Mug Cake!

Years ago an email forward was going around telling everyone about Mug Cake. The forward included photos and the claim that it really worked and was so easy. I'm pretty skeptical when it comes to information found in a forwarded email, so I never tried it.

Years passed and it was somehow 2013 and I still had never experienced the joy of mug cake. While I was being ignorant, so many other people were figuring it out and perfecting it. A 'mug cake' Google search will show you countless round ups of all the different mug cake options available to you, and Dr. Oetker even has a mug cake mix you can buy. So mug cake is a real thing and I may be late to the party, but it is a quick party to get into.

My favourite Mug Cake at the moment is a coffee cake which I slightly adapted from a Crazy for Crust recipe.

First step is having a really awesome mug. I suppose you could use any mug, but if you had a mug with your cat on it doing yoga, you'd probably pick that one, right?

 

Mixing in a bowl, add 1.5 tbs sugar, 1.5 tbs flour, pinch of salt, and 1/4 tsp baking powder.

Mix dry ingredients together. Next add 1 tbs milk, 1 tbs plain applesauce, and a splash of vanilla.

Mix well. You now have mug cake batter.

Spray your mug with cooking spray and add the cake batter.

Sprinkle 1 tbs of brown sugar and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon on top.

Microwave for 1 minute.

Eat and enjoy. And try not to eat one everyday (it will be difficult!).

Tim Hortons #FoodPicFriday

I don't eat out very often, but when I do, it is likely at Tim Hortons. I normally get a bagel with cream cheese/coffee combo, but knowing I was going to blog about it, I added a vanilla dip doughnut (the sprinkle kind) to my meal. The doughnut adds a little something to the photo, and I have to say it was so fresh and soft and tasted delicious. Really? A doughnut tasted delicious?? You heard it here first, guys! :)

Everything is a Photo Opportunity #12

My cat is amazing at hunting. Mice, moths, cheese, flashlight beams, hair elastics - she knows when something new has entered the environment and she acts accordingly.

Not only is Gary good at hunting, she really likes it, and in the case of mice, she really, really likes it. To her, a caught mouse is just something she can release and chase after again. It is great fun for her, but we see it as kinda cruel, so we try to rescue the mouse and take it outside.

In this photo we have successfully captured the mouse - but I couldn't resist taking this picture before releasing him back into the wild.

Simcoe Pride 2013

It's Pride Week here in Simcoe County, with festivities running from August 2-9th. Simcoe Pride has organized a number of events, including Pride Flag raisings in ten communities. This will be the first time many of the municipalities have flown the Pride Flag (Penetang raised their Pride Flag for the first time last Friday).

Yesterday morning there were eight flag raisings in Simcoe County, and I went with Betony and Clara to the one in Midland, ON. It's a small town so we ran into some friends and had a really fun time watching Midland show its Pride.

The crowd gathering for the flag raising

André from Ciboulette et Cie made rainbow cookies for the event and handed them out to the gathered crowd. It was such a lovely thing to do and the cookies were great.

Clara picking out the best rainbow cookie

Members of Simcoe Pride and Mayor Gord McKay said some words before the flag was raised.

Mayor Gord McKay, MP Bruce Stanton, J. Andrew Baker, Jai Crouch

Here is the video I took while the flag was raised:

There is a Pride Flag flying in Midland, ON! Woot!

After the flag was raised, I got a nice shot of Betony and Clara looking adorable.

We all gathered on the steps of Town Hall to get into some photos.

Mayor McKay in center front, André hands out more cookies on the right

Being behind the camera I don't have any photos of me, but I make an appearance at the end of this video of the event. I'm in the front left wearing a green top.

The flag raising was a great experience and made me proud to see so many happy and smiling people showing their support. Way to go Midland, ON!

There is a First Time For Everything

**Author's Note: I have been going through my drafts folder in Blogger and noticed that sometimes I write cool blog posts and then don't publish them. I wrote the following post a year ago, so this actually happened last August and everyone in the story is now a year older. And maybe I'm a little less anxious now, but don't quote me on that. I have made some edits and additions before publishing. Enjoy! :)**

Our friends Bryan and Betony recently had a baby, adorable little Clara. There are many things to see and experience with a friend's new baby - they learn to stand, they start eating real food, they start crawling all around the house - all in such a short amount of time.  It is amazing how fast she is learning and growing.  Every time we go over there, Clara has a whole new set of awesome skills.  Way to go kid!

I've been around a lot of babies, toddlers, and children in my life, having five nieces and nephews that I adore and multiple friends with little ones. I thought I had a good grip on babies and what they do and how to roll with them. I admit I'm a little nervous around a less-than-a-month-old, but once they seem less breakable I am way more easy going. This easy going attitude was recently tested as I did something I've never done before: I drove around with an eight month old in my car.

Not sure if I've written about it before, but I have some anxiety. It is not all the time, but certain situations (new things/change/the unknown) can trigger a flood of negative and obsessive thoughts that make me feel really overwhelmed. I have been working on minimizing my anxious reactions with the aid of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, specifically The Feeling Good Handbook by David D. Burns (highly recommended!). Even though I'm working on it, I still get thrown for a loop from time to time. Life's a journey, right?

So last week Betony and I had a girls' night that had us driving from Midland to Penetang (which is really not that far) and involved me being the driver. In the space of time between knowing that I would be driving and then actually getting on the road (about ten minutes) I did a really great job of freaking myself out. It sounds silly to get worked up about something as ordinary as driving 5 KM with a kid in the backseat, but the 'This is New' factor triggered my anxiety.

Initially I had some nice thoughts, like: "Wow - thank you for trusting my driving ability with your beautiful baby".  Then my anxious brain kicked in and reminded me that I had never done this before and convinced me that it was a Really Big Deal. The negative thoughts came: driving is dangerous! Babies are delicate! Next I began to wonder if I was even a good driver (spoiler: I am). So my anxiety got me nice and worked up before we headed out.

Once on the road, realization hit that I was just driving a car, which is something I know how to do.  So then my brain transformed all those scary/anxious feelings into feelings of supreme accomplishment for having done something so amazing. I totally drove with a baby in the backseat! Yay me! Life would be a lot easier if I could just skip the terrified part and move strait to the feeling awesome part, but this is who/where I am right now and I'm happy to say I'm working on it. I will get there.

We safely drove to Penetang and enjoyed some really tasty food at Union Burger and got to have a fun girls' night despite my initial anxiety. I have some amazing friends, and Betony is one who accepts and supports me despite my quirks. Thanks, buddy! :)

I didn't get a great shot, but here is proof 
there was a baby in my car!