Boston Munch Updates

Hi all,

Looking forward lots to Sunday's munch! Two things to note:

1. Check Magid's LJ before heading to the munch, to see if there are any flight delays that might affect the munch. I'm due in at Logan at 11:40am, which should afford me *plenty* of time to get to the munch by 2pm even if there are airline delays - but just in case, her LJ will have notice of any alterations in plan.

2. Here are the people who replied yes and maybe so far - let me know if there are any changes...

Magid, Chhoti+Rich+Sophia, Bikergeek, Browngirl, SethG, Szasz, Points, Dalbino83, and Cyan_Blue

Je suis en Nepean

Hi from Nepean, on the outskirts of Ottawa, where I am visiting DEC and absinthehearts for a few days. The flight here was smooth, albeit with delivery of slightly rain-dampened luggage at Customs in Toronto. And I got a fair bit of work done on Mom's birthday necklace, which I think she'll like lots.

DEC met me at the airport, and we went out to a lovely big dinner at a local Viet/Thai/Chinese restaurant. A rich Hot-n-Sour Soup, some broccoli sauteed in lemongrass and garlic, and some excellent fried vermicelli with onions and peppers... also, for me, a virgin tropical slushy drink :-) I tend to eat lightly when flying, and this meal definitely made up for the rest of the day's minimal caloric intake.

For some reason, Ottawa is a place that I associate with excellent culinary experiences. There's the perfect smoky baba ghanouj that I got in the Glebe once, that inspired me to try and retry my own baba ghanouj recipe until I got it right (the secret lies in adding in a bit of the cooked eggplant skins!) And then there was the heavenly creamy flaky pastry that commodorified and I got at the Middle Eastern bakery near her old place once. There are so many different kinds of restaurants in this town; and towns which have lots of good Geri-food are very welcoming towns for me.

Now DEC and I are hanging out doing online stuff and listening to stories from Stuart McLean's radio broadcast series... McLean is kind of the Canadian analogue of Garrison Keillor, so we are being well entertained.

Tomorrow, DEC has offered to help me add Quebec to the list of provinces and states in which I've geocached. This is a particularly sweet offer, because he remembered that I'd wanted to do that the last time I was in town, and with one thing and another we hadn't managed it then.

Also in keeping with the apparent tradition set by my prior visit, we might do a border run down to the Ogdensburg/Prescott crossing tomorrow, this time to help raynedaze deliver some stuff to a friend of hers down there. Last time it was to help DEC transfer his bike registration from the US to Canada.

The perfect smoky baba ghanouj

Been wanting to add this into the Memories section of my LJ for a while, so I thought I'd share it here...

( Roasted Red Peppers Stuffed with Smoky Baba Ghanouj )