This year our two new favourite meals to cook came from complete strangers. The first is butter chicken. When driving from Calgary to Kelowna we picked up a hitchhiker going to Vancouver (but Kelowna was good enough for him). He was in a hard-core punk band Unfun (explicits warning), but he was also, interestingly enough, a gourmet chef. He used to chef at a french cafe and cook meals like horse tenderloin. Anyways, we asked him how we could whip up a butter chicken meal and he walked us through how to do it from scratch. It’s unbelievable.
Later on, we had a couch surfer stay with us (a website where you can offer your couch up for people to sleep for free – or a bed if you have one). She was a lady in her 50s from California. She wanted to check out Kelowna as a potential place to retire. Her old husband had been from the Congo and while living there for a few years she learnt to cook some local dishes. She made us Woombah one night and we thought it was fantastic. She walked Yuriko through the process and the photo above is what we got. It’s a peanut butter chicken with a gazillion different spices and herbs. It’s spicy too.
This past week we went down to visit my family. It was fantastic to see everyone. Every time we come down we are astounded at how much our nieces and nephews have changed (we have 7 right now).
We were also able to make it down there for Mother’s day, my birthday, and Karin’s birthday. Lots of reasons to celebrate.
Yuriko and I love Andy Shauf. He is a Regina musician who we think is absolutely brilliant. An incredible song-writer, he has captivating, story-telling lyrics, a powerful voice, and dynamic folky acoustic guitar. Download him on iTunes.
We went and saw him at the streaming cafe in Kelowna yesterday. We’ve seen him a couple times before and, as usual, he was great. We invited him over and he ended up staying with us for the stopover. He’s playing in Calgary tonight. We also hosted Julia – who Andy is touring with. She is also fantastic with a very unique sound: Julia and her Piano. Unfortunately she wasn’t playing last night, but she is playing in Calgary tonight with Andy. If you are there go check them out right now.
The steaming cafe is a neat small venue in Kelowna that is also streamed live online.
No, your RSS feed isn’t broken – I am just a bad blogger.
Here are some highlights from this recent blog-less period of our lives:
- Saw Sarah McLaughlin. She put on a great show. Yuriko had always wanted to see her, and our first dance together in high school was to her “In the arms of an angel” (ahwww). She didn’t have an opening band, but instead sang backup for some of her band members’ songs throughout her set. I’m sure its fairly incredible as a musician to have someone as big as Sarah McLaughlin singing backup.
– Yuriko has made several bookings for Vintage Origami. Her most recent find that we are excited about is an old rickshaw. I usually get the honour of being the one in front pulling it.
- I recently finished a comic book store‘s website. It was a fun project. I am working on an auction house’s website now.
- We hang out often with international students. Yuriko and I have been volunteering with ISMC and helping teach English to international students. Every Friday we have a potluck, short study, and games with the students. It has been a blast.
A perfect day for a bike ride on our Schwinn tandem. I love the arrival of spring. The best part of riding on a tandem is that the person sitting on the front seat does ALL the work. Yep, that would be Erik.
Here are some highlights from this recent blog-less period of our lives:
– Yuriko has made several bookings for 
