When the iphones first came out, I admit I was not a fan. Maybe it had something to do with my colleague showing it off every chance he got or maybe it had something to do with my old boss giving it to a lovely employee. But either way I just had something against the iphones. I don’t like doing or owning the same thing that is ‘IN’ at the moment.

But then something changed, maybe it was Lizzie talking about her iphone, but I wanted one not a crave, but a want. K agreed with me that I needed a phone that would allow me to access my emails when I start my business. We came to the conclusion that unfortunately photographers get stereotyped into an ‘artist’ role that I would look funny carrying around a blackberry.

So… an iphone is now in my home and another goal is checked off my list :)

I have to admit – I don’t like pâté, I’m not squeamish at all about offal, I don’t mind giving anything a try, but the idea of a bunch of organs squeezed into a gelatine form and then spread on some sort of starch base, isn’t exactly delicious in my mind. Our hostesses gave us the option for a veggie option and even that wasn’t exactly jump up and down in excitement. On top of that we were told to make a bread option – since a pâté is supposed to be ’spread on something’. Yeast risen food and I don’t get a long, we have constant battle of the wills and despite my shame yeast always wins.

I think I may have won the battle this time.

It was an interesting experience … at the beginning, you brown your meat, and I am so incredibly glad I didn’t clean my kitchen until after this was made, since I sprayed grease all over the kitchen, even my floors were slippery. I used pork and chicken in my stew, opting out of rabbit since that meat just doesn’t appeal to me. I’m a chunks of beef, potatoes, pearl onion stew person, so this was an experience in taste. It was alright, but at the end when you stir in red wine vinegar and lemon juice, it adds the needed zap (unlike my friend over at Family & Food who thought that brought it down). I made Ballymaloe bread with it, unfortunately I made it a bit to molasses, but the combination of the bread and stew together – delish!

The first two weeks of the SEEDS program we worked on our business plan from our business idea to our primary target, to asking questions of our competitors to doing primary and secondary market research. Thursday in the second week I had my presentation and all I can say is – I’m soooo glad in my mind I had my business plan done on the Saturday before, since I didn’t end up finishing until Tuesday. My life for the two weeks consisted of waking up at 7:00, coming home at 4:00, playing Left for Dead 2 for relaxation, eating, working, and going to bed at 11:00 – and I know it’s only going to get worse.

I’m glad I’m in this program because I know if I was trying to do this myself, I wouldn’t have the perseverance for the details. I like to take shortcuts and the one thing I learned over Phase I of the program – you cannot take shortcuts when you are laying down the foundation for your business.

Thank you to SEEDS for allowing me to go on to Phase II, to the competitors who took time out to write a detailed answer, to the people who took time out to answer my questionnaire and a special thanks to the future people who understand the stress and life changing experience this will be. If I’m not myself these next few months, I apologize.

And a post isn’t a post without a photo – in this case a dirty little sunbathing from Flynn enjoying the sunshine. His fur is still coming in on his belly from his ultrasound.

At college, when my roommates were making Kraft Dinner I would be making risotto. Yes, I was trying to show off. Also trying to prove a point to my summer male roommates that one in a dorm could cook a fine meal without resorting to box food and milk out of the container. (My summer female roommates knew how to cook.) Normally when I cook risotto, I usually resort to mushroom, but I wanted to try something different.

Nice and creamy butternut squash risotto was just the key, with a nice sharp piece of parmesan cheese mixed through in.

I remember sitting in my teacher’s office, and having her warn me that I will have to pull all nighters once I get to college, that it’s not possible to go through school without doing so. Well now that I’m passed my college days, I can laugh in the face of all nighters. The latest I ever had to stay up was till 3:00 for only several nights. I only did so, because I was going to Hawaii during my break off and I was leaving a couple of days early. Now that I’ve pulled an all nighter and have done college, I can honestly say all nighters for school are the worst idea ever. If people can actually buckle down and do work, right when they get the homework, and set there mind to it – homework can be accomplished without putting the body through so much stress. Pulling an all nighter before a test? Nu-huh your mind and body are so out of it and injecting your system with caffeine is not healthy.

But in the long run, I felt like I couldn’t hit 25 without seeing what all the buzz was and I couldn’t do this without Kevin to keep me going. We tried to be ambitious and accomplish this goal as well as watching a Star Wars marathon. But I wouldn’t recommend watching 6 movies while trying to stay awake. Instead we ate pizza, fries, drank coke and rum and started to watch the first three movies while playing games. After that we hit the ’slump’ at 3 ish and I drank half a caffeine boost and we played The Force Unleashed.

All and all – it was awesome to accomplish a goal, but I like my sleep to much to do this again.

February’s challenge was to create a Mezze platter, which is a selection of appetizers or small meals served with drinks, kind of like Spanish tapa’s. The two mandatory dishes we had to create were pita bread and hummus. As tasty as the homemade pita was, I’m not sure if the mess was worth it. The rising of a sponge, mixing in more flour and kneading for 10 minutes, letting it rise an 1 1/2 hours – then proceeding to make 16 9″ circles that were only 1/4″ inch thick was not my ideal of fun. The dough stuck to my fingers, my counter tops, my bowl. The one thing making pita bread taught me – I’m a cook not a baker, I had to call in the big guns (aka Kevin) to help me. That’s definitely one thing we compliment each other on and I was glad to have him take over the pita making process.

I also made a cucumber tomato feta salad paired with some Sicilian olives and orange San Pellegrino, the chicken kebabs were marinated with ginger and mint. All in all it was a delicious meal, I’m just not sure if the mess was worth the effort.

My holiday chocolate is Toblerone, and I can always guarantee that every year I will get at least two regular size bars. Well this year was different – one that I hope not to repeat, no matter how much I love the nougat, almond, chocolately goodness. I received not one, not two, but THREE regular size bars and a little Boxing Day surprise.

Kevin found a 4.5kg (yes, you read correctly) Toblerone bar. This thing is massive and it’s my Toblerone fantasy to indulge. I will admit, I cheated on number two of my 102 goals list, since I was already half way through, but come on it’s 4.5kg of chocolate.

The photo doesn’t do this thing justice, even with the penny. Each side is 4.5 inches long.