Number One Chinese Restaurant

Sometimes the best feeling in the world after a hard day is to come home...and not cook.

There is something about eating something that you have put zero work into preparing that is so...relaxing! Sometimes that means going out to a restaurant and sometimes that means grabbing some take out. When Glosette Girl and I lived in England (15 years ago!) that usually meant ordering in some Indian food. Mmmm Indian food. Around here, the default go-to options are pizza or Chinese.

This past weekend we decided to hit up Number One Chinese Take Out, which is the closest Chinese restaurant to our house and the only one within walking distance.

It hits the right notes.

Efficient sign that tells me all I need to know: check.
 

I now know they are number one. And they are Chinese. And they have take out.

Lots of North Americanized Chinese Food: check (I have a guilty pleasure for this stuff by the way. Some day I will go to China and taste real Chinese food...but today is not that day). I'm talking your Chicken balls. Your egg rolls. Your chicken fried rice. Your Almond Guy Ding. Your spare ribs. Show me a China take out restaurant in Canada and I'll show you a combo platter with those five dishes.

All Chinese take out places in Canada serve chicken balls in the same rectangular red box

And you have to love their fortune cookies.

Our fortunes:

• Me:  A great opportunity is coming (yay me!).
• Glosette Girl: (she can't remember but lets assume it also involves a great opportunity).
• Margot: You are adorable. Take advantage of this. (seriously)

Overall: it won't win any culinary awards but it "hits the spot".

p.s special tip: their online prices are higher than their in-store prices. So make sure you call ahead instead of ordering through one of the various take out delivery websites/apps that are so popular these days.

One Third of Life

You might think, from reading my blog, that my life here in Ottawa is one mad-capped adventure after another. If I'm not going to a restaurant or visiting friends or family I'm off to one exotic locale or another.

But as I hinted at in my last post, things aren't always what they seem.

Like most people, one third of my life is spent sleeping, one third is doing various random things, some of which are interesting (like going for a walk in a nearby forest) and some not so interesting  like going grocery shopping or getting a haircut, and one third (at least Monday to Friday) is spent  working.

I think in the past year-and-a-half Tough Cookies: Hintonburg Style has been up and running I've hinted at my job... maybe once? And that was just to describe the walk to work! Oh and there's also a photo of me wearing a suit in my profile picture. So now you know I wear a suit (sometimes).

Don't worry! I'm not going to bore you with the details of my job. But I would be lying if I didn't say it wasn't a big part of my daily life. It can be at times a source of stress, intellectual growth and even fun. Like most things in life it's a bit of a roller coaster ride. But that's what makes life interesting.

Sometimes I have to take work home with me. For example, I'm currently preparing to give a speech in French. Given my so-so French ability the only way I can avoid butchering the langue de molière is to practice after hours with Glosette Girl. Here I am going over my notes at a downtown coffee shop last weekend.

I apologize to any French patrons who heard me speak

Honestly, working occasionally at home isn't a huge deal. I think I do a pretty decent job at maintaining a work-home life balance and I know that in my profession it could be a lot worse.  Oh and Glosette Girl keeps me on track, don't you worry.

OK that's enough shop talk for now. Next blog post will focus on a more interesting third of my life: sleep! ;)

Storm before the Calm

My second Tough Cookies Hintonburg Style blog post was about how much I love the gentle morning walk taking Margot to school.

I still love that walk.  But what I didn't mention is what exactly happens before the walk begins. It's not all sunshine and rainbows. Quite the opposite actually - I run a tight ship which really sets the day in motion. Nothing crazy but it's amazing just how much happens every weekday before I even set foot at work.
 
Anyways, here is the typical school day/workday morning routine at the Simon-Margot-Glosette Girl household:

1. Wake up at 6:10 am (ahhh 7 am weekend wake up feels so decadent to my old bones now!).
2. Do a few groggy sit ups (need to keep the abs trim and fit for Glosette Girl!).*
3. Take a groggy shower (post-shower grogginess level now reduced to mild daze).
4. Make Margot's lunch.
5. Empty dishwasher, which are now clean from previous night's dish washing cleaning.**
6. It is now 6:50 am. Wake Margot up.
7. Shuffle Margot over to the office where, from 6:50 am to 7:30 am, she watches TV. ***

Note the cereal in the corner

8. Make my lunch.
9. Fix Margot a bowl of cereal. Let her eat in front of the TV, that lucky girl.
10. Practice French for 15-minutes (b'eh, c'est vrai Messieurs dames!).
11. Eat a light breakfast (one word: Weetabix!).
12. At some point finish dressing for work (I said finish dressing - get your mind out of the gutter!).
13. 7:30 am sharp - turn off TV.
14. Dress Margot in her school uniform. Mild herding of cats.
15. Brush teeth with Margot. More cat herding.

She's only smiling this time cause she knows you're watching!

16. Bonus step five months of the year: pile Margot into her winter clothes.

17. 7:50 am - kiss the lovely wife goodbye and we're out the door!

Whew! I'm tired just reading that. But that really is what I do five days a week. Amazingly, everything seems to go off without a hitch most of the time. Let the gentle morning walk begin! 

* Glosette Girl mumbles some random words and rolls over.
** This can be a bit loud sometimes. Glosette Girl may open one of her eyes and curse my clumsiness.
*** Glosette Girl's own routine starts about now and she helps with some of the following steps while doing some other things involving yoga and chanting, sometimes puffy pants and other arcane things that are a mystery to me.