Moments in my Life

Wedding Wishes...

2009-11-09T04:26:00.000-08:00

So after much procrastination (nothing like the last minute for me!) I got together with a friend to make a collegue (well my ex-boss from 2 jobs ago, but my friends' collegue) a card. Used the fancy folds tutorial here. I had a hard time getting the fold right. Tutorial is great, I just had a hard time with math saturday night.
Colour scheme was just because I had Old olive designer paper!

You can't really see it, but I did go a bit glitter crazy on this card!

M has one of those Michaels' pregnant women stamps. She joked we should stamp that on the back. I was so tempted, but then she would have had to take responsibility for it. I stuck with rings. Though I do kinda regret not using the stamp!

You can see the full fold here...

Pie + Candy =...

2009-11-04T18:04:00.000-08:00

Ever looked at a recipe or the final result and been grossed out but seriously intrigued?! This was my reaction to the Halloween Candy pie. I thought "who's crazy mind comes up with these things...I bet it's the same mind that thought to deep fry a twinkie that's stuffed with a snicker."

But yes you all now that while I may not be crazy enough to come up with these things, but I am always intrigued. Though usually I am grossed out enough that I won't actually take the trouble to make. Then I mentioned this little culinary nugget to my little brother and his response was "hell ya, when are you making it?!" Well...today (or well really yesterday.)

This is one of the things I love and hate about living at home. My brothers (especially the little guy) is willing to try pretty much anything. So experiments that I may have bookmarked but passed by now actually see the light of day or the light of oven!
On a somewhat healthier note I tried this Morccaan Stew and it was excellent!

To Soda or Not to Soda...

2009-10-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

These pictures shocked me. Yes I knew soda/pop/soft drinks, what ever you want to call them contained sugar. But to actually see straight up visual from sugarstacking.com was a bit shocking.

I gave up soda 6-7 year ago. That summer we were had work BBQs every two weeks. Ahh good times. The meal of course came with a soda and I used to sip a can (or very rarely two) the whole afternoon. During my regular check up a few months later the doctor found cavities. I had been free of such things the prior visit. “Cavities” I moaned. But I brush, I floss obsessively and for good measure I use the hated mouthwash. What more is there left to do?

So we tracked the changes in my life the last 6 months. This was pretty easy, my life wasn’t anymore exciting back then! The big neon light flashed on my soda habit. Not only did I drink in a regular basis but I sipped! Constant sugar in my mouth for hours. This may have a coincidence, I was looking for a cause and this was a good scapegoat. Or at least this is what Coke’s CEO would like me to believe.

Whatever the truth, I have in most part given up soda. This article suggests it was a good thing all around. Still I will still sip, yes sip, a soda once in while but that is a pretty rare occasion. Now my drink of choice is water, no ice, lemon if you have it thank you…well except for mornings where I seem to have become a coffee addict…again…but that’s another rant.

In case you don't make it to the full article, here are some highlights from a study done in California...

1. Over 10.7 million Californians over the age of one drink at least one soda a day (or other sugar-sweetened beverage).
2. 41% of children ages 2-11 drink at least one soda or other sugar-sweetened beverage every day.
3. That number goes up to 62% of adolescents ages 12-17.
4. Only 1 in 4 adults drinks pop though.
5. Adults who do drink one or more sodas or other sugar-sweetened beverages each day are 27% more likely to be overweight or obese.

6. Almost half of the additional calories growth in our diet since the 1970’s come from soda.
7. Each American consumes an average of 50 gallons of sugar sweetened soft drinks per year.
8. Soda is the #1 source of added sugar in the American Diet.

9. The average size of a soda increased from 6.5 oz in the 1950’s to 16.2 oz today (149% increase!)
10. Milk consumption, on the other hand has decreased by 33% in the last 30 years.
11. Each additional daily serving of soda increases a child’s chance risk for obesity by 60%.
12. In the last 25 years, the obesity rate in California rose from 8.9% to 24.3%. That’s one in four Californians!
13. The cost in medical and health expenses to the state is estimated at $41 billion.

Snowflake...

2009-10-28T04:53:00.000-07:00

Bah talk about being an inconsistent blogger eh?! Sadly I do have cards...well kinda...I have bits and pieces of a bunch of cards but in every design I am missing a bit of something here and there. Hopefully I'll get all parts before x-mas!!

I bought the snowflake punch especially for this card, but I am not sure I like the results! I like the blue part and the snowflake, maybe it would be better on chocolate chip or something...hmmm will try a modification...

2009-10-21T03:50:00.000-07:00

One of my friends went apple picking and brought a giant bag of apples for me. Best way to use it up??? Make apple sauce and apple pie. Pie that much better since I ended up using half of the crazy amount of apple sauce I made the day before.

My issue lately has been pie crust. I was afraid to attempt it, the whole thing off "rubbing in the butter" properly, but don't let it get warm, don't over mix etc. etc. worried me. First time I tried it, I left in butter chunks (obviously didn't understand how fine this had to be!) and my pie literally cooked on a cushion of oil as the butter melted.

So I bought a pastry cutter. It's bigger than I wanted but the store didn't have many options. This didn't quite work out as i still had to get my hands in there, the butter stuck to the cutter a bit.

Finally on saturday I sat down with a whole lot of butter and flour and thought if it doesn't work this time I am going to be buying from now on. I used my hands to work the butter in and totally worked! Sadly I ended up burning the bottoms of post of my pie, but that's another story in incompetence!

Elves Noel...

2009-10-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I feel about these cards. I really liked the image and really enjoyed colouring it. Then I took the cards out to the natural light and all of a sudden wasn't too impressed with my efforts. Meh maybe they'll grow on me!

Hunt for the Chocolate Chip Biscuit...

2009-10-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

I am still on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip biscuit. Not too sweet, not crispy but soft, not cakey and good chocolate ratio. The mesquite chocolate chip from Heidi Swanson was pretty good, but it not the traditional straight up chocolate chip.

So I gave Claire Clarks a whirl. It wasn’t bad. Though I am convinced half of the yumness comes from the actual butter I used. They flattened well, remained soft, but it is too sweet for me. Brothers liked it though and pretty my gobbled up the stash!
I’ve been told the recipe in the Hershey cookbook is good, so that might be next…

First Time Bread!

2009-10-15T03:46:00.000-07:00

I got a bread maker late spring. Procrastinated opening it…first it was “well I am moving home soon, no point in opening it now”, then it was…actually I don’t know what maybe pure laziness. I didn’t realize how simple the actual process was. Well there is also this niggling fear that I will explode in size…I confess I LOVE bread and have little control in the “enjoy a bit in moderation” concept. I indulge (not binge, not that bad!) and then avoid for the next couple of weeks. But now that I have two brothers in the house, I finally dragged out my bread maker.

The first loaf came out great. I added a bit of onion and herbs to the flour and could taste it a bit.
So I thought I need a bit more onion and herbs. Even as I was sautéing all this an errant thought was that maybe I should just get the bread machine to make the dough I can bake it up in a loaf pan. I am not a huge fan of the size of the cake. But then I thought meh and went with just the bread machine.

As it turned out I should have listened to the errant thought! I am not sure exactly what went wrong but the dough exploded, burnt on the element, on the side of the bread basket, every where really and left the house filled with smoke.

Did the yeast somehow touch the liquid and rise too much? Should I have reduced the amount of flour because I added the onions and such? Did I not measure the ingredients properly? I don’t know yet, I haven’t read my book to see if there is an answer. But sometime this week I will try again.

As much as I don’t like the size of the bread it is the perfect shape for the grilled sandwich maker. One slice pretty my cover the area, so this is perfect for my borthers.

Red Wine Chocolate cake...

2009-10-13T05:02:00.000-07:00

This was a weekend of baking for me. Friday night I made the Red Wine Chocolate cake for a friend as a place holder for a house warming gift. I’ve known she’ll be buying a house for months, I’ve know she’s bought a house for 2 months, I’ve known we’d get together for 2 weeks and yet I didn’t have time to get her a gift...I didn’t want to get her a crappy dust catcher at the last minute so it was the Red Wine Chocolate cake.

Anyway back to the actual making of the cake…didn’t really pay attn to the actual volume of quantities…i.e. the amount of batter is small compared to the bundt pan. When it came out, while it looked nice, all I could flash was to the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the parents bought teeny a bundt cake for this huge family. Having said that the cake size wasn’t too bad for my friend as it was for her and her guy. Unfortunately no picture of my first cake but this is what Claire Clark’s cake looked like…
The more I stare at this picture the more I think, her cake is not that high either, so maybe it is meant to be a small cake. After all it is a rich decant cake, so maybe you indulge in smaller pieces.

Still for my brother I thought I’d double the quantity. Always a little iffy prospect in these types on cakes, especially if the chef doesn’t expressly state that you may double it. In this case the chef didn’t forbid doubling so I took a chance. This was the result pre-soaking and pre-red current glossiness. The little dark bits are chocolate!

And post-soaking and post red current spread:

Yes yes it doesn’t look quite like Claire’s cake. I blame the lack of glossiness to having tempered the red current spread twice, plus maybe it should have been a bit more warmer for my second coating.

I also used chocolate wafers instead of chocolate discs. I couldn’t find the stupid discs in the couple of shops we looked in and I haven’t quite mastered the art of chocolate tempering so didn’t attempt to make my own.

All in all, presentation was a bit iffy, but I was told the taste was quite good. Success I think!

My Kingdom for a Scone...

2009-10-06T04:21:00.000-07:00

...this would be my father's mantra if he, you know, had a kingdom! He is crazy about scones and a while back I bought him a scone from Sconewitch (one of the must visit places in Ottawa!) and kicked his "are you going to make me scones?" request into high gear. The first batch I made flattened out to look like cookies. He wanted the puffed up flaky sconewitch like scones! So I went with full butter and kinda full cream (shh don't tell him) and finally found a recipe in Indulge: 100 Perfect Recipes written Claire Clark.
Claire is/was (not sure her current status) the pastry chef at the French Laundry. I loved this recipe...all the measurements were by weight. I think all recipes should have ingredients by weight, very hard to screw up, no judgement involved. Funny part of the recipe is that in the list of the ingredient it lists sugar but in the actual recipe it doesn't. So I was paralyzed...do I add sugar or not...finally added a bit not enough to make it sweet enough but not bad. Apparently dad eats it with jam no matter what anyway so it worked out.

This weekend I am trying a red wine cake...the batter contains red wine, and later soaked in red wine!

Snowman fun...

2009-10-01T04:21:00.000-07:00

I really like this card (well not so much the brads, but once you make a hole...) but I can't claim credit for the idea. The top sheet, the window was all a friends brain wave, during the sat stamping madness.
But hey I bought it to "life", so maybe some credit there??

Smoky Biscuits...

2009-09-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

We did start the cooking through a cookbook adventure yet a bit into it I think we all hit a roadblock. I moved (haven't quite settled back down yet) and I'll hazard a guess the rest of us hit the summer block. Still I made biscuits a while ago (took the picture, procrastinated, lost the camera...for a couple of weeks, finally found the camera!)
These are Mesquite Chocolate Chip from Heidi Swanson. Super delicious. Mesquite flour I found in bulk barn of all places (expensive but available). Highly recommend the recipe and that you add a bit more than the recipe calls for, I found that it gives a nice smoky flavour. Oh the flavour I didn't notice till a couple days afterward...so bake, hide, then eat.

Christmas panic in September...

2009-09-29T04:07:00.000-07:00

Wow well it's been a while since I picked up an stampy items or for that matter typed a post! Luckily(?) the Christmas card panic set in and I got together with two friends to stamp away a saturday afternoon. As usual end of almost 7 hours and I walked away with two cards and some stamped images. Sad...yes but that's me. This yr I have decided to stick to simple cards...simple and elegant would be a bonus! I also realized I haven't really gotten back for my mojo...as simple as these cards are I needed help to figure out I should texturize the background etc. But hey at least my friends are crafty!

THE Lemon Cake...

2009-08-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

I found the recipe for the Ultimate Lemon Cake. Seriously, THE ULTIMATE! Original recipe here. I am sure the fresh California lemons right off my cousins tree made a difference. Will have to try it once I get to Ottawa see if the taste is any different. This is a very forgiving recipe too...there were some issues with the oven, but it still came out great...though the top maybe a bit darker than I would have liked.
Batter
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar (I used 1.5 cup)
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature (room temp makes a difference!)
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature (I used milk but mixed with lemon and set aside for a bit to make fake buttermilk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
1/2 cup fresh lemon
1/2 cup sugar (next time I think I'll use 1/4 cup)

Glaze
3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 1/2-by-4 1/4-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pans or one bundt pan, and line the bottoms with parchment paper (no parchment paper if you’re using a bundt pan).
2. Cream butter and 2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Mixing at medium speed, add eggs, one at a time, and lemon zest.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to butter and sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour. Divide batter evenly between loaf pans or one bundt pan, smooth tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.
4. Combine 1/2 cup sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan, and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves.
5. When cakes are done, carefully Invert them onto a rack set over a tray, and spoon lemon syrup over cakes. Let cakes cool completely.
6. For glaze, combine confectioners’ sugar and remaining 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cakes, and allow glaze to drizzle down the sides.

SF - Fortune Cookies and Things...

2009-08-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

On my way out of San Diego, I am spending a few days in San Francisco. I gave up any thoughts of pretending to be a local and embraced my inner tacky tourist...camera in one hand, map in the other. My first stop was China town....

Random buildings that I thought were cool...

I can't figure out of China Town is actually a large area super stuffed or a small area super super stuffed. But end story being it is stuffed with shops with barely any room to move...

I am surprised at the really bright colours...

I had planned to have a proper meal in China Town. I am not sure what I expected but most places were Dim Sum. I just wasn't in the mood for one...I am not sure if it's because Dim Sum always makes me think of hanging out with a bunch of friends so Dim Sum for one is just odd. I ended up hopping from one bakery to another for buns and such. First was this one...

It was just a hole in the wall, not sure what made me walk in. Inside there was a to do about Bill Clinton having visited and had "the best BBQ Pork buns." I had one too and gotta say I've had way way better. But what I was amazed at is how rude the store people were. It reminded me a bit of the soup nazi. I was afraid to step up for my order...

After I headed to the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory. Again the guy was very rude. The demanded 50 cents if you wanted to take a picture of the ladies making the fortune cookies and then very pushy about how long you had to watch. He made it seem like he couldn't speak English but had no problem demanding money or telling you to buy something or get out...

I managed two quick pictures. The cookies come out in flat round disks...you can see them in the mold in the picture. I am guessing the whole thing is some sort of oven. While they are super hot and still malleable the ladies grab it, stuff a fortune, twist it into shape with a little molder in front and set it to cool.

Can see the molder to twist into shape a bit better here. It's one of the pipes sticking out in front of her.

Not sure if the do all this by hand or if this bit is just set up for show...asking questions wasn't an option.

Saw these guys in front of a store...I think these are the new version of garden gnomes!

Fishermen's Wharf next...

Sweet Potato Raisin...

2009-07-30T06:05:00.000-07:00

This is my first recipe from the book "in the sweet kitchen" (the cookbook where five of us will be cooking every recipe) and its four weeks in the making! First I couldn’t seem to find any sweet potatoes. Only things the stores carried that week was yams. This stumped me, though if I had checked Sweet Potatoes under the book’s ingredient list I would have realized that in North America we use yams and sweet potatoes interchangeably, though yams are a bit sweeter. So thanks to a fellow baker and the book I was ready once again, armed with yams eventhough I did have the option of sweet potatoes this time!
The recipe seems to be very forgiving! I added bit extra rum (trying to finish half a bottle before moving!), bit less raisins and I finally added salt the way the recipe called for it. I am not sure what salt does to cakes, must look it up in the book...

Instead of the caramel cream cheese topping I just made a cream cheese, icing sugar, rum (hey don't judge me, I am trying not to waste food or liquid as the case maybe) . It was a bit like a carrot cake so cream cheese was the perfect topping. The cake it self was light, moist and of course delicious!!

Goodbye California....

2009-07-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Heeeelllllooooo Ottawa! How I have missed thee!

Yep that's right...I am moving again! At least this time it'll be somewhat permenant (ha see the word exists in my vocabulary!)

I am heading home, not just Canada but home home straight to Ottawa!

As it happens I, apparently, am not a California girl. While I had a good time travelling around, I just couldn't imagine living here for long. There were so many Canadian things I missed, including the four season...though I reserve the right to bitterly complain about the cold when the time comes!

So in a week I'll be shipping out, travelling a bit and landing in Ottawa to start work early September. Hopefully I will also be back with my mojo and my stamping supplies unpacked!!

Official Hiatus...

2009-07-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

Stating the obvious yes, but up until now it’s been unofficial in that I just haven’t been in the mood to stamp or scrapbook. But yesterday I put my foot down and decided that I am taking a break from paper crafting till early October. Okay fine current circumstances (which I will get into later) sort of demands this but “making a decision” is liberating! I lost my mojo a while back so hopefully a break will get me excited and not just greedy again.

Christmas this yr will be crazy…last yr I started my cards around this time and still went crazy towards the end, trying to get everything done! Oh well an adventure right?

On a different note, expect to see some baked goods on this site at some point. A while back I floated the idea of cooking through a cookbook to some of my foodie friends and they enthusiastically picked up the challenge! I don’t know why I am surprised that they all agreed so easily! I had arguments prepared to browbeat them too.

Still they nixed my pick of a cookie cookbook containing 175 cookie recipes. Though to be quite honest I wasn’t super attached to the cookbook. Making 175 cookie recipes will not really help us develop any skills baking or otherwise…plus I’ve been making a couple of the recipes myself and am totally happy this book was nixed!

So after some debate we picked In the Sweet Kitchen written by a Canadian (I don't know why that was important to state but there you go).

The first half of the book is tips, techniques and explanation of ingredients. Second half is recipes. The book is great for someone like me; yes I bake a lot but still don’t know what effect ingredients have on the dish. So hopefully this will help me develop that part of my skills.

Our progress will be documented on a blog (of course!) that I will post at some point. One of the fellow foodie friends are setting this up. I imagined some boring old blogspot blog like this one but nope this new blog sprouted legs and started running. It already looks amazing and it’s still in the construction zone!

California never ceases to surprise me...

2009-07-07T08:06:00.000-07:00

I happened to flip by Neil deGrasse Tyson on CPSAN Sunday, loved his lecture so much further google searches came across a number of interesting presentations. As I write this I am waiting for his book Pluto Files. He writes about the demotion of Pluto, hate mail he got from 3rd graders and pointed out California introduced legislation to denounce the International Astronomical Unions decision. The whole bill can be found here but here are some excerpts:

WHEREAS, The mean-spirited International Astronomical Union decided on August 24, 2006, to disrespect Pluto by stripping Pluto of its planetary status and reclassifying it as a lowly dwarf planet; and

the "mean spirited?" I admit I haven't read much proposed legislation but this is allowed?!

WHEREAS, Pluto, named after the Roman God of the underworld and affectionately sharing the name of California's most famous animated dog, has a special connection to California history and culture; and

Oh right science definitely should not meddle with things that has a Disney connection. After all this is the corporate society!

WHEREAS, Downgrading Pluto's status will cause psychological harm to some Californians who question their place in the universe and worry about the instability of universal constants; and

I am pretty secure in my place in the universe...maybe because I am not a Californian? Though now I am a bit worried about universal constants being variable! Somehow I think these "legislators" have already experienced their psyc damage!

WHEREAS, The downgrading of Pluto reduces the number of planets available for legislative leaders to hide redistricting legislation and other inconvenient political reform measures; and

This line made me think that this whole thing was a joke, but I am assured it's not.

WHEREAS, The California Legislature, in the closing days of the 2005-06 session, has been considering few matters important to the future of California, and the status of Pluto takes precedence and is worthy of this body's immediate attention.

Right...the California Legislature with all it's scientific background and expertise should definitely have this debate! I would understand if they are talking about doling out money for science but having the debate for the sake of having it? And really the IAU is going to care what California thinks?!

This was in 2006. I am really really hoping these are not the same people trying to figure out the current budget. Doesn't it make sense why California is broke...

July 4th - Take me out to the ball game...

2009-07-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

My first baseball game and some how it seemed appropriate that it be on July 4th! Though I have to admit I was bit disappointed by the opening ceremonies. I thought with it being July 4th and a military town there would be some pomp, at least a fly by, nope not so much. Moving on...our tickets (obtained at the last minute, therefore the cheapest!) was on a grassy hill right in the sun! This was our view...

One of the coolest things while sitting out there was this ad. It took us a bit to figure it out, but they did this dot matrix type smoke add with 5 aircraft. The aircraft looked tiny so must have been pretty high up. But cool eh?
After a couple of hours sitting in the sun we made our way to the bleachers to grab some unoccupied seats. I know they do this all the time, I've seen people do this at hockey game but I felt odd, BUT the urge to get out of the sun was higher. We got kicked out of the first set of seats but we just moved higher and stayed there for the whole game.

From up there you realize just how huge the stadium is! Capacity crowd is 40,062! I thought Ottawa Sens arena with 27,000 or so people was big!

We all got "BEAT LA" beach towels. This is the crowd going some what crazy as the SD Padres came back to win against the rivals LA Dodgers. As we were leaving we saw one guy arrested, and a fight broke out right in front of us! Yep they seem to take their baseball seriously here.

After the game we walked around for a bit and stopped at a some what fancy restaurant for dinner. We were in flip flops, shorts and tank tops, though I was in jeans! It was "coastal cuisine" (posh name for seafood?!) We sneaked this picture of the free sample we got. For the life of me I can't remember (or spell if I did) what it was called. It was some sort of french name but you were meant to eat this in one bite. Not bad.

The salad was amazing. I got a spinach with candied pecans and goat cheese with a strawberry dressing! So good! If we had been smart we would have had this, then dessert but we did have an entree (forgot to take pic) and no room for dessert.

Fireworks later were good. From our vantage point we saw 4 sets of fireworks, pretty cool. But they were co-ordinated to be the same. Somehow I think it would have been better had it been varied.

Couldn't really find a decent shot among my few.

All in all great day. Can't claim to be an avid fan, still a hockey girl but I would go back to a game if I was going with friends so I could sit there and chit chat!

July 1st Eh?!

2009-07-01T06:52:00.001-07:00

Bah humbug!

Yes you read that right...Bah humbug! I have a very good reason for being scrooge like today of all days...this is my 3rd (or is it 4th) Canada day in a row that I am out of the country. I can't believe I am missing all the stuff on Rideau st, the Governor generals guards dance (aka military formation drills), all the red and white craziness and the fireworks! Bah!

Though I am taking solace in the fact that this is just mid week and I at least get a long weekend. Since I am not programmed to be fully scrooge like, made a cake for my office and everyone will celebrate Canada day! Or at least wish me a Happy Canada Day. If you squint and turn you head just right you may just see a maple leaf on this cake...
I meant to do this with raspberries, but after 3 grocery stops I couldn't find a measly raspberry, so had to make do with the awkward strawberries. It seems all forces are against me for today. Bha!

Well if you are celebrating wear an extra maple leaf, drop a few more "eh" for me and have a Great Canada Day!

Kayaking in La Jolla...

2009-06-30T06:50:00.001-07:00

My little brother visited on his way home from Hawaii (yeah long story there!) and I figured best time to try sea kayaking...now I have someone with muscles to get us back to shore!

This area in La Jolla is packed with these Kayak, bike, hike, snorkel shops. I picked "Hike Bike Kayak" as they were listed as one of the best outfits in San Diego. Hey if I have to sign a waiver saying I understand that there is a chance of paralysis and death, I want the best outfit out there!

Us all suited up...

The family san my other little brother...

Apparently if we got attacked, Sanjay is ready!

The guide pushing us off...

The tour was good. A bit nerve wracking for me, the kayak didn't go where I wanted it to and Sanjay has this total "meh it'll work out" laid back attitude which is both good and bad. We jumped out the kayak once (brrrr! Pacific ocean cold!) and fell out twice or was it three times? Not so cold those times. Though I did find some bad news about myself...despite all my gym time I have no upper body strength! Getting back on the kayak was...an experience...comedic if you were watching me!

Yogurtland...

2009-06-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

...where have you been all my life?! Well at least for this year it's been all around San Diego and this is the first time I've noticed it.

I took my brother out for drinks and such with my office crowd. We ended up at a bar near Pacific Beach that had $2 beer (apparently this is good, not a beer drinker so I'll take his word for it) and Wednesdays was $3 hamburgers and $5 pizzas. Finally decent pizza in this part of the world! I had what they called the tree hugger and they had artichokes on the pizza. Super yummy! But I am so digressing...this is a post about Yogurtland!

Right across from the bar was Yogurtland. They have SELF SERVE frozen yogurt in tons of flavours! The self serve was a bit of an issue for me. I was getting chocolate when I thought I was getting peanut butter and then realized I got coconut when I thought I was getting pistachios. It wasn't my fault...there were two taps, I didn't read the sign, thought both were the same flavour. Stop laughing! I am not a fan of coconut, but the coconut, chocolate, peanut butter goop at the end was really good!

So one wall was these self serve machines and the toppings, everything from fresh fruit to broken up chocolate and in between, were up front. You pay by the weight. My brother and I took far less than the typcal customer (I can't imagine eating a full container like in the pictures!) and were more than satisfied and cost around $2 for each!

Hopefully as you can tell from the pictures, this place was BRIGHT! Kinda like if a Hello Kitty store threw up on Jamba Juice. Despite the need for shades to enter the store, it did give a very clean impression. I guess this place is the follow up to the Pinkberry craze and really I think I liked this place better. To be honest I can't remember the taste in Pinkberry, so my preference is mostly based on crazy number of flavours and that you can self serve (despite my issues!)

Lemon Poppyseed Biscuits...

2009-06-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

I almost, almost made a card over the weekend. Almost being code of course for nope didn't end up finishing one, or well really starting one. I am in dire need of some cards, may have to break down and actually buy one. The horror!

But I did bake...I picked up Martha Stewart's Cookie book from the library. It is 175 biscuits, bar and brownie like recipes. I've had this dream of picking up a cookbook and making every single recipe (kinda like the movie that's coming up but without a time deadline!) I am tempted to make this my challenge book, though 175 cookie recipes??? Especially when I can't really make biscuitss?! Am I crazy? Don't answer that. Though I wonder if I could make some of my friends take up my cause so between us we make it all....hmmmm....

Anyway the first biscuit I tried was Lemon Poppyseed Cookies. I figured being in California I really should take advantage of the amazing lemons! Plus I love anything with poppyseed in it (wonder if that is my inner druggie?)

I, of course, had trouble. I don't think I reduced the lemon juice enough. So I had to add extra flour to soak up the liquid and I substituted half whole wheat flour too. Still they baked up like they should and as of last night they seem okay. Time will tell if they harden up like a hockey puck, I will update.

The taste was awesome. Very lemony and I made some thin and crispy, so a very satisfying crunch! The not so thin ones had a shade of shortbread in them so can't complain there either. All in all, definite keeper.

The Ring and I...

2009-06-17T12:18:00.000-07:00

Wow I am totally slacking in posts. I haven’t picked up any stamp related material for months, totally lacking motivation and inspiration. Sadly not lacking greediness though, I ordered a new stamp set, hopefully that will get me going. I do have some cooking adventures to share, but been lazy in taking pictures. For now I will share the story of the ring.

Bit of background first. All engineers in Canada have the option of getting the IRON RING. I believe some sort of ceremony started later in some US colleges but not positive, but this is a Canadian thing.

The ring is great in that I’ve met people and had random conversations at airports, coffee shops, once at when a cop pulled me over (don’t ask) because they recognized the ring.

The ring worn on the small finger of your working hand as a constant reminder of the responsibility, obligation – moral, ethical and professional commitment – you undertake as an engineer (the whole cop situation may not have been the proudest moment of my ring!) We get the ring in a very cool ceremony, details of which I can’t share. Lets just say the ceremony itself is called “The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer.” Enough said right?

If you get a brand new ring, usually there is some sort of rough edges left behind…symbolic of the new graduate, which over time it smooths out. In my case it took a couple of months (maybe an year?) and during this time I had scratches/blood on my fourth finger regularly. But moving on…

My trouble started a couple of years ago when I found the ring to be a bit loose. But it was my original ring, it had finally smoothed itself out and I was hanging on to it. Then a couple of months ago I kept on loosing it…mostly when I get up in the morning it would be somewhere in my blankets (my mother will be happy to know this forced me to make my bed!) but once I started dropping it at work I knew I needed a new one. Except I now live in the US. I was forced to wear it on a necklace until I headed home a couple of weeks ago.

A must on my agenda was to get a new ring. The night before I found out that my ring would fit my little brother (who should be getting his ring sometime next semester if everything goes according to plan) and yay it does. So my plan was to get a new ring, give this one to my brother when the time comes…now I admit I was going to lie and say I lost my original ring. Lie, bad yes I know, but this was MY ring! Since I could, I wanted keep it in the family. At least this way I get to see it once in a while, talk about our good times.

I had to meet with the dean of engineering to get the ring. No problem.…except he drew out the drawer of rings before I said anything. Now I am not the greatest liar in the world but jeez it just felt so wrong to lie with all those rings staring at me! Interity, morality, ethics indeed. So I blurted out my story, he understood and I started trying on rings to find the size.

Keep in mind this was a hot day in Ottawa and I’ve walked around downtown and was a bit sweaty when I got to the office. I settled on two sizes. The small one was tight…all I could think was over time it was going to cut off my blood supply and I’d just watch my finger fall off. I don’t know why I didn’t think “oh maybe this is okay since I can get it on/off without too much of a struggle.” By this time my finger was red, feeling a bit numb so I went with the bigger size.

Got home and realized I picked up the EXACT same size of ring as I’ve had before. EXACT SAME SIZE! Iron ring karma for the intended lie? Or just stupidity? I think it’s a fine line.

My first morning back in California, I woke up and had to dig through my blankets to find the ring.

Sigh.

On my mom's positive side, my bed is made…