This is the best photo I was able to capture of Omar. Like a proper crack-head, he was far too excited(ly) watching the kitchen crew work their magic. At one point, I thought he might offer to join them in order to understand the mechanics of it all. And by understand the mechanics of it all, I in fact mean eat his way through the kitchen, including its staff. Everything looks so good.

I had warned Reem before their arrival that my French exams were unexpectedly scheduled for not ten weeks out as indicated, or expected, but rather October 1st. They understood that my first week of their time here would mean a limitation in my availability, and they’ve been great about this. So great, I didn’t have to kick them in the stomach. Thanks God.

There are a ton of places to which I wish to take them, many of them food-related. Today is the first day I was able to take my dinner break and treat them to one of my preferred, and relatively new, Ottawa joints – Gongfu Bao (365 Bank St). When craving meat, it is usually to here that I roll myself.

Which is exactly what we did. I rolled Omar over, and collected our take-out food order for home. Bao, in case you didn’t know, is a steamed bun. I would have taken photos of our order of eight but we ate them far too quickly. Sorry. In any case, they are so pretty to look at and they feel so light on the stomach – just fluffy white rounds of bread pumped with air. A photo, courtesy of KitchenSanctuary(dot)com –

Oh! And in case you didn’t guess it, which you should have because it’s me, bao is considered street food. Which, in Mahanese, translates to The Best Food.

Though Bao is Chinese, and the following is Japanese, I can’t help but associate the two because they are both white and fluffy – Japanese cheesecake. If only someone would bring this particular joy to my streets…

Let me know when it happens, please and thank you.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. The arrest of the BTK Strangler. Watching Mindhunter is terrifying. Even in French.
2. Doing the dishes. It means I have food to eat, and a place to eat it.
3. The very small, almost unnoticeable callus’ I have on the bridge of both feet. Because these are from years of prayer.

Ottawa | Day 301 | September 27, 2019

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