Yesterday Jer and I went to Kensington market to buy some meat and fresh produce, including blueberries. I had no immediate plans for the blueberries, but I remembered the beautiful pictures from Smitten Kitchen and knew for breakfast today I needed blueberry pancakes.
We made half a batch and put a small amount of batter on the pan because the first pancake doesn't work as well and I didn't want to waste too much batter. We watch it cook. Umm it looks weird. Okay okay, first pancake, whatever, throw it out and try again. The pan might not have been quite ready anyway.
Second pancake looked pretty much the same. Why isn't it rising? Pancakes are supposed to be fluffy and thick. This was flat and had a weird texture.
Well, the batter was a little runny, maybe if I add more flour that'll help. Nope, not so much.
What if I add more baking powder? Argh, it's a bit better but they're still not pancakes and taste bland and bleah.
Jer goes back to the computer and checks the recipe again. Oops, forgot sugar. That's not too bad, but I add some anyway. The recipe calls for baking powder and baking soda. Jer doesn't have baking soda so I just used a bunch of baking powder because baking powder is essentially just baking soda and cornstarch anyway. Oh crap. Realization hits.
See, one of the problems with splitting your time between two places is that rather than having two of everything, it means bringing things back and forth between apartments. For example, sherry for stir fry. Or what I like to do, is put some ingredient in a little baggy and just keep it at Jer's place. This is what I did for baking powder. And cornstarch.
Rather than adding baking powder, I had been adding cornstarch. That explains the flat pancakes and weird texture.
I dump some baking powder in and success!! Happy blueberry pancakes. So delicious.
Maybe it's time to buy some baking powder and cornstarch for Jer's place. Or you know, label the baggies perhaps.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
TIFF 08
For the film fest this year I decided to try the 10-ticket package instead of buying single tickets when they went on sale to the general public. Both ways are a lot of work, but I found the advance ticket procedure less stressful.
It took a few hours reading through all the 300(ish) films to find ones I wanted to go to, then figure out movies that won't conflict with each other, but I think it'll get easier after I've done it a couple times. I guess the one thing is I get attached to all 10 movies, but know I'm only going to 5 of them. I definitely had favourites and ones I was less interested in, so it made the process an adventure. I went and dropped off my selections the day after the advance ticket books were available because I went to lunch at a restaurant near the box office. I decided not to worry too much on when to drop my choices off because I'd go crazy debating when the right time would be to get in 'the' box. Rather, I went with when it was convenient for me to go. I stick by this decision, despite it not working out too well. My order was in box 7, and box 9 was randomly drawn to be the first box processed. I couldn't believe I was in the 2nd last box. What
bad luck. I had the usual reaction of pouting and grumbling, but in the end it turned out just fine. I am very happy with what I ended up with and think it'll be a good mix of movies.
I start the film fest off with a France/UK/Belgium movie called Vinyan. The description says it leads to a confrontation with madness in a storm-torn jungle alive with feral children. I can't think of a better way to describe it and I'm very intrigued on what this movie turns out to be.
I like to go to a Canadian film each year, which started unintentionally but I do like this idea and plan on keeping it up. This year I'm going to the world premiere of Cooper's Camera, which is about a Christmas holiday with lots of awkward humour. Should be great.
Hooked will be my first subtitled movie at the film fest. I can't think of a better way to start than a movie about a couple killing a prostitute, oh wait, she's not dead! And she won't get out of their lives.
I'm not sure exactly what this movie is going to be like, but Adam Resurrected is about the Holocaust and coming to terms with something so tragic. The description says to imagine a theology class taught by a sad clown to get an idea of how disorienting the film actually is.
And last but not least... I'm going to my first midnight madness movie! Sexykiller is a Spanish movie about a serial killer that sounds amusing, disgusting, and has zombies. I don't quite know how I'm going to manage to stay awake yet, but I am so excited! This is also a world premiere and only adds to the excitement.
It took a few hours reading through all the 300(ish) films to find ones I wanted to go to, then figure out movies that won't conflict with each other, but I think it'll get easier after I've done it a couple times. I guess the one thing is I get attached to all 10 movies, but know I'm only going to 5 of them. I definitely had favourites and ones I was less interested in, so it made the process an adventure. I went and dropped off my selections the day after the advance ticket books were available because I went to lunch at a restaurant near the box office. I decided not to worry too much on when to drop my choices off because I'd go crazy debating when the right time would be to get in 'the' box. Rather, I went with when it was convenient for me to go. I stick by this decision, despite it not working out too well. My order was in box 7, and box 9 was randomly drawn to be the first box processed. I couldn't believe I was in the 2nd last box. What
bad luck. I had the usual reaction of pouting and grumbling, but in the end it turned out just fine. I am very happy with what I ended up with and think it'll be a good mix of movies.
I start the film fest off with a France/UK/Belgium movie called Vinyan. The description says it leads to a confrontation with madness in a storm-torn jungle alive with feral children. I can't think of a better way to describe it and I'm very intrigued on what this movie turns out to be.
I like to go to a Canadian film each year, which started unintentionally but I do like this idea and plan on keeping it up. This year I'm going to the world premiere of Cooper's Camera, which is about a Christmas holiday with lots of awkward humour. Should be great.
Hooked will be my first subtitled movie at the film fest. I can't think of a better way to start than a movie about a couple killing a prostitute, oh wait, she's not dead! And she won't get out of their lives.
I'm not sure exactly what this movie is going to be like, but Adam Resurrected is about the Holocaust and coming to terms with something so tragic. The description says to imagine a theology class taught by a sad clown to get an idea of how disorienting the film actually is.
And last but not least... I'm going to my first midnight madness movie! Sexykiller is a Spanish movie about a serial killer that sounds amusing, disgusting, and has zombies. I don't quite know how I'm going to manage to stay awake yet, but I am so excited! This is also a world premiere and only adds to the excitement.
Friday, August 15, 2008
My 26th birthday
I'm not sure why, but this year I wasn't too excited or anxiously waiting my birthday like normal. When I realized it was approaching and I hadn't begun to think about planning anything, I tried to think of something but I couldn't think of anything I really felt like doing. A low-key birthday sounded just fine to me. I have to say, I ended up having a wonderful birthday.
It started the day before my birthday when my co-workers took me out to cora's to celebrate. It was amusing like normal, except odd things kept happening. Like everyone randomly picking up their knives. So I picked up my spoon. Knifey-spoony. When the food arrived, Wendy asked for scissors, and because that's just a normal thing to ask at lunch the waitress brought her a Caeser drink. Later Alan took his glasses off. We never see him without his glasses so this is strange to us. Me and Jer end up staring at him strangely, some may say in disgust, but I think that's a little too far. Thankfully he put back his glasses on and he went back to looking like Alan. A bit later I see a sparkler and groan. I thought I had talked them out of singing happy birthday to me! ack. But it didn't stop there. On came a sash, a tiara, and then a wand. But at least the odd things now made sense. The knives all came out because wendy took hers to try to take off the tags off the tiara/wand, and asked for scissors when that didn't work. And Alan took off his glasses because they said it was the birthday of the one with glasses. To top off the outing, I had to put back on the tiara/wand/sash (because I refused to wear it walking back to work) when we got to the dog statues outside of metro hall so we could take pictures sitting on the doggies. Clearly Wendy's idea if you've seen any of the other stuff she's had us do.
For *wing* night I choose Terroni's because I was craving their rigatoni with cherry tomatoes and zucchini. So amazing. I've had it a few times now and I still have no urge to order anything else from the menu. It's just too good. Afterwards I went home and Holly was making me birthday cupcakes! I asked for confetti cupcakes and they looked amazing. I was full from all the food that day so they'd have to wait for dessert on my birthday.
So now the big day!!
Before work I got to see Holly and she gave me my birthday present. The whole gift was extremely amusing. To start it off was something that looked like a Hershey's chocolate bar, but it said calculator. With more inspection, it's an actual calculator, that looks like chocolate,
and even smells like chocolate! No, you may not eat my Chocolator. It's for simple math only! Next, I got magnets which will make a great addition to our fridge, but you have to come see that for the full experience. And finally books, because I think a gift from Holly and no books would be incomplete. A great way to start the day off; Laughter with one of my oldest friends.
In the morning at work my boss dropped by my desk and gave me a package and said it was in the mail. Cool. So I open it, to find a pair of fun unmatching socks!! People asked where the other pair was... unknown. It also had a mint aero, skittles, dark dove chocolate, and a letter. Best interoffice mail ever. So I open the letter and confirm it was from Jer, and read that these were not my official birthday socks, and that the other pair of socks have been mailed to Alan and I will have to ask him nicely if I want them. I thought that was hilarious and also curious if it was true. I then look at Alan's desk who's away at a meeting and I see a package. He did send the other pair to Alan!! Later I was helping a coworker when Alan came back to his desk, where he proceded to open the package, see a pair of mismatched socks and had the most confused look on his face, for at least a full minute, while everyone just laughed. Too funny.
For lunch I met up with my dad and we went for chinese. Crispy beef and broccoli. So delicious. It's been a while since we've ate there so it was a great birthday lunch.
Later in the day JWAM! gave me a gift - A Nascar Nextel mug and coaster, socks, and of course candy and chocolate. So sweet of them. Another coworker randomly came by, said happy birthday, then came back like 10 minutes later and dropped off a pile of chocolate saying "I know you like dark chocolate, happy birthday". I guess people at work knowing your birth date isn't so bad after all!
After work I went to Jeremy's because he's barbecuing for me. What's the perfect bbqd food (in my opinion)? Filet mignon of course. We also grilled some zucchini on there, and made mashed potatoes as well. The steak was tender and flavourful and so delicious. The veggies completed the meal and it was perfect. For dessert, the aforementioned (I love that word, I don't know why, or when my love for this word came to be. I somehow think Jeremy may be part of the reason) cupcakes and oh wow, fluffy icing and sweet cake is awesome.
Other points of fun:
It started the day before my birthday when my co-workers took me out to cora's to celebrate. It was amusing like normal, except odd things kept happening. Like everyone randomly picking up their knives. So I picked up my spoon. Knifey-spoony. When the food arrived, Wendy asked for scissors, and because that's just a normal thing to ask at lunch the waitress brought her a Caeser drink. Later Alan took his glasses off. We never see him without his glasses so this is strange to us. Me and Jer end up staring at him strangely, some may say in disgust, but I think that's a little too far. Thankfully he put back his glasses on and he went back to looking like Alan. A bit later I see a sparkler and groan. I thought I had talked them out of singing happy birthday to me! ack. But it didn't stop there. On came a sash, a tiara, and then a wand. But at least the odd things now made sense. The knives all came out because wendy took hers to try to take off the tags off the tiara/wand, and asked for scissors when that didn't work. And Alan took off his glasses because they said it was the birthday of the one with glasses. To top off the outing, I had to put back on the tiara/wand/sash (because I refused to wear it walking back to work) when we got to the dog statues outside of metro hall so we could take pictures sitting on the doggies. Clearly Wendy's idea if you've seen any of the other stuff she's had us do.
For *wing* night I choose Terroni's because I was craving their rigatoni with cherry tomatoes and zucchini. So amazing. I've had it a few times now and I still have no urge to order anything else from the menu. It's just too good. Afterwards I went home and Holly was making me birthday cupcakes! I asked for confetti cupcakes and they looked amazing. I was full from all the food that day so they'd have to wait for dessert on my birthday.
So now the big day!!
Before work I got to see Holly and she gave me my birthday present. The whole gift was extremely amusing. To start it off was something that looked like a Hershey's chocolate bar, but it said calculator. With more inspection, it's an actual calculator, that looks like chocolate,
and even smells like chocolate! No, you may not eat my Chocolator. It's for simple math only! Next, I got magnets which will make a great addition to our fridge, but you have to come see that for the full experience. And finally books, because I think a gift from Holly and no books would be incomplete. A great way to start the day off; Laughter with one of my oldest friends.
In the morning at work my boss dropped by my desk and gave me a package and said it was in the mail. Cool. So I open it, to find a pair of fun unmatching socks!! People asked where the other pair was... unknown. It also had a mint aero, skittles, dark dove chocolate, and a letter. Best interoffice mail ever. So I open the letter and confirm it was from Jer, and read that these were not my official birthday socks, and that the other pair of socks have been mailed to Alan and I will have to ask him nicely if I want them. I thought that was hilarious and also curious if it was true. I then look at Alan's desk who's away at a meeting and I see a package. He did send the other pair to Alan!! Later I was helping a coworker when Alan came back to his desk, where he proceded to open the package, see a pair of mismatched socks and had the most confused look on his face, for at least a full minute, while everyone just laughed. Too funny.
For lunch I met up with my dad and we went for chinese. Crispy beef and broccoli. So delicious. It's been a while since we've ate there so it was a great birthday lunch.
Later in the day JWAM! gave me a gift - A Nascar Nextel mug and coaster, socks, and of course candy and chocolate. So sweet of them. Another coworker randomly came by, said happy birthday, then came back like 10 minutes later and dropped off a pile of chocolate saying "I know you like dark chocolate, happy birthday". I guess people at work knowing your birth date isn't so bad after all!
After work I went to Jeremy's because he's barbecuing for me. What's the perfect bbqd food (in my opinion)? Filet mignon of course. We also grilled some zucchini on there, and made mashed potatoes as well. The steak was tender and flavourful and so delicious. The veggies completed the meal and it was perfect. For dessert, the aforementioned (I love that word, I don't know why, or when my love for this word came to be. I somehow think Jeremy may be part of the reason) cupcakes and oh wow, fluffy icing and sweet cake is awesome.
Other points of fun:
- The official birthday socks came from the san diego zoo and are absolutely adorable!
- My sash said Miss Arms 2008 and had stars on it.
- Don't tell people you don't like hugs (while sober). You get a lot of them.
- I had a cupcake for breakfast this morning.
- Jen happy.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
This & That Part 2
You know when you get a taste for something and just can't get enough and want it eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner? The other day I had Alapha-bit cereal for breakfast, and all day I was craving the alphabet so for supper I had Alphagetti.
Yesterday I got a free piece of Stride gum on my walk to work. It's supposed to last a really long time. My way of testing this is for Jeremy to eat a piece of Excel, while I eat my Stride gum. When we're sick of chewing gum we switch to see who's has more flavour left. Conclusion of experiment: they both still had flavour so it didn't really matter which lasted longer. Maybe people who like to chew for a very long time should try this sometime.
The other day I was looking at Concierge Connection to see what events were coming up. Then I saw Monster Jam. I'm not sure why, but I got this giddy 'omg I totally want to go' reaction. But wait, does that make sense? It's Monster Jam. Trucks running over other cars, doing tricks. That's weird, right? Matt said it was Strange and confirmed my suspicion. I left it for a couple days, and then while walking to the theatre with Jer last night I randomly asked him how he feels about Monster Jam. He said he's always wanted to go and got super excited to hear they were coming in January. Looks like I'm going to Monster Jam!
Speaking of theatre, we went to see Avenue Q last night. Matt and Martha both had seen it in NY and highly recommended it. People compared it to sesame street, except bad ass. I never watched it as a kid, so I didn't have much commitment to going while it was here in Toronto. At work Martha mentioned a sale through Travel Zoo for the first week of the show. I was very willing to sit in crappy seats for cheaper. By crappy, I mean practically the worst in the place. It was at Elgin theatre which I had never been to before, and was surprised that the seats were very decent, and the seats were comfy. I just realized now my ass didn't hurt once which is a thing of beauty. I can't remember the last time that's happened at a theatre. Anyway, back to my point of which I wholeheartedly agree that Avenue Q rocks. I loved it and definitely think it's worth full-price tickets.
The other tickets I've bought recently are for the So You Think You Can Dance tour, wheee!!!
Not too much else is new, other than a bunch of cooking. Last weekend Jer and I went to St. Lawerence market for fruit and stuff to make beef and broccoli stir fry. I love beef and broccoli from chinese restaurants so it was fun to make it at home. It turned out great, despite the fact it uses oyster sauce which kinda creeps me out. And now we know how to cut beef to make those thin squares. Then on Sunday we made crepes for the cityplace crew which was yummy and fun. This weekend we're going to Jer's quasi-family cottage and we're going to make crepes for them since it was fun the first time. Although there will be quite a few more people so it shall be interesting.
Yesterday I got a free piece of Stride gum on my walk to work. It's supposed to last a really long time. My way of testing this is for Jeremy to eat a piece of Excel, while I eat my Stride gum. When we're sick of chewing gum we switch to see who's has more flavour left. Conclusion of experiment: they both still had flavour so it didn't really matter which lasted longer. Maybe people who like to chew for a very long time should try this sometime.
The other day I was looking at Concierge Connection to see what events were coming up. Then I saw Monster Jam. I'm not sure why, but I got this giddy 'omg I totally want to go' reaction. But wait, does that make sense? It's Monster Jam. Trucks running over other cars, doing tricks. That's weird, right? Matt said it was Strange and confirmed my suspicion. I left it for a couple days, and then while walking to the theatre with Jer last night I randomly asked him how he feels about Monster Jam. He said he's always wanted to go and got super excited to hear they were coming in January. Looks like I'm going to Monster Jam!
Speaking of theatre, we went to see Avenue Q last night. Matt and Martha both had seen it in NY and highly recommended it. People compared it to sesame street, except bad ass. I never watched it as a kid, so I didn't have much commitment to going while it was here in Toronto. At work Martha mentioned a sale through Travel Zoo for the first week of the show. I was very willing to sit in crappy seats for cheaper. By crappy, I mean practically the worst in the place. It was at Elgin theatre which I had never been to before, and was surprised that the seats were very decent, and the seats were comfy. I just realized now my ass didn't hurt once which is a thing of beauty. I can't remember the last time that's happened at a theatre. Anyway, back to my point of which I wholeheartedly agree that Avenue Q rocks. I loved it and definitely think it's worth full-price tickets.
The other tickets I've bought recently are for the So You Think You Can Dance tour, wheee!!!
Not too much else is new, other than a bunch of cooking. Last weekend Jer and I went to St. Lawerence market for fruit and stuff to make beef and broccoli stir fry. I love beef and broccoli from chinese restaurants so it was fun to make it at home. It turned out great, despite the fact it uses oyster sauce which kinda creeps me out. And now we know how to cut beef to make those thin squares. Then on Sunday we made crepes for the cityplace crew which was yummy and fun. This weekend we're going to Jer's quasi-family cottage and we're going to make crepes for them since it was fun the first time. Although there will be quite a few more people so it shall be interesting.
Friday, July 18, 2008
This & That
Fried double-baked French toast. It may sound good, or at least
intriguing, but believe me when I say: not very good.
intriguing, but believe me when I say: not very good.
I think I can finally rest my fear of walking in to the men's washroom
without realizing it. Martha walked in by accident the other day and
immediately saw something wrong and was confused. This makes me
believe if I make it to the peeing stage I'm 99% confident I'm in the
right bathroom.
Speaking of bathrooms, we have a brand new Dyson Vac in there! It's
awesome. Some people have seen it in public places before, but so far
nobody else has the pleasure of using it on a daily basis. Believe me
when I say my life is better because of this development.
Banana update: there have been less black bananas at work lately. I
think it's because Martha realized bananas taste so much better when
they're still yellow. How did she not realize this before? She was
just used to the taste of rotting fruit.
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