Dumpling Feast

Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it.

I’m the kind of person who is willing to celebrate any culture’s holiday if it involves eating delicious foods like dumplings and red bean cakes.

(Source) It’s the year of the dragon!

My friend Tina and I went to a Chinese New Year Dumpling Feast on Saturday night at Oakwood Community Centre. It felt a bit like walking in on someone else’s family reunion: tables scattered everywhere, kids playing games with balloons, and everyone seemed to know each other. We bought our tickets and waited around awkwardly while one of the organizers found some extra chairs for the two of us to pull up to a table that had some room for us to sit down. She asked us how we heard about the event, not unkindly, but she definitely sounded confused as to what the hell we were doing there.

We sat down at our table and were offered some appetizers—communal bags of delicious spicy peanuts and sunflower seeds. I had to laugh at the informality of the whole set-up.

The Dumpling Feast itself meant making our own dinner. Fun and efficient! In the centre of the table were dumpling wrappers, pork filling, and a bowl of water. We all sat hunched over our table filling and folding dumplings. There was a man seated with us who was a veritable dumpling-making expert who showed us how to assemble dumplings so they stand up, don’t explode, and look pretty. The first few I made were pretty hideous, but I started to (sort of) get the hang of it after a while.

I made one single dumpling that I thought look pretty impressive. The rest were good enough to contain the filling, which was good enough for me.

Eventually the cooks started collecting our trays of dumplings, bringing them to the kitchen to be boiled, and then bringing the steming hot dumplings to our table by the bowl full. Tina and I went up to the buffet table to get our side dishes there was fried rice and hot pepper and some lettuce which actually ended up being a salad with a very light dressing (but, thinking it was plain lettuce to be eaten with the dumplings in a way I was unaware of, I left it alone so I wouldn’t look like I was eating it wrong). We learned later, after our 10th or so dumpling, that you’re supposed to eat them with vinegar on top. This cut the saltiness of the dumplings immensely and I wish I would have known about it at the start. (So I did end up looking like I was eating something wrong. Go figure.)

In spite of the awkwardness of it all, I liked assembling (and eating!) the dumplings. Now that I sort of know how to make them I do want to try making some at home, but next time potstickers.

Books I Read in 2011

I’ve decided one of my goals of 2012 is to join a book club. I have several goals for the year which are vaguely floating around in my head and I do intend to write down at some point. Possibly February.

Goal #1: Write down goal #1. Proceed with goal #2, #3, etc.

Anyway, I’m going to my first book club meeting with the Windsor Book Club tonight at The Green Bean to see what this book club business is all about. The book of discussion for the month is Night by Elie Wiesel.

It’s a horrifying account of the author’s experience travelling to and living in Birkenau concentration camp. Reading about the things that he saw, the atrocities that he experienced, and his struggles to survive even as he lost his faith in God and his will to live was so moving. I almost cried more than once (and I’ve never cried at a book or movie before, so that’s saying something about how powerful this book is).

If you haven’t read it before, you should. I think it should be required reading.

Samantha’s 2011 Reads

(In order of favourite to least favourite)

Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Find someone who’s read this book and didn’t like it, then we’ll talk. It’s riveting.

My Horizontal Life – Chelsea Handler
It’s the most hilarious thing I’ve ever read. It made me laugh to tears.

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
2 magicians and lovers must fight in a game of anchantment to the death in a circus venue that only magic can build. Fascinating Premise.

Room – Emma Donoghue
I might have put this book at the top if more of the story were about escaping than about life after the escape.

The Game of Thrones – George R R Martin
It’s almost unbearably long, practically everyone dies, and it leaves you needing to read the next book. But it was so goddamn captivating!

Freedom – Jonathon Franzen
Intense family drama full of emotion. Not much of a page turner but the characters are very believable.

Superfreakonomics – Steven Levitt
Lots more fun and random connections between things you never thought could be associated.

Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
Part 2 of the Hunger Games Series almost feels like a repeat of part 1. It’s not as creative but it’s still quite exciting.

Sleepwalking in Daylight – Elizabeth Flock
Another family drama exploring the relationship between a distant mother and rebellious daughter. Powerful and emotional.

How to Be and American Housewife – Margaret Dilloway
The story spans the entire lifetime of a Japanese woman who married a US Soldier after WWII. Well developed characters make this a good read.

Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins
Part 3 of the Hunger Games Series is worth the read if you’ve read 1 and 2 but it’s my least favourite of the bunch.

Are you there vodka? It’s me Chelsea – Chelsea Handler
Chelsea is still funny, but her random anecdotes aren’t the comedic gold that her one night stands are.

Bossy Pants – Tina Fey
Maybe I need to hear Tina Fey to find her funny. I chuckled a few times, but I wasn’t wetting myself with laughter.

Industrial Magic – Kelley Armstrong
Witchcraft meets mafia in this book that had a few great high points but mostly lows.

Deception Point – Dan Brown
You can write a mathematical formula for all of Dan Brown’s book. This was just another typical Dan Brown fiction.

Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang – Chelsea Handler
Chelsea, you are getting progressively less funny as you write more books. You can stop now.

Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me – Chelsea Handler
Wait Chels, did you just get your friends to write a book for you? Good attempt to get fresh material but Bad idea. Very bad.

Date of the Month Club: January

I bought Matt Star Wars Episodes IV – VI on Blu-Ray for Christmas and, even though I knew he would love it, I didn’t think that it was a particularly remarkable or romantic gift.

Matt bought me a knife for Christmas so the prosaicness goes both ways, I suppose. Granted it was a really really good knife that cuts through bread like butter (which is really saying something because most of my knives don’t even cut through butter like butter) and I love it.

Anyway, for Christmas this year I decided to give Matt an extra gift and lay the cheesiness on really thick too:

1 Date per Month for the next 12 Months. Like a “Date of the Month” club, although I didn’t call it that when I gave it to him. I came up with that embarrassing moniker about 3 seconds ago.

I had seen posts on the Internet of people doing the “12 Dates of Christmas” where they would go on 12 dates with their bf/husband before Christmas but I wondered who the hell has time to go on that many dates in a month, especially December! (though I’m pretty sure that was the point of the whole 12-dates-of-xmas-thing, but whatever) I just played on that idea and switched it up to one date a month for all of 2012, which is much more doable.

I came up with 12 date ideas ranging from moderately amusing to super-duper fun(!), I bought a bunch of blank cards and envelopes from Michaels, and I wrote down each date on a different card and put it in a different envelope for every month of the year.

Comme ça:

Now I can’t for the life of me remember what dates I put in what envelopes so it will be a fun surprise for both of us every month.

January Date Night – Bookstore Scavenger Hunt

We decided to do our first date night on Friday: A Bookstore Scavenger Hunt

I found the idea for this date somewhere in the far reaches of the Internet and if you’re thinking that it sounds like a boring and pathetic excuse for a date, that’s true. It does sound that way. But it’s surprisingly a lot of fun.

Basically there is a list of things to find in books and then you go out searching for them. You know, a scavenger hunt.

We did it in two sets, bringing our books back to share with each other after each set (I had planned 3 but apparently Chapters is lame now and closes at 9pm so we ran out of time)

Set 1:

A recipe you want to try
- Matt picked Sweet and Salty Crunchy Nut Bars and I went with a Colcannon

An idea for a future date
- we both picked games: my pick was “would you rather?” while Matt managed to find some vonderful goot Dutch card game

A Joke
- My joke was: “What did King Arthur dub the circle? Sir Cumference!!” from 101 Math Jokes. Quite comical. But Matt brought me the novel Twilight as a joke because he knows I hate it. Hilarious.

Picture or a Map of a Place you’d Like to Visit
- I went with Moscow after reading this sweet Russian Travel itinerary and Matt’s pick was Hawaii.

Set 2:

A Book You Loved as a Child/Teen
- Matt picked Love You Forever and I found The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs which I almost forgot about.

A Book you think the other person would like
- Matt picked The Night Circus for me (which I actually read last month and really liked) and I picked The Hunger Games for Matt because who doesn’t love the Hunger Games?

A Book You Read in School
- Also a book that I loved as a child: The Giver. Matt went with Brave New World. Funny how we both picked dystopian novels.

A Book Containing Happily Ever After
- Neither of us could find a story that actually said “happily ever after” but we did end up finding Happily Ever After Mad Libs which we bought and played over drinks at Starbucks once Chapters closed up shop.

Somehow the barista got my order completely wrong, but I did enjoy the Cinnamon Dolce Latte that I got by mistake. Luckily I love cinnamon.

Matt’s never played Mad Libs (say whaaa??) and quickly learned that the more inappropriate the words you choose, the funnier the Mad Libs are.

It ended up being a pretty fun date night!

Stay tuned for February’s Date of the Month Club.

Hello from Orlando!

My friend and I arrived in Orlando yesterday afternoon to sunshine and palm trees. It’s been years since I’ve travelled anywhere where there is palm trees.

The weather here is perfect: in the low 60s, but felt warm enough in the bright sun to walk around without a coat. I guess this weather is unseasonably cold for Florida so I saw a few people sporting very heavy down jackets and one lady was wearing a fur coat. Someone even told me to “stay warm”. Oh Floridians!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Downtown Disney which is store after store of Disney paraphenalia. And since Tina and I are both sick and were exhausted we came back to the hotel for a nap. Our hotel has a hot tub and a pool (which is ICE COLD) so we could lounge in the hot tub and then run and jump into the pool for our own spa-like experience.

Today we’re heading to Magic Kingdom! Woot!

I’ll try to check in again but I’m on a hotel computer and I have some anxious kids standing behind me waiting to use it.

1 week until show time

Happy 2012 Everyone!

It’s January 1st, which means New Year’s for some, but for me it means on week until I’ll be running the Walt Disney World Marathon at the ungodly hour of 5:30am.

My training plan has had me tapering since the weekend before Christmas (so 3 weeks before the race) but I hit a chink in that plan on Friday that made me miss 8 miles of running this week:

I started to get a sore throat on Thursday night and knew that a cold was coming on. Since then I have been doing everything I can to keep the symptoms at bay. Normally I wouldn’t miss a workout for just a cold but with the marathon next weekend I don’t want to take any chances.

Luckily the cold symptoms haven’t hit me too hard but that could be because I’ve been doing everything I can think of to keep them minimal:

- gargling salt water
- resting and napping
- deep breathing a steam bath of lavender-infused hot water

(I spent much of the last few days with my head over this sink)

- taking an extra vitamin C
- drinking plenty of fluids, especially warm water with lemon and ginger
- using the steam room for 15 minutes followed by an ice cold shower to boost circulation

On Friday I went to use the steam room at the gym to help clear my sinuses and forced myself to stay in there for a full 15 minutes.16, actually, if we’re getting technical. When I got home Matt looked at me and started laughing.

“What happened to your nose!? Why is your nose purple?”

I don’t if it was from the steam or what but somehow the tip of my nose turned purple, it looks a bit like a bruise but more like I dipped the tip of my nose in an ink pad.

For the rest of the night he couldn’t look at me without laughing. Thanks, husband.

The purpleyness has since gone down a bit but the tip of my nose is still off-coloured, though now I can conceal it with make-up pretty effectively. Good news, since I went out with a big group of people for New Year’s Eve last night. I don’t think anyone noticed, although maybe it’s just rude to ask about it.

So rude.

So I’m holing up in my house and trying to get some rest and fluids and praying that I’m back in peak shape for the trip to Florida this week. Staying up way too late last night was a bit of a set back, but there was champagne to be popped, and Rock Band to be played, and lots of friends over at my house for the celebration.

In retrospect, jumping around and singing Bad Reputation at the top of my lungs might not have been the best idea.

Wait, who am I kidding? When is that ever a bad idea?

Cookie Party 2011

My husband thinks I’m too competitive. Which I am. It stems from the high standards for success and overachievement of my childhood, but let’s not get into that. Anyway, if I’m the competitive one I don’t understand why he always insists that our parties become contests or competitions. Wine tasting competition, chili cook-off, dessert bake-off, beer tasting competition, we’ve had them all.

“Can’t we just have a party that doesn’t involve competing?” I’ll ask every time we discuss our next party

“What do you have against competitions?” Matt will reply. And so it always goes.

Sometimes I win out. One time I convinced him to have a potluck. A normal one where people bring food and we all eat it and enjoy it rather than critiquing it for its flaws. That’s when my friend Kyle brought the Epic Mealtime Lasagna to “change the game” and I started to think that competitions are expected at the Menzies’.

I see where Matt’s coming from though. People get more invested in something when they think they could be a victor which makes the party that much more exciting. Instead of bringing a tray of leftover cookies to the party they spend a hundred bucks on fast food and 40 of Jack Daniels to make a lasagna that will blow people’s minds (seriously. that’s what was in the epic mealtime lasagna).

Of course given my own competitive nature, when we have these parties I toss the ‘gracious hostess’ act in favour of my natural ‘cut-throat contender’ persona because I want to win as much as the next guy. More, probably.

On the 23rd Matt and I hosted a Christmas Cookie party at our place for our friends. The rules were simple, everyone brings a cookie, guests vote on their top 5 favourites (with #1 favourite getting 5 points and #5 favourite getting 1 point) and the winner is determined by total number of points.

For our cookie competition I spent a lot of time trying to determine what kind of cookie would be worthy of the win. I make a lot of good cookies but it’s tough to determine what is going to appeal to everyone in a large group of people. I decided on 3 factors- Rich, Chocolatey, and Complicated- and wound up making Peppermint Patty Cookies- a chocolate sable, topped with peppermint fondant and dipped in semi-sweet chocolate- a recipe that was entirely my own creation.

Yummy. Irresistible.

Sounds pretty damn awesome, doesn’t it? Sounds like it would win, right?

Well the head gamemaker, my husband, decided on a last minute rule (once all the votes came in and my peppermint patty came out on top, mind you) that the host of the party couldn’t win.

Say what?!? Why did I even bother entering this goddamn thing then? I was unimpressed.

Can’t you just say that I won, but give the prize to second place? I asked Matt as he tallied up the vote count. I don’t care about prizes, all I care about is recognition.

Why are you so competitive? Can’t you just win humbly without announcing it to everyone?

Umm. . . actually, no.

It took everything I had not to be that asshole and shout out “Lies! Lies!!!!” while Matt read the name of the “winner” and didn’t even give me a fake second or third place.

The number 2 cookie was phenomenal and fully deserved to win that LCBO gift card (seriously Zack, please send me the recipe.) It was a peanut butter sandwich cookie half dipped in chocolate that was soft and sweet and peanut buttery and chocolatey and that everyone was a big fan of.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookie. Delicious. But, ya know, not quite as delicious as mine.

But between you, me, and the Internets the secret is out that I make the best cookies (even if I only won by 3 points).

And now I can sleep better at night.

Do you think there’s enough food?

I’m back after my Internet hiatus for Christmas. I’ve hardly turned on my computer for 5 straight days over the holidays and, not gonna lie, I quite liked it.

In its usual way, the holiday brought lots of family dinners and a bounty of food that naturally led to my overconsumption. My sister and I hosted Christmas Eve at our dad’s place which, in our family, means drinks and appetizers. My family’s philosophy on food can be summed up in 2 words: volume and variety.

Growing up with celebrations where a 40lb turkey was the standard size and everyone went home with a week’s worth of leftovers, I have it ingrained in my mind that if you don’t serve enough food for twice as many guests as you actually have in attendance then you’ve failed. My biggest stressor when hosting an event is whether or not there is going to be enough food. My rational brain knows that the massive menu is more than enough, but I always have doubts.

Inevitably, no matter how many dishes are prepared, I always second guess myself. On Friday as we were prepping some of the 18+ appetizers that were on the menu my sister asked

“Do you think we have enough? You don’t. I can tell.”

I wanted to reassure her, but all I could think was that our family might be going hungry this Christmas Eve.

A week of baking, and two days of prepping and cooking later and I was driving to my dad’s for the big Christmas eve party and practically falling asleep at the weel from being on my feet for 2 days straight. All I wanted was a nap. And maybe a foot massage.

But I love cooking, and I love hosting, and I love serving too much food. It’s worth the sore feet and the stress once my loud and boisterous family arrive with their boyfriends and girlfriends and husbands and brothers and babies and everyone gathers around the food to eat and drink and catch up with each other.

Obviously with all the dishes that we made, my family wasn’t going hungry this Christmas. We ate until we were full and then ate a bit more and there were still plenty of leftovers at the end of the night. It always happens this way, and yet I will always doubt that there is enough food on the table.

Sahtan!

My aunt and uncle brought a platter with enough caviar to feed a Russian army.

Homemade California Rolls

Jumbo Shrimp

Homemade Lox on Homemade German Pumpernickel

Apple, Bacon, and Caramelized Onion Turnovers (top) Shrimp Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Asiago Frico with prosciutto, spring greens, and balsamic.

Goat Cheese and Caramelized Onion Tarts

Sesame Chicken on Rice Cakes

Homemade Baguette, Pumpernickel, Oat Crackers, and Wheat Thins

We also had seafood salad, cider fondue, oysters, swedish meatballs, guacamole and chips, zucchini and feta tarts with olives and mint, jalapeno poppers, grape tomatoes with bocconcini and basil, fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce, spiced nuts, and mistletoe sangria to drink.

So yeah, there was enough food.

Christmas Tunes

I got a hair cut, finally. I only delayed it about 6 months or so.

Before: Wow, did I really leave the house with my hair that frizzy? Sadly, it looks like this on a daily basis.

After: Trimmed an inch, shortened the layers, and thinned out. It will probably go back to looking like the ‘before’ in a couple of days.

I was looking for some new Christmas music to add to my collection and heard lots of good things about A Very She & Him Christmas, so I downloaded it.

While I like their rendition of “The Christmas Waltz“, I find listening to the whole album at length to be rather boring, and the last thing I want is to be bored by my Christmas tunes. It brought back memories of being forced to watch the Lawrence Welk Show on Sunday nights with my Nonna. Plus, there isn’t a single religious song on the album, which is a major Christmas album fail, in my opinion.

So that got me thinking about my favourite (and least favourite) tunes from the holiday season. There are SO many, so it’s tough to pick but I narrowed down my preferences as best as possible.

Best Christmas Tunes

Classic Secular:

Happy Xmas (War is Over) – John Lennon

Truthfully I am partial to Sarah McLachlan’s or Celine Dion’s versions though. Yoko just ruins the original for me.

Coming in a close second is Last Christmas – Wham! (and no one else’s version even comes close to the original). There isn’t a time when I don’t hear this song and turn it up to jam.

Modern Secular:

Yule Shoot Your Eye Out – Fall Out Boy

Yeah, it’s depressing and emo, but I love it. And I listen to this song all year long. Don’t judge.

Classic Religious:

This is SO hard. I think that all the religious songs are a million times better than the secular stuff which I generally find cheesy. I think it’s a toss up between:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and
Oh! Holy Night

Modern Religious:

Breathe of Heaven – Amy Grant

This song is a beautiful perspective of Christmas from the Virgin Mary. We used to sing it every year in high school and it still tops my Christmas playlist.

Worst Christmas Tunes

Do They Know It’s Christmas? – Band Aid

I get that this was a fundraiser for the 1980s Ethiopian famine and that’s all well and good. And I get that the lyrics were trying to put into perspective our first world “needs” at Christmas time compared actual needs of the rest of the world, but has anyone ever really listened to the lyrics? Like, really listened to them? They’re a bit of a stretch for even my liberal brain to wrap itself around.

It’s a world of dreaded fear
Where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
And the christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you

The clanging chimes of doom? Really? It’s Africa, people, not the coming of the grim reaper.

In case you don’t agere with me, even the songwriter Bob Geldorf thinks it’s the worst song in history.

Christmas Time is Here – A Charlie Brown Christmas

This song actually makes me want to shoot my eye out. Or at the very least, cover my ears, curl into a ball, and cry “please, make it stop!”

Anything from Manheim Steamroller

How do people listen to this shit?

Blue Christmas – Elvis

Any version of this song is depressing. The most depressing part being that I can’t stop myself from singing along. Elvis’ version is by far the worst.

All I Want for Christmas

It’s December 1st and I’m really starting to get in the Christmas spirit!

I haven’t put up any Christmas decorations just yet but I plan to do that this weekend. I don’t go overboard with the decorations. All we have is a tree inside and a wooden reindeer on our porch (that I may or may not have found in the garbage).

I haven’t started listening to Christmas tunes yet, but I do have my Christmas playlist ready to go.

But clearly I’ve already got a head start on the Christmas baking! . . .Except I didn’t actually freeze anything I baked . . . I ate it all. So I guess what I mean is I’m behind on the Christmas baking.

Oh, but wait, I did do some Christmas shopping last weekend and on Black Friday! . . . but I actually only ended up buying things for myself.

So. yeah.

I guess I’m not as prepared as I thought.

Hang on though, I did make a list of things that I want for Christmas. No “buts”. That’s gotta count for something right?

My 2011 Christmas List

1) A Kettle Bells. – I’ve never tried doing a kettle bell workout but it looks pretty fun and challenging. My gym doesn’t have them so I want one so I can try out some kettle bell workouts at home.

2) Workout Pants – Between running, kickboxing, weightlifting, and yoga I don’t have enough pants to get me through the week without doing laundry. This means I re-wear them. This means I smell. It’s getting bad.

3) Shin Guards – My shins have lots of bruises from kickboxing. It’s both unattractive and painful.

4) Cowboy Boots – Because, I’ve wanted a pair since I was about 10 but am unwilling to shell out the dough for them.

5) Warm Slippers – My current slippers are on their last legs (soles?). Preferably I’d want mocassins because, well, just look how warm and comfy they look!

6) Estee Lauder Mascara – It’s the best mascara I’ve ever tried. It makes my lashes look awesome without looking like I’m wearing mascara and it washes off really easily. I don’t need that waterproof shit—if I want to cry or sweat I’ll wash my face first.

7) Carry-On Luggage – I don’t know how I’ve gotten by without carry-on sized luggage for so long. I think I’m going to need one eventually though. Preferably one that doesn’t look like anyone else’s so I can spot it easily if someone tries to steal it from me in an airport (yeah, I think of these things)

8 ) Hoodie – Because I’m currently wearing one with paint all over it and my other one is full of holes.

9) A Frilly Skirt – I have no need for this. This is pure want.

10) Pizza Peel – Using the back of a sheet pan is working alright for getting my loaves of read into the oven, but I find that the dough sticks a bit easier to the metal of a sheet pan than wood from a peel.

11) Recipe Box – My recipes are highly unorganized and often lost. I need some order admit the chaos.

12) Apron – Because currently I’m wearing my hole-y and paint-splotched hoodies in the kitchen.

What do you want for Christmas this year? Maybe I’ll buy it for you!*

*Under no circumstances am I obliged to buy you what you want for Christmas. Do I look like Mrs. Claus to you?

Marianas Trench/ Simple Plan Concert

Last night I headed to Clutch Cargos in just outside of Detroit for the Simple Plan concert with Marianas Trench, The Cab, and Forever the Sickest Kids.

Truthfully, I was going to see Marianas Trench primarily and Simple Plan was just a bonus. Not that I’m not a Simple Plan fan. I am. And I have been for the past 10 years.

I’m a fan of most pop punk bands, to be honest. And punk bands. That’s something you may not know about me. I’m a punk/emo/screamo/alternative music fan. It’s major.

I miss the days when I used to spend hours listening to music and doing nothing else. Just lying there and listening. Really paying attention to the music and the meaning of the lyrics. Does anyone else do this? Now I just listen to music as background noise as I do something else…it’s just not the same.

Marianas Trench @ Clutch Cargos

Anyway, back to the concert. I was a bit disappointed that Marianas Trench was the first band on the stage. I assumed that they would be the most popular of the openers and would go on right before the headliner, Simple Plan. We ended up missing their first song, Celebrity Status, which we could faintly hear from inside the club as we stood at the front door waiting to get in.

I was bummed and slightly surprised that they only played 5 songs, but at least they played my favourite—“All to Myself”. I guess they’re not quite as popular in the US as they are here where they’re playing huge venues, like the ACC.

Oh well, they sounded pretty good and I scored a sweet t-shirt to add to my band t-shirt collection.

I figured since Marianas Trench only played 5 songs then Simple Plan better rock the goddamn house down in order for me to not feel totally cheated out of a concert (and potentially leading me to go up to London to see them play again in the winter).

They. Were. Awesome.

Simple Plan at Clutch Cargos

Simple Plan at Clutch Cargos

It was a really energetic show. Simple Plan played a lot of songs from their newest album but also played the classics like Addicted and I’m Just a Kid and got the whole audience jumping (me) and cheering (me) and crowd surfing (not me). They finished off the show with Perfect which made me smile.

Simple Plan at Clutch Cargos

The show really got me pumped up and I’ve been listening to Simple Plan music all day. I may or may not have even had a little living room dance party of one about a half hour ago.

All in all it was a good night but I still have yet to see Marianas Trench in concert when they are the main event.

Embarrassing Story of the Evening:

Simple Plan: “Who has seen us in concert before?”
Audience cheers wildly
Simple Plan: “Who here in the audience is seeing us for the first time?”
Audience cheers wildly
Simple Plan: “Who out there is Canadian?”
Audience is silent. I cheer wildly. Several people turn around and stare.

wah wah waaaaaah

I was definitely expecting more people to be cheering. Apparently not as many Canadians were there as I thought.