April | 2013 | jellyoverjam

Cupcake surprises

Posted on April 23, 2013 by carlybe

I just turned 24 two days ago, yay!! Unfortunately, my man was not able to come and celebrate with me, because he is still writing his exams. Even though he couldn’t be with me, he wanted to be there in spirit, so he sent 24 delicious cupcakes to me while I was at work. First off, so romantic. Secondly, the cupcakes were incredible! He wanted to find a specialty cupcake shop, that would deliver, to make my birthday extra special, and boy, did he come through.

He started looking for cupcake options, and ended up contacting a store named Ginger’s Cupcakes and Desserts. As a student, his budget for cupcakes was slightly limited, but the owner was exceptionally giving and understanding. He explained that he wanted an assortment of 24 cupcakes to send to my work, and she not only lowered the price, but included shipping for free! She even added a few decorations, which normally cost a bit extra, and a card.

Vanilla, Red Velvet, Caramel, Double Chocolate, Mint Chocolate, Chocolate with Vanilla Icing, Lemon, Strawberry, and Blueberry Cheesecake 🙂

Everyone who tried a cupcake loved them, and they really made my birthday that much more special. My boyfriend said, he was unsure whether to send me roses or cupcakes, but ultimately, knew a foodie like me would appreciate the cupcakes more. Safe to say, he was right 🙂

Tourist in your city

Posted on April 16, 2013 by carlybe

I think that we can all agree that everybody loves vacations. So, rather than frolicking off to another country, why not become a tourist in your own city? Toronto is actually pretty awesome. There are lots of amazing restaurants to visit, bars to drink at, and attractions to see. I work at The Keg, and we are a distributor of Steam Whistle beer. Since we sell their product, they offered us a chance to come by the brewery and check out how the beer is made. You can actually take the same tour as a regular person any day of the week! It is pretty interesting to learn about the brewing process, and you get a bunch of free beer on the tour, definitely helps liven it up ;).

Back to the tourist in your own city part, you can easily come by and take one of these tours. Not only is it fun, but it is something new and exciting to try in your own backyard. You don’t need to spend much to do it, and you can have an interesting new experience! After Steam Whistle, a large group of us headed over to the Jays game, which we won! You can get some cheap nosebleeds seats to a Jays game, and this is also a great way to spend a nice summer day. Grab a drink, and some of your closest friends, and watch some live sporting action.

We are always way too quick to complain about boredom and not having anything fun to do, but seriously, just look up what is available in your city! Sometimes, it is simply an issue of ignorance, you just need to expose yourself to what is available. Summer is rolling around the corner, start googling your city and what can be done. You will be surprised at all of your options.

Canadians speak french, eh?

Posted on April 10, 2013 by carlybe

I have always felt a certain level of inadequacy as a Canadian, for not being able to speak French. First of all, French is our second language. I think that alone constitutes why I should learn how to speak it, however, there is another reason that I was persuaded to learn. Recently while on vacation in Amsterdam, my step family was discussing languages, and the fluency of Europeans. It is not to say that all Europeans speak a multitude of languages, but it does seem like that is the case from my experience there. I feel like, not only does everyone speak English, but it seems like everyone has some basic knowledge of a third language as well. It seems to me, that French is a highly spoken third language for many Europeans. So, with all this being said, I have taken it upon myself to learn French. I won’t lie, the process has been slow and painful. I struggle with grammar in the English language, so learning French grammar seems twice as hard. I refuse to give up though, I really want to have some level of fluency in French by the end of this.

In order to learn, I have been using a fantastic website called Duolingo. The website hosts a few different language programs, for free! You can learn French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian. It helps you to learn basic phrases, numbers, symbols, basically all of the important things you would want to know about a language. It is really helpful because you learn reading, writing and verbal skills.

I think it is a fabulous, comprehensive language tool, and I would highly recommend it! Give it a try, you don’t need to spend any money, just sign up and get started!

Food and Drink

Low fat banana bites

Image | Posted on April 3, 2013 by carlybe

Low fat banana bites

These little cookies are divine. Now I do need a disclaimer, the low fat part is connected to how many chocolate chips you decide to put in 😉 With that being said, these little blobs of deliciousness are made with only four simple ingredients.

Two very ripe bananas. The blacker the better
one cup of Quick oats
splash of vanilla extract
chocolate chips (and in my case, lots of them)

Seriously, it is that simple. All you need to do is take two very ripe bananas and mash them with 1 cup of quick oats, a splash of vanilla and a tonnnnn of chocolate chips. Now, I don’t know if I had larger than normal bananas, but I had to keep adding quick oats to get the cookies to the right consistency. I would say make sure you have about 1.5 cups of quick oats, to use at your discretion. You want the cookies to be sticky, but not runny. If you wanna measure out the balls, use a tbsp scoop to get an approximate size for each cookie. I just kinda eyeballed it and I think they turned out fine. Set your oven to 350 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. After, pop those bad boys in your mouth and enjoy 🙂 Didn’t I tell you they were easy?

I think the next time I will be a bit more bad and add some extra favors to the cookies. Maybe a half cup of natural peanut butter, and some shredded coconut? Or perhaps, substitute the chocolate for some raisins and add some almond butter to the mix. Im pretty sure the opportunities are endless. Run wild with this one! Maybe you will stumble upon some genius creation of your own that you can share with me 😉

Style? its complicated

Posted on April 3, 2013 by carlybe

I like to think of my style as “chameleon chic”. I don’t necessarily fit into a specific type of style, but rather, bounce around into all different types of clothing. For me, I just focus on the fit and the color. If I think it will suit my body type, I try it on. I mean seriously, what is the worst case scenario? I think people get too focused on a style, rather than a body type. I love so many different styles, but I know that not all of them will work on me. Perfect example, the boyfriend jean. I am way too curvy for the boyfriend jean. On me, the boyfriend jeans just looks like I got the wrong size pant. I fill them in, rather than the baggy look that is supposed to be accomplished. Every now and again, I try to convince myself I can pull off a look because I love the way it looked on someone else; but the mirror never lies to me. My best friend just recently picked up such a cute pair of silk shorts. She is super petite, on her the shorts looked perfect. They hung in all the right places and really accentuated her figure. On me, they looked like crap. Seriously, the most unflattering shorts on earth. We can’t always get what we want with fashion. The real focus has to be the shape of the clothing. Once you can accept what looks good on you, you can always find a style that will work. Here are a few of my latest outfits, as you can see I am all over the map 🙂