Mishmash of tidbits

March 28, 2012 by pearlessence 27 Comments

So many little things I want to talk about – here’s a mishmash of some of my favourite blogging topics all in one post.

1. Art on MS Paint

I’ve been working on my poster presentation, and I prefer having diagrams and images on all of my powerpoint presentations rather than blocks of text. I’ve always hated siting in lecture where the prof reads off slides filled with rows and rows of text. Why bother lecturing? I could just read it on my own – don’t waste my time and put me to sleep.

Here’s one of the diagrams I drew on Microsoft Paint – pixel by pixel. No tablet, no PhotoShop. Time consuming, but oh-so-satisfying, because it is completely personalized for me, by me.

Wow, the resolution is terrible as a jpeg. It looks so much nicer as an original Paint bmp, but WordPress won’t let me upload bmp files 😦

2. Beauty purchases

I finally got to pick up the last few items today for my beauty swap with blissno9! I’m going to be packing it meticulously tonight, and sending it off tomorrow. I’m so excited! I really hope she likes what I’ve put together – I’ve tried my best for variety as well as exclusive Canadian items. Honestly, it is so difficult to keep my budget in mind because there are so many things worth trying! I’ll be waiting for her reviews on a lot of these items, as I’ve never tried them for myself.

I’ve also went a little crazy the past week. Shopping for blissno9 put me in a mood to haul excessively on my own part. I don’t even know if I want to show my haul because it’s so shamefully large LOL. Shopping is a guilty pleasure, indeed.

Haven’t you ever felt immensely satisfied after shopping but have a little nagging voice determined to make you feel just a little bit guilty?

3. Sephora’s VIB event

I think this speaks for itself. I’m hauling – how about you? I never get to catch these when I’m in Toronto – I love that I have the freedom here to go where I want when I want. So I take advantage of every event I can!

4. Self-serve frozen yogurt

I had this for the first time with angelandthings at YoYo’s Yogurt Cafe – choose a frozen yogurt flavour, dispense as much as you want, and top with whatever toppings you like! It costs $0.55 CAD per ounce – we happened to have a buy-1-get-1-free coupon.

Left to right: angelandthings got mint frozen yogurt topped with marshmallows, mochi, chocolate chips, Oreo, and Smarties. I got plain frozen yogurt topped with strawberries, bananas, peaches, and sliced almonds. Both yogurts were nonfat.

I loved this so much, I ventured forth to look for self-serve frozen yogurt places in Toronto as soon as I got to Dark’s place. He LOVES it – I swear it’s the first time he has food cravings. I’m usually the one who craves food. We found Yogurt Spoon just north of Yonge and Wellesley on the NE side. They have  8 dispensers for yogurt – some are nonfat, some low fat, and some are dairy free. They had original, taro, green tea, coconut, Italian chocolate, grapefruit, mango, and salted caramel that I can remember. It is also $0.55 CAD per ounce.

In the span of a week, Dark and I went there 4 times.

Left to right: I got taro and coconut frozen yogurt, topped with graham crackers, pineapples, mango, strawberries, blueberries, sliced almonds, and passion fruit poppers. Dark got grapefruit frozen yogurt topped with strawberries, blueberries, and orange, lychee, and passion fruit poppers.

Taro with green tea frozen yogurt on top. These are the two best flavours in my opinion, but that could be because I’m Asian and I love green tea and taro desserts. The green tea tastes like the green tea ice cream at all-you-can-eat sushi, and the taro tastes like taro bubble tea. So, so good.

Left to right: My taro and green tea frozen yogurt topped with sliced almonds, mango, pineapple, blueberries, and strawberries. Dark’s green tea frozen yogurt topped with stawberries, blueberries, mango, sliced almonds, and orange poppers.

I’d neglected to take pictures the other visits, but I’d also twisted taro and original frozen yogurt, and tried banana and cheesecake toppings. There are lots of other toppings like chocolate chips, coconut shavings, and white chocolate chunks, but Dark and I love our fruit.

Dark insists: “This tastes so good – it CAN’T be healthy!”

5. Smoke’s Poutinerie

I finally tried Smoke’s poutine for the first time with angelandthings – they really need to make an extra-small size. The small-sized poutine is very filling on its own. This stuff is deadly for my cardiovascular system, I’m sure of it.

Left to right: My Philly Cheese Steak poutine with shaved roast beef, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted peppers, and cheese sauce. angelandthings had a Hogtown poutine with double-smoked bacon, Italian sausage, sauteed mushrooms, and caramelized onions.

It was definitely an experience to remember. I do feel that it kind of takes away the taste of the original poutine, though. I enjoy my gravy on cheese curds and plain fries. I think I might prefer the classic poutine, but it was definitely worth a try. I would still like to try some other flavours, nonetheless.

Have you tried Smoke’s? What’s your favourite poutine?

6. Miko surrenders Monday for a good cause

I missed Monday for Miko, but I had really wanted to post about shopping to benefit feral cats. Toronto Cat Rescue is selling Swarovski earrings and necklaces for $20 and $49.99 CAD, respectively, with $10 from each purchase donated to their feral colony work in Mississauga. Volunteers trap, neuter, and release feral cats to help keep the population down. Check it out if you’re interested, and here are the images from their website:

I like the blue earrings, myself. They’re cute and the colour is brilliant!

I guess the little things I wanted to talk about didn’t turn out to be so little after all. It’s almost as if I’m trying to make up for all the missed days of blogging. But there you have it!

(Image source: torontocatrescue.ca)