Summer is over in the Tdot.

Summer is not my favorite season for personal comfort, I'm the first to admit it. I hate the high heat and humidity we've been getting for the last few summers. I hate sunscreen but I have to wear it, or lots of clothing that make the previous issue a bigger problem. I hate sweating constantly from the heat, and I feel like I can't go out and about nearly as much outside since it's fucking hot all the time. I love some things about summer, cottaging, camping, swimming, and BBQing.

 A slightly bad cellphone picture of the BBQs in the pool area of our apartment.

And an even worse, fuzzier cellphone picture of some dead fish and a side of potatoes and red onion, mushrooms skewers.

BBQing was never strictly a summer activity in my family, we do it all year long. Our New Year's tradition is doing homemade burgers on the BBQ and getting Swiss Chalet fries. However, since I've moved into an apartment, I only have access to the BBQs in our pool area for a limited time during the year, roughly 5 months spread over summer.

 The results from the previous picture.

 That time, when we fished for our own fish in a Toronto swimming pool, caught a few of them and made them for dinner.

This is the last thing I'll probably BBQ this season, a fantastic recipe for Paneer and Red Pepper Skewers. It was a nice send off to the BBQing year. The recipe needs some tweaking, admittedly, chiefly I should have cut the paneer bigger and I think the addition of tomatoes may help retain some moisture. And this did not keep well in the fridge, that's for sure. The paneer was rock solid the next day. I salvaged it by reheating it in a small saucepan with some olive oil.

I love fall. The cooler air, less death-causing sun, and the ability to wear pants and not sweat to death make me a happy dude. But as the air cools and the sun goes down earlier, I will have a moment of reflection for the end of BBQ season.

August adventures recap

August was a month of mini-vacations. Normally I do this alone since my schedule is a bit wonky and I find seat sales at 2 am when it's a bit rude to call your friends and ask if they want to go to x. However, this time round, an old hostel buddy of mine has been in town and I was able to travel with someone else for a change. It's certainly different!

First stop, Washington DC for a few days. Never been, was awesome. I got to see one of my best buds from my Masters program, who's working in DC, actually in the field, unlike the rest of us. She made sure we had a great taste of the food and drink culture in DC and I can't thank her enough for it. I brought her some maple syrup to be stereotypically Canadian about it though, so that's a start. We hit up a few museums while we were there, one of my favorites now being the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, specifically the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre. Le holy crap this was an awesome way to start the trip! he Udvar-Hazy is the second location of the Air and Space museum, located out by the Dulles International airport, so we went straight there from our flight into DC. Despite the horrendously early hour, totally worth it.

 A part of the Enola Gay. Google that, you're in for an interesting read.

 The Canadarm!

 We spent an alarming amount of time making penis jokes about the monument. Yep, we're mature.

Two days after I got back from DC myself and a few friends ran up north to the cottage! This is known as the weekend of doing nothing but dock reading, swimming, campfires and cooking. I'm struggling to think of other things we did for that few days...

 It may not be paradise to most, but you can see it from there.

About a week after that myself and the hostel buddy went to Ottawa for a few days! I have soft spot for Ottawa, despite its many, many faults, since it's one of my home towns. It was fun to be super dorky about knowing Canadian history and showing off occasionally to my hostel bud (he's Australian), and we got to enjoy some time with some of his old friends that now call the city home.

 ATTACK OF THE GIANT SPIDER!

Our government buildings can be surprisingly pretty sometimes.

Now that I'm broke again, there should be more cooking and DIY postings soon. Can't afford to do much else after these few adventures.