Jananas

My friend Sean had mentioned that he used to have this orange hat that he wore all the time (to the point were he was known for it). I had a lull in my knitting project to do list, so I decided to make one for him. One of the Akoha missions suggested by the community is to make someone a handmade gift – done, and done. What made this a particularly awesome mission was that I sent it to Sean c/o the Akoha office. Oh, how that makes me giggle (which says more about my sense of humour).

Given that I can’t post pictures of any of my current knitting projects because they are Christmas presents (and ruining those surprises would make the time & effort that’s done into them null & void), I leave you with a picture of me wearing Sean’s hat.

In our ethics class last year the professor brought up the Martha Stewart case. He asked if anyone in the class liked her and I was the only person to raise my hand. Hate who she is and what she does, but I think she’s built a great business empire and she deserves credit for it. Plus I’ve learned a ton of household tips and tricks over the years that otherwise would have been lost (especially in a culture that reveres the Swiffer as the epitomy of household cleaning). She also has a fantastic fudgy brownie recipe (warning, these are amazingly rich).

fudgy brownie prep

fudgy brownies with toasted coconut & skor bits

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
• 8 ounces semi sweet chocolate, chopped (1 box)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar (I use brown sugar or damiana)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (recipe calls for spooned & leveled)
• 1 cup chopped nuts, coconut, skor bits, etc. (optional)

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 350F, line bottom and sides of 8 inch baking pan with foil, then butter the foil (this helps get these rich, rich brownies out of the pan)
2. place butter and chocolate in a double boiler (or a glass bowl set over, not in, a saucepan of simmering water). stir frequently until almost melted.
3. whisk in sugar and salt until smooth. whisk in eggs. gently fold in flour until just smooth (don’t overstir). fold in optional items, if any. I like using skor bits, because then I get toffee-fudgy brownies (but it also makes them very hard to get out of the foil afterwards).
4. spread batter evening in prepared pan. bake until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out with a few moist crumbs, 45-50 minutes.
5. cool completely in pan (overnight works best). use foil to lift from pan, peel off & cut into squares.

I think we never see Richard Florida because he has spent the last year launching his rap career under the pseudonym “Flo Rida“. I can totally see the resemblance.

Really its that his office is in the MARs building, so we never see him at Rotman. Sadly, I’ve spent so long putting together slides today that the above struck me as funny (or at least up in the ayer enough to be posted!).

I completed my tenth Akoha mission yesterday and am still stoked. To me that’s a good sign. I took my friend Mathew out for coffee (and lunch). We got caught up on our respective worlds and enjoyed the good food and coffee (well, tea in my case) at the Beaver.

I think one of the reasons why I’ve taken so strongly to Akoha is that it fits into my everyday life. For the most part, the missions are things that I do anyway (go for coffee or drinks, send people random presents, knit people things, etc.).  The ones that aren’t a normal part of my life I want to start doing now because I get to level up (so all you compact fluorescent light bulb producers out there rejoice)! It makes it much easier to adopt and play. Moreover, it makes things I used to do be more fun because now I get to write little anecdotes and post pictures afterward. Much like this…

Often we fall into the trap that because Canada and the US are similar, that they are the same. For me the differences are often in the details, as shown by the following story. (Really I was just tired of ranting and wanted to start my morning off on a positive note).

I was down visiting friends in Ohio and was talking about solutions for carsick dogs. One of my parents’ dogs got carsick for the first couple of years of his life. Our family’s solution was to give Bandit Gravol to help him fight the nausea. My friend’s family kept looking at me like I was crazy. Turns out that Gravol is a Canadian-specific brand. So they thought that I was suggesting giving their dog gravel (or small rocks). Errr, yes. We all had a good laugh once we figured out where the misunderstanding stemmed from, but the bigger lesson was that we can’t assume that things are the same.