A couple days ago, I had the opportunity to make a Peruvian dish using lamb’s lung with Michelle’s mom. It was pretty gross to see the lamb lung, with the trachea still attached, but apparently, we were “lucky” that the trachea was still attached because you usually can’t buy them like that… Lucky?

My job was to chop up the cooked lamb’s lung (and the trachea too) into small cubes. It was really easy to cut and felt very soft and tender.

The final product, stewed with potatoes and spicy aji peppers, tasted a lot like beef liver, except with a lamb-leg like aroma, and with a very rubbery texture, but not at all chewy. While I do like liver, I can’t say I liked this, but at least I can say I tried it! The texture took some getting used to, but mostly I think it was the taste that I didn’t like. Or maybe the combination of both…

What do you think? Would you try this?

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

(Click on the images to see a larger version.)

I came across this article in the Toronto Star about how using too much laundry detergent can actually make your clothes smell. I must admit, I’m not very good at using the recommended amount of laundry detergent – usually a full/large load should only use detergent up to the last line, which is about half of the measuring cup, not at the top like I sometimes do… But it never occurred to me that using more detergent could actually leave your clothes dirtier…

If you want to read the whole article, click the link above, otherwise, here’s an excerpt of the article:

Laundry detergent’s secret? More you use, less it works

Feeling kind of scummy? Are your clothes hanging on you, listless and faded? It could be that you’ve been overdosing again.

On laundry detergent, that is.

The side-effects are nasty: Not only do you waste money and make your clothes dingier, you may start to smell.

“Too many suds can carry the soils released from the dirty clothes and deposit them in your washer’s interior, where the rinse water can’t reach,” says Mary Zeitler, consumer scientist at Whirlpool’s Institute of Fabric Science, in an email. “Over time, these deposits can start to develop odours due to bacteria growth. The odour can then attach to your clothes.”

…

Laundering has gotten far more complicated, with high-efficiency washing machines and condensed-formula laundry detergents boasting of such formulas as 2X, 3X or Coldwater HE. Precise dosing is in. Eyeballing is out.

But the bottle caps of many laundry detergents made precise measurement difficult. Procter & Gamble recently introduced easier-to-read plastic measuring caps for its liquid detergent brands, including Tide, Gain and Cheer.

The old caps, hard to read and hard to open, were the No. 1 consumer complaint received by P&G’s fabric-care division.

Even Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers’ Association of Canada, has gotten an earful. “It’s been a chronic problem. A lot of people have had difficulty understanding how to use the concentrate and get the doses right.”

Adam Lowry, cofounder of Method Products Inc., makers of eco-friendly household and personal care products, doesn’t think that was an accident.

“It’s well-known consumer behaviour in the laundry industry that people use more than they need,” says Lowry.

It’s logical that detergent for the biggest load would be the volume of the cap, he explains. Instead, the measuring line for the big load was often about half the volume of the cap.

“They were encouraging the use of more product faster.”

…

… A survey that Method conducted found that 53 per cent of consumers didn’t use the recommended lines on laundry caps.

They either eyeballed it or filled the cap.

…

As for the future, industry spokesman Sansoni says more detergents may go to a concentration of eight or even 10 times, perhaps in premeasured doses.

“Even with innovations,” he says, “consumers still need to read the directions.”

From now on, I’m going to carefully measure the amount of laundry detergent I use!

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

$1 Bright, furnished room in exchange/reduced rent for services (Bloor/Dufferin)

I’m looking for a female to clean, cook, and dress provocatively in exchange for rent.

You must be a hard worker, polite, and submissive in nature.

I am offering a large furnished room with balcony and private washroom. Kitchen is shared. Close to subway.

The space is available immediately.

I am a sane, fit, professional, attached male living alone.

Serious replies only.

What do you think?

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

The ad was taken down by Craigslist a couple days later…

If you know of any, please let us know, either by posting a comment below, or via our contact info that follows. You can also share this post with someone (you can email it, share it on Facebook, Twitter, etc.) using the link on the right. Thanks!

Here’s a little bit of information about us, and what we’re looking for:

Apartment Wanted for Engaged Couple – Exceptional Tenants

Community: Preferably close to the subway, or at least easily accessible by TTC. (East of Dufferin, South of Eglinton, West of Bayview)

Details: Hi – we’re Daniel & Michelle and we’re looking for an Apartment in Toronto for February 1st, 2010. We’ve been living together for just over 5 years now and are moving back to Toronto (from Calgary) the second week of January.

We’re looking to move into a clean, well-maintained apartment (preferably no high-rises) where everything works properly. Basement suites are OK as long as it’s a separate entrance, and has lots of big windows. We always pay rent on time (sometimes early, but never late) and are exceptional at taking care of where we live. Ideally, we’d like to find something that has been recently renovated, has in-suite washer and dryer and no carpet, but we’re staying open…

We’re neat-freaks, very organized and super clean – we clean our house on a daily basis. We have a zero-tolerance for vermin and pests of any kind (no mice, no rats, no cockroaches, no bugs of any kind at all) and we won’t rent a place with a history of pests, even if it was years ago. We’re not open to that at all. On the flip-side, you can be assured that you’ll be renting to exceptionally clean tenants who will not attract any pests or vermin to your property. We are constantly cleaning and maintaining our home to ensure that this is never an issue – we can’t live with pests.

A location close to the subway would be ideal for us, or at least easily accessible by TTC. (When we used to live in Toronto before moving to Calgary, we had an apartment at Bathurst and St. Clair, which was perfect for us.) We don’t smoke nor do any drugs of any kind and we don’t have any late-night parties or anything of the sort. Of course, we can provide excellent references if necessary. You can also find out more about us at: DanielAndMichelle.ca

We also have three small dogs (not much bigger than the size of a cat) that mean the world to us. You can see pictures of our dogs at CuteDogs.ca

All three of our dogs are hypo-allergenic non-shedding dogs and we are very responsible pet owners. Our oldest is Lorenzo (Maltese x Yorkie) at 4 years, then Daisy (Bichon x Cocker Spaniel) at 3 years, and Javier (Bichon x Yorkie) is the youngest at 2 years. All three dogs are neutered/spayed, licensed and up-to-date with shots, vet visits, etc. They only eat 100% certified-organic raw food so they’re exceptionally well behaved and their urine actually fertilizes the lawn (not burns it). Daniel works from home most of the time so he is home with them during the day, otherwise, they are very well behaved dogs when we’re gone (and we leave them in a crate for their safety anyways – it’s their “den”). Most of the time though, we prefer to take them everywhere with us, whenever possible. Our dogs have travelled to many places with us and have stayed in numerous hotels across Canada – we’ve never had a single problem with any of them :-) Simply put, anywhere we’ve rented or stayed (housing, hotels, lodges, etc.) our dogs have never been a problem; plus, they don’t shed, so it’s very easy to keep things clean all the time.

If you have any questions, or have an apartment for rent that might interest us, please do not hesitate to contact us via email at hola@danielandmichelle.ca or via cell phone at (416) 816-0959. Thank you in advance!

Daniel & Michelle

There you have it. Please pass this along to anyone you know who’s renting an apartment in Toronto – thanks!

I’ve been meaning to upload this video for months now – since this video was taken, the birds have become more and more daring and will fly down right beside Javier, literally, as if to tease him. I would have thought that birds would fear dogs, but apparently not. It’s a game of tag for them, except the dogs never win…

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

Here’s a short interview, followed by a live/impromptu version of his song, “Con Cuatro Tragos”:

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

See more photos at CuteDogs.ca

On Saturday, October 31, 2009, I played a very last-minute gig with Alabadlo. Their bass player had gone to rehearsals and all, but flaked out at the last minute, so I got a call about thirty minutes before the show was supposed to start… I was on my way home from my sister’s house when I got the call so I had to get my stuff ready in a hurry. No problem.

Anyways, back to the point, it did give Michelle another opportunity to take some photos. I set up the camera’s settings for her (set it to Aperture priority, set the ISO speed, auto-focus, etc.) but unfortunately, I think I set the ISO speed too low. The lighting in the room when I was setting the camera for her was not the same as the lighting while we were playing, so the shutter speeds were around 0.5-1 seconds long, making for extremely blurry pictures. (It’s also hard for her to hold the camera steady since it’s too heavy for her small hands.) I’m pretty sure I had the ISO speed set pretty high though, but obviously not high enough…

There was only one picture (out of more than 100) that did turn out somewhat decent. Here it is:

I also editted the photo a bit using Aperture…

(In an unrelated matter, I’ve been going back-and-forth on the idea of buying a new strap for my bass. I think I need to lower the bass about an inch or two… My current strap is very short (intentionally) and I have it fully extended, but I think I may need just an inch or two more length on it… Hm.)

So, other than using the camera’s AUTO mode, (or the obvious long-term solution of having Michelle learn about Aperture, shutter speeds, ISO, how to use the camera, change settings, etc.) I’m wondering what I can do for next time to set her up for success and help her get better shots. Any suggestions?

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

(There’s a ton of links in this post! Check them out…)

Click on the images for a larger version.

What do you think?

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

Click on the images for a larger version.

Post a comment and let me know your thoughts.
Subscribe to the RSS/XML feed and the comments feed to stay up-to-date.

]]>