Silly Salad Story

So this is probably one of those stories that is only funny if you were actually there, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

Every day at around noon Julian comes home for about 45 minutes to have some lunch. Yesterday was like any other day. He came home and had some leftovers from dinner last night which were measly and inadequate in satisfying his hunger so I offered to fix him a bowl of salad. (This is like the pre-chopped lettuce carrots and cabbage you can buy at the grocery store in a ziplock bag. Not like a delicious home-made salad or something.) So I go to the fridge to grab it....but where is it? I open the crisper drawer where it usually lives and there's nothing but a few tomatoes and a some celery. I scan the inside of the fridge and can't see anything resembling a bag of salad. At this point I have informed Julian that there is no salad in the fridge. and he comes and checks for himself. Nothing.

We tried to retrace our steps. Last night after grocery shopping we fixed a late dinner and while we were eating I noticed that we hadn't put the salad away. So I handed the bag to Julian to put away as he is sitting about 2 feet away from the fridge. Something must have gone horribly wrong at that moment and Julian admits to having a funny feeling about putting that salad away. He frequently puts cereal in the microwave when he's finished with the box. So we started searching: the microwave, every cupboard and drawer in the kitchen, the living room, the couch with holes under the cushions (that has eaten items such as pillows nobody recognizes when they come out, barbie dolls and my wallet), the bedroom, the bathroom, the closet, the storage room. We even checked inside the oven, which was heating up a pie at the time. We searched for probably 15 minutes and turned up nothing, baffled at what could have happened. Did someone enter our apartment and STEAL the salad? It can't just disappear. Salad does not just get up and walk away on its own. So we continue to hopelessly look in drawers that have already been searched in the kitchen, knowing that we aren't going to find what we are looking for there when Julian checks the drawer underneath the oven. The one where you're supposed to keep your cookie sheets and pots and pans.

And there lay the bag of salad. Unopened and still looking green and fresh despite being out of the fridge since we came home from grocery shopping the night before. I guess Julian was distracted from eating dinner and knew that the salad needed to go in a pull out drawer close to the ground, and that's the drawer he deemed suitable at the time. To us, this was the most hilarious thing ever. I was on the floor laughing hysterically with tears running down my face. I think the moral of the story is to never try to get Julian to do something when he is busy. Even if it's something as simple as putting salad in the fridge when he is busy with something else...like eating dinner...which apparently takes a lot of concentration or something.

I'm booked!

So it's official. I'm coming back to BC for a visit and I am so very excited. I will be flying into Vancouver in the afternoon of Tuesday Aug. 15 and I'll get to have a little visit with my little sister, and then I'll be taking the ferry over to the Island probably on Wednesday. I feel like spending a summer in Alberta is basically a waste of time what with the lack of clear cool water in various formats to swim in. Maybe I was just spoiled, growing up in a place where I could have ridden my bike to swim in a lake, river or the ocean, depending on how I was feeling that day. When we were in Jasper a few weekends ago we did a bit of swimming in the lakes and rivers there, but really, it is nothing compared to the swimming holes from the Comox Valley. Plus you have to pay big bucks just to be there (something like $17 for 2 people per day!).

More importantly I will be able to visit with my family and the friends that still live there, and that will be so great! (Maybe we should make a date to go wedding dress shopping, Ashley!) I'm excited to see my parents and my brothers and sisters and all the babies who are getting bigger and bigger (and cuter...I've learned that newborn babies really aren't cute compared to the 1 year old toddler stage).

Exhibit A: one of my adorable neices


**unrelated aside: Cute Story: On my birthday, my sister phoned while I was out to dinner and left a message wishing me a happy birthday and then asked Erika if she wanted to say happy birthday to her Auntie. Erika got on the phone and proceeded to wish me a "Happy Father's Day!" Then I hear my sister's muffled voice saying "No, no! Happy Birthday Auntie Rosie." There is a pause. The little voice comes back on the answering machine "Happy Father's Day Rosie, too you!" My birthday was the day after Father's Day this year. Too cute!**

So yes! I am excited to go home. I leave again on August 25th which gives me more than a week to enjoy all the things that I have been missing so much this summer.

This next bit is completely unrelated, but I just wanted to document the fact that I made my first meal that I am truly proud of, yesterday. After my recent yearly check-up at the doctor I have been informed that I have high cholesterol. It's genetic - my father and his mother both had high cholesterol. My family has always eaten very sensibly and I guess when I moved away from home, I strayed from my parents' regimented diet. Now that I have learned about my cholesterol issues I have been trying to eat a little better, and bought a wild salmon steak at the grocery store. I made the most beautiful dinner with vegetables chopped up with salmon laid on top covered with orange slices. I just wrapped it all up in tinfoil and baked it in the oven and when it came out it was so pretty (and delicious, I might add). Sadly, neither Julian or I could find our cameras when it came out of the oven so I can't show you a picture of how truly gorgeous this meal was.