walking shoes

After much scurrying around, it became pretty obvious that we couldn't do anything remotely helpful to the process of moving to Finland in Edmonton, so we had to take an impromptu trip to Ottawa. We were there for a night and a day, and dummy here forgot the memory card for her camera, so I don't have many pictures of the trip. You're not missing much, though, as most of it was spent at the Finnish embassy or in taxis or in the House of Commons where pictures are not allowed anyway. (We super lucked out as it was in session that day and we had the opportunity to see the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition go at it over the most recent Canadian scandal. I won't bore you with details, but it was really exciting to be right there!)

Anyway, the Ottawa trip was pretty much the last straw for me. As someone who's always relied on thrift store shoes (I know. I should probably stay away from thrift shoes as I stay away from thrift underwear), I found myself pretty much out of shoe choices when deciding what to wear. Since the trip was so short, I had to pack ultra-light (and by that I mean, no suitcase) so my choices were made based on whether I wanted to lug a heavy bag across my shoulder all day or not. That meant I could only take one pair of shoes and they had to be on my feet. (Imagine how annoyed I was to find I was lugging around my big camera for absolutely no reason!)

Quite obviously, this was the second trip where I've been laid up with blisters, sore ankles and toes, and a limp exactly one hour after walking in shoes that were only meant to skip across a store for 20 minutes and then come off. Actually, I really couldn't have chosen the worst pair for this particular trip, either, as that pair is almost not even acceptable for skipping across a store for 20 minutes. Did they go with the clothes I'd be wearing the whole time? Sure! But they are practically like walking barefooted (little pebbles were my worst nightmare).

So that's it for me. I'll forego the shoes that work with everything, that are super cheap (the ones I wore to Ottawa still have the price tag on them -- $3.99), that are even super cute in support of comfort and all-day walkability. Nothing ruins a trip more than when your feet are aching and you still have to push yourself to walk another 2-3 hours. And nothing's worse than returning home and having to hobble around the house in loose socks, soft slippers, keeping your legs elevated for a day or more. So after what I would call an extensive search online (because I had to read through a multitude of comments), these are the brands and shoes that stood out the most to me.

{1} Clark's Wave.Trek: This shoe is first on my list since it's garnered the most positive reviews and the most mentions wherever I read about walking shoes. The Wave.Trek is designed with a rocker sole that conserves energy, absorbs shock, and cushions the joints which is probably perfect for walking over cobblestoned streets (of which I've been encountering a lot). I also like that it's waterproof as we found ourselves in cold, drizzly weather in Ottawa and literally had no where to go (unless we wanted to eat lunch again). The negative reviews center mainly on fit so I would definitely want to try these on and walk about the store a bit. My own negative is that I don't like how they look from the side (I don't like how the sole looks) and I wish there were more colour choices, but when I think about that, then walk to get a glass of water right now, I think, "Stop being so damned fussy!"

{2} New Balance 980 and New Balance 895 V2: The New Balance brand came up an awful lot in every comment section I read through, though I'm not yet decided on which type I like best. I love that the 980 is leather (I always seem to have a problem with my toe working its way through a fabric upper and leather is a really nice option in winter climates), and I like that the rubber is really subdued (meaning it doesn't have all the knobs and cleats and bumps sport shoes are all designed with) which makes it a little more of a stylish option. The few reviews I found on it were all positive, I just wish there were more reviews. The 895, however, has a lot of great reviews plus it's lightweight with a heel pillow and REVlite cushioning. It's also got more interesting colour options. I think I'd like to try them both on for a side-by-side comparison, though it might be smart to have two pairs in your suitcase to switch out during a trip. I find my feet get less tired if I change up my shoes every once in a while. And if the 980s are a little heavier, the 895s could go in the carry-on and the 980s could be your plane shoes (you don't have to remove your shoes through security anymore, thank god).

{3}  Merrell's Ascend Glove: Boasting that it's cushioned, lightweight, and durable makes this shoe sound perfect for travel. Not to mention the many times I came across the Merrell brand name during my searches. Breathable, washable, and good for long runs and treks over tough terrain, plus it looks like a fashionable sporty sneaker and comes in some pretty kicky colours (I'm starting to realize that if you're going to go with sporty sneaker, you might as well choose out-of-the-box colours so it looks like you were going more fashion than comfort the whole time, right?).

{4} Rockport TruWalkZero Pod Lace-up: These are lightweight, mimic the natural motion of walking, and have shock absorption that reduces foot and leg fatigue. As with the others, I chose them because the name kept coming up and I also liked the look of them. The sole itself looks tough and durable (read: thick) and the fact that it doesn't completely overwhelm the style makes all the difference. The colour choices are pretty nice, too. I think they would even look ok with a longer skirt, I mean, if you had to.

And I'm not the only one obsessed with sneakers right now! Check out this post by Miss Moss to find some kicky sneaks. What I like out of her choices are the Asics X Liberty London printed pair -- So sweet! And I surprised myself because I actually really dig the Nike Air Max bright yellow and beige pair. When I see them on someone, they look more like kicky loafers than chunky running shoes. What's really interesting is that the New Balance 980s show up on her list, too. They might be rising to the top of my pile!

Also, after walking on the extremely slippery streets of my neighbourhood (ONE snowfall. ONE. And I can't even walk out there), I've narrowed down on some winter walking shoes. I'm liking the Teva Forge Pro Winter Mid Insulated waterproof hiking boot and the Merrell Arctic Fox. Finland's a winter country as well, so I'll definitely need a good boot there, too (though we've talked to someone who lived in Finland and is now living in Edmonton, and she pretty much laughed her face off about how poorly Edmonton handles winter snow. I guess what we consider winter snow removal is almost a joke compared to what happens over there -- i.e. we're crap at it -- no surprise there.)

helsinki, finland

As promised, here are a few photos from our (short) trip to Finland. I must have been enjoying myself a lot because I honestly didn't get THAT many pictures. I'm starting to feel more and more like picture taking gets in the way of the experience and Finland was definitely an experience.

The first thing of note was the water. There're so many islands. This was taken from a bridge to an island that we walked to from our hotel. I know it's just water and lots of people see this type of view every day, but for me, a prairie girl, this was really enjoyable.

This is kind of an odd picture, but the amount of pedestrians and bicyclists was pretty astonishing. I think I saw more of both just in the cab ride from the airport to our hotel on the first day we arrived than I've seen in all my six years of living in Edmonton. This part (the clearly marked pedestrian and bicycle lanes) was my favourite. As a bicycler in Edmonton, one of my pet peeves is that people don't follow the rules of the road when they're walking. So you're constantly weaving back and forth trying to avoid pedestrians (and don't even get me started if you encounter two groups going separate ways). It seemed to us that a large portion of Helsinki was really bicycle accessible and the few people we met didn't even own a car, they just biked everywhere. Roads didn't have a bicycle lane, either, they had a smaller side street (so to say) separate again from car traffic. Much much safer than some of the lanes here. Our hotel also offered bikes for guests to borrow which is something I've never seen in any other hotel.

This was outside a pretty big shopping centre and another example of the number of people using bikes as a primary source of transit. At the time, we thought that some of the bikes weren't even locked up, but I guess they have this little lock device that attaches to the back wheel, so you don't have to look for a pole or a rack to latch up to. I feel like if this lock were available here, thieves would just pick up your bike and carry it away (or throw it in their truck), but it seemed to be working out pretty well for people in Helsinki. There's also a lot of public transit like the little tram you can see in the background plus buses and a subway system.

The overall city feeling is completely different from Athens (since that's the only other European city I can compare to). There are a lot of buildings and apartments and offices, but for some reason, it didn't feel as overwhelming and smothering as it does in Athens. It felt a lot less congested and (dare I say) prettier. There're parks almost on every street and trees almost everywhere. We also loved that historical buildings were nestled in with modern architecture (as seen here in these two examples).

If the parks weren't enough, there was always some sculpture or statue around to look at (this is just one of a few -- probably the most interesting).

We have to talk Angry Birds for a moment. It's their home country so you're definitely going to find an overwhelming amount of Angry Birds stuff. Here's some Angry Birds pop, but you could also find cakes, ice cream, lotion, cups, rugs, juice, even coffee! There's even an Angry Birds amusement park somewhere, but we didn't have time to visit (and I don't think we would have anyway since I'm probably the only one in the world who's not a fan of the game).

Speaking of food, I really wanted to try local cuisine, but it was insanely easy to find hamburgers and Italian restaurants versus the reindeer and mushrooms I'd read about before we went. We did have the amazing opportunity to visit Luomo which describes itself as a restaurant that specializes in "innovative and modern cuisine with a foundation on classic gastronomy." It's pretty fair to say that I've never in my life eaten at a fancier restaurant or had better food. If anyone knows of a similar restaurant in Edmonton, please let me know! After that meal, we kinda felt like if you're going out to a restaurant, you should go somewhere amazing that specializes in things you'd never cook or replicate at home. It should be an experience instead of just a place to stuff your face. If such a restaurant existed here, we'd definitely save up the whole year just to enjoy their menu on our anniversary or other special occasion.

So I have to share the pictures, they're a little hard to see because it was getting all moody in there in the evening. We went all out with the seven course meal since we didn't really know what anything was. Unfortunately, we failed to take pictures of the amuse bouche and the few palate cleansers that were offered in between these dishes so really, the seven course meal was actually eleven. Each dish was cleared and a new dish presented and explained once everyone at the table was ready. It was a four hour meal, understandably.

From left to right, top to bottom: fried fish with a pistachio soup (or cream); beets in various forms with goats milk (the gelatinous goats milk was the one thing I absolutely did not like. It was like not-quite-cooked egg white. I couldn't get around the texture); lobster and dill with horseradish ice cream (I believe); foie gras with honey and other assorted elements I can't remember (and even at the time, we were all like, what did she say this was?! It's delicious!); fish and scallop soup; wild boar with apple along with an apple and vegetable soup with a thyme foam; mushroom ice cream with chocolate fudge (this was THE best. Who knew mushroom went so well with chocolate?! And yes the ice cream REALLY tasted like mushroom). Also enjoyed, but not pictured, were a raspberry and blueberry napoleon, mushroom toasts, a little jar of panna cotta (I loved the presentation of this so I'm super bummed we forgot to take a picture), and a sorbet (of which neither of us can remember the exact flavour. Something tangy and refreshing. I just remember the feeling it invoked). This is the menu we were presented with, so you can see why we just went with everything instead of trying to figure stuff out on our own.

I did some shopping, too. I didn't get much since we packed extremely light. It was fun to see Marimekko patterns in grocery stores for a really good price (I picked up some cute napkins). I also found a store that was equivalent to our Home Depot and all of the fixtures and wallpapers and such were so much more modern than here. Let's put it this way, there was not a single antiqued or brassed item to be found. There was also another store that was sort of styled after IKEA with a lot of neat modern fixtures, furniture, and housewares. And one of my favourite stores was Tiger which was kind of an everything store. It had super cute stationery, gifts, bath stuff, food items, and more. I'd probably be in that store at least once a month if we had something similar here.

And that was Finland for us. I really wish we had had more time. I feel like there was so much more to see and do, and I definitely would have liked to sit on the docks with an ice cream and lazily stare at the sea for a whole day.

friday fixations: youtube edition

{wem diving} This mostly disturbs me because I shop there.


{bacon pancakes} We were crazy obsessed with this song while travelling. I think it kept us sane (we're, like, 5, I know). Here's a link where you can find two remixes for download (head explosion!)!


{the cat} This had us giggling (in Greece; which probably says more than I ever could).


{kung fu mom} Such an inspiring story.

two seconds in seattle

How could I forget pictures of Seattle?!

Especially since my favourite part of our whole trip was the EMP museum. Pop culture, movies, music -- it was awesome!

Some of these played music!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love William Shatner?

I wish I had more pictures from the museum, but I guess I was enjoying it too much to bother! Plus they had this huge movie screen where you could come and go as you pleased. They kept playing short films, so any time we wanted a break, we'd go there and watch a film. I really should've bought a David Bowie t-shirt. I kinda regret that now. What I really wanted was a Rolling Stones tee. Why no Rolling Stones, EMP?

I really hope this was graffiti

Short and sweet.

s'more d'oeuvres

We also went to Seattle for (quite literally) a bit, so aside from seeing the space needle, the one thing I really wanted to check out was a Trader Joe's. I'm sure you've heard of them. They've only been mentioned a millionty times on blogs, foodie or otherwise.

Maybe we went to a smaller one, but I wasn't as excited or impressed by it as I felt like I should be. Just like Target, Trader Joe's didn't live up to its hype. We still got a few things to try, though!

The guy at the checkout said these would be the best potato chips we'd ever have. They were good, but we've had just as good.

The salt water taffy, because Idle Husband had never had it; the chocolate covered cereal (think: Trader Joe's cheerios) was our least favourite; the white chocolate pistachio cookies were so good! and while the s'mores bits were quite delicious, they triggered one of my "I could make this!" thoughts. And I can! They're super easy and they taste pretty much the same.

As luck would have it, Idle Husband had been invited to a BBQ, so I thought it would be the perfect excuse to make my own version of Trader Joe's s'more bites. I really needed an excuse, cuz after a week of vacation and frivolous eating, neither of us could really stand the thought of more sugar and chocolate. But I really had to try making them. I couldn't get them off my mind!

This is more of a how-to than a recipe so it's pretty easy overall. Obviously it's a little time consuming and labour intensive, but if you set things up like an assembly line and get a few helpers, making a bunch of these would be pretty swift work.

I purchased regular graham crackers and used a serrated bread knife to cut them into quarters.

I had a few breaks, but overall, this worked really well. Just drag the knife gently across the top, scoring the cracker until you cut through. You don't have to apply that much pressure.

I also purchased regular marshmallows for this simply because I didn't have the time (or the energy) to make my own. All you have to do with them is cut them in half and squish the sticky (cut) side down onto the graham cracker quarter. You're all prepped!

While you melt chocolate in a double boiler, set up a pan with a cooling rack and a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper under it to catch the dripped chocolate once they've been dipped. This makes clean up a breeze and the pan makes it easier to transfer the s'more d'oeuvres to the fridge when you're done.

I found chunks of Callebaut chocolate in the bulk aisle at Save On Foods so that's what I used for dipping. I think it cost me $8 which is about the price of two good quality chocolate bars and I ended up with two larger chunks leftover after all 32 s'more d'oeuvres had been dipped.

 Since I didn't know how much chocolate to melt, I started with a small amount and melted a few more pieces as I needed them. I also used a combination of fork and spoon for dipping mostly because I didn't have enough chocolate to fully submerge each marshmallow. 

All you have to do is place a graham crackered marshmallow on a fork, dip the bottom into the chocolate and use a spoon to pour chocolate over the top. Tap the fork with the spoon until the excess drips off.

Then slide the s'more d'oeuvre onto your prepared cooling rack (choose one that's easy to clean! I have a mesh patterned rack and that would have been a real hassle had I used it).

Continue until you're done. Then set the tray into the fridge to harden. They don't take very long at all to set.

They're so very good and the cracker stays nice and crunchy!

inspired by Trader Joe's s'mores bites

Use desired amounts:

graham crackers

regular sized marshmallows

good quality chocolate

Prepare a large cookie sheet with a piece of wax paper, plastic wrap, or otherwise to catch drips and place a cooling rack on top. Cut the graham crackers into quarters. Cut the marshmallows in half. Stick the sticky side of a marshmallow to a graham cracker quarter. Over a double boiler (or in the microwave), melt chocolate. Using a fork, lower a graham crackered marshmallow into the chocolate, then use a spoon to cover the top with chocolate. Tap the fork to remove excess chocolate from the s'more d'oeurve and set on rack to cool. Once the tray is full, place it in the fridge to fully harden.

notes for the future: homemade marshmallows; flavoured marshmallows; piping the marshmallow directly onto the crackers; homemade graham crackers; sandwich something in between the marshmallow and cracker -- more chocolate, a strawberry, peanut butter; double dip them in chocolate for thicker coating; try different chocolates -- white, dark, mint; sprinkle sea salt on tops while still wet (why didn't I think of this earlier?!).

noted: the Callebaut chocolate was just about the best tasting chocolate I've ever had (and I only sampled two of the s'more d'oeuvres).

what we saw at the vancouver aquarium

We saw the beluga show. They don't do much of a show, really, just some smaller jumps and waves, but they were very pretty.

We saw various sea creatures in small tanks. We thought we'd experience more... magic. Like, dark caverns and rippling blue shadows and quiet, but really it was more like screaming kids, rooms that were bright enough not to be magical yet dark enough to make it hard for pictures, and wall-sized tanks where only about 1-5 people could look in successfully. That made it lose some of its appeal.

We saw a bunch of birds and animals that kinda didn't have anything to do with an aquarium. Let me describe them for you:

little monkeys that were having so much fun together but would. not. look. at. anyone. I also have four more of these monkey-back pictures.

two of the largest parrot species (the hyacinth macaw, I believe) who also could really care less that anyone was around them.

ibis in trees just out of a good viewing zone

and this guy who was extremely pissed off.

oh and bats flying around in a cage in the dark so you could kinda tell they were bats, but they were going so fast there was no point to even trying to watch them.

We saw one sea otter. He was pretty adorable, eating on shrimp. They're a lot larger than I thought they were. I don't know where I got the impression that they were a little larger than a gopher, but they're like a medium sized dog.

We saw penguins sleep. It seems like everyone's getting penguins these days. These guys just arrived at the aquarium and were in need of names. We just caught the end of their "show" which I think consisted mostly of them sleeping. At least they chose to do it near the glass. (I wanted to touch him so badly.)

We also saw porpoises and dolphins (and about the last 5 minutes of a dolphin show, actually), but I don't have pictures because all they did was circle their tanks. We saw sharks who did the same, so I got a video but I don't think it's worth it to post. Ho hum.

We did see some amazing jelly fish. I went back for more pictures because I loved them so much.

I think they were by far my favourite part and they were one of the first things we saw when we came in.

Here's a little video because this one is kinda magical (I think). I wish there'd been seats by these. I could have watched them all day.

I want to recommend the aquarium so badly, but, like, don't drive to Vancouver JUST for the aquarium and Stanley Park (both are together) or I think you'll be a little disappointed.

friday fixations: b.c. edition

Sometimes the best pictures are the blurred ones.

The pixelated whale. Was it part of the Olympic stuff? I only think that because the torch thing was close by.

I love barnacles!

Sorry; he's dead.

I tried to eat seafood as much as possible and these fish and chips (or fish and shrimp chips) were so delicious. There's no sense ordering steak in Vancouver as there's no sense ordering fish and chips in Edmonton. This was our hotel and we splurged on room service. The views (and the bed!) were amazing!

We quite literally stumbled on this community garden downtown! It was so amazing. I wish we had more green spaces like this.

At The Templeton, I had the Hakai omelette with smoked salmon and we shared a vanilla milkshake. All were delicious. Also, the waitress was so great!

The best saganaki we've ever had at Panos, a Greek restaurant we just happened to notice.