Cute cupcakes

I had planned to make a few different baked items yesterday but after checking my inventory, I realized only could make 1 of these projects, a batch of cupcakes.

I went with a simple vanilla cake recipe and used a buttercream frosting as my base. I divided the frosting and made one half into a lemon buttercream by adding lemon extract, a touch of food colouring and some lemon and orange rind. I added some great Smucker's wildberry jam and raspberry syrup to the other half. They turned out pretty well but the syrup made the wildberry frosting too runny so I had to firm it up in the fridge and wasn't able to pipe it.

Going for a test ride

I can't believe I'm posting two days in a row!

I just got home from a fun outing and had to write about it. I signed up for "demo day" with Ducati Toronto and headed out this morning to test ride the Ducati 696 Monster. I've been riding for about 6 years now and seem to be getting more and more into it. Thus far my rides have tended to be older bikes that Alex has modified and fixed up for me. I was considering buying a new bike at the end of the summer as a nice graduation present to myself. We went to the bike show a few months ago and I feel in love with the look of the new model Monster but wasn't sure if I'd like the riding position.

Buying a bike is a weird process where you stare at it, sit on it, perhaps hear it run and make your decision. You don't take it out on a test drive like you do with cars, which is a problem for me since I'm pretty particular in terms of seat height, handlebar position and foot peg position. Alex can usually do mods to rectify things I don't like but if I'm buying a brand new bike I want it to be exactly what I want. There is a lot of variation between bikes (and particularly between styles of bikes i.e., sport, cruiser, touring). Sitting on the bike helps to get a feel for it but it really needs to be in motion where you are using the gears and levers to see if it feels right. And seeing how the bike handles and responds is important. So when the opportunity came to sign up for a demo day, which would allow me to take the bike out on the road, I couldn't pass it up!

The riding course was through the Forks of the Credit just outside of Brampton. It was awesome! Alex goes riding with a group of his friends in this area but I've never been out there. It is IDEAL for motorcycles. Lots of ups and down on hills and curvy stretches of roads. There are some pretty crazy tight curves that give you the opportunity to practicing leaning through curves. And that area is so picturesque. I probably would have enjoyed the outing on any bike but it was particularly exciting and enjoyable on the 696 Monster! I was the only girl there and was with a group of seasoned riders (they were exchanging 'iron butt rally' stories!). These guys were testing out bigger bikes so I was put in the back of the pack but had no problem keeping up. This bike was awesome!

Heading out of the parking lot to start the ride (I'm the one with the pink helmet)


Coming back in (I won't even tell you what speed we were doing down this stretch of open road)


And here a shot of me as I parked the bike. I was very pleased!

May long weekend

I love going to the cottage. There is something so nice about heading out of the city and chilling out beside the water. Since we hadn't been to the cottage yet this summer we were essentially opening up the place. We had to get the water system repaired and going (we actually decided to put in a whole new system rather than fix the old one), rake leaves, mow the lawn and put the dock in the water.


We have a bunch of Trilliums that grow behind our cottages in a wooded area. The Trillium is the national flower of Ontario and it is against the law to pick them. When I was a kid I picked a few and proudly handed them over to my grandmother as a present. She turned around, saw them in my hands and screamed! Not quite the reaction I was looking for. I think she half expected government officials to drop out of the sky and arrest us on the spot. After she calmed down she was able to explain that I wasn't allowed to pick these flowers. Every time I stand beside the cottage looking at these flowers growing under the trees I have to resist the urge to pick them.


Since we were able to get away for an extended long weekend we still had time to relax and go sight-seeing after our work was done. We toured the little towns close by, went to the local cheese factory for some cheese curd and sampled wines at one of the wineries.

Research day 1

I've had a very productive day and am feeling quite self-satisfied. I started working at 8:30 this morning (well, yesterday morning technically) and it is now 1:35. Not bad - 17 hours of work on my first allocated research day! If I keep up this pace I'll definitely have my first draft ready for May 12th.

For some reason I always feel that I can't post a message on my blog without some kind of picture to go along with it. Sooooo...as weird as it may be, I took a few shots of my hard at work. The first shot was taken after I chunked the data and then cut out the different quotes/tidbits from the experiemental group. The next shot is of said data sorted into themes with really rough labels.



I know, I know...it all looks so very sophisticated and scientific! Since that photo was taken I've done the same with the info from experiemental group 2 and the control group (chunked the data and then sorted them into themes). I added a few new themes and a whole bunch more bits of paper.

I think that's pretty good progress for one day. Mind you I did take a few breaks but was able to keep myself on track. I spent some time looking up places to go in Ontario this summer. I'm thinking of going camping in one of the Provincial Parks - Kilarney I think. I also went online to get tickets to Spamalot! I'm pretty excited. I missed the show when it came to Toronto a few years ago. The lineup of Mirvish productions is quite impressive this season. There are about 4 others I want to get tickets for - NOT the best time to be unemployed!

Well, I'm going to call it a night. Tomorrow I will try and collapse some of the themes and come up with good labels. Hopefully by Wednesday I'll be writing my results section.

I'm unemployed

Well I did it. I quit my job to sit at home and write all summer. It seems weird to be unemployed by choice, but I think this is probably the best thing I've ever done for myself. Last week was a tough week for me. It felt like I spent the whole week saying goodbye - saying goodbye to clients (1 year and 10 months of weekly therapy was the longest-term client I said farewell to) and saying goodbye to my colleagues and friends. I know that I will keep in touch with many of those people but it just won't be the same. During my last week I received many lovely cards, gifts (including a Matt & Nat bag!), flowers and was taken out to lunch at a great Thai restaurant. It was a very nice ending. Here's a pic of the flowers on my kitchen counter 4 days later. I think they still look great!

I was able to balance my emotionally draining work-week with fun outings! On Wednesday night my bestest friend in the world came up and we headed out to dinner and then saw Dirty Dancing, which was playing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. I love going to the theatre (and seeing musicals in particular) and I loved Dirty Dancing the movie but I have to confess that I only liked this show. Aside from one great dancer and one amazing singer I wasn't swept off my feet by the production or the performers. Also, as a musical you expect that all or most of the lines will be sung (well, most of the story is usually worked into musical numbers) but in this show most of the lines were spoken and then songs were played and danced to. A few songs were sung by one male and one female singer in particular as they stood on the edge or back of the stage. The main characters didn't sing, which I wasn't expecting. Still it was a fun night out.

On Thursday night after a very long last day of work I hit another theatre, but this time it was to see Opera Atelier's Idomeneo (by Mozart), which was playing at the Elgin Theatre. It was confusing (even with subtitles) but fantastic! During intermission I had a chance to go through the program and read a synopsis of the setting of the story and of act one and two and things made much, much more sense. I was properly prepared for act three, and it was great (and not confusing at all!).

Measha Brueggergosman (who I had just read about in the May edition of Toronto Life) was one of the sopranos and lived up to her reputation. She played Elettra, a woman scorned, for those who are familiar with the story. There was also a male soprano in the cast, very unusual. Most impressive was the tenor, Kresimir Spicer from Croatia. He was absolutely amazing!

I didn't take any pictures at the theatres but here's a shot of the programs.

The weekend entailed sleeping in, doing chores around the house and socializing with my sibs. My brother came by to show off his new wheels (a new Toyota FJ) and I drove to Oshawa to visit my sister and drop off the cool bracelet I got her in Paris. While in town I had a super-quick visit with my younger brother (thanks for the movies Jay) and then drove through a wicked rainstorm back home.

I'm feeling recharged and ready to take on my research. The first draft of my dissertation is due in my advisor's office by the end of day on May 12th. Wish me luck!