I totally forgot/was to lazy to post this on Saturday (before Papa's Day) but better late than never. :)
We had a classic car show here along the boardwalk on Saturday, and I gotta say...although all of those muffler-less cars drove me BONKERS going by my house at 7am that morning, they looked pretty darn cool. A friend of mine, my roommate and I walked to the Farmer's Market that morning and took a little extra time to stare at the cars, point out favourites and take some pictures. BTW there is such a difference between what a BOY thinks is a cool car, and what girls think are cool cars. These were my picks:
I think I have a thing for 1930's gangster cars...probably because of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I think if I got into one I'd have to crack out that high-pitched New Yawka gangster accent...maybe even wear a pin-striped suit and a fedora. The red car at the top is just delicious. The red. Beautiful.
The cars my roommate liked...super boring. Sharp lines, fins, boring colours. Blech!
For not really being into cars, this was still pretty fun. The ENTIRE TOWN was out and about. Where do all these people usually hide? It's astounding.
Other than that, JUST NOW (in the biz, they call this "Breaking News"), I shook a craaazy looking bug from my pj pants (thought it was just the string at first....NOPE!) What a bold little monster. He later appeared right in front of me on the wall (again...bold).
Stupid move pal! (erg, can you even count all those legs?! *shudder*)
MWAAAHAHAHAHA!
I feel like I just took down a mastadon with my bare hands.
Now that my kingdom has been restored to it's usual monster-free state, I'm off to bed. :) Na-night!
I recently read an article about different types of fathers, asking which father-type you had and how it influenced who you are now. After reading all of the types (only 7?), I realized my dad was not any of them! But maybe I just think too highly of him to put him in a dumb category that 1/7 dads fit into. NOT MY PAPA! No sir.
That got me thinking though. What kind of dad is mine? How has his fathering style influenced me as a person (other than "a lot")? I feel like dads don’t get as much appreciation as moms do, and they’re often treated and regarded as “background” or “secondary” parents, and they often don’t hear how pivotal a role they play in our lives and what they mean to us. So here is an extra-long father’s day post especially for my papa. Because he is the best and I love him and he deserves a nice long note this morning. : )
As a little background, my dad’s father died when my papa was only 2, and he was the youngest of his family (cousins included), so he had very little experience with younger children growing up. When he became a father, it’s pretty safe to say that he had no freakin’ clue how to be one! I’m told he spent a lot of time observing my mom (a pro with the kiddies) and although he may not have been all that comfortable with the primary parenting stuff, he took care of us the best way he knew how. He wasn’t the soccer coach dad, or the spontaneous “LET’S GO CAMPING!!!!” dad, but he was dependable and predictable and ALWAYS there (and for me, a kid who thrives on routine and quiet, he’s PERFECT). In general, kids need security and stability (other than food and shelter, those are pretty much the top priorities) and my papa delivered in spades. He is a fantastic businessman and he worked/works incredibly hard running a successful small-town motorcycle dealership and we always knew where he was. If it was between 8-9am, he was in the kitchen. Between 9am-6pm, he was standing behind the counter at his store. After 6pm, he was at home. He didn’t have poker nights, or a bowling team, and he didn’t watch football with “the guys” (he didn’t have “guys”, which may explain all of the above). He played with us, talked to us, hugged and danced with mom, and then fell asleep watching the History channel. We always knew where our dad was, and where we stood with him. We knew how to make him laugh, or cry (first day of school, EVERY YEAR), or how to tick him off (VERY difficult btw)... but every night, no matter what had happened that day, we heard the same thing: “Who’s the cutest kid in town?” (Answer: me) “Who’s the smartest?” (Answer: me) “What’s the family slogan?” (Answer: All for one and one for all!) <3 I never understood WHY that was the family slogan, or why we had a slogan, or if anyone ELSE had a slogan, but it was a nice good night message I suppose. Family is important. When my brother got to be older, his answers got funnier and funnier, but dad could always count on me to give the right answer (I can never give a wrong one).
Another thing I remember him doing was asking (seemingly) random questions (he still does this). Example: when I was around...8-10 years old, he called me into the living room and said the ever-familiar phrase “I’ve got a question for ya”...followed by “which situation do you think is better. Say you’ve got some kind of debt. Is it better to pay it off a little bit at a time over many years, or in larger amounts over a shorter time period?” I have NO idea what my answer was, all I remember is his explanation, but these kind of questions would pop up all the time. No matter what my answer was (he didn’t care, he just wanted me to think) he’d explain very simply what the correct answer was and WHY. To this day, I keep a perfect $0 balance on my VISA account at all times, and I am never satisfied with answers that can’t explain why.
He may not have been the most involved dad (though we dragged him to events as much as we could), but he worked hard. We may not have understood when we were little why he spent so much time at work, but we did know it wasn’t to up his social status, or to get promotions (he was the boss). It wasn’t at all about himself, there was no ulterior motive to succeed. His only motivation was providing for us, making sure we were taken care of and that we could go to university, etc. I recall being on vacation in Mexico, and me, mom and dad were in the pool looking out at the ocean. Dad turned to me and said (in his classic question-y way) “Why do you think we bring you on these trips?”...which really, may seem like a rude question, and many kids would probably say “why WOULDN’T you?!”. Knowing my dad, and what he values, I answered “to show me what I can have if I work hard.” I love his laugh when I give him the answer he’s looking for.
So how has my dad and his “fathering style” influenced me?
Aside from genetics (unruly hair, brown eyes, big goofy smile, accident-proneness, etc. etc.), my dad taught me:
- how to think critically
- to be modest, but confident in my abilities
- to be proud of my accomplishments
- that respect and trust are earned, and easily lost
- to value education
- how to save/manage money (and which assets have “depreciating value” haha)
- how to drive safely (motorcycle and car)
- that family comes first
- to be grateful
- that having a shy side is oook
- that nothing is free (somebody pays)
- to never complain about a meal that someone else cooked for you
- to follow your passion(s)
- to marry for love and friendship, and honesty is the most important element of a relationship.
- to be silly (he may be shy in public, but at home...different story :D)
- that people spend all night creating bad hair days – so don’t make fun
- that Hondas are lower than dirt
- all the words to Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”...
Unfortunately I didn’t inherit his ability to remember large strings of a bazillion numbers/letters and do complicated mental math, but there are countless phrases, habits, and facial expressions of his that I catch myself mimicking on a regular basis.
I can safely say I have no negative memories of my dad or his fathering style. Even his disciplinary actions were reasonable! I appreciate everything he ever did for our family. I always felt/feel loved and respected, and for a guy who had NO IDEA how to raise a girl (it's a good thing I was a tomboy), he did a darn good job in teaching me what a proper man/husband/father is. Whoever I marry has some pretty high standards to meet!
The lovely and thought-provoking Sarah Von, of "yes and yes" created a list a while ago, of 31 things she wanted to do or accomplish before she turns 31. I thought this was a great idea, and I've been working on a list of my own! After much crossing out, chewing on my pen, and consulting my pals, I've settled on 25 things I want to do before I turn 25 (which will be in January of 2012).
Sarah cleverly has her list in the sidebar of her blog, and I will do the same as I'm sure it will serve as a boot in the arse for me, moreso than as a way of keeping track of my progress for you. Without further ado, here it is:
1. Make a quilt (any size, baby to king, as long as it gets completed)
2. Put all my best recipes in a book, scrapbook style
3. Go to Hong Kong
4. Donate hair to cancer for wig-making
5. Sew my own dress
6. Go on a rollercoaster (eep!)
7. Drive a tractor
8. Plant a tree
9. Go kayaking
10. Visit NY on my own, and by bus
11. Take hip-hop lessons
12. Learn how to pick rather than strum my favourite guitar tunes
13. Go to Niagara Falls
14. Get published in a scientific journal (not up to me, but hey, it could happen)
15. Take ballroom dancing lessons
16. Do karaoke
17. Give my number to a cute waiter via receipt (oo-er, as Georgia would say)
18. Be dairy and meat-free for a week...just because.
19. Volunteer or work at a french-speaking daycare
20. Join an adult choir
21. Finish all my required distance courses (this needs to be before I'm 25 or else I'm screwed...)
22. Cook lobster
23. Go river surfing in Montreal, with Raph (no sharks!)
24. Catch a fish
25. Complete a 20K (not win...complete :P)
Phew! I have a year and a half to do all of it (literally...my 23rd half-birthday was 3 days ago)! Wish me luck and have fun following along. :)
I just did. It was...in a word, terrifying. Or unpleasant, or confusing. What am I saying, it was all three!
I was very tired, so I laid down for a nap, which took a while to happen. Don't you feel like scolding your brain when it won't fall asleep when you both know you're tired? Gosh. So I finally fell asleep, probably only for a few minutes but enough to have a pretty disturbing dream about murderous cartoon children. I woke up when one of them was staring at me and poking me right below my rib (I don't think I like cartoons anymore). I could feel the poking and it was ticklish but NOT a laughing matter. Uber uncomfortable actually. So I woke up...or I thought I did...and maybe I did? My body felt very heavy but not there at the same time, and I realized I couldn't move. My feet and hands wouldn't move, and I immediately thought "oh no! This is sleep paralysis! I don't like it!!!" Penny had told me about it happening to her, so I tried to call her, thinking she'd know what was happening. My mouth and eyes were already open, but I couldn't make sounds and I could only look in one direction (since I couldn't move my head). So I tried knocking on my wall (her room is beside mine) and she came in, but wouldn't say anything. I tried to wave her over but nothing happened, and I could only see her out of the corner of my eye. I tried to say something...nothing. All of this was apparently one of those mid-awake dreams, because at this point I thought I had fallen off my bed and I was crunched up on the floor, not moving, not speaking, thinking..."Penny's going to think I'm dead, people will think I'm dead!" Then I "woke up"...and I was on my bed, with the same feeling in my body, but once I tried to move (hesitantly, fearing it would happen again), I went to Penny's room...and she was napping too! Literally 2 feet from where I was napping. So odd. She said I never knocked. I told her the whole story, which astounded me still as I repeated it.
Shudder.
If this ever happens to you...well I can't say don't panic...you will panic. But it passes! When it happened to Penny, she couldn't even open her eyes, and she definitely was awake! I was in that mid-awake stage, which made everything much more confusing.
My heart is still pounding. I never want to nap again.
This question was posed by one of my favourite bloggers, Gluten-Free Girl Shauna Ahern, with the proposition that today, whoever wants to can write about the first dish they ever cooked as a kid (or ever). It took a while to remember, since I didn't really cook anything until I lived on my own, but the memory finally found its way to the surface. I'm pretty sure I was somewhere near the end of middle school or the beginning of high school, and I'd decided to make chocolate chip cookies. Mom helped me find a good recipe in one of her books and left it up to me. So I got the flour, the eggs, the butter, etc. Mixed everything, doled out the dough onto the sheet, and popped it in the oven. I was SO proud of myself. Then we ate them. I would not be exaggerating when I say, the pride pretty much disintegrated. Mom's face kind of went into an "I'm-grimacing-but-for-the-sake-of-my-kid's-self-esteem-I'm-going-to-try-to-smile" expression, which didn't last long because mom will not lie. She can, but she won't. She said something was...iffy, and even I, not a cookie connoisseur by any stretch, could tell these weren't what I wanted.
Sooo I checked the eggs, I checked to make sure I use the right flour, I checked the vanilla, etc. Then I checked the shortening....it's not really supposed to have a smell...but it did. Mom smelled it, and said...it was rancid. ERRRLAAACK!
It was so disappointing. I had made so many cookies, and I had to throw them all out. I didn't cook or bake anything again until university. So tragic. On a positive note, I do remember the first two dishes I was REALLY proud of making when I lived on my own and cooked for myself. One was a quiche (the first real MEAL I ever made), that I made for my boyfriend at the time. I stood watching as he ate, hoping it wouldn't make him sick. :P The other was a whole chicken, which I roasted with olive oil and herbs rubbed all over it. I had watched a video (actually it may have been the Gluten-Free Girl's!) on how to carve a whole chicken properly. If I do say so myself, it was perfectly executed. :)
So there you go. Rancid beginnings do not determine your cooking future. :)
That was the soundtrack of today. When Penny tried the apricot muffins..."oomm nom nom soo gooood". Then I made double chocolate cookies...same result. If you want to make these cookies, just add a 1/2 c. of unsweetened (fair trade!) cocoa powder to the chocolate chip recipe I posted a while ago. Easy!
I love when I have one ingredient in mind (this week: dried apricots) and I know I will use them for something, but I never know what I'm going to make until it happens. I decided today to finally bake apricot muffins. I wasn't satisfied with any recipes online, BUT I have a cookbook written by a lady in Nova Scotia named Alyce Feindel, the book is called "Quick & Easy Gluten-free Recipes". The pictures are less than inspiring, but her muffin recipes are always good. I decided to use the base of her Cornmeal Raisin muffin recipe for these ones...although I didn't seem to have the right amounts of some ingredients, so I changed some things around. And of course, raisins became apricots. :) So here's the new recipe!
1 c. Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Flour 1 c. PAN flour (cornmeal) 3/4 c. brown sugar 1 c. chopped apricots 1 c. boiling water 1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 c. flax seeds 1 tsp Chia seeds 1/2 tsp cinnamon 4 Tbsp melted butter 2 eggs 1 c. milk w/ 1 Tbsp lemon juice (or you can use 1 c. buttermilk if you have it)
First, preheat oven to 350F and mix your milk and lemon juice together and let that sit. In one bowl, mix your flour, cornmeal, sugar, powder, seeds, and cinnamon. Chop up your apricots and soak them in the water for 5 mins (then drain the water). In a second (larger) bowl, mix the wet ingredients and to this, add the dry ingredients a third at a time. Mixing until JUST combined. Don't get rid of lumps. Mix in the apricots, and pour into a greased 12-muffin tin. Bake for 20 mins or until top of muffin bounces back when pressed. ENJOY! :)
I am also baking cookies in a bit, for a party. Big baking day!
EDIT: Yep, they're amazing.
Did you notice there are 12 in the pan, but 10 on the counter? Penny and I got impatient :)
I feel like I haven't blogged in so long, but it's only been 6 days!
The delay is because I started my job as a lab tech this week! Weee! Before that started though, a few things happened!
First, Pen and I went on a looong bike trip up a really ritzy street one town over. It wasn't actually a long trip distance-wise...but we stopped to take pics of the mansions. :) I like to imagine myself living in them...However I do realize that the people who can actually afford such things, rarely get the time, or know how, to enjoy them. Here are some of my favourite houses...I did feel a little like the paparazzi that day. :P
Penny and I felt like Hansel and Gretel approaching this...isn't it CUTE?!
Amaaazzinnnng. There's also a big awesome barn to the right. Classiest silo I've ever seen. Also to the right, a tennis court...I bet they don't even play tennis.
Another super adorable house. Wouldn't you love coming home to this?! There was also another house, that at first we didn't think WAS a house...since the driveway had it's own street lamps. The lawn was so big we actually thought it was a golf course...nope, just your typical mansion. No biggie.
On Sunday, allll of my roommates piled into the car and we headed off to FREE ADMISSION DAY at the Biosphere! It was raining ALL day so it was awesome. We packed our lunches, got all gussied up in slickers and rainboots and off we went.
ooooooo. aaaaaaaaaah.
There was an ecological house there, where everything was energy efficient and the outside walls had PLANTS growing out of them. Awesome.
Efficiency is beautiful. Or am I thinking of stainless steel?
The sphere from within, on the top platform (also, the car exhibit on the platform). There was a clear acrylic covering over the whole sphere until a terrible fire melted the whole thing in the 70's. It's remained open to the air ever since, and they just built walls around the platforms instead to have an indoor area. We saw a photo of the fire...Intense. The longest escalator (at the time) was inside...it melted. :S
Our last exhibit to see was a workshop, about planting greenily (aka eco-friendly). We were the only non-5-year-olds there, but it was awwwesome. We got free soil, and free seeds that would grow in our "rusticity zone". The only eco-friendly thing about the workshop though, was that we learned to plant either at your number on the rusticity scale or lower. It takes more water and energy to grow plants higher than your number. Ours is 5a! ...or was it b...either way, it was 5. So we can plant things from 0-5 on the scale in our garden. How useful is that!?
Here is Penny using her safety scissors to cut a bottle. That is what our seeds are in now. Check it out!
The fabric in the bottom sucks up water and gives it to the soil so it doesn't get over-watered! Cleverrr.
I definitely felt like a little kid again on the way home. We left at 9 in the morning for the biosphere and got home at 6 or 7, and I slept sprawled out in the back seat allll the way home. I was tuckered OUT.
So many adventures in one blog post! You're all so lucky, but I'm sure you know that. ;)
I am so happy I bought this sewing machine. I'm fairly certain I've found my hobby. I may not be sewing 3-piece suits, but I have successfully hemmed/altered 3 pairs of jeans, 1 skirt, and 2 dresses in the month or so I've had it. It's so relaxing (I can hear my mother's disagreement already) to just sit and sew, and when I have to stop using the machine and sew by hand, I zone out and my hands take over. They've become completely accustomed to the whole process, even with the machine. The measuring, the pinning, filling the bobbin, threading, changing needles, troubleshooting, etc. My foot is slowly but surely learning how to keep a steady rhythm, whereas a month ago it behaved like a furious bull right out of the gates, not sure where it's going, but going there fast. The only things I've really learned so far in regards to using a sewing machine, are that it's not nearly as scary as I initially thought, tension matters, and if something's wrong...always blame the bobbin (it's a tricky little minx, so don't ignore it!)
I can't wait to make my own dresses, shirts, skirts, etc. but I will have to wait until I have a large measuring/tracing/cutting/organizing space...which is not in my near future...
I've been hemming up a storm! I finished hemming my skinny jeans on Monday and I'm pretty thrilled with how they turned out. Then I found an old skirt I bought 3 years ago and never really wore because it was too long. It covered my knees so it didn't looked very flattering. So I shortened it! Now it is awesome. A new skirt, and it only cost me my time. Today I'm going to hem some other pairs of jeans. Shopping for pants will be so much easier now that I know I don't have to find someone to alter them and pay another $30 or more.
Also, I learned the amazingly simple technique I'm using from a blog called Tiny Tidbits. Here is the post on hemming. It's so easy to understand, and it is a great way to hem without losing the original stitch and detailing. Photos of my progress are below.
First, figure out how much you want to take off, measuring from the stitch. Then (as shown above), fold up the pants and divide your measurement by two. Pin the pants using this measurement. In my case, I wanted to raise the hem by 1.5 inches. So I folded them up and measured 0.75 inches from the stitch to the fold.
Then, you sew right where the original fold ends. For denim, make sure your tension setting is right, or else you'll have to pull out the threads and do it again. Also, make sure you have a needle specifically for denim. These needles are sharper so they don't get jammed in thick fabric.
It worked! The stitch you see here is actually the original, not mine. So nobody can tell if you don't sew exactly straight! :)
Ta-da! Then you just cut the material on the inside and iron! :D
This is why short folks need sewing machines!
*On another note, it is the 2nd birthday of one of my favourite blogs, yes and yes. She's having a big giveaway to celebrate so make sure to check it out. :)
I had a few brown bananas in the cupboard that looked far too unappealing to eat, so I decided to make some banana muffins. I found a random recipe online, but I tweaked it to fit the ingredients I already have around. Big success. They look and taste deeelicious.
Gluten-free Banana Muffins
2 cups flour (I used 2/3 c. Sorghum flour (Bob's Red Mill), 2/3 c. Oat flour (Creamhill Estates) and 2/3 c. Arrowroot starch) 1 tsp xanthan gum 3 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 c. brown sugar 2 eggs 1 1/4 c. milk 1/4 c. canola oil 2 mashed bananas
Preheat oven to 400F
Mix dry ingredients together, using hands to break up clumps caused by packed brown sugar. Mix wet ingredients in separate (larger) bowl. Mash bananas with a fork until creamy but still lumpy. Add half of dry mix to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. DON'T BEAT! Add the other half and mix in the same way. Add the banana mash and stir into batter. Pour into a 12-cup muffin tin (cups will be almost full). Bake for 20-25 mins. I took them out after 20 mins but they could have used a bit more time.
