PJ’s at TJ’s

Posted on February 14, 2012 by

Hello! Hi! I’m here on my blog!

I rarely post here but I wanted to write about my weekend at the PJ’s at TJ’s party I went to in Arizona this weekend, but I’m not sure if it’s actually a recap or just thoughts on some concerns I had before going and why I was a giant weenie and how none of those things happened.

Thing 1: I Won’t Fit In (aka I’m not 1. a blogger, 2. a mom and 3. a person born in the same decade as everyone else)

  1. I wasn’t too worried about this. Look, I READ blogs and blog world chit chat is generally about what other people have written so I’m on equal footing. I too am a reader of the blogs. This is a reason this gathering appealed to me. I wanted to meet some internet friends but a lot of get-togethers are blogging related. But can I get together with people who talk to each other on the internet? Well, sure, I can talk online AND off. Look at me!
  2. I like babies. I like baby stories, I do. But I didn’t want to be in a position where I had nothing to contribute to the conversation. Like going to a Star Wars convention and being all “Oh I’ve never seen that. Can we talk about something else?” (Shut up, I have seen Star Wars, it’s an example.) Lots of things were talked about including but not limited to: babies, nail polish, ice cream, pizza, Tom Hanks, in-laws, root beer floats, THAT DIP and stuff I’m sworn to secrecy about. That last part isn’t true.
  3. This is probably stupid and I am perfectly FINE with having friends of all ages but when I was younger I wasn’t as open minded about it. (“40? ohmygawwwwwd, sooo old, oldie”) BUT! The important thing is it didn’t bother ME when was there and I’m the most important person here in my own head. I would way rather hang out with someone older or younger who I connect with than someone the same age who is a wiener. So. It wasn’t much of a thing. I think. I will wait to see if I’m described in any other recaps as THE OLD ONE.

Thing 2: I’ll end up sitting alone in my hotel room

I kinda almost sorta did this to my self but it was FINE. I didn’t plan on getting up for breakfast on Saturday because I was TIRED. But in the morning I realized well hey. I probably should have gone because now I am ALL ALONE WHAT DO I DO.

I texted Noemi and of COURSE she offered to come get me but I didn’t want anyone to go out of their way for me, but instead of feeling bad, I realized I was like “oh cool, an hour or so to flake out in a hotel room and read until someone is in the area” and that happened soon enough and it was all good and maybe what I’m saying is I’m not as much as a baby as I thought I was and found out it wasn’t actually a scary thing after all.

Thing 3: To Roommate or Not to Roommate

My gut instinct was to stay alone because I LIKE being alone but rarely am. But I didn’t want to be the person who looks like an antisocial snob either, AND I really considered a roommate for another reason: to avoid Thing 2, which we now know is not really such a big thing after all.

Also I am told I snore. The old one! She snores!

In the end I decided to stay by myself and in the future, I’ll probably do the same, but I think I’ll arrange to have A Person – someone who will stay in the same hotel, who also needs their own space but can be my roommate by proxy.

Thing 4 No one will like me/I won’t like them
I realize no one would TELL me if they didn’t like me, but I didn’t get that vibe from anyone, at all. As far as I know, this didn’t happen or else everyone was very good at faking it. And I really did like something about everyone. Good crowd, these TJ readers.

Thing 5 What if I meet people I *thought* I liked and actually do NOT like them? Would that ruin our online friendship?

Does that make sense? First of all, this wasn’t a BIG concern, at all. Really. But I had “What If’d” it a tad. For example: TJ online is hilarious and sharp and smart and reasonable (which may sound like a weird compliment but GOD I LOVE reasonable people). What if I got there and she was totally different and I wanted to unfollow her while I was sitting right there in her own living room? WHAT THEN? But you know what? Everyone was the same person I thought they’d be. TJ is hilarious and sharp and smart and I like her, as I knew I would. I’m sure she’s super relieved and happy that a person who doesn’t know how to use a credit card machine thinks she is smart.

Thing 6: and vice versa

Well, first. Because someone follows me on Twitter, does that mean they LIKE me? I’m not sure. I don’t blog so how would people know if I’m the same person or not, based on 140 characters? I do know I didn’t talk as much as I normally do. It wasn’t intentional, but I really was enjoying listening to other people, so in retrospect I’m not sure how I may or may not have come across. One person (can’t remember who!) told me I wasn’t what they expected, so I’m not sure if people thought I’d be talking a lot in ALL CAPS and yelling FUCK all the time or what, but if anyone thinks I was “quiet” please let me know because HAHAHHA I will show it to all my friends and family and they will KEEL OVER DEAD FROM LAUGHING.

Thing 7, I didn’t think of ahead of time but was this: I was afraid to touch the babies.

I WAS. My friends in real life have been fine with me picking up their babies because they know I’m reasonably hygienic and not a hoarder but I’ve read things where people are all “AHH THAT PERSON TOUCHED MY BABY WHAT A FREAK I HATE THEM” and I did NOT want to be that person. Or the person who asks and puts the mom in a difficult position (“Is there any way you could prove the clothes you have on right now weren’t dug out from underneath a dead cat?”) So I erred on the side of caution. Please don’t think I didn’t like your babies. I did. So much.

Oh god. Let me see if I can wrap this up:

I’m glad I went. I genuinely liked something about everyone and I laughed a lot and went for a mani/pedi with about seven other women and when was the last time I did that? (Never.) And there was pizza and ice cream and cute babies. There was nothing to be nervous about. So, past me, stop worrying and just go. Go meet your friends. I promise even if you drop your sandwich face down on the floor the first night, they won’t kick you out. I now know this from experience.

Thanks for a fun weekend, friends.
(if I’ve forgotten anyone, tell me NOW before I die of embarrassment). 

Andrea’s little girl was so sweet and they cuddled all weekend and it was very cute.
Brooke is super cute and has fantastic hair and found us a place to have our nails did.
Diane is quiet but when she does talk she is fucking hilarious.
Elise was always smiling and brought us presents from her top secret lair.
Erin’s baby has the best cheeks ever and Erin got us to the airport in time, hurray.
Jess is really warm and also has fantastic hair and an adorable baby who made me giggle with his super fast crawling skills.
Jess is quiet and sweet and we shared a Snuggie and she didn’t hog it.
Kammah BOUGHT me the Snuggie, how sweet is that?
Kara is quiet but very friendly and was always smiling.
Laura Michelle is almost the same as Lara Michelle and her baby swears and we have the same taste in pajamas.
Linnea picked me up at the airport and we got lost but we had fun being lost and she can cut across four lanes of traffic without blinking an eye.
Megan is quiet at first, but super funny.
Noemi is friendly and gorgeous and has fantastic hair.
PENNY IS EVEN CUTER IN REAL LIFE, FOR REAL.
Phil brought us pizza and looks at Kelly & Penny with LOVE EYES and so he is the best.
Phil’s aunts are super nice and fun and oh man, you can tell how much they love Phil.
Stephanie is super friendly and easy to talk to and picked the best mani/pedi colour.
Kelly opened her home to us and everything was perfect and she even put A BED in her living room for us. I laughed every time she said anything, I could talk to her forever and she helped me pick pajamas at Target, she wins, the end.

Posted in general | 25 Comments

Oot and aboot

Posted on October 13, 2011 by

I figured we needed more Canadian content in the accent vlog going around.

I apologize for the length – if anyone ever doubted it, I can TALK, you guys. I also forgot to add the part about where I grew up. Which is just here. Vancouver. I’ve lived my whole life here, so there you go.

Posted in blog | 13 Comments

POW! Yogurt

Posted on March 15, 2011 by

If you know me in real life or even just on the internet, you will likely have heard me bragging lately about making my own yogurt. Enough people have asked me for instructions that I thought I’d get them typed up and posted here. You guys, I even took pictures for you.

Homemade yogurt is cheap to make and tastes, hands down, better than store bought. Really. REALLY. And contrary to what you may think, making yogurt is EASY. SO EASY.

Basically, it goes like this:

  • Heat milk
  • Cool milk
  • Stir milk
  • Keep milk warm
  • POW! Yogurt

But I will give you a few more details, because details I have.

I decided to give making yogurt a try after realizing we were going to end up in the poorhouse based on the amount of money we were spending on Greek yogurt each week. I did some research, as I do, on yogurt makers but they’re all around $100 and on every review I read someone was screaming in the comments “YOU DO NOT NEED A MACHINE TO MAKE YOGURT!!!” and at first, yes, I thought those were just the hippies, but it turns out it really is dead easy and really, REALLY there is no need for a yogurt maker. All you need is:

  • Milk
  • A big pot
  • A thermometer
  • A few tablespoons of plain yogurt to use as a starter (you can use your homemade yogurt as a starter next time, so remember to save a little)
  • A strainer*
  • Cheesecloth/coffee filters*

*Optional

I had everything but the thermometer so my entire investment was a $7 thermometer I found at the grocery store (I believe it’s a drug thermometer because it says things like Hard Crack on it. Maybe it’s for candy. Not sure.)

I decided to give it one go and if it didn’t work out, I’d rethink investing in a yogurt maker but I was so, so pleased with my first batch I’ve started making it every Saturday – you do need to time things out jusssst right, so weekends are best for me.

I’ve always used a 4 litre jug of milk and it makes enough Greek style yogurt to last us a week – I eat it every day for breakfast, Andrew often does too, and I occasionally use some of it for dressings or sauces through the week as well.

Ingredients

  • 4 litres milk (I’ve used skim and 2% and found little taste/texture difference between the two, see below re: straining)
  • 3 or 4 tablespoons room temperature plain yogurt (I’m not sure if the “room temperature” thing is important or not but I read it somewhere and it’s worked for me so I take the starter out of the fridge when I start heating the milk and consider it “room temperature” by the time the milk has reached the right temperature).

That’s it. THAT’S IT! Can you believe it? (I didn’t.)  Here is a picture of milk in a pot. Exciting.

Preparation

  • Dump the milk into a large pot
  • Heat to 180F, stirring and gradually increasing heat to prevent burning
  • Remove pot from heat
  • Let the milk cool to about 115F (in my experience, this takes about an hour or so, with the lid off)
  • Scoop about 2 cups of the warm milk into a bowl and whisk in your starter yogurt
  • Whisk the 2 cups milk/starter mixture back into pot of warm milk

Put the lid on the pot, wrap a towel around it and stick it in the oven for 6 – 8 hours* with the oven OFF but the oven light on (I KNOW!)

ps, yes, do close the door. Photo above is for illustrative purposes only. Do not judge my dirty oven. Also pictured, the pink sticky note I tack on the front of the stove that says “Leave light on!” because Andrew is a light-turner-off’er extraordinaire.

*I read that the longer you leave the yogurt wrapped its warm little blanket home, the more of a “tart” yogurt you’ll get. I left mine for 6 the first time and it was NOT tart at all. The next time it ended up being around 7 hours and it had a teeeeeeny bit of tartness. I think 6 – 7 hours is my preferred window but govern yourself accordingly.

I like thick, Greek style yogurt so I also strain my yogurt but if you like it runnier, you can stop now. You’re done. You have MADE YOGURT. Well done, you! Please put it in the fridge now, unless you like eating warm yogurt (HOARF)(UNFOLLOW).

I have strained immediately after the steps above, but I’ve also left it until the next day to strain (the first time I made it I timed things incorrectly and had to set my alarm for 4:00 am on A WEEKEND to take my precious yogurt out of the oven and put it in the fridge. Yes I did.)

Line a strainer with unbleached coffee filters (I had some on hand from my pre-Keurig days)(or use cheesecloth) and spoon/pour it in. It does take quite a while to drain all the whey out – hours, in fact. And if you do it juuuust right, TULIPS will grow out of your yogurt.

I left it a little too long this time and ended up with (nearly!) cheese – but no biggie, just stir some whey back in.

I keep my yogurt in a big Tupperware container and stir thawed berries & granola into a bowl of it each morning, but you can flavour the whole thing too – I think you have to do that after the 6 – 8 hours if I remember correctly but you may want to google that – I didn’t want to make flavoured yogurt, so the details didn’t stick in my head.

SO GOOD!

Let me know if you decide to take a crack at making your own yogurt – you won’t be disappointed, I swear.

Good luck, hippies!

Posted in eats | 7 Comments