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International Day of Happiness
At my former office, I was fortunate to have a lovely colleague who would bring in goodies to celebrate different occasions. Throughout the year, we enjoyed treats and impromptu social gatherings in the kitchen for celebrations like Saint Patrick’s day and fun food days like World Cupcake Day or World Samosa Day. I discovered occasions I did not know existed. While I had my head down commuting to work, she was cooking up ways to brighten our day at the office. She is one of the kindest people I know. When she left our division to move to another position, there was a void. Not only related to yummy food,…
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The Little Book of Lykke
Looking for a book to read? Perhaps you have some unexpected time at home. How about a happy book? The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World’s Happiest People. Lykke (pronounced Luuh-kah) means happiness in Danish. It’s written by Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. The book is the second in his trilogy of books on happiness – equally adorable and inspiring as his first and third books. In this little book, Meik takes us on a treasure hunt to find what makes happy people happy and “look for the good that does exist in the world.” So get your marker, get your…
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A convivial lesson at Bench Brewing Company
Do you remember your elementary school? I do. I can clearly picture the L-shaped brick building from the 1960s, the classrooms with draughty windows, the raised stage at one end of the gymnasium (with its brown stage curtain), the circular trough-like sink in the washroom. While the building I have described now houses an elementary school under a different School Board, it will always be Woodside School to me. Even if years, and years, and years pass, my guess is most of us remember our elementary school. Those were six formative years: memorizing the times table, perfecting cursive writing, sitting diligently for story time…. ….learning about hops, malt and ales.…
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Lazy days alongside the canals of Bruges
We were nearing the end of our trip when we arrived in the enchanting city of Bruges. Our Eurail pass was spent. Our hostel card tattered. Our guidebook was a few crumpled pages. Our days in Europe were numbered. Soon we would make our way across the English Channel to Point B on our map: London. If Bruges had been at the beginning of my trip I would have taken more photos. The city is beautiful, in a fairytale kind of way – the gingerbread buildings, the swans gliding on dreamy canals, medieval bridges and cobbled lanes, and flowers overflowing everywhere. We stayed three nights in a comfortable youth hostel…
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A grey day brightened by orange at Southbrook Vineyards
Red wine. White wine. Orange wine? The first time a waiter suggested orange wine, I was confused. The second time, I was curious. It was time to investigate. I thought it would be a solid use of my research and policy skills. Or “if I am 100% honest” (to use an expression from my teenager daughter), just good plain fun. What is orange wine? Orange wine is “skin-on” fermented white wine. The orange hue comes from contact with the skins. In Ontario, “skin fermented white wine” is a relatively new category approved by the VQA, Ontario’s wine authority. What does it taste like? I inquired at my local LCBO if…
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Gezellig in Rotterdam
I recently went to a restaurant in Ottawa named Gezellig (gah-zell-ig). The restaurant characterizes gezellig as “convivial, cosy, or nice atmosphere, but also belonging, general togetherness, or time spent with loved ones…” It has many similarities to Hygge, a Danish concept I admire. I was not familiar with this Dutch adjective when I was backpacking. In hindsight, it’s the perfect word to describe the common room at our hostel in Rotterdam. It was gezellig. In my journal, I provided a detailed description of the common room where I spent many hours hanging out with fellow backpackers and watching MTV. It had a TV, three couches, a coffee table and another…
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A friendly face in Amsterdam
As a Canadian, my journey started with a plane trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Once on European soil, Sarah and I aspired to cover a lot of territory. So we backpacked for three and a half months. We met many Americans doing the thing. The Aussies and Kiwis we met took this to another level, often travelling for a year. It was less common to met Europeans on these lengthly multi country backpacking trips. Until we met Yöst. Yöst was Dutch. When we first meet him in Italy he declared he was doing Europe “the American way”. By the time we bumped into him in his home town Amsterdam, it…
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A little stroll around Luxembourg
A nice amenity of many youth hostels is a communal kitchen. Sarah and I liked to dine out to sample the local cuisine as much as possible, but cooking our own meals helped stretch our meagre budget. It had been a long time without a kitchen, so we were pleased our hostel in Luxembourg city was equipped. The tiny landlocked state of Luxembourg is situated in the centre of Europe and is home to several European Union institutions. Otherwise, I cannot tell you much. We were in Luxembourg for less than 24 hours. Essentially an afternoon stroll around this petite city located dramatically in a gorge. I kept a list…
