unsweetened.ca

links for 2008-04-26

• Contacting Toronto 08 - Lex on the Schedule
  Check out my photos on the subway screens Saturday May 24th - with Françoise Cockburn - and Saturday May 31st (the set that won 3rd place!!!) with Christos Tsirbas

  Watch the screens all month because they'll be filled with GREAT photography

  
  
  (tags: ttc contact toronto photography show tv alexaclark)
  
  

The Smell of Hot Pavement

The smell of hot pavement makes me crave a new skipping rope.  A brand new, pink plastic, skipping rope.  I can feel myself stretching it, my right foot holding it on the ground while I pull up as hard as I can on both handles.

I can feel myself swinging and skipping and tripping and looking around to see if anyone notices. Hoping no one did.  Stopping to stretch the rope a little if there was anyone watching, as if the 1/4 inch give was what caught up my feet and not my winter of unused skipping muscles.  Stretch, stretch.

Then starting all over again.  Back and forth. Forth and back. skip, stumble, skip, skip, stumble, stretch, stretch, skip, skip, stumble.  Until I can skip the whole block without getting out of rhythm.

All sensation triggered by the smell of hot pavement.

Dad says that for him the smell triggers memories of new lacrosse sticks.

Where are you transported when you smell the sun on the pavement?

photo - lili skipping - thanks to: phitar

Technorati Tags: smell, spring, skipping rope, childhood, pink skipping rope, lacrosse, memory, scent memory, play

links for 2008-04-20

• SpringWidgets : Widget Gallery - RSS Reader Widget - News Feeds, Blogs, Profiles Widgets
  (tags: rss springwidget tools blogs blogging)

Today is Cupcake Day

In an attempt to embrace the "freedom" that is entrepreneurship and get me away from my computer at least once every two weeks, Plethora Press has instituted a Second Friday policy.  That means that, starting today,  I will be taking every second Friday off throughout the summer.

Switch up -- Originally uploaded by jslander.

In celebration of my first Second Friday, I have deemed today "Cupcake Day".

Why Cupcake Day? 

Those of you who know me, know I'm not a huge desert person, give me a bag of doritos or a bottle of gin any day. However, over the last 2 months cupcakes have been creeping into my consciousness:

• First were the cooking magazines with cupcakes on the covers of two of our food magazines. 
• Then my cousin emailed me asking for my favourite cupcake recipe (I don't have one because I generally don't do cupcakes).
• The very next day I get a spamail telling me that Martha will be making Cupcakes on her show ALL WEEK. So I tune in mid-day just to see if I can get some tips for my cousin.  There she is, Martha making cupcakes with the author of a cupcake book... and the next day she's at it again with another cupcake maker.

Cupcakes, cupcakes everywhere, and not a one to eat!

The worst part is that every time I think of cupcakes I think of The Cupcake Shoppe (yes, shoppe) at Yonge & Eglinton where they do they most beautiful displays of cupcakes in the window. Sometimes with 3-dimensional flowers and butterflies and... (oh dear, my girliness is showing)

Suffice it to say they put food porn in their window. In Their WINDOW!   And I have never tried them because I have never, ever, ever, found the justification to fork over $13 for 6 cupcakes. 

However, today is the day.  Cupcake Day.

Cybelle and I are heading up to The Cupcake Shoppe.  We're going to buy a 6-pack, head to a park somewhere and eat cupcakes in the sunshine.  With a little photographing too of course.

Happy Cupcake Day every body!

 

Toronto Cupcake Articles:

• Sarah Hood's Great Toronto Cupcake Hunt
• Chowhound's best cupcakes in toronto?
• Barry Hertz's Cupcakes - The next generation
• A Vehicle for Brown Sugar's Cupcake Challenge: Yonge and Eglinton
• Bed and Breakfast Toronto's Cupcakes in Toronto!
• Thoughts and Distractions's Cup Cake Quest - Toronto?

Hell, New York even has a Cupcake Finder

links for 2008-04-17

• davefleet.com » 6 Ways To Make Life Easier With Del.icio.us
• Free Pinhole Cameras - print your own - really!
  (tags: photography pinholecamera camera diy howto)
• The Best DIY Spots In Toronto
  Love these BlogTO summaries of cool stuff to do and great places to do it. Thanks guys!
  (tags: blogto diy toronto howto)

New Setting

New Setting -- Originally uploaded by LexnGer

Yesterday, before the kitchen mishap, I found both the stemless wine glasses and the place settings I have spent the last year looking for.

We now have 8 settings of lovely, chip free, matching settings that I won't twitch if someone plunks on the table a little too hard. (Our other matching place settings are Russell Wright and worth something like $35 a plate).

And the stemless wine glasses... yay! I love these things and they were a bonus find when I was picking up the plates. I know they aren't leading edge glassware design any more. But I don't care. I love them and finally found a set that has an acceptable shape, thin enough lip, heavy enough heft and a price point so I won't care if someone drops one off the balcony.

And if someone reading this thinks to themselves "Hey, those are exactly like our plates" You couldn't be further from the truth, yours are rounded-square plate and ours are rounded diamonds.

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You Should See The Other Guys

You Should See The Other Guys -- Originally uploaded by LexnGer

I seem to have become a menace in the kitchen. Mainly to myself.

For Valentine's Day, I exploded a Pyrex pan out from under our beautiful Prime Rib and found myself standing on oven-hot shards of glass.
In March, I branded my hand with mom's convection oven.
And last night I had an ill fated run in with a mandolin which brought new meaning to the phrase "get your fingers out of the mango salad"

Luckily the last two incidents didn't leave any lasting marks on anyone else, and except for last night I was able to get everyone fed.

I really do know what I'm doing in the kitchen, honest I do. And I know even the professionals have cuts, burns and scars, but I don't have enough body parts to keep this up for the entire year.

I guess it's just another sign that it's time to get out of the kitchen and into the restaurants to get the next edition of CheapEats Toronto rolling.

And perhaps to sign up for a first aid class.

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Things I Will Never Tell You

Things I Will Never Tell You -- Originally uploaded by LexnGer

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Kind of heartbreaking to read this in the bathroom.
There was no list included.

links for 2008-04-15

• Essential Cookbooks
  Squidoo lens I build on the Essential Cookbooks for your kitchen.
  (tags: squidoo cookbooks cooking books howto recommendations reference food)
• Ultimate Collection of Free SEO Tools
  you know, just in case.
  (tags: seo blogging blog website promotion marketing tools)

links for 2008-04-11

• YouTube - New Media Douchebags Explained
  This is just tooo funny. And since I'm not hatin' I can't be a New Media Douchebag, can I?
  (tags: newmedia video youtube onedegree twitter)
• We Need Social Media Interpreters, not more Evangelists
  A funny and pointed post on why we need more interpreters of the benefits of Social Media. (Not just because it points to the New Media Douchebags video... but that's almost reason enough)
  (tags: newmedia blogging socialmedia)
• Best Tattoo I've seen in a long while
  Not that I'm looking to get a tattoo or would be willing to tag myself with a language specific tattoo either... but funny! (thanks to @adelemcalear )
  (tags: tattoo html coding blogging tagging)