Two weeks ago, Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes tagged me in a post aimed at getting to know fellow bloggers a bit better. A lot of bloggers have been offering up “12 Facts About Me” and I find them quite fun to read! When I was tagged to offer my “12 Facts”, I was a tad nervous, as I was not too sure what to write! I was able to put something together after much thought. So, without further ado, here are 12 facts about me :)
12 Fun Facts
1. My favourite movie of all-time is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I could watch it over and over and over again & never be sick of it.
2. I wish I was musically inclined. I’ve always dreamed of joining a band!
3. I studied Japanese for nine years and was planning on doing my PhD in Asian Studies. My goal was to become an Asian Studies professor. But then I discovered photography and my goals changed.
4. I adore music and have a very diverse tastes. My two favourite music genres are Folk and Punk. I also really like jazz, ska, reggae, funk, indie rock, and rap. I love going to live shows.
5. I adore Coronation Street. My whole family watches it. We discuss people in the show like they are real-life people. *hah*
6. I have an undying love for Nerds candy.
7. I volunteer with a wonderful group of women in a local group called Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA). We focus on raising awareness of the plight of Afghan women and raise funds to support various initiatives such as an orphanage in Kabul.
8. I am fanatical about cows. They are so cute! Birds, however….well, I’m terrified of birds. Eek!
9. I love, love, love tea. My favourite teas tend to be that of the Rooibos family.
10. I’ve been a vegetarian for 15 years.
11. I want to move to the UK – mainly to Wales.
12. I love The Office, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad Men, Weeds and any Woody Allen movie.
After offering “12 Facts about Me”, Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes asked that I answer 12 questions. Here are my answers:
Twelve Questions
1. Describe yourself in 3 words: caring, quirky, avid-learner
2. What is your ultimate food weakness? Definitely cookies. I love cookies of all sorts. I really don’t discriminate. Right now I am really enjoying chocolate shortbread dipped in dark chocolate & coconut from The Honolulu Cookie Company. My parents just returned from Hawaii and brought me home a WHOLE box. *nom nom nom* Best part, the cookies are in the shape of pineapples!
3. What is your favourite book of all time? I really love Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Although, I also really enjoyed A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I’ve read some great books with my book club over the past seven years. We’ve been fairly lucky – only a few bad books!
4. What is the most exotic place you have travelled to/through? I’ve not really travelled anywhere I would considered exotic. I’ve spent time in various countries in Europe including Wales, England, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium and France. I’ve also been to New York and Hawaii. As for more exotic places, I would love to go to Japan, Thailand, Spain, Morocco and Iceland. Oooo! And I really want to go to Brazil.
5. What is your favourite aspect of blogging? Definitely meeting people who are equally passionate about photography & food. And I love how much I’ve learned from all of my favourite bloggers in the way of photography, cooking and baking. I love inspiring people and being inspired.
6. Would you describe yourself as a control freak, perfectionist, laid back and why? I am definitely a perfectionist. I am way too hard on myself. I have a horrible tendency to feel like I’m not doing a good enough job at something and I quit; even if it’s just for a while. I’m working on pushing through the “failures”, so I can start to see true improvement in what I’m doing. I don’t want my perfectionism to prevent me from achieving my goals.
7. Favourite cocktail: a raspberry mojito….yummmmy! Or any type of sangria.
8. How do you celebrate your birthday? Normally, I got out for dinner with my parents, sister, her fiancee and Jesse. The past few years, we’ve gone for Indian food at Clay Oven. My favourite!
9. Do you sing in the car? You bet! Very poorly, I might add. *hah* More so, I love “dancing” to music in the car.
10. What is the one goal you set for yourself in 2012 that seems the most attainable? I have a few goals that I am working on. The one that seems the most attainable at this point is blogging three days a week. I’ve been doing it so far & feel like I can reasonably keep it up.
11. Who are the bloggers that most inspire you to be a better blogger, writer, photographer or all around person? I love Sunday Morning Banana Pancake‘s creativity with both her recipes and her photography. It’s very inspiring. I look to Annie from Annie’s Eats for inspiration on blogging & writing inspiration. She’s been blogging a long time and never seems to lose momentum. She always posts such great recipes & tutorials. I admire the photography on A Couple Cooks, Tartlette, Love & Lemons, and Flavour Food & Wine. West Coast Nest and Live It. Love It. Blog It. are also two favs of mine. I love their mix of stories, tales of travel adventures, photos, recipes and daily thoughts. I find local photographers Jennifer Lee and Erin Keown to be very inspiring. And my friend Tracey does some fantastic photography! As far as healthy fare, I am inspired by The Healthy Wife, Vanilla & Spice, The Vegan Chickpea and Once Upon a Cutting Board.
12. What is your favourite thing about yourself? That I am so approachable. People tell me I have a welcoming presence because I’m always smiling. Random people LOVE to tell me their life stories. *hah*
I also really liked some of the questions asked by Willow at Will Cook for Friends. So, I thought I would answer one or two of them as well.
1. What did you want to be when you grew up? When I was younger, I wanted to be an architect. As a kid, I loved sketching floor plan designs. And I used to take out books from the library about environmental design. My favourite pastime was designing my future home. In high school, I took drafting and a lot of art courses in order to prepare for applying to the Architecture program in my city. At the same time, I became passionate about learning languages and started studying Japanese, Spanish and French. In the end, I decided to major in Asian Studies and International Business in university.
2. What is your favourite quote or saying? “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
3. Is there a food or dish you’d really like to make, but are afraid is too hard? Definitely macarons. I think they are so pretty, but I have a fear of trying to make them for some reason.
4. What would you say is your biggest kitchen mishap? I’ve had a lot of blunders and failures in the kitchen. And lots of successes. I’ve ruined a few cakes, pies, breads etc. And I also pour boiling hot water on my stomach while trying to drain pasta. The pot slipped and sent water flying down my stomach. It was painful!
5. What first inspired you to cook? My mom. She is an amazing cook & baker. I have very fond memories of my mom making elaborate meals and desserts on the weekend. I recall many wonderful times in the kitchen with mom – making cookies, learning how to make pie crust, sampling lemon tarts, helping chop veggies etc. My mom is very passionate about food. She instilled this passion into me at a young age. She’s truly the best.
6. After a long hard day, what would be your ideal meal to come home to? Probably my mom’s spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce. Yum! Or her stir fry. Love it.
7. What is one of your guilty pleasures? I love to buy cookbooks. I buy A LOT. I also adore cooking magazines. I’m running out of storage space :S
8. Besides food/blogging, what are some of your other hobbies? I love reading, thumbing through cookbooks, doing crossword puzzles, painting, watching movies, going to concerts and attending plays.
9. If you could have any famous person over for dinner, who would it be and what would you make? Perhaps Jamie Oliver, and I’d have him cook for me! *hah*
wow! i loved reading this! first of all, eternal sunshine is one of my top 5 movies of all time. my brother and love quoting it, especially “meet me in montauk” and referring to “the stalker book”.
my favorite tea is rooibos, too!
and, lady, i am totally jealous of all of the places you have traveled!
Such a great movie, hey? I could watch it all the time. It always takes my breath away. Such magic.
I am currently loving a rooibos with cinnamon and coconut. Amazing! :)
I love travelling. It’s my goal to travel as much as possible. Even though I’m a little nervous *hehe* I would love to see more of Europe. And get to Japan. :)
What a great post, I sure loved learning more about you honey! Re: no.4…do you ever go to Folk Fest?? I’m there and would be awesome to run into you there. Great post girl and keep up the great work on the blog, you’re a true inspiration yourself. Oh and thanks for the shout out as well. You’re a very sweet person and so happy to have you in my bloggy life ;)
Awe, thank you Elaina! :) Looking so forward to Folk Festival!!!
Thanks for your support and kind words of encouragement. You are the best. xoxo
Wonderful post. It is great to get to know you better!
Cookies are my weakness too and I have no sense of tune whatsoever!
Hey Meg! I’m glad you liked my post. It was kind of fun chatting a bit about myself, so people could get to know me more :) I’m glad we share a weakness for cookies. *hehe* I have NO will power when it comes to cookies. :)
This was so much fun to read; I am so happy to be getting to know you!
…I have a very bad addiction to cookbooks and cooking magazines and also regualr books (though, Justin fixed that by buying me a Kindle Fire)- he calls me a book hoarder :) our deal is now since the books are overtaking the house- for every one in one needs to be donated ;)
Awe, I am glad you liked the post! :)
Jesse bought me a Kindle to help me be less of a book hoarder. *HAH* I got rid of some books when we moved to our condo last year. BUt….I think I made up for those books by buying a lot of new cookbooks. LOL.
Folk and punk hmmm? Frank Turner is playing the Garrick April 21st. You should come check it out.
I was thinking of checking out that show! :)
I loved reading this post (and it reminded me that I still have to do mine!). That’s so interesting that you know Japanese and have travelled to all those places. I can definitely tell even without meeting you that you are such a friendly and approachable person :)
(ps. I loved A Thousand Splendid Suns too and where can I find a raspberry mojito?!)
I make raspberry mojitos sometimes. I had one in BC when I was visiting and it was DELICIOUS :) I re-created it at home. I should post the recipe!!!
Awe, thank you for the sweet words :) *HUGS* You are a sweetie yourself! It’s been great getting to know you.
A Thousand Splendid Suns was one of those books where I could not put the book down. It lead me to find a group to volunteer with that help women in Afghanistan :)
Aw thanks – you still win the sweet award ;)
Yes, you should post the recipe, I’d love to see it! And that’s amazing that you took what you read and actually went and did something worthwhile and selfless to help others!
The biggest part of a kitchen remodelling project is the kitchen countertops. But there are ways to update your cabinets without spending a fortune.
Thanks for the mention!
I’m also afraid to make macaroons but it’s on the “to try” list anyway… just to punish myself or something :)
This was so fun to read! I always love finding new things about blogger friends :) And I heart It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia too!!! <3
Best show ever, hey Cara!? So, so, so wrong…but so, so, so funny!!!! :) Charlie is the best!
I’d like to see the other answer for question #1 from Will Cook for Friends. Black, bird, pie.
This is awesome!! Thanks for the mention :)
Do you have a food dehydrator? That may make macrons a bit easier. Nice and slow cook.
I may borrow this post, I love these types.
Cool to read about your travel ambitions! You should really get yourself to Asia and/or South America! Thailand is an amazing place and you’d probably like Vietnam, too. Cambodia is really an adventure. Morocco is also quite exotic, very different than I expected (mostly in terms of hospitality)… but I will warn you that unless you absolutely love couscous the food in Morocco as a veghead gets old quickly. :)
Can I ask – what type of SLR do you use? Your photos are gorgeous!