Macromedia Flash

I hate flash. Every time I go to a website that relies entirely on Flash it just annoys me. I always press the “skip intro” button, or the html only button. But what if the whole website is on Flash?
It is so annoying.
Am I old-fashioned? or avant-garde?
I wonder

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Paintings Below Zero

Ice Gallery
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

From the WinterCity website:

Paintings Below Zero is an installation of boldly coloured, abstract paintings in ice — enormous in scale and yet intricate in detail — with stunning patterns created by pigments combining with the crystal structure of the ice. This uniquely Canadian art form was created by Vancouver artist Gordon Halloran.

I saw the exhibit during the weekend. It is really nice and colourful. The artist did something similar for the Torino Olympics last year. More information about the artist here (link).

There are more pictures for your enjoyment on my Flickr account.

Huevos ahogados

For James’s birthday, I prepared a special breakfast. Huevos ahogados literally means “drowned eggs”, and you can “drown” them in any kind of sauce. I prepared a mole sauce this time.
The ingredients are: one box of Mole Don Pancho, or any other hot or tomato sauce that you want (you can prepare any kind of salsa or guajillo, or pasilla sauce. One jar of tender cactus (nopales). Two eggs per person.
1. Prepare the mole or sauce, if it is mole, make sure it is not very thick.
2. Drain and rinse the nopales to remove saltiness. Add them to the mole or sauce.
3. Six minutes before serving and while sauce is boiling, add the eggs, one by one after breaking them (but NOT the yolk) in a saucer. The reason you are breaking them in a saucer first is to make sure that the yolk is not broken.

4. Cook the eggs for six minutes, making sure not to over cook so that the yolk does not harden too much.
5. Serve with black beans and tortillas.

James enjoyed his breakfast very much!

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Jay’s piñata

365days – day 24
Originally uploaded by Jay.

Here’s the complete product. Jay’s piñata. I am ashamed to confess that I haven’t finished mine. I’ll work on it during the weekend and will have an updated picture for my readers soon.

The difference between glue and bread dough

After the pinata making party I had on the weekend, I wondered how come one can make glue with flour and water, and what the difference is with dough bread. How come when you make bread you can’t just stick paper with the dough? I was really confused.
So I asked my scientist in residence, Eva. I knew she would have a well-founded answer.
Here’s an abstract of her post:

Off the bat, I knew that flour has starch and the starch makes the glue sticky, but then I started wondering too. Why is starch sticky? And why isn’t bread dough more like glue?

Click here for the complete explanation.

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Deal or No Deal Ticket Auction

A friend of mine sent the following email:

Hi Guys, in addition to the Boston Rescue and my Boston Meetup, I have joined the larger organization the Rescue Me/Helping Homeless Pets group. Anyways, we have managed to get ahold of 3 tickets to Deal or No Deal so if you or if you know of anyone is interested is attending the taping, check out the info below!!

Helping Homeless Pets, a group of canine rescue organizations in Ontario is holding an auction for tickets to the Toronto taping of the show “Deal or No Deal”. The money will go to rescue efforts.Here’s the website if you’re interested in bidding on the tickets: http://www.helpinghomelesspets.com just click on Howie to place your bid.I know a lot of people love this show!!!… please feel free to crosspost.

Would you like to go to a taping of TV’s Hottest Game Show?
Where: Toronto at 250 Front Street West , at the corner of Front St and John StWhen: Thursday, January 25th, 2007Time: 10:30 am – 2:30 pm
Tickets will only be available on the day of the show. We will meet you at the taping and give your ticket(s) to you then.
Taping will be approximately 3 hours long and you must stay for the entire taping.Your bid is a donation to Helping Homeless Pets. You are not actually buying the ticket(s). The bidding will close on Wed. Jan. 24 at 10:00 am. In the event, we cannot reach the winning bidder, we will contact the next highest bidder(s).

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I didn’t lose any weight

I didn’t gain any weight either during the Veggie Challenge. I weighted weighed myself this morning and I weight weigh exactly the same as last week.
Yesterday I ended the week by having nachos, carrots, pizza and pasta. I know, it sounds like a lot, but it was over the course of at least 6 hours.
I enjoyed doing the veggie challenge and will try to adhere to a vegetarian diet at least 90% of the time. I can’t give up sushi, and I have to finish some stuff that I have in my freezer. But from then on, it’s gonna be mostly veggie for me.

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Pinata making

pinatas1
Originally uploaded by Maria in Toronto.

Since there are no pinatas allowed on Air Canada and we couldn’t bring one from Mexico, we decided to make some ourselves. So yesterday some people came over to participate in the pinata making activity.
First we covered the balloons with newspaper, when it was almost dry we added the decorations.
We didn’t finish last night because we had to leave the piñatas dry, but we will finish this week, all in time for James’s birthday!

I finally got to cook at home

After the half a pizza that I ate for breakfast yesterday, I knew I would get hungry while volunteering at the hospital. So I stopped at McDonald’s and got a baked cherry pie. Later I ate a pack of Melba toast and a piece of cheese.For dinner I had cheese tortellini with a pepper, mushrooms and tomato sauce, and loooots of garlic, of course. I made it myself. I put the onion, pepper and garlic in the food processor and chopped it finely. I used some olive oil to sautee and later I added a can of mushrooms and a can of tomatoes.
I cooked the tortellini as indicated and poured the sauce over it, finally I sprinkled it with real parmiggiano from Alex Farm Products at St. Lawrence Market.
It turned out fine but the sauce was a little bit sweet, I guess all those sweet peppers combined with the tomato did it. It was yummy, though.
This morning I had breakfast burritos! Yeah, I know, I can’t stop eating burritos, I looooove them. I made them myself. I put scrambled egg with veggies (veggie combination from Dominion, with zucchini, onion, red pepper, broccoli) and cheese. I added whole black beans and made the burritos. I put some sour cream and salsa on top and added a bit more cheese. I couldn’t eat both burritos, though. It was too much. But they were really good.

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I can’t live without burritos

Last night, after a 5 hour nap (!) I went to Betty’s with James. I ended up ordering the bean burritos with side salad. They were just like small bean tacos with a bit of cheese and sauce on the top. The salad had radicchio or that purple lettuce that I hate. I had to pick it so that I wouldn’t eat it.

This morning I had half a piece of pizza from yesterday’s lunch and a piece of watermelon.

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