Japanese Cheesecake

A new restaurant in Toronto that opened up at the end of March always has a line out the doors.  It's called Uncle Tetsu's Japanese Cheesecake, and as a lover of cheesecake, I really wanted to try it before we moved. 

Now Benjamin is up at 6:00 a.m. almost every day, so I figured I'd use that to my advantage, and have company while I waited in line. We went on a Sunday morning, and we still had to wait in line for 25 minutes. (They can only make 12 cheesecakes at a time, as they only have 3 small ovens.  But 25 minutes was nothing - from noon on the line-up is usually a couple hours long!)

The restaurant smelled divine, as it was like you were swimming in the wonderful aroma of cheesecake.  The cake itself has no crust and is extremely airy.  We had a few bites as soon as we got home, as it was still warm from the oven, and it was good warm. 

That night we ate the rest of it with friends, and we were all a bit underwhelmed.  It's only slightly sweet and not at all rich & decadent like a North American cheesecake would be.  Was it worth it to stand in line for 25 minutes?  Yes, for the joy of trying something new and knowing what the buzz is about!  Would I do it again? Sorry Uncle Tetsu, but no.

John, a.k.a. Ph.D., The Professor

It's official - John is 100% completely done with his Ph.D.  He has completed his courses, finished his comprehensive exams, written his dissertation, defended his dissertation, and has been through convocation.  We can't believe it's over.

Unfortunately there was no funny hat for John to wear, but he looked great in his robe and hood.

There were celebrations before and after convocation with family. 

Nice work, honey.  I'm proud of you!

Just being real here

We move in less than a month.  I am not feeling excited about this.

Toronto has been such a good place for us.  We like life here. 

  

We know how to do life here and how to do it well.  We have such good friends.

I'm not excited about navigating those waters again.  They are always rough for awhile.

I'm so proud of John, for all his work leading up to a job and now for getting a job.

But I don't want to move.   I don't want to leave home.

The bright side of things, however, is I get to move with these three.

We're in it together.

Without them, I'd never be home.

Christmas with Rob

On Christmas Eve, John ran an errand and when he returned home, Uncle Rob was with him.  Helena was so surprised and so happy to see him!  Since his sister adored him so much, it took all of five minutes for Benjamin to love Uncle Rob just as much.

It was so great having him here for Christmas Day.  This is our second year celebrating in our home, which we love, but having family to celebrate with us made it just that much better.

The highlight presents around here with pillow pets and Benjamin's train set.

There was a lot of time to just play, read, and snuggle with Uncle Rob.

We took a trip up to the Lego Land Discovery Centre one day.  They had constructed all the famous buildings in and around Toronto.

Rob's highlight of Lego Land was building a faster race car than all the kids' who were racing theirs.  Helena loved everything.

Rob and John took an afternoon to go see the Toronto Marlies play hockey.

Rob also cooked some delicious dishes, like Pad Thai and apple pie.  Every night was game night for us adults.

It was such a nice visit.  Come back anytime Rob!

Dinosaur Zoo

Helena has been quite interested in dinosaurs for some time now, so when the theatre just down the street started to show "Dinosaur Zoo", going to see it was an easy decision!

The show is set up so the "zookeeper" teaches you about dinosaurs while the dinosaurs come out.

When a puppeteer/zookeeper ran out and announced that the T. Rex had gotten loose, Helena yelled "I want to go home Mommy!"  After a tight squeeze, a promise that I would protect her, and a reminder that the dinosaurs are just puppets, she calmed down.  But it was amazing how life-like they were.

After the show the baby dinosaurs were out so we could see them.  Helena was very brave when touching the baby triceratops and baby duck-billed dinosaur (the hadrosaur), but she stayed safe by only touching the blanket of the baby T. Rex.

A Few Things From Life

One of the places that intrigues me the most around here is the grocery store.  Every store and its contents vary depending on the neighborhood and the wealth of the people who usually shop there.  It really is incredible to compare the grocery store across the street and the grocery store two miles away - so very very different.

Sometimes, however, the different ingredients remind me that I'm not in the U.S. anymore.  Like today - I've been planning on making John & Benjamin a Creamsicle cake for their birthdays forever.  The big issue was always the ladyfinger biscuits - had I found the right ones? - until today when I couldn't find orange sherbet.  ORANGE SHERBET!  Never thought that would be a problem.  Other things I haven't been able to find - Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, Hershey's chocolate syrup, tater tots, and almond bark.

The other life thing I thought I'd share is this short article about how tower cranes are built:

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/explainer/2012/05/tower_crane_building_one_world_trade_center_how_do_cranes_get_on_top_of_skyscrapers_.html

There are currently 8 cranes visible from around our building, but it wasn't until today that we finally got around to looking up how they get up so high.

The Zoo and Giraffes

We also visited the zoo with Nani.  

 

Zoos are exhausting yet so much fun.  God's creativity is amazing.

Due to the rain, the giraffes weren't out in their green space, which was disappointing as the giraffe is Helena's favorite animal.  Then somebody told us the grass was too slippery for the giraffes but if we went through a gate, we'd see them at their house  Right after we got there a zoo keeper came out to give the mother giraffe a snack - what great timing!

It was the best part of the day.  Did you know that giraffes sleep for 5 minutes to 2 hours a day?  That's it!  Of course that's broken up into little segments throughout the day and all while they're standing on their feet.  Makes me tired just thinking about it.

A Perfect Day of Weather Amongst All the Other Days

"Mom, I'm not going to spray him..."

Last Friday was gorgeous.  Gorgeous.  I actually cannot remember another day this entire winter that was even close to as nice as last Friday.

"...I'm just teaching him how to use the spray bottle."

So we headed out to the best place around us to play in lots of snow - the lot where they dump all the snow from the park's roads!  It's a diamond in the rough.

 

Spray bottles of colored water kept both kids busy - Helena spraying and designing her unicorn horn and Benjamin chasing after them, wherever they rolled.

We even ate our lunch outside!  That's how beautiful the day was.  First picnic of 2014 - March 7!

 In the words of Helena, "I loved this beautiful day!"

Shopping as a Fam

One thing I was amazed at when I became a mom was the amount of shopping suddenly required of me.  No longer was it just grocery shopping and occasional household item shopping, with the fun clothing expedition thrown into the mix.  It still included those things, and more often, but it also includes clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous items for the kids too.

I remember talking to my mom when Helena was 9 months old, and saying I felt like I was shopping every single week for Helena!  Her response: "Get used to it, Charlotte."

Helena asked to have her photo taken here with her friends.  Can you find her?

And I have.  But over the holiday break, I was treated to a very fun shopping expedition with my family.  When it's -20 outside in the city, where do you go to help your little girl get some energy out?  We - including John! - spent a day at the mall.

Surprisingly, we all had a lot of fun.  I've learned a trick for shopping with John & kids - have lots of snacks available :)  And it wasn't really meant to be a day of shopping, but we did get some shopping done too.

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada

We recently visited Ripley's Aquarium of Canada, courtesy of my sis and bro-in-law. 

It was so much fun!

They have five huge aquariums, each focused on a different kind of fish or different region of the world.  My favorite was the Rainbow Reef, as it reminded me of all the fun days I had in Fiji, snorkeling amongst these fish, spearfishing for them late at night - and yes, eating them when they were oh so fresh.

All of this coral was handcarved from cement, then covered with rubber, then painted with aquarium-safe paint.  It took them five months to do it!

Planet Jellies was also fun - Helena enjoyed how the jellyfish changed colors, from white to orange to pink.  We're pretty sure the effect was done by the lighting but we didn't tell her that! 

The biggest tank, Dangerous Lagoon, had a moving walkway take you all around it.  A great way to manage crowd control but it also helped you feel like you were one of the fish, just slowly swimming through the water.

 Benjamin had lots of fun for the first half of the day.  He kept reaching out, trying to snag a fish, not understanding there was glass dividing us.  The second half of the day he was absolutely zonked.

There were three different touch tanks, allowing you to touch helmet crabs, tiger sharks, and sting rays.  All of them were a bit slimy.

 Helena's favorite part - the tunnel which was surrounded by sharks.  She wanted someone to go with her the first four times but then she went "by her own" over and over and over again.  

Ripley's Aquarium of Canada - if visiting Toronto with kids, it's definitely worth a stop!

Ice Storm

Freezing rain hit Toronto on Saturday evening.  It really wreaked havoc on the city: shutting down all streetcars due to icicles on all the lines, making sidewalks as slippery as can be, and killing the power to much of the city.

The trees covered in ice created quite an effect but what we really loved was this bush just across the street from us.  Look how the ice completely encapsulated the needles!  It was so beautiful.