Trolololololololo!

Well, I have been successful with blogging every week :P

This week's topic, what makes you laugh after a rough day? I'm sick right now and homework is just as evil as ever. What makes me happier is finding weird videos on Youtube, like this one, by Russian Singer Eduard Khil :




This dude is super creeeepy! LOL

So how about you, what makes you smile when you're stressed?

Back to the grind

I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging these past few months. Maybe I'm lazy, or maybe there wasn't anything to write about. Anyhow, I'm back, and hope to post once a week with something inspirational.

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So this weeks topic - "Back to the grind":

September is like a start of another year. However, it's now the middle of November and fall is nearing to a close. What have the past few months been like for you? Tough, stressful, exciting, interesting, awful or awe inspiring? For me it has been all of the above. Interesting as I try new things in school, choir, driving and relationships. Exciting as I've encountered new adventures like driving in a snow storm and meeting a close friend from school face-to-face.

But it also has been tough - physically and emotionally. Class have been tougher than ever this semester, which means as a perfectionist, I have been hard on myself to excel. This has paid off in leaps and bounds, which my grade average in the high 80's and 90's where it usually is. But what has that hard work achieved? Sure, good grades means better post-secondary education in terms of schooling and work ethnic. But it has also taken away time from me. This has brought me to an 'early' new years resolution list:

1. No procrastination
2. Don't over think assignments
3. Practice makes perfect
4. Reward yourself for a job well done
5. Take breaks!
6. Don't focus on one thing too long - your brain might implode
7. Enjoy the fresh air
8. Don't be afraid to spaz dance once in a while
9. Let someone else carry the load for a bit
10. Challenge yourself - take a chance and jump off a cliff (not a real one of course - this is purely a metaphoric example) and who knows, you might fly

So with that, I want to know - how has life been treating you these past few months? What do you think you've learned? Do you have an 'early' new years resolution list? What challenges have you overcome or are going to try?

Have a great week :)

Super Busy

It seems that things on both sides of the world are a little busy :) So now I don't feel so guilty about not cooking anything this week. I will re-start when everyone else does!

And just a quick side note:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SASS! :D I will see you soon!

Week 7 - Summer is heating up everything.. except in my kitchen!

Hehe, looks like I'm not the only one taking a break from their 20/20 project :) The past week has been far too busy for me to try another recipe, so I made a really good summer meal for lunch today: corn on the cob, steak and potatoes. Yah, corn, and it's only the middle of July :) All this rain and heat seems to be working! I'm pretty sure all of you know how to cook these items, so no recipe this week, but here are some pictures...LOL. I'm thinking about doing some Hawaiian Fried Rice for Week 8 so stay tuned!



Here is a re-cap of this weeks events:

• Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays is Lawn Bowling. Yes, I am now part of a sport :) Not the most popular sport for the teens but it's alot of fun! At age 16 I'm the oldest on the Youth Team (most of the players are in Gr.'s 6-7)... but I don't feel out of place. Now that summer has kicked in we play along side the 'adults' aka 'seniors' who are not only hilarious but also pretty feisty! I should be bowling now, but it was threatening to rain and my mom said she didn't want me to get struck by a bolt of lighting... knowing me I probably would!
• Thursday - I GOT MY G1. HAHAHA! Watch out world, I can get behind the wheel of a car... with a licenced adult who has at least 4 years of driving experience and less then a 0.05 blood alcohol level. The written test was fairly easy, you just needed to read the Ontario Driver's Ed Book and do a whole lot of practice tests :) There were 40 questions, 20 on road signs and 20 on rules of the road; I finished in 10 minutes. I got all my sign questions right and only 1 wrong for the rules! So now I can drive around a parking lot with my dad LOL! My actual driving lessons start on July 19th (and I'm Super excited! There are only 2 people in the class so far) :D
• MY BATHROOM IS FINISHED! Finally! and my room is actually clean :)

NASTY blue toilet: replaced with white, low flow toilet!

NASTY Blue sink: replaced with white pedestal sink!

NASTY NASTY NASTY Shower with sticky sliding doors:

Replaced with smaller shower (with a flower on the back) and a pivit door.

My main colours in the bathroom now are lime green, purple, blue and orange :) I'm thinking of putting up an extra flower curtain I found from my old room in the bathroom doorway as well!

Now I'm going to spend the rest of my July reading and sleeping! (yah right!)

Week 6 - Strawberry Sponge Cake :)

I could have posted this recipe on Sunday but the heat I think got to me! Its going to be 44 celcius for a few days :P Nothing like summer in Ontario! LOL SO here is the cake recipe:



You will need:

• A 9x9 pan ( or 8 1/4 by 8 1/4 because apparently there are no 9x9 pans in this day and age...)
• mixing bowl
• electric beater
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup of flower
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/2 of milk
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of salt
  

Step 1: Beat the eggs and gradually add in the sugar. Beat the eggs and sugar together for a few minutes.

Step 2: Add in the dry ingredients and stir them together with a spatula. The mixture will become doughy..

Step 3: Heat up the milk in a pan or microwave for 1-2 minutes. Then add in the butter so it will melt. The mixture should turn yellow at the top..

Step 4: Beat the milk/butter mixture into the rest of the ingredients.

Step 5: Pour mixture into your greased pan and cook in oven for 25-35 minutes at 350 degrees.




Step 6: This cake can be cut into 9 pieces. Serve with strawberries, ice cream and whipping cream :D

The strawberry social was a success! We picked 16 pints of strawberries on Friday morning for $96 and only used about 10! We also managed to make 21 sponge cakes but only used 15 or so! So we had TONS of leftovers much to my mom's pleasure! We also sold some baskets to parishners and along with the money/donations from the social made around $600 dollars! Everyone was really impressed, and I hope you get a chance to try out this recipe! Got to go do another G1 practice test.. I plan to take the written test on Friday! Eeek!

Week 5 - Super Stirfry

So the Stirfry was a success :) Yah :D

You will need:

• Meat (I used 5 filet's of chicken)
• Soy Sauce
• Ginger root
• 3-4 onions
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• Vegetables (I used carrots, celery, bok choy, 2 peppers, 3 crowns of broccoli and a box of peas) ... the broccoli was a substitute for zucchini which my dad doesn't like and it was a really good addition!
• Rice
• A grill, frying pan/wok

Step 1: Grill the chicken. The recipe said I could put the chicken into the stir fry raw but I decided to grill it just to be safe. I cooked it for about 30 min because they were thick. I also cooked the rice in the microwave at this time, to make sure it was ready because I have a tendency to forget to cook it... LOL

Step 2: While the chicken is cooking, chop up your other vegetables (I found carrots in the store that were already sliced!)
Then preheat the frying pan/wok cut up the chicken into small bits (mine apparently were a bit big..)


Step 3: Heat up some oil and then add in the onion and garlic first. Allow them to saute for a bit before adding in the other vegetables and the chicken. When adding in the veggies be sure to leave the ones that need the least amount of cooking (like broccoli and bok choy) to the end. Throughout the process add soy sauce and freshly grated ginger to season.



Step 5: Put a couple of scoops of rice on the bottom of the plate and cover with the stir fry. ENJOY!

Notes that I learned:

• If you are going to put in peas, take the shell off... its easier to eat that way.
• Bok choy shrinks when it gets cooked..
• For some zing add in some Madrin Orange and Sesame Seed salad dressing from Kraft.

Small update:

• I got 91% on my Law exam, 97% on my Law ISU presentation and 99% on my written Law ISU.
• I got 92% on my Media Arts ISU about LADY GAGA :)
• I am going strawberry picking tomorrow :) Saturday I will be making those cakes so check back for an update!
• My mom said she will add streaks of some colour into my hair now that exams are over :) Either honey colour or blue :D Yah :)
• I made some designs for my friend Martine's tattoo, I will post pics on the side bar :)

TTYL!

Week 5.. A normal post

Soo.. this week has been insanely hectic to say the least. So no recipe to share with you as of.. 7:51 Sunday evening. I'm thinking I will do one in the middle of the week now that exams are done, but we shall see. I was going to do a stir-fry with lots of veggies, soy sauce and ginger but my parents weren't to receptive of the idea. However I will not back down, I will succeed! LOL, in the meantime here is a re-cap of this weeks events:

• I'M HAVING MY SHOWER DONNNE! :D It's alllmooost finished. The men have been working on it since... um... Monday I believe and have encountered various problems, which is why its not fully completed yet. I will post pics as soon as I can get to my computer!
• Yah, that's right, I am on my dad's laptop right now because I cannot really get to my computer through the mess in my room and the basement also smells of something that a person should not be breathing in. So I have been living/sleeping upstairs in the spare 'oom for the past week. My dad has generously given up the bed and moved to the couch because I have also been sick! Here is a sentence that sums up pretty much everything to do with my illness (my apologies for TMI or swearing.. but this is a blog and I am blogging my weekly events/feelings): "Constipation is a BITCH". You will be happy to know that I am feeling much better...
• EXAMS ARE FINISHED! Yahh.. Baddooom Chee :D Each exam had it's own 'complications': Media Arts .. my computer kept stalling and I wasn't able to finish the exam before it timed out. I am still steamed because although I do have 98% in the course missing elements in the exam means a lesser grade. The exam accounts for 25% of the overall mark, so if I get 80% on the exam, my overall grade will go down. Oh well, it's totally not my fault .. so maybe I will get bonus marks :) Math exam = epic fail. I left many of the questions blank because I just didn't have enough time to complete them. I can barely do 10 questions in 2 hours, so how can I do 46 questions in 2 hours? I had an epic epiphany about what to do before the exam timed out.. unfortunately that question is only half done. The epiphany went something like this: "I have ... 4 minutes left... hmm... how do I solve this triangle. I found these angles, now I need that one side.. hm... AHhhhA! The Sine LA"... *computer times out* Oh well. I'm not all that disappointed, I knew I was going to do badly and I did better than I hoped. So I'm happy. Fashion exam was pretty easy, I had 3 hours so I took my time and I think I did pretty good. My only distraction was my two teachers Mr. Cantin and Mr. Scott who were jokingly asking me why it was taking me soo long. LOL, good thing that was the easy exam and not the math exam! My Law exam went equally as well, I couldn't remember two of the written answers so I made them up. Not in the sense of "Ponies are pink and clouds are fluffy" kind of making it up I used actually Law terms, just probably not in the correct question :)
• My youth group is having a strawberry social next Sunday :D So I will be posting about how to make Hot Milk Sponge Cake for Week 6 :) I have to bake at least 5 cakes... I phoned my mom saying that we needed to make 15 in total, her response was "HOLLY SHIT"... yah, everyone heard that :D Apparently my mom's a riot.
• I have a summer job :) My elderly neighbour is having me look after his plants this summer for min. wage :) In Ontario that's $10.25 per hour or $10.00 per hour for students :D skill? Indeeeed!

So that's been my week, here are some random observations that I've also acquired:

• I haven't been doing alot of FIFA watching but all the 'goood' teams that were the top picks are .. out. According to my sources (my dad) South Korea, Italy, USA, France, and England among others are gone. Fail. So in light of these events, GO BRAZIL! LOL Also, I've been noticing on the highway almost everyone has mobile World Cup flags. I'm finding its funny to see who is driving the car that's routing for whatever team... there was an old grandma routing for Italy the other day :D
• The MMVA's happened last week and promiscous Miley Cyrus was co-host. I didn't watch it because I was 'studying' but apperently a Canadian show cannot have Canadian co-hosts. There are tons of popular Canadian artists but we need to import the Jo Bro's and Miley from the USA. Well Miley.. was the party in the GTA better than the one in USA? I think it was...
• Speaking of Canadian Artists... I have crossed over to the dark side.. I am listening (right now actually) too.. Justin Bieber. NOOOoooo ... I'm going with the excuse that it's not all JB, Sean Kingston is also in this song. LOL.. very catchy tune. It's about a Ennie Meanie Miny Mo Lover... ? Those are some really indepth lyrics right there for ya.
• It takes 20 days to break a habit, and a week of exams to re-start. I offically have NO fingernails. None.. just ask my mom. They are gone :( I have to START ALL OVER (in the words of Miley Cyrus .. she's everywhere!)
• There has been an earthquake in Canada so I have come up with the formal conclusion that the world is ending. There have been earthquakes in almost every continent in the world.. I'm hoping China has started making some arcs to save us (from the movie 2012 incase you haven't seen it)!
• I am 16 :) So I will be taking my G1 test soon and starting driving lessons on July 19 :D Watch out Lindsay.. (yah right, I'll probably a safer driver than my mom).
• CBS is the most annoying T.V. station ever, they have cancelled my favourite show Three Rivers. They didn't get 'sufficent ratings'.. well that was because you put the show on after FOOTBALL! Dumb people, if the football is delayed then everything is delayed and so the show wouldn't be on till midnight. So they pulled it off the air and are now 'burning' the rest of the episodes, next Sat. is the season finalle.

So, now that I am off school here is my to do list:

• Clean my room and organize it. When I moved I was busy trying to catch up with my 5 courses at school so wherever the stuff landed it .. well landed. My dad has moved some of my stuff around and re-organized for me, now I need to clean stuff out and decorate! I will start as soon as my shower and bathroom are done (hopefully by the end of this week).
• I will be posting pics that I have been putting off because of school. Keep checking to see photos of my 'Fashion Shoot' for my fashion course, 'Picton' and 'Bathroom renovation' as well as videos from the vocal recital :)
• I will also update my book list, I've read more than 10!

Have a good week all :D

Week 4 - Father's Day Soup

So apparently I can't proofread my work! What you are reading is the edited version of this post with proper grammar and spelling :P

I haven't been feeling all that fabulous this weekend, so my recipe isn't spectacular! It's just ordinary homemade vegetable soup.


Step 1: Boil 5 cups of water

Step 2: Take the pot off the stove and add:

• Organic vegetable broth
• 1 package of Lipton Onion soup mix
• Frozen vegetables: I put in onion, celery, beans, carrots, water chestnuts, corn, broccoli, red and green peppers, squash and zucchini.
• A couple handfuls of Minute Rice (to absorb the water)
• Soup Mix (such as dried lentils, beans, peas etc.)

Step 4: Re-boil and then simmer for about an hour and 1/2. Cool a bit and serve!

I made this for my Dad's Fathers day dinner!

Exams are this week (eeek!) so I will be busy until Friday! Then SUMMER :D This Friday I attended my vocal recital.. So after exams I will post video's of the recital plus pictures that I haven't had time to put up from Picton and my fashion shoot. I will be updating more often once school is finished. Wish me luck! I start exams Wed!

Week 3 - Badass Birthday Macaroni Salad

I couldn't find a recipe that I really liked so I made my own on my birthday! I was going to post this Thursday, but I didn't have time inbetween studying math and packing for my trip. I will post my trip photos sooon but I need to sleep!

You will need:

• Max. of 6 cups of macaroni
• Miracle Whip
• Honey Mustard
• Dill Pickle juice
• 2 cans of tuna
• Veggies - onion, celery, radish, peppers

Step 1: Cook the macaroni... don't make more than 6 cups because I cooked around 6 cups and got ALOT of macaroni! I had enough for a big Tupperware container of salad plus lunch of noodles for two days.



Step 2: I had some frozen veggies as well as raw ones. So I zapped the frozen ones and combined them with the chopped raw veggies. There was about 2 cups of mixed/diced veggies when I was done. I then opened the tuna and mashed it up in a seperate bowl.

Step 3: Mix the veggies and tuna into the macaroni along with a bit of butter to make it easier to stir. The macaroni should still be warm so the butter will melt and become slippery.

Step 4: Combine about 1 1/2 cups of Miracle whip with a teaspoon of dill pickle juice and 2 tablespoons of honey mustard. These are not exact measurements, add or take away as much as you like. Mix them all well until you have about 2 cups of a cream colour substance.

Step 5: Mix in the creamy substance into the noodles/tuna/veggie mixture. Add some spice for taste (I used Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper mix)

Chill and serve! TADA! My parents LOVED it, hope you do too!

Week 2 ... Meatloaf with a side of News :D

Sorry it took so long for me to post! Blogger is being a pain in the ass and not letting me do what I want with my post :P So I re-did it. Before I start jotting down the recipe called "My Meatloaf of AWESOME" here is some news:

1. My Birthday is in 4 days :D
2. My parents took me to a German restaurant for my birthday dinner today and I ate all my of dinner... all 5 courses :D
3. I successfully failed at doing situps this week :P However my waist size was 34inches a few months ago, and today it's 32 1/2 (After my 5 course meal).. Skill? I think so!
4. I figure out what FTW means. I thought it was F' the world but it's actually For the Win. So now that's my new favourite phrase.
5. Next week I will either be posting before (as in before Friday) or after Sunday because RN is going on a weekend trip to Prince Edward County :D We are going to do some work shops with schools in the area, help out at the Relay for Life, have a 2 hour concert featuring us and a group called Trinity and play at the Sandbacks (it's a provincial park). Yah! Great way to spend my birthday weekend :D
6. My youth group is having sports night on my Birthday (FTW!) LOL
7. I'm really good at walking in high heels.
8. I really want some sandals but all the sandal out now are flat soled and I can't wear them because I'm flat footed and need arch support :( I'm trying to get sandals for my birthday but special ones are really expensive :P I'll keep you posted about that!
9. I didn't like the length of my hair so I decided to trim it. No, I did not do such a bad job that I needed to shave my head and get a weave ... it's just like it was in Feb. LOL my friend Rachel says that it makes me look flappery and badass ....

My Meatloaf of AWESOME!
What you need:

• 4 pounds of lean ground beef
• 2 chopped onions (not fully diced)
• 2 large cans of stewed tomato's
• 1 small can of Italian style zucchini
• rolled oats
• 1 large container of Mott's Fruitsations Original Apple Sauce
• Lots of large mixing bowls

Step 1: You are going to mix the tomato's and zucchini into one bowl first so you have some liquid to mix in with the meat, oats, onion and applesauce.Most cans of stewed tomato's contain whole tomato's so in the bowl smush them up until they are more of a thin paste. Add in the zucchini and mix thoroughly.

Step 2: Pour a bit of the tomato liquid into a seperate bowl. Add some meat, onions, oats and applesauce and mix together. I used my hands to thoroughly mix everything together. You may be wondering why I'm adding applesauce. Because I'm using lean meat (which means there is less gross animal fat in it), you are losing the liquid content of the meatloaf. So the applesauce adds moisture without watering down the flavour.

Keep adding each ingredient in small amounts until you have everything combined. You should see oats throughout the mixture when your done; the oats soak up any extra liquid. As you can see, I needed another bowl!

Step 3: Start preheating the oven at 375 degrees. Once everything is mixed together, put them into loaf pans. This recipe makes about 6 loafs.

Step 4: Bake at 375 degrees for around an hour... give or take a few minutes depending on your oven.

Step 5: Tada! Serve with your favourite side; I decided on eating boiled potatoes and cucumber along with it for lunch!

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New Video, The Voca People. Apperently these singers from Israel think they are from the planet Voca which is a place were humans communicate to each other through singing. This group looks weird but can really sing :D Enjoy!

Week One! An Average Dinner

Mkay, so I'm taking a break from my Law ISU presentation and doing this post on what I made for dinner on Friday Night :D


What You Will Need:
Pork Chops (I'm using extra thick bone in pork chops in case you want to know and I did not marinate them before hand)
A grill
Stuff for a salad:

• Lettuce (I used a head of iceberg lettuce)
• Celery
  
• Radishes
• Onion
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Dressing
• A Container to store the salad if you don't eat it all
  

Step 1: Preheat the grill; I'm using a George Forman Lean Mean Grilling Machine (that is it's actual name :D) so I set the timer to preheat the grill at 400 for 7 minutes.



Step 2: Wash your hands! Then set the meat onto the grill; I set the timer to cook for 15 minutes.



Step 3: Re-wash your hands and rise the lettuce. I got the head in half for my salad then diced it up.



Step 4: Rinse the celery and radishes (I think they are the dirtiest vegetables you can get from a store!) before you dice them. Add them to the salad being sure to mix them in well (I use my hands to mix them into the salad)



Step 5: The 15 minutes are over; turn your meat around with tongs so it will cook evenly. Because the chops are so thick, the lid of the grill didn't completely close and as you can see some parts of the meat cooked better than others. Re-set the timer to cook for another 10 minutes or so.



Step 6: Peel and dice the onion, part of the cucumber and the tomato (you don't have to peel the tomato!). Mix the onion into the salad but keep the cucumber and tomato separate; you will use those as a 'garnish' on the plate and if you add them to the salad, they will get mushy.



Step 7: Once the meat is cooked to your liking, put the salad, 'garnishes' and meat onto a plate.



TADAAAAA!!! The dinner is ready to be enjoyed with a salad dressing of your choice!!



Just an interesting tip about the George Forman Lean, Mean Grilling Machine, what I love about it is that it gets rid of that NASTY animal fat that you shouldn't be eating and collects it in a lovely drip pan for your inspection. The grill itself can also be removed from the hot pads to be scrubbed thoroughly or popped into the dishwasher.

Hope you enjoyed reading this; it wasn't a super spectacular recipe... it was more of an average dinner at the Bloom house. The major difference is I cooked it! I will embark on more complicated recipes next but I wanted you to get a feel of what is 'normal' in my house :D

P.S. For anyone who likes Lady Gaga as much as I do, check out the GREAT male acapella version above!