A multi-media meme
I don’t usually participate in memes that make the rounds on facebook and blogs, but a couple people have tagged me for this album cover meme and I couldn’t resist the chance to practice some random creativity.
Here’s the deal:
Create your own RANDOM Band and Album cover!
1 – Go to “wikipedia.” Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2 – Go to “Random quotations” or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4 – Use photoshop or similar to put it all together (I used Gimp).
5 – If you’re using Facebook, post your result with this text in the “caption” and TAG the friends you want to join in. If you’re not using facebookm do whatever the heck you want to tag people!
I’m going to tag some folks via Facebook, but if anyone else feels like posting this to their blog please meme away!
Recipe: Mexican Meatball Soup
Since I’m no longer a student I have lots of free time in the evenings to spend cooking up yummy dishes.
I’ve decided to start sharing some recipes here on my blog, both for my readers’ enjoyment and for my own personal reference. Now I’ll no longer have to flip through a cookbook or search my email recipe folder to find my favourites!
Here’s one of my rainy day favourites: Mexican meatball soup. Mmmm!
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 3/4 cups chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 small bay leaves
5 14 1/2-ounce cans beef broth
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup chunky tomato salsa (medium-hot)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 pound bulk pork sausage
6 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup whole milk
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup long-grain white rice
Preparation
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add 1 3/4 cups onions, 2 garlic cloves and bay leaves; sauté 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes with juices, salsa and 1/4 cup cilantro; bring to boil. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine ground beef, pork sausage, cornmeal, whole milk, egg, salt, pepper, cumin, then remaining 1 cup onions, 2 garlic cloves and 1/4 cup cilantro in medium bowl. Mix well. Shape meat mixture by generous tablespoonfuls into 1- to 1 1/4-inch balls. Add rice and meatballs to soup and bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice and meatballs are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls and serve.
Notes
- Fresh salsa works best for this recipe (I usually make my own), but if you don’t have any you can use the jarred stuff from the grocery store
- Feel free to add in extra cilantro – I usually use an entire bunch for this recipe
- If the soup gets too thick just add water to thin it out
Living green on Valentine’s Day (and every other day of the year)
Raul is having a contest and asking entrants to talk about how they are “greening” their Valentine’s Day. Dan and I don’t have any special plans for this Saturday and will probably have a quiet dinner at home, however if we do go anywhere I can guarantee we’ll be taking public transit. And if I win Raul’s contest – a snowshoeing evening on Cypress – we’ll be taking transit there too, since we don’t own a car.
We try to live relatively green all year round. We both walk or take transit pretty much everywhere, and I also cycle quite a bit. We bring reusable bags to the grocery store. And now that we both have real jobs we can afford to start paying more attention to whether those groceries are local and/or organic.
Sadly, I draw the line at composting in our one bedroom apartment! The city of Halifax has been doing “green bin” collection for years and I can’t believe Vancouver doesn’t offer the service yet.
Target: Women
I’m not usually big on funny internet video memes, but a couple month ago I discovered the excellent series of Target: Women videos by Sarah Haskins and I have become a huge fan! Her videos shed a hilarious light on the ridiculous methods televisino advertisers use to target female viewers.
The latest video about chocolate (just in time for Valentine’s Day!) is great, but my personal favourite is the yogurt edition:
Airing my dirty laundry
Now that I’m in the corporate world I have dry cleaning that needs to be done on a semi-regular basis. A couple months ago I went looking for reviews and rates for dry cleaners in my neighbourhood (Vancouver’s West End) and came up empty handed. It turns out the web presence of most local dry cleaning establishments is pretty nonexistent.
In the end I took a leap of faith and decided to try Denman Cleantec because it was the second closest location to my apartment, and the closest location’s rates were astronomical. I’ve had two batches of dry cleaning done there now and am very pleased with the results, price, and service. The first time I went in they pointed out a small tear in the seam of a dress I was dropping off and offered to fix it for free. Their rate for hemming ($12) also seems to be one of the best in the city.
Denman Cleantec
1075 Denman Street, Vancouver
Monday to Friday 7:30am-6:30pm
Saturday 8:00am-6:00pm
Closed Sundays & Holidays
Anyhow, I highly recommend Denman Cleantec to my fellow Vancouverites for all their dry cleaning and minor alteration needs. Hopefully this little review will come in handy to future web searchers. Hmmm… perhaps I can barter some free dry cleaning service in exchange for building the place a website.
links for 2008-12-05
Back from hiatus
I figure if I can find the time to help friends launch/update/customize their blogs this week, I should be able to find time to update my own blog!
Where did all the time go? When I last posted here I was in the midst of a job hunt, and now I’m happy to report I’ve been employed as a User Experience Architect for two whole months! I’m working for a great little consulting company in downtown Vancouver and am thoroughly enjoying the “real world” and all of the 8-hour work days, email-less evenings and paycheques that come along with it.
One consequence of having distinctly separate work and play times is that when I’ve been working at a computer all day (and I don’t have to worry about checking my work email into the evening! woo hoo!) I am less likely to want to come home and check my personal email, read RSS feeds, etc. While I certainly haven’t stopped reading blogs or email over the past two months, I have enjoyed leading a slightly more “unplugged” life. However, I think the time has come to plug back into the matrix, so look for more here soon.
links for 2008-09-27
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Some handy little software tools to help you accomplish the little stuff like taking stretch breaks and drinking enough water.
links for 2008-09-25
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The folks at Ask Metafilter offer their advice on must-have Sephora products.
Come run with us on Wednesdays!
Our first weekly Vancouver running meetup last week was a success so we’re making it a regular thing.
This week we’re meeting up at 6pm near City Square. I’ve created a permanent page for our group with details on the run. It’ll be updated weekly.