Killer Bunnies Night #2

Last night we had another dinner and Killer Bunnies night... attendees included us, Susie, Darwin, Gerard, Lisa and Britta... very fun!

A little bit of snow

I'd been hoping it would snow again before the end of winter so that I'd get the chance to take some photos of it for you all! It has snowed two or three times since we arrived, but I missed the opportunity. This week we had a little snow during the day on Wednesday... so, knowing it was probably my last chance, I braved the freezing cold during my afternoon tea break at work to get these pics for you! :) It wasn't much snow, and it had all melted a few hours later, but here it is...

The Episode of the Exploding Crumble

Tonight we had Harold and Kathy over for dinner, and Ben made two lovely apple and strawberry crumbles to complement my main course.

This is what happened when I, intending to cook the greens, accidentally turned on the wrong element... one which happened to have an apple and strawberry crumble sitting on it to cool...

At the time of the explosion, I had just noticed the crumble bubbling, gone over to investigate, realised what I'd done, and turned off the element.

I was leaning right over the top of it as it exploded with a pop (it) and a scream (me) that brought Ben and our guests running, and apparently was even audible in the house upstairs...

Right now I am feeling extremely grateful that crumble was the only thing I ended up covered in.

Poor Ben made a third crumble (the second one had glass land in the top of it), and I cooked new veggies. The rest of the night was uneventful and very enjoyable!!

Oh, and it was a Pyrex dish we had just borrowed from our poor long-suffering landlord, Myla...

Travelling supper

Last night we went to a "travelling supper", which back home is probably better known as a "progressive dinner"! "Supper" is what they call the night meal here... we call it "tea"... but here that would imply "tea and biscuits"... which they call a "coffee break"... and we call "smoko" or "morning/ afternoon tea"... are you keeping up??!!

The travelling supper was a three course meal, starting at 6:30pm, with each course at a different house. It was a very fun night - and delicious! Appetizers were at Tyson and Nicole's house (cheese, salami and crackers, kiwifruit and dragonfruit, mini quiches, bacon-wrapped scallops, and more), the main course was at Stuart and Rosanne's house (a bean salad, mixed baked veggies, baby roast potatoes, chicken skewers, and more), and dessert was at Andrew's house (a birthday dessert made for - and by - Myla!).

The photo below is of the main course in Stuart and Rosanne's apartment.
Clockwise from front: Andrew, Rosanne, Jolana, Peter, Hod, Tyson, Nicole, Myla, Shonna, Janelle, Stuart, Ben.
Missing from photo: Angharad (may be behind Stuart and Janelle?), me!


Today (Saturday), Ben and I went to the Outdoor Adventure Show at BC Place in downtown Vancouver. This was a travel expo with stands advertising various tour companies, Canadian towns/regions, mountain resorts, whitewater rafting/ kayaking/ hiking/ snowsports and other adventure providers, as well as health food, workout machines, clothing, equipment etc. There were also at least two stalls selling Aussie products - hats, oilskins, leather restorer etc - and even Intrepid Travel was there!

Anyway, it was a good opportunity to gather some inspiration and ideas for making the most of our time in Canada! We entered heaps of competitions so we'll let you know if we win any free trips to the Bahamas/ Vietnam/ Peru, skirmish for 10 people, etc!!! Also got some great freebies and lots of brochures (which I enjoy collecting and dreaming over!).

After a couple of hours at the expo, we drove through Stanley Park, a 1000 acre park in Vancouver, with lovely water and mountain views that we definitely intend to return to and appreciate in more depth (and on foot)!


This afternoon Ben went snowboarding at Cypress Mountain for a few hours with Stuart (wearing a green shirt in the travelling supper photo) - he enjoyed it! :)

And that's all our news for now... Goodnight!

PS. Happy birthday Mum!!!

Our first party!

Last night we hosted our first dinner party/ games night in our flat! There were eight of us altogether - us, Myla, Lisa, Susie, Shonna, Kelly and Janae. It was great fun!!

Here are some photos... Check out the frilly brown 70s couches we got for free - aren't they awesome?!!

L-R: Lisa, Susie, Myla, Shonna, Kelly, Janae

Here are some photos of us introducing Killer Bunnies to Canadians!! (Killer Bunnies is a completely bizarre game that a bunch of us loved in Australia, and Susie purchased it in New York recently with the aim of infecting Canadians too!) The pics are taken on a funky colour setting thanks to Kelly fiddling with our new camera... :)





Shonna's awesome line-up of bunnies...


Some good old-fashioned Killer Bunnies negotiating...

Susie's winning carrot...


And the girls with Ben's very popular chocolate cake dessert!!

Look who we ran into!

Today we met up with with Lincoln, Jynni, baby Carrie, and Jynni's dad Don for a quick hot drink in downtown Vancouver! (For those who don't know them - Linc and Jynni are friends from Australia (altough Jynni's Canadian), and their son was the ringbearer at our wedding.) They had just finished their week up at Whistler and are flying home tonight. It was great to see them!


It was an extremely brief catch-up as we were on our way to Harold and Kathy's house, where we had an evening of delicious food and great company with Harold and Kathy, Stuart and Rosanne, Ken, Myla and Andrew. We are meeting lots of nice new people and trying to remember all their names!

Tomorrow I start my new job at an industrial pump company in Burnaby. I got the job through a temp agency, and it's full time for an unspecified period (should be at least 4 months). I had my interview last Tuesday and it seems I got the job for two reasons: the basic SAP experience I got during my job in England, and for being Australian! Apparently my interviewer had an Aussie temp once who was the best temp she ever had - so I hope I can live up to her high expectations of me!! It seems like a nice place to work and I'm looking forward to it!

I also had 3.5 days of data entry work in downtown Vancouver last week, a job I applied for via Craigslist. It was pretty monotonous work, typing data from handwritten surveys into Excel - an appliance efficiency study collecting information on different models of white goods on display in Vancouver stores! I only got about halfway through that task by the end of the week, so have arranged for Lisa to take over from me from tomorrow onwards. She's also just started working in a cancer charity call centre for 4 hours each night.

As for Ben, he had a one-day job last Tuesday, through the same agency as me - carrying and alphabetising files for an engineering association! Tomorrow he has a 4-hour job, putting together a desk for an engineering firm - beats me why they contacted a temp agency to get someone to do that!!! Hopefully something more permanent turns up for him soon - at the moment I have a house husband and who's calling himself a "kept man"!! :)

Anyway, we'll be busier from now on - but, as always, very happy to hear from you. Goodnight!