VIDEO: E+E Do Paris

I know I haven't been around much, as of late. Things have been busy and weird, and life has changed a lot in the last little while.  All things I will elaborate on in the coming weeks.  Anyhow, though I needed some time offline to sort things out, I'm looking forward to getting back at this blogging thing.

As per one of my goals for 2013, Ephraim and I took a week long holiday in Paris last month.  I haven't had the energy to sort through the photos to post them (there are over 500.  gross.), but Ephraim and I put together this short travel video instead.  

I have to say, working together on something creative during our vacation was a LOT of fun!! We each had such different ideas, and different styles, but I think we edited together a cohesive look at the highlights of our trip very effectively.  Music is Comme Des Enfants by Canadian homegirl Coeur De Pirate, who is super popular in France (and in my heart).

Enjoy!

--Erin 

*** The imbedded video has been removed due to technical issues.  Please use this handy dandy link instead***

O.O.T.D: His and Hers, Welcome Home Edition

Sometimes, you're walking around and the light is just right.  Sometimes, your boyfriend has dressed up super cute and you just really want an excuse to take his picture a few dozen times.  Sometimes, the light being just right is... just the right excuse.  So it was this day, just after I moved home to Toronto.  Ephraim and I were taking a stroll around a couple neighbourhoods we don't check out often (turns out that Mondays are the worst day for the Junction and Roncesvalles... all the cool shops are closed!), enjoying the weather and the warm glow as the sun descended.  We popped into an alley to take these photos, because Ephraim's outfit was so snazzy.  

Really, I think I happily could have stayed out of the model portion that time around, but I do suppose y'all might like my sweet vintage blouse and a super casual outfit.  

The Deets

His

Hat: "I found it under my bed.  So, uhm, vintage I guess?"

Shirt: Levi's

Vest: J Crew

Cardigan: Thrifted

Pants: J Crew

Shoes: Thrifted

Watch: Vintage, family heirloom

Belt Buckle: Paradigm Designs
Bag: One of a Kind Show

Hers

Cardigan: J Crew (Ephraims...haha!)

Blouse: Vintage

Pants: Anthropologie

Booties: Vintage.  Toronto Clothing Show.

Personally, I just want more chances to photograph Ephraim looking so dapper.  I suppose that's one of the perks of living with him, now.  Model time is all the time. I can't WAIT for Decembeard!

--Erin

Thoughts on Vegetarianism or: Rejoining the Omnivores

Howdy all.

Some time ago, I became a bit obsessed with the idea of meal planning and food prep once I move in with Ephraim.  I have been a vegetarian for nearly ten years, and Ephraim is a happy omnivore.  I began thinking a lot more about meals that we could make that would satisfy us both, as our eating habits stood.

More than this, though, it brought to the surface a bigger issue I had been toying with but didn't feel ready to commit to: getting back on an omnivore diet.

Now, any of you who are, or have been, vegetarians, know that there are many reasons why may choose to make such a drastic change to their diet.  For me, it's always been health motivated.  Hell, I always said that if I started eating meat again, I was going straight to a KFC for some fried chicken.  

So why, if eating meat was never an ethical issue for me, did I find the idea of eating it again to be so difficult to... (forgive me..) digest?

I think it really all came down to two things I fixated on.

1) why was I making the change, and was it for the "right" reasons?

2) what were other people going to think?

Now, I admit readily that worrying about what other people think about what I eat is ridiculous, and it frankly annoys me that I even considered it, let alone worried (and worry) about it as much as I do.  But the fact is, people fucking love to bother vegetarians about why they eat how they eat, and even if that person may not project any thoughts of being morally superior for their eating habits (bullshit, really), it seems like people do so love to see the mighty fall.  

On a more personal note to this point, it took about 2 years for my mother to quit offering me meat at dinner, and about 4 years to accept (at least aloud) that I wasn't about to start eating meat again.  

Frankly, I don't want one of the biggest decisions in my health to be chalked up to a phase, especially by her.  Whether she admits it or not.  At this point, my vegetarian diet (which I might add is as of yet unbroken, this is not past tense reflection) has lasted longer than many marriages.   Shit, at this point I've lapped Britney and K Fed like 3.5 times.  

But I digress.

Cutting meat out of my diet was always a health based decision.  And, indeed, adding it back in looks like a health based decision as well. 

I've always been a fan of simple cooking, and frankly, I am getting tired of vegetarian options being loaded with crap I don't want.  If I can substitute a soy/wheat protein/godknowswhat lump for chicken, I'd feel better about it.  I'm needing more protein in my diet these days, and this road I'm on just isn't going to get me there (or is sure isn't going to be any fun).

It funny, I mean if cutting meat out was never an ethical question, you'd think it would be an easy decision to add it back in.  But after 10 years, these choices we make become a big part of you.  It becomes harder and harder to walk away from something, even if you know it isn't really working anymore. 

If we are what we eat, is changing our diet truly fundamentally changing ourselves?

--Erin

Let's Go To The Ex Pt. 2: The Food Building

In today's coverage of the Canadian National Exhibition, I'm going to talk a little bit about everyone's favourite part of the CNE: stuffing yourself stupid in the food building.  Yes, The Ex has a whole building dedicated to nothing but food.  Indeed, everyone who I spoke to about going to The Ex had the same goal in mind, "to eat all of the fried things".  Word.  For.  Word.  ALL  of the fried things.  Friends, that's a goal we can achieve, but the biggest obstacle to overcome is the daunting task of having to choose from the extraordinary amount of variety of deliciousness that shouts at you from every possible vantage point.

To illustrate how insane the food building is, I present to you, a panoramic shot of roughly 1/6 of the food building.  Open this puppy full size, and just let that all sink in.  You too can eat this much (if not this WELL) at the CNE.

This was my first panorama attempt, and except for Oriental Express and the now headless guy in front of PULL'D, I'd say it came out smashingly!

 

It really is a tough choice to make, though there are no bad decisions here (well, relatively speaking.  EPIC Burgers and Waffles did give dozens of people food poisoning with their cronut burger, and none of the food in this building is likely any good for you whatsoever.  Tread lighly, dear friends.  Pace yourself).  Personally, I opted for a couple veggie samosas from Ghazale, while Ephraim enjoyed a lobster roll.  I refused a blooming onion at the time, and I have regretted it every day since the fair.  Next time, I'll wear my eating pants, and not a high waisted skirt.  How foolish of me!

For dessert, we enjoyed the carnival staple, funnel cake.  If you're not familiar with funnel cake, I'm so sorry, and this is what it looks like:

It's basically deep fried dough with some sort of "fruit" topping, and icecream.  Funny story about funnel cake, years ago my family went to Canada's Wonderland (an amusement park, that has nothing to do with Canada at all) and ordered funnel cake with strawberry topping.  My step mother asked the man at the funnel cake stand if it was made with fresh strawberries.  We all laughed at her. I mean, all of us.  My dad, my brother, myself, the guy running the booth, we all just laughed.  You do not eat funnel cake for the fruit.  You eat funnel cake for the high you get from cheating death when you finish the thing and you haven't had a heart attack yet.  

And really, that's what the food building at The Ex is all about: eating really, really badly for a day, and loving every minute of it.  Enjoy all of the fried things, and feel accomplished when you manage to eat more than you thought humanly possible.  Because the CNE happens but once a year, and you aren't braving these lines twice.

--Erin

Let's Go To The EX pt. 1: The Flower Competition

Last weekend, Ephraim and I went to The Ex, a.k.a. the CNE, a.k.a. the Canadian National Exhibition.  Think of it as a massive carnival, taking place for the last two weeks of August, every summer.  I (and many) think of it as an excuse to eat "all the fried things", and take a turn on some intensely overpriced rides.  You know, good clean family fun.  The CNE is more than just a carnival, with Dog and Horse shows, Acrobatic displays, food and tchotchke vendors from around the world, and one of my favourites, the floral competitions.  It also tends to be one of the only quiet areas of the CNE, so it's a perfect spot to relax a moment, enjoy the air conditioning, and take gratuitous photos of beautiful flowers.

Who am I to refuse? Enjoy the gratuitous pretty.

This first place arrangement incorporated my favourites of the winning flowers.  Plus, it's in my favourite colour scheme! I told Ephraim to feel free to think along these lines next time he wants to buy me flowers... haha, yeah, right!

After spending all that time walking through the competition, and going through my photos afterward, I feel it's really confirmed for me that when we do manage to clear a sunny patch in Ephraim's front yard, I'd really love to plant some Dahlias.  They're so gorgeous, and come in amazing sherbert-like colours!  At least, that's where my mind goes.  Straight to rainbow sherbert from Baskin Robins...perhaps the only food vendor I did NOT see at the EX.  But the food building is another story, saved for another day!

--Erin