I once met a man named Miracle...

No explanation necessary

~~~

from Prince Miracle Nze
reply-to princemiraclenze@yahoo.com
to lara.varona@gmail.com
date Monday, November 24, 2008 at 9:35pm
subject Re: 1 br - clean and bright suite in great location (VGH neighbourhood)
mailed by yahoo.com
signed by yahoo.com

Thanks for your email and it is my gladness to hearing from you.I am
Rev Prince,the owner of the house you are making enquiry
of.Actually I resided in the house with my family,such as my wife and
my only daugther before and resently we had packed due to my transfer
from my working place and now situated in London,and
presently my house is still available for rent for $700 per month
including the utilities like hydro,washer and security,it is
urnised.Moreso Now, i went for a Crusade in the West Africa and i will
like you to get in touch with my wife for more discussion
as She is with the keys and the document to the house.Pls i want you
to note that,i am a kind and honest man and also i spent alot on my
property that i want to give you for rent,so i will solicit for your
absolute mentenance of this house and want you to treat it as your
own,is that taken,it is not the money the main problem but want you to
keep it tidy all the time so that i will be glad to see it neat when i
came for a check up.i do that once in a while.I also want you to let
me have trust in you as i always stand on my word.Where are you
located and where do you see our advert.
Email my wife Faith on (faithmiracle16@yahoo.com) she will
attends to you better.
God bless you
Rev Prince


from lara varona
to princemiraclenze@yahoo.com
date Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 12:01am
subject Re: 1 br - clean and bright suite in great location (VGH neighbourhood)
mailed by gmail.com


So good to hear from you, Rev Prince. This sounds like a most fantastic plan and presently I am sending you many cheques for many money. So good of you to be blessings on my family.

To, as well, I am honest woman of present nature and will likingly meet with you in the present future.

I am glad to hear that your present concern is not about money, rev prince, but moreso about the tidy nature of your most prize possession your home. I will be keeping it most cleanliness for you. In return, kind prince, I only ask that you take pity on my present situation and make acceptions for my rental fee, at present I can pay only $5 a month. As you are a kind man I am most trusting that this will not be a problem.

Presently I would like to sign the agreement and proceed with the fruitful living arrangement. Kindly forward me your mail address and I will wait for the keys to my new place.

God bless you more,
Lara Varona

~~~

For some reason, I never did hear back from the honourable Rev. Prince Miracle. Strange. Now if only the Nigerian prince who wants to wire his $10 Billion dollar inheritance into my bank account would write back to me...

Indie I Do

I've been following the lotus events blog for a while now, and recently became aware of the Indie I Do show that they are producing in January. As "Vancouver's First Alternative Wedding Show," Indie I Do is setting up to be the most interesting indie show in Vancouver over the next little while. I'm not engaged (yet! hint hint Karlo are you reading this?), but I will definitely be attending this show.

From their Facebook event page:
"Indie I Do is an alternative to the cookie cutter wedding where one size does not fit all. The first show of its kind in Canada, Indie I Do revolutionizes an industry that is dominated by commercial products and provides couples with the opportunity to think outside the box.

The indie wedding market is almost non-existent as couples often have to search high and low to find the products and services that will help create a wedding day full of personal touches without an unnecessary price tag to go with it. Indie I Do is a one-stop show featuring the non-traditional alongside the traditional.

While the show will naturally attract couples looking at completely non-traditional weddings, the intent is to also introduce those couples with more traditional events to unique touches and alternatives that they can incorporate into their events.

Tickets are $15.00 in advance and $20.00 at the door. Please visit www.indieido.com for more information or email info@indieido.com"

I'm sure this show is going to be fantastic, so if you're getting married or know someone getting married, spread the word about this alternative to the normal, run of the mill wedding show. Supporting Indie culture all the way!

"I'm blogging!"

I wish I had more time to write an actual post right now, but alas time is limited for me these days. So instead I will leave you with this. Kate Trgovac tweeted this yesterday and it made me laugh!

Fave goes FAB!

3 more weeks until the FAB Fair. I'm super excited about it, even though there's stiff competition that weekend (if you're into indie/handmade products, then you know which shows I am referring to!). If you're free for a bit on either day, Nov. 22 & 23, stop by the Heritage Hall on Main St. You won't regret it! Even though I'm vending there the entire weekend, you better believe I'll be shopping too!

Sunday morning recipe

I've baked since I was about 11 or 12 years old, but for the most part I stick to the recipes of my childhood that I've grown to love (and know like the back of my hand, thanks mom!). However recently I was asked by Karlo to try experimenting with some new recipes since he's not as big of a sweet tooth as I am. So, when I came across this recipe on one of my favourite blogs, everybody likes sandwiches, I was super excited to try it out. Now, in the past I haven't really ever been a fan of the whole sweet and salty thing, I've always preferred my foods be one or the other, but nevertheless I set out to try this recipe and boy am I glad I did! The result was a batch of the best cookies I have ever had! I'm not kidding, I'm obsessed with these cookies. I substituted the white chocolate in the recipe for a mixture of dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips (the good kind, though - Ghirardelli all the way) this time because Karlo doesn't like white chocolate, but the recipe does call for premium white chocolate which I will try for myself the next time I bake these. Like she said on ELS, these cookies are "thin and crispy and that sprinkle of fleur du sel (hell, just use regular ol' kosher instead) on top, is the icing on the cake. The salt brings an interesting complexity to each bite...it's like a party in your mouth!" Amen, sister! I've eaten probably a dozen myself over the last few days, and I'm making another batch at this very moment, for Karlo (who by the way, is equally obsessed with them) to take to work tomorrow to give out at the Science World staff meeting.

crispy salted oatmeal cookies with dark and milk chocolate chips
(recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
1 c all-purpose flour
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t kosher salt
14 T unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 c sugar
1/4 c packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
2 1/2 c old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 t fleur du sel (or Maldon or kosher)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and the 1st salt measurement in a medium bowl.

2. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla until combined. Slowly add in flour mixture and mix until just blended. Add in oats and chocolate until incorporated.

3. Spoon up a large tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball, repeat for remaining dough. Press down on each ball to slightly flatten and sprinkle a flake or two of fancy salt on each cookie. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Makes 24 - 30 cookies.

Take it from me, this recipe is easy to prepare and tastes oh so yummy. Try them and you won't be disappointed. I'm feeling inspired to try more sweet and salty things now - Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate, anyone?

So you wanna be Canadian, eh?

@jodiferous posted this on twitter this morning, and I couldn't pass up sharing it, too. This is hilarious, yo!

Reverse Psychology at it's best...?

So today on twitter everyone was buzzing about this article from WIRED magazine. In case you don't give a crap what that dude has to say about blogging being dead and all that, I'll give you the coles notes version: blogging is dead, facebook/twitter/flikr are where it's at, anyone who doesn't subscribe to that mentality is dumb.

Angry bloggers enter stage right

So let me get this straight - you are writing what is essentially a glorified blog entry about how "blogging is so over?" Have I got that right? Word to big bird, that is some crazy reverse psychology going on over there. I mean, writing an article that looks like it's meant to make everyone realize that they should stop blogging, only to actually spurn the bloggers into action? It's either extremely hypocritical or superbly sneaky - I can't decide which.