Mexanese Mumbo Jumbo

I live in a corner suite that faces north/west, with a mountain & water view, that make the beautiful Vancouver sunsets in the summer picturesque. Though I have to occasionally deal with the noise from the drunken crazies stumbling out of the Beagle and Lola's on the weekend, I quite enjoy my locale, even if during the summer I get the afternoon sun for the better part of 8hrs. This creates a wonderful sauna effect in my humble abode, that when I get home after work, the thought of using the oven or stove is...well, less than appealing, shall we say. So in an attempt to find something for dinner that doesn't require heat, I had a moment of brilliance [cue lightbulb]. I was going to make Gazpacho, finally deciding to give the cold Andalucian soup a try.

I got the recipe from Streefy and headed out to get the remaining ingredients, thinking I had most of them already. I had also decided that I might as well get a blender of some sort since the soup calls for it. The fact that it is actually called for a food processor was just one of those "suggestions" that, in my mind, replacing with a blender would be just as good. I then had another moment of brilliance and decided I would make smoothies for breakfast as they are both, refreshing and healthy! [insert cheesy k-mart smile]

I returned home, blender, bread (who knew the soup included bread blended in?!) and a jalapeno in hand, only to realize that my onion had gone bad, it seems I don't cook with a lot of onion as often as I think I do. The green pepper I had envisioned in my fridge had actually be eaten during the day as an afternoon snack, and I returned sans fresh or frozen fruit for breakfast smoothies.

Realizing the effort required to see through my prior brilliance, laziness kicked in and I decided not to return to IGA for a second time in 15mins. Gazpacho will have to wait another night. But I have a blender!

It's hot in Vancouver, and I'm in heaven. I'm not talking about those warm spring days where you don't have to wear a jacket/jumper/hoodie to work. I mean - not a cloud in the sky, not a breeze of cool air, shirt soaking, sweat dripping, hot! As my friend Ozzie would say, it's definitely batwing weather. He can always be counted on for a lude comment.

Risqué vocab aside, this is the hottest summer in Vancouver that I can remember, and very reminiscent of Mexico, especially Acapulco, which's known for its constant 28-32 degree weather. Granted...that not saying much, considering I have the memory of a gnat and can't actually remember the last time Vancouver had a decent summer. But I digress. Every one is out buying fans and air conditioning units, the beaches are completely packed with sun worshipers, Vancouverites are walking around in the tiniest of itty bitties and the water cooler topic of conversation is a combination of how hot it is outside, and why the Bachelorette chose that poor schmuck.

Sure, I've finally caved and had to buy a fan so that sleeping goes back to being a pleasurable event, but for the most part - I'm loving it! (Aside from the batwing). Up the humidity level a few notches and you're basically in Acapulco, sans the stinkin' mosquitoes that plague most Mexican cities at night. All you need now, are the clean beaches, cold showers and the chicklet kids.

I love thunderstorms. Who doesn't? Sure, it sometimes comes with a torrential downpour, but how can you not love the magical display of lightening associated with thunderstorms? Not to mention the deafening thunder that shakes you to your core. Acapulco thunderstorms are great for that, and somehow I always had the best sleeps, next to an open window listening to the roaring storm.

Saturday night, I had plans with a friend to go on a boat out to English Bay to watch the Celebration of Light fireworks. That is, until I got the call from my friend who promptly informed me that there wasn't enough room on the boat for both of us so, too bad so sad, you're off the boat. Once the shock of being so unceremoniously tossed off the boat wore off, I decided to settle in for the night and watch a movie.

Just as the movie started, I heard a thunder clap. I looked out my window and this is the view I was treated to. Unfortunately my reflexes aren't cat-like, much to my disappointment, and I wasn't able to catch the lightening in action, so these will have to do.

Interesting stat that some people might not know, my hairdresser once informed me that there are 100,000 more single women in Vancouver than single men. He was only too eager to then share with me his theory that every man in Vancouver should be allowed 2 women - a good theory that I can guarantee almost all men in Vancouver would agree to. Now I'm not judging or being snarky, it's a valid theory and if the stats were reverse it would be at the top of my head as well. It did however cause me to look around at my surroundings. I am the only single girl in my core group of friends, not much of a surprise since most of my friends are guys. There are numerous gals that I work with all of whom are smart, beautiful and single. It's completely baffling. So how does one exist the Bermuda triangle version of the Vancouver dating world? It's a hard task to be sure, but the men in Vancouver also don't make it easier. As I walked to the bus stop after work with Steiny one day, a guy walked by us with a bag slung over his shoulder. After casting a few not so subtle glances our way (aka staring at us until there was a lull in our convo) he asked if we wanted some meat. That's right, meat....red meat. We could only hope that it was from animal though from the size of the bag, we couldn't be sure. He had apparently bought it for his girlfriend who didn't want it...shocking! We politely declined and continued on our way wondering who buys their girlfriend meat and for what reason?