Best Books I Read in 2021

Well, perhaps I'm a little embarrassed that my last blog post was a similar post a year ago, but it is what it is. I read 90 books in 2021, abandoned 7, and borrowed just shy of $3000 in library materials.

If you are wondering about my secret for reading so much, the main reason is pretty simple - we don't subscribe to cable or any streaming services, so if I actually want to watch a show I have to actively seek it out via download or DVD. I do watch probably 45 mins of TV a day on average but I have pretty much successfully purged binging from my life since doing away with streaming services. 

I have also mentioned that joining (or starting!) a book club is an awesome way to get reading more, and also to be pushed out of your reading comfort zone. Highly recommend if you want to read more but don't know how to get started.

Here is my list of my 10 favourite fiction and non-fiction/memoir books (in no particular order) that I read this year, plus some honourable mentions. Previous years' lists are here and here. Links are to my Goodreads reviews. Please use your local library or buy from an independent bookstore when possible!

Five Best Fiction

The Sentence by Louise Erdrich - I finally began reading Louise Erdrich this year which was perhaps the highlight of my reading journey in 2021. She is so wonderful! I read three of her books and while I initially thought I liked the Pulitzer-winning The Night Watchman better, I cannot seem to stop thinking about this one. If you can handle a pandemic story, I loved this one (and everything I read by her).

Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko - After some heavy book club reads I chose this acclaimed YA fantasy for a summer read and we all adored it. The world building is truly incredible and such a rich story. First in a duology.

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - I can't wait to keep reading everything Yaa Gyasi writes. This, her debut novel, was one of those epic family sagas that she somehow packed into a fairly short book. A real triumph! Would be great for book clubs.

Return of the Trickster by Eden Robinson - A crazy, violent, funny, heartfelt end to perhaps my favourite series of all time. My book club devoured this series and continues to be obsessed with it. I recommend it to everyone.

Malice Aforethought by Francis Iles - I was shocked to like this horrible story so much, but the writing was so witty I couldn't help but love it. In my review I said it's as if Thomas Harris and Jane Austen did a collab. 

Honourable mentions to: The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich and There There by Tommy Orange. I also read my way through the full murder list from Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson, and then finished off with the book, and it was a lot of fun. You also must read Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko if you read Raybearer!

Five Best Non-Fiction/Memoir

Starlight Tour: The Last, Lonely Night of Neil Stonechild by Susanne Reber and Robert Renaud - This is a fascinating and devastating deep dive into a really dark moment in Saskatoon's history. I couldn't stop thinking about it while I was reading. It's heavy, but essential reading.

Period Repair Manual by Lara Briden - I went down a very very deep rabbit hole in the latter part of the year to try and learn more about my hormones to see if I can sort out some ongoing health issues. Unfortunately knowledge is power, and I kind of miss the blissful ignorance, but at the same time I am pretty infuriated that they don't teach us this stuff in grade 5 when they hand out the pads. 

A Radiant Life: The Honourable Sylvia Fedoruk - Scientist, Sports Icon, and Stateswoman by Merle Massie - I always knew who Sylvia Fedoruk was but it was so incredible to learn about her rich and full life. I loved this book and have recommended it to a lot of people. 

Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant by Daniel Tammet - I read this one way early in 2021 so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but it was so interesting and made me see the world differently. 

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - Okay, I know this is not a "cool" or "woke" book to like, but I really enjoyed it and think of it fairly often.

Honourable mentions to: Eat a Peach by David Chang, Becoming by Michelle Obama,  Bent out of Shape by Karen Messing, and Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler

Best Books I Read in 2020

Last year I did a similar post, and it was really fun for me to make. So, here we are again!

I read 85 complete books in 2020, two less than 2019, but there were a handful I didn't finish which probably add up to another 500 pages or so. I didn't think I'd make my goal of 85, especially with some pandemic anxiety-induced reading dry spells in the mix this year, but the Christmas break always allows me to catch up! 

My main reading goal this year was just to try and read "better" books than I did last year, because when I looked through my list I realized I read a decent amount of schlock that I just didn't enjoy and felt like a waste of time. I probably read somewhat higher quality books overall this year, but somehow plenty of garbage still crept its way in (Hunger Games prequel, I'm looking at you). I realized that almost everything I read that was new (published 2020) and hyped turned out to be things I didn't like. So in 2021 I'm going to be extra careful to not read some of the new hyped stuff and especially not trust the new stuff that has almost exclusively 5 stars on Goodreads (with few exceptions, this is always a recipe for a bad match for me for some reason). Also, not reading anything else from Reese Witherspoon's book club which in the majority of cases have been disappointing. 

My final borrowing receipt for the year. Due to the pandemic I borrowed only about half as much from the library in 2020, and had to buy and borrow more books than usual. (The House in the Cerulean Sea was to be my last read of the year and bring my total up to 86, but I ended up not finishing - one of the overhyped new books that just didn't do it for me.)

Here are 2020's top five fiction and non-fiction, and some honourable mentions. Links are to my Goodreads reviews. 

Fiction

Beartown by Fredrik Backman. Heartbreaking story that anyone who grew up in a hockey town will tell you is exactly how this event would go down. I haven't read the sequel but have heard it's even better.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie. I started reading Agatha Christie in 2019, and have read about five or six of her books. This, her first, is my favourite so far! It is quite obvious the movie Knives Out was heavily influenced by this one, and it was a ton of fun. I mostly gave up on the mystery/thriller genre this year because so many of them are just terrible, but it's nice to have Hercule Poirot to turn to when I want to read a mystery that I know won't be trash.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. So 2020 was the year I finally read Jane Austen and I totally get the hype! I loved it so much. I also read Sense and Sensibility and highly enjoyed it. 

Monkey Beach by Eden Robinson. I'm officially obsessed with Eden Robinson. This book is so haunting and gorgeous.

Trickster Drift by Eden Robinson. Two books by the same author in my top five? Yes, I told you I'm obsessed. This was the best book I read all year. It's #2 in the Trickster trilogy, and I don't think it would work well if you tried to read it as a standalone novel, but Son of a Trickster (#1) is also excellent. I love love love her writing and the worlds and characters she creates.

Honourable mentions: Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, Slaughterhouse-Five - Ryan North/Albert Monteys graphic novel adaptation, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, Truth and Bright Water by Thomas King

Non-Fiction/Memoir

Pain and Prejudice by Karen Messing. One of the world's leading researchers on ergonomics and gender, this book was far from a typical boring academic memoir/pop-sci hybrid. It was so well written and so interesting. It's not a widely known book but I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on a copy and have any interest in occupational health and safety for (traditionally) women's jobs.

A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson. Another academic memoir/pop-sci hybrid by a scientist who happens to be an extremely entertaining writer! If you have even the slightest interest in bees, this book will not disappoint. There may not be another person on the planet as passionate about bees as Dave Goulson.

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Incredible book that provides both a deep look into the systemic racism inherent in the US prison system as well as a gripping legal memoir. I haven't seen the movie but I think this book is a must-read.

Birds Art Life by Kyo Maclear. This was my second read of this beautiful memoir about birdwatching and I loved it as much as the first time. 

Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Gildiner. This is the first in a memoir trilogy by a woman who another reviewer once called the female Canadian Forrest Gump. How she sort of fell into all sorts of historical events, or somehow met so many famous figures, is practically unbelievable but sure makes for a rollicking set of memoirs. I liked the first one (this one) the best, but I do think the full trio is worth a read. 

Honourable mentions: Black Death at the Golden Gate by David K. Randall, Second Nature by Michael Pollan, The Garden Jungle by Dave Goulson, Indigenous Writes by Chelsea Vowell

I'm in two different book clubs, and both clubs adapted well to virtual meetings for pandemic times (I will admit that some of the books I did not like in 2020 were picks from others in these clubs... however there are also books on the above list that I wouldn't have even heard of if not for book club). It's an activity that has felt like a lifeline sometimes because it's a "pandemic proof" social and intellectual pursuit that is always fun and interesting month after month. I highly recommend joining or starting a book club if it is something that sounds interesting - there are some clubs run through the library or even just find one or two other friends who are willing to read the same book every so often, it doesn't need to be a formal thing!

Let's Go Skiing

Welp, it's been a while, and a very ... interesting... fall in Saskatchewan. I was quite busy with work and some online horticulture classes from September through November, and of course Sudden Winter and the Second Wave and my grandma going into the hospital basically walloped us all at once which wasn't good for the ol' mental health. Slowly but surely I am getting used to the reality of COVID winter and making some plans for how to survive the next several months until we can all get vaccinated.

I have previously posted some winter survival strategies which are coincidentally fairly pandemic-proof as well, and plan to participate in similar activities this winter (also, getting winter tires on my bike right now). And last week, we finally got around to doing something I've wanted to for several years: cross country skiing.

I actually used to xc ski quite a bit as a kid with my dad, but then became a teenager and grew out of my ski boots and just didn't want to keep going. (It's not that I was too cool, I assure you I was very very very not cool.) I believe the last time I xc skied was in grade 10 Wellness (the version of gym class where they teach you all the grownup sports like curling and skiing and golf), almost exactly 20 years ago. I always enjoyed it and it is honestly a bit of a mystery as to why I stopped.

So, we were invited to go skiing last Friday at the Holiday Park Golf Course in Saskatoon by one of Brahm's friends who skis quite often. We rented ours from Escape Sports. We did not stretch beforehand, and did two loops, which appears to be about 7km total.

It was really fun and enjoyable and we will definitely do it again, but this was nearly a week ago and I am JUST beginning to not be debilitatingly sore.

I have heard that skis are sold out everywhere because everyone is getting into it this winter since it's a naturally physically distant activity. I don't know if that is true or not but I am 100% in support of more people doing outside stuff in the winter because it's been a great mental health survival strategy for me in recent years. Some advice to fellow n00bs to xc skiing this winter:

1. Stretch your upper leg, groin, and hip muscles very well before you go for the first time (try runner's lunge)
2. Watch a video or two about How To Ski, as it took me almost 5km in to remember the mechanics of it all
3. Maybe just start with a short 1km outing and work your way up to allow your body gets used to the skiing muscles being used

These sound a little tongue-in-cheek but I am serious. Both Brahm and I are in decent shape due to a lot of walking, cycling, and yoga (me) / weight training (him); if we were not it is very possible that we could have injured ourselves. Please don't add preventable musculoskeletal injuries to your COVID winter list of worries!

Here is a list of the public ski trails in Saskatoon!

Cypress Hills Road Trip

For our very small pandemic vacation, we decided to go to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park for a couple of nights. We had actually been planning to go before COVID, and then decided against any travel, but then things seemed to be okay for travel within the province. So, with precautions, we planned a small road trip and it was really great!

We wanted to stay in a cabin so that we wouldn't be mixing with hotel guests all weekend and cook all our own meals, but could only book two nights. This ended up making things overall better, because we could then detour through Shaunavon on the way there. What's so great about Shaunavon? It is home to the BEST restaurant in the province, Harvest Eatery. This was our second time there and again everything was absolute perfection. It is definitely worth the detour, if you are going to be doing anything in southern SK! (For reference it's about an hour drive from the CH Centre Block, and also about the same to the Grasslands National Park West Block in the opposite direction.)

(Frenchman River in Eastend)

We stayed at the empty Canalta in Shaunavon and had a patio supper at Harvest. The next morning we slowly made our way over to the Cypress Hills Centre Block through Eastend. The T-Rex Centre was closed, but we did the interpretive walking trail around the centre (#4 on the link) and then did one of the scenic driving tours (#1 on the link) through the badlands. It is definitely an area very different from Saskatoon and was a great way to meander over from Shaunavon to Cypress!

(On the Eastend driving tour)

We made our way to Cypress Hills in the afternoon and checked out the main lookouts and the Native Prairie interpretive trail. Then, checked into The Resort and had a campfire supper while our resident squirrel attempted to pelt us/our car with pine cones for the evening. 

(For the hundreds of cones the squirrel threw off the tree, it finally showed us what it does with them)

Cypress Hills Centre Block is a very small park. We did the three other very lovely interpretive trails in the morning (so many butterflies! Next time we will go in July for maximum wildflowers), got ice cream, and then decided to drive over to the West Block in the afternoon to check out the Conglomerate Cliffs. It was about an hour drive, but totally worth it for the incredible views! We didn't have much time to stick around in the West Block, but next time I would plan for spending a full day and venture into the Alberta side. 

(One of the Centre Block lookouts, I don't recall which.)

I had been to Cypress Hills Centre Block once, as a bored teenager, and it rained the whole time, so I was excited to go back and experience it properly (as an adult and in adequate weather). I had never been to the West Block. In my opinion the West Block was more a bit more "impressive" - I never quite got the feeling I was very high up in the Centre Block, but the West Block truly did feel like we were up in the mountains. Still, both sides are definitely worth the visit, as it's a small slice of the province unlike anywhere else.

(Conglomerate Cliffs, West Block)

On our way home the next day we stopped at the Great Sand Hills. I will say they weren't quite as majestic and amazing as I'd expected, but still worth seeing. It was kind of funny to see families set up on top of the main dune with beach gear and snow saucers for sliding down the sand.

(Finally saw a bluebird, first in my life! I think this is a female mountain bluebird)

We left Saskatoon Thursday afternoon at about 2:30 and arrived home on Sunday by 3:30. We were able to pack a lot of activities into a short trip but it somehow still managed to feel relaxing as well. This is a very doable 3-day road trip from Saskatoon, and I'm sure we'll repeat it in the future!

Staying in Saskatoon for the Summer

In the past few years I've begun to realize how underrated not traveling in the summer is. For most of my life, both as a kid and an adult, I spent considerable lengths of time away from home in the summer - going to lakes, road trips all over the continent, catching a Blue Jays series or two, and attending conferences. I don't discount the fun and memorable experiences these trips have provided at all, but especially as an adult there's been an element of FOMO related to summer travel as well. Summers in Saskatoon are so short and so lovely, it's nice to stick around and experience them. Last year Brahm and I made the conscious decision to not plan a major trip during the summer like we had in previous years, and it was so nice to just be here and enjoy ourselves.

Long weekends this year in Saskatoon have seemed especially dead, and especially wonderful for those of us who stuck around. It seems? a larger number of people are spending more time at The Lake where it is debatably "safer", which means there is a noticeable decrease in traffic and people and noise. If you don't have plans yet for September long and are on the fence about traveling, I definitely recommend having a Saskatoon long weekend staycation!

Here are some of the highlights of August long 2020 in Saskatoon for me:

• Biking to Broadway for a patio supper at Ace Burger and also gelato from Beppi's
• Picking raspberries and blackcurrants at Rhodes, getting an amazing raspberry ice cream sandwich, and making delicious jam and squares with my harvest
• Finally doing a long-planned small yard project - cutting out a bit more of the lawn to increase the size of one of the pollinator gardens

• Watching the bees in the yard go absolutely nuts for every flower they could possibly find
• Beginning to harvest a small but wide variety of items from my gardens - cherry tomatoes, ground cherries, dill, mint, basil, carrots, lettuce, arugula, peas, hot peppers, and strawberries
• Getting too much fresh produce from Robertson Valley Farm and Kaleidoscope Vegetable Gardens
• Watching the videos in the Saskatoon Horticultural Society's Virtual Passport Garden Tour (which I am on the planning committee for) and getting inspired for next year
• Floating in my backyard kiddie pool (if I close my eyes I can't even tell I'm not in a lake!)

Admittedly, we do have a short trip planned for mid-August; just 3 nights in a provincial park that is new to us. It feels like a good balance of getting to enjoy the offerings of the province and also not dealing with trying to find someone to water the garden for a week. Otherwise Saskatoon is a great place to have socially distanced summer staycations!

Chappell Marsh

Last year I learned of the existence of the Chappell Marsh Conservation Area. It was a discovery of the "this seems to good to be true" variety - within a 15 minute drive of my house, birds and wildlife galore, hardly any other people around, and right next door to my new favourite U-Pick farm (which feels similarly too good to be true), Rhodes Raspberries and Blackcurrants.

In the age of physical distancing, Chappell Marsh is the perfect alternative to some of the potentially more crowded and well-known Meewasin sites. We went on a Sunday afternoon two weekends ago and were the only people in the area for the full hour we were there! We saw tons of birds, a wide variety of wildflowers being enjoyed by all sorts of bees and butterflies, and even a deer and a coyote. (Full disclosure, the wildlife encounters also included one tick that I found several hours later on my back.)

(My photos are quite bad because I just brought my point-and-shoot camera, but was kicking myself for not bringing my DSLR and telephoto lens because I missed out on some great photo opportunities. Above are the best I could get of an eastern kingbird and our coyote friend who unnervingly watched us for several minutes.)

There are a couple of hours' worth of trails to explore, plus sitting areas and a few little offshoots from the trails that would be great places to set up for the day for extended bird watching or photography. It is more of a wetland/grassland environment rather than deep woods, but there are plenty of trees to shade at least a portion of the trails.

I will be back to Chappell Marsh this summer, and look forward to experiencing fall migration there as well!

New Potatoes NOW

Legitimate new potatoes, i.e. freshly dug yesterday in Saskatchewan, are one of the true tastes of summer for me. They are a very fleeting seasonal pleasure, as they only taste the way they do for about a month until they mature and begin to taste more classically "potatoey". Actual new baby potatoes taste almost sweet and are a very different experience from a french fry or a large baked russet.

If you don't understand the big deal, and continue to buy last years' crop from the grocery store, I implore you to just buy one little bag and give it a shot. Perhaps $5 for a pound of potatoes seems a bit steep, but remember it is $5 for a once-a-year treat that won't exist in a few more weeks. I have been buying mine from Spring Creek Garden, through the Community Farmers Market of Saskatoon or the Robertson Valley Farm stand on Valley Road, but a lot of other market vendors will have them very soon.

My favourite way to prepare them is: boil (this is the only time I boil vegetables) and drain them. Then I put a generous amount of butter and salt into the pot, get the butter slightly bubbling, add copious amounts of dill and green onion, and add the potatoes back in to coat them in butter and greenery.

"Dilled potatoes" as I grew up calling them (and likely do many others, as it seems very common for markets to advertise fresh dill along with new potatoes) make a great side for a BBQ'd protein, and sometimes we just eat them as our full meal along with sour cream or cottage cheese (I know some people are grossed out by cottage cheese, but don't knock it until you try it - it's like an Eastern European poutine).

Time is of the essence here, people! Get your baby potatoes while they are still babies.

Catching Up

Oh wow, has it really been almost a month since I posted on here? I sat down a couple times to write posts, halfway drafted, and then abandoned them. It isn't that there hasn't been anything positive going on - I got a small work contract which was very welcome after being virtually unemployed for several weeks, and it's been really fun and rewarding, AND led to more of the same work. For the first time in a very long while I feel like I'm doing work where I can truly maximize my own value and expertise for my clients and it's a pretty great feeling.

To catch up on missed posting, I think I will just make a list of a few things that if I'd had more time and energy for writing lately, I would have probably written full posts on each.

Pelicans! I live in the boring suburbs but one thing that isn't boring is the retention pond a block away which attracts a huge variety of birds all summer long, including pelicans. They took a while to show up this year but I think they are so majestic and interesting, and I feel so fortunate that I can go watch them whenever I feel like it. We are really lucky to spend our summers with them here in SK - last summer my uncle from BC was visiting and he thought it such a novelty to be able to see the pelicans every day.

(Getting attacked by a red-winged blackbird for encroaching on his nest - I've been there too.)

Fresh produce from local farmers! We've been buying veggies from Kaleidoscope since the first week of May already. They've got an online store this year and offer weekly delivery in Saskatoon. I can't say enough great things about the consistently amazing quality of what they grow. Please throw your money at them (or other local producers of your choice). As a farmers' market junkie, it's now the point in the summer where I don't need to buy any imported produce from the grocery store anymore until well into the fall and I'm super excited about it. I also love that the Community Farmers' Market of Saskatoon is occupying the downtown outdoor market space every Saturday this summer!

The library is open again - at least for curbside pickup! I bought a few books and borrowed others from friends during the closure but it's so nice to once again have access to a much wider variety of free books! All of the library staff that I've talked to on the phone to set up appointments or while picking up books seem overjoyed to be back at work and it's just been such a positive experience to use this wonderful public service again.

Gelato for supper! My MSc conference schedule resulted in Italy trips the past two summers. This year that's very much not in the cards for a variety of obvious reasons, but having authentic Italian gelato at Beppi's has enabled the gelato addiction which started on my first trip. It has ruined us for pretty much all other ice cream vendors in Saskatoon (except perhaps Fable, which only loses our business for the unfortunate fact that it's not within as easy biking distance as Beppi's). It is not unusual for us to decide we don't feel like making supper and instead hop on our bikes and ride to Beppi's at 5:30pm. Frozen dairy and eggs is a perfectly acceptable summer dinner in my opinion.

Outdoor dining! I know restaurants are allowed to open, but my personal comfort level is not yet okay with spending extended periods of socialization time indoors. Thus I was super excited to get tickets for Farm One Forty's farm-to-table dinner on June 13. It was extremely windy but they pulled it off beautifully, and it was nice to be around other people again, but at a safe distance with outdoor ventilation. And the food by Odla of course was amazing - I'd highly recommend this experience if you can make it work this summer; the next one appears to be scheduled for July 12. We are looking forward to also checking out a Black Fox G&T night this Friday. I am hoping that there will be more opportunities created by the local government for restaurants to host similar outdoor dining experiences within the city limits - if they build it I will come!

Okay that's enough for now! Summer in Saskatoon is always incredibly lovely but also way too short, so hopefully being more limited in your travel options this summer will be a silver lining that allows you to discover some new ways to enjoy the season locally.

Recent First-Timer Birds

Do I pretty much only talk about birds, food, and gardening now? The answer is probably yes, but these simple pleasures are more than pulling their weight this year.

As a relatively new birder, I still have lots and lots of relatively common birds around me that I haven't noticed/ID'd yet. Pretty much every time I go out for a walk, especially to the retention pond, I see something new and it is a wonderful and exciting rush. Here are a few of my latest "first timers" (or at least the first photo evidence I've gotten of said birds).

I've been waiting a long time to see another American Avocet after noticing one at the side of the road a couple years ago. I know they are common and there are places I can go to find them in the city, but I've been stubborn and trying to stay birding at my own neighbourhood pond. Finally found this one just standing around last week on a very windy day! This is such a cool bird. Blue legs!

I have mixed up common grackles and Brewer's blackbirds in the past, but the blue head very clearly identifies this guy as a grackle!

Eared grebe! This bird was so far away in person that I assumed it was a red-necked grebe, and was pleasantly surprised to find out what it was through my telephoto lens!

I am pretty sure this is a Forster's tern due to the lighter outer wings, but correct me if this is a common tern! I think we've got both around and they are hard to tell apart.

I snapped a bunch of pictures of these two, assuming they were mallards from afar but upon looking closer realized they were gorgeous northern shovelers! Look at those giant bills!

Yesterday I was booking it home after the scary clouds rolled in, had put away my camera, and suddenly saw a yellow headed blackbird right in front of me in the grass! I had to take my camera back out to get this (admittedly terrible) photo, but still made it back home before the rain. I felt like a true Pokemon master after this, because I had seen five different types of blackbirds in a one-hour span (yellow headed, red winged, Brewer's, grackle, and brown-headed cowbird).

My favourite backyard birding experience lately! I saw a white throated sparrow (left) for the first time a couple weeks ago at the pond, and then the next day one was hanging around in my backyard! Then later, it had brought a white crowned sparrow (right) friend! They have not been back much but this was such a cool thing to see.

Pandemic Takeout Part 2

More suggestions for places to order takeout from, and a fun option for mixing it up a bit!

Since I last posted about ordering takeout during the era of social distancing, we have ordered food from a few more of our favourite restaurants. We have also been doing the pickups ourselves to ensure that the restaurants do not have to pay a commission to a delivery app, and had one especially bittersweet reaction to this which I'll describe in a bit.

We have ordered pickup beer from Shelter a couple of times, once for Brahm's birthday and another time when we were downtown anyway to pick up food from Number One Noodle House (call directly instead of using an app and get 10% off). If you have not tried Number One Noodle House yet, this is something you need to get on ASAP. My favourite shared meal for two consists of the smashed cucumber salad and the cumin egg noodles, but everything we've had here has been amazing.

Since the weather is finally not terrible, it's bike riding season once again! We don't live near a ton of independent restaurants but we have a couple favourites in the area. Angeethi Flame is close enough that we can bike over for pickup and get home in time to enjoy hot food.

My favourite takeout experience so far though was this Tuesday. We called October Asian Cuisine for an order, biked over to pick it up and then ate our food in the park across the street from the restaurant. This was such a fun "date night" type of activity! Picnics are highly underrated, and I plan to make them more of a habit this summer. (Normally I can't say no to October's dan dan ramen but didn't want to eat soup in a park, so we stuck to rolls and dumplings.)

I added a $10 tip over the phone to which the employee responded "Are you sure!?" When we picked up our food, we found an extra order of specialty sushi in the bag (a $10 value from the menu), with a note:

This was so lovely, but says a lot about how much the delivery apps take in commission, if a restaurant is willing to essentially comp our tip in free food as a thank you for ordering directly. So please if you have the time and ability to pick up your own order, skip Skip, and call restaurants directly.

On the note of riding bikes, it is SO nice to ride in minimal traffic lately. I hate a lot of things about what this pandemic is doing, but the traffic reduction is one silver lining. If you've been uneasy about riding your bike on the streets of Saskatoon, now is definitely the time to try it out. If you stick to residential side streets it's almost like the streets are totally closed to cars!

Our Lucky Last Week of Normalcy

It's Cinco de Mayo, and I'm going to write about our last "normal" week before Life with COVID - our 2020 Mexican vacation, and likely the last vacation we'll have for quite some time.

This was our fourth year going to Mexico and we have continued to return to the Ixtapa-Zihuatenejo area (yes, THAT Zihuatenejo). The previous three years we have stayed at all-inclusives through Sunwing vacation packages, and absolutely loved the Azul Grand at Playa Linda just outside of Ixtapa. During our first visit, we went on a countryside tour that stopped in the extremely charming fishing village of Barra de Potosi. Last year, we went on a walking tour of Zihuatenejo. Both tours made me want to spend more time in these areas, so we booked half a week in each this year and had the most wonderful time.

Barra de Potosi is part of the Playa Blanca area, on the opposite side of the airport as Ixtapa and Zihuatenejo. We stayed at a small resort about 15 minutes down the beach from the village, which meant before we sat at a seaside enramada to ingest copious amounts of camarones al coco and guacamole, we had to get a bit of exercise. Playa Blanca is without a doubt the most wonderful beach I've ever been to. We truly did not want to leave! The whole area was extremely quiet, a mix of Canadian, American, and Mexican tourists and locals, and had an insanely relaxing vibe.

A highlight was renting kayaks to go wildlife viewing in the saltwater lagoon, something I'd been dreaming about since we took a short boat tour of the lagoon during our visit four years ago.

We spent the second half of the week in Zihuatenejo, which was a totally different vibe - a little more interesting and lively, not super relaxing, but not overactive either. The Mercado Municipal was a lot of fun, a great place to buy consumable souvenirs like coffee and vanilla, and also to find a very cheap and delicious lunch. Our favourite activity in Zihua though was probably just wandering around, finding people to sell us snacks and agua fresca on the street (which just seems an impossible idea, not even two months later - we had a feeling this could be a last hurrah of the sort, and admit that we ate the street churros with a little extra gusto).

As you know if you've read this blog for a while, I've been working my way through the Duolingo Spanish tree, and when taking this vacation a bit more "off the beaten path" it was highly beneficial to know a bit of Spanish, especially in tiny Barra de Potosi. I did notice that most Canadian/American tourists in these areas appeared to know at least a small amount of Spanish. I have no idea when (if?? :*( ) we'll ever get to go back again, but I'm still working away at it so I can be ready.

The last day of our vacation wasn't exactly "ruined" but was definitely stressful as we were getting news of the COVID-19 shutdowns starting at home. We feel extremely lucky, and a little bit reckless, that we traveled during the last week it was somewhat acceptable to do so. Likely we never would have gone had we realized what was to come, which makes me a bit uneasy, but nonetheless we made it home safe and I sure hope that we'll be able to return to this beautiful area of the world again sometime, though I know it'll never quite be the same.

Look Up! Wayyy Up!

Yes, I am going to continue harping on everyone to get into birdwatching this summer! To help you get started, I'm going to talk a bit about the concept of a "spark bird" - i.e. a bird that is somewhat special to you and sparks your interest in learning more about birds. Spring migration (i.e. right now) is a great time to find your spark bird!

I'm not 100% on my spark bird, but I think it was a chipping sparrow. We'd put a feeder in our backyard shortly after moving into our house and were pleasantly surprised that it attracted tons of American Goldfinches. They were beautiful and fun to watch, but they weren't my spark bird.

One afternoon in spring I was digging some dandelions or something, and saw a tiny sparrow-like bird with an orange crown land near me, pick through the grass a bit, and then fly away. I didn't see it again for quite some time, but it inspired us to buy a bird book and the lovely staff at Wild Birds Unlimited helped identify it as a chipping sparrow. Now we get them regularly in our yard.

If you pay attention, it is pretty magical how many types of birds you might be able to see from your yard or balcony. Notice all the geese flying overhead right now? They are not all "just" Canada Geese - bust out some binoculars and take a closer look, or listen for different sounds. If the sound is less honking and more coo-like, those birds are likely sandhill cranes! If the birds are honking but you can see they are fairly white, they are likely snow geese! I had flocks of both flying over my yard all morning yesterday.

(flock of sandhill cranes)

Right now also is a great time for one of my favourite adorable birds, the dark eyed junco. We pretty much only see them during spring and fall migration, but if you put some feed out in the yard they will hang around for a few weeks. They are fun to watch because they come in a variety of shades and colours (ranging from black to gray to brown, haha). Here's the most interesting-coloured one I've had in my yard so far:

Bohemian waxwings are still around, feasting and getting drunk off old berries and crabapples! If you've got a tree with dried up apples or berries in your vicinity, watch it for flocks of visiting waxwings. These friends will soon be replaced with their summer cousins, cedar waxwings, who are a little more brown in colour but just as beautiful.

These are all birds I've been able to see right out the window. I know we are allowed to go out for walks and get exercise, but if you're sick, under quarantine, or even just need a quick work break, birding is a pretty great nature activity you can do without leaving home, no matter where you live, and a really easy one to get kids involved with too!

(As mentioned Wild Birds Unlimited is a wonderful store, and I also like to buy bulk feed from Early's - they have a great selection of feeders as well.)

Ordering Takeout During a Pandemic

Prior to this whole social distancing situation, we were not huge fans of takeout or delivery food. It usually showed up a bit cold, a bit soggy, and honestly there was nothing preventing us from going to the restaurant and eating freshly cooked food right there. We don't (didn't?) eat out that much in general, maybe on average twice a month, and usually consider restaurant food a treat rather than a fuel source - and soggy, cold takeout falls into the "fuel" category for me.

So far we have ordered delivery three times in the past month, and suddenly it is a very big treat! I look forward to the day when I can eat in a restaurant again, but I really like how some places have adapted to doing delivery without compromising product quality.

The first place we ordered from was Delight+, one of our favourite Chinese restaurants. It's always been a really lovely place to dine, with the chef visiting the tables to ask how you're enjoying the food. I noticed on their Facebook page that they were offering free delivery if you DON'T order through Sk*p the D*shes (it actually sounds like a lot of restaurants would really appreciate if you don't order through a third party right now). We ordered three vegetable-heavy dishes which were SUCH a treat, as easily perishable produce has somewhat fallen out of our cooking rotation due to only going to the grocery store every 10-14 days. The restaurant is fairly close to our house and the food arrived about 20 minutes after hanging up the phone. We will definitely order again when we need a fresh veggie fix!

Our other two takeout meals have been from Calories, and I LOVE how they have adapted their business to facilitate delivery. Their menu is limited, mainly offering a few cold items and family meal packages that can be made ahead and reheated like soup, chili, or pasta. They have a set menu and a rotating feature family meal package each week. I love that the meals are family-style, with a meal and a dessert included. They are also ridiculously affordable considering the quality and quantity of the food you get, and there is no delivery charge (though it is not "on-demand" delivery, just within two set windows of time each day). I was telling a friend that one could order 2L of soup, a loaf of bread, and a dozen cookies for $30 (!!). She responded "Thirty bucks? That's how much ordering Taco Time on Skip the Dishes cost us yesterday!"

(Calories Easter dinner - fiddleheads, turkey two ways with wild mushrooms, and the most buttery mashed potatoes I've ever had in my life; rhubarb pie not pictured)

I believe Calories was always doing farm to table ingredient sourcing well before it was trendy, and though they changed owners a couple years ago the food is still outstanding. I've never had a bad meal there, and we've been raving to whoever will listen about the two feature packages we've ordered in the past couple weeks. If you are thinking of having a slightly fancy isolation dinner, perhaps to celebrate a special occasion, I am a big fan of the Calories takeout menu! I love that it is made specifically for reheating so you don't end up with a bunch of soggy fries, or can get it delivered on Thursday and eat it on Friday. (I know other upscale and delicious restaurants like Hearth and Odla have similar reheatable offerings, which I'm sure we will also eventually try and rave about.)

About a year ago when one of my favourite restaurants that I admittedly did not patronize enough closed, I was talking to the server during my last meal there and she mentioned that many independent restaurants in Saskatoon are a bad week or two away from permanently closing. While this hasn't necessarily made me start eating out more (I really love cooking and saving money), I always try to go to independent restaurants if I'm going to go out. Right now I think this might be more important than ever, so if you do have a choice, please order from an independent business as opposed to a chain, and if there's an option to not use a delivery app, order directly from the restaurant/do curbside pickup. I promise Taco Bell will come out of this okay, but La Bamba might not, so please do what you can to support the businesses that make our city unique!