Rangers verses Celtic Glasgow Football

There are three major football stadiums in Glasgow, Scotland. All housing between 50,000 - 60,000 seats, with two major football teams: The Celtic and the Rangers. They claim to be the worlds biggest city rivalry. On nights they play each other, crime more then doubles. The deep roots of each team is Protestant verses Catholic, which also means Independence verses Unionists. (Supporters of the Queen, or against the Queen). There are songs sung by some fans that can land someone up to 5 years in prison. It's a deep rooted and passionate rivalry that us Canadians don't quite understand.

The two teams played each other on Wednesday night. Tickets at the stadium were sold out, but watching the game at an old mans pub was good enough for us, as we are not die-hard fans, but wanted to see what all the excitement was about.

Before the game, the rangers were 1 point head at the top of the Scottish league. The final score in the game was 1-0 Celtic which means they are now 2 points in the lead for the top spot. We went out with two of our friends, Topher and Paul. One was a ranger fan, the other a celtic. They had a little friendly rivalry going on between them. It was a great game experience.

The pictures are taken on smart phones, simply because we didn't want to bring our big camera into a bar.

Christmas Baking Adventures

For a couple of days before Christmas I spent my time doing some baking and listening to Christmas carols. Sparing no butter nor sugar:)

FOund out custard is the closest match to vanilla pudding (for the banana cream pie) and when asking for Molasses, found our 'black treacle' is what it is called. Try describing molasses to someone..."black, sticky, runs really slow?And you use it in gingerbread?"

Gingerbread cookies:

The challenge of pie crust... How does my mom do it?

Lemon Square mix:)
I mildly burnt the Lemon Square mom...

Melting chocolate for the Peanut Butter Rice Krispie balls (recipe courtesy of Jeff Arnold).

Very chocolatey brownies waiting for the fudge icing:

Fudge icing sugar explosion:

Fresh rolls:

Now onto making our meal, Risotto, garlic wine salmon, fresh greens, roasted tomatoes and mozzarella, delish:)

Jayson stirring the Risotto, while browsing online...cause stirring the Risotto was boring. (I actually have to agree that stirring rice for 45 minutes can get monotonous.)

Our Christmas Eve Dinner

Le Louvre, Your fill of Art - Paris part 2

The Louvre, I had been once before but not for nearly long enough. Jay and I spent the entire day in this museum other than breaking for a leisurely French lunch. And still didn't pass through every corridor.

Obviously the Art contained within this building is phenomenal, but the building itself it amazing. The museum is formerly Napoleon Bonapartes palace grounds, I wish I were able to slip back in time and wander around these grounds in their original grandeur. Napoleon's quarters are well maintained to give you an idea of the splendor. Still, in some cases, time travel would sincerely be fascinating.

On our way to the Museum, I couldn't get enough of the architecture.

This flower market was a couple of blocks long, smelled incredible.

Entering into the Louvre, I loved this little lady sitting and enjoying her surroundings.

There were a number of sculptures, and in almost every room you could find an artist with their sketch book.

Three strong men:)

Crown Jewels and Family Paintings

Our leisurely French lunch, poured rain as soon as we sat down and stopped as we were ready to leave. Perfect. We were also almost exhausted and starved and still had a number of gallery's to view in the Louvre.

Some rather well known peices...

The Wedding Feast by Paolo Veronese

Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci

Venus de Milo Statue...Artist unknown...and oh so famous.

Great Sphinx of Tanis, researched to be as old as 2600 BC. Wow.

Napolean's Dining room. CRAZY.

Amazing what you see when you look up:

Napolean's Quarters:

Napolean's Quarters:

One of the museum corridors:

Night time at the Louvre.

Eiffel Tower in the distance:

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day, we co-hosted a meal with our friend Paul. He invited a few others like us that didn't have family in town to spend the day with. Along with tons of meat, sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, Jello salad, green salad, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, homemade buns, cheese ball, brie, pickles and olives, we had great fellowship. Lissa and I really enjoyed ourselves.

Lissa did the baking, and it was absolutely incredible. Loads of pies, squares, peanut butter and chocolate balls, and brownies. Paul and the other guys were overjoyed with how much home style baking there was and how good it tasted.

Jatinder and myself, having trouble deciding which desert to choose from.

I convinced everyone that 'It's a wonderful life', is an essential part of Christmas day. None of them had seen it, but were tearing up by the end. It's such a classic.

Me and my bride!

Paul, Lissa and Gordon in the distance.

Topher's paid a visit.

In the evening, Paul took us over to his friends, Joe and Rose and we spent the evening eating more deserts, and Paul had to keep the dogs in order.

Parisian Furniture, Tres Bien - Paris part 1

There are many parts of Parisian life that I could very easily cope with. We only had three days in this wonderful City, but we were able to make the most of it. Our accommodations were a little Parisian apartment (http://www.perfectplaces.com/vacation-rentals/38447.htm) right in the Latin Quarter (around the corner from where Ernest Hemmingway used to live). Rue Mouffetard was also a minutes walk away (the oldest street in Paris), Mouffetard is lined with every little shop you could possibly desire...for food atleast. We could spend hours going into all the Boulangeries, Patisseries, Fromageries...pure gastronomical bliss.

One of the days we stumbled upon this little home decor & furniture shop, and OH.MY.WORD. I would have taken everything home if it was at all feasible (and if I have thousands of Euro to spend on buying and shipping furniture).

I just had to take a few pictures, there was a genuine mix of modern and antique...but nothing was too modern (sometimes modern=space travel). LOVE.

Where Jayson stayed while I browsed...until "oh my gosh Jay you just have to see this way too cool coffee table...you just HAVE to see it'.

He humoured me.

Leather Travel Trunk? Yes Please.

Gasp. Love. The lighting fixtures were all so creative. Inspiration Overload.

Cashmere throws and a to die for china cabinet. Oh and the clocks are a fave too.

More clocks. I just might have 3 ginormaous (gigantic/enormous)

clocks in my washroom too.

Oh just sitting in my future living room.

If it is ever possible to fly to this city to buy all my furniture....