Fire Safety

Last night we had a representative of Toronto Fire Services in my building to show us all about fire safety.
Some of the things I learned:

• Fire extinguishers have a shelf life of 12 years.
• Most fires start in the kitchen, especially when you leave something on the stove when the phone rings.
• Candles are quickly becoming the second most common cause of household fires. Don’t go to sleep without turning them off, and don’t leave matches or lighters lying around where children could reach them.
• The fire truck rescue crane only goes up to a sixth floor (Oops, I live on a higher floor).
• Toronto police don’t have a helicopter, nor do Toronto Fire Services, helicopters were not approved by council a few years ago. If there is a fire, do not run upstairs to your building’s roof, you will not be rescued from there. Try to go downstairs, if the stairwell is full of smoke or you can’t go down, go back to your apartment and duct-tape the vents and under the doors where smoke could leak. Stay there and wait to be rescued, you can also call 911 and have them know where you are. Go to the balcony if you have one or open the window if possible, the goal is to ventilate.
• Fire stations in Toronto are within 4 minutes of everywhere.
• Fire fighters are cute (OK, I didn’t learn that last night, I already knew it!)

For more information, visit the Toronto Fire Services website.
Email me!

Alex Cuba Band

Before going to Babaluu last night, we went to Lula Lounge to see the Alex Cuba Band show produced by Mister Bryans, it was exciting to finally meet him.
The Alex Cuba Band was nominated for a Juno award and that was the excuse for the show. I really enjoyed the music, a bit like jazz, a bit like bolero. I really really liked it, if anyone has the opportunity to see them definitely they should go.

Email me!

Note to self:
As fun as it may sound, it might not be that good an idea to go drinking mojitos with your hairdresser and then go dancing to Babaluu if it’s a Tuesday night. You may twist your ankle and hurt your knee while falling; later the pizza may end up on the car’s floor. And remember, you have to wake up and go to work on Wednesday!

Email me!

Mole chilaquiles

Or in Spanish it would be “chilaquiles de mole”.
This is an authentic Mexican breakfast and so easy to make it should definitely be better known.
There are different types of chilaquiles: chilaquiles verdes (green sauce chilaquiles), chilaquiles rojos (red sauce chilaquiles), chilaquiles de mole (mole chilaquiles), and almost any sauce flavour you can imagine.
The first step is to go to Kensington Market and get “Mole Don Pancho”. I got the Poblano style mole, but there are other mole flavours that you can choose.

The mole comes as powder, you have to mix it with boiling water until; you have the thick mole sauce. You don’t want it too thick, though, or you won’t be able to mix it with the Tostitos.

Tostitos are the best way to get the tortilla chips used for chilaquiles. All you have to do is pour some Tostitos into the mole and mix them so that all the chips are covered with the mole sauce.
Serve with sour cream and sliced onion.

This picture of the chilaquiles looks funny because by the time I took the picture, I had already eaten half of them and mixed them all with the sour cream. But, believe me my dear 3 readers, they were delicious. And really easy to make!

Email me!

800 mts

800 mts
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

There are 800 mts of Fiddlesticks Knitting Country Silk Yarn in the kit I bought for the Easy Lace Mesh Stole that I will be wearing at my sister’s second wedding.
On Stitch ‘n Bitch at Lettuce Knit last Wednesday I made the fringe for the shawl.
On Thursday, while I was naked, I casted on for the shawl. The pattern calls for 4 mm needles, but after a few rows I decided to use my 4.5 mm. The reason is that my 4 mm are Pony Pearls needles and they didn’t quite like the yarn. Now I’m using Clover bamboo needles.
The wedding is on May 6 so I think I will have enough time to finish the shawl.

Coughing fits

Tuesday afternoon I cleaned my bathroom… wait a minute, my dear 3 readers this story has a point.
I coughed a little bit after inhaling the tile cleaner fumes, but I thought it would be all right.
Yesterday I woke up and had a dry cough. By mid-day I couldn’t quite breathe. Today I’m the same. I start having dry coughing fits and feel an oppression in my lungs. I can’t breathe well.
Could this be a consequence of the tiny bit of fumes I inhaled on Tuesday and that made me cough? I have no idea.

Email me!

Short knitting attention span

So just one week after having started the hooded pullover, and before even having 10 inches knit, I’m going to set it aside for a little bit and start a new project. I know, I have “startitis”, but hey, I do have a good excuse.
My sister is getting married in May (yes, it’s the same sister who got married in August, she wanted to get married in a church and have a big wedding, so she’ll have another ceremony and a big party). I bought a dress and now I need a shawl to go for it. I’m flying down to California on May 4, so I have about 5 weeks to finish the shawl.
I decided to make the Easy Lace Mesh Stole from Fiddlesticks Knitting. I’m using their Country Silk Yarn in Loden. Beautiful!
I’ll cast on this afternoon at Stitch ‘n Bitch.

Email me!

Kari’s new photoblog

Ravenswift Images is finally up and running. Kari is a great photographer and I love her work. She will be attending the GTABloggers get-together with me next Thursday. What are you waiting for? Go, click on the link and see her beautiful images!

Email me!

On March 20

It was on March 20 four years ago that I “landed” in Canada as a permanent resident.
I bought a one-way ticket from Mexico City to Toronto on Air Canada. My friends couldn’t believe I had a one-way ticket. Well, what did I need a return for? Some people didn’t understand what “moving to a new country” meant; some don’t even understand it yet. I still get asked when I’m coming back.
I arrived at about 9:00 PM to Pearson Airport. I had my permanent resident permit ready and all I had to do is have it stamped with the date, they recorded that I was already in Canada.
A second cousin who is 10 years younger than me (whom I adore now) picked me up, he was a student at Ryerson. I had only seen him once before in my whole life. I stayed with him in his dorm room.
The next day I opened a bank account and started looking for apartments, it took me only two days to find a brand new rental in an 8 apartment building on the Danforth. I had nothing but a suitcase, and knew no one except my cousin. I went to CostCo and to WalMart, since I had absolutely nothing I needed to buy towels, sheets, cutlery, I needed to get everything. I bought a bed at Sears, I got some furniture at IKEA. My laptop broke down and I had to order a new computer (desktop) from Dell. I started looking for a job around April and got one in June. I enrolled in karate classes. I started to try to meet people. It has been difficult, but after four years I am so happy. I have lots of friends and I am making double what I was making when I just started 4 years ago. I love Toronto, I love Canada. I love my friends and my life.
Now I am a Canadian citizen and proud of it.
Email me!

The neverending scarf is finished

the neverending scarf is finished
Originally uploaded by Jay.

I finally finished the “neverending scarf”. The opera scarf (which by the way, I can’t find anymore in the patterns section of Blue Sky Alpacas).
I started just after Christmas so it took me more than 2 months. I used less than one skein of Artyarns Ultramerino. It’s a beautiful yarn, and a nice pattern, but it was a bit boring to knit and just to start it took me like 7 tries (I ended up using 7 mm needles). Thankfully it’s finished just before the end of winter.