Pancake Tuesday.

For whatever reason, a lot of Americans think they're hilarious when they say things to me like, "Oh, well you wouldn't understand that because you're Canadian." Or if they find something I say strange they love to say, "Must be a Canadian thing, hardy har har." Most of the time, the subject matter is universal and has nothing to do with being Canadian or not - they just love looking for windows to make degrading Canada jokes. I say this sounding as if I'm very offended by it all, when in actuality I think it's... odd, rather than offensive. Odd that people think they're very clever in making these jokes, odd that they believe they're the first to think them up, odd to assume I'd find it funny. For the record, lest I not make myself clear, having lived in the States for most of my life, now with an American husband and subsequent American family members and friends - I don't harbor any ill will towards my fellow countrymen. You are well loved America, even if you do make the same tasteless jokes, without cessation, about the great nation of Canada.

And today I had a rare taste of truly highlighting my Canadianness by mentioning that it was "Pancake Tuesday" (known here as Fat Tuesday) and receiving quizzical looks. This resulted in my having to utter that dreaded adage that it "must be a Canadian thing." And it is. Although it's also a British/European/Australian thing. So who's the odd one out now America?!?! Huh???

Anyhoo, this immediately made me want to make a pancake breakfast for dinner (i.e. brinner) but knowing that Tim is not a brinner fan, I figured my chances of celebrating were slim. However a compromise was reached with the suggestion of potato pancakes. So I'm going with this recipe and pairing it with some bison burgers** that we picked up at the Westside Market.

** being a former vegetarian, I can't help but find it shocking and somewhat disturbing that in the course of about two years I've gone from refusing to eat anything that has "eyes or a mother" to full on carnivorous tendencies (I blame it on getting pregnant.) In my defense, I rarely eat red meat and the only reason I'm going for the bison is because there are claims that it's cancer-fighting. Sold.

The Hunger Games.

There's nothing quite like loving a book series right up until the end and then having the author completely destroy your sense of satisfaction with a disappointing conclusion. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been fully absorbed in The Hunger Games trilogy. It's the kind of reading material that you just.can't.put.down. I finished the final book of the series last night and it left me feeling..... like I just wasted two weeks of my life invested in characters whose conclusion I had much, much higher hopes for. I've never spent so much time reading a book series and felt this let down at the end of it - particularly because it had so much potential to go out on a fabulous note. Seriously Suzanne Collins - you and your terrible conclusion are the bane of my existence at the moment. Ok, perhaps that's a bit unfair and over dramatic. But... I WANT MY HAPPY ENDING.

(I'd also like the 20+ hours back that I put into reading your books.)

To counter the effects of swallowing such a bitter literary pill, I'm indulging in the stories that leave me smiling and feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. To kick things off, I popped in You've Got Mail - a film I hated the first time I saw it, but now sits proudly at the top of my Top 10 list. (Click here and skip ahead to the 1:20 mark to see one of my favorite scenes.) Follow up will be the reading of another book, Pride and Prejudice, because it's a timeless classic that I know I can trust to remove the bad taste left in my mouth by The Hunger Games as well as restore my faith that in the end...

.....love makes all things new.

Gnomeo & Juliet

At first I scoffed at this movie's premise thinking, "Oh no, its just another mass production Pixar knock-off." But then I saw clips of the trailer, and then the WHOLE trailer and now I am dancing in my pants to go see it. It couldn't have a cuter premise. And it's funny. And sha-bam... this one looks like a hit. So I think we're going to go see it on our anniversary (per my request). I can't wait! Let's just hope that all the best parts are limited to the trailer and the rest of it is lame.