Ottawa Visit Resources

Here are some resources I wanted to remember for my next trip through Ottawa:

Plant Bath – outdoor water fountains for kids of all ages. Charlotte stood for the first time here (on the concrete!!!). Great place to cool off.

Cosmic Adventures – a play center that is heaven for toddlers and kids.

Boomerang Kids - consignment store with toys and clothes.

Kijiji – Active classifieds website with great kids stuff.

Roasted Fish with Fennel and Red Onion

A nice french meal in France that Bean loved.

2 small fennel bulbs cut into 1/2 inch wedges
1 large red onion cut into 1/2 inch wedges
6 cloves garlic
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 bunch fresh thyme sprigs
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp olive oild
fish (salmon – we used cabillaud)

Oven to 400 F. Place veggies in roasting pan with salt and pepper, thyme and oil and toss to coat. Bake 20 mins. Rinse fish, pat dry. Move veggies to side, put in fish. I coated the fish with olive oil and s and p. Return to oven to roast for a further 10-12 minutes.

Large Size Shoes in Paris

Now I can shop for shoes in Paris too! I just stumbled across Sagone, which specialises in small and large size shoes for women and men. As luck would have it, they have a shop around the corner from K&D’s at Ternes.

Luxembourg Gardens and Jardin d’Acclamation

We arrived safe and sound in Paris two days ago and the worst of jet lag seems to be behind us. The weather is lovely and cool here (it’s late July!). I even had to buy a pair of jeans as I was a bit too cool.

Our first day we headed to the Luxembourg Gardens. Bean loved the ducks in the pond (and the croissant from Gerard Mulot). We stumbled across a fantastic play area for kids. Entrance fees area about 2,60 for adults and 1,60 for children (sorry can’t remember exact sums). I was a bit annoyed at the charge but as soon as we started to play, the fee seemed well worth it. It’s a very clean facility with great climbing structures and a huge sandbox. Bean loved the spinning red wheel and the sand pit most.http://heatherhopkins.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php

Today we were at Parc Monceau in the 8th (minutes from D and K’s flat). There’s a lovely big sandbox and two climbing structures. Nice layout and lots of shade. There’s also a second sand pit by the duck pond that is really sweet. There were even some baby ducks and some mating pigeons. The birds get more action in Paris too…

After nap, we headed to Jardin d’Acclimmation. Closest metro is Sablons – clearly marked from station (ligne 1). There’s also a cute train from Porte de Maillot. Crazy amusement park hell at the entrance but at the back there’s a sweet zoo with pigs, chickens, vaches, donkeys, a white swan and loads of goats and sheep. Bean LOVED the pigs!

There’s also a fantastic water area with things that spray water. But bring sunscreen. There’s no shade in sight.

We finished the with an apperatif and then came home for girolles fried in butter with pasta, butter and parmesan. Bean loved the “champignons”!

Toddler Recipe – Ratatouille

In preparation for a trip to the Caribbean this Christmas, I am posting recipes for a few of Bean’s favourite foods. Today, Ratatouille. I got the recipe from Annabel Karmel and added corn

• 2 tbs olive oild
• 1 red onion (i used white)
• 1 garlic clove (i used 2)
• 1 small red pepper and one small green seeded and diced
• 1 courgette trimmed and diced
• 14oz can chopped tomatoes
• pinch of sugar
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• s&p

Heat oil in large saucepan. cook oion and garlic 1-2 mins. Add peppers and courgette cook 4-5 mins. Add aubergine and cook 5 mins. Stir in tomatoes sugar and red wine vinegar, bring to simmer and then cook 10 min.

I served it once on it’s own and once over pasta with some grated Parmesan cheese. Yum.

Paddling Pool in Meguro

Today we raced out after Bean’s nap to go swimming in Meguro. There is a 25 m indoor pool, a 50 m outdoor pool and a paddling pool for toddlers. It costs 200 yen (about 2$) to get into the big pool and 100 yen to get into the paddling pool. One attendant is free with a child, so for Bean, Kook and me it was 200 yen. There’s a lovely slide and there are two parts depths in the pool. Bean was able to crawl around in the shallow area and could stand in the deep area.

Sorry no pics as I forgot my camera at a friend’s place. But here is a link to details on the pool…

http://www.city.meguro.tokyo.jp/english/monthly_meguro/year2006/july/20060706.htm

Banana Holder Japan

When we moved to Tokyo, we received a book of useless inventions from Japan. We came across our very own useless invention at the grocery store recently – a plastic banana holder. Somehow the item seems a bit rude…

Happo-en Horn Hider

We visited the lovely Happo-en gardens recently. After a wonderful lunch, we visited the tea room for some whipped ocha and sweets and wandered around the gardens. Weddings are big business in Tokyo and Happoen is a popular spot for celebrations. We asked our Japanese hosts the significance of the womans hat. The story is too good… It’s called “tsuno kakushi” or “horn hider”. As you’d expect – it is a hat to hide the woman’s horns from her betrothed until after the ink is dry.

The gardens feature bonsai that are hundreds of years old sprinkle the pathways (see picture of Kenn and bonsai below). Being from Canada I always think of ancient trees as being enormous. Of course, not so with bonsai. The pond features enormous yellow, white and orange carp.

Charlotte Lois Hanako Cukier

Thursday morning at 4 AM Tokyo time, Charlotte Lois Hanako Cukier made a rapid arrival in the world. Weighing 3.96 kilos and 52 cm long, she is lovely and healthy and we are all doing fine. Kenn’s website has some more photos as well as an explanation of her Japanese name, Hanako.

My belly at 38 weeks

It is 41 degrees in Tokyo and I am enormous! 38 weeks pregnant today. A few friends have asked for pictures of my growing belly (that may be housing Japan’s largest baby – estimated at between 8 and 9 pounds).I’ve uploaded a couple of photos to Flickr that should do the trick.