The solution to extinction

The outlook for species at risk in Canada is pretty grim. The Harper government having passed its first budget bill, Bill C-38, made it clear once again that economic activities are its main priorities. The National Energy Board is now exempt from the Species at Risk Act and is required little considerations for habitat of species at risk when reviewing pipeline applications. The entire Environmental Assessment Act was repealed. Funding is removed for the Experimental Lakes Area, a famous freshwater research site that helped understand the effects of birth control hormones on aquatic wildlife and so much more. The Fisheries Act was considerably narrowed so that basically only fish related to commercial activities are protected, and as long as fish habitat is not irreparably damaged, polluting industries are in the clear. 

(For more info, read this and this)

Good thing the internet provides us with one of the best ideas ever to deal with the protection of species at risk:

12 Days of Eating

12 tartines of garlic & herb boursin,
11 slices of aged havarti,
10 pieces of applewood smoked cheddar,
9 sweet potato crackers with honey & vanilla goat cheese,
8 toasts with dill goat cheese,
7 black forest cookies,
8 candy cane cookies,
7 cinnamon roll (brown sugar and cinnamon blobs) cookies,
6 birthday cake cookies,
5 vanilla chocolate chip cookies,
4 double chocolate cookies,
3 chocolate mini reese cups cookies,
2 chunks of almond butter crunch,
1 mug of spiked apple cider!

'Tis the season for holiday eats with my favourite friends! So excited for the potluck at Jamie's tonight!
Bringing Ina Garten's Caramelized Butternut Squash mmmmmm....

*Edit: I just realized I can't count, no need to point it out.

IKEA Monkey

Of course, as soon as I go home for the holidays something exciting actually happens in North York.
This is one of the funniest things I have ever heard of and I'm posting it to make sure I never forget. The poor thing is going to be way overdressed for the animal shelter...

Séjour à Montréal

What would be a better end-of-term celebration than a trip to Montreal with the York gals? We booked a 6 person girls-only dorm at La Maison du Patriote in le vieux port. The location: beautiful, with lots of Christmas lights, cobblestone roads, restos and boutiques with hanging signs. The interior: quirky and fun, seriously a page pulled out from an IKEA catalogue and put into a super old narrow building with the addition of giant origami objects hanging from the ceiling. And chalk-painted walls. I added our own signature to a wooden beam.

Some inspiring kitchen franglish

Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) in a heart, not a butt, for providing us with fancy wine and mead. Even though the mead - hydromel en français, making it sound extra fancy - did taste like butt.

The first thing we do upon arrival? Go to a poutinerie, of course! Fried avocado slices are delicious, trust me. We then stumbled upon the Marché Casse-Noisette and sampled some liqueurs here and there. The night just got better as we came across a québecois wine tasting event! 

It was great how we managed to find so many things to do without any planning whatsoever. A maple syrup store. Design show. Live music at a bar. Fireworks show. Oh the irony, a bunch of planning students on an impromptu trip. Whatever, spontaneity is my new mantra.

Pride & Prejudice

Emphasis on prejudice.
When this came on during my daily tea and cake with Dana I immediately thought "boooring" based on what I remembered from the Keira Knightly adaptation. My teenage self might have been too young to appreciate it or maybe the 1940 version is just so much better because I loved it so, so much! Instead of going back downstairs to research Great Lakes remedial action plans, I watched the entire thing with a smile on my face. I didn't expect it to be so funny! The mother is ridiculously obsessed with marrying off her girls to rich husbands and Elizabeth has really great witty replies that are still graceful, of course. The whole movie is absolutely charming. I think I found a replacement for Disney movies and awful chick flicks for when I'm feeling down. Old black and white movies have perfect feel-good endings.

Tourists in Toronto

Sometimes it's nice to visit the places you always walk by, but never actually enter or even think to see what's inside.

When my friend Andrea and her Brazilian colleague visited Toronto a couple weeks ago, we noticed that Old City Hall was a pretty interesting building from the outside, so we decided to venture in. After contouring the building a few times we finally found an unlocked door, got patted down by security, and were allowed to wander around.

I was totally impressed! The place must be at least a century old, with marble columns and large staircases. Okay, so it was pretty shabby in places. Yellowing plaster and tiles falling off reminded me a bit of old building interiors in Bucharest. I still wonder how it must have looked like when it was functioning as City Hall.

It seems to serve as some kind of court of justice now. Reading off of some signs, Andrea and Barbara asked me what it meant to "post bail". I honestly couldn't really explain it - maybe I should start watching Law & Order or whatever.

We went through one of the open doors and realized that we were on the top balcony of a courtroom being used as a movie set! A huge illuminating balloon was floating up near the ceiling with film crew struggling with harnesses to get the lighting just right.


My favourite part of the building was by far the huge stained glass windows. I just love the way the colours change with the weather.

Looking north on Bay St. 1929 (wikimedia)

Now I need to figure out how to get up the clock tower.

Seems legit

These flyers manage to stay up on the walls yet the Las Nubes posters I put up get taken down within hours.

Oh York. Why do all the stereotypes about you have to be true?

Pandas & Pastries

Now that I've started grad school and have a Graduate Assistant (GA) position with the Las Nubes Project, the title for which is "Communications Assistant" slash "Web Master", I remembered how much fun the whole web posting stuff is. I swear I must have spent over 10 hours writing up the content of my first post for Las Nubes and the poster right here. After a nice chat with dear Gabie I remembered hey, I have a blog that I've been completely neglecting! With a bajillion accounts already it makes sense to keep going with it instead of wasting time creating a new one. Cheers for a new source of procrastination that doesn't involve terrible teenage shows! Okay I'll admit it, Vampire Diaries takes up 40 mins of my time every week.

After a nice visit from the parents this weekend I spent all day stuffing my face with mom's awesome puff pastry spinach feta wheels and a croissant twist with lemon curd my dad bought (omg they know me so well) at this nice little pastry shop across from the Kitchener's farmer's market. Golden Hearth is BY FAR my favourite pastry shop and I've never even stepped foot in it. Delicious, organic, and local oh my! Entertainment to accompany this feast was The Amazing Panda Adventure (1995) for lots of cute cute pandas. Gahhhh the squeaks they make!