The Adventures of Nick and Pam

All of the snow we experienced in Ottawa reminded us that we live in a region where it’s possible to be active outdoors almost 365 days a year, even when it’s “cold” (it rarely gets below freezing here – and even then, only early in the morning). I need to get better at biking to work (it’s a 15 minute bike ride along nice wide paved roads that aren’t too traffic-heavy), and we both need to get better at getting outside on the weekends. That being said, our first weekend outing was on Saturday. We found an awesome website called AllTrails that has a whole database of hiking and cycling…

Nick and I were super excited to go home to Ottawa for Christmas. We really miss our family and friends, and were really looking forward to spending lots of time with them. But perhaps most of all, we were excited for two things……Canadian beer, and Caesars!! We had a two-hour layover in Toronto and the first thing we did was go find a bar (that actually sounds really sad, but perhaps if you’re Canadian you will understand the draw of a Caesar after 4 months of Bloody Marys). We were also pretty excited for the snow. There’s no snow in San Jose, just a lot of rain, and this one…

I of course use the term “winter” lightly 🙂 We’ve been on a few outings since November, including a 10-day trip back to Ottawa, where we got our fill of snow for another year. First, here’s a shot from our friends’ home in Belmont. They live at the top of a hill and you can see all the way to San Francisco. They are surrounded by eucalyptus trees, which means the air smells amazing, and deer will often traipse through their back yard.  Next, some shots from Christmas in the Park here in San Jose. Christmas in the Park is a little festival that the city of San Jose puts…

My mom is an avid gardener so I asked her help with figuring out how to take care of all these plants!! Not sure what this one is but it had pretty flowers in the summer: Our squash! I cut it off this morning though, the vine is dead 🙁  : Tomato plant, bursting with green Roma tomatoes: Succulents I think?: I think this is basil, smells so pretty when you crush it in your hand: Some kind of wacky tree: LEMONS: And our newly-discovered Valencia Orange tree, which was hiding in a corner of our yard behind the hot tub:

Our diet mainly consists of animal products – meat and eggs – and vegetables. Moving to California has been such a blessing in that regard, because it’s so much easier to eat locally, organically, and in season here. Organic fruits and veggies are reasonably priced at the grocery store, and almost everything is from a farm in California. And of course, we have our super-local, organic produce in the back yard here (watermelon, butternut squash, strawberries, and tomatoes, still going strong and ignoring the fact that it’s nearly December):   So produce was easily taken care of (and it is also easy to find wild fish in the supermarkets), but…

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our US-based friends and family!! We’re looking forward to celebrating tomorrow at our friends’ house. He and his family moved to San Jose from overseas last year, and have graciously offered to host us for Thanksgiving dinner. The only condition is that we had to bring dessert, so, I’m baking a pumpkin cheesecake (I don’t really like pumpkin pie) and my mom’s recipe for apple pie. Hopefully it turns out as well as hers always did! The holiday season experience is sort of weird for us right now. We still open the french doors to the back yard every morning so we can see the…

COOL: – Free shipping, free returns. Online shopping is seriously no-worry, because if those shoes don’t fit, you can just slap the UPS label provided back on the box and return them!!  – Amazon Prime: Free 2-day shipping from Amazon.com. We have stuff like toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner etc delivered to our doorstep. I’m not ashamed. Also, free Kindle Lending Library, and Unlimited movie & TV show streaming from Amazon. $7.99 a month…it’s a huge bargain if you even buy one Kindle book per month that you could otherwise borrow from the lending library. – Using your debit card to pay online. Canada has a bit of this in the…

I’m still obsessed with tacos…I’ve never had tacos like this before and they’re my new favourite food. These were from a truck in Oakland and were the best ones we’ve experienced so far in the Bay Area.   Check it out…we found the Canadian beer section at BevMo…very clearly labeled.   Us at an Oakland A’s game on yet another beautiful sunny day.  

The biggest two updates from October are that we moved into our new house, complete with lemon tree, hot tub, and beautiful master bathroom:   There’s also a tomato plant, which is still producing lovely little tomatoes, and a strawberry plant, and tons of other plants and herbs that the owners kindly left for us (we’re renting this place). And two small palm trees! I must say, I will never ever get tired of palm trees…they make me so happy:   They just remind me that this place is sunny and warm practically year-round. It’s getting into November now, and we’re still getting tons of use out of our convertible,…

Calabogie Lake at the cottage a