Je ne sais pas!

I’M BACK!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by admin

…and better than ever…? Well, I’m back anyways. It’s been a long two years, working on my Master’s degree. I’ve been focusing on school and my career-related blog/website. But now I’ve started a new venture to keep track of my projects, cooking and baking experiments, and observations: www.WABIchic.ca. Unfortunately, I missed the renewal notice on this domain and I was only able to re-register it today. So, in the meantime I had started WABIchic and I’ve decided that’s where I’m going to blog from now on, so come on over and join me there in my fresh new space and a fresh direction in life

D-

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Winter is Coming Here

Posted on December 30, 2011 by admin

Just a quickie update to catch up. I’ve been fairly productive the last hour. I packed up the Christmas tree and decorations so I can start the new year with some space (still need to do a lot of cleaning!) and so I can get into the cold room and put away the canned goods. Once in awhile, we order our groceries online from Longo’s (www.grocerygateway.com), especially in the winter when it snows and the roads are a bit nasty, and so we take the opportunity to order the heavy, bulky stuff like cans of veggies, fruit, soups, and sauces. So, I was able to refill our little store and now we’re all set for the winter or the next apocalypse (whenever that Camping dude decides it will occur…again) lol. It’s good to be prepared, plus it’s nice to have a back up in case you need to throw something together and you need some sauce or pears or veggies but you don’t have time to run to the store. [Click to enlarge]

I hope these shelves hold

MREs, Mountain House (backpacking freezedried) Meals and random stuff

Well, zat ees all for now

D-

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Vintage Recipes

Posted on December 30, 2011 by admin

I’ve been busy eBaying and Etsy-ing (because what else can I do when I’m sick?) and I’ve won some auctions for a few collections of handwritten recipes, 1 1940s cookbook with handwritten recipes in it, and 1 completely handwritten cookbook from 1914. Yay! I guess some people would put their Christmas gift cards to use buying clothes or going out drinking or something but I (apparently being a little old lady in a former life) go for old recipes and knitting supplies LOL. Yep, I’m pretty hardcore, yo!

The auction I’m most excited about winning is the one for the 1914 handwritten cookbook. It’s written in beautiful cursive ink and labelled with the names of the recipe contributors and their location (in Berkeley, CA; Washington, DC; and Honolulu, HI!). It looks like it was written by the various contributors themselves perhaps, as the handwriting differs. What a cool piece of history to own, and it’s full of recipes like Velvet Cake (who knew it was that old?) and Chocolate Fudge (Mom’s favourite!).

Here are a few sample images from the auction [click to enlarge]:

And here’s a couple pictures of the Household Searchlight Cookbook (1940):

And there are plenty more recipes inside. Finally, I bought a few recipe boxes complete with recipes. Here’s an example of one of them with some interesting recipes:

This one particularly drew my attention because of how neatly it was written and also the recipes look really interesting (this one’s from Arizona, so there are a lot of good Mexican recipes) including a very interesting recipe for “Rock Hudson’s Beef Stroganoff”. I definitely will have to try that one, especially since Mom loves Beef Stroganoff.

Also, my Mom spoke to my Aunt Debbie the other night and found out that she has some of Nanny’s handwritten recipes (YAY! I didn’t know the handwritten ones existed, very exciting!) so my next project (next time they visit) will be to put together a little cookbook with Nanny’s recipes (and perhaps some of Mrs. B’s recipes–Debbie’s mother-in-law who was famous for her pies) and I can make some books for the aunts and cousins. I think that would make some great Christmas gifts for next year (along with pictures of some of the finished products perhaps? Hmm…).

One final thing: I got a super cheap deal on an old-fashioned silver flour sifter with a teal handle (matches my decor lol), which will make sifting flour a breeze:

Well, that’s all for now. Time to put away our grocery delivery (stocked up on canned stuff for the pantry, yay!) and try to get the energy to clean up a little and do laundry (boo!).
TTYL,

D-

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Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2011 by admin

Hello dear readers (if there are any left),

Things have been quite crazy with my first semester of grad school and I’ve been sick as a dog for the past 2 weeks. Unfortunately, now my mother and sister are super-sick too. Ugh, nothing worse than being sick on Christmas. Anyhow, next semester should (hopefully) be a little less crazy, so there should be some more updates coming up. Instead of a full 4-course load, I’m taking 3.5 with the .5 course not starting until March. Hopefully, this means I’ll have some more time for craftiness and cooking.

I was so broke and sick this year that I never had the opportunity to shop for presents for my mother and sister; fortunately, I had some great fabric that I bought back in August, so I was able to whip up 2 pairs of PJs for Mom and 1 pair with a matching scrunchie for Angela. I’ll try to remember to post pictures once they’ve been fitted and hemmed. It’s nice being able to sew and make something from the heart from scratch, and I find those gifts are always more appreciated.

I’ve been running a little “stitch ‘n bitch” at school as there are a lot of knitters/sewers/crocheters in our program and I’m looking forward to continuing this into the new year. The last meeting was a very small wine and cheese social event with no actual stitching, so I’ll have to make up for that next month I’m hoping to learn how to sew on circular needles and to make socks on the double-pointed ones as well. We’ll see how that goes

On the cooking/baking front, I have a new little fun project coming up. I’m trying to start a small collection of handwritten recipes from various estate sales on eBay and etsy. I guess I’m trying to make up for a lack of any tangible family history (no lovingly written out recipes or notes from ancient relatives, unfortunately). My Dad’s parents passed away when he was quite young, so I have zero knowledge of that side of the family and no actual heirlooms or memories of his family. So, I’m going to start my own I’ll also start writing out some of my own favourite recipes, ones that I’ve actually tried and know them to be good. But in the meantime, I’ll try and collect a few mystery recipe card collections from eBay and see how I fare with them (here’s hoping that they’re not full of horrible aspic recipes lol). Maybe I’ll start a new family tradition?

Christmas was pretty low-key because of us all being sick, and our main thing this year was that Mom got a lovely dining room set (finally! A place to sit and eat a proper meal with visitors) in a nice, bright, fresh white sort of modern country traditional (I know, it sounds contradictory) so it will match her existing white furniture. Much better than the old, worn-out 70s heavy oak stuff I think. It’s pretty neat, too, because one of the hinges on the display case actually turns on and off the light by tapping on it. Plus, it’s much smaller than the old set, and again much lighter, so it won’t overpower the space.

My sister was kind enough to get me some knitting row counters and a how to knit DVD and I got a cute knitting needle pouch thingy off etsy in my stocking (it has a funky owl pattern on it), and I got a few small camping things including my main present, a Kelly Kettle which is a kind of hollow kettle used by Irish fisherman to make their tea. It’s a nice small one that does about 2.5 cups so it’s perfect for backpacking and fairly light camping. Hopefully I can get some kids from school to do a camping trip this spring/summer and try it out. Or even if I just go on my own to the provincial park in Bronte, that would be cool with me. There’s even a shuttle bus I can take from downtown Toronto to Algonquin Park if I’m feeling a bit hardcore about it. Baby steps, I know…

Anyway, it was a nice Christmas other than being sick, but I hope I can recover soon so I don’t waste my entire holiday break lying around doing nothing. Plus, it would be nice to clean up a bit and get more organized for the new year. I know, I can dream…

So thanks for coming by, and please stick around and check back. I should have some posts coming in the new year.

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

D-

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Busy is a Good Thing

Posted on October 21, 2011 by admin

Things have been so crazy lately with workshops, assignments, readings, group projects, and a family visit. Oy. But this is a good thing; it’s good to keep busy, I’m the kind of person who needs to be fairly busy or I just don’t function well. I’ve been making a TON of friends (my friend from Victoria called me last night joking that she’s jealous because of all the fun stuff I’ve been up to and all my new FaceBook friends and that I’m supposed to be miserable and missing her LOL).

I have a lot of big projects on the works right now: my academic blog was picked up by our Director of Student Services and shared with other students, I won a free sponsored admission to a digital conference next week put on by the Toronto International Film Festival at the Bell lightbox building, I suggested an article to Grad Life about commuter students and the issues we face and now I’m being interviewed for it, and there is another interesting and privileged position that might be bestowed upon me by the school, but I don’t want to talk about it until it is made official (and I know more about it). Oh, and I’m also organizing a crafty get-together for my fellow grad students (a “stitch and bitch”), for knitters/sewers/crocheters to get together and work on our projects while we vent, gab about school and life, and support each other. It’s really fun and exciting. I might even bake something lol.

In the meantime, there is no rest for the wicked. I have two major projects and one minor one to do this weekend/today, plus I’m going with about 20 students to see Peter and the Wolf put on by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra–they are basically playing live music over the children’s film, which should be really neat.

Over and out

D-

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on October 9, 2011 by admin

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve updated, but honestly I haven’t had any time with school and all. I have a LOT of readings to catch up on this weekend and a few more assignments to work on plus a big federal grant application to pull together.

Anywho, I just ate a yummy Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Mom didn’t feel like cooking and we haven’t had turkey in SOO long, so I decided I’ll make it myself! (Mom, of course, was backseat cooking the whole time). I even ‘perfected’ her much loved savoury sausage stuffing (it’s true, she said so herself) by using some bacon grease instead of butter in the pan. Mmm, bacon. I also used fresh savoury instead of the powdered junk. Of course, no turkey dinner post would be complete without the pictures:

: This is Earle. He (she?) was dee-lish. So moist.

: OMNOMNOM.

: I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I ate the whole thing.

Little miss Zoë was such a pig, she begged the entire time I was making dinner and she got a big turkey dinner with potatoes and carrots and a bit of gravy and a little kibble, and she STILL begged for more. And she literally “oinks” when she begs. Oy. Thankfully, my sister has been taking her for walks once or twice a day, but she’s still a little chubba (the dog, I mean). Seriously, this dog will beg and beg and eat and eat if given the opportunity.

Anyway, I have to get back to my studies. I’ve been busy with assignments, readings, seminars, workshops, etc. I’m also the Academic Affairs Representative for one of my courses (though I haven’t actually had to do anything yet). And a friend of mine is going to be starting a podcast soon and I will hopefully be a part of that, so that’s exciting. I still have a LOT of work to do on my SSHRC application; fortunately, I have one of my references confirmed but it appears my other professor/reference is on leave. If I can’t get a hold of her, and if she doesn’t provide me with a reference for whatever reason, I’m basically going to be SOL on my funding application :-S Fingers crossed.

Alright, gotta run. No time in the life of a Grad student.

D-

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Quickie Check-in

Posted on September 25, 2011 by admin

Hiya Folks,

Sorry for my lack of updates lately (ugh, I’m one of those bloggers now), but such is the life of a Grad student. Things are starting to get a little…um…hectic, shall we say? School is going really well, but of course there is a LOT of work to do now (lots and lots of readings) and blogging for my class assignments (internal blogs) and my own academic blog, and now assignments are already coming due next week (which I have not started yet). And of course, they put the fear of God in us about plagiarism and citing everything correctly to avoid tribunals and lawyers and stuff; yep, they take it very seriously, which of course I know about having done my undergrad but still, the way they drill it into our heads about how serious an even accidental lack of citation makes me quiver in my patent leather wingtips (okay, I’m lying, I don’t have fancy dress shoes).

At the moment, I have 2 big assignments due on October 3rd and 4th. They look simple on paper, but there is a loooot of reading and analysis and documentary-watching and research, etc. to do. And one of those projects requires me creating an excel spreadsheet of a hundred journals and all their basic information and then an analysis of the data. Plus, I’ve got about 200 pages of readings to do and some group work for upcoming assignments in two classes. I’m also the class rep. for one of our tutorial sections (I basically got this position by default, since the prof. handed me the paperwork and left the room and nobody else wanted to do the position lol).

I’m meeting a lot of AWESOME people and networking with my fellow students in class and on Twitter. For some reason, I don’t really feel that nervous about public speaking or participating in class, probably due to the fantastic students in this multi-disciplinary program and the fact that I’m much happier living here in Toronto and therefore more confident in myself. I’ve also been doing a lot of walking–I walk from campus to Union Station every school day, passing the hospital I was born in, which is pretty trippy. Sometimes I’ll just relax at the fancy Second Cup across from the station when I get there, since I usually have time to kill before the next train. It really helps me to destress after classes and get some exercise, so I’m pretty happy about that. Fortunately, I’m finally back to a normal schedule, so I get up early (even on weekends; I got up at 8AM yesterday) and I’m usually asleep by 10 or so (if I manage to stay up ’til 11PM, my eyes start rolling back in my head lol).

I still have to find a job; unfortunately, I didn’t get a call back for any of the workstudy positions, and I think most of them are filled, so it’s going to be a challenge to find a flexible, very part-time job (8-12 hours/week). I’m hoping (praying) that I qualify for UTAPS funding in November, which is a free grant from the UofT and I’m going to be applying for SSHRC funding, which is a major Federal grant ($17,500) and involves a very detailed, very specific application with a personal statement and a sort of research proposal with a full bibliography and references from former professors. So that is really a full-time job in itself, in addition to school and homework. Last year, four people in our department applied for the SSHRC funding and all four got it. Wow. I can only hope that good luck (and diligence) rubs off on me!

I can’t really think of anything else to share right now. Just waiting for my loans to come through so I can pay some of my tuition and be able to actually pay to get to school next month :-/ I forgot how expensive transportation can be for a commuter, and it’s too bad there isn’t some kind of additional help or bursary to help students who commute downtown for school. It is kind of difficult socially, because it means that I can’t really participate in clubs or associations or student council or even pub nights (except very occasionally) because it costs money and takes a lot of time to get around (it basically takes me 2 hours each way, once I factor in waiting for the bus,waiting for and taking the GO, taking the TTC, more walking, etc.). Plus, I really don’t like hanging around the city late at night, especially on a weeknight when I have to get up at 6 or 7AM. :-S But I’ll figure it out, once I get more of a feel for the workload and schedule and things.

Anyway, I’m already wasting valuable study time, so I’ll sign off for now.

TTYL

D-

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I Hate Student Loans Bureaucracy

Posted on September 20, 2011 by admin

I’m really, really, really grumpy today. Just got told that I shouldn’t expect to receive my loan funds until October 7th (should have rec’d them on the 12th). WTH? Even though Canada Student Loans has had my papers since August 30th, they’re just now processing them. Also, BC Student Loans (after telling me I don’t need to do anything else on my end) sends me a paper Confirmation of Enrollment form, received Friday that should’ve been processed last Monday. I called CSL and they told me I can just ignore it, that it was “optional”. Guess what? It’s not. Had my school fax it to them immediately (thank God for my AMAZING administrator) and it was processed yesterday. Just got told by CSL that they’ve received it and will ONLY NOW start processing the paperwork, that it takes a week or so to simply change my status from “in repayment” to “in school” (what the heck? They do that every year and it’s never been an issue) and then up to another week to…I don’t know, let it sit on a desk while they take calls and tell people wrong information that messes up their lives and causes their payments to bounce and not be able to afford to pay for their transportation to get to school, and then another few days after that for the bank to process the deposit.
ARRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!

In other news, school is going great. I’m going to work from home today, since my two scheduled lectures get posted at 4PM so I can stay home and save the money that I don’t have to get to school, thanks to CSL/BCSL. I still need to find a job. I haven’t heard a peep from any of the positions that I applied for, and I know people who have all gotten jobs and have zero experience so I don’t know what that’s all about. Yes, I’m a bit bitter today. But I assure you that I really am enjoying school itself and meeting lots of cool, interesting people. I’m going to be doing a lot of projects soon, including the Wikipedia project and a big annotated bibliography group project, focussing on Children and Youth Librarianship. Woot. I spent the day downtown last weekend, studying at the library and wandering around town. I love going to cute little downtown Oakville. And the library there is gorgeous. Plus, I love sitting at the Lakeside Park and staring out at the lake, it reminds me of the ocean on the West Coast. So lovely.

Promise to update more later in the week, hopefully something more positive :-/

D-

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First Week of School Over

Posted on September 15, 2011 by admin

Things are going really well. My first week of school was a resounding success. Fortunately, all of my professors and all of my fellow students that I’ve met have been really friendly and easy to talk to. I already have a little group of students that met during the orientation. We meet regularly for lunch, etc. and have been nicknamed “The Breakfast Club” just like the movie

I’m still learning what exactly some of my classes are about. And one class has yet to meet (the first class was cancelled). So far, everything seems quite interesting and the work isn’t too overwhelming (so far, *knock on wood*) but I’m a little wary about whether I can handle the fourth class or if I’ll drop it and pick one up in the summer (since in grad school, you pay your tuition annually and there are no extra charges if you take summer classes, which I love). I’m still waiting for my student loan funding, since there has been some “hiccups” due to the recent integration between BC student loans and the feds.

One class that initially frightened me (two of my classes are taught undergrad style, with about 200 students in a lecture hall–rare for grad school, but necessary as we are all in one big cohort and taking our core courses together, basically; fortunately, it does sort of bring everyone in the faculty together and gives us a bit of camaraderie) ended up being really interesting. [Wow, that was quite the run-on parenthetical there]. I’m actually really excited about one of our big projects; we have a special arrangement with Wikipedia, where we will be partnering with them and learning how to make academic contributions to the encyclopedia site and doing some projects based on our work with the site. One of my goals coming into the program was to learn more about wikis and Wikipedia, so I’m really excited that I’ll be able to scratch that off my list right away. I’m really enjoying the mix between theory and practical, applied skills in the program. And how fresh and up-to-date the curriculum seems to be. None of this 1970s textbook and 1980s film nonsense.

Since my “academic” site is going to be more professional and linked to my actual name and résumé (it will eventually be my electronic Information Professional portfolio), I’ve decided not to post it here. I just don’t want it indexed with my fun, silly stuff on this site and vice-versa. But if you know me personally (aka in “real life”), feel free to shoot me off an email and I’ll send you the link.

Okay, got to run. I have some online work to do and then some “relaxing” (whaaat?). Tomorrow is my day off, so I have a LOT of reading and critical responding to do then I think I might try to get out of the house and do it outside or something, if it doesn’t get too cold.
Take Care,

D-

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Grad Student Orientation Day

Posted on September 6, 2011 by admin

Today was a good day but a bit long (tomorrow is going to be a FULL day, however, so we’ll see how long I stay awake lol); it was my grad student orientation day at UofT today, from 2-5 (Okay, I know that doesn’t seem like a long day, but believe me, it was…especially with all the walking and buses, trains, and subways I had to take lol). The orientation session took place at Hart House. Now, hearing the words “Hart House”, I sort of figured it would be some kind of old, rundown house donated to the school, sort of like the daycare at Camosun College or something. No. This…was Hogwart’s. Even one of the grad speakers called it Hogwarts. It was this huge castle building, built around 1919, all stoney and impressive with a big courtyard (“the quad”) in the middle. Amazing. I even took some pictures:

The Hart House Chapel

I was waiting for the sorting hat to tell me which group I belonged to...

Gorgeous quad, complete with requisite sun dial

Now THAT'S making an exit!

I feel like we should be doing vespers on the way out.

The orientation itself was interesting but to be honest, I don’t really know if it was the most effective use of my time, since I had already done a bit of research and didn’t really learn anything new about any of the student services that I didn’t already know, however it was good to hear some perspectives and advice from experienced grad students. After the talk, there were tours of the campus. My tour guide was very nice but the tour groups were WAY too big and I couldn’t barely hear a thing she said, even when I was close to her. It’s just too hard to do with so many people (and all those damn loud frosh noobs lol, although I was a bit jealous that they got cool free tshirts and we didn’t (boo!) and the fact that they all looked about 12 years old was freaky). Anyway, it could have definitely been done better with smaller groups, but it was good to see some of the main buildings on campus, especially since when my sister and I walked around campus, everything seemed so spread out (I guess we took the long way around, meandering through the city). I was happy to see that the Athletic Centre was very close to the library, and unlike UVic’s, there were no extra charges or weird rules or anything.

The pools

The other pool

We also did a tour of my new home: Robart’s Library, aka The Peacock, aka the Fortress of Doom. Seriously, it looks so much like a harsh, futuristic prison that it has stood for one several times in SciFi movies and TV shows. I mean, the name for the style of its architecture is BRUTALISM for cryin’ out loud. It’s also, for some odd and random reason, shaped like a concrete peacock. Yeah, I dunno…but it’s beautiful like an ugly duckling and it’s my new home and it’s a LIBRARY, so I love it dearly like my own disfigured child. (It is pretty spiffy on the inside, though, and it also is the home of the beautiful and drool-worthy Fisher Rare Books Library, not to mention my own faculty in the Bissel building, which forms the peacock’s tuchas (that’s its hiney)).

This belongs in an episode of Doctor Who, for sure.

The Peacock head.

: Apparently, Robarts is WAAAY too sexy for the new college undergrad kids.

: 2nd Floor Foyer

It’s been a weird day. I lost a $50 bill on the bus or GO train That’s what I get for putting it in my pocket instead of my wallet, especially when I actually paused to think about putting it in my wallet instead but didn’t. Oy. Well, I hope whoever found it really needed it and got something useful with it. I walked quite a bit today, too. I decided to forgo the subway trip back to Union because I was mid-way between 2 stations and the CN looked sooo close (until I got near it and realized I had to loop all the way around because I couldn’t actually walk a straight line to get to it) so I got a lot more walking in. I even almost had my first coronary of the school season LOL. Man, I’m out of shape. And I’m sure the Frappucino I treated myself to next to the train station didn’t help, but then I made the mistake of running to catch my train, and hopping on the train in the nick of time, sweating and wheezing only to find there were NO seats (I ended up just sitting on the stairs eventually, since it was an express train with no stops before Clarkson). What a sight I must’ve been. But at least I had my cold, creamy, delicious Frappucino

I finally got home around 7-ish, after all that walking, go train, and taking the bus home (almost getting off waaay too early because I thought I had missed my stop, and being a guy, not wanting to actually ASK anybody if I had) I was exhausted. But I had to make us dinner and prepare lunch for tomorrow, so I whipped up a basic vegetarian stirfry with baked tofu and shitake and portobello mushrooms and all the usual stirfry veggies. I cheated and made white rice instead of brown because it cooks faster. We also each got a small spring roll and 2 small coconut shrimp (all those frozen appies that you bake, from the supermarket) since we had our groceries delivered today. Then after wolfing down dinner (since all I ate today was 1/4 of a soggy train station turkey sandwich, blech), I prepared bentos for Angela and I with the leftovers. I even packed her some little sauces and a green tea bag and some salt and pepper packets and handiwipes, what a nice brother I am <:-)

So, even though it’s not even 10PM, I’m going to be heading to bed soon, especially if I have to wake up at the ungodly hour of 6AM tomorrow. AHHHH. I’mma need all the beauty sleep I can get, people!

That’s all for now, g’night.

D-