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Baking Life

Baking

Posted on February 14, 2017

The definition of Definition of bake

Baked; Baking

1 :  to cook (as food) by dry heat especially in an oven
2 :  to dry or harden by subjecting to heat

My definition of baking:

  1. Stress relief.
  2. Relaxation.
  3. Creation a tasty things.

I use to bake all the time growing up, but in recent years it was just easier to buy my bread, baked goods and treats from a store.

When I was younger I would bake Peanut Butter cookies for my dad and the guys at his work. I use to remember the recipe from heart. I would come home from school, do homework and then bake cookies. I remember one time I messed up the salt and sugar. I got a call from my dad from work asking what was up with the cookies. Needless to say the cookies ended up a bit salty. Even our dog wouldn’t eat them, he just knew.

During my teens, I would bring cupcakes to game nights with friends.

I use to bring cupcakes and cookies into work randomly throughout the year. Now, I usually only bake Ginger crinkle cookies around Christmas.

Although for the past month, I’ve been getting back into the swing of things. I’ve made buns, cupcakes, cinnamon buns and bread.

I’ve missed it. I really have.

I use baking to get my frustrations and my stress out. If I was sad or upset with something I would make cupcakes and then get lost in the decorating. I’m not sure why I stopped.

My house use to smell like a house. Now when you walk into my house now, it smells like a home. A home of sweet treats and baked goods.

Travel

Italy.

Posted on September 9, 2015

Let me start off by telling you I that Italy was never on my bucket list. I had originally bought it as a surprise gift for my boyfriend, The Italian*.  About a year ago, we had a conversation about what were on our bucket list. I remember asking him what was on his and getting the reply “I would like to go to Italy”.

So with much planning and the lovely help from the team at Contiki, I was set to surprise the Italian with the greatest Christmas present ever!

However, he said

No.

Who says no to a free trip to Italy?

I have learned from my past travels with Contiki is that life is about no regrets! I wasn’t going to let buying a trip for someone to someplace that wasn’t on my bucket list be one of mine.

So, I went to Italy all by myself!

I actually enjoy traveling by myself. I get to move at my pace, I’m not rushed to get from point A, to point B. I get to see what I would like to see. Although, getting to Italy was its own adventure, but that’s for another blog post.

The people I met on this tour where amazing. The places I saw where breathtaking. The food I ate was plenty and delicious. The memories I made because of these I’ll remember Italy forever.

Sometimes it’s simply not where you’re going that makes the destination, but the rather the people you had met along the way the destination a memory to last a lifetime.

These are just a couple of people I met along the way. Each person I met on this trip was absolutely fantastic and helped create awesome memories of Italy with me.

One of my favorite moments was the last day of our trip where it POURED buckets and buckets of rain in Rome. I refused to buy and umbrella or poncho from the many venders selling them. I was soaked. I didn’t care. What did I do? I handed off all my electronics to Pooja, and started jumping in puddles all over Rome. BEST TIME EVER! Again, Eleri, I’m so sorry I got you wet! I honestly didn’t think the puddle was that big!

I got to put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea. I did a wine tasting in a beautiful vineyard. I rode a gondola threw Venice. I got to see the roman Colosseum. I saw the statue of David. I visited Juliet’s balcony in Verona. I visited the Cinque Terre and saw some amazing buildings.

The buildings in Italy are a sight of their own. The amount of craftsmanship that went into them just blew my mind. The churches I visited where fantastic, but I don’t have many pictures of the insides because a lot of them ask you not to. I’m OK with that. You will have to visit Italy to find out why everything here is so spectacular.

Would I go back to Italy? Yes but not by myself. I feel like I need an adventure buddy to visit Italy again.
Would I buy a trip for someone else and surprise them with it again? I probably will, but not for a while.

As much as I love to travel by myself, my next adventure will have to be with a travel buddy!

All the best,
Bailey B.

*I call him The Italian because he is Italian, his family came from Italy and he was the 1st Italian I had ever met.

Travel

London.

Posted on August 14, 2015

I spent a few days exploring London during my first ever vacation. I decided to come to London because my friend Paul lived their and I thought, hey why not? The UK is home of my favorite crisp, Monster Munch and its also the home of Harry Potter! I saw so many great and wonderful things, but let me tell you about a couple of my favorites.

London Natural History Museum

London Natural History Museum

London Natural History Museum. AMAZING! I did not know that the do-do bird was actually that big! Dinosaurs where massive creatures. Old rocks and fossils are really, really cool. Most of all, it was free. I was shocked when Paul told me we didn’t have to pay. It was one of the things I really enjoyed about London, Museums are free. Well most of them anyway,

Westminster Abby was an experience. It was breath-taking, inspiring, it was moving. The amount of history, architecture, and artwork is amazing. I will admit, I’m not the most religious person, although I do have my beliefs, being in the Abby was very emotional and spiritually moving. I spent about 4 hours, reading, looking and just absorbing the world around me. I could read as many plaques as I could, looked at every square inch of public space. My favorite room was Henry VII’s Lady Chapel. The reason; the ceiling, which is hand carved by the way. In one area of the room they have a mirror so you can look up at the ceiling without putting a crank in your neck. Even as I think back to my time in the Abby, I feel tingly.

Westminster Abby

Westminster Abby

If you are ever visit the Westminster Abby, visit the little green concession stand just outside, buy yourself a tea, find a spot to sit and just reflect.

Some people might tell you that the Tower of London is over-rated and I will tell you, they are wrong. If you a fan of castles, history, jewels or all the above. You most certainly shall not be disappointed. It’s full of twists, turns, history as well as the famous crown jewels. The valet, where they are kept, is grand and massive. You walk into a room, into another room, down a hallway and then finally you enter the vault. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything sparkle like that room. The one thing I found to be nice little touch is when an item is out on loan or display somewhere else, they leave a note card in its place explaining why and where it is.

Big Ben.

Big Ben.

The Elizabeth tower, home of Big Ben, was a place on my bucket list. I took this lovely picture after walking about it for 20 mins. It is a landmark of London, Its grand, and it’s beautiful.

Platform 9 ¾ was everything I thought it would be. I deliberately chose to leave for Scotland from Kings Cross, just so I could stop at Platform ¾. Yes I bought myself a ticket for the Hogwarts express and had to refrain from purchasing a official HP robe. When I go again, well that’s another story.

When I make it back to London, I would love to do the London Eye, the aquarium, do the tour of Warner Brothers Harry Potter and explore so much more!

Do you have any recommendations of things I MUST see well in London? Leave me a comment!

All the best,
Bailey B.

Travel

Scotland.

Posted on August 8, 2015
One of my favorite pictures from my trip to Scotland.

One of my favorite pictures from my trip to Scotland.

As I mentioned in my post on Ireland, Scotland was an add on to that trip. Looking back on my trip to Scotland I’m so glad I added it on because I had such grand adventures! It started by taking my very first train ride from London to Scotland.

I booked myself a 1st class ticket to Edinburgh Scotland when I booked my Contiki trip months earlier. I remember taking the train from Kings Cross Station in London.Yes the inner Harry Potter fan girl did a sequel when I stopped at Kings Cross and found myself at Platform 9 ¾.

I had never traveled 1st class on anything. When I booked my ticket I thought to myself, hey why not? It’s about the same amount to take the greyhound to Kamloops and back. Fact: If you book your tickets far enough in advance, you get a cheaper price.

I remember getting off the train, collecting my luggage and heading to the taxi pickup to head to my hotel. I had the best taxi driver. I gave him the address and asked him so many questions on the way. He had answers for all of them.

I saw Edinburgh castle, sterling castle, Loch Ness, St. Andrews, the isle in the sky and so many other things! I ate so much amazing and delicious foods, I even tried Haggis! I found a love for Irn-Bru

This place had the best pasties I've had to date.

This place had the best pasties I’ve had to date.

It rained once on the trip, well what I call rain anyway. It was on the first full day of my Contiki, also the day we went to Edinburgh Castle. I had purchased a rain jacket for this trip. Living in Vancouver you think I would have owned one prior to this trip, but nope! It came in great use that day wandering around the castle for about 4 hours, exploring each room, taking everything in! The rest of the trip it was cloudy and a bit moist but nothing in compared to that day.

A wet day at Edinburgh castle!

A wet day at Edinburgh castle!

Haggis is amazing! But apparently only if Its made and cooked right. I found it to be a bit spicy. I enjoyed it so much I wanted seconds.

Best Haggis Ever.

Best Haggis Ever.

I leaned a bunch of Scottish dances in Oban; I danced the night away with friends, great drinks and a bunch of Scottish gentlemen in Glasgow. A night of dancing does a girl wonders.

On every trip you take, you will stay at a place where somethings just don`t work or you don`t understand how they work. Like the time I stayed in a hotel in Oban, Scotland. Worst. Shower. Ever. The water was too hot one moment, too cold the next. Then I had only hot water coming out of the facet and my feet where just boiling. I ended up having to get out of the shower and ask my roommate how the thing worked! She also had the same problems and eventually figured it out.

But on every adventure we go on, we will always come out with some not so great but they are great memories now and a bunch of amazing stories!

Scotland, I can`t wait until I get to see you again,
All the best,
Bailey B.

Transit

The Bus.

Posted on July 27, 2015

As I posted last Monday about my lovely ride to work let me tell you about past encounters with some lovely transit folk on the bus. As a result of some of these, it’s part of the reason I tend to avoid the bus after dark, or whenever I can when I’m by myself. These have actually happened to me over the last 7 years of Living in Vancouver. I couldn’t make these up if I tried.

One time I was waiting for the 250 horseshoe bay bus to get to Park Royal, where I was working at the time, in downtown Vancouver. Now if you have ever visited downtown Vancouver, you would know its very business dress for a weekday. So it’s about 7:45 in the morning, people are moving about and I’m engrossed in my phone so I’m not paying attention to the world around me. I did notice a guy sit down right next to me on the bench and use the seat to his right for his gym bag. He was wearing blue sweatpants. I think nothing other than “You ass hat, someone else could sit there, does your bag really need that seat?” Not thinking “Why is this guy wearing sweatpants in downtown Vancouver on a weekday?” instead. I went back to my phone, shortly after this man sat down. Not even a minute later this girl came over and said to me “You want to stand over with me”.

Turns out the ass hat had started masturbating right next to me at the bus stop.

Probably the reason he was wearing sweatpants, easy access and cover up. I’m still really grossed out that had happened but so glad I didn’t see anything, thank the holy heavens, and that random girl was there to be my hero.

There was that one time I got told my boobs were offensively large and they should be covered up. Now if you know me, I try to NOT have my ladies hanging out. But the icing on the cake was that this came from a lady not wearing a bra, in a very gross and dirty top that left NOTHING to the imagination.

Then there was that time I was going to take the bus to a friend’s place. Well waiting for my bus to show up I somehow managed to get hit on and see a guy take a poop on a bench. Fun fact: Same guy.

Or there was the time that I got called out for being a devil worshiper because I chose to be a redhead. Being a natural redhead, this happens more often than I like to care for. Although this story is the reason one of my good friends and I have the nicknames Spawn and Witness. But I’ll get into that on another day because that needs to be its own post.

Now mind you this is just what has happened to me on the bus, never mind whats happened on the skytrain.

All the best,
Bailey B.

Relationships

Awkward dates

Posted on July 26, 2015

Every person has a story of a bad date that they have been on. I have been on more than my share of awful, cringe worthy dates.  Let me share you a couple true stories of my life when I was single.

This date took place about 3 years ago? I went on a date with an attractive redhead named Gavin. He seemed like an interesting character with some quirky personality. We decided to meet up for lunch. We ended up meeting up at Cafe Deux Soleils because he’s vegetarian. He’s attractive, outgoing and he loves animals, why is this man single? Well…. we somehow got on the topic of finding “the one” and babies. Yes already on awkward ground as we had been on this date for about 30 mins. Then, he proceeds to drop the following and I look for the nearest exit to go anywhere but that moment.

“You will need to be pure before we start having kids. Like no more drinking, drugs and un-natural foods. Everything you put into your body from now on will be organic so our baby will have a clean and healthy start with their energy”.

It should be noted that I don’t do drugs, but Gavin here was talking about cold and pain medications such as ibuprofen and the like.

The date ended soon after.

I like to believe that everyone goes on at least one super awkward date in their life. Let me tell you about my awkward date with Mike that happened about 2 years ago. He was working as an architectural technologist, so in other words very smart with lines and terms. He was about my height, short blond hair and a retainer. Mike wasn’t my usual type of guy, he was very shy, awkward, didn’t like sports but had a kind smile. We had an alright first date over cheesecake and coffee. Mike was very shy, loved books and old movies, so the first date was a bit slow but other than that quite lovely. The second date started off with Mike taking his retainer out before dinner, which is alright but leaving it on the table in the open, not so much. When dinner was over and walking to the skytrain, I saw the kiss coming miles away. How? Well he said “In order to give you a proper kiss, I need to remove my retainer”.

The date ended very soon after that, without a good night kiss.

I had gone on of dates with some guy who’s name I can’t remember, but I do remember going out for dinner, ending back at my place hanging out on the couch. I don’t remember much of that evening other than feeling super uncomfortable as he tried his hardest to put his moves on me. I should mention that my roommate was home this entire time, so that in itself was awkward. I do however remember him saying the lines “No grapefruits, no grouping” and laughing my ass off in front of him. As to the context of this I can only imagine it had to do with my roommate’s grapefruits on the table and this date wanting to go forth with more than just hanging out on the couch. I also remember hearing my roommate laugh from his room soon after hearing that line and him thinking this guy was an asshole.

Needless to say, the dates didn’t continue after that.

I’ve been on many, many first dates, some great, most not so great, some awful. I learned through dating that to find a prince you have to kiss a few frogs or throw pasta in their face. Now that’s one of my favorite memories from dating, but that’s for another time!

All the best,
Bailey B.