#noregrets

Some days you roll out of bed, literally roll.  Why are you rolling? It's because you left for university and lived on your own.  You cooked for yourself and felt damn proud of yourself for using spices and a black pepper cracker thing.  This was all immediately followed by graduation and moving back home to the delights of your mother's delicious homemade food.  Today it is weighing heavily everywhere, not just on your mind.

So, after you unsuccessfully attempt to put on five different pairs of pants that used to fit three months ago, ask yourself this, "Was all that food worth it?"

Hell yes.

Tell the true story of a dramatic moment in your life, but weave in one secret and one lie.

642 Things to Write About

It was a cold and very icy night, I was reviewing my notes before an nighttime exam.  It was set to start at 7:00PM which is 10 levels of crazy.  Who can even function that late at night?  I was about to fall into an after dinner food coma.

It was approaching 5:50PM when the last bus to school was set to arrive.  I packed up my things, headed out to the stop and arrived 10 minutes.  I waited outside in the cold for 45 minutes before finally giving up and calling a cab.  The cab dispatcher told me it would take 30-40 minutes for a cab to arrive, I freaked out and had a mini-panic attack!  It would be cutting it close.  As I waited I began to seriously worry which did nothing for my confidence.

The cab arrived five minutes past seven.  I arrived at my final 20 minutes late and 20 dollars lighter. It was all OK though, I was confidence incarnate.  The only thought in my mind was: git'er done.

Life Lesson: Always take the second last bus to school.

traditions

Tell a complete stranger about a beloved family tradition. -- 642 Things to Write About

I guess the internet will be my stranger today.  We don't have too many traditions in my family but there is one that we try to hold to for large celebrations: making dinner together.  What have I learned from family dinners?

Moms are awesome
My mom spends the day preparing and that is both ridiculous and heart-warming.  For the larger dinners we used to have as kids it would take days to prepare.  Why would somebody hand-make dinner is cray cray.  I understand it's out of love for your guests but seriously, I would be OK going to anybody's house for a dinner ordered-in.

Teamwork is key
We are all assigned a task that meets our... abilities.  I get to peel carrots for example haha.  That is the sorry state of skill in my house.  Living on my own for over 5 years has not turned me into half a cook.  The small tasks take away from the bigger ones only my mom can perform, so it's great.  Gains from trade my economics professor always said, proof!

Always buy dessert
I know there are some really awesome dessert-makers out there but this has never been the case at my house.  I once spent more than half a day baking a single cake because I kept messing things up or had to go back to the supermarket the 3rd time to get things I thought I had.  Dessert should be just that - something to enjoy from beginning to end.

While this strays slightly from the intended topic, I think moving forward I will take the book's ideas as inspiration instead of literally.  There is no reason to stifle creativity!

worst thanksgiving

The worst Thanksgiving dish you've ever had -- 642 Things to Write About

The ones I've made myself.  haha.  I try to cook; HGTV makes it seem so easy.  I have made KD with questionable additions and extra salty pasta.  Its just all bad but good at the same time.  I learned a lot from those not great experiences that I will share with you now.

KD is great for a student on a budget but it will ruin your stomach if you add things just because they are in your fridge.  Experimentation is encouraged, but do not attempt it if you are starving!  Stock your favourite instant noodles for experiments, it's easier to whip up another batch.

Salted water reaches a higher temperature which helps your pasta cook that much faster; however, there is one major caveat that chefs around the world keep saying, "add salt for seasoning."  Salt permeates your pasta from the water for an oh so salty treat!  Avoid over-salting.  Also, pepper is not to salt as acid is to base.  Suffice to say I ordered pizza that night.

news diet

Food is an important part of a balanced diet.  -- Fran Lebowitz

I swear I spend half the day reading news.  I have made a commitment to go on a news diet and edit the amount I consume to half.  I hear it's all about portion control these days anyways.  What do you guys read?  My RSS feed has over 50 blogs and I can't keep up.  Do I really need to read food photo blogs?  Really?  Haha but I do because it looks sooo good!

Here are some really good ones!

Running with Tweezers

Simply Recipes

Coconut & Lime

Smitten Kitchen

I share because I love not because I want to suck you into the news feed.

jolly good

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.

my wonderful day was ruined by my own hand. the warm weather and sunshine was ruined because i was too happy. yes, its true. i purchased bagels and apples eager to return home to sit down and eat them in the comfort of my own room. then disaster struck, while i was happily swinging them around in a ferris-wheel-like manner, the bag broke and my bagels and apples went flying up... up... up.

one bagel was saved. T.T

so long and thanks for all the fish

theres a hole where my swede used to be

a swede is, according to wiki, a root vegetable and a cross between a cabbage and a turnip. "in canada swedes are used as filler in foods such as mincemeat and christmas cake." i think they are round, fist-sized, and have "bright purple bottoms, yellow tops and creamy white, dense flesh." my swede was not like that except for the description about the yellow top and creamy white, dense flesh. he was tall, some would say freakishly so. 

bye swede.

proportionality

Men should be like coffee, hot sweet and strong

on monday i saw and purchased discounted chocolates at the grocery store, made me weak in the knees! let me tell you well worth it!!! the amount of exclaimation marks i use is directly proportional to how much easter chocolate ive consumed!!!!! yay! i also bought an orange and was sorely disappointed. i hate it when the rind of the orange is thick, so you are decieved by the size and you get less flesh than what you hoped. i propose a study of all oranges and their flesh-to-rind ratio!!!

take2

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.

along the same vein of white supremacy, i dislike whole wheat pasta. i tried it because it was on sale and it was totally not worth the health kick that i thought i would try but in the end failed miserably. stupid meat. stupid bleached foods. stupid solo grande mochas. grrr.

white > all

Eating rice cakes is like chewing on a foam coffee cup, only less filling.

you know how in many cultures there are dinner staples. those crazy east asians have rice for every meal, for example, and you all know how i feel about rice. my staple is pasta. specifically rotini. i like how it sprials. wee. reminds me of those kids playscape slides. at the moment im trying out whole wheat pasta and i must say, i like the white stuff better. i know, i know, im the biggest racist ever.

38 cents

Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine. 

i was feeling like a junkie so i decided to go out and buy some junk food! my multigrain tostitos.... mmm. anyways as i was going to pay i pulled out my big fiver and remembered i had some change left in my pocket and went to fish for it. my chips came out to be 3.38 and lo and behold i had a quartre, dime and 3 pennies. sweet deals i yelled in glee! 2 dollars in change. i go to my local video store and guess what? a movie rental is 2 big ones, oh yeah! i know this movie night was meant to be.

doggie

Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.

i feel like a dog when im chopping down on cherrios as a snack food. i hold it cupped in my hands and use my mouth and tongue to lift individual cherrios into my mouth for munching. i think some `friends` at this point would make witty comments about coincidence and my comparison of myself to a dog, if you are one of these keep it to yourself!

haircut

Every time one comes out of the kitchen, the employees scream "VOLCANO" and run through the restaurant with a sparkler on the dessert.

i need a haircut. ive become shaggy and dog-like in appearance. i think im also starting to smell funny. i dont think thats due to my hair however. last night i went to sleep with slightly damp hair and woke up this morning with something resembling a recently erupted volcano.

i was at rainforest cafe back in the day and they used to have this dessert called a volcano (and still do i think). we sat by the kitchen so it was really annoying but oh so good looking!

oranges

A man is not an orange. You can't eat the fruit and throw the peel away

i really like oranges. i really like them when they are cold too. they are difficult to peel when they are cold because my fingers become numb after a while if i eat like 5 in one sitting. yes, i really could eat 5 in one sitting and my fingers really do get numb! but i still peel! my mouth also gets kinda cold from eating so many so quickly. anyways, i should continue to stock oranges for the rest of my life.

<3 bagels

The bagel [is] an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis.
Beatrice and Ira Freeman,
'About Bagels', NY Times May 22, 1960

i love bagels. i especially love them when... guess! no really, do it before reading on. could it be that i love them because they taste good with anything or you can eat them plain, or because they come in a variety of flavours (you all know how much i love selection), or because they are made in a unique manner. the truth my friends, is that all of the previously mentioned points are all very valid. but the truth -- the truth is... i like the holes. this especially tickles me when its a whole wheat bagel. a whole wheat bagel with a hole. a whole whole wheat bagel with a hole. holy, a whole whole wheat bagel with a hole...

i know what you are thinking, you are crazy er... errr, lying down! this is true. but it gets crazier! i like it when the holes are small. right now im having dirty thoughts but truly, its not a dirty topic. when its small you get a pocket of whatever your spread is! for example, when you spread cream cheese all over it, you get a little pocket of extra cream cheese! holy smokes batman!

food?

have you ever been hungry before? of course you have. but have you ever been hungry before and actually had only a jar of peanut butter? well i finished my jar of peanut butter and let me tell you, there is no way im digging into my margarine. hunger has to draw a line somewhere, and thats where it is! i was considering stealing my roommates food... hmm... ice cream... mmm... *has a seizure and dies*

have you ever been so tired from hunger you (because you couldnt sleep because you were just so hungry) felt like you were finally at peace? well i think thats the light-headedness you are feeling from no food. or was i feeling that? or was it a dream? i cant recall, i was really hungry and perhaps sleep-deprived.

food? is that you?