Archive for May, 2012

Angry Birds: When Seagulls Attack!

May
20
2012

For the  start of the May 2-4 weekend I made plans with a friend of mine to head downtown to the Habourfront and do some walking to embrace the beautiful mid-20°C weather. We stopped off at Nathan Phillips Square first, because I had a craving for some poutine (as usual). I was feeling a bit hungrier than usual, so I decided to order a hot dog as well (haven’t had street meat in years). I paid for my meal, and the vendor gave me my hot dog and poutine combo in one of those two-compartment styrofoam containers. Topped my hot dog off with some ketchup, mustard, and relish… looked delicious!

“Let’s find a bench in the shade where we can sit,” I say to my friend, turning to her slightly.

No word of a lie, I hear a squawk and out of the corner of my eye I see a flash of something white, felt it graze my face. I scream, still managing to hold on to my tray of food. I look down and see that my hot dog is gone!

Not even seconds later I hear birds squawking,  and see two dozen sea gulls attacking what’s left of my hot dog metres from where I was standing in shock. It was like a scene out of Hitchcock’s The Birds.

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A freakin’ seagull had the audacity to fly millimeters away from my face, swoop down, snatch up my hotdog from my hands and fly away with it!

It picked up my entire hot dog (bun and all) and few off with it, dropping it on the pavement metres away where it’s hoodlum friends could feast on it. All that was left less than a minute later was a pavement stain of yellow mustard.

The seagull that stole my hotdog

This is an exact representation of the seagull that snatched my hot dog right from my hands.

These Toronto birds are brave! What happened to the time when animals were afraid of humans?! My gosh, I swear this gull was probably eying me from the time I left the food truck, like those velociraptors in that kitchen scene from Jurassic Park.

“You’re lucky it didn’t take your poutine too!” said a woman who was also in line at the food truck.

Traumatized and pissed off that half my meal was gone, I went off to find a washroom to scrub my face from the feather brush moments earlier, thinking that next time I venture downtown I should bring a pellet gun to ward off these gull thieves.

Later on in the day at Harbourfront, I saw another woman holding the same order of a hot dog and fries. I was tempted to give her a warning to keep an eye on the sky, but she might’ve deemed me as crazy.

Turns out food isn’t the only thing these calculating creatures steal. Check out this video of a gull flying off with someone’s video camera.

That incident just put a damper on my day. I was really  looking forward to that hot dog.

Freakin’ bird.

To all you Mothers out there…

May
13
2012

This day did creep up on me, but I managed to bake my mother a nice batch of banana-nut muffins and take her to her choice of restaurant for dinner (Swiss Chalet’s Spring-themed quarter chicken meal with garlic-butter shrimp and a rice pilaf is delish by the way).

Here’s a couple videos to commemorate the day as we honour our wonderful mothers who do so much for us.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I admit, I used to be a tad like this as a young lass.

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An ode to mothers courtesy of JibJab:

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And my personal fav:

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May the Fourth Be With You: It’s Star Wars Day!

May
04
2012

This morning I was informed that May 4th is Star Wars Day. Even though I’m more of a Trekkie, I’ve decided to commemorate the day with a question: What if absentee dad, Darth Vader, actually took an active role in raising his son Luke?

Jeffery Brown has written a book called Darth Vader and Son, aiming to answer that question. The book is filled with endearing and funny illustrations that depict Darth raising a young Luke Skywalker in a galaxy far, far away (awww… he even takes Luke trick-or-treating).

Darth Vader and Son - Book Cover

Darth Vader and Son (1)

Darth Vader and Son (2)

Darth Vader and Son (3)

At the time of this post, the 64-page hardcover book seems to be out of stock (probably due to various Star Wars fanatics), but I’m sure if you really want a copy you can find one used online.

For all you fellow geeks out there, this weekend also marks the tail end of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival which will be taking place at the Toronto Reference Library. This event features hundreds of comics creators from around the world, as well as readings, workshops, gallery shows and more. Check out http://torontocomics.com for more info.

As for me, I’ll be letting my inner geek out this weekend by watching Marvel’s The Avengers.

Black Hair Care: Natural Deep-Conditioner Treatment Recipe

May
02
2012

EVOO and eggsSince I made the decision to go natural over a decade ago, I’ve been trying to find the perfect products that would work best on my hair to keep it soft, strong, manageable and growing.

I usually have a rotational period of styles I typically go with: Jeri curl weave, two-strand twists with extensions, rock the head wrap when I’m too lazy to style, or chiney bumps/bantu knots, an afro, or I add some Kinky Curly in when my hair is completely natural.

I’m lucky that I’ve got a talented sister who is able to style my hair (and for free… thanks sis!), so I can’t really complain too much when I have to waste an entire weekend when I have to remove styles like my usual two-strand twist. It literally took me 6 hours to untwist all the extensions and then another 2 to untangle my natural tresses, because I didn’t want to make the mistake of having a deep shampoo without detangling first (I’ve heard horror stories).

After getting a few tips from another natural colleague, I decided to try a homemade deep-conditioning recipe to add some strength and manageability to my hair, since it was in the twists for about two months.

I took a look in my kitchen pantry and concocted a recipe that worked wonders on my hair.

EVOO (Extra-Virgin Olive Oil) and Egg Yolk Deep-Conditioning Treatment

Ingredients:
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp honey
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp of pure shea butter (available at natural food stores like The Big Carrot or hair supply stores like Honey Fig in Toronto)
6 drops of lavender oil

Directions:

  1. Pour the olive oil into a bowl. Whisk in the two egg yolks and honey.
  2. Melt the solid-state shea butter in the microwave on 60% power for about 1 minute (or until it turns into a liquid state, should not be too hot).
  3. Gradually pour the shea butter into the olive oil mixture and stir until combined. Add in the drops of lavender oil.
  4. After your hair is shampooed and towel dried (blot, don’t rub), part your hair into sections and apply your deep conditioner treatment generously, combing through from root to tip (twist completed sections if desired).
  5. Cover your hair with a plastic cap (in order to retain heat and moisture as your hair folicles work with the conditioner) and leave on for about 30 minutes to an hour. If you don’t have a plastic shower cap, you can do like I did and use one of those plastic bags you find in the produce section of the grocery store.
  6. Remove plastic cap and rinse your hair in luke-warm water (not too hot, unless you want scrambled eggs in your hair) for about 5 minutes, or until the conditioner is properly rinsed out.
  7. Comb and style as usual.

After using this homemade conditioner on my hair, I noticed it felt a lot softer and looked a bit shinier than usual. The best part was that the comb went through it so effortlessly! I usually run into knots when I’m detangling (even after I try to comb through my hair during shampooing), but the conditioner made my hair so manageable.

Bantu Knots aka Chiney Bumps

After I rinsed out the conditioner, I towel-dried my hair and twisted it into my ‘trademark’ chiney bumps/bantu knots. This style should last me a couple of days, then I can untwist and pull off another style with a curly, twist-out.

Reasons why you should try a homemade hair deep-conditioner treatment:

  1. It will help you take better care of the health hair
  2. It’s cost-effective
  3. You know what ingredients are going into the product:
  • Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: Great on split ends, adds moisture to dry scalps, adds shine, softness and manageability.
  • Honey: As a natural humectant it holds on to water molecules, which is what you want if you have dry or damaged hair.
  • Eggs: As a natural emulsifier, it helps bind all your homemade conditioner ingredients together. Egg yolks have protein and that add strength to your hair.
  • Shea Butter: This fat is extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. It’s rich is fatty acids and vitamins (A, F and E) which help condition the hair and reduce breakage.
  • Lavender Oil: This regenerative essential oil has a sweet, soft scent and aids in hair growth.

I strongly encourage anyone wearing their hair natural and if you want to help promote growth, to try a do-it-yourself conditioning treatment. Your hair will love you for it.