Tuesday's Grey & Wednesday Too

Finally, some rain. Yesterday I turned into a lobster, but not one of the cute ones. One of the ones that are randomly striped and have shadows of the palest white possible, alternating with super-redness everywhere else. I like spring and summer rain days. It's nice and warm, but not too hot, and it really clears the air and makes the next day that much better. Also, today was Homemaker Day! Started with some puppy-sitting, some walking around in the rain, and then home for breakfast and baking.
Something I've really gotten into since I moved here is cooking; I've been trying to make at least a few meals from scratch every week instead of relying on the plethora of take-out and deliciously simple ready-to-eat options at the stores around here. Soon, my typical day consisted of bagels, pasta, and some random Indian food (or Persian, or Trinidadian, or Jamaican..). Trying to remedy this while I've got time on my hands by making a lot more food from scratch. I want to get back out to the market at Jean Talon sometime this week if I can to grab a ton of fresh vegetables, fruit and cheese. My theory is this: if it's in the fridge, and I've spent a fair amount of money on it, I'll have to eat it, right?
The grocery store across the street is kind of a shithole. Not the best selection, first of all, and definitely not quality produce. But it's convenient and I hit it up at least once every two days (I don't really go get groceries that often anymore - I pick up what I'm thinking of using for the next day or two instead. That means I've gotten to know pretty much every employee there, and I'm sure they think I'm a little nuts.) I got some bananas to use in smoothies that weren't the best, and since I had a few laying around still I decided to make some really simple banana muffins with a mocha almond crumble topping. I love to bake, but I'm not really big on *eating* the baked goods... so Ellen and her roommates sometimes get generous bags of cookies and stuff from me whenever I do.
I decided to use up the peppers, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and celery that have been sitting in my fridge for the past few days. For lunch I made a little pizza (called my mom for her whole wheat anise pizza crust.. pretty delicious). Now I'm finishing up a super simple pasta sauce, with the rest of the aforementioned vegetables and some onions, garlic, a can of tomatoes, and some broth. Not super hungry yet, but I've made enough sauce to freeze for another day anyway. Besides, I'm a big fan of small meals often, so this should work out for a while.
I'm assuming that it's okay to chop up a bunch of fruit and freeze it in portions, right? I like making smoothies in the morning, but some days I just forget or don't do it or whatever and I figure that freezing cubed strawberries and mangoes and the like would be a more economical way of doing it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
On a completely unrelated note, whenever I go to the pharmacy I have a look at the ibuprofen section to see if there's any extra-strength around. I could never find it anywhere in Quebec, which was a little puzzling. I mentioned that to a friend today who told me to look it up. Finally found a line on the Advil Canada website, noting that extra-strength Advil is found in blah blah blah except for in Quebec where it is behind the counter. Behind the counter! What the hell, Quebec. Advil's too dangerous to give out in 400mg doses, but Tylenol's okay? When I'm in NB next week, I'm buying 5 bottles to bring back. I'm getting sick of taking 4 caplets every 4 hours when I'm headachey and cranky. If anyone has any more information about this little quirk, let me know.