After my post yesterday I was thinking more about different food we ate as kids and do we still enjoy them as much as adults. I think that everyone has a special meal that their mother made or that that grandmother made when they would go to visit. I know that I have mine. My mother is a good cook, and my grandmother was a good cook.

One of my favourite dishes that my grandmother used to make was pineapple chicken. It was always there for the holidays, and even when I would go to Montreal to visit, it was always waiting for me. It was warm, and sweet and comforting. It was made with love, and you could taste it.

She never really taught me how to make it, and the recipe is a bit sketchy (as I am sure a lot of your grandparent’s recipes were). Who really needed to know “EXACTLY” what to do, they were the ones making it each time, so they knew what to do.

I tried to make it this year. I had the chicken cut up the way she used to do it. I had the bag of flour and seasoning mixed, and I followed the best I could. I liked it when it came out of the oven (of course I had to eat a piece), but wasn’t sure how the rest of the family would feel.

On Rosh Hashanah night, Mark sits down at the table and says, “Pineapple chicken, who made this?” He then proceeded to eat a few pieces. That made me feel good. My family did enjoy it, but it wasn’t THE pineapple chicken from my childhood. Or maybe that is exactly how it was supposed to taste, and the memory of the anticipation of my grandmother making it for me is what made it taste so incredible.

I know it wasn’t as good as my grandmothers….practice makes perfect as they say. I don’t know if there will every be such as thing as perfect when you already had what you remember to be the best, but I will try again and see if I can make it like hers.

Move over Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte – you may have known where to go for brunch in NYC, but a few of my friends and I are trying to seek out breakfast places north of the T-dot in the 905! We are making the rounds, so to speak.

A few friends of mine have kids in Sunday school and while the kids are away, the ladies should play…well, we have to eat don’t we?

The first stop was the (then) new Bagel World at Dufferin and Major Mac. It had only been open two weeks at the time. They are the home to the Flagel. If you don’t know what a Flagel is take “flat” and “bagel” and put it together. They are also the home to the Bagelini. Which is a flagel stuffed with different options put in a panini press, so the cheese gets all melty and yummy and everything is nice and warm and crispy. Confused yet?

So six of us sit down for breakfast and the place is packed. Most of us at the table know at least one person coming in or out of the restaurant. The food was very good, but the service was not. The server actually didn’t tell our friend that the plate was hot, and instead of puttng down on the table, handed it to her, which caused her to burn her hand. Her reply was, “oh, I guess I am used to it by now”. It got worse from there, and that actually resulted in us discussing the situation with the manager and we had the choice to get a discount off the bills or….1/2 dozen bagels per person……DUH – who doesn’t want fresh, FREE bagels?

One more comment re: bagelinis – TRY ONE when you go to Bagel world. They have 3 – 4 different combinations like – Tuna, tomato, cheese and red onion; or avocado, cheese and tomato and some italian style one.

I like the tuna one because it reminds of my parents house growing up. We had a sandwich maker (who didn’t) and of course grilled cheese and tomato soup nights -YUMMO! As I got older I added things to my grilled cheese, like tomato and then of course made tuna melts in the maker. The best was went you would try to make a tuna melt on a bagel in the sandwich maker. Everything would spill out, the bagel wouldn’t fully let the press close and it was a yummy gooey mess when you were done…..but so good. This was long before the days of the home panini press.

Back to breakfast…..our tour of breakfast places has taken us to What a bagel, Centre Street deli and this week to Sunset Grill (also at Dufferin and Major Mac). Again, being a busy Sunday morning at peak time has its ups and downs with food and service. Another ‘hot plate’ episode actually. The server came to the table, holding the plate WITH A TOWEL, and handed it to my friend…..”no, it’s not that hot”….well why are you holding it with a towel? And the breakfast potatoes – were not cooked very well, and had no flavour….I’m just sayin’.

We did try to go to Pancers new location but found out that they only open at 11am on Sundays. I know it is not your traditional ‘breakfast’ joint, BUT across the street from that location is the bagel world and the sunset grill, you would think they would want to jump on the weekend breakfast traffic.

Thank you for reading my blog and coming along with me on the journey of my life and how I see it. I never really knew how easy it would be to write when you had something to write about. I have always known that I have a lot of things to say about a lot of different things and it is really gratifying to know that others think so as well.

I need to bring you back to 2009 for a few minutes. Please indulge me while I do that.

As you all know, my car accident was in February that year. The months to follow were very hard and emotional for me. And then Shari got sick and we all know what happened to me after that. But there is something you may not know.

The company I work for has what is called “Pinnacle Club” and to reach Pinnacle Club you need to have a certain level of sales per fiscal year. That year, 2008/09 though all the hardships and everything, I was able to reach Pinnacle Status, which meant being able to go with my peers on a trip – to Vegas.

Brad was able to join me on that trip. It was an amazing three days and it meant so much to be there with Brad, who as you know, I met in Vegas. We did amazing things, like riding in a helicopter over the strip at night, lots of work stuff, but lots of time to spend together as friends.

On the last night the company treated us to an amazing dinner at Manadalay Bay, then off to Lion King and then up to the 64th Floor of THE hotel in the Manadalay to a bar called The Mix. There we had a roped off section, table bottle service and the most amazing view of Las Vegas.

It was a really good night. I just remember always having a drink in my hand, and dancing with Louise, and not having a worry in the world. I drank a lot that night, but never seemed to feel it. It was such a freeing experience to be with your friends feeling safe enough to let go. I will always remember that night.

Now…you are asking…what does that have to with November 2011? I will tell you.

As with 2009, the year of 2011 has had challenges for me in many aspects of my life. I am not going to dwell on them now, but they were (are) there. A couple of weeks ago a few friends on facebook (old skool friends) wanted to plan a small get together. What a great idea, so what was the plan? Well, my friend (many) is Russian and said, “how about a Russian restaurant” experience – and my “Mama’s” Vodka…..how could that be bad?

And off we went……

I will come back to the Russian experience later because that was not really the point of this story. The point of this story was that being with people I trusted, in a safe setting, allowed me to feel the same sense of freedom I felt that night in Las Vegas. Free to partake in as many NASTAROVIA shots as I felt like, free to dance, laugh, share with friends. I want to thank my friends that were there with me last night, for allowing me to have such a well deserved good time.

Nastarovia, L’Chaim, to long life, good friendship and good health!