The great 2013 bean debacle. Maybe.

After having just returned from a wonderfully relaxing weekend at Brian's new place in the Rideau Lakes, I'm looking forward to getting my act in gear this week with some new recipes and finding more ways to stay active throughout the day.

Last night, I tried out a recipe for my first-ever batch of baked beans—which, as it turns out, don't soften very quickly when being cooked from dried. After having had 8 hours (and counting) in the slow cooker, I've got my fingers hesitantly crossed that they'll soften up as much as I'd like in time for dinner tonight.

Full disclosure: does the fact that I want them to be as soft and mushy as they are when I buy them in a can of Heinz make me a bean commoner?

To be honest, I'm not really feeling very culinarily inspired this week. Or many weeks, at all, in the recent past. Even my go-to habit of mindlessly scrolling through my Pinterest recipes has yielded very few results. Instead, I'm asking for people's go-to recipes. 

What do you cook when all you want is mindless, moderately healthy comfort food? 

Soupe aux pois is another item on my hit list this week, but I'm welcoming other recipes to try out. Link them to me in the comments! 

photo cred: here

Time flies in spring 2013

It's been an unbelievably busy few months.

TEDxYorkU happened back at the end of March [recap: I'm the marketing & communications director for the event] and I have to admit - it's been so rewarding seeing how much it's developed since its inception in 2010. From the very basics of the planning process all the way to the video quality of our talks, TEDxYorkU has definitely grown up. 

It feels like we're at that point where many of our developments from here on out are just a matter of fine-tuning, rather than making giant leaps and bounds. That being said, we still have to lay the groundwork for the 2014 event; we seem to have a tendency to outdo ourselves, so it's anybody's guess at this point.

Interested in participating? We haven't started the team planning/applications yet, but you can always shoot us an email or FB message to get in touch. 

Also, I spoke at a conference, stressed about speaking at said conference, and then was relieved that the speaking gig was over. I was also totally stoked that I did it; public speaking isn't my favourite thing to do, but has been on my suck-it-up-and-grow list for a while. Self-five.

There's also been the ideation, creation, launch, and wrap of our community photo project, not to mention a bit of hangout time with the family. Not as much as I'd like, but a little bit to keep me sane and grounded.

Things are going to keep being busy at work, but I've got a slew of new projects that I'm itching to start on soon. Plus a trip and another conference talk in Vancouver this June. Can't wait. Here we go!