Front Street Foods

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Earlier in the week I hit up Front Street Foods, a little marketplace that is temporarily set up near Union Station. I had a few little snacks.

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There were all sorts of places, corn, ice cream, seafood, burgers, even a flower shop! My first destination was Cava Sur. 

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I tried a trio of pintos which are small bites on bagette. I chose the avocado & avruga; jammon serano & fig and the sardine escabeche. All were very favourable little bites! I particularly liked the handmade serano that paired beautifully with the sweetness of the fig.

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I then hit up Mad Mexican for some nachos. They asked me if I wanted guacomole or salsa and I said a little bit of everything!

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I decided to wash it down with a Kamboucha, which is some kind of fermented tea drink. It was sort of fizzy, sour and fruity at the same time. It is meant to have healing powers of some sort. I’m not entirely sure if I liked it, but I didn’t hate it. 

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Anyways, if you’re looking for a quick snack and happen to be in the area the Front Street Market is a cool stop. I went around dinner time and it didn’t seem too packed!

Happy National Ice Cream Month

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July is National Ice Cream month! Have you been celebrating? It’s a great excuse to go eat some ice cream. The official National Ice Cream Day is July 19th but our work decided to celebrate it earlier. Any excuse to eat ice cream is good enough for me.

Panamania 

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Out experiencing what Panamania has to offer! The games has brought to the cities a ton of free entertainment and activities. Will catch up with you guys soon <3  

My Sister Turned 25

Categories Family, Food, Life2 Comments on My Sister Turned 25

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My little sister just turned 25. I can’t believe it! It makes me feel ancient. We celebrated over the weekend with a Caramel Crunch cake. Here are some random photos of us posing at it:
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Blowing out the candles:

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We also had dinner at a random Chinese restaurant we’ve never been to and tried their Xiao Long Baos and something called “Sweet and Sour Fried Fish In a Squirrel Shape”. I’m not entirely sure where they get the “squirrel” from, but it does make for some great photos!
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All the Freezies are red

Categories Food, Snacks2 Comments on All the Freezies are red

 The other day while grocery shopping I bought some Freezies. When I opened the package, I noticed something. There were a lot of red ones (and red are usually my least favorite). I even instantly tweeted at Kisko the above photo to explain my situation.

As it turns out there are actually two different types of red Freezies. I just wasn’t being observant enough. One was a tropical fruit punch and the other very berry. They turned out to be better than I thought.

Sometimes we need to take a second and not make snap judgements. It took a pack of red Freezies to teach me his lesson.

I May Be A Robot

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Sometimes I’m like a robot. I have a set of tasks I need to get done before I let myself go to bed. I’ll go on for weeks and months like this.

Then eventually like a robot, I break down a little. I get tired, anxious, stressed out, maybe even depressed. It’s awkward to talk about but at times talking about it is the greatest way to fix it. I  need to let myself relax, without thinking about the a million things (there are always things) that I could/should be doing. I’m like a robot that needs to stay on the task at hand and doesn’t know anything else.

This weekend, I’m letting myself relax. Some e-mails will go unanswered. Some posts will go unwritten. Walks will be taken. Food will be eaten. Naps will be taken. Robots need to be recharged once in a while, and I do too.

This Water Is From Iceland

Categories Drinks, Food1 Comment on This Water Is From Iceland

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My parents went on a trip and had a layover in Iceland for a few days. They brought me back a bottle of Icelandic Glacial water. At first, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to leave it sealed as a souvenir forever or drink it. I decided to choose the later. I’ve been trying to get out of the habit of collecting things without using them. Things are meant to be used, played with, eaten, whatever or they don’t have a place in my tiny apartment. Moving out on my own has showed me that for sure.

Bottled water is a strange concept for people that actually live in Iceland because of their ample supply of fresh water. I think the concept must mainly exist to sell to tourists and abroad.

Anyways, I decided to play water connoisseur (this is an actual job someone actually does by the way). The result was that it tasted like… nothing. Which doesn’t mean that the water isn’t different than our water. Our water indeed tastes like something, usually like the bottle, or fridge, or has a tiny bit of sweetness. This really tasted nothing. Does that mean it’s more pure? I don’t know. Nash drank some and thought it tasted like mineral water, which it indeed is.

Do different waters taste different to you? What is your favourite? I want to know! I should ask for a bottle of water as a souvenir from everywhere so I can drink the waters of the world.

Words To Avoid in Confident E-mails

Categories Inspiration, LifeLeave a Comment on Words To Avoid in Confident E-mails

A few weeks ago, I started attending meetups of women in the Toronto music industry. Last night, someone mentioned an article  on how women tend to sound less confident than men in e-mails because they use certain unnecessary words. While, some of those theories are somewhat debunked, or anti-feminist (because men should take women seriously no matter what), I think there’s validity in using these words less often. There are times to sound polite, and nice but when you need something done (especially professionally) here are some words to avoid:

Just
Out of all unnecessary words, “just” is a word that is truly unnecessary in most cases. It can come off as too harsh if read in the wrong tone or too passive.
Example, “I want to follow up…” sounds like it will get more of an answer than “I just want to follow up”. You either want to or you don’t. There’s no need for “just”.

There are cases where it sounds too harsh. Example “just go over there”, sounds more pissed/passive aggressive than “go over there”.

Hopefully
In a professional setting you never “hopefully” want something to be done. Sound like you’re in control and less like you are complaining. “I will finish all this paper work” not “Hopefully, I will finish all this paperwork.”

Actually/Literally/Basically
These are essentially the same thing. These don’t help you explain a situation, in fact if you repeat any or all of these words in an e-mail it can ruin the flow and sound very distracting.

Kind of/sort of
It is or it isn’t. There isn’t a middle (at least most of the time). Don’t be vague.

Sorry
Unless you legitimately need to apologize for something there’s no need to say sorry (but even then, a personal call is necessary). “Sorry for bothering you but..” No. Just cut the unnecessary apology and get to the point. You never want to give a person a reason to dislike your e-mail even before they read it.

Bonus here’s a word we should say more often: No. Learning to say no avoids other people’s priorities from taking over your own, and allows you to focus on your true priorities.

 

 

Teddy Will Entertain You

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Headed off to another meetup today with some cool people so don’t have too much time to blog! Enjoy some photos of Teddy

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My Irrational Fear of Lightning

Categories LifeLeave a Comment on My Irrational Fear of Lightning
Haha, I found this lame piece of photoshop I did when I was 14.
Haha, I found this lame piece of photoshop I did when I was 14.

I have always been afraid of lightning. It’s like an unpredictable deadly thing. The funny thing is I am short so it will probably hit someone else before it hits me. That is a scientific fact right? 

When I was younger I was even terrified of thunder. It would roar through the house. Mom would tell me that there was nothing to be afraid of if I wasn’t a bad girl. But what was “bad”?  

Then other times she would tell me to be careful. To not go outside, take showers or even sit in cars during a major lightning storm. Apparently even staying in the house might not be safe. 

I don’t know why but every time I think of lightning I replay this memory in my head of walking home in a storm and a strike a few meters away. I can’t legitimately confirm if this actually happened or if the event has been twisted and animated with false memories.

A couple of weeks ago, on the Friday of Bestival the weather networks warned of a thunderstorm. Bestival took place on the Toronto island. I thought I was in for my doom this time. While my feet were muddy and my clothes wet, I was fine. There was no lightning, or it just had better places to hit.

I think my fear of lightning has subsided a bit but I’ll still avoid going outside during a storm if I don’t have to.

What’s your irrational fear?