Tiny mushroom candy

When I visited Tokyo a long time ago, one of my favorite things was the tiny pocky candy shaped like mushrooms. Little chocolate mushroom caps, perched on a yummy cookie stalk. What could be better?

I ate them like they were going out of style for the few days that I was there, and then I never saw them again.

Today it made my day when we found the tiny mushroom candy in Fujiya, our local Japanese market!!!! Here they are, in all their glory:



mmmm...

Fingerless gloves, a wedding, and a robot

When I first started this blog, I intended to use it to keep track of my knitting projects. Of course, I didn't post a single thing about knitting or anything else until we got back from our trip and I found that I was addicted to blogging. But, hooray, I'm about to post my first knitting entry! There will be other elements, too, for the craft phobic, don't worry.

When we travelled through Idaho on our way to Vancouver, Erika cut my hair. We decided to do a work trade, in return I am knitting her a pair of fingerless gloves. You can see the pattern here. I'm using a different yarn that I'm pretty smitten with: Smart Superwash wool from Norway. It's inexpensive and really nice to knit with. The mittens are funny because you begin by knitting each finger tube separately. Before you join them, you have five 1" long tubes sitting in a row on the table in front of you. They look silly.

I'm only partway done the first mitten, but i'm pretty pleased with how they are turning out. I had to modify the pattern to make them a little smaller, though. I'm only knitting one row between each decrease row for the thumb gusset. I'll let you know how it turns out.



My first weekend after a full week of work is approaching. I'm looking forward to it. But I'm enjoying being a working girl. I still haven't figured out this Business Casual thing, but I don't care too much anymore. I'm enjoying waking up early and feeling like I've accomplished something by 4pm. I like being the breadwinner.

My new job is working out pretty well. I'm the tech writer for an engineering firm. They write a lot of building code reports, and many of the engineers at the firm speak English as a second language. They make a lot of mistakes. It's a good thing I get some strange kind of satisfaction from correcting other people's spelling and grammar. And I do. I don't know why, but I do.

This past weekend Douglas went out to NC for Dean and Annette's wedding. He said it was absolutely glorious, and I'm very envious that he got to go and I didn't. But I'm really glad that at least one of us was there to witness the moment and celebrate with them. Here's my favorite picture from the event:



And here are Douglas and David and Anna, looking blissed out:



The NC mountains are absolutely heavenly in the early fall...

Right, and the robot bit! Earlier this week I needed to find some engineering articles for a report, and they were only available at the UBC library. So I trekked up there to find them. Actually, I was going there anyway for my friend Gina (now Master Gina)'s defense party. Anyhow, I went to Main library, expecting to be sent to a different library where I would have to sift through stacks of musty bound journals. I asked the reference librarian where to find my journal, she looked it up on her computer, and told me it would arrive shortly and I could come back and pick it up.

What?

After much confused questioning, I discovered that all the journals are now kept in robot accessible storage, and that the thumping noises I could hear issuing from behind the smoked glass wall behind the librarian were coming from the robot. The robot that was finding my journal for me, and bringing it to the reference desk within 5 minutes.



Wow. Things, they do change. The picture kind of scares me - how much room is between the stacks? and how tall are they? What happens if the robot drops a book?? Is it lost forever? It doesn't look like there's enough room for a person to go in there and retrieve it!

But the Blue Chip cookie I had tasted exactly the same... 8) (Bev and Hanna still run the place, I was told).

Inappropriate shoes

My one respectable, professional pair of shoes died a noble death in my job interview last week, and when I went to work this morning, it was hard to choose which pair of inappropriate shoes I should wear. I had noticed in my interview that dress at my new workplace is on the casual side of business casual. I looked at my Keens, which are closed-toed, muted blue, lace-up shoes. I looked at my impractical little flip-floppy Argentinean shoes. I picked my Keens. I wore a button-down shirt and some nice pants, but I still picked my Keens.

I got the usual first-day run-around in the office, with introductions to absolutely everyone, and an avalanche of information. Normal for a first day, and far from the most intimidating first day I have ever had. But everyone seemed to think I might be intimidated. They kept asking if I was scared yet, and if I was planning to come back tomorrow. Until one fellow said "Nah, she's wearing hiking boots, I don't think she scares easy."

Hiking boots???? Did I commit a serious corporate style faux pas?

Tonight I am packing my bag for tomorrow's early wake up call, and wondering about which shoes to choose. Do I keep wearing the "hiking boots"? I never deal with clients, and the shoes are comfy. Or do I wear my ultra-girly Argentinean shoes with the embroidered flowers?

It's an office of engineers - I'm definitely in the female minority. Do I toe the girly style line? Or do I keep wearing my "tough" hiking shoes? I want to wear my "doesn't scare easy" boots. I'm not sure if that's rational. But I think it's what I'll do anyway.

Workity work

On Friday I had two job interviews - one over the phone, for a biology-type job that I was pretty excited about, the other an in-person second interview for the position as a tech writer for an engineering firm.

The phone interview was a little more exciting than I had expected. They were supposed to call at 10:50, and when they hadn't called at 10:53, Douglas suggested I check our new digital phone for dial tone. No dial tone!!! Eek! We rushed around trying to fix it, and I ended up using Skype to call the office, and someone patched me through to the interviewers. Whew. They said they were impressed that I managed to get through to them in spite of having a broken phone, and the rest of the interview went well. Their hiring timeline is pretty long, though, and they won't even be getting back to me on whether or not I get a second interview until later this week.

The afternoon interview went well, too, in spite of my unprofessional shoes (little slip-ons that I bought in Argentina), and on Monday, the engineering firm called me back and offered me a position starting Wednesday (today), and I took it.

What to say about my first day. I think I'll just say that it reminded me why I like working as a biologist. But it will do in the interim. I'm correcting engineer's reports for spelling, grammar, readability. The people are nice.

The mountains are glorious today, so I'm off for a walk with Saira. Douglas left last night for NC, to go to Dean and Annette's wedding. He should be landing in the South right about now, and heading up to the mountains. Lucky boy! I miss him already.

Fry Daddy

That's what they call a deep fryer in the South. It's also what Douglas has become. And you know he doesn't do anything by halves. He's going a little crazy with it. Here he is, laughing and showing off his deep fried mushrooms, just like they make at the Starlite Drive-In and Gun Shop in Durham (I kid you not, about any of that):



Last week, my parents' neighbour, Melinda, gave us a deep fryer. It's amazing what all you can deep fry. We haven't tried Snickers bars or Oreos yet (these are common at the NC State Fair). I'm fixin' to fry us up some pickles soon, though. Melinda has also promised to teach us how to make amazing spring rolls, Filipino style. mmmmm.

On Friday I have two job interviews - one for a job only about 5 miles away, one about 10 miles away. For the sake of the size of my butt, let's all hope I get the one that's far away...

This is what we're worried will happen to our bikes

Seven Dollar Suit

While I am working on the website for the new Biodiversity Museum (the site will go public soon and I'll post a link) up at UBC, I am also hunting for a more permanent job. Today I had an interview at a fairly businesslike company. After 8 years working as a lab scientist, my closet is not exactly full of business attire. And, after 8 months of travelling the world, my wallet is not exactly full of money.

So, last night, after reviewing my selection of potential interview wear (Douglas said "if you're going to wear that, you might as well wear your hiking boots, too"), we set out in search of a suit. Eek! A suit. My goodness. Don't worry, though, with our current budget limitations, we couldn't go out and buy a *real* suit, so we went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Whew. Saved from proper business attire by a technicality.

Surprise, surprise, success! We found a grey matching pant/jacket set that I actually think is pretty cute. It's a little on the small side, though. I have to suck in my belly to do up the button. And I can't move my arms too much. But that's OK - I don't think you're supposed to wave your arms around in job interviews, anyhow. Or so I'm told.

I paid for the suit, a whole seven dollars. Even the lady at the cash register thought I was getting a good deal. I chuckled to myself as I pulled out my wallet - the wallet that cost at least 5 times as much as the suit! Times change...

The suit wasn't the only part of my outfit that was a little on the sketchy side, either. I picked an old favorite pair of shoes that look business like enough, black leather mules with chunky heels. They're at least 10 years old and nicely broken in, but still very respectable. This morning I put them on confidently and strolled out to the bus stop. Something seemed funny about the left heel, but I ignored it. On the bus I noticed that there were some loose bits of rubber around the soles. O, well, I thought, I'll just keep my scruffy feet tucked away during the interview.

On the way home, though, my shoes starting feeling even wonkier, and I took another look at them. They had completely disintegrated!!! They looked perfect when I put them on, but after 30 minutes of walking, the rubber was stripped off the soles, and the heel was falling off in huge chunks!! I wonder if I left a big piece of shoe in the interview room...

Anyhow, the suit must have done its job, because I have a second interview on Friday! Keep your fingers crossed for me, 'cuz baby needs a new pair of shoes!!



Another piece of good news today - we finally have internet and a phone at home!! We haven't had a phone in 8 months. People can call us now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Emily's in Ecuador

My friend Emily



is living in Quito, Ecuador for the next 4 months on a Rotary scholarship. She's taking Spanish classes and blogging about her experiences here:

http://eurekacat.wordpress.com/

Check it out. It's awesome. There's a link to the right, too.

Market Madness

Something I remember loving about Vancouver is the independent Chinese grocery stores. They rock. They are packed with everything you could ever wish for, and they are *cheap*. I've been trying out the ones nearby, and today I found The One.

It's only a 5 minute bikeride from our house, and it's chock full of gorgeous local produce. It's also got a great selection of tofu products, including 4 flavors of veggie ground round (tofu made to taste like ground meat, for sauces). Add to that a fantastic italian foods selection, including fresh gnocchi for $2, and about 20 different kinds of olive oil. Nevermind the wall of tea (some of which is $1.50 for 20 tea bags). Or the bread from the local organic bakery for $2.39 a loaf. Udon noodles. Salsa. Barbecue ducks hanging in the window. A hot lunch bar with tasty Chinese food. What more could a girl ask for? Durhamites, it's like the farmer's market meets Grand Asia market meets Whole Foods. With an Italian market thrown in for good measure.

That whole section of Hastings Street is full of great little shops. Right next to the grocers is an Italian specialty shop (also inexpensive), a Chinese bakery, a Japanese antique furniture store, a European bakery, and a Mexican restaurant. I am in heaven. I haven't found the local Pho shop yet, but I'm sure there are plenty.

The bike ride home from the shop was typically nice, too. I've stopped counting the number of times that drivers have stopped for me, of their own free will, with a smile, so I could cross 4 lanes of traffic.

I may have stopped counting, but I still say "holy crap" in my head every time it happens.

Of course, there are some things about our neighbourhood, and Vancouver as a whole, that are less than perfect. Bike theft is rampant. Here is my bike parked next to someone's ill-fated U-lock:




There's a garbage strike on, and the city is stinky. We keep finding used condoms in our front yard (echhhh). There are a lot of thin, twitchy people in our neighbourhood. Car insurance costs more than twice what it costs in the states. But it's hard to notice things like that when you're mesmerized by a view like this:



And this is just the view from the port near our house - industrial meets beautiful. There are plenty of beaches (not so near our house) where you can have a view of the inlet and the mountains, unadulterated by industry.

Yeasty Beasties

Douglas can't work in Canada yet, so while I work in the daytime, he putters around the house, rides his bike, and dreams up things to build. I think he's liking life as a kept man. If only I could keep him in the style to which he is accustomed...

My favorite of his new hobbies is baking bread. From scratch, no bread machine. He's turning out amazing crusty whole wheat loaves that taste like they came from a fancy bread store. They're fantastic. (Suzanne, o Baking Queen, if you're reading, we have a question - the loaves are flattening out a little more than he'd like, just before they go in the oven. Any tips?)





We have this book called Bread Alone, which talks about the art of breadmaking in a really lyrical way. I swear, this baker thinks of his yeast like pets. He has whole paragraphs about cultivating your kitchen's wild yeast population. How the wooden bowl your bread rises in will become home to swarms of yeast cells waiting to help the next loaf rise. How if you bake bread regularly, your kitchen will be home to lots of rogue yeast cells ready to jump into your bread and leaven it. I like the thought of all those yeastie beasties roaming around in there, looking for warm bread...

Bike Heaven

We are in bicycling heaven. We moved here from a place where people would routinely swear or throw things at us, just for being out on bikes. Granted, it's improving in Durham, but biking there is no picnic. Check out this NC Congressman's views on biking:



The attitude here is a little different. The city is riddled with bike lanes. These are side streets with little bike logos on the street signs, bikes painted on the pavement, and very few cars. At every intersection they have traffic stop buttons right by the road, so you don't have to get off your bike. And in many places, the roads aren't open to regular traffic. It makes getting around the city really pleasant.

At Mountain Equipment Coop, they hand out free pocket-sized bike route maps of the city:



Which fold out to look like this:



and here's a detail:



All the red lines, and some of the blue and orange ones, are bike routes, if you can believe it.

The sheer number and diversity of cyclists on the bike routes is amazing, too. There are some hardcore commuter cyclists all decked out in their high performance gear. And then there are the middle-aged women in flamboyant green blouses - but with commuter baskets full of gear on their bikes, proving they do this every day, they just don't want to wear the outfit. We both keep getting dusted by slips of girls on 10 speeds from grandma's basement. They're inevitably wearing impractical shoes and talking on their cellphones as they zoom by us.

Here's my friend Katrin's picture from a critical mass ride here:



We've been biking around like maniacs, 20, 30, miles a day, adrift in a sea of endorphins, gaping at the mountains. I've been commuting by bike from our little house by the PNE (on the far east side of the city) to UBC (out on the point and as far west as you can go before you fall into the ocean). It's about 11 miles each way, and at the end of the day I am TIRED. At night I drag myself to bed on my leaden legs, and sleep like the dead. It's soooo good to be getting exercise again.

Basement

Moving into a house with a basement is dreamy, and here's why:

Giant empty space
Eats all boxes, bikes, and mess
So upstairs is clean