tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48544067027171301632024-03-13T02:26:07.802-06:00Robyn!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger358125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-32735663000898347982016-04-30T17:47:00.000-06:002016-04-30T17:47:24.465-06:00Summer of Fruit 2016<br />
We bought a house in a new suburb, one of those skinny two-storey houses that is pretty close to the houses on either side. Essentially it's a detached townhouse without the condo life, which means the yard is very small compared to the houses we grew up in. In total, maybe 2000 square feet of yard, most of which is shaded by the house and garage. And a large portion of that in the front is on the other side of the sidewalk, a "city owned boulevard".<br />
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However, I've been able to make pretty good use of the small, shady space. We have two 4x10 raised beds in the back yard, which provides more than enough garden space for vegetables. The edible plants don't stop there though. In the front, we have a tiny apple tree that I actually fit into the back seat of my Ford Focus in 2014, and shockingly produced 30ish apples last summer already. There are four haskap bushes in the front (still young and small, but doing pretty well for being in mostly shade), raspberries at one side of the house, a saskatoon bush in the back next to the deck, and strawberries in a few different places (including some wild strawberry plants I bought this year). I have a rhubarb that I have moved twice now so it hasn't produced anything but is still alive and kicking, and is hopefully in its permanent spot now so it can actually get to growing.<br />
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This year I learned that the city is okay with planting on the boulevard, just as long as it isn't trees or shrubs - essentially I now have way more full-sun garden space than I realized I had! The grass isn't doing so well there so I think I'm going to try and kill a larger patch of it and start a garlic garden - I grew about four heads of garlic last year and they were so easy to grow, I replanted all the cloves last year and they're huge already (April 30). Garlic needs to be planted in the fall to establish its roots before the snow falls (like other spring bulbs), so a spot on the boulevard where it would be definitely covered in a blanket of shoveled snow all winter is perfect for such a plant. I also moved the rhubarb to the boulevard last weekend, as the spot I had it in was arguably too shady and also too small for a plant that gets so big.<br />
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The most exciting thing this summer is that I finally ordered a couple of hardy <a href="http://www.greenbarnnursery.ca/products/kolomitka-kiwi-taylor-mix">kiwi </a>plants! I've wanted to plant these for years, but the only time I ever found them in Saskatoon was the first summer we were in our house and we didn't have any yard yet so I couldn't plant things. I found them at Home Depot and still regret not just overwintering them in pots and planting them the next year, but I assumed if they were available one year, they'd be there the next. And of course they weren't. So I ordered from a nursery in Quebec which hardens off all of its plants before selling, and I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to harvest little kiwis from my own yard in a few years.<br />
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(Source - Green Barn Farms)<br />
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Other than the apples last year, most of the other fruit plants were just establishing roots so I only got a couple of berries here and there. I'm hoping to increase that to a few handfuls this year. Not quite the summer of fruit but slowly getting there.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-11128612215687425072016-04-23T17:47:00.001-06:002016-04-23T17:47:36.663-06:00The Day My Dad Said Goodbye<div>
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The week after my dad died, my workplace required me to go for counseling in order to provide "evidence" that my "condition" was being "treated" so I could get approved for stress leave and not have to go back to work four calendar days after he died (let's not get into that - but note that the government actually only requires companies to provide <u>three</u> days of bereavement leave, yet you can go on compassionate care leave for months if you know that the person is going to die). Anyway, during that counseling appointment with a social worker who wasn't specifically trained in bereavement, but had lost her mom unexpectedly as well, she said something that I kind of brushed aside/rolled my eyes at. "You may not think it now but you'll get to say goodbye" she said. She told me a story about how a few weeks after her mom died, the phone rang and she heard her mom say hello at the other end, and then the line went dead. She said she tried to tell people about it and they all told her she was making it up or remembering a dream, but she knew it was real. She couldn't explain it but it was very much a real experience to her.</div>
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I honestly forgot that story until a couple weeks ago, when I was debating writing this post. I don't know who, if anyone, reads my blog these days other than my husband, but nonetheless I feel kind of vulnerable putting it out here. I haven't told this story to anyone but close friends who I knew wouldn't laugh at me. But this story is what it is. It happened and however one chooses to try and explain it is fine with me, as long as they don't try and tell me my interpretation is unacceptable. Just like the counselor choosing to believe it was her mom at the end of that phone call, I am choosing to believe that my dad came to say goodbye in March 2015.</div>
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I was at home alone, sitting in my living room and watching TV. Brahm was out of town for the weekend and my mom was staying in our guest room but she was out of the house at the time. There was a heart-shaped helium balloon hanging out on the ceiling of the living room that my mom had brought over a week or two prior, which had stayed put in the living room pretty much that whole time. My cat liked to grab the string every so often and pull it around the house/chew on it, but it didn't move much other than swaying a bit when the heat turned on.</div>
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As I was sitting there, the balloon started to shift. I noticed it was slowly moving towards the stairwell and I wondered if it would stop or get stuck at the top where we likely wouldn't be able to reach it. Eventually it did make its way into the stairwell. A few minutes later I went to check on it, assuming it would be stuck at the highest point in the house, but it had actually turned the corner and was moving toward the upstairs hallway. This seemed like slightly odd behavior for a balloon so I stayed put and watched it travel along its course. Finally it came to a complete stop in the middle of the guest room door, where I mentioned my mom was staying for the weekend, as well as where all of the photos of my dad from his funeral were being kept.</div>
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It took a few minutes for the significance of where the balloon stopped to hit me and then I broke down and cried, sitting on the floor in the hallway. The balloon didn't move for the rest of the day. When my mom got back it was still there. My mom left it there while she slept that night.<br />
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The next day, I don't remember exactly when, I heard the balloon start to rustle and watched it move over a few feet, to some pictures from our wedding. It stopped, and stayed in this spot for another day.<br />
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After that day, the balloon was downstairs again when I got home from work. I'm not sure how it got there, perhaps the cat brought it down, but I swear the balloon followed me around for about an hour that day while I moved around the kitchen and main floor. Following that, it started losing its helium and moved around the house a bit sporadically but nothing as (what I'll describe as) "determined" as those couple days.</div>
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If you are shaking your head, or rolling your eyes, or feeling uncomfortable that I might believe this scientifically explainable balloon movement to have anything to do with my dad, please don't. It is not hurting anyone or anything for me or my family to derive meaning out of this. And if it was just a bizarre coincidence, what does it matter? It was an experience that will stick with me always and an experience that brought and still brings me immense comfort.</div>
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After this happened for a while I was hyper-vigilant about balloon movements and placements when we had them in the house, hopeful for more significance, but it never happened again. That is why I'm confident that it was a one-time shot; it was my dad coming to say goodbye, and no one can tell me otherwise.</div>
Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-14944225852560787782016-03-25T10:48:00.000-06:002016-03-25T10:48:17.559-06:00Finishing The Office (minus Season 8)<br />
In summer 2006, I was working for SCI-FI Science Camps. I had a coworker named Brahm who I got along with really well. One week that summer we were both running camps in Prince Albert, with four other co-workers, all of whom had family or friend connections in Prince Albert. This meant Brahm and I ended up hanging out by ourselves a few times. One evening we were flipping through the channels on the TV in the Super 8 hotel room I was sharing with a coworker who was out partying with her Prince Albert friends and came across a show I'd seen a couple of times called The Office. We watched a couple Season 1 episodes and were completely hooked. The next week when we got back to Saskatoon, Brahm downloaded all of Season 1 and 2 and binged everything. A couple weeks later we started officially dating, and from Season 3-7 watched every new episode together.<br />
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We both stopped watching around the time that Steve Carell left the show. Brahm pretty much stopped after the Goodbye Michael episode, and I gave up a few episodes into Season 8. I did tune into the finale a few years ago but didn't have much interest in finishing the entire series.<br />
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When The Office arrived on Canadian Netflix a few months ago I decided to watch through again, and this time I hoped to finish the full series. I'd heard a few people say that the show was still decent after Michael Scott's departure so I thought I would give it a shot. When I got to the end of Season 7, the few episodes left that season without Carell were still pretty good. The cast could hold their own. Why did I stop watching? I wondered.<br />
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Then I got to season 8 and Robert California. If you haven't watched the show or like many, stopped after season 7, Robert California, played by James Spader, was probably the most shark-jumpy character I've ever seen on a TV show. He made the show painful to watch and 4 episodes into season 8 I quit again.<br />
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However, still determined not to completely give up, I read the season 8 spoilers and saw that Spader only stayed on as a cast member for that season. I watched the finale of 8 and started over with season 9.<br />
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Other than a few major points of annoyance/weirdness (e.g. why did they turn Andy into such a horrible character, after building him up to be someone you rooted for by season 7), season 9 was overall pretty solid. I liked the Jim and Pam storyline, I liked that the documentary actually became a plot point, I liked the continuity of bringing back some old randoms (like Dwight's friend Rolf), I even liked the new characters. I know many on the internet don't agree with this but I enjoyed the season. I laughed a lot and also cried a lot in the last few episodes of the series. There is no denying that Michael Scott was pretty integral to the show, it wasn't half-bad without him (as long as it was also without Robert California).<br />
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If you, like me, were once a big fan of The Office but gave up after season 7, I encourage you to give season 9 a shot if you're looking for something to watch on Netflix. I was not disappointed for the most part and I hope you will agree.<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-77629034754278228012016-03-13T11:19:00.002-06:002016-03-13T11:19:13.661-06:00Soft, Light Sourdough Yeasted Loaf!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A while ago I mentioned finally figuring out a perfect sourdough recipe. To me this meant plenty of sourdough flavour, less than half white flour, but still soft, light, and sandwich-worthy. It took many, many attempts to get something that worked but finally the experimentation paid off and I can consistently make a pretty brag-worthy loaf. And I knead it in a bread-maker, so the hands-on time is pretty minimal overall (though you do need to be home for at least a half-day to tend to it between risings).</div>
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I find it works well even if my sourdough starter has been neglected for a few weeks (though definitely does rise faster if it's been fed recently). I start by mixing 90g of (50/50) starter with 100g whole wheat flour, 50g white flour, 50g rye flour, and 200g water to essentially make a large bowl of 50/50 starter. I let it sit at room temperature for at least 12 hours, 24 is better. After that it will be bubbly and ready to make the dough.</div>
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The dough is simple, but has a few extra ingredients beyond typical water/flour/salt/yeast, to increase the lightness of what could become a heavy loaf. To the starter I add 150g of white flour, 100g wheat flour, 10g vital wheat gluten (to improve the structure since I am using so much wheat flour), 10g salt, 10g cocoa (sometimes, to add some flavour and make a nice brown colour), a scoop or two of extra grains if I feel like it (I'll often add flax or chia), about 1.5 tsp yeast, and 100g milk.<br />
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Toss that into the breadmaker, let it knead, and unplug. Depending on the starter activity and type of yeast used (instant makes for a faster rise), it will need to rise from 2-4 hours to double in bulk.<br />
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Then it goes into a loaf pan for the second rise, which usually takes 1-2 hours. I had, and still get, many ripped loaves due to under-proofing so it's important to let it rise well above the edge of the pan before putting it in the oven. <br />
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Then it goes into the oven, 375F for 35 minutes. Out comes a perfect loaf of bread, made more perfect if it is left to cool out in the open overnight to develop an extra-crisp crust. It stays fresh for 3-4 days before starting to get a bit stale, at which time I slice the remaining loaf and freeze it.<br />
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<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-78612211393665667792016-03-06T15:19:00.000-06:002016-03-06T15:19:26.892-06:00Macaron Revival<br />
If you are a long time reader, you might remember a couple of posts from back in the day when I decided I needed to learn to <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2013/04/macarons.html">make </a><a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2013/04/macarons-update.html">macarons</a>. You will remember that I had some mild success after 8-10 batches. The last successful batch I made was a nearly perfect batch of peanut macarons - I was able to get good shape, good feet, and they didn't brown, but they were still fairly hollow inside. After I got that "almost perfect" batch, I pretty much stopped making them forever because they were so difficult. I also never wrote down the recipe I used (it was in a notebook that I am pretty sure is lost now) so over the past couple years I tried a couple times to recreate it, to pretty much always abysmal failure.<br />
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Then, about a month ago Brahm and I got hooked on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013pqnm">The Great British Bake Off</a>, a lovely baking competition show featuring a bunch of polite British home bakers attempting the most amazing feats of bakery. We started watching at the recommendation of a friend and after just a few episodes, both of us, like the entire United Kingdom apparently, were suddenly inspired to up our baking game. While Brahm has focussed on <a href="http://blog.brahm.ca/2016/02/great-british-bake-off.html">tarts </a>so far, I was intrigued by the use of Italian meringue in so many items and finally worked up the nerve to try <a href="http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/12/28/how-to-make-macarons-step-by-step/">this </a>method for macarons, which serious food bloggers all swear is the superior method. I'd learned about it through Annie's Eats but having always wanted to try making chocolate macarons, I first attempted <a href="http://www.roadtopastry.com/blog/recipes/macarons/recipe-chocolate-macarons-italian-meringue">this </a>recipe (including Italian meringue for the first time). I had approximately half success - half of the macarons cracked, I know they were slightly overmixed, and half were a little misshapen but pretty good for a first attempt:<br />
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Having gained confidence I attempted the Annie's Eats recipe linked above, to complete failure. Every single macaron cracked and they seemed to be overbaked as well. I did not take photos of that batch. They were obviously undermixed (likely all the meringue was not combined with the almond paste properly) and who knows what else.<br />
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I did a bit of reading and figured I might be making my meringue too thin, so I tracked down <a href="http://loveandmacarons.blogspot.ca/2013/01/macaron-recipe-italian-meringue-method.html">this recipe</a> and followed it almost exactly, other than adding a bit of cream of tartar to stabilize the egg whites better, and also added a couple grams of corn starch so the shells would dry out faster. I sifted all the dry ingredients and took greater care to get my meringue stiffer and...<br />
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Not perfect but much improved! Three days of practicing piping these and a better textured batter helped get them uniformly shaped. I think the lopsided ones are due to using my oven in convection mode (will not do that again) and I think the batter was just slightly undermixed, but at least distributed evenly. For sure the best looking batch I have made, and they also seemed to be the least hollow!<br />
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I'm definitely confident using this method and making Italian meringue and I don't plan on ever attempting the French method again because why?? And bonus, to make one batch of these (half the Love and Macarons recipe) took only about 20 minutes to prep, 15 minutes to rest, and 13 minutes to bake. They were out of the oven and filled, and the kitchen cleaned, in under an hour.<br />
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While I am 1/4 English (I'm actually a Mayflower descendant), I've never felt particularly in tune with that part of my ancestry. Watching The Great British Bake Off, I can see how it's not just a baking competition but also quite patriotic for Brits. I do have several quintessentially "British" hobbies but have never thought about them that way before, and cheesy as it sounds now I do feel a little more in touch with my British heritage.<br />
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<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-49871529954807219192016-02-08T19:47:00.002-06:002016-02-08T19:47:33.204-06:00Natural Un-Shampoo Quest<br />
Two years ago to the day I posted about the natural swaps I was making for skin/body care. One of the items I mentioned was using baking soda and vinegar to wash my hair. In a more recent update post I mentioned that I was not using that method anymore, but I thought it might be interesting (and potentially helpful for anyone who stumbles across this blog in a google search) to provide a full run-down of all the different un-shampoo methods I tried before settling on my current (consistent) method.<br />
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1. Baking Soda and Vinegar<br />
This method is most widely referred to as "no-poo" though that term can really refer to any non-conventional shampoo hair washing. It's the one that started me on the path, but after a couple months my hair was feeling pretty dry and some quick research explained that the BSV method is actually pretty damaging to the scalp because you change the pH so drastically. At this point I researched some other methods and tried the next one people were raving about...<br />
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2. Rye Flour<br />
Yup, it sounds pretty weird. But rye flour is really low gluten and did feel really nourishing to my scalp. Surprisingly it cleaned pretty well and made my hair feel really soft. However it wasn't 100% consistent as it didn't work in hard water which could pose issues when traveling, and sometimes was hard to wash out (kind of gross finding a strand of hair coated in dried dough later in the day). So, on to the next...<br />
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3. <a href="http://shop.morroccomethod.com/">Morrocco Method</a><br />
In my never-ending research for a consistent hair washing method, I stumbled across tons of rave reviews for these products. They are apparently all natural and the internet had nothing but good things to say about them, so I not very smartly splurged on the full line of products. After several months of using them, hoping I was still in a "transition period", I gave up with tons of product left. These "shampoos" did not clean my hair well at all - it was visibly greasy and I could smell the sebum on my scalp. I felt gross. However ordering this full line of products was not a complete loss, because one of the items that shipped with it was called Zen Detox - essentially just some bentonite clay, for which I followed the directions and put it on my scalp and then washed it out. And it cleaned BEAUTIFULLY. <br />
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To note about MM products before I move on, I will never put them on my scalp again but they work okay as a conditioner for my ends, and also work pretty well as a body wash that doesn't strip all the oils off my skin. So I can for sure use them but just not in the way they were intended. There were two products in the line that I did really like, the Blood of the Dragon styling gel and the Pearl Essence Creme Rinse. Otherwise personally I do NOT recommend the shampoos for a person with fine but thick curly (Caucasian) hair.<br />
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4. Bentonite Clay<br />
I figured I had finally found the holy grail of natural shampoo. During all of my research though I knew that bentonite clay had a similar pH to baking soda BUT it is supposed to be mixed with vinegar prior to skin application to neutralize it. This was something that couldn't be done with the BSV method because neutralizing it before washing hair made it ineffective, but the clay still cleaned very well after neutralizing. Overall though after a while it still felt kind of harsh on my scalp, and I continued to research clays for skincare.<br />
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5. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhassoul">Rhassoul </a>Clay<br />
This is it folks, the real deal. The internet recommended rhassoul clay as the best clay for skin and haircare, and I found it for pretty cheap on a soap making <a href="https://www.candorasoap.ca/product/rhassoul-clay">website </a>and tried it out. After a bit of recipe tweaking, what seems to work really well is about 2 tbsp of rhassoul clay mixed with some apple cider vinegar, aloe, and glycerin, with some tea tree and other essential oils added, to create a thin paste. This cleans incredibly well and does not appear to dry out my scalp. A++++, would highly recommend. The "shampoo" takes about 30 seconds to mix up and at most I have to use it once a week, depending on outside humidity (in summer I can go 2-3 weeks, winter about 10 days, before my scalp starts feeling greasy), just rinsing with water in between. I have been using a variation of this recipe, with rhassoul clay as the main ingredient, for almost a full year and it's proven to be far more consistent than any of the other methods - something easy to stick with that doesn't frustrate me after a few weeks. I wondered for a long time whether I would actually find something that worked or if I'd be forced to go back to conventional shampoo, but this seems like it will be a keeper for life.<br />
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On this note I stumbled across the product line <a href="http://naturalicious.net/">Naturalicious </a>yesterday and noticed that their <a href="http://naturalicious.net/collections/natural-hair-products-fine-hair/products/rhassoul-clay-for-hair-fine-hair?variant=4256407553">shampoo </a>is made with rhassoul clay as the main cleansing ingredient too (and happens to have a pretty similar ingredient list as the stuff I make myself - so I must be doing something right!).<br />
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6. Epilogue - <a href="http://www.devacurl.com/">DevaCurl</a><br />
I learned about DevaCurl products, which really seem to be gaining in popularity, a while ago when getting my hair cut by a DevaCut certified stylist (it is definitely the way to go if you have curly hair and have suffered from bad haircuts your entire life). When I get my hair cut the stylist washes my hair with these products and my hair does come out insanely curly. My sisters have been using the DevaCurl products for a while and I bought a set of the products for one of them for Christmas, for which the package got lost and didn't show up until after Christmas when I'd already bought her a replacement set from Chatters. I decided to use it up myself but after about 2-3 washes I noticed my scalp flaking pretty badly so I went back to the clay. I am not sure why DevaCurl No Poo made my scalp dry as it appears to be a really moisturizing product, but it didn't work for me consistently. The gel and the conditioner work really well though, but as far as washing my actual scalp I am sticking with my rhassoul clay.<br />
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Overall this natural shampoo journey has been at times extremely frustrating as it took me well over a year to find a method that worked consistently, but I'm glad I stuck with it! My hair is so much healthier and easier to take care of than it was when I used conventional shampoo and I don't plan on ever going back.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-66514792918042619692016-01-24T13:22:00.005-06:002016-01-24T13:27:51.011-06:00Solving the Coffee Mystery<br />
I've never been much of a coffee drinker. I was one of the few weird university students who could get by without multiple cups of XL Tim Horton's per day, and the few times I needed to stay up all night to get a report done I'd drink a Pepsi for the caffeine boost. I would enjoy the occasional frozen coffee drink which though is very likely much closer to a milkshake with some coffee flavouring than to an actual cup of coffee. A lot of it had to do with the fact that when I drank coffee it seemed to make me ill - either too jittery from an excess of caffeine or worse, a full-day "coffee hangover" during which I would have no appetite and feel gross and nauseous.<br />
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However in recent years I started noticing that this coffee hangover didn't occur with all types of coffee, nor did I ever feel it with other caffeinated or acidic drinks. We've been to Hawaii a few times over the past winters and drinking fresh ground coffee purchased right from the farms didn't affect me once. We started purchasing whole bean coffee for home use that was locally/freshly roasted (currently we subscribe to <a href="https://www.philsebastian.com/">Phil & Sebastian</a> out of Calgary) and again, none of it ever affected me, but I was definitely not building a tolerance. Almost every time I would take a gamble on drinking restaurant coffee, including espresso drinks (which have never bothered me at home), I would get sick. The only common denominator in the coffees that didn't make me sick seemed to be that they were from places that advertised using fresh, recently roasted beans.<br />
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I always assumed that the coffee hangovers had something to do with caffeine and acidity and potentially brew method, but that just didn't really add up. Sure, Starbucks and Tim Horton's do have typically more caffeine than other types of coffee but if a dark roast is supposed to be lower acid and lower caffeine than a lighter roast, why were medium roasts with bold acidity from Phil & Sebastian fine to drink at home, but a dark roast cappuccino at a restaurant that didn't use fresh beans made me sick? Why did the drip coffee we made from fresh roasted beans in Hawaii not bother my stomach?<br />
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Further, once I started drinking good fresh coffee, I really developed a taste for it and generally have no problem drinking it straight black. But how do I know when it's safe to order in a restaurant or cafe?<br />
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This morning I finally sat down and spent a good hour researching what might be causing my coffee sickness, and I think I have finally found the culprit: not acidity, not caffeine levels, but RANCIDITY.<br />
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Here's a summary of what I learned:<br />
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<ol>
<li>The longer coffee beans are roasted, the darker the roast and the more oils from inside the bean get to the surface. The oils can also naturally escape the bean, even with lighter roasts, the longer roasted beans sit on a shelf.</li>
<li>The oil on the outside of the bean can go rancid EXTREMELY quickly - potentially within hours if exposed directly to oxygen, humidity, and light. </li>
<li>Rancid coffee oil on the outside of the bean can cause the coffee itself to also spoil.</li>
<li>Rancid coffee can cause the coffee to taste bitter and stale (if the coffee you have doesn't actually smell like coffee anymore, it's stale) and upset the stomach or cause other digestive issues (including heightening coffee's laxative effects).</li>
</ol>
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After roasting, whole coffee beans should be stored in an opaque airtight container with a one way valve to allow for off-gassing at approximately 20 C and consumed within <b>one month</b>. After GRINDING, those ground beans should be used within a couple of <b>hours</b>.</div>
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Apparently, any pre-ground coffee you buy is almost always rancid or well on its way. As well, commercial grade coffee is allowed to have up to 4% defective beans (which can mean broken, moldy, beans that are actually bugs, etc.) in the mix which also contributes to bad flavour and increased rancidity. A large tub of Folgers for example is pretty much guaranteed to be rancid by the second time you use it.</div>
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Most people are able to stomach rancid coffee just fine with no digestive effects (though I'd argue that non-rancid coffee is not much of a laxative) so if that's you and you're fine with the taste, enjoy the fact that you can drink coffee anywhere you want without becoming ill for a day.</div>
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Unfortunately for me, I'm going to have to stick with coffee that I know is not rancid - freshly ground and roasted within a few months of consumption. This limits me to home, or pretentious cafes. Which is maybe not the worst thing ever because having made it to age 31 without ever developing a caffeine addiction is definitely something to be proud of.</div>
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Note: I didn't provide references because unfortunately I did all my research on my phone and then sat down to type this up, and none of my references actually had references of their own, though some of the articles were written by chemists. This could all be complete BS, or it could be truth - I choose to believe it because it makes sense scientifically and I'm 100% positive that it's not in my head. But just don't use this information for a science project or anything unless you're going to put the claims to the test in a lab!</div>
Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-28728498943002715342015-12-12T16:06:00.000-06:002015-12-12T16:06:24.362-06:00Keeping the cat away from the Christmas tree<br />
After getting cats we were still determined to keep getting live Christmas trees. I can't really remember much about the first year, because they were still pretty small kittens, so they didn't seem to care much about the tree itself other than the ornaments. Last year we only had the one cat for the first time, and being a little more bored (but happy) having no playmate, Jaypeg seemed to show a greater interest in the tree in the form of eating the needles.<br />
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We have gotten white pine the past couple years because I loooove the appearance of the longer needles, and because I heard internet horror stories about how evergreen needles can be deadly to cats if ingested (puncture intestines and the like). I figured the softer pine needles would be a little easier on her internal organs than fir needles, if she happened to eat any.<br />
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And eat them she did, which led to vomiting on a fairly regular basis as pine needles are mildly toxic to cats. By the time Christmas was over I was so ready to be rid of the tree so we wouldn't have to deal with all the vomiting.<br />
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This year I kind of forgot about that and we picked up another gorgeous white pine (for $30 at Sobeys, who else thinks it's insane that a live tree that took years to grow doesn't cost $5000???) and she promptly started eating the needles before we'd even put the tree in the stand. And of course started vomiting.<br />
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Last year I googled high and low to try and figure out how to keep her away from the tree but nothing seemed to work, including putting a compressed air motion <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/PetSafe-SSSCAT-Cat-Training-Aid/dp/B000RIA95G">sensor </a>under the tree (she could just work around it). But this year I had a stroke of genius/luck the day after we set up the tree.<br />
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I was standing at the kitchen counter next to an empty wire cooling rack that I'd just taken a loaf of bread off of, one of these:<br />
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Jaypeg is not supposed to be on the counter which naturally means she is always on the counter, but I noticed her try to step on the cooling rack and then decide against it. Eureka! I put the three wire racks we have around the tree, and sure enough, combined with the compressed air sprayer she pretty much completely avoids the bottom of the tree now. The only eating of needles and vomiting now is when our Roomba pushes the racks away a couple times a week but I can deal with that frequency (or maybe place the Roomba barriers better).</div>
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There you have it, internet - a surefire method for keeping your cat away from the Christmas tree: wire cooling racks!</div>
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<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-64939934111594700002015-12-06T16:54:00.000-06:002015-12-06T16:54:45.178-06:00Front Page Updates<br />
So I finally remembered that I had this blog and came over here to check if I had an unmoderated pending comments etc. I looked at the front page and realized that a) it's been well over two years since I regularly posted and b) I actually could update on a couple of those Front Page posts. So let's count them down.<br />
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Update - <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2015/01/my-dad.html">My Dad</a> - it has now been over a year, and what an emotionally difficult year it was. I just want people to know, if anyone is reading this, that when someone loses someone very close, like a parent, they don't just "get over it" after a month or two. They may seem "fine" and happy and laughing but they are still very, very sad. They still very likely want to talk about that person they have lost, and will want to for the rest of their life. I am not saying this to be passive-aggressive to any friends who might be reading this, but rather perhaps for anyone who might happen to stumble across this blog and has never dealt with loss before. I still miss and think about my dad multiple times per hour. It is not something that goes away.<br />
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Update - <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2014/03/sourdough.html">Sourdough </a>- I never did quite master the art of making true sourdough without yeast, but I did finally come up with a recipe that makes near-perfect whole wheat sourdough. I modified <a href="http://www.annies-eats.com/2013/10/10/multigrain-bread/">this </a>recipe to a point where it is not recognizable at all (but it was a good jumping off point), and mix/knead in a breadmaker but then do all of the rising and baking manually in the oven, because breadmaker bread is gross and weird shaped. The resulting bread is sour but not too sour, slightly less than 50% white flour, light and fluffy and has a great crust. We haven't bought bread in probably two years.<br />
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Update - <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2014/02/natural-swaps.html">Natural Swaps </a>- I can't believe this one was written so long ago. I don't use all of these anymore but I have definitely made a habit of pretty natural skin and hair care. I still do not use shampoo but wash my hair with a base of rhassoul clay and apple cider vinegar with some essential oils and glycerin mixed in and it works great. Depending on the outside humidity I can go 1-3 weeks without washing (though still rinse every day). I also still use the homemade deodorant and will never go back to anti-perspirant. The homemade lip balm is still a staple, and last winter I learned to make soap. I wash my face with water only and use a homemade oil-based moisturizer on it and my skin is in much better condition than it ever has been - I can go an entire winter without getting "shiny forehead"! To summarize I do not use any kinds of detergents (sodium lauryl sulfate or its other iterations) on my body anymore, and am totally sold on oils as moisturizers (contrary to what you might think, putting oil on your skin makes it LESS greasy). It doesn't take much time to whip up a small batch of moisturizer, lip balm, or even bar soap. This is one "hobby" that has definitely become a lifestyle.<br />
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And finally, update - <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2013/10/kittens.html">Kittens </a>- Even without losing my dad, last November was a tough month. Early in the month our two sweet cats started violently fighting after one of them was accidentally stepped on. We had no idea what to do and were advised by various veterinarians that they would get over it but we would just need to ease them back to like each other again. We began some very complicated and stressful routines of separating the cats other than during supervised play together, and after about a week they seemed to be friends again. But then of course a cat got under foot again and started the whole cycle, which then evolved into not being traumatized by getting stepped on but other random triggers that we could not pinpoint. It was so sad and stressful and to be honest, the day my dad died I had actually already spent the entire day crying because I knew that the cat situation probably couldn't be salvaged. When my dad passed away we took our adorable brown cat Biter to my friend Carolyn's for some cat sitting until we decided what to do, and she ended up keeping him which was so great. I still really miss him but I am so happy that he was able to go to a great home where he is loved and can be the king of his castle.<br />
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After we separated the cats, their personalities both changed. They both became more talkative and loving, shed less and purred more. It sort of broke my heart to realize that they were likely living in a stressful power struggle the entire time they'd been together which finally snapped, but I'm so glad they are both happy now and mostly stress-free (cats are weird and get stressed out by strange things). We still have Jaypeg who is definitely a mischief maker but one of the most friendly and funny cats you will ever meet. Here she is today, trying to knock over the Christmas tree.<br />
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And chewing on my hand on her favourite new place in the house, our bed.<br />
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My life has changed a lot since I regularly blogged on here, but it's kind of neat for me to see too that a couple of the things I was excited enough about a couple years ago to sit down and blog about when blogging wasn't a priority are now regular parts of my routine. No promises but I hope I can revive this space again in the next while and get back into the habit of writing.<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-53030439058971780162015-01-28T19:22:00.003-06:002015-01-28T19:22:25.006-06:00My Dad<br />
On November 22, 2014, ten days after my 30th birthday, my heart shattered into a million pieces when my dear, sweet, loving father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.<br />
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My dad was the best person. He was kind and gracious and positive and enthusiastic. He was accepting of people who were different from him and he was truly interested in hearing everyone's stories. He loved so many things and he gave his all to various hobbies and organizations and people but somehow made it all work. He was not a world traveler or a big risk-taker but he is one of the few people I've ever known who I can say absolutely lived his life to the fullest. He loved, and was loved by, a staggering number of people.<br />
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I miss him every second of every day and I would give anything to have him back. I am so lucky that I had the world's greatest dad in my life for 30 years, but it was much too short. <br />
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I want to be like him, and honour him with everything I do for the rest of my life.<br />
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<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-62319913673671042392014-03-21T11:07:00.002-06:002014-03-21T11:07:37.085-06:00Sourdough<br />
My new obsession is sourdough bread. It's definitely the <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2013/04/macarons-update.html">macaron</a> of 2014 for me... to make the perfect loaf of sourdough rye bread that looks as good as it tastes.<br />
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What I've learned over the past couple years from taking on some difficult baking projects is that baking is definitely a science. It's frustrating and addicting and if you're developing your own recipe, often takes a lot of failed experimentation before the success you're looking for. Just when you think you've got it right, something else throws a curve at you. I used to think baking was the easier of the two between cooking and baking, but how wrong I was. I read someone post somewhere recently that cooking is an art and baking is a science and I can't get it out of my head.<br />
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I started by <a href="http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337">making my own starter</a> and trying a recipe that I just couldn't get to properly rise, no matter what I did. It tasted amazing but it was always far too dense. I tried a new recipe that used water instead of milk and was generally a drier dough. It was good but not totally what I was looking for, so I adapted it myself using the advice of the internet and <a href="http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/">this awesome book</a>, and came up with something that I am pretty happy with.<br />
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After faithfully making at least one batch of dough every two weeks when I'm home from work for the past five months or so and struggling through three different recipes, I think I almost have it. I can make loaves that look like this, without using any yeast:<br />
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It's still a very dense bread but dense in a good, chewy way, not a "this clearly didn't rise" way. The above loaves turned out pretty well, baked in a loaf pan, but the same day I tried another batch baked on a stone baking sheet. I didn't take any pictures but they are violently ripped open in various places - almost like macaron "feet" on a couple. I am guessing it's because the open baking sheet made the crust dry out too fast (whereas in the loaf pan the moisture is trapped a bit more). I have had some ripping happen in my loaf pan bread before, but nothing of this magnitude. One of the suggestions on the internet was to use a steam tray in the oven, which I've used before for making bagels (from the 5 Minutes a Day book - amazing) so I'll definitely be giving that a shot next time.<br />
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I've also made an incredible coffee cake and pancakes using the sourdough starter and while the bread is a very lengthy process, I enjoy it and I like learning something traditional. This is the way that bread was made before commercial yeast and it's pretty amazing what flour and water can do if you give it time to work its magic.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-28975210558019983772014-02-08T15:20:00.001-06:002014-02-08T15:20:11.160-06:00Natural Swaps!<br />
It has been a long while and unless you are one of a very select few who actually subscribes via RSS, I doubt many people actually check this anymore. But anyway, this is something I have been meaning to write about for a while and I'm quite excited to share it. I have switched away from or totally given up nearly all of the commercial products I used on my body - shampoo/conditioner, facial cleanser, and deodorant, for example.<br />
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It started several months ago when I was cleaning our bathtub and finding it incredibly hard to clean. We used bar soap because body wash is expensive and I can't get behind throwing all those bottles in the trash, but it really scummed up the tub in a very short amount of time. I started researching homemade body wash recipes, then went up to work and there was coincidentally a "make your own spa products" ladies night event where we made a few products with just coconut oil, beeswax, and liquid oils. The "lotion bars" we made (just a 1:1:1 ratio of beeswax, coconut oil, and grapeseed oil) felt almost exactly like my favourite Burt's Bees lip balm and I went home excited to start making some of these products myself.<br />
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As I researched recipes further, I discovered that a lot of people out there have completely ditched commercial body cleaning/moisturizing products in favour of homemade products. Not only are they better for the environment and your body and incredibly cheap and easy to make, I was about to find out that they ran circles around most commercial products in how well they worked! <br />
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This is really long and I thought about breaking it up into a few different posts but then I got too lazy, so hopefully you don't get bored. Here are a few of the recipes/methods I've tried, and my thoughts on each:<br />
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<b>1. Homemade Lip Balm - the one that started it all</b><br />
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I loosely followed <a href="http://happymoneysaver.com/burts-bees-lip-balm-recipe/">this recipe</a>, but omitted lanolin and used different essential oils. All it really is is a 2:1:1 by weight mix of liquid oil, beeswax, and coconut oil with a bit of vitamin E and essential oils. I also tried a 1:1:1 recipe of shea butter, beeswax, and coconut oil, but I found it much too waxy and better as a cuticle balm than a lip balm (I was using it on my cuticles until the cats knocked it into the nowhere place under the stove).<br />
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I ordered empty lip balm tubes off eBay for about 20 cents/tube, which brings the whopping grand total per tube of this stuff to approximately 25 cents/tube (high estimate). I have given away a lot of tubes and the feedback has been awesome. It also takes about 15 minutes total to mix, melt, pour, and clean up a batch. Definitely a winner!<br />
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<b>2. Eliminating Hair Products</b><br />
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I'd heard before of people who didn't use shampoo on their hair (Brahm hasn't used shampoo in over a year himself actually, though we have very different hair types) but I had also heard that the transition period where your scalp craves shampoo and creates an excess of oil was pretty awful and I just wasn't interested in going through that with my mid-length, curly hair... until I heard that you could substitute a baking soda and vinegar wash for shampoo during that transition period! <br />
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The idea behind quitting shampoo is that most shampoos, other than the extremely expensive, "natural" shampoos you can only get a health food stores, are basically detergents that strip all of the oils from your hair and scalp, which makes your scalp crave moisture and creates even more oil than it needs to to compensate. Once you remove shampoo out of the equation your scalp doesn't create as much oil because it's not being completely stripped on a daily basis.<br />
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I followed the <a href="http://www.insonnetskitchen.com/baking-soda-vinegar-hair-care-update/">method outlined here</a> with a few minor modfications, gradually increasing the number of days between BSV washes. After about a month and a half I think my hair is mostly transitioned, as I recently went a full week without a BSV wash. I think I can now safely use BSV on my hair once a week or less, and just a regular water wash whenever I shower in between.<br />
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This has been amazing. During the winter it is incredibly dry both at home and especially work (the humidity detector in my office actually dips below 0%) so my hair is always really flat and gross all winter long. However literally the first day I ditched the shampoo, the volume and curl returned to almost summer levels. And especially surprisingly, this is without the use of any mousse/gel/etc. to tame frizz. Sometimes I use a bit of coconut oil (when my hair is wet) for curl definition but I'm still not sure if I need it or not. The natural oils seem to be really all my hair needs!<br />
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I've been trying to get more friends onto this bandwagon but fear of the transition period or just general skepticism that it won't work seem to be holding people back. My sister tried it for a while but I think her very long and thick hair made it difficult to get all of the BSV out of which created a greasy texture that she didn't like, so she switched back to shampoo. I do think you need shorter hair and/or a lot of patience to successfully wait out the transition but in my opinion it's definitely worth it.<br />
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A note on this - I was in Calgary recently and tried this in my hotel, with really hard water, and it was kind of terrible. I don't know if you have really hard water if over time your hair would get used to it, or if it would be difficult to do, but what I did to combat it was use a bit of baking soda and vinegar every day instead of just once for the week. It made it a bit better but still wasn't ideal. When I got back into softened water things were happy again. <br />
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<b>3. Coconut Oil Face/Body Wash</b><br />
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This one sounds crazy, I know. Washing your face with oil? Won't that make it super greasy? No my friends, it does not.<br />
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One thing to mention on this one is that it does not work for all skin types. My sister tried it and broke out quite badly, as have several bloggers who've documented trying this method. However for my oily t-zone combination skin, it works great.<br />
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The science here has something to do with your face oils being dissolved and gently removed by the coconut oil, like the shampoo method - not completely stripping all the oils off your face. What I do is spread a layer of coconut oil on my face, with extra over any spots of acne (its antibacterial properties are apparently good for getting rid of acne - anecdotally I can confirm this), and then rinse my face a few times with warm water. All of the oil does NOT need to be washed off at the end, and when I pat my face dry anything extra usually just absorbs into my skin. It's definitely not greasy and sometimes even a little dry feeling.<br />
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Since I started this about a month and a half ago my skin is much less oily than it was and much less acne prone. Prior to this I was using an acne cleanser and a moisturizer morning and night, now all I use is the coconut oil.<br />
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At our spa products night at work we made a coconut oil/sugar body scrub which I sometimes use when I shower at work in place of soap. I don't use it at home because it makes the tub floor slippery - at work we all wear shower shoes so it's less of a slipping hazard. But it works great and not having to moisturize after showering is a big time saver too!<br />
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<b>4. Castile Soap and Coconut Milk Body Wash</b><br />
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There are a lot of different recipes out there and I still might try a couple different ones to find one I like best, but<a href="http://www.theconfidentmom.com/08/frugal-living-2/frugal-homemade-body-wash-recipe/"> this one is the first I tried </a>and off the bat I completely hated it, but didn't want to waste it by dumping it. It felt... greasy, and I had to use a lot because it washed away really fast. It didn't foam up easily like regular soap. But then I started getting used to it and learned to love it.<br />
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Pretty much all homemade body wash recipes use castile soap as a base, which is a type of soap with very limited ingredients - just vegetable/fruit oils and lye. The foaming agents in most commercial soaps are apparently also what really dries out your skin. This recipe is basically a mix of castile soap, coconut milk, and glycerin (to bring some suds back).<br />
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Like I said, it was pretty weird to use at first, when you are used to a lot of foam in your soap as well as equating the feeling of being clean with your skin being completely stripped of all its oils. This is a very moisturizing body wash and your skin feels a little greasy after using it, but once you get out of the shower and dry off you just feel moisturized and clean. Once I got over that, I started noticing that my skin wasn't as itchy and oily by the end of the day as it usually was, because I wasn't drying it out in the morning when I showered.<br />
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<b>5. Homemade Body Butter</b><br />
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I can't remember if I found an exact recipe or modified<a href="http://wellnessmama.com/6544/whipped-body-butter-recipe/"> this one </a>and others like it, but I measure out (by weight) a ratio of 1:1:2 coconut oil, shea butter, and liquid oil (I use sunflower). I melt them down, let them begin to solidify in the freezer, add a bit of vitamin E and essential oils, and whip with a hand mixer until it's approximately tripled in volume.<br />
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This was another weird one to get used to but I LOVE IT. It's very melty so ideally needs to be kept in a cooler room/spot (by a window in winter is good, if you put it in the fridge it solidifies too much I find), or could also reduce the amount of liquid oil to suit your climate. But it keeps my skin moisturized all day long, whereas commercial lotions and body butters seem to work for a couple hours but by the end of the day I'm often scratching white lines into my dry arms or legs again. Not with this stuff! Put it on in the morning and my skin is still extremely soft in the evening.<br />
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Because it is straight up oils and butters, it is greasy going on but absorbs in fast. I find it really great for when my hands are extra dry, like after a flight.<br />
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<b>6. Homemade Deodorant</b><br />
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WOW. I have been blown away by all of the above swaps but this one might take the cake. As teen I was pretty sweaty, not sure if it was because of some social anxiety issues I had or just how my body worked, but I was always on the lookout for a stronger antiperspirant. My body seemed to finally work itself out in my early 20s and I didn't sweat as much but I continued to use Dove antiperspirant, which is one of the strongest non-over-the-counter ones out there. I'd always heard that the aluminum product in antiperspirant was conclusively linked to cancer but I kept using it anyway. Then I read about how the natural product bloggers loved their 3-ingredient homemade deodorant, and that it actually made them sweat less than antiperspirant, so I decided to give it a shot.<br />
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I loosely followed the <a href="http://wellnessmama.com/1523/how-to-make-natural-deodorant-beating-the-b-o-with-natural-deo/">second recipe on this blog </a>(subbed cornstarch for arrowroot) and just mixed up a tiny amount in a Ziploc bag, and apply with my fingers. I didn't want to make a huge batch in case it didn't work but it turns out it works incredibly well and my "tiny" batch will probably last a month or more, for mere pennies.<br />
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LOVE LOVE LOVE. I absolutely sweat less. I do not stink whatsoever, even when I do sweat. With antiperspirant I often found myself reapplying once or twice a day, and having to scrape off thick layers of it with my fingernails in the shower (sorry, gross). And being really itchy, even though Dove was supposedly the most moisturizing antiperspirant on the market. All of those problems have been completely eliminated.<br />
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I think that's about it at the moment. I also tried a toothpaste recipe but didn't like it, though the natural product bloggers sure rave about their homemade toothpaste so I'm going to give it another shot and add a lot more flavouring/sweetener to mask the salty baking soda taste. I did like how it made my teeth feel but it was just too gross tasting.<br />
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I'd highly recommend trying some or any of these things! They may not work for all skin or hair types, but really you have nothing to lose by trying them out, and the overhead costs are very minimal. My skin and hair are now both so happy, and not having to spend a couple hundred bucks a year on all of these products will be fairly significant over time.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-24045002836848579472013-10-03T11:33:00.001-06:002013-10-03T11:33:57.621-06:00KITTENS<br />
We got KITTENS about a month ago! I have never had a good pet before (only things like gerbils, turtles, and the most exciting one that wasn't actually exciting: a hedgehog) so I have just been blown away over the last month at how much you can actually like a good pet (e.g. a cat or dog). They are the greatest little things even though they are sometimes bad and ALWAYS want to touch your technology when you're trying to do something important:<br />
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They are also fun to mess with: <br />
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We named the orange/brown one Biter and the black one Jaypeg, because if you have known us for any length of time we have been wanting to name a pet (or someone to name their baby, preferably) Jaypeg for a long time. And it finally happened!</div>
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My mom doesn't like the names so she decided to rename Biter "Jangles" and Jaypeg "Mittens." This led to maybe the best <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/search/label/texts%20from%20my%20mom">Text from my Mom</a> of all time the other day. She asked how the cats were doing and I said that they had destroyed the strings on a bunnyhug (HOODIE FOR THE JERKS) that Brahm had left out on the stairs. She replied:<br />
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"Haha they were prob hmmm whats this said the black cat them she told the jangles cat that its their own fault if brahm left a toy for them"<br />
"And it gets wrecked Haha"<br />
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They are so bad! But we love them.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-56109230145367518362013-08-12T12:35:00.001-06:002013-08-12T12:35:05.320-06:00The Ultimate Beet Borscht<br />
When I was a kid my grandparents used to make an amazing beet borscht. If you are the kind of person who thinks beet borscht should basically just be beets and maybe onions or something and only the teensiest smattering of dill, go home now please. Sometimes at work there is beet borscht and everyone is all "this is just the deadliest beet borscht ever" and I'm like "you guys, no" because you haven't had beet borscht until you've had the kind that uses the whole beet and also ALL THE VEGETABLES. And no meat, please. Let the vegetables shine on their own.<br />
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My grandma stopped making borscht a few years ago because it is too much work for her to tackle anymore so I've been getting my borscht fix from the Farmers' Market - one of the vendors makes a good one that is pretty close to what I remember eating and loving as a kid. <br />
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We got a bag of beets in our latest<a href="http://paydirtfarm.ca/"> PayDirt Farms CSA box</a> and Brahm said "we should make borscht" and by "we" he meant "Robyn". My mom had a couple of different recipes from an old Ukranian cookbook that she said she thought was close to what my grandparents used, but just to try and combine the recipes and use trial and error.<br />
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These instructions might sound daunting to some ("sort of combine these two recipes and use trial and error") but I consider myself to be a fairly talented soup-maker so I gave it a shot. And it WORKED. <br />
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I wasn't totally sure what was going to happen but as soon as I tried the first spoonful out of the stock pot and the familiar flavour I had been missing for so long came back to me, it was possibly the highlight of my week.<br />
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Knowing you can create something that you thought might be lost forever is kind of amazing. <br />
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And now, the recipe for the ultimate beet borscht. Try this and you'll never go back to your wimpy "beets only" borscht.<br />
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Please note that quantities are EXTREMELY APPROXIMATE.<br />
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1 large onion, chopped<br />
3 cloves garlic, pressed<br />
1/2 head cabbage, shredded<br />
10 cups of weak chicken stock (or 5 cups water, 5 cups regular strength stock) <br />
~15 young (small) beets, <b>including leaves and stems (not optional)</b><br />
<ul>
<li> Chop the beets, stems, and leaves but keep each section separate<b><br /></b></li>
</ul>
3 medium potatoes, cubed<br />
4 carrots, chopped small<br />
~1/2 cup fresh peas<br />
1 lb green or yellow beans, cut into bite sized lengths<br />
1 can navy beans, drained and rinsed (I forgot to include these but good idea for protein) <br />
~1/2 cup of fresh dill, chopped but not too small (or even more if you want but <b>don't skimp on the dill</b>)<br />
~1.5 cups of diced tomatoes (canned is okay)<br />
<br />
Heat oil in a large stockpot and add onions and garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes, add the cabbage and stir until cabbage is starting to get cooked. Add the water/stock and bring to a boil. Add beets, turn heat down to medium-high. After about 5 minutes, add the carrots. After another 5 minutes, add the beans, peas, potatoes, beet stems, and tomatoes. When the potatoes are basically done, add the dill and beet leaves. Cook for a few more minutes until everything you try is cooked through. Salt and pepper to taste if desired. This makes about 4-5 litres of soup.<br />
<br />
As long as you understand cooking times and stuff, you really can't go wrong. Use the whole beet and use a ton of dill and dump in every vegetable you can find and you'll have yourself a bowl of amazing beet borscht. The cooking time of this soup was really quick but the prep (working alone) took a couple hours. Worth it though!<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-17472832938446375732013-07-16T15:57:00.000-06:002013-07-16T15:57:26.198-06:00XTREME Hardening<br />
If you have ever started seedlings indoors, you may be familiar with the concept of "hardening off" the plants. Or maybe not. Hardening off means basically "training" the plants to live outside, by doing small things like brushing the baby plants with your fingers to simulate wind and encourage strong stems, putting them outside for a bit longer every day, etc.<br />
<br />
The first year I planted tomatoes I did zero hardening off. I just planted them outside on a warm day and they all did splendidly. Last year I did some hardening off but quite honestly it didn't seem to make a difference.<br />
<br />
This was the year of XTREME hardening off.<br />
<br />
I accidentally started my tomatoes almost a month late, at the end of April. Once the seedlings were about 2 weeks old and the sun was getting too high in the sky to really provide much light into my kitchen window, I decided to do an experiment. I put them in a mini-greenhouse (basically just a metal frame with a clear tarp overtop), inside which pretty much all of the plants got scorched and a few completely burned to a crisp. Okay, 2 down.<br />
<br />
Within about a week it got too hot to even have a greenhouse at all so I just started leaving them outside 24/7. It wasn't freezing anymore and even if it got a bit too cold, this was going to be the tomato year for survival of the fittest.<br />
<br />
Nobody froze thankfully, however they did all blow out into the yard during a particularly windy day and another couple of plants were lost.<br />
<br />
After I potted them into their grownup homes, it rained HARD for pretty much a solid week and ended with a magnificent hailstorm. I sat in my living room, helpless, as they got pummeled. After the storm I went outside and discovered that while they were all quite mangled, nobody had died. And a week later, those mangled plants had developed ridiculously thick, strong stems and branches, at least tripling in size.<br />
<br />
I was discussing my accidental method of hardening off with a plant scientist friend, who confirmed the hardening off myth: "I have always figured if they aren't tough enough to handle the elements, I don't want them anyway." <br />
<br />
So there you go, Saskatchewan home gardeners. My XTREME hardening experiment of 2013 has appeared to be very successful. Don't be afraid to throw those babies outside in a thunderstorm; it'll only make them stronger.<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-43170737357115659882013-07-11T14:38:00.000-06:002013-07-11T14:38:03.858-06:00Quiet People<br />
I love quiet people. I am a quiet person and I can tell you from experience that quiet people are often misjudged. I think I even misjudged quiet people including myself until I read <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0307352145/ref=rdr_ext_tmb">Quiet</a> (which I will say<a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2012/04/some-things-that-are-going-on-in-my.html"> once again</a> was life changing and should be required reading for all humans) but it turns out that quiet people are the best.<br />
<br />
Quiet people are not necessarily shy, they just don't feel the need to talk all the time. Because think about it, most of the people you know who are loud really only need to say about 1/3 of the stuff they say (if that). The rest is fluff, and sometimes fluff can get annoying. Nothing drives me crazier than being in a meeting with a person who keeps reiterating the same point over and over and over and wasting my time.<br />
<br />
What can you say to annoy and insult a quiet person? "Why don't you TALK MORE?" Please. Would it be socially acceptable for me to say to you "Do you EVER shut up?" Listen up, loud people: quiet people will talk when we feel it's important to do so. Otherwise, we don't feel the need to contribute to the fluff. We just want to get this meeting over with so we can get back to work. We're not dumb, we just don't have any questions at this current time. If one comes to us we'll ask you later, because asking in front of this group of 30 people would be a waste of time when it doesn't pertain to everyone here in the first place.<br />
<br />
I'm always mildly insulted when someone comments how surprised they were that I "spoke up." "But you're so quiet!" they say incredulously. PEOPLE. Quiet people are not doormats! Let me say one more time, we just don't feel like talking all the time and the amount of talking a person does has absolutely zero correlation to their intelligence, assertiveness, or courage to speak their mind.<br />
<br />
I think my favourite thing about quiet people is our ability to shut down an obnoxious situation without saying a word. I've witnessed many a loud person annoyingly trying to get a rise out of a quiet person who barely responds, at which point the loud person sees that the situation is futile and backs off, embarrassed. This past week some annoying loud dude I'd never met before came into my office asking for help with something, while trying to flirt with me and tease me. Over the course of 3 minutes he called me a "f*ckin' liar" and "extremely unhelpful" among other things to try and get a rise out of me, but I just ignored all of his comments, acted like nothing weird was happening, and as he left he sheepishly said "I was just joking, you were very helpful, thank you."<br />
<br />
Before fully accepting and embracing my quietness (and even in my daydreams now) I wanted to be the girl who was super quick on her feet and could come up with an immediate snide comeback to obnoxious jerks like the one described above. And even telling people this and similar stories, they always suggest things I could have said, because doesn't not responding mean I was okay with the situation? No. Wrong. My not responding made the situation super awkward and made the guy feel like a jerk, which was exactly the outcome I wanted. I didn't achieve it through a snappy comeback, but I still achieved it. And I guarantee he'll never try it again.<br />
<br />
Maybe there is such a thing as "too quiet" but I bet most of the people you think are too quiet actually aren't. Stop and appreciate the quiet people in your life. Watch them work their quiet magic on all the loud assholes who try to walk all over them or get a rise out of them. Be glad that they aren't wasting your time talking just to hear their own voice. Don't be surprised when they express their opinion, expect it. And please, please never again ask a quiet person "Why are you so QUIET?" <br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-46529986509365330922013-06-15T19:11:00.002-06:002013-06-15T19:11:31.288-06:00Working on my car<br />
Me: So I have a new great idea. I am going to start calling getting gas in my car "doing work on my car". Then people will think I'm so cool because I know how to work on cars.<br />
<br />
Megan: But what if they ask you to elaborate?<br />
<br />
Me: Then I'll say "just some routine maintenance, topped up some fluids."<br />
<br />
Megan: And if they ask what fluids?<br />
<br />
Me: Then I will say "gasoline" and they will realize how funny I am.<br />
<br />
Megan: You're right, this is truly a win-win situation. Either people are impressed that you know about cars, or end up thinking you're funny.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
YOU GUYS I am so funny. I can't believe that I have not been approached to write a comedy pilot or something by now.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-3277320478771832182013-06-06T12:41:00.000-06:002013-06-06T12:41:00.096-06:00Math Degree<br />
I have a math degree. I'm not really sure why as it doesn't do me much good but I took so many math classes and so many extra electives in university on my way to my engineering degree that I just turned the rest into a math degree for some extra street cred.<br />
<br />
Here is really the only useful part of having a math degree:<br />
<br /><i>(Set the scene: Me buying tickets for food and drinks.)</i><br />
<br />
Me: I will take 6 tickets please.<br />
Seller: Okay, so at $2 each that's uh... uh... I'm so braindead today...<br />
Me: 12 bucks.<br />
<i>(I hand him a 20 dollar bill.)</i><br />
Seller: Okay so I owe you uh... hmm... sorry, so out of it...<br />
Me: 8 bucks.<br />
Seller: I'm so sorry, I don't know what's with me today.<br />
Me: Don't feel bad, I have a math degree.<br />
<br />
Granted, these little exchanges would me more hilarious if the other person realized I was making a joke. But I'll take what I can get. Thanks math degree!<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-75349571004416893152013-06-03T07:00:00.000-06:002013-06-03T07:00:03.644-06:00Transformers 3 Review: Let's Get This Over With<br />
It has been nearly a year since I watched Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, but because I have blogged reviews of the <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2012/02/transformers-movie-club-discussion.html">first</a> <a href="http://robyntheblogedition.blogspot.ca/2012/05/transformers-2-bumblebee-goes-to.html">two</a> Transformers movies I need to finish this off. Let it be known that my review of Transformers 2 is my second most popular blog post of all time, however the reason it is so popular is that people are looking for that picture of Megan Fox having sex with a motorcycle.<br />
<br />
Here is something funny about Transformers 3: I couldn't remember the plot, because I watched it a year ago. That is not the funny part though. The funny part is that I looked up the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_3">plot on Wikipedia</a> right now and got so bored/confused reading it that I am actually worse off for plot memory than I was before I tried to read the plot summary. OOPS that's what you get for trying to do research on a Michael Bay movie I guess!<br />
<br />
So let's get this over with. I don't really know much about the plot of this movie but let's just dive in.<br />
<br />
Here is one thing I do know about this movie though: the moon landing was actually a mission to have a look at some Decepticons and/or Transformers (I don't remember and/or care) that landed there. They landed on the dark SIDE of the moon. OMG, I just remembered the worst/best thing about this movie. The TITLE is supposed to be "Dark Side of the Moon", not "Dark of the Moon", but likely due to the fact that Dark Side of the Moon is already a thing, they couldn't use it, so they just removed the word "Side" from the title and figured everyone would catch on.<br />
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But "Dark of the Moon" does NOT have the same meaning of "Dark Side of the Moon." Not even close. The space robots were on the dark side of the moon. Not the dark of the moon. That doesn't make sense! It doesn't.<br />
<br />
<i>"Michael Bay! The final edits for the movie are due in 5 minutes and it turns out we are getting sued by Pink Floyd for using Dark Side of the Moon as a title! They said you are the worst and don't want to be associated in any way with this movie!" </i><br />
<br />
<i>"OOPS LOL just take the one word out I guess, too late to change the dialogue so any of it makes sense! My bad you guys! Shia, as always, excellent job of acting, this script really lets your talent shine. I am just blown away that my 14 year old nephew wrote something this good in only half an hour!"</i><br />
<br />
Okay so there were transformers on the moon, and then I think they brought them back to Earth, and then there were lots of robot fights. That is the gist of the plot, and that's all I'm going to say about the plot because it was so boring. Let's instead delve into some character studies.<br />
<br />
While I applaud this movie for not being nearly as horrifically sexist as Transformers 2, Shia LeBleaghusf still somehow keeps getting these hot girlfriends who don't understand what appropriate attire is for various emergency situations. Such as his new Australian girlfriend (I think? Or was she British? I can't remember but probably Australian since there was a hot blonde Australian in the first movie too and Michael Bay doesn't seem to know that there are more than 3 types of women) who thinks that when you are running away from giant space robots that you should wear stiletto heels. Like, I am totes cool with it if you want to wear stiletto heels through life; that is your choice and while I would personally not make that choice myself, power to you. However I just would like to say that it is a universally bad idea to wear stilettos if you are trying to run away from giant space robots.<br />
<br />
Here are some alternate options for if you are trying to run away from giant space robots, but find yourself wearing stiletto heels:<br />
<ul>
<li>Take them off and run in your bare feet</li>
<ul>
<li>Carry the heels with you</li>
<li>Throw the heels away so they don't burden you</li>
</ul>
<li>There are not really any other smart options. You should take them off so you don't roll an ankle while you are running, or get the heel caught in a crack on the sidewalk.</li>
</ul>
Let's see, what else happened in this movie. OH YEAH the other best part: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Dempsey">PATRICK DEMPSEY</a> was the villain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA oh Patrick Dempsey. Taking a break from Made of Honor, Valentine's Day, and Gray's Anatomy to mix it up a little.<br />
<br />
I am pretty sure Patrick Dempsey was like "YES, this is totally going to be my BREAKOUT ROLE into action! No one will ever typecast me as a dreamy doctor again after my brilliant turn as an evil villain in the masterpiece that is Transformers 3: Dark Side of the Moon! What's that, Michael Bay? We're removing 'side' from the title?" <br />
<br />
Another interesting character development is that Shia LeBeaoghfsifh is a giant loser in this movie (more so than the first two I mean). He can't find a job and he really sucks at job interviews (he should probably have gone to a career counselor to pick up some interview tips) and he's all "Barack Obama gave me a medal of honour and all I do is whine about it! Give me a job please because I have a car who is actually a space robot! I will settle for nothing less than CEO!" Ladies, we all know that if we met a guy like this we would run away and never look back. According to the <strike>story</strike> "story" this is what Megan Fox's character (does anyone know her name? I think we all know the answer to that question) did. And yet somehow he has managed to enter into a serious relationship with a gorgeous, rich, successful art dealer (I think?) Australian woman who for some reason is living with him and paying his bills while he sits around in his pyjamas yammering about his medal of honour and not getting jobs. But as evidenced by her emergency footwear choices, I guess we know how smart she really was in the end.<br />
<br />
Well, that's about all I can remember about this terrible movie. I also believe that it was over 3 hours long and we had to watch it on two different days because it got too late at night and too boring to watch in one sitting. If this review seemed unstructured and all over the place, it's because that's what the movie was like too. Watching it was like "Okay robots are fighting again, what else is new, why is that girl wearing stilettos, OMG PATRICK DEMPSEY IS A BAD GUY HAHAHAHAHA" and that is why my review was similar.<br />
<br />
Longtime readers, I hope you have enjoyed my trilogy of Transformers reviews. Now let us never speak of these terrible movies again.<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-74673395097282400182013-05-31T07:00:00.000-06:002013-05-31T07:00:00.630-06:00How's married life? <br />
Me: People keep asking me "How's married life?" and it's always awkward because I'm like "Good? Nice?" I don't know what they want me to say. It's such a weird question!<br />
<br />
Brahm meanwhile had just taken all the dishes that I put in the dishwasher out and was putting them back in in a more orderly fashion.<br />
<br />
Brahm: Next time you get asked that you can tell them that your husband thinks you are physically incapable of loading a dishwasher.<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-72831304865011618782013-05-30T13:17:00.001-06:002013-05-30T13:17:49.651-06:00The best thing we saw in Hawaii<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yeah. Someone did this.Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-36497338841351267282013-05-19T17:37:00.000-06:002013-05-19T17:37:31.789-06:00A Sad Question/The BS+V Miracle<br />
So I was in the Walmart cleaning products aisle a couple weeks ago and a very confused looking guy in his mid-to-late twenties approached me.<br />
<br />
"Excuse me, can I ask you a question? ... How do you clean a bathroom?"<br />
<br />
Ummm what? I was super confused.<br />
<br />
"Like... what kinds of things should I buy to clean it? What should I use for scrubbing?" He held up some sponges and a couple of bottles of Mr. Clean-like products.<br />
<br />
"Uh, I don't know, looks like you're on the right track, is this for soap scum or what?"<br />
<br />
"Yeah the thing is I've kind of left it a really long time and it's pretty bad..."<br />
<br />
I told him to look for Magic Erasers (which he'd never heard of - DUDE, do you not watch TV at ALL? Oh wait, they only advertise cleaning products during "girl" shows like Real Housewives. THANK YOU sexism in marketing, you are the reason this young man is asking me such absurd questions) and went on my merry way.<br />
<br />
Two thoughts on this:<br />
<br />
1. Why has a man who is approximately my age never cleaned a bathroom??? Has someone always cleaned up after him OR more gross, has he lived in the same place since he moved out of his parents' house and never cleaned it and by "pretty bad" he means <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Clean_Is_Your_House%3F">How Clean Is Your House</a> bad?<br />
<br />
2. A week or two later I realized the secret to easily cleaning soap scum from a shower/tub which I now wish I could have imparted on this lost little puppy: baking soda and vinegar. Before we moved out of our gross apartment I wanted to find a way to clean the oven without having to buy respiratory protection/oven cleaner and a quick Google search<a href="http://www.yumuniverse.com/2011/01/24/make-your-own-inexpensive-toxin-free-natural-oven-cleaner/"> told me that I could basically just use baking soda and vinegar.</a> I wish I had before and after pictures because it worked AMAZINGLY well. I figured if it worked on oven gunk it would likely work on simple soap scum (and I'd had experience soaking shower floors in vinegar to remove that awful dead skin/soap scum mixture that is the worst thing to clean in the world). I made a baking soda and vinegar paste, painted it on the shower walls, waited for it to dry, and then everything wiped off like you see in commercials.<br />
<br />
So the moral of the story: PARENTS, please make sure you teach your kids how to clean things before they move out. Also, baking soda and vinegar are literally the only cleaning products you need. Stop wasting money on toxic garbage that doesn't even work in the first place and go spend 5 bucks (total) on a giant jug of vinegar and box of baking soda. <br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-16249240136330481822013-05-08T11:08:00.003-06:002013-05-08T11:08:55.588-06:00Update list<br />
I have said many times, it is hard to know what to write about when you haven't written in a while, and don't have any major announcements to make. So maybe for today, since I'm trying to get back into writing on this thing, I'll make a list of some small updates of good things going on that normally I'd probably write a whole post about but it's hard when you aren't in the blogging habit.<br />
<br />
1. Macarons - I'm getting good at them but having a bit of trouble with hollow shells. The shell isn't supposed to collapse, yet it does for every kind I make except hazelnut. I have figured out everything else - the browning problem was due to the pan I was using and the bubbles and cracking I think were due to my batter-making technique, which is pretty solid now. I don't have to babysit the bubbles for 10 minutes anymore - maybe 1 or 2. I'm not sure if the hollows are due to the freshness of the nuts or something else but that's my last thing to figure out. <br />
<br />
A couple excellent things I was able to do so far though - make near perfect (except for browning one time, hollow another) macarons with unaged, egg whites from a carton. And that don't need to be rested before going into the oven. These are the two main things bakers apparently hate about making macarons and it turns out with the right recipe they are not important! Stella's recipe is awesome.<br />
<br />
2. KING BED - we did a bedroom makeover a couple months after moving into our new house and finally got a king bed, which is sure welcome. Because Brahm is a larger than average man, a queen doesn't cut it for him and another person, even a smaller than average woman like me. It is AWESOME. Also, we did our entire bedroom makeover (including bedding) for under $2500. That's less than the price of most bedroom sets alone! Thank you IKEA furniture and Costco mattress! Speaking of which, we really took a gamble on ordering a Novaform memory foam mattress from Costco without ever even touching it, but it worked out! On the downside of everything, it is now hard to get up in the morning because I just want to keep sleeping in this great bed.<br />
<br />
3. Greenhouse - a few months ago at Home Depot I saw a small greenhouse (about 4-5 feet tall) for 30 bucks. I bought it and set it up this weekend to give my tomatoes a better start in life. I waited too long this year to start them so they were just tiny little things growing in front of the kitchen window, but they seemed to do well in there outside. Last night it froze but they survived. I have a couple of dark containers of water in the greenhouse with them which supposedly keeps it relatively warm in there overnight. Though, one day it got too hot and killed one of the smaller plants... oops. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately this year won't be a good one for much gardening because we don't have a yard yet - we have to wait for our builder to do final grade and build our garage before we can do any landscaping, so I'm just going to do some containers this year. I'm hoping they at least do final grade soon so I have a place to put the containers though, since I don't want to set too many things up if I'm just going to have to move everything when they need to move the dirt around. Hopefully soon, as the weather is finally warming up.<br />
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4. Downton Abbey - this is the best show. Are you watching it? If not, get on that please. You can buy all the seasons on eBay for 40 bucks.<br />
<br />
5. Hawaii - the first vacation where I was actually really sad to go home. Even if I've had a super fun time on a trip, I'm usually a bit excited to go home and get back to normal, or not be so busy, etc. But I could have stayed in Hawaii for a long time. I totally understand why people go there and then move there. I loved it. We ate so much fresh fish and fruit. I want to go back already.<br />
<br />
Okay that's the end for today. Summer is a hard time to blog but I'll keep trying.<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-76728468591868165202013-04-22T15:23:00.001-06:002013-04-22T15:23:40.449-06:00Macarons! Update!<br />
Eight mini-batches later, I think I sort of know how to make macarons! Macarons that LOOK like macarons, I mean! I don't think I have the exact temperature and time down yet but there are a lot of things I know now that I didn't know a few weeks ago when I first attempted "the divas of the pastry world." Most of my attempts, other than the first try, happened in the last week. Some things I learned:<br />
<br />
Our oven is either a) running a bit hot or b) not at the correct temperature when it dings to say it's preheated. After a couple days of oven experiments with various thermometers, my gut tells me it's probably about 15 degrees hot but also definitely needs to preheat for about 15-20 minutes past when it dings. Otherwise at that point the temperature is still climbing.<br />
<br />
Proper meringue consistency - definitely dry-looking and super-stiff. The first try I did nail this, the next few I started second-guessing myself and being worried about over-beating. I know what it looks like now.<br />
<br />
Why every batch kept tearing open instead of rising and growing feet - likely this was a combination of a few things (oven too hot, runny meringue) but the biggest breakthrough here occurred when I realized that the larger bubbles in the batter needed about 10 minutes to come out. Prior to this discovery I was just following other recipes that said to rap the pan sharply a couple times after piping and you were good to go. It could be the fact that I'm making such small batches and therefore mixing the batter much less than you would for a full-sized batter that makes it not possible to get most of the air out during mixing, but whatever it is, I need to sit with the tray for 5-10 minutes and drop it hard on the kitchen table every minute or so until the bubbles aren't coming anymore. After figuring this one out, I had two almost completely crack-free batches! WITH FEET!<br />
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I also started using the <a href="http://wildserendipityfoods.blogspot.ca/2012/10/macarons.html">Wild Serendipity Foods recipe</a> instead of <a href="http://bravetart.com/recipes/Macarons">Bravetart's</a>, figuring my best chance at success was trying a recipe that someone is having success with in my own city. It has given me better success however I plan to try the Bravetart recipe again soon to check if the problems with it were just my technical mistakes. One thing I like about Michelle's recipe is that you mix half the dry ingredients in with the wet first, and then add the rest of the dry. This seems to allow me to get everything mixed together better, but again I'll have to give the less-tedious Bravetart recipe another go eventually.<br />
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One interesting tidbit - my first batch was made with hazelnuts and so was my last batch. By far, my best batch was my last, but of course it should be. However the hazelnuts seem to make for a bit thicker of a batter and overall a bit easier to work with. And, more delicious than almonds. I imagine the thickness of the batter/higher rising is due to the higher fat content of hazelnuts. Personally they may become my nut of choice for macarons, though I will have to try out a few more varieties.<br />
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Stuff I still need to learn - the exact cooking time and temperature to use so I don't dry them out. I'm still a bit terrified of underbaking them (the dreaded hollow shells) and today's two batches looked amazing but were totally dry after cooling and also browned considerably. You don't want browning and they should apparently still be a bit chewy after cooling - but this is easily remedied by filling them with icing or jam and allowing them to absorb that moisture overnight.<br />
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I'll end this post with a couple of pictures of today's successes:<br />
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Finally - feet! (Almond above)<br />
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Even bigger feet! Hazelnut.<br />
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And the best part - no hollow shell! This one was a bit cracked, and you can tell it's quite dry from all the browning but it set properly and looked like a macaron so I'm declaring today a major victory!<br />
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<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4854406702717130163.post-60404682046604157562013-04-04T14:11:00.000-06:002013-04-04T14:11:03.949-06:00Macarons<br />
Okay okay... it's been like, forever. I apologize and also hope that some people are still subscribed to this/still check it every so often to see if I've made any new posts. I promise I am making a comeback. Things were really busy for a while and then I just got out of blogging and had a hard time getting back into it, but I'm going to try harder this time.<br />
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Anyway what better way to make my comeback than macarons?<br />
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If you don't know what macarons are, do a Google image search. You will likely come up with lots of GORGEOUS pictures, like this one (source: chantelguertin.com):<br />
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Truly, macarons are one of the most photographed pastries. They are also one of the most feared pastries, according to what the internet tells me. Only attempted by the most accomplished of bakers and even then, often resulting in failure.<br />
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After hearing about how difficult they were to make I kind of decided against ever trying them, but after eating a lot of them from <a href="http://www.wildserendipity.com/index.html">Wild Serendipity Foods</a> at the Saskatoon Farmers' Market and starting to really love these little almond-meringue confections, I started wondering if they might be possible. Then a couple weeks ago I stumbled across<a href="http://bravetart.com/blog/MacaronMyths"> this post from Stella of Bravetart</a>, linked from my favourite food blog <a href="http://thekitchn.com/">The Kitchn</a>. This led me to Stella's <a href="http://bravetart.com/blog/EatMacarons">other posts</a> <a href="http://bravetart.com/blog/TheTenCommandments">about macarons</a> and the comments of her posts where once-afraid readers attempted macarons using <a href="http://bravetart.com/recipes/Macarons">her recipe</a> to (eventual) great success.<br />
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So then I was like, "I HAVE TO DO THIS."<br />
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Honestly, I don't really know what happened but I have never been hit with a baking obsession like this before. I basically started feeling like I wouldn't be satisfied with my life until I had a) tried and eventually b) mastered making macarons. Being at work and unable to make macarons, I scoured blog posts of amateur bakers' failed attempts, trying to figure out what went wrong for them. They clearly had mixed too much, or didn't measure properly, or didn't bake long enough. I could totally do this.<br />
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We're going to Hawaii on Saturday (!!!) but today, after getting up early, cleaning the bathrooms, and doing pretty much all the laundry in our house, I decided I needed to make a small batch. Just an attempt.<br />
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I used the Bravetart recipe, subbing hazelnuts for almonds because Stella says any kind of nuts work. I weighed out one egg white in a bowl (and yes, I made Brahm go buy me a kitchen scale while I was at work so I could be ready to make my first batch of macarons whenever the urge hit) and scaled Stella's recipe based on 31 g of egg whites (it worked out to about 1/5 of her recipe). I don't have a stand mixer so I used the whisk attachment on my new <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Breville-BSB510XL-BREBSB510XL-Immersion-Blender/dp/B004RF7QJW/ref=pd_cp_k_2">Breville immersion blender</a> for the meringue (which did take about 10 minutes), and then the food processor attachment on the Breville to make the hazelnut flour. PS I LOVE this Breville thing and I haven't even used it for the reason I bought it yet (pureeing soups).<br />
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Following Stella's recipe, I mixed the macaronage to what seemed like the right consistency. Then I used a Ziploc (perhaps committing one of the cardinal sins of macarons, but I didn't want to run to the store) to pipe 13 rounds onto a Silpat. The last couple rounds definitely got "re-mixed" in the "piping bag" as I squeezed out the last bit of batter so I was expecting them to be the worst ones. Turns out they were the only ones that even started developing a hint of the "feet" that are so important to proper macarons - next time, I know I need to mix more.<br />
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Below: before baking. The few at the front of the picture were the least-mixed, and were the ones that started to grow feet a bit by the end. But were also slightly undercooked.<br />
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<span style="color: black;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9GfudrCbQrupGhyHyxs0P1ilXijsRRbQnEdCxvW-_oVM4B_XYU72X1D5GJlrF3NeBfuqwQYPBhj-Ev6zPj_AuWp5RPV6LDYxSSs1H1b5iuq1gAL6ixWRgH-La2-GGMx3gFOG2dcKIOY/s1600/20130404_112446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9GfudrCbQrupGhyHyxs0P1ilXijsRRbQnEdCxvW-_oVM4B_XYU72X1D5GJlrF3NeBfuqwQYPBhj-Ev6zPj_AuWp5RPV6LDYxSSs1H1b5iuq1gAL6ixWRgH-La2-GGMx3gFOG2dcKIOY/s1600/20130404_112446.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje9GfudrCbQrupGhyHyxs0P1ilXijsRRbQnEdCxvW-_oVM4B_XYU72X1D5GJlrF3NeBfuqwQYPBhj-Ev6zPj_AuWp5RPV6LDYxSSs1H1b5iuq1gAL6ixWRgH-La2-GGMx3gFOG2dcKIOY/s640/20130404_112446.jpg" width="640" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzo4_gPLHm5Pdo0LXC7qnlljQMGD0-G7ShVApB6XP-AlVro56t66fckZxYquNxgR_UdP4sEwRpknYgssisa1o7Nuz83rnmprTn4sonywJC2sUojYitzAsg33cbyTzytgRhPfonuzW4WE/s1600/20130404_120011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzo4_gPLHm5Pdo0LXC7qnlljQMGD0-G7ShVApB6XP-AlVro56t66fckZxYquNxgR_UdP4sEwRpknYgssisa1o7Nuz83rnmprTn4sonywJC2sUojYitzAsg33cbyTzytgRhPfonuzW4WE/s640/20130404_120011.jpg" width="640" /></a></span><span style="color: black;">See? The makings of tiny feet..</span></div>
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After baking... all cracked. Sorry for the bad phone picture. I should have dug out the SLR for more detailed photos.</div>
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The final product - hazelnut-vanilla macarons with Nutella filling.</div>
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My oven was running hot, but it was also seeming to have trouble going down, according to the temperature probe I had in it. So I tossed them in anyway and 7 minutes later they all had lovely cracks running through their surfaces - apparently a sure sign of a too-hot oven. So then I turned the oven down the amount that it seemed to be running hot, which then made it too cold... anyway. I need to calibrate this oven before my next attempt.<br />
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BUT! They still sort of turned out. They didn't get super flat like the ones I saw on some blogs and a couple of the ones that got the most mixing had the makings of feet. I didn't turn the pan which is recommended, and I noticed the row at the front of the oven was slightly undercooked, but the middle row seemed to be cooked perfect. And they taste amazing so really, who cares? <br />
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I think my first attempt at making macarons was a success, even though they turned out less-than-perfect. I figured out a few things I need to change for next time (oven temperature consistency, mix more, turn the pan, pipe from a real piping bag). My plan is to continue making tiny one-egg batches until I get my technique down. And I currently have 6 little French pastries in my fridge that, while they may not look much like macarons, most importantly TASTE like macarons.<br />
<br />Robynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01985743088112140136noreply@blogger.com0