a peek inside the fishbowl

Ohhh my pretties.

The Village Quire is a new Fishbowl patron and let me tell you, I’m pretty excited about it. If you know me AT ALL you know that I just adore paper and paper-related goods. Stationary, pretty wrapping paper, office supplies, they made me weak in the knees.

The Village Quire is the cutest thing that’s happened to Westboro, in, like, forever. And this time of year it’s the eye of the holiday hurricane. Shopping there is actually peaceful. I drop in when I’m walking by, even if I’m not in the market to buy anything. It’s rest for my weary soul.

The Village Quire store is positively brimming with lovely things: cards, wrapping, party supplies, all kinds of gifts and great little finds. (Have a peek and see it for yourself using Google Maps.)

Sidebar: For me, The Village Quire embodies everything about what it means to SHOP LOCAL. Shopping there is a very special experience, one that does not exist at the dollarama or in a box box store. I know the owner, and I know how much effort she puts into selecting her merchandise and in running the store. She lives in the area and her kids go to school here. When I shop in a store like this I’m basically saying, YES, I want to live in a neighborhood that has a cool assortment of independent businesses! And I hope you do too.

OK. I’ll be talking more about shopping locally next week, but right now, it’s giveaway time!

The Village Quire is ultimately about All Things That are Thoughtful. Everything here is essentially about connecting, and sharing meaningful moments with friends and loved ones. Sending a card, writing a note, tying a pretty bow on a gift… there are a million ways to show someone you care, and make some great memories while you’re at it.

The Village Quire is giving Fishbowl readers a chance to create some special memories of their very own with two different packages. The winner gets to pick which one!

1) The Very Merry Holiday Package – It contains festive holiday photo props, a pretty peppermint garland, and a pack of holiday cards (because everyone needs cards right?):

Not sure how to use photo props? Let Molly show you how it’s done:

You can also tape some Christmas paper to the wall, bring out the accessories, and VOILA, you have a holiday photobooth at your next party or family gathering! Neat eh?

2) The Sparkling Holiday Package: This one will appeal to the Glitterati among us. It contains glittery party photo accessories, a gorgeous garland, and gold stickers (perfect for decorating special packages). It’d be a neat thing to have around for New Year’s too:

Would you like to win one? It’s easy.

• In order for your entry to qualify, please leave a comment below and tell me which package you’d like to win. That’s it. If your name is chosen you will win the package you mentioned in your comment.
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
• If you can’t post your comment for whatever reason you can email it to me for posting at andrea at quietfish dot com. Please note, I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
• I will draw one name using Random.org at noon EST on November 23, 2013. I’ll contact the winner via email, who will have to pick up their chosen prize at The Village Quire (312 Richmond Rd, Ottawa) in a timely manner.
• The Village Quire is on Facebook. Liking their page is not a requirement of this giveaway but it’s a great way of keeping up with news, local events, and 411 about other local businesses.
• There’s a second giveaway going on right here on their website. You can enter that one too!

I’d also like to take this opportunity to mention that if you’re a fan of shopping local like I am, do consider spreading the word about your own favourite independent stores. You’re doing a world of good when you do: making our city a better place to live, boosting your local economy, and helping families like your own.

Good luck!

This is a game called Snake Oil. It arrived on my doorstep the other day. The eldest (who is very keen on board games) asked if we could play. And so we did.

Happily for me, Snake Oil isn’t one of those games that requires an in-depth study of lengthy rules or “warm up” rounds (both of which are things I do not enjoy). The rules are brief. In fact, they’re printed right on the side of the box.

“In the Old West, sly snake oil salesmen had the special talent of getting even the most skeptical customer to buy the most dubious product. In Snake Oil, that’s exactly what the players get to do! One player draws a card and becomes the Customer while the other players each select two Word Cards from their hands to create a product to pitch to the Customer. Laughter erupts as each player attempts to persuade the Customer that their item is the best! The Customer picks their favorite item and that player is awarded the Customer Card. The player with the most Customer Cards wins!”

I don’t like it when games promise gales of laughter right on the box. It always seems suspect, if you know what I mean. It’s as if the marketing department is trying too hard; and what makes me laugh may not make someone else laugh. But you know what, we DID laugh.

This game is ultimately about selling skills. It’s about who’s got the best sales pitch for some really odd sounding products (this is where the word cards came in). And the kids dug deep into their imaginations with some very funny results.

Snake oil is very easy to play, and it’s fast too. There’s no score card and you play as many rounds as you want before bedtime rolls around.

My only beef with this game is that it comes unnecessarily overpackaged. It’s really just a bunch of cards, and it truly doesn’t need to come in a big box with a plastic insert. They could have packaged them like our other favourite card games: UNO and S’Quarrels.

That being said, I am happy about this new addition to our board game collection!

Those of you who are following my #dailylunches project may be interested to know that I photographed my 500th lunch yesterday. Here it is:

I chose to go to Petit Bill’s Bistro… for a few different reasons.

1) I wanted to keep it local for this milestone lunch.
2) I happened to have a gift card.
3) I knew it was going to be good.

Sidebar: I have no issues dining alone. Do you? I used to go out alone a lot when the girls were little, which was borne out of desperation to get out of the house as much as it was about issues with logistics. Hiring a babysitter required advance planning and extra cash. Mark and I would offhandedly plan to catch a movie but by the time we did the math we’d throw up our hands and just not bother going together. SO. That meant I went to see movies at the Bytowne alone. After a few times I got the hang of it and didn’t feel like such a big deal.

ANYWAY. Yes. I am more than equipped to dine alone, but as I was tweeting out my lunch (as I do every day using the #dailylunches hashtag) my tweet was answered by my virtual lunch companion: @NancyfromCanada. So she joined me, which was lovely. (YAY Twitter!)

It took me awhile to figure out what I was going to order – everything looked fabulous – but I eventually settled on the sandwich of the day, which was crisply battered cod – piping hot – on a lightly toasted bun with homemade tartar sauce and dollop of coleslaw tucked in for good measure. I couldn’t decide between fries and salad so the server kindly suggested I go with FRALAD, that is, a bit of both. This was an okay decision. The fries could have been hotter but it almost feels bad to complain when everything else was so fresh and flavourful.

Petit Bill’s is a pleasant setting for lunch. It’s nice without being too fancy, a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere that encourages diners to linger. The service is stellar; genuine and friendly without being overbearing. It strikes me as a really great neighbourhood meeting place too.

Good news for me: I still have enough on my gift card for one more lunch. So I will be back! Maybe I’ll try their famous lobster poutine next time. :)

Want to see my 500 lunches? You can do so right here.