Battles at Home Less Important?

The other day, when I was making follow up calls for an education and outreach fundraising campaign, I called a local business.
Feeling that this particular charity has grave importance in occupying the idle minds of potentially great future community leaders, I have significant buy in. Especially with the wave of unprecedented violence that is ravaging the GTA! I believe that a program that focusses on giving opportunity to the underserved youth is one that needs to upheld with honour in light of recent events.

Do you know what this business' representative told me?

"We donated all our funds to Katrina Relief."

Was Katrina devestating? Yes. Were the victims victimized by their own gov't? Yes. Is the United States, financially, more than capable of taking care of their own? Yes!

What upsets me isn't that this charity was declined. It wasthe overwhelmingly apathetic attitude of Canadians towards their own emergencies! When flooding occured out west, I bet a dollar this company didn't step up to the plate. When Nova Scotia was hit by a hurricane years ago, I bet they dismissed it entirely. Now Toronto is hit by multiple shootings daily, and those we look to for assistance turn a blind eye.

My point is: If you are a Canadian, I would think you have an invested interest in making the country as strong as possible for the betterment of you and of me. A civic responsibility to take care of your own, so that collectively we can assist others.

The truth is: Canadians are filled with push/pull inclinations. When there's an appeal for emergency outside our own, we respond ten fold! But, when the emergency blatantly happens locally, we fain ignorance.

Yes, assist others, but, don't let problems internationally monopolize your funds!

Diet Food & Good Tasting Recipes

Would you think that 135lbs is heavy set for a 5'9" female?
Well, for me, the extra weight doesn't work out so well, so I.H.C.B. and I have decided to embark on a quest for ultimate weight management! The name of the game is GOOD FOOD AND GOOD FUN!

NO CRAZE! We've opted to negate the Protein crazy and artificial sweetener craze as viable solutions to weight loss. Reason being, scientifically supported facts!
Research supports that Atkins helps to lose mostly water weight. Therefore, go off the diet and it's inevitable the water weight will come back.
Now artificial sweeteners are an interesting tale. Besides the fact they are rumoured to encourage cancer, migrain headaches and they taste like crap. They actually confuse your brain to think that real sugar doesn't contain calories and can result in binge eating on sweets.

Excuse me, I'd like the cottage cheese on my bagel, not my thighs!

So we're excercizing more. Women tend to binge eat after a heavy work out, so we're opting for low impact easy to maintain activity like climbing stairs, walking instead of ttc and making grocery shopping a fun day on the town. Now that C.B. is cheffing at a trendy new downtown restaurant I have a feeling that grocery day will be date day!

The food! With a picky Middle Eastern half breed & an up and coming chef, we have no tolerance for food that blows. Even if we made it ourselves!

So if that's any testiment to the quality of the recipes I'm posting, then so be it.

The foods are high in fibre, low in fat and taste good. We aim for an entire meal to contain approximately 500-600 calories and should be easy to prepare.

Ingredients we're in love with:
broccoli
asparagus
spinach
prepared salad greens
lemons
chicken
lean red meat
parmasan cheese
cracked peppercorns
Bulgur wheat
Brown Rice
Pasta (yeah, pasta, deal with it)
Low Sodium Chicken Broth

Favorite Recipe #1: Bulgur Wheat Salad with feta and cucumbers.

I hate tabouleh. I hate how bits get stuck in my teeth and hate it, ever since I was little. This is not Tabouleh... if anything it's Tabouleh that I don't hate!

What you need:
Chicken stock
Cucumber, chopped fine
Crumbled Feta Cheese (I like sheep's milk feta.)
1/2 clove garlic mashed with a pinch of salt
TBS fresh parsley chopped up fine
olive oil (to taste)
lemon juice (to taste)
roasted pine nuts
Bulger wheat

1. Boil 1.5 cups of Chicken Stock. Reduce heat to minimum (i'm so serious!) and add in 1 cup of Bulger Wheat. Cover & Let sit for 10 minutes. Uncover, fluff & cool.

2. While the wheat is cooling, perfect time to prep the above ingredients in a bowl.

3. When wheat is cool, mix EVERYTHING together. Avoid adding salt to season in the dish because Cucumber soaks it up and will then turn to mush. Season when served!

4. Use a little oil and a little lemon juice to flavour it up.

I ate this for an entire week.

Stay tuned for more recipes and more commentary! Including, my shocking epiphany on the Food Guide, why people are lying about food, and why my father is Alton Brown's twin.

k

The Best of the Web

Here's an entertaining group of links to entertain you and to help you forget your fear of Americans.

The best of Craigs List TORONTO. Sexually Explicit with graphic language. You will find open letters from the Porn Stars of America, How to Get Along With Your Local Barrista & Open apologies to local waitresses

TTC Rider Efficiency Guide. Passed on to me by a resident of Chateau Nice, this tool will hlep you shave minutes off your TTC ride!

Model Resource - A handy resource for models new and old

Hard To Find Groceries. Vintage, Retro, it's all there. Including a hefty shipping fee to Canada.
Enjoy!

Music Heals Musicians

Come Sunday, September 25th, from 7pm to Midnight, an amazing concert
featuring a dozen of the most talented jazz artists from across the
continent!
Where? At the Distillery District, 55 Mill Street, Toronto, Ontario!

$20 suggested donation gives access to all 7 stages.

100% of all music, product and services are being donated.
No one is getting paid.
100% of all proceeds will be forwarded to the
New Orleans Musicians Clinic.

We all know the ravage that Katrina left New Orleans in. Not only is
it one of the US' oldest cities, but, it is also one of the richest
culturally profound cities in the world!

Funds go to the New Orleans Musicians' Clinic, which is a NFP that provides occupational medicin and comprehensive health care to musicians and their families. Keep in mind, that many musicians can make a living, however, in a country
that does not provide universal health care, a trip to the hospital
can break the bank and decend them into poverty.

By coming to this event you will help to assist thousands of
displaced musicians and their families, relieve depleated relief
stocks and in turn assist a community rebuild itself.

"The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should
love stop at the border?"

-Pablo Casals

RELATED LINKS:
NOMC - http://wwoz.org/clinic/welcome.html
MAIN WEBSITE - http://www.freewebs.com/torontobenefitconcert/
MY BLOG WITH DETAILS ON THE EVENT - http://karmacake.blogspot.com/

Lonely Days & Lonely Nights.

Today all sorts of great things ran through my head to post. You know, funny things, thought provoking things, things to keep my mind off of how lame it is to be home alone.

But, of all the things I thought about most was having my boyfriend see me, rescue me from my boredom and whisk me away to a land filled with tales of his first real day on the job!

He went to work at 7:30am and it is now 10:20pm. When you do the math, add pissiness times each hour in excess of 5:30pm that I don't get a phone call AND THERE you now have the total of me.

No need to say more.
I'm going to put away the supper and go to bed.