tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53730103753309474902024-03-13T06:15:31.944-07:00Jacki's JournalJackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-35219548835296815592010-09-02T13:46:00.001-07:002010-09-02T15:06:20.127-07:00Back To School!Today was orientation! I took the day off work and headed down to the <a href="http://www.theguvernment.com/">Guvernment Koolhaus</a> to meet my new peers. Although it felt ridiculously early to have to be somewhere by 9:30 (normally I work at noon), I had to remind myself that this was two hours later than when class starts next week.<br /><br />When I walked up to the building, there was already a line of people slowly working their way past people from various organizations throughout the college giving away pamphlets, flyers and swag. Inside the building, despite the early hour, the lights were dim and the music was pumping. I believe there were close to a thousand people inside! And we were all wearing ridiculous matching mustard-coloured t-shirts. It was the whole chef school and hospitality school, probably 15 or 20 different programs. We worked our way through the first two rooms, visiting kiosks along the way filled with people looking to recruit for sports teams, telling us where to get our lockers or offering support to international students.<br /><br />In the third room, we were seated with people from our specific program. I was relieved to find that I didn't feel or look that much older than the people at my table. I think I'm going to fit in okay! And my program is almost entirely girls! I think there are at most 10 guys in a program with 150 students.<br /><br />So we sat through some speeches. I got to put some faces to the names of people I dealt with last year in my battle to get into the program. After the speeches, they gave us an activity to get to know the people at our tables. We were given an apple, an orange, two bananas, a plate, a bowl, a pipe cleaner, some toothpicks, a napkin and two paring knives and were told to make a presentation of the fruit. I contributed to my group's display by making checkerboards on the on the apple wedges.<br /><br />There was some judging, and then we all left the club to head back to the school for our program orientations. As we walked back, I watched the sea of hundreds of yellow t-shirts as they crossed the Gardiner Expressway and just laughed. It was pretty ridiculous.<br /><br />At school, we were herded into classrooms specific to our program where we found brown bag lunches. I had an egg sandwich, it was exactly what I needed.<br /><br />The next hour was spent listening to a power point presentation of the school rules. My worst nightmares were confirmed: No jewelry, no nail polish, no ponytails.<br /><br />Somehow, I will survive.<br /><br />I think most of the programs did a tour after their sessions, but ours didn't, so we were free after that.<br /><br />First I tracked down my locker. My suspicions when reserving my locker online were correct. The odd numbers meant it was a top locker. Excellent.<br /><br />Then I tracked down a women who is helping me with my math exemption (there was a bit of mix-up where I was told it was confirmed, but it was not confirmed at all, so I've been trying to get everything fixed up this week). I gave her the form and she was optimistic that I will be exempted from the class, and told me not to register for it.<br /><br />Then I went to the bookstore to pick up my last few things. As expected, it was an absolute zoo. The bookstore wasn't big enough for all the action so they had set up a stations in the hall for trying on uniforms, buying knives and buying linens. Each station had a huge lineup. I was happy I took care of all that last week. My favorite part was that Mark's Work Warehouse had set up a big truck outside the bookstore where you could walk into the back and there were chairs inside so you could try on safety shoes. Inside the bookstore, the line wrapped all the way around the perimeter of the store and out into the hall. I had lots of time though, so I picked up my shoes, the notes for the math class (Even if I'm not taking it, for $12 I figured it wouldn't hurt to flip through the course notes), and the info I need to do my sanitation course online.<br /><br />By this time it was only 1pm, so I decided to go sit in another long line and get my student loan stuff sorted. I was really surprised at how easy the process was, no wonder college kids get so far into debt! I won't actually get my loan for about a month though because I opted out of the direct deposit option. I don't trust the government with my bank account number! The loan people thought I was crazy though. They kept trying to convince me that it's perfectly safe. I mean, they really tried. Regardless of whether I agree with them though, I just think it's such a minor inconvenience to wait a few weeks that it's totally worth saving that little bit of my privacy.<br /><br />After that, I decided to head home because I had a headache. I learned something about myself today. I'm officially addicted to caffeine. I didn't have my regular noon cup of green tea, and from twelve o'clock onwards, I started feeling worse and worse. So I came home, made a cup of tea and started blogging!<br /><br /><br />Okay, so I'm sure you're wondering....What kind of stuff do you need for pastry school?<br /><br />Well, I just happen to have finish collecting all of my supplies, so I would be happy to show you!<br /><br />Of course I need textbooks, course notes, notebooks, pens and an adorable netbook.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAO5kWEkqI/AAAAAAAABCo/UA1a4CjZhHs/s1600/P1010926.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAO5kWEkqI/AAAAAAAABCo/UA1a4CjZhHs/s400/P1010926.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512422326073070242" border="0" /></a>The textbook looks amazing, plus it came with little flashcard/cheat sheet dealies that contain all the mixing instructions for the main things I will be baking. The idea is that if you give me a list of ingredients to make say, bread, I can find the corresponding flashcard and it will tell me exactly how to combine those ingredients to get the result that I want. Nifty!<br /><br />But what am I going to wear???<br /><br />I got three fresh uniforms, complete with pants, jacket, neckerchief, bar towel, hat and apron. Yes, I'm really going to wear those hats. And I got a cute pink laundry bag to haul my dirty uniforms home at the end of the week. It wasn't until after I got it home that I realized it matches my netbook. John just laughs when that happens.<br /><br />I got another bag to hold my school books. It's a Targus bag, so it's really nice and it was on sale which is also really nice. My safety shoes are not particularly cute, but apparently they have steel toes and are slip resistant, specially suited for those in the hospitality industry.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOlZJMwlI/AAAAAAAABCA/e984czCaLHA/s1600/P1010919.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOlZJMwlI/AAAAAAAABCA/e984czCaLHA/s400/P1010919.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512421979468907090" border="0" /></a>I know what you're thinking. "But Jacki, what's in that black case tucked back there in the corner?"<br /><br />My baking tools! The case opens up like a book. On page one we have wooden spoons, spatulas and yes, that is a paint brush. The only use I can think of for it is maybe to brush crumbs off a cake?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOnN4W9uI/AAAAAAAABCg/yufDIe1iNs8/s1600/P1010925.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOnN4W9uI/AAAAAAAABCg/yufDIe1iNs8/s400/P1010925.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512422010805221090" border="0" /></a>On page two, we have oven mitts, a sil-pat sheet (used instead of parchment paper to line cookie sheets), a strainer, two piping bags (how will I ever survive with only two?!?!), a peeler and two sets of ten piping tips - just round tips and star tips in varying sizes.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOmg4nVnI/AAAAAAAABCY/6Ug-TtRTjx8/s1600/P1010923.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOmg4nVnI/AAAAAAAABCY/6Ug-TtRTjx8/s400/P1010923.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512421998726698610" border="0" /></a>And on page three we find the fun/sharp stuff. Two ice cream scoops (have been jonesing for these for ages), a microplane grater (been jonesing for that one too), some heavy duty scissors and some knives. One of them is bigger than anything I have at home!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOmM7SU8I/AAAAAAAABCQ/UarhqUKSe2A/s1600/P1010922.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOmM7SU8I/AAAAAAAABCQ/UarhqUKSe2A/s400/P1010922.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512421993369195458" border="0" /></a>And lastly, in the outside pockets, we find a scraper, a decorative edger, a smooth edger and some kind of probe that sits outside of the oven, but the stick part goes in the oven, into the food and continuously monitors the temperature.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOl5iCiDI/AAAAAAAABCI/5WJto2dCOiY/s1600/P1010921.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TIAOl5iCiDI/AAAAAAAABCI/5WJto2dCOiY/s400/P1010921.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5512421988163029042" border="0" /></a>Apparently this is all I will need to bake all manners of wonderful desserts!<br /><br />So in conclusion, I am going to have three really heavy bags to lug in everyday. If I come out of this program with nothing else, it will be strong arms!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-78792773732461366792010-08-06T06:46:00.000-07:002010-08-06T07:01:50.772-07:00Gettin' it all Figured OutThe very last piece fell in place yesterday.<br /><br />Work approved my part time schedule!<br /><br />That was the last thing I needed to organize my school year perfectly. I'm starting out with a small schedule of 16 hours a week. Then in November when I can work Saturdays, I'll ramp up to 19.5 hours per week. And I'm just going to play it by ear - if I feel like my course load is light enough that I can take on more hours, I will. I figured it was better to start small and ramp up, then start big and stress myself out because I took on too much.<br /><br />So I have a commuter situation that is nearly impossible to achieve in Toronto (and I still give John all the credit for this since he is the one who found the apartment and found me my job). I wake up, hop on a subway for 6 stops (20 minutes) and it lets me off two blocks from school. After school I come home the same way, then pop next door to work and pop back home. So basically I can go to work school in the same day, come home in between and still only commute less than an hour a day. Considering a typical commute in Toronto is 45 mins - 1 hour each way, I think that is amazing! My streak continues!<br /><br />Now I'm just getting all my back-to-school stuff going. I've signed up for orientation on Sept 2nd. I found my <a href="http://www.georgebrown.ca/rex/orientation/Chef_School_Book_List.pdf">book</a>, <a href="http://www.georgebrown.ca/rex/orientation/Chef_School_Uniform_Requirement_Baking.pdf">uniform and supply</a> list, so I'll probably start picking that stuff up next weekend (I have to buy a $350 baking tool kit, how fun is that!) I'm starting to get excited! It's starting to feel real!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-87736912552315094392010-06-23T12:47:00.001-07:002010-06-23T12:51:05.620-07:00We had an Earthquake!Crazy, eh?<br /><br />I was at work and it was interesting to watch everyone realize what was happening at the same time. I couldn't feel the earth tremble, I just felt the building sway from side to side. It's two hours later and I still have a funny feeling in my stomach.<br /><br />Some people went home from work citing being too shaken up to continue, but I think it's just because it was so unnerving. It wasn't bad enough for anything to fall off my desk, for example.<br /><br />So I don't think we were in any real danger, but it was definitely spooky!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-74073239851431510742010-06-06T10:53:00.000-07:002010-06-06T16:13:05.240-07:00Garden: Day 8It's only been a few days, but there have been some changes in my garden!<br /><br />My sprouts are growing a bit better, but still not enough for a sandwich.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjq93FvfI/AAAAAAAABB4/p5vCkZ5Ckdk/s1600/plants+2+038.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjq93FvfI/AAAAAAAABB4/p5vCkZ5Ckdk/s400/plants+2+038.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479794067670154738" border="0" /></a>And that's not the only thing sprouting!<br /><br />My green onions have started to sprout. They're so tiny, I think it's impossible that they'll every become vegetables.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjTPBRWSI/AAAAAAAABA4/j1g853PzRRM/s1600/plants+2+030.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjTPBRWSI/AAAAAAAABA4/j1g853PzRRM/s400/plants+2+030.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479793659959400738" border="0" /></a>The green onions were actually the last ones to sprout out of everything I planted. The mesclun greens have tonnes of sprouts. I still have no idea what any of them are, but I can see subtle differences between them so I know I've got a few varieties growing.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjS807JdI/AAAAAAAABAw/lBNDUUhzrYU/s1600/plants+2+029.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjS807JdI/AAAAAAAABAw/lBNDUUhzrYU/s400/plants+2+029.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479793655075775954" border="0" /></a>And check out the zucchinis! They got this big in just a week!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwc2AcK37I/AAAAAAAABAo/O0wG8g_Bp_I/s1600/plants+2+028.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwc2AcK37I/AAAAAAAABAo/O0wG8g_Bp_I/s400/plants+2+028.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479786560759717810" border="0" /></a>After they were already planted, I decided to do some research on them (backwards, I know) and it turns out that a single plant should be enough to keep us in zucchinis for the summer. So maybe planting 16 was a bit overkill. Apparently each plant produces a zucchini every two days. Yikes!<br /><br />But to be honest, given my track record with seedlings, I'll be impressed if more than say, five make it to maturity. And worst case, I'll dig 'em up and give them away. Apparently you can eat the flowers too! You can chop them up and put them in frittata or use them to wrap soft cheese in and fry. This should be interesting!<br /><br />Some of the plants have improved over the past week. My cactus is starting to get its colour back. It had turned a deep purple over the winter, but now it seems to be returning to its original pink colour.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjT2FFE3I/AAAAAAAABBQ/_dMOVHbYSag/s1600/plants+2+033.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjT2FFE3I/AAAAAAAABBQ/_dMOVHbYSag/s400/plants+2+033.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479793670444356466" border="0" /></a>The banana tree has a couple of fresh new leaves. Those ratty old ones will be gone in no time. It's also weeping at night (drops of water drip from the tips of the leaves) so that tells me it's happy too.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjTRVeQVI/AAAAAAAABBA/KECiUE3s-_M/s1600/plants+2+031.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjTRVeQVI/AAAAAAAABBA/KECiUE3s-_M/s400/plants+2+031.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479793660581003602" border="0" /></a>and one of the strawberries has started turning red! I can't wait until these are ready to eat.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwc2KRq3gI/AAAAAAAABAg/y7yaVUxq__0/s1600/plants+2+027.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwc2KRq3gI/AAAAAAAABAg/y7yaVUxq__0/s400/plants+2+027.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479786563400031746" border="0" /></a>And we have new additions! Introducing.....<br /><br />Sage!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjpzN9GTI/AAAAAAAABBg/qBrD0LORQZI/s1600/plants+2+035.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjpzN9GTI/AAAAAAAABBg/qBrD0LORQZI/s400/plants+2+035.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479794047633398066" border="0" /></a>Chives!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjpjfqxmI/AAAAAAAABBY/jmVB6tdihlY/s1600/plants+2+034.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjpjfqxmI/AAAAAAAABBY/jmVB6tdihlY/s400/plants+2+034.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479794043412727394" border="0" /></a>Raspberries!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvoiKpr5sI/AAAAAAAABAI/u41UJD6YLZc/s1600/plants+2+025.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvoiKpr5sI/AAAAAAAABAI/u41UJD6YLZc/s400/plants+2+025.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479729045298734786" border="0" /></a>These plants were on sale at Canadian tire last weekend, so I bought two. I'm not sure how well they'll grow in a container, but I figure it's worth a shot!<br /><br />They've already got the start of a few berries:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwc1nO0l4I/AAAAAAAABAY/qEk-4CHoH6w/s1600/plants+2+026.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwc1nO0l4I/AAAAAAAABAY/qEk-4CHoH6w/s400/plants+2+026.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479786553992845186" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwc1VcVaeI/AAAAAAAABAQ/EXVPeN6CSrI/s1600/plants+2+026.JPG"><br /></a>At the same sale I picked up two blueberry plants!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvohzq0fOI/AAAAAAAABAA/b9gezp3S5jQ/s1600/plants+2+024.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvohzq0fOI/AAAAAAAABAA/b9gezp3S5jQ/s400/plants+2+024.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479729039129476322" border="0" /></a>The little tag with them promises 1cm blueberries in late July.<br /><br />And the plant I'm most excited about? Rhubarb!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvohjUCPaI/AAAAAAAAA_4/ltwDp6Rp6n0/s1600/plants+2+023.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvohjUCPaI/AAAAAAAAA_4/ltwDp6Rp6n0/s400/plants+2+023.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479729034738941346" border="0" /></a>I found this at a fruit stand near our building when I was on my way to my bridesmaid's dress fitting. I was too excited to find it, rhubarb reminds me of home. I know they get bigger and stronger every year, so I gave it a pot big enough that it should have lots of room to grow its roots. I'm not expecting too much out of it this year, but hopefully I'll get at least enough for some strawberry-rhubarb sauce for vanilla ice cream.<br /><br />And lastly, because I had some leftover dirt, I decided to try a little experiment. I took a couple of cloves of garlic from my fridge and buried them. I wonder if anything will grow?<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjToGAFSI/AAAAAAAABBI/NZD1bdi43H4/s1600/plants+2+032.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjToGAFSI/AAAAAAAABBI/NZD1bdi43H4/s400/plants+2+032.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479793666690127138" border="0" /></a>I'm really happy with my garden! With the exception of dill, I think I have all of the plants I want. Which is a good thing, because I'm running out of space!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjqKnCZPI/AAAAAAAABBo/JcBWrxLzrps/s1600/plants+2+036.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjqKnCZPI/AAAAAAAABBo/JcBWrxLzrps/s400/plants+2+036.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479794053912618226" border="0" /></a>The next step is to make it a little cozier. I want to put down some bamboo mats and John wants to put out a chaise. Oh yeah, and here is his contribution this week to our improved summer lifestyle:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjqiOQT5I/AAAAAAAABBw/6vQ825xFobc/s1600/plants+2+037.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAwjqiOQT5I/AAAAAAAABBw/6vQ825xFobc/s400/plants+2+037.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479794060251123602" border="0" /></a>Definitely an improvement over last summer!<br /><br />And since we're talking about gardens, I thought I'd share a picture of some other flowers I'm working on:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvohMUkNbI/AAAAAAAAA_w/OtAZrcvF6lU/s1600/plants+2+021.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAvohMUkNbI/AAAAAAAAA_w/OtAZrcvF6lU/s400/plants+2+021.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5479729028567152050" border="0" /></a>Fondant calla lilies for Jess's wedding. 41 down, 69 to go!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-92083339615434246142010-05-29T16:10:00.000-07:002010-05-29T18:47:58.407-07:00Garden: Day 1I've caught the gardening bug big time this summer!<br /><br />As usual, it started with a basil plant I picked up at the supermarket. As I'm sure many of you know, I have a long history of killing basil plants. I think last summer alone, I killed four. So when I saw one at the supermarket about a month ago, I figured it's never too soon to start trying again. So I brought it home and through some miracle, managed to keep it alive!<br /><br />John asked me if I wanted to go putter around Chapters with him last weekend and I remembered seeing little grow-your-own sprout kits there, so I tagged along. Next to the kits I found a book called <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/You-Grow-Girl-Groundbreaking-Gardening/dp/0743270142/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275177104&sr=8-1">You Grow Girl</a> that had cute pictures and looked beginner-friendly so I picked up both since I had a gift card.<br /><br />Much like the quilt I made a few months ago, once I start reading about a new hobby, I get a bit obsessive. By the end of the week I had finished the book, mapped out how my shiny new container garden was going to look and researched several plants and the best way to grow them online (youtube has some great container gardening videos). It makes John giggle when I get like this because I'm so predictable when I get a new hobby. I'm unstoppable.<br /><br />So this morning we rented a car for a couple of hours and hit the garden center. We started with Wal-mart for cheap pots, soil and fertilizer and then went to two nurseries for the plants. We got home and made lunch and then I went straight to work setting up the garden.<br /><br />It was a lot of work and I made a huge mess of dirt everywhere, but I found it really enjoyable and I felt like I was making progress quickly. I sowed some seeds, transplanted some starter plants and repotted all of my house plants because I thought some of them could use new nutrient-rich soil (I used Miracle-Gro Premium potting soil).<br /><br />I've decided to take pictures of everything every couple of weeks to keep a journal of the garden this summer in the hopes of being able to look back on it in the fall and figure out ways to improve it for next year. So, although I planted a few of the plants a couple of weeks ago, I'm considering today Day 1 since that's when I planted the majority of them.<br /><br />Let's start with the <span style="font-weight: bold;">herbs</span>!<br /><br />First up: The basil that started it all. It still lives indoors next to the window because I find it so sensitive to water levels, I'm afraid it will dry out too quickly in direct sun.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlA7yhAHI/AAAAAAAAA94/scwZzYzztrE/s1600/garden-pics-293.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlA7yhAHI/AAAAAAAAA94/scwZzYzztrE/s400/garden-pics-293.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840057327386738" border="0" /></a>Then we have my favorite herb of all, Thai basil. It lives with some tiny pepper plants. I just moved them outside three days ago and the basil loves it but the peppers hate it. I'm not sure they're going to survive.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl6ydSwuI/AAAAAAAAA_I/XZ-BlVR2qsM/s1600/garden-pics-303.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl6ydSwuI/AAAAAAAAA_I/XZ-BlVR2qsM/s400/garden-pics-303.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476841051254866658" border="0" /></a>Next up is greek oregano. I got four tiny plants and spread them out in a pretty pink planter I rescued from the lobby downstairs where people abandon stuff they don't want. It has no drainage holes, so used a layer of acetate (left over from when I had to make that house shaped cookie cutter) with holes in it to create drainage inside the pot.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGldGaDUuI/AAAAAAAAA-w/XdF_KhW9LCg/s1600/garden-pics-300.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGldGaDUuI/AAAAAAAAA-w/XdF_KhW9LCg/s400/garden-pics-300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840541213905634" border="0" /></a>Next up: <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Herbal Teas</span><br /><br />I can't wait to make my own herbal teas!<br /><br />I couldn't find a peppermint plant, so instead I got spearmint. I think it will still be delicious.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlc8tl-JI/AAAAAAAAA-o/FwTT6gaOJDU/s1600/garden-pics-299.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlc8tl-JI/AAAAAAAAA-o/FwTT6gaOJDU/s400/garden-pics-299.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840538611513490" border="0" /></a>And this is a magical hybrid plant called chocolate mint. I'm very interested to find out if that's how it actually tastes.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl6jVpP0I/AAAAAAAAA_A/ZTav_vr6whc/s1600/garden-pics-302.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl6jVpP0I/AAAAAAAAA_A/ZTav_vr6whc/s400/garden-pics-302.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476841047196254018" border="0" /></a>I've heard lemon verbena makes a lovely tea, so I picked up two of those (since each one was just a couple of stalks). Apparently it can grow to 6 feet tall but I don't think that's going to happen in this little pot.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlchmy4JI/AAAAAAAAA-g/moTYbz2sJfY/s1600/garden-pics-298.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlchmy4JI/AAAAAAAAA-g/moTYbz2sJfY/s400/garden-pics-298.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840531335241874" border="0" /></a>And this is too cool: Stevia!! I've heard it's really tricky to grow but if I can pull it off I'll have a natural sweetener that is supposedly sweeter than sugar but with very few calories.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlcEwudiI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/kvTIyQ7Z9pU/s1600/garden-pics-297.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlcEwudiI/AAAAAAAAA-Y/kvTIyQ7Z9pU/s400/garden-pics-297.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840523592267298" border="0" /></a>That's it for the herbs! On to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fruits</span>!<br /><br />Guess what I found? A new banana tree!! I'm super happy about this, my life has been noticeably void of banana trees since my last one died over the winter. It's in sad shape now, but I think I can nurse it back to health. Banana trees with ratty leaves remind me of stray cats with torn ears. They just need a little love.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl7CRjtJI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/d8epSPXn-rg/s1600/garden-pics-304.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl7CRjtJI/AAAAAAAAA_Q/d8epSPXn-rg/s400/garden-pics-304.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476841055500612754" border="0" /></a>In sadder news, the cherry tomato plant I bought about a month ago is on its last legs. I had to cut off almost all of its leaves as they were all dead.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGld0SXlYI/AAAAAAAAA-4/3XGdiSrqhEE/s1600/garden-pics-301.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGld0SXlYI/AAAAAAAAA-4/3XGdiSrqhEE/s400/garden-pics-301.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840553529709954" border="0" /></a>Check out my strawberry patch! I have three plants and they are supposed to provide continuous fruit right up to September. The one on the left has a couple of sad leaves but hopefully it will be healthy in no time.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlB6Cw0EI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/79P297BSoS8/s1600/garden-pics-296.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlB6Cw0EI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/79P297BSoS8/s400/garden-pics-296.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840074038530114" border="0" /></a>Is coffee a fruit? It grows berries so I guess so. I've had this plant since I was in Halifax. I think it's about two and a half now. I'm told that after three years I should start to see berries. Some day I hope to be able to brew a cup of home grown coffee for John. Pipe dream? Maybe.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlBtCBAHI/AAAAAAAAA-I/lp5dzFSzuSM/s1600/garden-pics-295.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlBtCBAHI/AAAAAAAAA-I/lp5dzFSzuSM/s400/garden-pics-295.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840070545735794" border="0" /></a>And Erin, this one is for you. Here's how my lemon tree is looking. It has only grown one leaf since I left Halifax, but hopefully today's repotting will change that. I'm still 14 years away from fresh lemons.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlBaxkCMI/AAAAAAAAA-A/Kki7WahBCzg/s1600/garden-pics-294.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlBaxkCMI/AAAAAAAAA-A/Kki7WahBCzg/s400/garden-pics-294.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840065644890306" border="0" /></a>And our last category: <span style="font-weight: bold;">Veggies<br /><br /></span>These are the broccoli sprouts I planted last week. The instructions said to just sprinkle the seeds on the soil but it seems to me the only ones that sprouted are the ones that were actually buried so I may put a layer of soil on top of them if they don't sprout soon. Supposedly the go from seeds to snacks in ten days.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlAqmOUrI/AAAAAAAAA9w/v_oT1rPCl5c/s1600/garden-pics-292.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGlAqmOUrI/AAAAAAAAA9w/v_oT1rPCl5c/s400/garden-pics-292.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476840052712428210" border="0" /></a>The next pictures are pretty boring because I just planted the seeds today. The saran wrap is to keep the moisture in until the seeds germinate.<br /><br />Green onions. Yes that is a foil cake pan, I ran out of pots. 60 to 75 days until maturity.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGmGc7yMEI/AAAAAAAAA_o/3ILH2_NMjks/s1600/garden-pics-307.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGmGc7yMEI/AAAAAAAAA_o/3ILH2_NMjks/s400/garden-pics-307.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476841251635605570" border="0" /></a>Gold Rush Zuchinni. I planted two rows of them. According to the packet, they take exactly 49 days. I find it impossible to believe they can predict it that accurately.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl7aloitI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/hj2TqQ3_Rns/s1600/garden-pics-305.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl7aloitI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/hj2TqQ3_Rns/s400/garden-pics-305.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476841062027266770" border="0" /></a>And the veggies I am most excited about: a mesclun greens garden. I hope to have at least nine plants grow to maturity (40 to 65 days). I used McKenzie seed tape so I actually have no idea what kinds of plants are in there.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl7gzvClI/AAAAAAAAA_g/OSfGCHrkhgY/s1600/garden-pics-306.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/TAGl7gzvClI/AAAAAAAAA_g/OSfGCHrkhgY/s400/garden-pics-306.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5476841063697025618" border="0" /></a><br />So that's it for Day 1! We'll see how the next few weeks go and if they go well I'll probably plant a few more. Actually if they all die I'd probably plant more too. So there will probably be more planting! I will post updates over the summer, wish me luck!!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-41537113274921787392010-04-23T05:40:00.000-07:002010-05-29T18:56:11.827-07:00600 CookiesFor a week, I disappeared off the Earth.<br /><br />If you tried to reach me to wish me a happy birthday and I didn't return your call, it's not because I didn't want to! It's because I was a slave to the cookies.<br /><br />So many cookies.<br /><br />By some miracle I managed to pull off my biggest baking project yet! John's company ordered 200 gift bagged 'favours' for a large meeting they were holding. The instruction I was given was that they wanted something with their logo. So I put together some samples of ways I could make the logo on little fondant circles and said that I could put it on either cookies or cupcakes. They picked cookies.<br /><br />Well, one cookie isn't much of a favour, so I offered to put together little bags with three cookies each: one with the logo, one shaped like a house, and one shaped like a car (there's not much cookie-friendly imagery to work with in the insurance industry as I'm sure you can imagine), all done in the company's colours.<br /><br />Piece of cake, right?<br /><br />I planned out everything in my head. Worked out costs and what supplies I would need. I figured I would start them a week ahead of time and freeze them as I go. John and I went out to the Michaels in Mississauga and picked up the bags and icing colours.<br /><br />On my birthday last Friday, I had taken the day off work but John ended up having to work, so I thought it would be a great time to get a head start on the cookies. I woke up early and headed down to the St. Lawrence market because they're the biggest suppliers of cookie cutters I know of. I found a circle cutter for the logo. They didn't have any car shaped cutters! But they had one that was supposed to be a bus but actually looked like a PT Cruiser, so I figured that would do. I picked up a motorcycle cutter too, just in case.<br /><br />But there was no house cutter! So, I left, feeling discouraged. I called the Bulk Barn, McCalls and Kitchen Stuff Plus, but it seemed no one makes a house shaped cookie cutter! How on Earth was I going to make 200 house shaped cookies with out a cookie cutter?<br /><br />This was the first of many snags.<br /><br />Eventually I realized I was going to have to make my own. I headed down the street to Loomis and Toles and bought a sheet of heavy acetate. I drew out a picture of the house I wanted and measured how long the sides would be. I cut a strip of the acetate and carefully scored and folded it into a house. How to attach it together? Well I wasn't sure how food safe crazy glue is, so I went with the classic duct tape, wrapping it around the back so it wouldn't touch the food.<br /><br />Okay, I had a house cutter. It wasn't pretty, but it was the right shape and it would cut out cookies.<br /><br />Time to start baking.<br /><br />I threw together a batch of sugar cookie dough. Of course it had to chill for an hour before I could bake it (otherwise the cookies don't come out light and fluffy). Once it had chilled, I turned it out on the counter to roll it and made another batch of dough to chill while the first one was being baked.<br /><br />I got a great groove going. At all times, one batch of dough in the fridge, one sheet of cookies in the oven, one ready to go in the oven next, and one that I'm working on. After three batches of dough, I had all the circles baked. Awesome.<br /><br />Once that was done, I took a break from baking and made white some royal icing to dip them in. I dipped the 200 cookies and laid them all out to dry. They all fit on the table, so I was able to do them all at once. Not a bad day's work. I went to bed feeling really good about how productive the day had been.<br /><br />On Saturday, John told me that for my birthday he wanted to take me out for brunch and then to the zoo. How fun is that! But it was raining out, so we decided to just go for brunch and put off the zoo until after he gets back from Honduras.<br /><br />He took me to a little restaurant called Simple Bistro on Mount Pleasant Street, only a 10 minute walk from home. We had the best eggs benedict that I can ever remember having! It was a perfectly poached egg and hot peameal bacon on a home-made croissant with hand whisked hollandaise sauce. And it was served with crispy home-made shoestring fries and greens. Perfection. Even the tea was good. We will definitely be going back.<br /><br />When we got home I decided it was time to make some cookies. I started baking houses.<br /><br />My crudely constructed cookie cutter worked out okay, but it was about this time that I started to understand the magnitude of the project. I realized the houses were going to take <span style="font-weight: bold;">six</span> batches of cookie dough because they were somewhat bigger than the circles. Baking them would take more than a day. After three batches or so, I decided to work on icing them. That's when I realized they wouldn't all fit on my table. I could only fit about 80, so it would take three rounds of icing to get them all done and each round needed 4 hours for the icing to dry and then it would take a further 3 hours to pipe all of the finishing details on them. Frantically, I started working out how many hours I had before they were due, Thursday morning. I started to wonder if I had bitten off more than I could chew.<br /><br />By the end of Saturday I had most of the houses baked and two rounds iced and decorated. And I realized that there was no chance of all the cookies fitting into my freezer. I filed that one away in my brain as another problem to solve.<br /><br />On Sunday, I realized that I had to get as much done this weekend as possible so I woke up at the crack of dawn. I finished baking the houses and got started on the cars. It was at about this time I remembered that they had also ordered a cake for Tuesday, so I had better get that started today too.<br /><br />And I realized that I had yet to even start working on the 200 fondant logos so I got to work on those too. After three and a half hours of punching out little letters with a cutter and cutting curves out (using another acetate cutter I made) and then carefully attaching them to the cookies with royal icing, I had 70 done. Yikes.<br /><br />By the end of the 3-day weekend I had about 500 cookies baked, two chocolate cakes baked, stacked and crumb coated, 400 cookies iced and 270 cookies decorated.<br /><br />From there on, I started running on very little sleep. I was up at 6am each morning and in bed by 1am if I was lucky. Each day before work I would ice another 80 and let them dry while I was at work. Even on my lunch hours I was either running around looking for ribbon or at home making buttercream. At night on Monday I finished up the cake (it actually turned out pretty cute) and did another 70 fondant decorations. On Tuesday night I piped the details on all 200 cars. My fridge and my freezer were absolutely packed with cookies.<br /><br />Wednesday night was crunch time! John started bagging them while I finished the last 60 fondant decorations. I was terrified that he would get to the end of the bags and realize that we were a few cookies short because I hadn't had time to double count them. I had cookie dough in the fridge and extra royal icing standing by just in case but I really didn't want to be up until 3am doing more baking. I lucked out though, we actually had 6 extra cookies.<br /><br />We were finished at about the same time. I joined him at the table and we tied little blue and green ribbon bows until 2am.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S9GVmDaeguI/AAAAAAAAA9o/1q_p_2Qw63o/s1600/GPCookies.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 319px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S9GVmDaeguI/AAAAAAAAA9o/1q_p_2Qw63o/s400/GPCookies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463312303961047778" border="0" /></a>When we were done, the only containers we had big enough to hold them were the laundry baskets.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S9GVl7QMNsI/AAAAAAAAA9g/6qZFLTqy-FQ/s1600/GPCookiesinBags.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S9GVl7QMNsI/AAAAAAAAA9g/6qZFLTqy-FQ/s400/GPCookiesinBags.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463312301770421954" border="0" /></a>On Wednesday night I went to bed feeling so relieved that they were all done. I still can't believe I pulled this off. John said he couldn't wait to get them out of the apartment. It smelled so strongly of sugar in here that I actually had that feeling you get from eating too much sugar when I hadn't even eaten any.<br /><br />When I got home from work yesterday I just flopped out. I laid in bed playing video games on my DS with peanut butter and banana toast. I had missed relaxing so much!<br /><br />Tonight I need to clean this place up though, there's wax paper, ziplock bags and ribbon everywhere!<br /><br />Overall, I'm not sure whether or not I would do this again, but I think I probably would if they asked me. It took so much more supplies than I thought though, so next time I would price it differently I think. I kept running out of stuff I never expected to run out of, like wax paper, salt and baking powder. And I went through a whole 10kg bag of flour, about 15 lbs of icing sugar and I lost count of the butter at 10lbs.<br /><br />I definitely learned that I need to work on my time management skills. I get into a zone when I'm baking and I don't realize that 4 hours have passed, so I'll think I have more time than I actually do. I also see a lot of ways this process could have been better streamlined, but I was limited by the size of my tiny kitchen and oven.<br /><br />And the fact that I didn't hate these cookies by the end of it, I was actually still having fun, makes me a little more sure that this is what I'm cut out for. This is what I'm meant to be doing.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-4263798353554576962010-04-13T08:20:00.000-07:002010-04-13T19:52:18.137-07:00Happy Birthday John!!John turned 32 this weekend! And it was the first time since January that he had a whole weekend off! He's back to working Monday to Friday again, so life is good.<br /><br />On Saturday, our keys from AutoShare arrived so we decided to go for a drive. I needed some baking stuff, so John offered to take me out to Michaels in Mississauga. We Googled mapped it: 26 minute drive. Ok. So we booked a car for three hours thinking that would give us plenty of time.<br /><br />This was my first time leaving the city by car since we moved here and I didn't expect to be so nervous. My stomach was knots though on the highways. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not used to being in cars anymore or if it's just that Toronto highways are so intimidating (or probably a combination of both) but I got pretty squirrelly.<br /><br />It took half an hour just to get out of downtown, and when we got on the highway, there was an accident, so we had to find an alternate route. The end result is that we got totally lost and by the time we got to Michaels, about two hours had passed so we only had about ten minutes before it was time to go home.<br /><br />I quickly ran through and picked up some new icing colours, some large cakeboards for the cakes I'm making for his work and a really cool kit that I can use to make fancy fondant letters.<br /><br />On the way home we got lost again. I think we went too far East. After 20 minutes of wandering through midtown trying to find our little corner, we finally got our bearings back and pulled into the parking lot at 4:01, one minute late.<br /><br />The next person to use the car was waiting there. She said she had just called AutoShare and was on hold waiting to report that the car wasn't there, so we got there just in the nick of time (the fees for returning a car late are pretty substantial)<br /><br />So that was our first drive out of the big city!<br /><br />We stopped for Chinese food on the way home (Manchu Wok, blech!) and had a lazy rest of the afternoon. At night we watched the fights (Silva, your fight against Maia completely destroyed any fleeting hope I might have had that you would someday return to your former glory of being the top pound for pound fighter in the UFC.) and had snacks. It was a good day.<br /><br />On Sunday it was John's birthday so I made him a special breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes shaped to say "32" (and there may have been a heart shaped one too. Maybe.) In the afternoon we went to see Clash of the Titans. I really liked it! I wish it had been longer though.<br /><br />After the movie we went out for dinner. John had requested fajitas for his birthday supper so we headed over to the Pickle Barrel. We split a pound of half chicken, half steak fajitas, they were so good! 2 oz cocktails were $6.99 so I ordered a peach bellini that ended up being as big as my head. It was yummy though.<br /><br />And when we got home it was time for birthday cake! Check it out:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S8SLxHkDjqI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/LlwURrrCMHc/s1600/LionTigerCake.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 380px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S8SLxHkDjqI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/LlwURrrCMHc/s400/LionTigerCake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459642324240010914" border="0" /></a>John had requested fruit flavoured cake so I made him a triple layer blueberry cake with strawberry filling. It's covered with a thin layer of vanilla-almond buttercream and a layer of marshmallow fondant. I used my 6" pan but somehow the cake still turned out huge and really heavy!<br /><br />On top I put some happy cats that I had made in advance. They're fondant too. And you can't tell from this photo, but their tails are linked in the back. When I brought it out, John burst out laughing, so I think it was a success. And it was absolutely delicious. For flavour, it was one of my best cakes yet! There's still a tonne of it left though, I don't know how we're ever going to eat it all.<br /><br />All in all, we had a fun weekend. And I took this Friday off for my birthday, so it's just a four day week!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-87774654510197915762010-04-06T06:14:00.000-07:002010-04-06T07:22:37.324-07:00ReflectingAs most of you know, my birthday is coming up, and like every year, it has me looking back on what I've done with my life so far and sadly realizing just how fast time flies.<br /><br />I can't believe I'm going to turn 29 in two weeks.<br /><br />I can't believe I've already been living in Toronto for almost a year.<br /><br />I can't believe John and I have been together for three whole years.<br /><br />Yikes! What happened to the time???<br /><br />It's John's birthday too next week. He handles it with much more composure than me, he's totally unfazed.<br /><br />A couple of weeks ago we decided it was time to commit to the fact that we're going to be living here for quite a while so we headed to the MTO and traded in our licenses. We both have Ontario licenses now, it makes me feel like a real Ontario citizen.<br /><br />John signed us up for a shared car pool thing so we would have something to drive. I think it's called AutoShare and it will give us access to a car for like $6/hour including gas and insurance. There's a parking lot on our street corner where they keep them and we can just pick one up any time which is pretty cool. So this summer we'll be able to do more exploring than last year! And John can get to dive sites!<br /><br />I know it's early, but it really feels like Spring is here. The days are bright, the weather is so warm it's a bit unsettling, and my lemon tree has sprouted a new leaf for the first time since we moved! In the next week or too, I'm going to pick up some plants for my window boxes. Fresh herbs as usual and I think I'd like to get some berry plants as well. More for decoration than anything, berries are so cheap here to buy.<br /><br />I tried on some of my Spring clothes and I think I still need to lose 5 or 10 lbs to have them fit well, so I'm back to working out and dieting, not that I ever really stopped, I just slacked a bit.<br /><br />But that doesn't stop me from baking!<br /><br />I've been doing some experimenting in the past couple of weeks. I made some awesome biscotti (this is my new favorite way to use up bread crumbs). This weekend I broke out the ice cream maker Aunt Debbie got me for Christmas and made some french style (meaning you make a custard on the stove first) chocolate ice cream. It was my first attempt at ice cream in many years and it needs improvement for sure. It came out so rich I could barely eat one scoop (although John could) and it ended up freezing solid so it's difficult to scoop. I have all summer to figure it out though!<br /><br />The ice cream recipe called for 8 egg yolks, so I had a bunch of whites leftover. I decided to make an angel food cake, also a first for me. It came out with great taste, but it fell sort of flat, I think because I didn't have a sifter to sift the flour. Next time I have egg whites I need to use, I'll try again. It kind of amused me though, watching John eat a bowl of chocolate ice cream and angel food cake, because really he was mostly just eating a bowl of eggs.<br /><br />And I've been making cakes! John's work ordered a cake from me for their training class that was graduating. It was the biggest cake I've ever made, a double layer 12" chocolate cake. It was the first cake I've made for a business, so I kept it kind of low key and professional. I filled it with dulce de leche between the layers and iced it with vanilla buttercream. I carefully recreated the company logo out of marshmallow fondant which I put in the center of the cake, and wrote "Congratulations Graduates" in fondant around the edge. I finished it off with some basic shell borders.<br /><br />John said they were thrilled with it! Although I didn't take any photos of it, he said that they took a photo of the cake with the training class all gathered around it and that it will be appearing in their next company newsletter. Cool! So they want another one for the next training class, and they said this time, I can have a little more fun with it. I guess they actually offered to be my 'guinea pigs'!<br /><br />And also as a result, some one else in the office has ordered a cake from me! So this is becoming quite the hobby. I'm surprised I'm enjoying it so much since I'm usually more of a tiny dessert person. But I am actually looking forward to making these cakes. And maybe one more little cake for John's birthday,Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-33461374797425509822010-03-22T08:10:00.001-07:002010-05-29T18:56:11.827-07:00PacMan CookiesI don't think anyone would argue that I'm a bit of a nerd.<br /><br />I think that's why when I stumbled upon a site called <a href="http://www.spritestitch.com">Sprite Stitch</a>, a site devoted to making crafts involving 8-bit Nintendo characters, I was instantly hooked. I think I flipped through the first 50 pages of the site without taking any breaks.<br /><br />Well, one of the things I learned from that site is that when flipped upside down, a tulip cookie cutter looks just like a PacMan ghost.<br /><br />And once I had this information, I couldn't get it out of my head. I had no good reason to bake cookies, but for some reason I couldn't resist. So here they are:<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6eIjSDXnaI/AAAAAAAAA8k/QjM4v0yIw_Y/s1600-h/PacmanSingleSet.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6eIjSDXnaI/AAAAAAAAA8k/QjM4v0yIw_Y/s400/PacmanSingleSet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451476013678042530" border="0" /></a>The background was John's idea. I thought it was a little over the top but now I'm glad he convinced me.<br /><br />They're just basic sugar cookies with royal icing. I used a Wilton tulip cutter for the ghosts (about 1.5") and a circle cutter for PacMan. I had a tiny little triangle cutter that I used to cut out his mouth. And the dots were made with a tiny circle cutter.<br /><br />It took two batches of royal icing. I divided it into half cup portions and coloured one red, one orange, one yellow, one blue and one the lightest purple I could do (because the ghost is almost white in the game) and I left one bowl white. Each of these I diluted with water slightly to make them runny enough that I could just dip the cookies in. Then I took another 1/4 cup of white and coloured another 1/4 cup black in a stiffer consistency to pipe the eyes. I piped the whites of the eyes with a #5 tip and the blacks with a #3 tip.<br /><br />I'm thrilled with how cute they turned out. And of course a batch of cookies makes more than eight little one inch cookies. So I made some more!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6eIi2SCUsI/AAAAAAAAA8c/f_Rd7a1L_T8/s1600-h/PacManBagged.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6eIi2SCUsI/AAAAAAAAA8c/f_Rd7a1L_T8/s400/PacManBagged.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451476006223368898" border="0" /></a>264 cookies. Or as John says, 256 bits plus a byte.<br /><br />I'm not sure why I felt the need to individually pack them neatly into bags, I think it's because I want to make sure that anyone who eats them gets a complete set so they can play with them first! John is going to bring some to work and so am I, but I haven't figured out what to do with the rest of them yet so most of them will be going in the freezer.<br /><br />It was a fairly time consuming project as far as cookies go, so it gave me a lot of time to think about what I was doing. And I've come to the conclusion that I am completely mental when it comes to this stuff. That's the only explanation. I have no idea why I do it, I just get these ideas in my head and I get almost obsessive and I have to see it through. I feel like once the idea was there, there was no possibility of these cookies not getting made.<br /><br />John tells me it's all good though. He agrees that it's a bit ridiculous, but he loves me just the same. And he always manages to find homes for all of the wacky stuff that comes out of our kitchen.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-28406588763296633002010-03-18T07:09:00.000-07:002010-05-29T18:56:58.661-07:00I Made A Quilt!Quilting is something I've always wanted to try, but I've always been intimidated by it. It seems like there is so much to know before you can even attempt such a big project. And it's so important to get it right the first time because of all of the work that's involved. You don't want to spend months sewing tiny stitches only to have it not turn out at the end! And come on, we're talking about a family heirloom here if it's done right. That's a lot of pressure!<br /><br />But how do you connect the pieces? How does it all stay together? Where do you get the pattern? But most daunting for me was the question: How do you select the fabric? And from there, a million other questions: What kind of fabric is best? What is the filler? How much do I need? How do I pick the colours?<br /><br />So for the longest time, I didn't even know where to start.<br /><br />When John and I got home after Christmas, we went out to do some Boxing Day shopping. We had some gift cards from Chapters so we went to the bookstore next door which is where I found a book called <a href="http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Leslie-Linsleys-New-Weekend-Quilts-LINSLEY-LESLIE/9781557884954-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%2527new+weekend+quilts%2527">Leslie Linsley's New Weekend Quilts</a> in the bargain bin for $6. I figured it couldn't hurt.<br /><br />Reading the book, I learned all kinds of shortcuts to make quilting about as much work as knitting a pair of socks. I learned how to cut out squares ten at a time and triangles 20 at a time. I learned that by sewing two strips of fabric together lengthwise and <span style="font-style: italic;">then</span> cutting them into strips crosswise, I could cut down the number of seams I needed to sew to built my quilt squares by half. And I learned how to assemble the whole thing when I was done.<br /><br />Not only that, the book had all kinds of patterns, each with a list of exactly what fabrics you would need to complete them. A few searches on the internet to answer a couple of questions I had and I was feeling confident that I could actually pull this off.<br /><br />Which makes me wonder of course: How did anyone ever do this without mega bookstores and the internet? Nannie, where did you learn to quilt?<br /><br />So with my new found confidence, I headed to the fabric store. I decided to do a really simple pattern for my first try. Four colours, three solid and one patterned. Black and three shades of purple: light, medium and dark. Should be easy, right?<br /><br />It was. Black broadcloth was $4/meter and the medium purple jumped out at me immediately. I found a dark purple to complement it right away. Finding a light patterned fabric to match it was a little trickier, but I eventually saw a white printed cotton batik (looks sort of like tye dye but without being tacky) with light purple swirls through it. It was gorgeous and matched perfectly. Two meters of filler, a few spools of thread and I was good to go! Everything came to $70 after tax, the most expensive craft I've done in a long, long time. I had better not screw this up!<br /><br />John had bought me a huge cutting mat for Christmas. It was such a thoughtful gift and it made cutting out the pieces with my rotary cutter a breeze. I think I was done cutting in under two hours. Sewing the pieces together took maybe another day or two and that's only because I'm neurotic about pressing every seam open after I sew it. I don't think my iron ever saw so much use or felt so needed before. It was really fun to watch it come together: first squares, then strips of squares, then connect the strips and add a border to the outside.<br /><br />The tricky part was putting it together, and this was the part that made me question why quilting is a hobby mainly associated with old women. It was hard work! And if I can still do this when I am an old woman, I will be very happy.<br /><br />First I had to move all my furniture around until I had enough floor space to lay it out flat. I laid out the black backing fabric and taped it to the floor so it wouldn't move. On top of that, I laid the filler (also called batting). Then on top of that went the quilt. So it was like a quilt sandwich. Then I crawled around on the floor, hand sewing basting stitches starting in the center of the quilt and working outwards in a star pattern so that I could move the thing but still have it stay together. That took the better part of an evening.<br /><br />The next day I started the actual quilting! (You mean all the work up to this point wasn't quilting? Nope.) I had a bit of an internal debate as to whether I should quilt it by hand the traditional way, or by machine which I wasn't even sure my ancient sewing machine could handle.<br /><br />Well, my laziness and my desire to see this thing finished won out and I decided to do it by machine. I quilted around the borders and then a basic checkerboard pattern through the middle. I had originally intended to do more than that but when it was done the quilt felt very stable and I didn't think additional stitching would really add to the aesthetic.<br /><br />The last step was to sew the edges together and I was done!!<br /><br />All in all it took just over a week. I really just couldn't put it down once I started. I'm thrilled with how it turned out and because I preshrunk all of the fabric and used polyester batting, it should be completely washer and dryer safe. Yay!<br /><br />Here are some pictures. I don't think they show the true vibrancy of the colours and you can't really see the pattern on the lighter fabric, but it should at least give you an idea of what it looks like.<br /><br />This is the quilt draped over the closet doors. It's really big! I think it might be big enough to cover a double bed.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6I3sBhJ-gI/AAAAAAAAA70/-O9qIBC_zaw/s1600-h/Quilt1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 318px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6I3sBhJ-gI/AAAAAAAAA70/-O9qIBC_zaw/s400/Quilt1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449979728532994562" border="0" /></a>And here is a close-up of the individual squares. I was really impressed by how flat the seams lay. Even up close it looks so flat that the different colours could be printed on rather than pieced together.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6I3sjFqJsI/AAAAAAAAA78/0kPxsa2y3ZQ/s1600-h/Quilt+2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6I3sjFqJsI/AAAAAAAAA78/0kPxsa2y3ZQ/s400/Quilt+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449979737544468162" border="0" /></a>And here is a picture of the back so that you can see the actually quilting.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6I3szSUKKI/AAAAAAAAA8E/VA3kosUbRTU/s1600-h/Quilt3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 312px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6I3szSUKKI/AAAAAAAAA8E/VA3kosUbRTU/s400/Quilt3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5449979741892520098" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S6I3szSUKKI/AAAAAAAAA8E/VA3kosUbRTU/s1600-h/Quilt3.jpg"><br /></a>Overall, I thing I did a great job with it but I think one is enough for one winter. Maybe next winter I'll make another one that is more intricate. Only time will tell! Right now it lives on the back of my couch. It's super warm and cozy!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-27203573361830365722010-02-06T11:48:00.000-08:002010-05-29T18:56:58.661-07:00Knitted WristwarmersFinished up one of my crafty projects this week. Check out the wristwarmers I knitted:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S23HomfXr3I/AAAAAAAAA7s/OANZPCRuEF8/s1600-h/hand+warmers+041edit.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S23HomfXr3I/AAAAAAAAA7s/OANZPCRuEF8/s400/hand+warmers+041edit.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435219825646874482" border="0" /></a>I'm really happy with how they turned out. I took a couple of tries to get the fit right, but it worked out in the end. I think they'll look cute with my black peacoat. I used <a href="http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=3882">this</a> pattern and a ball of yarn I think I paid $2 for on boxing day. Knitting is such a cheap hobby!<br /><br />So let's talk about school.<br /><br />When I got my letter this week, I was actually really surprised. The honest truth is that I had given up hope on going after the mess that was last year's application. I guess I just thought that I didn't get any more qualified in the past year so I didn't have any reason to expect anything to change with this application. But, I guess that when the admissions officer told me last year that they fill it first come, first serve, she was telling the truth. Apparently the secret was just to apply in the first week of October.<br /><br />So when I first realized that I could actually be going back to school this year, I got a bit overwhelmed. I couldn't bring myself to click the 'accept offer' button on the website. I needed John to convince me all over again that this is a good idea and that we can manage it and that committing to being a pastry chef doesn't mean that I will be poor for the rest of my life. Luckily for me, he is not only an extremely supportive boyfriend, he's also a very persuasive speaker, so after talking to him about it, I decided it's definitely the right thing to do.<br /><br />It surprises me that this was such an easy decision last year back when going back to school meant moving across the country, leaving my family, finding a new home, a new job, etc, etc. But now that I'm settled here it was a little harder because I'm on a good path now and I when I look at where I would be if I stayed on this path for five years, I like what that looks like. It would be easy, and I would be successful.<br /><br />But in the end, I think life is about chasing your dreams, and this mine. So I think that even though I'm choosing a more difficult and less conventional path, I believe that it will be more rewarding in the long run.<br /><br />So now I have a little game that I play every morning when I wake up. Before I even open my eyes, I think of how I'm going to spend my day at work. Then I block that out and instead I pretend that I'm going to spend the whole day making flowers out of sugar and piping intricate cornelli laces. And the feeling that I get knowing that could be a career for me helps me reaffirm every day that this is the right choice.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-18229015801372237962010-02-04T05:01:00.000-08:002010-05-29T18:56:11.828-07:00Welcome to George Brown College!<span style="font-style: italic;">Dear Jacki</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Congratulations! You have been accepted to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">baking and pastry arts mgmt. program</span> at George Brown College. This is the first step towards your future career. By choosing to attend George Brown College, you will be studying in a friendly, supportive and diverse environment that promotes academic and career success.<br /><br />To confirmed that you plan to attend the baking and pastry arts mgmt. program at George Brown College, you must confirm online with Ontario College Application service by <span style="font-weight: bold;">May 3. 2010.</span><br /><br />Once you have confirmed your acceptance, we will mail registration and fee information around mid-June. George Brown College offers a wide range of payment options to suit each student's financial situation.<br /><br />Once again, welcome to George Brown College. We look forward to seeing you this fall on campus!<br /><br />Sincerely,<br />Lesia Gryschuk<br />Manager, Admissions</span>Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-91893715889145801402010-02-01T17:40:00.001-08:002010-02-03T05:57:37.575-08:00Time for a Weigh-In I ThinkNot a lot of excitement. After December, a month that is practically defined by excess - eat too much, party too much, spend too much - I've kind of enjoyed just putting my nose to the grindstone and working hard this January. It's been nice to have some discipline back.<br /><br />So every day I worked on making my situation a little better and a little better and to show for it I have lost 7 lbs and I've saved a whole lot of cash. It feels really good! So I may not have had the most exciting January, but I'm really pleased with the results. Hopefully February goes just as well, my goal is to lose another 5 lbs this month.<br /><br />John is still working six day weeks, but we managed to have a little fun this weekend. We finally got to see Avatar. What an amazing film! I want to see it again. On Saturday night I cooked a big dinner of beef stroganoff, salads and orange creme for dessert. On Sunday afternoon we went to the gym together. I just played around on the exercise bikes and ellipticals. John is thinking of joining a Ju Jitsu club that meets up there. That night we met up with Marc and Alisha for drinks. We don't see them often enough I think for how close they live.<br /><br />I'm sure most of you have heard, but I'll post it here anyway: John won a scuba diving trip for two to Honduras through an online contest! He's really stoked about it. I think he's going sometime in May to Roatan and Utila and he's taking Alan with him. People seem to think it's strange that he's not taking me, but I didn't feel right about going. There's no way I would be ready to dive 100 ft deep by then and it would be no fun for him to have to go alone so I think that taking his dive buddy is a much better fit!<br /><br />Other than that we haven't been up to much. It's been really cold the past week so I've been keeping indoors for the most part. It would be nice if we had some snow!<br /><br />Offer letters for George Brown are supposed to start coming out this week. I'll keep you posted!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-65208265131995727022010-01-18T07:45:00.000-08:002010-01-18T08:09:59.350-08:00Quiet Week, Quiet WeekendLast week I got back on track health wise. I worked out every day, I didn't cheat on my diet once.<br /><br />John and I are on kind of opposite schedules right now. He leaves the house by 7:30am, I get home at 8:30pm and he's in bed by 10:00pm. So we only see each other for about two hours a day during the week and he's working Saturdays so our weekends together have been cut short as well. And I've been trying to save money so that I can go back home in March. So as a result, I haven't been getting out much.<br /><br />For the most part I stayed inside all week. On Saturday I decided it was time to get out of the house so I took a walk around the neighbourhood. I've set up my diet so that from Monday until Saturday at 1pm, I eat healthily. From Saturday afternoon to Sunday night, it's my free time to eat whatever I feel like and Sunday is my day to rest from exercising. This keeps me at a 80%/20% ratio of planned living vs. unplanned. So on Saturday afternoon I was very excited to finally be able to eat some junk food after a week of whole grains, lean proteins and veggies, and I was starving!<br /><br />I walked up Yonge and surveyed my options. Pad Thai? Cheeseburger and fries? Tacos? Chinese? Cupcakes? Soda! So many choices! So I stopped for a moment and paid attention to what my body was asking for.<br /><br />A bagel sandwich and a blueberry smoothie. That was what I truly wanted. I couldn't believe it. For junk food I used butter, processed ham and some cheddar cheese, but it was still a whole wheat bagel, and I still put veggies on it.<br /><br />It was sort of a revelation. I know that when you eat healthily, your body adapts to it, but I didn't expect it to do a total 180 so fast! Two weeks ago, my body was in a carb and sugar addiction cycle, begging for a sugar high, crashing half an hour later and then looking for more carbs. Repeat ad infinitum. Seriously, I was pretty much living off cake and cookies. Now, after only a week, already it was just looking for fresh produce, protein and whole grains. Real food.<br /><br />Awesome. This isn't going to be as hard as I thought. And John is totally pumped about getting back in shape, so I know he'll keep me motivated.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, I did eat some junk this weekend. I baked some brownies, ate some popcorn at the theatre on Sunday (we went to see Daybreakers. Great movie, terrible ending), and went out for tacos on Sunday night. But by the time this morning rolled around I was happy to get back on the healthy eating wagon. Oh, and I've lost three pounds so far. Not a bad start at all!<br /><br />Hey! Remember the <a href="http://jackisjournal.blogspot.com/2010/01/handbag-4.html">handbag</a> I posted last week? It's been featured on the craft blog of the girl who designed the pattern! You can check it out <a href="http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2010/1/peepshow_16.aspx">here</a>. Cool!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-18458577055286790522010-01-12T20:32:00.001-08:002010-01-12T21:02:45.955-08:00New Year, New Me!As I think most of you know, my best friend Jess is getting married this summer and she has asked me to stand at her wedding. What better motivator to get back in shape then wedding photos!<br /><br />So Monday was the day.<br /><br />I spent the weekend planning out my menu and my workout routines. If there's one thing I know about healthy living, it's that planning is the most important step. It's not enough to say "I want to lose weight and build muscle". You have to have specific targets and time lines. You have to know the actions it will take to get there and be dedicated to them. And you have to give yourself the tools to succeed. I plan for success and I plan for failure. I reward myself for doing well and sticking to the plan, but if I slip up, I make sure I have some relatively healthy junk food around in pre-portioned amounts so if I cheat on my diet it's maybe a piece of whole wheat banana bread instead of half a box of chocolates.<br /><br />I set reasonable goals. Diet and exercise five days a week, two free days. In my experience, I can't stick to anything more strict than that for more than a few weeks, so even though I would like to tell myself that I'm going to stick it out for six days a week, I know it isn't reasonable for me and I would be setting myself up to fail.<br /><br />So with all my plans and my healthy groceries and feeling fully committed, yesterday I started my new health regimen. The first step was to get on the scale. Or in this case, my shiny new Wii Fit. 156lbs. Yikes!<br /><br />But that gave me a place to start. My goal is to get to 130lbs by June as I think this is the weight where I am the healthiest.<br /><br />And John is on board too, which surprised me! Usually he shies away from this stuff because with his high metabolism he can usually get to his target weight by making only minor changes. He's actually signed up for a membership at a gym though because he wanted access to their squash courts, but he's been working out and taking classes there as well.<br /><br />I'm two days in and so far so good. I was worried that making such drastic changes would be hard on my system and willpower, specifically my sugar addiction. But it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would! I've been eating six small meals a day and working out for 45 minutes each morning and so far I haven't felt at all deprived. And I know that in a few more days, I will start to see improvements on the scale (the Wii Fit puts it all into graphs! lol), and that will make it even easier to stay motivated. I'm also not putting a lot of pressure on myself for the first few weeks, as I think that at this point I will probably lose weight just by not eating Christmas cookies anymore. I'll step it up more in a few weeks if I start to plateau.<br /><br />It's a great feeling to know that no matter what else happens in your day, you're making positive changes for yourself. Life is all about finding ways to be better!<br /><br />Aunt Debbie, I know you're on board! Anyone else want to lose weight with me?Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-40600551409490757312010-01-10T08:07:00.000-08:002010-05-29T18:56:58.662-07:00Handbag #4I have this cold that I haven't been able to shake. Part of it is that my voice has been scratchy at best and at times has disappeared completely. So I've been pretty wimpy lately, staying indoors, wrapped up in a blanket with a cup of tea, a bag of Halls Centres and box of Kleenex whenever I'm not at work. John tells me that all the stress over the flights we took in December (I'm quite frightened of flying) probably shot my immune system and that's why it's taking so long for me to get better. I think he might be right.<br /><br />But I'm not complaining. I'm kind of enjoying staying home, watching TV and being crafty. This week I made a crochet handbag using some of the yarn I bought on boxing day. This is actually my fourth handbag. First there was the grey tote bag I made in the summer, then the pink and grey <a href="http://jackisjournal.blogspot.com/2009/09/not-much-going-on.html">knit bag</a> I made in September. In November I made a black and purple handbag for Erin for Christmas and this week I crocheted number four.<br /><br />This is by far the most complex bag I've made yet. It's the biggest thing I've ever crocheted by a long shot and I incorporated more detail into the liner then I ever have before. I made a matching change purse and most impressively, (in my opinion) I figured out how to install a zipper in the top of both of them. I've always been very intimidated by zippers so I'm really proud of this!<br /><br />Here is the bag:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8qjysspI/AAAAAAAAA7E/2y9lOWNyBco/s1600-h/StarlingBagFront.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8qjysspI/AAAAAAAAA7E/2y9lOWNyBco/s400/StarlingBagFront.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145034237063826" border="0" /></a>I made it using the <a href="http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/downloads.aspx">Starling Handbag pattern</a> (large size) from Futuregirl's blog. My friend Jennifer over at <a href="http://www.thecraftinista.blogspot.com/">The Craftinista</a> has been making bags from this pattern for ages and I've always thought I'd like to make one myself. I really like its simple shape and clean lines. The pattern was pretty simple to follow and I think it turned out pretty nice! Here is the side so you can see the width.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8qX0eDZI/AAAAAAAAA68/lpvC106_030/s1600-h/StarlingBagSide.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8qX0eDZI/AAAAAAAAA68/lpvC106_030/s400/StarlingBagSide.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145031023267218" border="0" /></a>I didn't have any suitable fabric for the liner, so I headed over to Fabricland where they were having a sale on holiday fabrics. I found this wonderful, heavy pants fabric with shiny silver and black diamond print that was buy 1, get 2 free so I ended up getting half a meter for under $2. Actually, all in all, I think this bag cost about $10 to make, it was really cheap because I got almost everything on sale. I backed the lining with stiff interfacing (pellon 70 I believe) to give more structure to the bag.<br /><br />Check out my awesome zipper installation! Rathere than attach the zipper directly to the outer shell, I put about a centimeter and a half of fabric on either side. The zipper I used is pretty heavy duty and meant for outerwear.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n9eUzBjqI/AAAAAAAAA7U/0TsFpuvEd0E/s1600-h/StarlingBagZipper.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n9eUzBjqI/AAAAAAAAA7U/0TsFpuvEd0E/s400/StarlingBagZipper.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145923565096610" border="0" /></a>I decided that it was time to start signing my work, so I borrowed the idea for my name tags from <a href="http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2007/5/tutorial-embroider-on-felt.aspx">Futuregirl</a> as well. The text is hand embroidered with DMC floss on felt using a <a href="http://www.needlenthread.com/2009/11/hand-embroidered-lettering-and-text-5.html">whipped backstitch</a>. I love how smooth this style of stitching makes the letters. I sewed them into the liner using contrasting thread because I thought it looked better.<br /><br />On one side of the liner I put a zipped pocket, the name tag and a credit card holder. I already knew how to do the zipped pocket from the first tote bag I ever made but the credit card holder was quite a bit more challenging.<br /><br />I couldn't find any tutorials online so I ended up reverse engineering it from an old purse I found in my closet. I basically took at 9" wide strip of fabric and accordianed it a few times until I had two pockets. I sewed satin ribbon across the top of each fold for contrast. Then I sewed the back flap to the liner across the middle so that the back pocket wouldn't be so deep that you lost credit cards in it. I tucked in the two sides and the bottom, sewed around the three sides to attach it to the liner and sewed a seam up the middle to divide it in half. Voila! A six credit card holder!<br /><br />I think this side looks pretty sharp! I love a lot of pockets.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8rFynaiI/AAAAAAAAA7M/XN3S1X55Z7Y/s1600-h/StarlingBagTag2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8rFynaiI/AAAAAAAAA7M/XN3S1X55Z7Y/s400/StarlingBagTag2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145043363523106" border="0" /></a>I put two more pockets on the other side, again with a satin ribbon lining the top. One of the pockets lays flat against the bag and the other folds out to hold something thicker like a cell phone. I did this by accordianing the sides of the pocket and then sewing the folds down a the bottom so that only the top folds out.<br /><br />Lastly, I took a metal ring, threaded a piece of ribbon through it and attached the ribbon to the bag (you can't see it, but the end of the ribbon is tucked into the seam attaching the zipper to keep everything neat), to clip on the matching change purse that I made. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n9fGjoFrI/AAAAAAAAA7k/sHpcnbS2mdM/s1600-h/StarlingInside2.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n9fGjoFrI/AAAAAAAAA7k/sHpcnbS2mdM/s400/StarlingInside2.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145936922285746" border="0" /></a>Here is the change purse. I had originally intended to make it striped like the bag but I ran out of black yarn after about four rows. So I switched to pink and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.<br /><br />I cut some flowers out of a piece of felt (left over from making the name tag) and embroidered cherry blossom details onto them (yes Mom, those are french knots!) I sewed them onto the change purse with black thread so that you can't see it. I had originally planned to make pink flowers as well and attach them to the actual handbag, but I couldn't find a pink felt that was a close enough match to the colour of the yarn.<br /><br />I attached a lobster claw clasp to the outside using a jump ring so that the change purse can be hooked into the bag.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n9e24noeI/AAAAAAAAA7c/XbwsGzaTKHM/s1600-h/StarlingChangePurse.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 289px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n9e24noeI/AAAAAAAAA7c/XbwsGzaTKHM/s400/StarlingChangePurse.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145932715368930" border="0" /></a>As you can see, I lined the inside of this one as well, installed another zipper (!!!) and put in a credit card pocket and a name tag.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8p52ZYXI/AAAAAAAAA60/-GY_uR9eDtQ/s1600-h/InsideChangePurse.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8p52ZYXI/AAAAAAAAA60/-GY_uR9eDtQ/s400/InsideChangePurse.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145022978285938" border="0" /></a>Here it is full of stuff so you can see how much it holds.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8pqVk_KI/AAAAAAAAA6s/rMz5TQi8VzY/s1600-h/FulChangePurse.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/S0n8pqVk_KI/AAAAAAAAA6s/rMz5TQi8VzY/s400/FulChangePurse.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5425145018814102690" border="0" /></a>So that's it! All in all, I'm pretty impressed with myself. After I finished it, I took stock of all of the different techniques I used putting this bag together and realized I'm actually getting pretty good at this! It's just funny because I never set it as a goal for myself to learn how to make handbags, it just kind of happened. I made the first ones to learn the rudimentaries of sewing and knitting and I just kind of kept stepping up the liners each time. This time I was just enjoying the process of putting it together so with every detail I took my time and looked for ways to improve every aspect of the bag that I could.<br /><br />And now I find that when I look at the purses I've bought over the years (right now I'm looking at my pink Soprano purse), I have a much better understanding of how they're put together and I feel like I'm not far from being able to recreate them. I just need the right materials and maybe a sewing machine that actually has a reverse stitch!<br /><br />It's kind of neat to wake up and realize you've picked up a skill without meaning to. I think it just goes to show that you learn by doing and if you do anything often enough, you'll definitely see improvement.<br /><br />So just to summarize, here are the skills I learned from this project:<br /><ul><li>how to crochet a foundation single stitch</li><li>how to crochet a handbag</li><li>how to embroider onto felt</li><li>how to hand sew a whip stitch</li><li>how to applique felt to crocheted fabric</li><li>how to install a zipper at the top of a bag<br /></li><li>how to make a credit card holder</li><li>how to make a fold out pocket</li></ul>My next project is going to be much simpler! I'm knitting some wrist warmers.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-51723588288772755002009-12-31T10:40:00.000-08:002009-12-31T13:39:55.509-08:00Whirlwind ChristmasAs I'm sure you are all aware, John and I couldn't get any vacation time for Christmas this year, so we crammed as much as we could into the four short days that we had!<br /><br />We packed all of our stuff on the night of the 23rd. I worked on the 24th until 2 o'clock and as you would expect, it was very quiet as most people are not thinking about their insurance on Christmas Eve.<br /><br />My friend Sherry, whom I met at work, is a holistic healer and she worked really hard to get me ready for my flight. I hadn't been on a plane in four years so I was very nervous! We did chakra exercises, pressure point massage and homeopathic medicine to help calm me down.<br /><br />When I got home on Christmas Eve, it was pretty much time to go. First was the subway, down to Union Station. Next was the shuttle bus to take us to the ferry. The ferry took us out to the Toronto Island airport where we caught the plane.<br /><br />We decided to fly Porter Air because their airport is so much closer to our home. The airport is small and cozy with lots of free snacks and drinks. We were on the plane before long but we had to wait over an hour on the tarmac. They had to keep de-icing the plane because the line for the runway was so long that they kept freezing. Each cycle took about half an hour. At one point I fell asleep. When I woke up about 45 minutes later, I thought we must be halfway to Halifax by now but in fact, we were still on the ground.<br /><br />Eventually we made it up into the air. The flight was smooth and they served us little boxed lunches that were just adorable. When we made it to Halifax, Erin and Allan were there waiting to take us to Mom's.<br /><br />When we got to Mom's everyone was happy to see us because it was the first time we'd been home since we left in July. Nannie and Grampie were there as well, I was so glad they came to Halifax to be with us at Christmas.<br /><br />It was pretty late by the time we got there so we just wrapped a few presents, ate some ham and cheese sandwiches and then we were off to bed.<br /><br />In the morning we got up around 8:30am. Erin and Allan showed up at 9:00am and we dug into the presents! Everyone got lots of nice things - Nannie's stocking was obscene it was so big! I hand made a lot of the gifts I gave this year and I think everyone liked them.<br /><br />Once the dust had settled a bit, Grampie made breakfast while the rest of us got dressed and John helped Mom get the turkey in the oven. Christmas breakfast is my favorite breakfast of the year. Nobody fries an egg like Grampie. I don't know what he does but they are consistently the most amazing fried eggs I have ever eaten.<br /><br />From there we made the trek out to Lake Echo to visit Dad's family. That was when I first noticed that it was a green Christmas. Apparently Halifax had snow earlier that week but there was very little on the ground for Christmas day.<br /><br />At Dad's house we opened more presents and drank apple cider. Dad gave us the tour of the renovations he did to the basement. He put in room dividers that have built in bookshelves which I thought was pretty clever! I also got to see Erin's motorcycle, hiding in the garage. We drove back in to town with Dad to pick up Robbie at his dad's house. There was a bit of a Christmas mix-up as we had gotten him the same gift that his dad did. Luckily, video games are easy to exchange.<br /><br />It wasn't long before we had to leave to return to Mom's house for dinner. When we walked in we could already smell the turkey! Heavenly. Mom's friend Steven had arrived while we were gone, so we did a round of introductions. We all took rounds in the kitchen helping out with the cooking, retreating to the living room to play with our new stuff when the kitchen got too crowded.<br /><br />Dinner turned out wonderful. John did a great job with the turkey, Steven whipped the potatoes, Mom makes a mean gravy and I thoroughly botched the cheese sauce. John said he enjoyed the 'flavour lumps' in it.<br /><br />After that we were so full that my memory of the rest of the evening is a hazy sort of fog. I call that a successful Christmas!<br /><br />Saturday was Boxing Day so nothing was open. So what is there to on a freezing cold December day in Halifax? Well, in John's opinion it was a great day to hop into the Atlantic ocean!<br /><br />There had been a bit of a mix-up when Allan rented scuba diving gear for John so it would be ready when he got there, so instead of a nice warm dry suit, John ended up with a wetsuit. I think most people would have been detered by this, but not John! No, instead he practiced all day Christmas by not wearing a coat so that he would be ready to really freeze on Boxing Day. He tells me he was in the ocean for over half an hour and when he got out, he couldn't feel anything below his knees and he was shaking so hard that it was difficult to get out of his suit. He's crazy, but I love him.<br /><br />Meanwhile at Mom's house, we had a lazy morning. Nannie and Grampie headed back to Moncton. Erin came over around noon and we had the Boxing Day shopping itch, but nothing was open! So we decided to hit up Shoppers Drug Mart for discount chocolates and wrapping paper. It was my first time walking around the city since I'd been home so I was happy to get out of the condo.<br /><br />We had so much fun! It was one my favorite moments from the trip. Mom got an amazing deal on an Elizabeth Arden gift set of her favorite perfume and scented lotions and soaps. Plus they had a huge Elizabeth Arden makeup set available for purchase on purchase. It got a little crazy after that but I walked out with a La Roche Posay gift set that included a full size bottle of my regular moisturizer, an Elizabeth Arden lip gloss, a box of Quality Street, a shiny pink wallet and some blue Christmas gift tags.<br /><br />We stopped for Tim's on the way home and when we got back John was still out (he had gone to visit his grandmother after diving) so we all settled around the table and played with Mom's new makeup. The kit had two blushes, at least a dozen eyeshadows, two eyeliners, two lip liners, a mascara, three lipsticks, lipglosses, makeup brushes and I can't remember what else. We tried out <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> of it.<br /><br />Erin and I put together the Christmas puzzle like we do every year. This year we finished it in 51 minutes, three minutes slower than last year.<br /><br />When the boys got home, the four of us headed out to Chabaa Thai for the best mussaman curry in the city. I had forgotten how delicious it is, absolutely to die for and the pad Thai was just as good! I have yet to find Thai food that good in Toronto (although I expect that I just don't know where to look).<br /><br /><br />On Sunday the 27th, Erin was over at the crack of dawn. I stumbled out to the car in my half-asleep stupor and we made our annual pilgrimage to the Lush Boxing Day Sale at the MicMac Mall. When we got there I couldn't believe I almost hadn't wanted to bother this year. I love that sale! All of the holiday stuff and the soap was buy 1, get 2 free. I got two bottles of Snow Fairy, my favorite shower gel, 3 containers of shower jellies (champagne snow showers and strawberry santa), three emotibombs and three sugar scrubs. Using the gift card from I got from CJ and Robbie, I was out of pocket about $12. Awesome! Erin went for completely different stuff and instead got huge chunks of soap, bath bombs and bubble bars.<br /><br />We wandered around the mall for a bit after that. Erin picked up a blouse at Eclipse, but nothing else really caught our attention so we left and headed to Dartmouth Crossing. The first stop was Michaels for discount yarn. We don't have a Michaels in Toronto so I was really excited to go. I got enough yarn to make a handbag, 6 dishcloths, a pair of gloves and two pairs of socks for John. I know, I'm such a nerd. Should keep me busy for most of the winter though!<br /><br />We puttered around the electronics stores after that, Futureshop and Bestbuy, but all of the good stuff was gone (I think they had been open since 6am). We headed home after that, pleased with our discount hauls. The crowds started picking up when we left, I think we were home before 1pm.<br /><br />For dinner, the four of us headed to Sushi Nami, another restaurant that John and I had wanted to visit while we were home. Honestly, the food was disappointing. The honey avocado salad and the grilled eggplant were lacking the sweetness I was looking forward to, the yam tempura was missing its crunch and John said his mackeral wasn't cut properly. We are choosing to give them the benefit of the doubt though, that maybe their regular chef was off for the holidays. I hope so, anyway. We will go back and give them another chance next time we are down.<br /><br />Next we headed to our friend Cliff's apartment for a game of Rock Band before our brewery tour. Cliff used to be our across-the-hall neighbour and I have to say it felt very strange to walk into our old building and even back to our old floor knowing that we don't live there anymore.<br /><br />We weren't there for long before it was time to walk up to the brewery. We were a few minutes late so there were already lots of people there by the time we got there. We had a great turnout, probably around 25 people or more. Luckily I brought a lot of snacks! Probably about 50 or 60 cookies, and Alisha brought a huge tub of homemade amaretto almond popcorn. There was enough time that I got to talk to almost everyone there for at least a few minutes. Not enough time to really get caught up with everyone though, we need a longer visit for that.<br /><br />Afterwards we went back to Cliff and Justin's place for more Rock Band. I sang until I was hoarse. We stayed pretty late after that (I think I fell asleep while John stayed up talking with the guys) and then cabbed it home. I had a great night.<br /><br />We slept in the next morning, then woke up at started packing. It was time to leave! Erin and Allan came over and picked us up and we headed for the airport, stopping for one last Haligonian treat along the way: donair sub for John and garlic fingers for me from Basha's. We ate them at the airport after we checked our luggage. They were so good!<br /><br />We were expecting long lines because of the security threats over Christmas that everyone was talking about but there were really no lines at all. Everything ran smooth, the plane was on time and we were back in Toronto before we knew it!<br /><br />We took all the modes of transportation in reverse this time: car, plane, boat, bus, train, finally arriving at our apartment. We only stopped for a couple of minutes before heading back out again. I wanted to go to the Futureshop here to look for a deal on external hard drives that had been sold out in Halifax (it was sold out here too but I was able to order it online, so it all worked out) and then we crossed the street to get some tacos for supper.<br /><br />It was cold as we walked there but when we actually started to eat, it turned into a full fledged blizzard! We put our hoods up and our heads down headed out ducking into the nearest subway entrance as soon as we could. We took the underground tunnels back from there. The convenience of it made me happy to be back in Toronto.<br /><br />When we got home this time we settled in for real. We made hot drinks, curled up on the couch and opened our presents from each other. It was really nice.<br /><br />The next day, it was back to work! We were only open until 5pm though so I was back home early. John's brother Allan and his friend Amanda arrived shortly after. John made supper, after which we exchanged gifts as well as opening a few gifts from Santa that had mysteriously appeared under the tree. Santa had left us some pretty cool toys; remote controlled cars that drive on the wall and a Zhuzhu pet.<br /><br />The next morning I felt awful. I had been getting sick for about two days at this point and I was just a wreck that morning. I kept waking up in the night because I couldn't breathe, I was so stuffed up, and I felt like there was a battle waging war inside me causing me to alternate between a fever and chills.<br /><br />I was determined to go to work though because earlier I had asked for these days as vacation and I know how bad it looks to ask for vacation, have it refused and then call in sick those same days. Somehow I managed to pull it together but I only made it through half a day before giving in and going home sick. I spent the afternoon curled up in bed with a box of Kleenex and a bag of Halls Centres (they are so wonderful) and tried to sleep. In the evening, Allan cooked us dinner so I ventured out to the couch and stayed there until it was time to go to bed.<br /><br />Today is New Years Eve and I'm feeling a little better although I'm still not back to my full self. I'm not sure what we're up to tonight but we have enough liquor to supply an army, so I'm sure we'll think of something. We've been invited to a party but I'm not sure I feel well enough to venture out. We'll see. I'll save it for the next post.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-51251571136757707582009-12-19T20:34:00.000-08:002009-12-20T06:03:58.355-08:00Winter Extravaganza!!Yesterday morning I was fast asleep, when when I was awakened by the sound of "Jacki, Jacki! Today is the Winter Extravaganza!! Wake up!"<br /><br />I opened my eyes to see John peering down at me. "Huh?" I said in my groggy state.<br /><br />"Extravaganza! We're having an <span style="font-style: italic;">extravaganza</span> today!"<br /><br />So I rolled out of bed to find out what he was talking about.<br /><br />One of the things I love about John is that he is a planner. I can just lay back and relax and he'll make sure we have lots of fun things to do. On this particular Saturday as it turns out, he had thought of <span style="font-style: italic;">so many</span> fun things to do that he decided it was worthy of a dramatic title and that is how the Winter Extravaganza came to be.<br /><br />Originally the plan was to go skating, see Avatar in Imax 3D, go for Korean barbecue and then watch the fireworks/laser show downtown. Definitely a full day! But I had fruit cakes to make! So we decided to cut out the movie and leave the house a little bit later.<br /><br />I got to work making the pineapple Christmas cake. It only takes a few minutes to throw together but it takes almost two hours to bake, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast of egg sandwiches and an episode of One Tree Hill before it was time to go.<br /><br />Since we were going downtown anyway, I really wanted to see what the crowds at the Eaton Centre look like on the last shopping weekend before Christmas, so we got off at Dundas station on our way to the rink (the mall is so big it hits two subway stations!), check out the crowd:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2tNni8IkI/AAAAAAAAA6c/sf5Jsi8HD_4/s1600-h/P1010326.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2tNni8IkI/AAAAAAAAA6c/sf5Jsi8HD_4/s400/P1010326.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417176376262009410" border="0" /></a>I love it! And there's something Zen-like in the feeling you get watching other people scurrying around to get their last minute shopping done, when you've already finished all of your shopping weeks ago. The Christmas tree you see there is for Ferrero Rocher, and the small tree in front of it was made entirely out of the little chocolates.<br /><br />Then, just for you Aunt Debbie, I made sure we got some shots of the Swarovski tree! Here it is from far away so you can see how big it is.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sE0Qr1kI/AAAAAAAAA6U/RiAGinmg3dw/s1600-h/P1010329.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sE0Qr1kI/AAAAAAAAA6U/RiAGinmg3dw/s400/P1010329.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417175125544654402" border="0" /></a>Mom, you'll be happy to know that it spins. I'm afraid we weren't able to capture the sparkle of it but here is a picture to show you how densly packed the crystal ornaments are on this massive tree.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sEexcp1I/AAAAAAAAA6M/CVaOFfPkUkM/s1600-h/P1010333.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sEexcp1I/AAAAAAAAA6M/CVaOFfPkUkM/s400/P1010333.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417175119776491346" border="0" /></a>and here is a close up of the ornaments. They were all snowflakes (my favorite!) or long crystal drops. All in all there must have been thousands of crystal ornaments on the tree!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy4l-h6UbmI/AAAAAAAAA6k/Gtd5pDrKdl4/s1600-h/P1010337.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy4l-h6UbmI/AAAAAAAAA6k/Gtd5pDrKdl4/s400/P1010337.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417309157958381154" border="0" /></a>From the mall, we headed down to City Hall where there is a free skating rink! Anyone can go and it doesn't cost anything, but if you need a skate rental like we did, it's $9 each. We waited in a long, chilly line for our skates and then found a spot to sit down and put them on. Here they are, getting the rink ready for us:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sEMe6iKI/AAAAAAAAA6E/uakCZcoI4fA/s1600-h/P1010343.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sEMe6iKI/AAAAAAAAA6E/uakCZcoI4fA/s400/P1010343.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417175114866919586" border="0" /></a>And here it is full of people:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sD7EX_tI/AAAAAAAAA58/0KBbquNNzsE/s1600-h/P1010338.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sD7EX_tI/AAAAAAAAA58/0KBbquNNzsE/s400/P1010338.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417175110192201426" border="0" /></a>Once we got our skates on and got onto the ice, I was amused to find out that for once I was better at something than John! At first he wobbled around on his skates but after a few trips around the rink he was picking up speed and looking more stable! I don't think I've been skating since high school so I was pretty happy to find out that I still remember how to do it. It was a lot of fun and it was a great way to warm up!<br /><br />From there we headed to the Korean grill on Queen Street W. It was absolutely packed, so we took that as a good sign!<br /><br />It's an all you can eat place with a grill in the center of each table. For about $16 per person, you get all you can eat chicken, pork, ribs, chinese sausage (yum!), beef, white fish fillet, salmon, squid, ox tongue (!!!), another organ meat that I can't remember and veggies including cucumber, lettuce, green pepper, onion and pineapple. Plus you get an assortment of appetizers (sesame bean sprouts, daikon radish pickles, some kind of bean salad, spicy fried tofu and kimchi), soup, rice and tea. And you fry it all at the table! Check out the spread:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sDdeUjHI/AAAAAAAAA50/Xs5xI6AzIz8/s1600-h/P1010350.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/Sy2sDdeUjHI/AAAAAAAAA50/Xs5xI6AzIz8/s400/P1010350.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417175102247963762" border="0" /></a>I have always wanted to try Korean barbecue, and I was not disappointed! I had lots of fun cooking my food at the table. My favorites were the beef and the barbecue sausage. I wasn't brave enough to try the organs, and my attempt at cooking the fish was pretty terrible (I over cooked it so it all fell apart and into the grill, lol) but I did manage to grill up some yummy pineapple and onion slices. John was much better than me at it, I think because he is the one that does all of the barbecuing.<br /><br />You could tell that the restaurant pays attention to details. The portion sizes were almost the perfect amount that we almost finished everything and didn't have to ask for anything extra. The tea was smooth and not at all bitter (a pet peeve of mine in Asian restaurants), they used chicken thigh meat instead of breast meat so that it wouldn't dry out on the grill and I had a glass of fresh watermelon juice that was to die for! It seriously tasted like summer in a glass (very welcome on Winter Extravaganza day!). I need to learn how to make it!<br /><br />We were done much earlier than expected, still hours away from the fireworks, so we decided to try and squeeze in a movie after all. We headed to the Scotiabank theatre for the Imax and I waited in the lobby while John went to get us tickets. After about ten minutes of waiting in line, he came and found me to tell me that when he asked for the tickets the woman at the counter actually laughed at him. Apparently they are sold out until Monday. Who knew it would be that popular?<br /><br />At that point we were pretty chilly, and the fireworks were still a while away, so I was starting to feel Winter Extravaganza'd out. We decided to call it quits and hopped on Subway to head back home, stopping only for some Starbucks peppermint mochas along the way. When we got home, we curled up on the couch for a bit with hot drinks to warm up. It was still early so I baked a few more fruitcakes (this time Nana's recipe) and we stayed up to watch SNL.<br /><br />All in all, I had a wonderful day. It was my first day to really enjoy the winter side of Toronto and I had a great time and a great person to spend it with!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-43075138458088709492009-12-18T05:37:00.001-08:002010-05-29T18:56:11.828-07:00Cookie Exchange!On Wednesday I headed into work early for the cookie exchange. Check out my haul:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/SyuGCh6TZsI/AAAAAAAAA5s/KS5nf3RzRuE/s1600-h/Cookie+Exchange.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/SyuGCh6TZsI/AAAAAAAAA5s/KS5nf3RzRuE/s400/Cookie+Exchange.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416570354863924930" border="0" /></a>I brought the peanut butter balls, everything else was brought by members of the training department.<br /><br />All in all, everything was good but nothing really jumped out at me as amazing. The Skor bit cookies got eaten up the fastest and I thought the lime flavoured shortbreads were a neat idea. I also liked the tiny rum balls (which is funny because I don't usually like rum balls). We also swapped recipes but I think the only one I would make again is the Portuguese biscuits. I'm really impressed by their texture, it's exactly like the cookies you get in the blue tin at Christmas.<br /><br />It was definitely a fun experience though, and I hope to do another one next year!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-41318076159585419562009-12-16T05:54:00.000-08:002009-12-16T06:01:42.550-08:00A Couple of Christmas PicturesI snapped some pictures this morning to show off our holiday spirit!<br /><br />Here is the Christmas tree:<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/SyjnIdxTSnI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/JFcVF69tdxs/s1600-h/Christmas+Tree.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/SyjnIdxTSnI/AAAAAAAAA5Q/JFcVF69tdxs/s400/Christmas+Tree.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415832684529404530" border="0" /></a>If you look closely (you can click on it to enlarge the picture) you might even spot a little hedgehog hiding between the branches.<br /><br />I know that it's strange to have a Christmas tree decorated all in pink with presents underneath it wrapped all in silver and blue, but I'm am just so in love with this combination that I don't care at all! Besides, I'm sure I will get to see a traditional Christmas tree when I get home to Mom's house.<br /><br />And just for fun, here's a picture of how I painted my nails this week:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/SyjnIker7FI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/OuTYYWb6vBA/s1600-h/SnowflakeKonad.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 283px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KRujTYazvSQ/SyjnIker7FI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/OuTYYWb6vBA/s400/SnowflakeKonad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415832686330375250" border="0" /></a>It might be too bright to see, but I used two different patterns of snowflakes, one in light blue and one in dark blue. I love how it turned out!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-54409535413592171832009-12-13T14:06:00.000-08:002009-12-13T14:53:13.534-08:0012 More days....We are in full fledged Christmas mode!<br /><br />It started last weekend with the cookies. Oh, the cookies! My friend Sherry from work came over last Saturday to help me decorate the snowflake sugar cookies. Last year I only made 40 and they didn't last long, so this year I decided to step it up to a hundred. The turned out way prettier than last year and we got them done in way less time! So I think I'm getting more efficient with this which is a very good thing.<br /><br />After that, I was feeling like I was on a roll so I made 118 peanut butter balls and 40 marzipan covered cherries. Whew! All of the baking I had planned for the weekend done in one day!<br /><br />But the next day, I couldn't stop! I made a double batch of lebekuchen (my favorite!) and a double batch of hazelnut apricot thumbprints. Then I had to stop because nothing else on my list was freezable so it was too soon to start on it.<br /><br />The next challenge was getting it all into my tiny freezer. The short version is that we took a whole chicken out to thaw and John and I had to finish a quart of mint chocolate chip ice cream that was there. But I got them all in!<br /><br />On Monday morning I finished up some Christmas shopping. Tuesday, we put the tree up and on Wednesday we decorated. It looks gorgeous as usual! I love my tacky artificial tree covered in pink and white sparkly decorations (and one lone scuba diver ornament). Thursday was more Christmas shopping and on Friday I did most of the wrapping.<br /><br />So I'm almost ready! One more present to buy, cakes to make next weekend and that's it! I'm excited to come home!<br /><br />Work has been challenging. I feel like the two months of training didn't really prepare me for the actual work, but my team has been very supportive in making this a smooth transition for me. I've been doing lots of job shadowing and supervised work, so I'm learning a little more each day. It's been pretty exhausting mentally though, to have to learn so much so quickly. I've been feeling pretty drained at the end of the day and I suspect that's part of why I've been baking so much. I'm looking forward to the day when I can go to work, do my job confidently and effectively and then go home.<br /><br />One of the girls at work organized a cookie exchange for later this week, which is something I've always wanted to do! The concept is that everyone brings 36 cookies, and you give 4 cookies and the recipe to each person so everyone goes home with 36 new cookies in 9 different flavours. Fun! I'm bringing peanut butter balls.<br /><br />Other than that, we've been taking it pretty easy around here. We got our first snowfall this week. It stayed for two days and then the rain melted it. I've been totally hooked on One Tree Hill. Does anyone else watch this? Yup, life is pretty exciting here in the big city.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-80199085505008589492009-12-02T20:06:00.000-08:002009-12-02T21:12:48.002-08:00Stuck in an Elevator and a New Health CardNow that I'm on a shift that doesn't have me at work during all of the business hours of the day, I decided it was time to hit up a government office and and get my health card. John was amazing enough to set everything up for me so that all I had to do was go in, skip the line, show them my birth certificate and that's it.<br /><br />I got lost on the way there. I wandered around Yonge & Sheppard for about twenty minutes before I finally figured out where I was trying to go. I talked to the receptionist and she gave me a priority ticket to go to the front of the line (did you know government offices even have these? I didn't). I got up to the counter and filled out the application. She asked for proof of my address and I gave it to her. She asked to see my birth certificate and I gave it to her. She asked for something with my signature and I gave her my driver's license. She looked at it and in a patronizing tone said, "We don't recognize out of province licenses."<br /><br />So I asked "What do you need then?"<br /><br />She said "Do you have a Visa or a Mastercard?"<br /><br />Yes, the government of Ontario places greater credibility on a piece of plastic issued by a private company, signed without a witness and at most a hologram to prevent counterfeiting than a government issued piece of identification. Figure that one out.<br /><br />Anyway, the point is that I got my health card. So that's one more thing I can check off my list.<br /><br />Today's excitement occured when I left the apartment to go pick up my watch which was out being cleaned. The doors on one of the elevators in the building has been acting weird for the past day or so, opening really slow and then closing just as slowly. When it stopped on my floor to take me downstairs, it opened really slow, but when I hit the button for the floor it closed right away, so I'm thinking "Great!".<br /><br />Then the floor indicators shut down, the elevator doesn't move and the door won't open.<br /><br />My first thought was "How long does it have to be like this before I'm officially considered to be stuck?"<br /><br />My next thought was "How come I'm always too lazy to charge my cell phone and bring it with me?" followed by a wistful regret that this experience wouldn't make me change my ways.<br /><br />By the time I'd had those two thoughts I decided it was appropriately long enough to call the emergency phone. It rang twice, then I heard "Your call will be answered by the next available representative" and then it hung up on me. After doing that four times, I gave up on it and started ringing the alarm.<br /><br />Then the elevator started moving. But it was moving so slowly, I couldn't tell if I was going up or going down. I started yelling, hoping that there would be someone on one of the floors that could hear me. Once or twice I thought I maybe heard someone but I couldn't be sure because the walls of the elevator are so thick and well insulated.<br /><br />So I yelled and rang the siren for a little bit. I was feeling pretty good about my calm under pressure. My heart rate was up a bit, but I wasn't panicked or anything.<br /><br />After about 10 minutes someone knocked on the door. I yelled "Can you help me? I'm stuck in here." because for all I knew it was just some random person who has no idea how to rescue someone from an elevator (myself, for example).<br /><br />Next I heard the strain of metal and then saw a little gap starting to form as someone pried the door open. On the other side was an older gentleman who didn't speak a word of English, so I still don't know if he was actually someone sent to help me or just a random passerby. I thanked him profusely and emerged from the elevator to find myself on the very bottom floor in one of the lower parking garages.<br /><br />And then I got on with my day! Although I was a bit squeamish about elevators for the rest of the day.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-69707976121477025642009-11-30T20:12:00.001-08:002009-11-30T20:39:44.524-08:00Finished Training!It feels like I've been at my job for a long time, but in actuality, I just finished training today. I think that means I've been there seven weeks. Tomorrow I start the real work. I've already met my boss though and he said that he's going to buddy me up with one of the more advanced analysts to watch my every move for the first week or so and hold my hand. So hopefully it will be a smooth transition. He seems nice and laid back, I think it's going to be a good work environment.<br /><br />Starting my job for real also means that I will be working the night shift, 12pm to 8pm. And at the same time, John is starting his early shift (8:30am or 9am, I'm not sure which). So we're going to have to figure out how to make our schedules mesh. Tonight I made him lunch before bed so it will be ready for him in the morning, and I intend to make supper (lasagna) before work tomorrow at the same time that I pack my lunch, so it's ready when John gets home. Hopefully he gets his studying done in the evening so that by the time I get home we can hang out. We'll figure it out, I am sure.<br /><br />The weekend was busy but fun. On Friday I went to see the new Twilight movie. It was pretty terrible (there were scenes when the whole the whole theatre full of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Twi</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">hards</span> actually burst out laughing, it was so cheesy) but I still really enjoyed it. I love a good terrible movie.<br /><br />Saturday was our stay at home day. I did housework and some sewing while John studied. Today was the first day of his <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">RIBO</span> training, so he's pretty much out of commission for the next two weeks.<br /><br />On Sunday we got up bright and early. We headed to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Wal</span>-mart to pick up a couple of Christmas gifts and then over to Chinatown for produce. I'm not sure what we're going to do when the weather gets cold and all of the outdoor fruit and vegetable stands are closed, I'm growing pretty dependent on them. When we got home, we dropped off our stuff and headed to a Dim Sum restaurant next door that I had been wanting to try. The food was absolutely amazing. Everything was in much smaller serving sizes than we expected, but it each bite was delectable. We had the best fried rice I've ever tasted in my life, deep fried taro dumplings, chicken curry and lotus stuffed pastries, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">peking</span> duck pancakes, mango pudding shaped like a fish and hot sweet almond soup. And unlike any other dim sum experience I've had, it was hardly greasy at all. I loved it. I will definitely be going back.<br /><br />In the afternoon I gave my sister a call and we chatted for a bit. I baked a mac & cheese casserole for dinner and so that I would have something to pack for lunches and we spent the evening watching cartoons, as usual. All in all, a good weekend.<br /><br />My Christmas spirit is in full force now. I've got almost all of my shopping done, and the baking starts this weekend. My friend from work is going to come over and help me. The first weekend in December is the perfect time to bake freezable things like cookies in my opinion! I'm feeling really good about it, we'll get the tree up in the next couple of days. I'm so glad we didn't have to leave it behind in Halifax, for a while there I really thought we would. I only wish there were more hours in the day so I could find the time to practice carols on the piano.Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-45016834318312572942009-11-23T16:23:00.000-08:002009-11-23T17:26:35.885-08:00Starting to get into the Christmas SpiritWe had a fun weekend. We actually left the apartment to do more than just grocery shop!<br /><br />Friday night we just laid low, made snacks and watched a movie on TV. John fell asleep around 9:00pm if memory serves me correctly. I stayed up to watch <span style="font-style: italic;">Vampire Diaries</span>.<br /><br />Saturday morning, we made omelets for breakfast and spent the morning lazing around. I worked on a sewing project and John played video games. In the afternoon we went to see the movie <span style="font-style: italic;">2012. </span>What a great movie!! I love movies that show the graphic depiction of the planet being destroyed and this is the best one I've seen yet! It has taken the place of <span style="font-style: italic;">The Day After Tomorrow</span> as my favorite destruction-of-Earth film of all time. They showed the world being blown apart in ways I couldn't even imagine. The effects were incredible and the story was great!<br /><br />I know what you're thinking. "But Jacki, why were you sewing this weekend? What about the socks you were supposedly knitting?"<br /><br />I finished them! Check it out!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images4-cache.ravelry.com/uploads/jackiw/17288557/Socks_medium.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 493px;" src="http://images4-cache.ravelry.com/uploads/jackiw/17288557/Socks_medium.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>I'm so proud of them, they turned out awesome!! They fit perfectly, the heel is reinforced, the top is ribbed, the yarn is so soft and the seam at the toe lines up exactly right. I can't wait to make my next pair but I need to see how they hold up in the dryer first to make sure that these are the right size (i.e, I may need to make the next ones bigger if these ones shrink). They're labour intensive to be sure, but I had a lot of fun making them. Once I got the hang of knitting with four tiny little needles, the rest was easy.<br /><br />Okay, now that I've bored any boy who might be reading, here is the secret part of today's post: John said he was going out for drinks with Brandon tonight so I snuck away to the mall to do a little Christmas shopping. Have I mentioned that I can go to the Eaton Centre from my apartment without once stepping outdoors? It was my first time there since University and I forgot how gorgeous the domed ceilings are from the inside. And this time there were giant sparkling star decorations hanging from the ceiling for Christmas. It was beautiful! And Aunt Debbie, I wish you could have seen the Christmas tree in the middle of the mall! It was was at least 50 feet tall with what must have been thousands of lights. And to top it all off, the tree was absolutely covered in Swarovski crystal snowflake ornaments! It wouldn't surprise me to find out there were ten thousand of them. I can't even begin to describe how it sparkled, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. It was absolutely incredible.<br /><br />I didn't stay long because I knew what I was there for. Next time I go though, I would love to take an afternoon to explore it. The Sears alone is 5 floors! I hopped on a subway and headed back home. I sneaked into the apartment, happy to see I had beaten John home and stashed the goods in my secret hiding spot. Success! Okay, back to talking about the weekend.<br /><br />As Saturday night rolled around, I lamented that I had no orange juice to mix with my vodka until I remembered that I had a whole bunch of limes in the fridge from the time they were 8/$1 in Chinatown. So I decided to try my hand at homemade limeade. Oh. Em. Gee. It was awesome! I just mixed the juice of 6 limes, 1/2 cup of sugar and 4 cups of water. It was super strong, and super sour. Adding the vodka watered it down a bit and the sourness was so overpowering that it completely eclipsed the taste of the vodka. This stuff is so smooth, it's deadly! I loved it.<br /><br />Around 9pm we went out in search of a place to watch the UFC fights. I wanted to hit up a sports bar called Main Event but John suggested we try a place called Philthy McNasty's because they have a better setup of TVs.<br /><br />So we that's where we went. At first it was pretty cool. There was a big screen TV right in front of us, a smaller TV built into the booth and the pizza was great. But around 11:30, the night crowd started moving in. Before we knew it, we found ourselves in the middle of a Saturday night pickup bar. There were lots of scantily clad girls, they started playing dance music - think The Palace. We laughed it off and stayed for the rest of the fights, but I think we won't going back. We lucked out in that the fights were really good this week. It was the return of Tito Ortiz and he didn't disappoint! It's been a few months since John and I have had a fight night out on the town, so we had both been looking forward to it and we had a lot of fun.<br /><br />On Sunday we made our weekly pilgrimage to Chinatown for produce. This week limes happened to be 15/$1 so it looks like I will be making more limeade! Seriously, they barely fit in the fridge. Other great deals included 10lbs of potatoes for $1.59 and quarts of strawberries for 66 cents. I don't think I will ever get tired of watching them ring this stuff in! Although now I have to figure out what to do with 3 quarts of strawberries. Last week I made strawberry cheesecake tarts. This week I'm not sure. Coffee cake maybe? Anyone have any suggestions?<br /><br />When we got home, John's friend Marc happened to be in our area, so he stopped by for a visit. He and John had a good chat over tea while I baked bread, peeled pomegranates and roasted chestnuts. I love puttering around the kitchen on a Sunday. I'd take it over housework any day of the week.<br /><br />Sunday night was cartoons as usual, followed by early to bed to get a head start on the week.<br /><br />Ooh, I forgot to mention that John brought home his RIBO books on Friday so that he can spend the next couple of weeks studying for his exam. I love it!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5373010375330947490.post-59096262587452490512009-11-19T15:27:00.000-08:002009-11-19T16:17:53.727-08:00Still Having Fun!I've been a bit lazy about posting. Time goes so fast!!<br /><br />Our Christmas flights have been booked! We pretty much couldn't get any time off at all. So our visit will be super short, but it's better than nothing! We will arrive in Halifax late on Christmas Eve, stay the weekend and return early on Monday. Back to work Tuesday. I work untill 2pm on Christmas Eve, so we couldn't get home any earlier. All of my vacation requests got denied. Basically, if you want Christmas off, it has to be booked in January. This is what I figured would happen though, starting a job in October. So although it is not ideal, we are grateful for the time we do have and look forward to seeing our loved ones!<br /><br />John is still loving his job. He comes home with big smiles every day. I'm still in training until the end of the month. It's pretty dull, but it's a stable routine at least. I'm definitely getting a better grasp on all of the insurance concepts and am remembering the little details better as well. So all is well there.<br /><br />We found the most amazing Mexican restaurant last weekend. Erin and Alan, you must come visit so we can take you there! We went there to celebrate John's new job. Everything was from scratch, even the sour cream! And the flavours had both strong and subtle elements and were amazingly combined and balanced. I think it was the best meal we've had since we arrived in Toronto. (Do you know it's been almost 4 months we've been here?!?)<br /><br />We also found a Vietnamese place where the prices are low, the portions are ridiculously big and the food is amazing! It was my first time trying pho and I fell in love. It was so good! The broth was light but so tasty, with scallions, Thai basil and other flavours I couldn't identify. And I think it was only $5 for a bowl that was more than I could finish.<br /><br />That same afternoon, we went down to Dundas & Yonge and watched the Christmas parade for a few hours. It was awesome to see it in person rather than on TV for once. Plus we scored some candy canes. The crazy part is that it was so warm I took my sweater off and just wore my t-shirt. Kind of strange for a Christmas event! We probably watched it for an hour and a half before heading out, so we didn't see Santa, but it was still a good time.<br /><br />Yesterday the subway was shut down south of our stop. Insanity!!! Apparently a contractor had been digging for one reason or another and accidently dug right into a subway tunnel! So rocks fell onto the track, and they weren't sure how stable everything was, so they had to shut it down. People were already upset because subway prices have just gone up ($3 a ride!) and I guess that when the service was shut down, they flipped out. I wasn't there myself but one of the girls at work said she was actually shoved into a train. Crazy. I guess there were three hundred thousand people stranded at Bloor and Yonge (the major intersection of the subway). I guess on this one street corner they were lined up right around the block waiting for shuttles.<br /><br />So I am feeling quite fortunate to work on the same block that I live (not to mention the $120 I save each month by not buying a metropass). And John works in the North, so although delayed, he at least was able to get home on the subway.<br /><br />I hear that the Olympic torch was carried across the bridge yesterday! I am sad to have missed this a once in a lifetime opportunity in Halifax. It seems like whenever I leave, that's precisely when the excitement happens.<br /><br />John's brother Allan came to stay with us for most of the week. We have a pretty good deal: I made him cookies and he made dinner for us last night (mmm, porkchops). And I came home to a kitchen that had mysteriously been cleaned during the day. So that's a great kind of houseguest to have! John managed to get today off work so they could hang out.<br /><br />That is the news around here for now! I'm going to go enjoy my first glass of eggnog of the season!Jackihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18345886709385495819noreply@blogger.com0