There is a difference, people.

I had a conversation with someone today about a certain FoodNetwork Canada TV show. The person I spoke with quickly said, "Oh, that doesn't interest me at all" and proceeded to talk about something completely different. This was after about twenty minutes of me listening to this person's gripes and grievances. I was just excited about this show and thought it was interesting. Nope. Shut down!

If it's okay for someone to talk about things that matter to them, entertain them, frustrate them, sadden them, make them happy, then why can't other people express these same things? Is it not fair for a listener to be able to speak as well? Don't other people's thoughts, opinions, and concerns matter?

Why bother even having a conversation with someone, if all you are going to do is have a monologue?

I asked Hubby today what he thought I should do. It's always the same thing. I just listen, listen, listen while this person talks, talks, talks and criticizes everyone. It's actually really depressing. When this person said, "How awful is it that so-and-so is behaving so badly?" or "So-and-so has been rumoured to be having an affair".

I. Don't. Care.

It's none of my business. I don't even know said person. I almost wanted to say, "Oh, that doesn't interest me at all". I didn't of course. Perhaps I should have.

The worst part is, some people don't seem to have a social filter. There's a difference between being honest and being rude.

Maybe it's just me, but the world would be a much happier place if people just learned how to talk to each other. Nicely. Politely. Courteously.

"Ewww! GROSS! That fancy dancy international $h!t you cook all the time just sounds weird to me. Your poor husband. I don't know how your husband eats that stuff. Don't you do steak and potatoes or something normal?" can easily be rephrased as "I haven't been introduced to international food and am actually quite hesitant to try it. Good for your husband for trying it".

Now, wouldn't that be a lot easier and kinder? Why bother spreading negativity? I don't see how it benefits anyone.

  The Holiday Season is my favourite time of the year. It's the one time in the year that I get to spend with my family and friends that live out of town. It's always been such a special time to celebrate and share with loved ones. Now, with a child of my own, the Holidays have even greater importance to me. 


Knowing how busy and chaotic the Holidays can often be with preparations for big family dinners, decorating, and planning gatherings, Hallmark Canada wants to remind and encourage people to "Press Pause" and take some time to enjoy and appreciate all the special moments this year.
I'm excited to say that as a member of the Hallmark Canada #PressPausePanel, I was given the opportunity to share some exciting Holiday products with my readers!


 The Make-A-Wish Products 
The Make-A-Wish bear is Little One's favourite item. The bear is soft and cuddly, and you can record a special message for a special loved one. I sang a snippet of Robert Munsch's "Love You Forever" for Little One and recorded it. This way, if she ever misses me (if she's at her grandparents' house or if she's not with me), she can just press the button and hear my voice.

The best part about the Make-A-Wish products is that by giving them as gifts to friends and family, you give back and spread the joy.  By purchasing Make-A-Wish selected products, Hallmark will donate 25% of sales to help make children's wishes come true all year round.
Recordable Storybooks
A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of my all time favourite stories. Each year at Christmas, I watch the cartoon. It's a Holiday ritual I have and hope to continue with my Little One. Now, I can start a new tradition by reading the book to her. The recordable storybook is fantastic for making memories last.

Titles include: Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and more! I am thinking of getting one for my parents to read and record for my nephew and twin nieces in Kingston. They live 10 hours from us, and we spend every other Christmas with them. Hearing Lola and Grampy's voices will help bridge the distance since we can't be together every year.
Christmas Ornaments
Hallmark has lots of great tree ornaments as well. I think Hubby will love this Wayne Gretzky ornament. He doesn't know yet, but this is going in his Christmas stocking!

 Rockin' Talkin' Santa or Elf Hats & the Merry-Okee Christmas Karaoke Microphone
Growing up, Christmas was a time of festivity in our family. Our aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, grandparents would get together and sing, laugh, eat, give, and be merry. Singing Christmas carols by the piano, partaking in some karaoke fun, and just being goofy has been a tradition in our family.

This is why the Hallmark Rockin' Santa hat and the Merry-Okee Christmas karaoke microphone are perfect for some festive fun! It changes your voice while you're singing. Haven't you always wanted to know what you'd sound like with an elf's voice?

Interactive Storybooks and Cuddle Buddies
Cuddle Buddies are also a cute gift for children. Jingle the Husky Pup barks, whimpers and sings when he hears the magic words read from the storybook that accompanies him. My three year old loves the interactive storybooks and Cuddle Buddies.

Of course, what are the Holidays without special greeting cards for your loved ones?

Hallmark has built its reputation on years of offering customers high quality products for all occasions. People seem to gravitate towards the Hallmark cards when they're at the store looking for the perfect card. Birthday, Easter, Graduation, Wedding, New Baby, Anniversary, Get Well, Sympathy, Christmas, Hanukkah, and every other occasion, Hallmark has you covered.

Take the time to "Press Pause" and enjoy some special time with your loved ones this Holiday season! Check out the Hallmark website here. Join in on the fun by checking them out on Facebook and Twitter too!


Disclosure - As a Hallmark Canada #PressPausePanel member, I received the above products to write about.

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, "What ever happened to that really good friend I had when I was a kid?" Where is she now? What's she doing? I wonder if she still lives in the same neighbourhood we grew up in or did she leave the city?

How about, "I wonder what ever happened to that ex-boyfriend I had way back when I was a naive, foolish young adult?"

These things don't often cross my mind. Life is too busy to think about things like that. I have to admit that every once in a while, when a particular song comes on the radio when I'm driving or a certain movie is on TV, sometimes I think of people from my past.

I wonder why we do that? Should we even care? What do you think?

Do you have someone in your life that you think is a hero?

Nominate your hero today for a chance to WIN: a Toshiba Prize Pack for your nominee, and a Toshiba Tablet for yourself.




There isn't much time left to nominate your hero! Head over to the Toshiba Canada Facebook page and be a Holiday Hero today! 
**Nominations end November 28th, 2011! (Open to residents of Canada only)**

Check out the Toshiba Canada website and join in on all the Toshiba fun on Twitter and Facebook.

"Mama, what are you doin'? Are you rollin' the dough for meeeeee?"

"Yes, I am. We're making cookies for you to decorate for our friends and family."

"Wow, Mama! You're strong!"

I was trying to get the dough just perfect, when Little One noticed my arms were tired from all the mixing and rolling I was doing. Yes. We made a lot of cookies! Somewhere in the neighbourhood of eight dozen cookies! Yes, I am an insane Mama!

"Oh, Mama! You're strugglin'!"

She makes me laugh.

I am so in love with my sweet little girl. Even when she doesn't listen to me and when she yells "Stranger Danger! Stranger Danger! Don't touch me!" in a busy supermarket parking lot when I try to get her in the van. *sigh* She is so lucky she's cute. Just sayin'!

to have one's ducks in a row

1. (idiomatic) To be organized; to have one's affairs in order; specifically, to have a multi-person effort coordinated towards the exact same goal.
   

   Wouldn't it be nice to have our ducks in a row and not have to search for the papers every time we needed them? (from Wiktionary.org) 

   

The day is almost done, and I haven't had a chance to get my National Blog Posting Month post up yet. Things have been busy! I've been doing this and this!  It's all very exciting!  

Like the "Ducks in a Row" photo? Courtesy of Little One. When I said, "Mommy really needs to get her ducks in a row", Little One lined up her rubber duckies and dragged me to the bathroom.

"Get your ducks in a row like this, Mama?"

Wow. Kids are so smart. It's amazing how they absorb the world and happenings around them and are able to form their own understanding of things. 

I still can't get over the fact that she tells me things like, "Mommy, I have an idea. I have a HY-PO-POSIS", "I yuuuuv Quinoa salad!" or "I'd like to have goat cheese on my hamgurber". In between running around like a chicken with my head cut off and trying to do everything (and never getting everything done), I manage to find moments of clarity where I catch glimpses of the magic that is childhood. It is brilliant seeing my Little One making connections and formulating her own ideas and opinions. Being three years old is awesome.

She really amazes me each and every day.

By now, many of you must know how addicted I am to FoodNetwork Canada and to the new reality TV cooking show, Recipe to Riches. What I enjoy about the show is that they've brought food that many people might not be familiar with and introduced it to the general public in the form of President's Choice products. Even for those recipes that did not win, the whole nation has been introduced to them on the show. Bannock Hazelnut Pie, Pouding au Chomeur, Salt Fish & Ackee Pie, Stuffed Olives, Mini Tourtieres all illustrate what a culturally diverse country we live in.

Canada is a multicultural country and I'm so impressed that food from different cultures are represented on Recipe to Riches.

I  have been looking forward to the Frozen Treats episode. Always curious about what kind of intriguing recipes the judges will choose, I was really looking forward to the three recipes.

I am happy to see that Rosy Soobrattee's Kulfi Karma won in the Frozen Treats episode. I was even  happier because that was the recipe I got to make as a FoodNetwork TV's Recipe to Riches food blogger. I love, love, love, kulfi!
Two things worried me though. Remember last time when I had to go on a hazelnut hunt for Melaney Gleeson-Lyall's Bannock Hazelnut Pie? I went on a mad search for hazelnuts for that recipe, but I found them after driving two and a half hours to Sudbury and two and a  half hours back to the Island. Rosy's kulfi recipe called for rosewater and cardamom. I searched my pantry, and found the cardamom (which I use for making Chai tea). Rosewater? Where would I find that?

The funny thing is that I did have rosewater from another recipe I made a while ago. Funny. No hazelnuts in the pantry, but rosewater?

The second thing that worried me was that the last time I made kulfi, I ended up making kulfi soup! When a recipe calls for a certain amount of freezing time, abide by the recipe's instructions! Not enough freezing time will leave your kulfi (ice cream or whatever frozen treat you're making) a soupy mess! FOLLOW the instructions! Don't be impatient like I am. Last time, I thought I could take out the frozen treat earlier. It tasted really delicious, but it was not aesthetically pleasing.

The first thing I did when reproducing Rosy's winning kulfi recipe was assembled all my ingredients. Here are some of the ingredients:
 Evaporated milk, condensed milk, whipping cream, cardamom, rosewater, pistachios, and instant dissolving sugar. I had to run out and get more whipping cream. I didn't realize that the store only had the small carton.

I then lined a glass baking dish with plastic wrap.

 I poured the mixture into the plastic lined baking dish and stuck it in the freezer for 6 hrs. I actually tried to be patient and I left it in the freezer overnight for even better results.

 I shelled and finely chopped the pistachios for garnish.

 Et voila! The finished product!
I was very curious as to what Rosy's Kulfi Karma would taste like. Growing up in multicultural Montreal and then spending my adult life in Toronto, I was surrounded by delicious dishes from all corners of the world. This said, rosewater-infused treats and anything with cardamom or even cloves seemed too strong for my liking. I was eager to see how this recipe fared.

Rosy's kulfi recipe was not as complicated as I thought it would be. The ingredients "rosewater" and "cardamom" kind of scared my husband, but when he sampled the finished product, he was in awe. He said that the contrast in flavours with the sweet, creamy ice cream type dessert and the hint of rosewater and cardamom, combined with the extra boost in flavour from the pistachios made this one of his new favourite frozen treats.

 I  have to agree. I love the delicate flavours and the texture of the dessert. The hint of rosewater and cardamom lend to the exotic feel of the treat. I  have to admit that though I love nuts (I love pistachios!), I am a purist when it comes to nuts in my desserts. Not a fan. However, the pistachios in this recipe are the perfect accoutrement. The crunch and the slightly salty nutty flavour go perfectly with the smooth, creamy frozen treat.

 It's so delicious that I could have kulfi every day of the week if I could. I won't though! If I could I would!

I even brought some over to share with others for after we watched the Frozen Treats episode of Recipe to Riches! That's how I con people into watching the show with me :) I make them watch it with me and then I reproduce the winning recipe!

I'm looking forward to buying Rosy's President's Choice kulfi at the supermarket this weekend! I'm interested in seeing how it compares to her original recipe!



Congratulations to Rosy Soobrattee for her winning recipe! For the complete recipe, please visit Recipe to Riches on Food Network Canada and click on Creamy Kulfi.

Next week on #RtoR is #Entrees! Then Canada it's time for you to vote! You choose who will win $250,000 - the largest prize in Canadian history! How exciting is that?!?

Recipe to Riches airs on Wednesdays at 9 pm on Food Network, and Saturdays at 8pm on Global TV. Find them on Facebook and on Twitter to join in on the fun! 
 

How is it possible that we are only a few weeks from Christmas?

It seems one minute, I was anxiously awaiting the time Little One would be speaking in sentences, using the potty (hooray for the end of diapers!), and being her own little person. Well, that time has come and now she's three years old!  The year just flew by and though I've been "here", I feel like I haven't really experienced all of it. Does that make sense?

The days, weeks, and months have been so busy. Now my tiny preemie has become a little lady.

Time.




It's definitely something I need to soak in and appreciate more.

I'm not sure if my husband finds my idiosyncrasies mildly entertaining and amusing or downright crazy.

He has learned in the past six years of our marriage that I hate it when things are missing or are not in their proper place. Now, with a 3 year old at home, things seem to go missing more often than not these days. I purposefully only let Little One play with puzzles with me so I can keep track of all the pieces. I have to count all the pieces when putting them away so I know that no pieces are missing. It drives me crazy when Hubby and Little One just put things away willy nilly or haphazardly.

Being the type of person who needs to have things in their proper place and living with people who don't seem bothered by a little chaos is a little bit stressful difficult.

Missing marker caps, misplaced Melissa & Doug play food, and just any missing toy piece...It drives me crazy!

Me: [Insert Little One's real name here]! Where are all the covers for your markers?!?! Wait. Where are your markers?! You're missing some!"

Little One: (Quiet)

This is what I found in the living room.

I was venting about how all of this stresses me out and how I feel it makes my workload just that much more. That, plus when Little One "helps" with laundry, she takes all my clean, folded, and ready to put away laundry and throws them everywhere. She thinks it's fun and loves watching it rain clothes. "Look, Mommy! It's raining underwear!!!"

My mother-in-law told me the other day, "So what if there's laundry on the floor? Just pick it up later. It's not hurting anything. And, be thankful she is able to throw clothing and make a mess."

I suppose she is right.

I was recently selected as a Toshiba Brand Ambassador.  ShesConnected has partnered up with Toshiba Canada to help spread the word about the new Toshiba Tablet and 3D televisions. My mission was to visit a local retailer and check out either the Toshiba Tablet or the Toshiba Passive 3D TL515 Series.

Thanks to ShesConnected and Toshiba Canada! To facilitate my "mission", I was given a Toshiba Camileo camcorder to take videos and stills of our excursion. The Camileo is a really impressive camcorder. It's so tiny and slim...it can fit in your pocket! It's perfect for its high-res still images, high-def movie recording, face detect, and a whole slew of other neat features! Mine came in a vibrant yellow colour!

I went to Walmart and FutureShop in Sudbury, Ontario with my Camileo in hand to check out the Toshiba 3D HDTV.  I had Hubby and Little One with me for this exciting excursion. The salespeople I chatted with were great. They were knowledgeable about the products and took the time to answer all my questions.

This *was* going to be my first attempt at a vlog. I got a bit nervous, my hair wasn't cooperative, I hate the way I sound on video, and I had a toddler who was trying to stuff a ShesConnected Chicken Farmers of Canada chicken down my shirt in the video. I still have the video. It's actually kind of funny, but I decided last minute to just scrap the whole vlog this time and just write a blog post. Sorry! Maybe next time!


Neither the Sudbury Walmart nor the FutureShop had the 3D TV available, so I couldn't check out the features of the TV. I just went on what the product experts told me.

Interesting things I learned about the Toshiba 3D TV:
Derek, the product expert, said that "Quite a few customers think that 3D is just a fad and that it won't stick around for very long. I think that 3D is here to stay and with TVs like Toshiba's 3D TV, people will realize how much it will enhance their viewing experience." He said he thinks 3D is here to stay and that it will eventually become a standard part of every TV package.

A neat feature I learned about is that the Toshiba 3D TV has Digital Noise Reduction. Hubby is more interested in the tech stuff than I am. I just like a TV that looks good, has great viewing/imaging, some cool features, and fits our budget. Hubby will tell you how exciting it is that the Toshiba 3D TV has AutoView, ColorMaster 3D, Color Temperator, etc. Basically, all these features included in the Toshiba TV technology make viewing experience improved. They make for higher quality images, superior contrast and image detail, etc.

I learn something new everyday!

What I also liked was that with Toshiba's 2D to 3D technology, we can watch regular movies in 3D too.  Shhhh...Don't tell anyone, but I also like a bit of gaming every now and then. This would be ideal for gaming!
Since I felt badly that I didn't get to complete my mission (with the 3D TV not being in stock at both locations I went to), I did get to ask questions about the Tablet. Sudbury FutureShop had the Tablet available.

What I learned about the Tablet:
The great thing is that the Tablet is powered by Android Honeycomb 3.1 and is easily customizable. It's great for viewing HD videos (so thankful for this, since it keeps my toddler busy for a few moments every now and then). It's also great for listening to music, surfing the web, and best of all, doing all my social media "stuff". It's perfect for all the social media things I love to do (like write blog posts like this ShesConnected/Toshiba Canada Ambassador Program, then Tweet and Facebook it)!

One of the most interesting things I learned about the Tablet is that it has an easily replaceable battery. It has a removable and rechargeable Lithium battery.
I love the double camera (front and rear) and large screen surface. I would highly recommend the Tablet to friends and family. In fact, I'm thinking of getting Hubby one for Christmas. He was going to get me one for my birthday, but I won my Tablet at the ShesConnected Twitter party a few weeks ago! I'm thinking His & Hers Toshiba Tablets would be great for Christmas! Well, especially since Hubby hogs my Tablet now anyway!

I absolutely love my Tablet. It's so "handy". When I'm in the kitchen and need to look up a recipe, I can quickly check online recipe sites on my Tablet. Just the other day, Hubby needed an aerial view of our property and was able to get a great image online when he took the Tablet with him. He is continually more and more amazed by the things he can accomplish with the Tablet in hand. He said it's great for GPS coordinates on the farm, conversions, looking up information quickly...Ha! A farmer with a Tablet! 

I'd like to learn more about the Toshiba 3D HDTV since I didn't get to see one in person. The product experts told me what they knew of the product, but I would have liked to actually see it. We're in the market for a new TV, so this is the perfect opportunity to do some research and get to know the product more. Our "good" TV (a wedding present from my bridal party 6 years ago) just *died*. We are in need of a new TV and I'm hoping it will be the Toshiba 3D TV! From what the product experts at the store told us, Hubby seems more inclined to getting one now.

Thank you to ShesConnected and Toshiba Canada for giving me the opportunity to do some "field research" on products we would have looked into for our Holiday gift giving. Hubby *may* get his own Tablet and hopefully we'll get a new TV for Christmas!

For more information on the Toshiba Tablet and/or the Toshiba TL515 3D HDTV, visit the Toshiba Canada website or Toshiba Canada on Facebook and Twitter! Toshiba Canada is having their Holiday Heroes campaign on Facebook right now. Check it out and nominate your Holiday Hero!

Disclosure - I am participating in the Toshiba Brand Ambassador Program by ShesConnected.  I received a Toshiba Camileo in exchange for my participation in this campaign.  All the opinions on this blog are my own.