Tomorrowland 2014

Have you heard of Tomorrowland? If you love house music and dancing outside, you should check it out!

I first heard of Tomorrowland from this video below, which I saw in late 2012, and I was absolutely blown away by the music, people, sets and the production of a phenomenal weekend.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWb5Qc-fBvk&feature=share]

Ever since, I’ve put Tomorrowland on my bucket list and when I found out that 2014 is their 10th Anniversary, I was quite excited as 2014 is when I will turn 35 years old and I thought going to Tomorrowland would be a pretty darn awesome way to celebrate!

But last year was a pretty rough year, especially on my financial health so I sadly decided I wasn’t going to be able to afford to go… Until I got the two contracts the last month! Things are still pretty tight and will be for a few months but now there is hope that I might be able to swing the trip!

So fingers crossed that time off and finances will work out! <3

A new gadget!

I’ve started baking about few months back (I’ll post results of my attempts soon!) and ever since I’ve been debating the merits of getting a stand mixer.

My mom had a hand mixer that she gave me since she wasn’t using it but while it was better than mixing by hand, it was still not as easy as a stand mixer.

I didn’t really have the money to buy something that is over $300 so I searched on Craigslist but I didn’t really see any that was worth buying.

Thanks to the holiday season, there are lots of sales and with Boxing Day coming up, I thought I would have a good chance of finding a good mixer on sale.

And I did! After researching on the different brands and models, I decided on the Breville Scraper Mixer Pro. BestBuy had it for almost half price, $199 + tax and I had received some gift cards so I took the plunge!

I have to say that the video on Breville’s and BestBuy’s product page really helped sell me on this mixer, as well as the spill guard and the scraper beater. Check it out for yourself:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6htGtZhFJco&w=560&h=315]

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It has a LED indicator for the 12 speeds and it has a timer that can count up and count down! Pretty fancy!

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Here it is in action!

I made a coconut layer cake with coconut buttercream tonight and I have to say, having a mixer does make baking that much easier and faster!

Can’t wait to try other recipes! I think the next thing on my list is going to be crème brûlée. Stay tuned!

Office Christmas Lunch and the “Wine Drama”

Today was our office’s Christmas lunch. It was my first ever Christmas party so I was quite excited!

The company I work for only has 4 employees (including me) plus the owner so it would be a small group lunch at Gotham’s Steakhouse. We were excited all morning and we got ready to leave at 11:45am to walk to the restaurant for our noon reservation. Except the owner wasn’t ready so three of us went ahead to secure the table.

We got there and proceed to browse through the menus. I was appointed the one in charge of ordering the wine which was great as I love looking through the wine list and finding the perfect wine(s) for the meal. I settled on the Qupe Syrah as we were all having steak. Since we were still waiting for the rest of the group, we decided to order the wine first. She brought out the wine and offered me the taste. I tasted it and I had to taste it again as it didn’t taste right. There wasn’t much flavours and it tasted a little sour. It didn’t taste obviously corked or bad just tasted a little sour and flat so I asked the server if the wine was supposed to be like that. She offered to have the bartender try it and I said yes, I wanted a second opinion.

The bartender tasted it and he took a while but eventually said it was fine. By this time, a manager had shown up at the bar and he tasted it too. He immediately pushed the bottle away and the server came back and told us that he was a wine expert and he agreed that the wine didn’t have the right finish. I was glad that I wasn’t wrong about the wine! Everyone was impressed and we choose the wine that the manager suggested, Fess Parker The Big Easy Syrah. It was a great choice! Lots of flavours, delicious, easy to drink.

2013-12-11 12.27.03By this time, the rest of our group had arrive and the other ladies had fun telling them about the “wine drama”. They were all impressed that I was right about the wine. It was the first time I had to send a wine back and I was glad that I asked for a second opinion because the Big Easy tasted so much better!

I decided to switch wines when we finished the first bottle and I ordered the Holy Trinity. This was an absolutely delicious wine. Big bold flavours, jammy and just an explosion of tastiness in your mouth! I would definitely drink this again and it is now on my list of top wines. If you get a chance to try this wine, you should!

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We had a wonderful lunch, with appetizers, wine, steak sides, desserts and more wine! For appies, we ordered calamari, lobster bisque, crab cake, and beet salad. Everyone got steak as their mains, from New York Strips to Rib Eyes to Filet Mignons. You think we wouldn’t have room for dessert but we did! We ordered chocolate brownie, sticky toffee pudding, chocolate bourbon cake and cheesecake.

All in all, it was awesome to hang out and get to know my co-workers a bit more. Our Christmas party was a 3-hour lunch and it was worth every minute of it. Delicious wine, tasty food and good company. Happy holidays everyone!

Where were these when I needed them???

So, after all the serious notes I posted in the last few days, time for something lighthearted.
I came across this and I thought it was so funny that I had to post it. 🙂
PS. I think there should be a #10) Booty Calls are DIFFERENT from Friends with Benefits!
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Booty Call Etiquette
By Ambrose Diaz
It’s time to check your ideas of morality and emotional involvement at the door because today we’re talking about a little thing called the Booty Call.
The Booty Call lives in a lovely grey area somewhere between the one-night-stand and the relationship and serves to supply consenting adults with a high-energy sexual release without the baggage and time involved in dating.
You probably won’t find the term Booty Call in the dictionary… yet. But it seems like the phrase has slowly crept into our common vernacular, so much so that there are already rules (both written and unwritten) governing how to behave.

After conducting some strenuous research on the subject, I have gone through my field-notes in an attempt to supply you with nine simple rules about the Booty Call.

1. Brunch is the Enemy of the Booty Call
This may seem a little harsh but the one and only purpose of the Booty Call is to get off. Once you’re done, get up, get dressed and go home. If you’re having a Booty Call because you don’t want to sleep alone, you’re in dangerous territory and emotional involvement is lurking somewhere around the corner. If you end up sleeping over, there’s only one place for things to go and that’s brunch. Brunch is the enemy of the Booty Call. You didn’t make the call because you wanted to chat over a cup of coffee. Your friends can supply you with that.
2. No Timetables
So… you’ve called your Booty Call Cohort (BCC) every Saturday night for the past two months? Bad move! The key to successful Booty Calling is to keep things uncomplicated, relaxed and elastic. If you make the call on a schedule, things are going to get very stale very fast. And if you wanted stale sex, you would just go ahead and get married (he kids, he kids! — Ed.)
3. No Meeting in Public
Again, this may seem a little harsh, but this rule is definitely a good one to follow. Remember this: meeting your BCC in public is called “a date.” You and your BCC should only live in an erotic fantasy world that doesn’t exist outside of the bedroom.
4. Look Good
Yes, the sex is almost guaranteed. No, it’s not a date. But you’re still going to have to make an effort to look and smell good. Make sure your Booty Calls get accepted by staying on top of your outward appearance. After all, letting things slide with the way you present yourself is for those people in long-term relationships (what a comedian…– Ed).

5. Expect Nothing
The Booty Call should only be made (and accepted) by those who want to have sex at that moment. If your BCC stops calling you or stops accepting your calls, don’t take it personally. Remember, it was never a personal relationship to begin with. It was purely sexual and had no strings attached.

6. Be Open & Honest
I know this sounds dangerously like “relationship talk” but trust me, as long as you and your BCC know where things stand right off the top, and then you won’t have to deal with any real relationship talks later on. Just be tactful and make sure that you’re both on the same page. Once you see you’re both on the same page, feel free to have sex on it.
7. Be Safe
It’s the 21st century: should I really have to go into this? Just remember to protect yourself so you can enjoy Booty Calls well into your golden years.
8. Please Please Me, Please Please You
Be a generous lover. It doesn’t cost you a thing. As much as you may just want to get off, remember there is someone else involved here. If all you’re thinking about is yourself, then yes you may have just screwed your BCC, but you’ve also probably just screwed your chances at another Booty Call down the line.
9. Timing
No calls before 9:30 pm. No calls after 1:30 am. The Booty Call is definitely not for everyone. You have to be able to draw a distinction between the emotional and the sexual. But if you do it right, the good times are guaranteed. Just remember: don’t call collect.
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Posted in Fun