2 Years, Love, Food… Bliss

  By Pia | March 17, 2011 - 1:10 pm | Update
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Today is my 2 year anniversary with Neil. WOW!  2 Years!!  It is hard to believe that 2 years has already passed but then again, we have been through so much together, it is amazing we have fit it all into 24 months. When I met Neil, I somehow knew.. he was something special.  I was right.  He is amazing! Tonight, Neil and I had dinner together at Q Haute (formerly La Caille on the Bow).  We decided to order the Chef’s 7 course surprise. We had an amazing dinner.  Beautiful, delicious and although the company was better than the food, all together it was incredible! To start us off, we had an amuse bouche which was a quail and porcini mushroom terrine with cherry jam. We were then given bread and herb compound butter – delicious freshly baked bread. The First Course was a rutabega veloute with chive creme fraiche. … Read More →

The dying art of customer service & the artists that remain

  By Pia | February 20, 2011 - 1:51 am | Update
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I have spent the last 2 days travelling for work and I have decided I really – in general – don’t like it.  OK before I go on, I should clarify that I really do appreciate the opportunity to get outside of the city and I do think it was a necessary venture.  I just really tend to miss my own bed. In general, travelling without a companion is a lonely business and it can get really old faster than you can imagine. I am in Vancouver and to start off my business trip, I got into an argument with the lady at security about my hand lotion and how it is clearly NOT over 100ml. It was a really risky thing to argue but I have been travelling with this particular container for years now (even during the restriction of 80ml) and I have never ever had an issue. … Read More →

Family, Travel and Life Changes…

  By Pia | December 5, 2010 - 9:34 pm | In a Nutshell..., Update
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Life is so unpredictable yet everything that happens is inevitable. Last year, we lost my step-mom June to cancer. This year, we lost my niece Jessica to a stroke, Neil’s mom Jackie also had a stroke and then we lost my aunt Anne to an unexpected heart attack just a week after she recovered from a  car accident.  You tend to expect death at old age and even though it is still sad, you can at the very least rationalize that the person lived a full life but it is the unexpected occurrences as young as early 20′s and 60′s that is hard to accept. This year, I have done a lot of travelling (maybe not a lot more than my new usual but a lot still by my standards). Some of the travelling has been for leisure and part for less enjoyable reasons.  In June, Lauren and I ventured down to Las Vegas. We … Read More →

Perfect pizza quest.. Flying Wedge – Quarry Park 14/20

  By Pia | May 24, 2010 - 8:52 pm | Food, Pizza Quest, Restaurant Review
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  So we decided to give Flying Wedge a try..  we went to Quarry Park and ordered 2 pizzas in-person for take-out. First of all, it seemed to take forever!  We left and went to Co-op to kill some time and it still took at least 15 minutes longer than promised to cook our pizzas. We decided to go with the thin crust which is more like regular crust at most other pizza places.. it also had flax seed in it which was intriguing! We tried the Texas Pull, B & T, Sicilian Express and Classic Pepperoni.  We had them in 1/2 and 1/2 pizzas so we were able to try 4 varieties but they also offer the ability to have 4 types where you can build your pizza from the ready made slices. All in all I think it was a decent pizza but it didn’t leave me dying … Read More →

Quest for the perfect Pizza in Calgary!

  By Pia | May 24, 2010 - 7:40 pm | Food, Pizza Quest
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Lauren and I have been on a never-ending quest for the perfect pizza in Calgary.  So I aim to blog our pizza encounters and perhaps some non-Calgary pizza findings in our quest for the perfect pizza. We realize there are a wide variety of pizzas so I will do my best to describe what we consider the best overall pizza but I have no problem rating and judging other types of pizzas! Our perfect pizza pie… Crust: Thin, crisp with a slightly chewy edge – not cracker crispy Sauce: Tangy, smooth & rich tomato flavour, thick &  hint of herbs Toppings: Anything goes but not too many – makes the crust soggy! Cheese: Mozzarella is a must but any combination works!  Fresh mozzarella only for margarita pizza Cooking style: Pizza stone is preferred (for the crispy bottom) but wood-oven is good too! Rating scale system… total points = 20 Crust = up to … Read More →

The Proposal…

  By Pia | May 14, 2010 - 8:51 am | In a Nutshell...
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So my boyfriend proposed to me last weekend (May 8th)!!!!!  Here is how it all happened! His commentary on the events are in the blue text… We decided to head up to Banff for a romantic weekend.  We booked a room at a hotel and reservations at one of our favourite restaurants. So on Saturday we drove out past Lake Louise to Bow Lake [So I had been planning to propose at Bow Lake for at least a month, and I had no back-up plan].  When we arrived, we discovered the lake was still completely frozen over and everything else was buried under 6 feet of snow. My boyfriend was adamant that we go out to this bridge by the lake to “take some romantic pictures”. As we started towards the path, another couple came by and warned us to stay on the path and that we should be “okay” … Read More →

Taxes, The Happiest Place on Earth and Special Requests…

  By Pia | April 19, 2010 - 8:46 pm | In a Nutshell..., Update
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I finally decided to sort out my taxes. For the first time since becoming an employee, I regretted it!  I can’t believe how much of a tax hit you can take when you are most of the year as an employee and a few months as a contractor.  I won’t go into details about my actual tax owing but I can tell you, a glass of wine was definitely needed! I am hoping that the government looks at it and finds out I figured something wrong.. hoping hoping hoping! So much for having a savings account… sigh! So it is Friday morning.. which in general seems to make people a little happier.. it is spring too, so that helps.. but this morning, Lauren and I were at Tim Hortons and it seemed like the happiest place on earth! It is ‘roll-up-the-rim’ time and so the long Timmies line-ups are generally … Read More →

The Cubicle…

  By Pia | April 1, 2010 - 11:30 pm | In a Nutshell...
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It is an interesting dynamic moving from an office to a cubicle. Granted my office space was shared so my real estate wasn’t reduced by much but the walls came down and that is where things are different.  I feel somehow liberated.  Even though I am more exposed now… my privacy non existent, I am somehow more organized.  It is like being forced to scale down and taking down the walls has made me think about my space more efficiently.  I remember this now from when I was in a call centre working as a phone rep.  Everything had a place.. albeit a small one.. but things were orderly.  The occasional rep had a horrible mess for a desk but in general, things were tidy.  I have been getting teased though.  Apparently by moving in my gumball machine and multiple photos of friends and family, I have made the place … Read More →

Grumpy Grumpy Grumpy!

  By Pia | March 24, 2010 - 1:17 pm | In a Nutshell...
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I am SO grumpy today!  Even as I type this I can tell I am super grumpy because I am pounding the keys harder than usual.  I don’t know why I am grumpy.  I will assume for now that it is some chemical imbalance. I get this way sometimes.  I slip into a mood or phase or some other category yet to be defined and like Snow White’s kiss, only one particular trigger will snap me out of it.. the problem?  I don’t know what that trigger is. I think what bugs me the most is that I have everything to be happy for and nothing to be grumpy for. Ok so I know I have a bad habit (unconscious) where I tend to absorb the moods of those around me.. but to my knowledge no one around me is overly grumpy today.  Who knows.. maybe I am channeling someone … Read More →

Writing, speech and education…

  By Pia | March 8, 2010 - 11:46 am | Education, In a Nutshell..., Writing
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Another day recently… I was in the elevator and I was witness to this comment…   “I haven’t been sleeping well lately.. I don’t know if it’s something in the air….??”   Seriously, What?  What is in the air? What IN THE AIR is making people not sleep???   As a technical writer I laugh at these comments people make because we’re all guilty of it… figure of speech… slang…   I have a good friend named Connie who is Chinese so English is her second language.  What happened with her is a constant reminder stuck in my head about why figure of speech and slang are useless in communication… We were discussing location of the buildings we worked in and I explained to her that my building was kitty-corner from hers.  She looked at me completely puzzled and said, “what is kitty corner????”.  I said.. ” diagonally”.  She then responded … Read More →