Homespooled

I'm sure many of you have noticed that I like posting about food.  Whether it be a recipe or a tutorial, the Kitchen section on this site is my favourite.  I've been debating setting up another site just for that, or revamping Homespooled to sort of highlight that section, making it easier to navigate.  Well, since Homespooled.com has been named one of the Top 100 Food Blogs to Follow in 2013 by couponaudit.com (#95), option 2 seems pretty obvious! Why change a good thing, right?

Check out the infographic below and explore some food blogs you never heard of!   May I suggest Happy Herbivore at #14? She's been one of my favourites for a long time :)

So you know the moment (or the various moments throughout your lifetime) that you realize you've been living under a rock?  There are different ways to reside under rocks.  It could be that you put that rock there on purpose to avoid knowing about certain things you may find annoying.  Like the latest What's Up!? about One Direction or the Biebs.  OR, it could be a big, fat, Surprise! rock that make you say HOLY CRAP!! And leaves you feeling old, behind the times, left out, stupid or all of the above.

Well, I had me a surprise rock a few weeks ago.  And let me tell you, it was a doozy.  For those of you who don't know me, I'm a little obsessed with books.  A little.  And by a little, I mean not a little.  A lot.  You see, I started to read full novels on a regular basis when I was 9 years old.  Since that time, I've read every single day, at any time of day, and always before bed time, even on a night that I have one, two or six drinks.  If I'm having a lazy day, I'll sit in a chair and read for most of it.  If I'm having a hard week, am stressed out or sad, you can find me at Chapters or Bay Used Books (a local used book store that I've adored since I was very young).  New (or new to me) books make me happy.

I have four bookshelves in my living room (I get away with it because Señor has a giant foosball table in there too) containing all different genres from comics to resource materials.  Over the holidays, I reorganized some of these (this was the time we added the fourth bookshelf to the existing three) and decided it would be a good idea to log the books I own.  When I do go to Chapters, or Bay's I like to have a list with me of books that I want, or need to complete a set.  Since there are so many, I often forget some, or don't quite remember what book I'm up to in a series.
 
So I took out my tablet, started a document called Book List and began listing the books I own in order of the author's last name.  This is actually fun to have because I can flag a book that's been lent out and specify to whom and on what date.  Also, when I'm done reading a book and it's time to make the horrible difficult decision on what to read next, I now ask Señor to choose a number between one and whatever number my list goes up to, and if it's a book I have yet to read, that's the winner!  (I've actually made 3 separate documents: one for novels, fiction and non, one for comics and graphic novels and one for reference books.)

When book hunting, I often Google things like: best dystopian novels of all time, or must-read classics, things like that.   Recently, I've noticed more and more of the results coming from goodreads.com.  I didn't really look into this too much, I just checked out the books on the lists and moved on.  Then, during my vacation, on about January 2nd, I was at Bay's browsing through some titles when I overheard a discussion between the store clerk and a customer.  It's not like I was eavesdropping or anything, but the woman was speaking quite loudly and I just couldn't help but overhear.

They were talking about Fifty Shades of Grey and how horribly written they thought it was.  The customer mentioned how she has a lot of friends who once they start a book, HAVE to finish it.  She said that she didn't have that problem.  There were so many books she wanted to read that she just didn't bother on a book that she knew she wouldn't like from the first little bit.  Then she made mention to the reviews Fifty Shades received on Goodreads.  There it was again!  What the hell is Goodreads? 

When I got home, I added my new books to my Book List and then remembered that I wanted to check out Goodreads. WELL. This was a living-under-a-rock moment if I've ever had one.  I'm a knitter and a total slave to Ravelry.com (Anyone who knits or crochets and doesn't know what Ravelry is? Kaboom!! I totally just busted up your Ravelry Rock.).  Goodreads is like that but for books!! You can list all your books, you can review them, check out reviews on other books, organize your books into shelves and check off books you want to read later...needless to say I spent about 2 straight days organizing my Goodreads page.  I. Love. It.

So, for everyone who already knew about Goodreads, shame on you for not telling me about it sooner!  For those who didn't, go check it the f*** out, it is going to BLOW YOUR MIND.  Oh and while you're at it, add me as a friend!  My username is KrystelDallas :)

I wonder how many more rocks I'm living under?

Okay, three cakes in a row!? You betcha!  Last one, I swear! (for now)  A friend of mine had a themed birthday party this past Friday to celebrate her "Great 28!"  The theme was 90s.  At first I was a little dumbfounded.  Nothing in the 90s really stood out, did it?  I think that was just my mommy brain being completely ridiculous.  In the 90s I went from being 5yrs old to 15yrs old.   Clearly, a million fads and styles came and went during that time.  It just took a little Googling for me to remember what they were.  Let me tell you, when I started realizing what they were, all the memories came flooding back.

Another cake already!!  This one was made for my now 3-year-old-obsessed-with-TMNT-and-that's-awesome.  His birthday falls between Xmas and New Year's, so I like to do something extra special for him (cause you know, a whole week of presents isn't enough, hahaha).

A few weeks ago, we had a big meeting at work at which our department Director would be in attendance.  Since she is retiring at the end of December, my manager asked me to bake a cake as a farewell to her.  It was a cute little (maybe not so little!) cake that everyone just loved.   Some of the people that were responsible for organizing the formal retirement party for our Director were also at that meeting, and approached me about making the cake for that day as well.  Of course I agreed. 

I had every intention of making a simple chocolate cake to feed anywhere from 40 - 80 people (since we had no idea how many people were to show up!), but then the wheels started turning and when I found out she was passionate about fishing and planned to spend a good amount of her retirement out on her dock, I just couldn't help myself...

Making your own hummus is really quite easy.  All you need are the right ingredients and a food processor (or blender).  Plus, when you make your own, you get to decide how thick or thin you want it.  I like it thicker for dipping, but thinner for wraps.  You can also add your own unique touch to it like I did here with the chipotle, which adds a nice spicy and smoky flavour.

MAKES: approx. 2 cups
TIMES: 15-20 minutes

Sometimes I like to give tree ornaments as gifts during the holidays.  I like to wrap up a present, decorate the box with a ribbon, make curls with the tails, then tie them around the loop of a tree ornament.  This way, instead of a bow the recipient of this gift will eventually throw out (after they're done sticking it to their hair, sweater, other people's sweater, etc.) they get an ornament they can keep and use.   The downside to this is that a bag of 50 bows will run you about 2$, whereas a single ornament can cost up to 20$!  (That's Hallmark wallet raping you, in case you didn't know.)

The solution? Make your own ornaments.  This particular ornament is for that yarn lover (or even cat lover?) on your list.

So, last weekend, Señor and I hosted American Thanksgiving.  This wasn't your average American Thanksgiving, however it was not a family affair but rather a gathering of friends.  Also, we're Canadian (which is why I keep typing American before Thanksgiving :P).  It all started last year when Señor and I were re-watching some old episodes of How I Met Your Mother and happened upon the "Slapsgiving" episode.

About a month ago, I had a birthday.  I turned 28.  I never really did anything big for my birthday before...even when I turned 19 (legal drinking age in Ontario).  So I decided to throw myself a party this year.  I invited a bunch of friends to go bowling.  Three games and a few pitchers later, we all headed to my house for some more fun.  See, I had a surprise planned.  A surprise which led to these:

So, a little over a year ago, I made lingerie cookies for a friend's 30th birthday party.  They were a HUGE hit, especially with the boys.  So when Señor announced that he would be hosting a bachelor party for a friend of ours last weekend, I thought what better contribution for me to make than boobs and bums!