Barchef

Hey all!

I’ve been pretty busy for the past few days so I had to take a little break from blogging, but I’m back! Lately I’ve been very much enjoying my summer thanks to the amazing weather we are having. It’s so nice to be able to shed those layers of clothing and enjoy the outdoors.  My past few days have been filled with tanning sessions (unfortunately in my backyard as opposed to the beach haha), bonfires, barbeques, walks in the park, and a blue jays game!

Last Friday I also went to a pretty sweet bar. It’s called Barchef and it is located in downtown Toronto.  It’s a pretty expensive bar but I would definitely recommend it for the experience. The bartenders are really nice guys and the bar is very classy and elegant (check out the gallery on their site).  To start off my friend and I both had a 25$ drink. Mine was called the Sailor’s Mojito, which looked like this:

The drink tasted as amazing as it looked. First the bartender told me to slide the green jelly ball to the left of the picture into my mouth and pressed it up against the roof of my mouth. When I did, the jelly ball popped and released a burst of lime flavour. Next I had to smell the smoke and then drink. The smoke had a nice vanilla scent to it, and the Mojito basically tasted like a really strong vanilla mint Mojito.

My friend had the Mad Man which was also 25$ (see below). It was a very manly drink with a strong whiskey taste. He was instructed to chew the tobacco and cherry flavored jelly, then smell the smoke and take a sip of the drink with the jelly still in his mouth.

Next we each had a 12$ drink which were also very good but not as amazing to look at as the first two haha. I definitely had a good time, but for me this is more of a one time thing. The money was worth the experience but I think I will stick to my cheap beer until I get some extra cash :)

Tomorrow I will be hitting up the casino with a few friends. The casino is not really my thing but it’s a good friend’s birthday so I feel pretty obligated to go. I think I’ll cap myself at 50$. Wish me luck, although I am already accepting the fact that I will probably be coming home with nothing!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

I hate rainy days. Rainy days make me want to bake, so that's exactly what i did today. I recently found this recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes that i thought looked pretty interesting and easy enough to make, so I decided to try it out. They were not the the best cupcakes EVER as the recipe claims they are haha, but they were still really, really good! The recipe was very easy to follow. I made the cookie dough portion of the cupcake exactly as was instructed, but for the second part that uses cake mix, I followed the directions on the cake mix box instead of the recipe's version. The only thing that bothers me about this recipe is having to wait for the cookie dough to freeze, which as the recipe states, takes about two hours. It was all worth it however, as the cupcakes turned out great! I'm pretty sure I left them in the oven for too long though. The bake time on the recipe says 20 minutes, which seemed pretty low, so i added 3 minutes. Other reviews on the site mentioned the cookie dough part being gooey. Mine was not gooey, but it was still very soft and had a different texture than the cupcake part which was nice. I will definitely try making these again without the 3 minutes of extra baking time to see if they will turn out even better!

Here's a picture of my final product...

Cookie dough IN my cupcake? Yes please!

Do the Plank!

Scrolling through my news feed on facebook today, I noticed a friend had posted a link to a facebook group called “Planking”. Intrigued by what this could mean, I decided to click the link. I was immediately puzzled when I saw pictures of people lying flat on their faces in crazy places or on unusual objects. The group already has over 250,000 likes and over 10,000 photos of plankers! Here are the rules to planking according to the facebook group:

“When performing a Plank:
1/ You must always lay face down, ensuring your face remains expressionless for the duration of the Plank.
2/ Your legs must remain straight, and together with toes pointed.
3/ Your arms must be placed by your side, held straight and fingers pointed.
4/ You must make it known that you are Planking. Saying 'I am Planking' usually get this across. Sternly announcing it will ensure a good result.
5/ Your safety should always be considered. Properly thought through Planking procedures should always go to plan. Never put yourself at undue risk.
6/ Every Plank that is captured must be named.”

After reading the instructions it all seems like a harmless game, but after browsing through the pictures, it looks like some people might be taking the planking fad a bit too far! Here are two examples of people who have planked to the extreme!

Is that not crazy? As planking continues to attract more fans, it’s also growing in controversy. On May 15^th, 2011, a 20 year old Australian man fell to his death after attempting to plank on a balcony. This is the first death caused by planking, and police are worried that the trend will potentially cause more deaths as people attempt to plank in more and more extravagant places.

Generally, I think this is a pretty funny and amusing trend, and I wouldn’t mind taking part in some planking of my own! However, I agree that some people might be taking planking a little too far. 

Your thoughts on planking? 

Hello!

My name is Rebecca Michalski- welcome to my blog :)

First, I would like to introduce a few small things about myself. I'm 19 years old and I live in Toronto, Canada. My parents were born in Poland but emigrated to Canada about 20 years ago after getting married. My two brothers and I were all born in Canada, and although we grew up in this country, we still very much identify with Polish culture and traditions. We love visiting Poland where most of our extended family lives, and try to do so as often as possible during the summer months.

Overall my life is very average. I recently finished my first year of Nursing at Ryerson University, and I am now enjoying my time off from school. In fact, I think I have a little too much time on my hands lately, which is one of the reasons why I have decided to try blogging! :) This is my first blogging experience, and I've created this blog to simply express my feelings about events happening in my life, and to perhaps rant about things that bother me. I guess this will be like a private diary that is really not at all private! Maybe in a few years I can look back at my blog and reminisce :)

So, if you're ever bored and want to read about someone else's boring life, follow me! I love hearing from other people!

-Becca