Mom and Dad in Copenhagen
My parents arrived last Thursday and have had some nice sunny (but cold) days for exploring Copenhagen. They took the canal tour on their own, found the flea market (are all asian parents the same?) and took a horse and carriage ride with me at the deer park. They've also had the opportunity to explore a lot on foot, and do some groceries. Kendrick and I came home to a home cooked meal on Friday (what luxury!) and in return we took them out for Chinese food on Saturday (at the only restaurant in town that we trust). The 20CAD veggie dish nearly gave my parents a heart attack, but we had a nice time anyways. Sunday we all cooked together.
My father has noticed that the price of fresh cut flowers are relatively inexpensive here (he may not admit it but he's always been fond of flowers). He abhors the graffiti, and every time he sees even a smidgen of grafitti he'll point it out with a big YUCK. My parents rarely hang around downtown Toronto, otherwise I think they would realize that there's no more grafitti here than any other downtown core. At the King's Garden park he was happy to discover a chestnut tree, and he made sure to pick a few chestnuts to bring home for show and tell.
My mom sees a lot of 1960's Montreal in the attitude of Danish parents. And she had noted very early on that Danish babies are very well behaved. She likes the cobblestones a lot, and is delighted by the bicycle add ons that allow children to bike in tandem behind their parents. She sampled a free oyster on Saturday at the fish market - my father and I declined, and Kendrick missed out altogether. She has compared the feel of our neighbourhood to that of Old Montreal several times, and at one point she even likened our street to that of Lay-Doong street in HK, only cleaner. Upon closer questioning, the only thing they actually have in common is the size and look of the sidewalks... i.e. not a lot.
My parents brought with them all kinds of gifts and snacks from the homeland. One thing that Kendrick and I did not expect (but appreciate very much) are autumn festival moon cakes. Moon cakes! I snatched a box (red bean paste, no egg yolks) and brought them to work on Friday. My co-workers are crazy about cake, so I sent out an e-mail to come and try some of the best Chinese cakes around (with the caveat that it was unlike any cake they had ever tried before). About half of them chewed on their piece politely, commenting on the interesting flavour and the dense texture. The other half seemed to actually enjoy tasting something new. Ýou could tell that it was a new experience for everybody. Only two people said that they actually liked it (and one of them was American), and not one person asked for seconds. Except for me of course, I was eating moon cakes non stop!
A side note: Kendrick felt that I should have brought in the ones with the egg yolk and initiated everybody to hard core moon cakes (no doubt he is thinking of his no-holds-barred Danish pickled herring experiences) but being a picky eater myself I decided to go easy on them.
Another thing my parents brought with them was that unique mothball-y smell from home. Kendrick and I have used over half a bottle of FBreeze, burned some aromatic candles from Crabtree and Evelyn, and laundered their towels, jackets, and clothes. However, it's the two suitcases that are really hard to de-aromatize. My parents and I are leaving today for Paris, so we'll leave one suitcase at home with Kendrick to work on.
Paris without Kendrick will be challenging - but I'm looking forward to it. Those of you in town and overseas, please drop Kendrick a line to ease his loneliness!
My father has noticed that the price of fresh cut flowers are relatively inexpensive here (he may not admit it but he's always been fond of flowers). He abhors the graffiti, and every time he sees even a smidgen of grafitti he'll point it out with a big YUCK. My parents rarely hang around downtown Toronto, otherwise I think they would realize that there's no more grafitti here than any other downtown core. At the King's Garden park he was happy to discover a chestnut tree, and he made sure to pick a few chestnuts to bring home for show and tell.
My mom sees a lot of 1960's Montreal in the attitude of Danish parents. And she had noted very early on that Danish babies are very well behaved. She likes the cobblestones a lot, and is delighted by the bicycle add ons that allow children to bike in tandem behind their parents. She sampled a free oyster on Saturday at the fish market - my father and I declined, and Kendrick missed out altogether. She has compared the feel of our neighbourhood to that of Old Montreal several times, and at one point she even likened our street to that of Lay-Doong street in HK, only cleaner. Upon closer questioning, the only thing they actually have in common is the size and look of the sidewalks... i.e. not a lot.
My parents brought with them all kinds of gifts and snacks from the homeland. One thing that Kendrick and I did not expect (but appreciate very much) are autumn festival moon cakes. Moon cakes! I snatched a box (red bean paste, no egg yolks) and brought them to work on Friday. My co-workers are crazy about cake, so I sent out an e-mail to come and try some of the best Chinese cakes around (with the caveat that it was unlike any cake they had ever tried before). About half of them chewed on their piece politely, commenting on the interesting flavour and the dense texture. The other half seemed to actually enjoy tasting something new. Ýou could tell that it was a new experience for everybody. Only two people said that they actually liked it (and one of them was American), and not one person asked for seconds. Except for me of course, I was eating moon cakes non stop!
A side note: Kendrick felt that I should have brought in the ones with the egg yolk and initiated everybody to hard core moon cakes (no doubt he is thinking of his no-holds-barred Danish pickled herring experiences) but being a picky eater myself I decided to go easy on them.
Another thing my parents brought with them was that unique mothball-y smell from home. Kendrick and I have used over half a bottle of FBreeze, burned some aromatic candles from Crabtree and Evelyn, and laundered their towels, jackets, and clothes. However, it's the two suitcases that are really hard to de-aromatize. My parents and I are leaving today for Paris, so we'll leave one suitcase at home with Kendrick to work on.
Paris without Kendrick will be challenging - but I'm looking forward to it. Those of you in town and overseas, please drop Kendrick a line to ease his loneliness!
posted by Gina at 9:28 AM
4 Comments:
Say.. my stuff did not smell like mothballs did it? (And do not say that it smelt like maple syrup!)
you want me to ship yo some more mooncakes from vancouver???
have fun in paris! did you get the training wheels???
qyv, you seem to have escaped the mothball disease. Having said that, we might want to sleep over at your place this Christmas instead of at mom and dad's...
clementine, thanks for the offer, but we've pretty much binged ourselves silly on mooncake, enough to last us until next year. :)
goldie, i decided not to get the training wheels. even my dad is not comfortable biking in a strange neighbourhood. they are available in canada though...
Post a Comment
<< Home