which was tart and refreshing, a blue berry popsicle that left its skin all over your teeth and lips (Julie and I had good laughs with this one) and a vanilla blackberry popsicle which was the favorite.
The service was good as plates were cleared quickly and we were left to our conversations without being interrupted. I will be back for more Wednesday dinners.
Happy eating
If your eye make up remover and astringent look very similar it’s probably better to have them in separate areas especially if you’re blind like me!
MY EYES!!!!!
“Hey Face, how do you feel about toe cleavage?”
“I think it’s hot.”
“Goooooood! Because my shoes are skanky as shit! hahahahaha”
Face looks down, “Haha yes they sure effing are.”
