Germany vs. Czech Republic

Yesterday we saw the Germans play the Czechs; the Germans put up a much better showing against the Canadians (they played their hearts out) the other day and were blown out yesterday. Regardless, here are a few shots I took.

Team huddle before the game :)

One of many Czech goals
Team captains side-by-side
Team Canada banners; we do pretty well at this tournament!
And alas, another Czech goal.

More World Junior Hockey - Sweden vs. Latvia

We went with Stran and Nev yesterday to another World Junior hockey game (and we're going again today too); this time it was Sweden vs. Latvia. The entire population of Latvia is about the same size as the city of Ottawa so even though they're one of the worst teams in the competition, it's still quite impressive that they're in the top 10 hockey nations in the world. Anyway, the Swedes skated circles around them all day but the crowd was definitely cheering for the Latvians.

Team captain and star player for Sweden, Moller; he plays for the LA Kings.

Big save! I love how you can see the snow flying up off the ice!

Hedman, expected to be drafted in the top 3 in next year's NHL entry draft.

The Swedish goalie wasn't very busy; he only faced 10 shots in the entire game; the Latvians did, however, score a beautiful goal on their very first shot of the game, in the last minute of the first period.

I just like this shot...

A rather disappointed goalie; again, the puck is in the back of the net.
Despite the loss, he did make some huge saves.

Final score, 10-1 for the Swedes (could have been 30-1). Note the difference in the shot count.

World Junior Hockey

As many of you know, Brannon and I have tickets to the 2009 IIHF World Junior Hockey Tournament that's currently going on here in Ottawa. Yesterday we saw Canada vs. Kazakhstan (15-0) and the USA vs. the Czech Republic (5-3 with an empty-net goal for the Americans). Our seats for the first game were up high in the 300-level but I still managed to snag a few good shots. The seats for the second game were in the 100-level but there I almost had my camera confiscated by a "floor-walker" (to quote my mom) who thought it was too fancy to be permitted. Ten thousand other people were taking photos with their P&S cameras and sending flashes off everywhere; I was respectfully snapping away sans flash and I managed to get into trouble. They thought I was a pro....isn't that a laugh and a half!!
We're going back again today...and so is my camera :)

Canada's star player, John Tavares

Canada has the best fans!
Canada scores (one of MANY)! Notice the puck in the back of the net?!?!
The Czech goalie#21 for the Americans is vanRiemsdyk; he's supposed to be their best player. Brannon asked me to get some good shots of him but this is where my camera went into hiding so I came up with very little.

Boxing Day with the Blacks

We hosted a Boxing Day dinner for Brannon's family yesterday; I'd never even cooked a turkey before so I took lots of notes from my mother during the cooking of her dinner the day before. I also had to borrow a few "tools" from her too! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite thinking that Brannon and I would probably kill each other during the process (we had a great time actually). Dinner was served exactly on time :)

The dining room all set up; the walls aren't actually *that* yellow.

A little closer up; too bad you can't really see my centrepiece here :(
Mr. Turkey all stuffed just before popping him into the oven.
Five hours later, he was 'done like dinner'. And for the record, my stuffing tasted just like my mom's so I'd say it was a success. I was even 'smart' and made another dressing (just baked in the oven) so I'd have lots leftover - Dad would be jealous :)
Since the table isn't at all big enough for all the dishes, we dished up in the kitchen. From left, mashed potatoes with sour cream and cream cheese (YUM), italian sausage and apple stuffing, turkey (already carved), squash, maple-glazed carrots, stuffing out of the bird, gravy (4 whole cups!), bean salad (Donna), creamy broccoli salad (Donna), and italian salad with fixins on the lower level (Fran) along with cheddar biscuits.
Missing from the photo are the apps; sugar-coated pecans, pineapple dip and butternut squash & cheese mini-souffles (I need practice at this souffle thing) as well as Teeg's pecan pie and Donna's apple pie.
Think we were full afterwards?!?!?! I swear I used every dish and utensil in my house to prepare this meal - at least 3 times! lol

Someone trying to take credit :)
Yes, he eats ketchup on Christmas dinner.....BAH!

Fran brought the gift of the day; it's a puzzle game that you can put money into. Unfortunately, the recipient has to solve the puzzle to get the money :)
Bill worked on it until he got it :)

Mason's Birthday

Here are a few random shots that I took yesterday at Brannon's brother's birthday dinner.
Instead of a cake, he got a tray full of yummy holiday treats :)

They had a visitor from a cute little elf (Isaac)!Meet Tazer, their cat. She's tired out from all the excitement!

Lastly, I snapped a shot of their Christmas tree reflected in their front window :)

Christmas with Nattie and Murray

Our friends Natasha and Murray live in Kingston and we went to visit them this weekend -to see their new place and to spend some Christmas time together. Natasha made dinner for 12 (!!) and it was a hit; I hope she remembers to send me the roast recipe :)
We had some drinks and chatted, played some cranium, some 'rock band', but most importantly we helped Natasha and Murray get their first Christmas tree up and decorated. Here are a few pics from the evening. Thanks for the hospitality!

Natasha and her almost-decorated tree!

Hanging her newest ornament :)
This is the one I brought for her; I think of her every time I see a dragon fly so I had to pick up this ornament when I saw it in the store!
Some of their personalized decor :)
Of course....out come the rock stars!
It's supposed to be fun but they all look like they're concentrating really hard!

Meeting Nevis

Meet my "nephew" Nevis; I just met him today, in fact!
This is my dear friend Nicole's little one (he'll be 8 months old next week); he was born in Calgary shortly after his parents relocated from Ottawa last year. Facebook has been great at helping me stay up-to-date with what's going on with this handsome little man but I've been dying to meet him. I told his mum that I wanted to meet him before he started walking and he's officially crawling and pulling himself up now so I've succeeded - but just under my deadline!
His parents had a short layover today at the Ottawa airport so I braved the traffic (Friday afternoon, imminent snowstorm, Christmas shoppers, transit strike, and regular commuters) to go visit and meet this little (big) guy! He's as gorgeous in real life as he is in photos and I can't wait to see him again! xoxoxoxox

N1/N6 Christmas Potluck

We had our annual N1/N6 lab Christmas potluck this afternoon. What yummy food everyone brought, despite some serious problems with the pie(s) :) :)
So, this is us. I set my camera timer and managed to get into the shot for once too. I should have remembered to take off the silly Santa hat though (that's me in the middle).

Sweater dress

This photo is for my mom; she bought me this sweater dress as an early Christmas gift and I wore it this afternoon to the 'MS Family' Christmas party. I made Brannon pose for a quick shot in front of our tree before we headed out (I turned on the timer, set the camera on the counter - not even on the tripod - and took the photo without any regard for settings). It took about 5 tries before we both looked ok and it's not the greatest photo but it's a photo for today nonetheless and my mom gets to see the dress :)
Thank goodness the auto-timer is easy to use!!

OHRI Christmas Bowling

Our research institute's annual Christmas party is always bowling! It may sound rather lame but we have a great time! We drink lots of draught beer, listen/dance our butts off to 90s dance hits ("I'm too sexy for..."), eat pizza, and glow-in-the dark!
My photos didn't turn out so smashingly well unfortunately; I turned off the flash to capture everything glowing in the dark, and while they looked pretty clear on the screen, they wound up being pretty grainy at best, and blurry at worst. But oh well...here a couple that turned out ok!
Can't wait until next year!

Oh Christmas Tree! Oh Christmas Tree!

Of all the trees most lovely!
(I just learned how many different lyrical versions there are to this song!)


Our tree - from a million angles :)
You can't really tell in any of the photos, but the tree is done up in copper/purple/pink. I love it but wish my angel (oh the irony) had lights so you could see her more clearly!
It also took me forever to figure out how to photograph it correctly; generally I'm happy with how they turned out though!

It's not Christmas without chocolate and mint!

So, this simple recipe is getting me loads of attention :)
I love love love chocolate and mint...but the combination of them both can't be beat so when I came across this recipe I had to try them out. I took them to a gathering on the weekend and they were a big hit.....also, Brannon's having a hard time keeping his mitts off them too!
Don't be naughty and I might share :)

Mint-topped Chocolate Christmas Cookies

Recipe:
Combine a package of devil's food chocolate cake mix with 2 eggs, a 1/2 cup of shortening and a Tbsp of water. Beat with hand mixer, then finish off with some elbow grease because it becomes super-thick. Roll into less-than 1" balls, coat with icing sugar, then place 2" apart on greased baking sheet (this is important because they spread!). Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and top with a thin mint (Haviland, Zachary, etc.). Let stand to cool.
You won't be disappointed!

So bad I had to post it :)

So, I've been attempting to photograph my Christmas tree and while I've taken oodles of pics of it, I'm not quite happy with any of them yet and I'm not ready to post any. However, this one came out so badly I had to laugh...and thought it could be a joke post :)
I used the 'warmify' option on picassa to make it that rose colour...otherwise, it's even cruddier!

Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Party - 2008 Edition

We went to Brigitte and Craig's fifth annual Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Party on Friday night (although it was only the third year for us). As usual, a good time was had by all; they came up with more games than ever that made for many many laughs. The company was great, as were the decorations, the food and, of course, the wine! Can't wait for next year :)

Brigitte's gorgeous Christmas tree

Wonderful food

The wine table early in the night, before everyone else arrived!

The ever-popular present game...and Leslie tearing into it!
And we have a winner! Yay Evelin!
A new edition to the game file; the idea was to make reindeer antlers as quickly as possible with 8 balloons and a pair of nylons. In order to win, you had to wear them :)