Team CharMarie

Still on our MN and WI trip, but just needed to share some favorite comments we've heard from our niece Anamarie before they are forgotten.

#1

Me: Anamarie, do you think Little Critter is going to be a boy or a girl?

Anamarie: Well, I haven't decided yet if I want it to be twins or not...

#2

After coming upstairs from playing in the basement for a few hours, she came over, rubbed my belly and said, "Wow, I think you have already grown!"

#3

Me: Anamarie, can you give Uncle John a kiss too?

Anamarie: NO! I'm not used to kissing boys...only little ones like Dillon.

Amelia: Well, he's a boy.

#4

The adults all played Ticket to Ride, and Anamarie and I made played as a team - Team CharMarie! Anamarie took a brief break to play with her toys and when she came back she said, "Are we still winning Aunt Charlotte?" After she found out her dad had just taken over the winning position, she told me, "Work harder!"

Pink is for girls and blue is for boys.

Did you know this hasn't always been true?

Long ago young children of both sexes often wore the same clothes: loose white dresses.


But around the turn of the century, colors started being advertised as being for certain genders. Pink was seen as a boy's color, as it was the lighter relative of a strong fierce red. Blue was associated with the Virgin Mary, thus a more feminine color.

I'm not completely convinced there was a strong color designation given to each gender in North America, as this 1927 Time article indicates that it depended on which store you went into. However, the article does say that when the Crown Prince of Belgium was born, "The cradle...had been optimistically outfitted in pink, the color for boys, that for a girl being blue."

Today's color associations for became apparent around the time of WWII. Many attribute this to the Nazi's use of pink triangles to designate homosexuals, but others also associate it with the dark colored uniforms that the soldiers (mostly male) wore. It is obvious that at this time pink was no longer seen as a manly color.

Book by Lynn Peril

As women were being urged to be beautiful perfect housewives in the 1950s, pink became a definitively feminine color. The slogan "Think Pink" was used to convince women to embrace their femininity.

It's obvious that the colors' designations have been almost wholeheartedly accepted as nowadays you can't walk into a North American store's baby department without being overwhelmed with baby blue (the name now causes a hmmm...) and pink. But think, less than 100 years ago you may have walked into a baby department and those colors would have been for the opposite gender!

This Belly is Not My Own

The belly/bump/stomach area of a pregnant woman is an interesting thing.

First of all, it gets a lot of attention, whether wanted or unwanted. Some people just can't NOT feel a pregnant woman's stomach. Others have absolutely no interest in touching it. Some mothers love to post photos of their naked bellies on the internet and other pregnant women hide from any camera that appears. Some love seeing those photos and some are grossed out by them.

What I used to not understand is why pregnant women always rubbed their bellies. I mean, I never went around rubbing my stomach. But now I do all the time.

My belly no longer feels like it's mine. There are all kinds of movements that I feel and see that are out of my control. Every time I feel a limb sticking out or the rhythmic beats of hiccups, I am reminded that there is someone else, another person, in there.

When I rub my big bump, I don't think about me massaging my own body. Instead it's me letting my babe know that I'm here, me sending a little bit of love LC's way.

Toronto Christmas Market

We headed out to the Toronto Christmas Market this past weekend. It's supposed to be similar to a German Christmas market, in that it's outside, there are hung lights everywhere, there's mulled wine to drink, and lots of shopping to do.


We didn't have any of the wine but we did find raclette! Raclette is a type of cheese from Switzerland that is melted and then eaten over meat, potatoes, pickles, baby corn, onions, and more. It is SO DELICIOUS! We've had it twice before and there was no way we (specifically John) was going to miss out on another opportunity. So, we stood in line for 30 minutes and then dived into raclette over french fries.


The market was held in Toronto's Distillery District, a tiny neighborhood that has amazing old buildings. Now most of the buildings house art galleries. There was one called Cubic Works that contained art made of Rubik's Cubes. Did you know they were invented in Toronto?


Some of Santa's reindeer made it for the evening!


Merry Christmas!

Penthouse Suite in the City

Are we ever late in inviting you into our home!

Honest Ed's

Both of my brothers have recently asked for more blog posts about US! I think it's their nice way of saying, "You two have been a bit boring lately." At least that is how I feel about our lives in the last while. Sure, John went to Atlanta and I've visited family & friends, but here in Toronto our life does not contain much excitement.

Why? I'm not very good at doing fun things when I don't really know a) what to do, and b) who to do them with. School keeps John very busy, especially since it's the end of the semester. He's in the middle of writing three 20+ page papers and studying for 2 finals. BUT yesterday and today are 12-16 hour days for him so he can (hopefully) have the entire weekend off! Yay!

Anyways, in order to post something semi-interesting, I went shopping this week.

It's been said that New York has Macy's and Toronto has Honest Ed's.


I would describe it like this: a building like Powell's bookstore in Portland, merchandise like a flea market, and rock-bottom prices. In other words, it's a store that takes up a complete block and that one could easily got lost in. You don't know what you're going to find in the store but you'll find more than enough. And the prices are low.

The store's founder is the late Ed Mervish, who opened it in 1948. The story goes that the store was mobbed on opening day and has only grown in popularity and size since. Really quite the rags to riches story, as he was a high school drop out but later became a millionaire.

It's a store that my dad would hate, my mom would find interesting, and my mother-in-law would love. We'll go there sometime Millie!

And Rob and Eric, sorry. I know shopping isn't quite your thing either, but at least this post has information about us and pictures I took just for you!

An Attempt at An Answer

"Do you think we'll ever live in the United States again?"

The only answer I could think of for John this morning was,

"Probably. But I'm sure it won't be as good as we think it will be."

The question we've been asked the most in the last few years is "What's it like to live in Canada?" I never know how to answer.

First of all, living in Canada has blessed us in many ways. We've experienced what it's like to be immigrants. We now know a lot more about the country north of the U.S. and how Americans are perceived in this country. We went to a church in British Columbia that embraced us completely and let John experience what it's really like to be part of a church family. We've made really good friends. We've encountered the wonder of the Nanaimo bar. We've lived in incredibly diverse cities. We've climbed mountains and seen gorgeous views. John has gotten and continues to get more education. I've worked at a great school and worked with/taught amazing people. We've consumed NO hormones from dairy products while up here. We've received inexpensive health care. We've decreased our belongings (even though we still own A LOT of stuff).

Yet there are many times we wish we did not live in Canada. It's tiring to explain why we won't ever have Ontario Health Insurance every time we see a doctor or dentist. It's hard to be seen as an outsider when meeting new people. It's difficult to fight the urge to defend my country or my fellow citizens when I hear negative comments day after day. It's hard to feel like you don't belong in either country.

[Sigh of Relief] It's over.

December has arrived, meaning that Notre November has reached an end. Phew.

Honestly, I've enjoyed it but there has been stress. Trying to make at least one of our favorites everyday, having enough pictures of food so I could leave for nine days, wanting good pictures despite the lack of light and the desire to eat the food while it was still hot...like I said, phew.

A few things I've learned this month:

1) I love all these foods but I got bored. New recipes add quite a bit of fun to cooking.
2) The Skinny Pukeko will have two types of food that are not made in its kitchen - pasta and bread.
3) Having all the food posts to do made me feel I shouldn't blog about other stuff. My preference is to have a random blog that includes a bit of everything but not all of one thing. I hope that's okay with all of you!

Thanks for sticking with us through the last month. I hope the photos made you hungry to eat something really good, whether it was one of Skinny Pukeko's menu items or something in your fridge. Many people did ask for the Roasted Zucchini Torta, so I'll end the month with the recipe. Oh, and December has no theme.

Roasted Zucchini Torta with Tomatoes & Mozzarella
from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook

6 medium zucchini
5 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt & black pepper
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 3/4 cups canned crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil leaves
10 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Lay the slices on 2 large baking sheets. Brush both sides with 3 Tbsp. oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until the slices start to brown around the edges, about 25 minutes. Cool.
2. While zucchini is in the oven, heat 1 Tbsp oil in medium saucepan. Add garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer until sauce is thick and has reduced to about 1 1/3 cups, about 15 minutes. Stir in basil; add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
3. Brush bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil. Line bottom with layer of zucchini slices, cutting pieces if necessary to cover the pan completely. Do not overlap slices. Spoon 1/3 cup sauce over zucchini and sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1 Tbsp. Parmigiano-Reggiano. Repeat process, making 3 more layers of zucchini, tomato sauce and cheese.
4. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until middle bubbles and sides begin to brown. Let sit 15 minutes on wire rack, then take off pan sides. Serve lukewarm.

Notes: It seems like a lot of zucchini but you do need it. It really is much better served lukewarm. You can wrap the torta tightly and refrigerate overnight. Just unwrap and put in the oven when ready, increasing the bake time by 5 to 10 minutes.