Spaghetti Squash (noun): New favourite vegetable of the summer

Oh why oh why has it taken me so long to get to know the spaghetti squash?  Had I known how fulfilling it was to bake it for an hour and end up with ready-to-go strands, I would have done it ages ago!

Thanks to Mama Earth, this week's delivery included one lovely Ontario grown Spaghetti Squash and a great recipe.  And more importantly, a simple and idiot-proof recipe, which I'm gonna share, Ingalish-style.

Take one squash, halve it and remove the seeds.  Place the halves face down on a greased pan and let it bake for an hour.  You'll end up with this:

While the squash is spaghettifying, work on the sauce.  You'll need a pint of Saladette Tomatoes, 3 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 can of white kidney beans (drained and rinsed), pinch of salt and pepper, and 3 tbsp of chopped parsley*.  Mix everything except for the beans and parsley and put in the oven for 30 min.  If you time it right, the squash and sauce will be done at the same time. After around 20 minutes mix in the beans and parsley into the sauce and leave it in for the remaining 10 minutes.

Then take everything out, scrape out the strands into a bowl and top it with the sauce.

Voila.  Yummy and healthy dinner is ready to be consumed.  You may find yourself eating like a starving animal, it's that good.  But if you made it at home, who cares what you look like eating it?!


*I should mention that the recipe also called for 1.4 tsp of hot pepper flakes and 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar but um, I kinda forgot to add those in.  But it was still delicious, I swear.

Fan Expo ( noun): A gathering of nerds with a lot of money to spend

My husband and I decided to check out Fan Expo last Saturday.  While we expected it to be crazy busy, we did not anticipate for the hour long line-up for tickets that started on the south end of Roundhouse Park and took us down a winding underground driveway that eventually led to an entrance to the south building of the Convention Centre.

The one saving grace were all the people dressed up in costumes that also had to wait in line, which gave us something to look and comment on.  Including one bonafide Tardis, complete with a Doctor who gladly took pictures with those waiting in line.

And then we finally got to buy our tickets and found out that it was $50 per person.  Whoops and ouch.  If only we had the Tardis to bring us back a couple of hours to research the price before we got there.

Because - here's the thing.  We're nerds and we were looking forward to checking out Fan Expo for the first time.  But for the price we paid at the door, and considering that basically everything at the show cost something, it didn't seem worth it.

Alright nerds, before you poo poo that comment, let me remind you that I'm on your side.  I totally understand that the artists should be selling their stuff.  We bought a signed print from a guy we didn't even know but we just liked his work.  But I don't think you need to have to pay for over priced bite sized Pizza Pizza, $5 Fan Expo tote bags to carry your prized possessions, or $30 to get a picture with Jason Priestly. He's great in Call Me Fitz, but not $30 great.  I also don't think that all those that put so much time and effort into costumes should even have to pay at all!  I had way more fun looking at homemade Sailor Moons, Banes, Thors, and Doctor Whos - they totally added to the feel of the show - and the fact that they had to wait in line like the rest of us shmucks didn't seem fair.

One highlight for me was meeting Dan Parent, one of the artists for Archie.  Having grown up on Archie comics passed down from my older brothers, it was pretty cool to meet him.  But again, like everything else, nothing's for free at the expo, and I had to buy a comic in order for him to sign it.

Things that didn't cost anything at the show: line-ups for food and washrooms, walking shoulder to shoulder at every turn, and sore feet.

Ok fine, now I'm just being an butthole.  There were a few cool things that didn't cost anything including building an X-Wing at the Lego area (I heart Lego), trying out new video games, and taking a picture with this guy:

Cat Bunk Bed (noun): A memorable birthday gift that officially makes me a "Crazy Cat Lady"

Despite June having some pretty rough patches, I had a GREAT birthday near the end of the month.  My husband organized a luau complete with a roasted pig and I was surrounded by some of my most favourite people.

There was no shortage of pig, tons of spiked fruit punch, lots of laughs, and the day was complete with one super-awesome homemade gift from my friend and her husband.

A Cat Bunk Bed.

I mean... COME ON!

Hurley is sitting on the top bunk, while Mischa shoved herself as far back as possible on the lower bunk.  Although I actually placed them there for this shot, they do use it on their own every once in a while, and every time I see them in it, I squeal.  My husband does not share my excitement.

I should clarify that there is a back story.  A week before the luau, I happened to stumble upon a photo of a cat bunk bed online and showed it to my friend/co-worker.  I thought it was cute and silly and I guess she understood that as "deep want."  Because that weekend, the day before my party, she somehow managed to convince her handy husband to make one with scrap material. A day before.

Wrapped in Justin Bieber wrapping paper (there is no back story for that, it was just random), they made me open it on my front porch when they arrived because they were too embarrassed to have me do it inside with people watching.  Which was a good thing 'cause I squealed pretty loud when I saw it.

I don't squeal a lot, but I seem to do it a lot on my birthday or when it has to do with this bed.

Knobs (noun): Easily screwable in the most non-sexual way

Here's an easy equation.  You don't need to be good at math, I promise.  But you will need a few things to get the answer:

One piece of driftwood from my friend's cottage (thanks Karina!)

+

3 Antique looking knobs on sale* from Timbuktu 

+

Not enough patience to accurately measure distances

+

2 Hands

=

Fits perfectly on the back of our bedroom door and works well with the Beach theme.




* In fact, it's a CLOSING sale.  The location on Yonge Street, just north of King is closing for good!

Run (verb): An attempt to look and feel better while huffing and puffing

Last Saturday, I completed my first 5km run with my husband atThe Midsummer Night's Run on Toronto Island. "With" in the sense that we started the race together, otherwise he finished a good 10 minutes before I did. But finishing it was my main goal, and that's what counts.

I consider myself a short distance sprinter (I placed 4th in the 100m race in grade 8, so I'm kind of a big deal), so the idea of running around a track more than once was daunting. Luckily, my husband's sister and her husband are avid runners and they gave us some great tips for training. We trained for about 3 weeks before the race, increasing our running intervals by a minute every week. By the last week, I was comfortable running for 5 minutes with a minute off walking.

Things I learned from the race:
- Runners for the most part are very supportive of each other.
- If I needed to slow down, I held my hand up to indicate I was moving off to the side.
- You should not mess with an 80-year old running veteran. He means business and you should get out of his way.
- There are, albeit a few, non-supporters who will actually go out of their way to create an obstacle. I'm talking directly to the 3 hippy teens that stood right in the middle of a path and refused to move. The 80-year old was NOT happy.
 - Always finish in style. Even if you've been running at a slow and steady pace for the whole race, speed up for the last 50 meters so you look like a rock star when you cross the finish line. I did, and I felt amazing.
- All these races support charities, but the best ones give out finisher medals. Yup, even though I didn't place in the top 3, I still got a medal just for FINISHING the race!

I was on such a high after the race and felt amazing for the rest of the weekend. We ended the night with some beer and pulled pork sandwiches on Olympic Island, while cheering on the 30km runners. A huge shout out goes to my husband for all his support and my sis-in-law and her hubbie for all their tips and encouraging words!

Blog (noun): A virtual space to unload your thoughts, passive aggressively complain, and show off how great your life is

Welcome to Ingalish. Yet another blog on the internet that addresses issues on STUFF. But it's MY stuff or the way I see stuff, so maybe it'll be something new and refreshing for your reading pleasure.

The last few months have had some especially hard challenges, and what led me to start a blog today was clear perspective and renewed hope. I know that sounds wishy washy and I'm being vague, but come on, I just met you. I may be a lady with a blog, but I'm still a lady.

I had actually set up Ingalish back in 2008 and was only reminded of it today when I was scrambling to come up with a witty name for the blog. I wanted it do with something happy related or what makes me happy. "Happy" as it stands is already taken. Which is sad because when I went to that blog the top post was titled "Hail Satan."

Riiiight.

So after unsuccessfully coming up with something new and original, I decided that my brain from 5 years ago was way sharper and that I should just resurrect Ingalish for present day use. And I figured it could still work because this blog is about life defined by me. What makes me happy, giddy, excited, sad, nervous, pissed off and bored.

Hope you'll enjoy what I have to say and share. And if you don't, there's always this: