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Roger Federer

Congratulations to Roger Federer on winning his 6th title at Wimbledon and passing Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam Titles.

He is truly an incredible player. You may remember earlier this year he tied Pete’s record with his first ever win at Roland Garros (French Open). After finally winning the big open on clay, today he became one of the very few players to be able to successfully make the incredibly short transition between the clay and grass court seasons.

I’m still in shock from this [Wimbledon] final. The score of the last set was 14-16 (no tie-break in the fifth) – epic win regardless of the winner. The quality of play today was so high. Incredible.

Let’s take a look at his Grand Slam victories…

1. 2003 Wimbledon
2. 2004 Australian Open
3. 2004 Wimbledon
4. 2004 US Open
5. 2005 Wimbledon
6. 2005 US Open
7. 2006 Australian Open
8. 2006 Wimbledon
9. 2006 US Open
10. 2007 Australian Open
11. 2007 Wimbledon
12. 2007 US Open
13. 2008 US Open
14. 2009 French Open
15. 2009 Wimbledon

Oh, did you know he’s 27? What have you done with your life? That’s what i thought…me too…

add this to your to-do list: win 15 grand slams

Elle Oh Ess Tee!

L O S T

Lately at my apartment, people (roommate + his gf) have been watching LOST. As I am in love with that show, I, of course, have been watching it again [with them]. Roommate has seen it; his gf is a new convert to the world of LOST.

I have watched yet another person become hooked.

The more times I watch these seasons, the more I catch. The show is so intricately woven. Mind-boggling. In season 1, they are making references to events in season 5.

I like that it will be over in one more season. Too many US shows draw on far beyond their welcome. I understand TV is mainly a game for the networks to make money, but srsly…just because people watch a show, doesn’t mean they are liking it (ahem, prison break). LOST is an exception, in my book.

Remember when we first saw the previews for LOST? I thought it looked ridiculous, in a bad way. No part of me wanted to watch it. I was all, “PSAHW! A plane breaks apart at elevation and there are survivors?! …nuh uh…” I am glad I found a way to get out of my former mindset.

add this to your to-do list: get hooked on LOST

Fresh Routes

The launch of Fresh Routes is sitting ridiculously close to me. I am so consumed trying to get that off the ground that I haven’t had much time to get stuff on this blog. Sorry, folks, but let me tell you a little bit about this project…

Fresh Routes is a vegetarian food/lifestyle blog. Without being preachy, we will attempt to encourage a vegetarian lifestyle by offering recipes, restaurant reviews, and articles about the practicality of it all.

I’m hoping to launch by this weekend.

add this to your to-do list: eat your favourite vegetable tonight

Yesterday’s Post

I’ve been trying to do new posts every Tuesday and Thursday. Clearly, I missed yesterday. Oh well. I was busy. You should have been, too. It’s summer. Maybe I’ll do a legit post over the weekend. Until then…

add this to your to-do list: write a post for me

Happy Birthday, Mum!

happy birthday, mum

My mum likes the stay off the map. I want you all to be able to get a hold of her tomorrow (Wednesday 24 June), but again…she stays off the map. She’s not a fugitive or anything. She simply prefers not to be bothered by things like twitter and facebook. And clearly, I’m not going to give you her number.

Here’s the deal: tomorrow is her birthday. I promise she would not mind, but out of respect for cultural stereotypes I will not disclose her age…or her upcoming age. Just know that she is celebrating the anniversary of her birth on Wednesday (24 June).

Isn’t it funny how we all carry certain traits from our parents whether we like it or not? After all, I am a self-depricating vegetarian with a healthy distrust for all things reptilian (especially snakes). We always focus on the bad traits we’ve accumulated. I’m sure that is because those are the things we wish the most to change, but let’s take a moment to recognize the good things we have gleaned from our parents.

What I like about my mum:

1. She appreciates food. She knows how to savor every bite. She remembers events from her childhood based on what food was prepared/consumed – I kid you not.
2. She talks about tennis with me. We’ve helped create a family history sort of thing about tennis. She is the only person that can analyze a tournament with me for hours without getting bored (and we’re both Fed fans).
3. She is always rediscovering herself. Never settle, but always be content – She walks a fine line.
4. + more.

So happy birthday to my mum! If you know her, I encourage you to contact her (yes, she TXTs) and wish her a happy birthday. If not, leave your birthday wishes in the comments below.

add this to your to-do list: wish my mum a happy birthday

Citron Pressé

“When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”

Really?! Why do I have to wait?! I want my lemonade now!

lemons

I love the simple things. And there is simply nothing better than a glass of lemonade on a summer day. Now, as you might expect if you know anything about me, I go all out when I am aligning myself to truly enjoy some lemonade (and by lemonade I mean…well…anything, really). I make my lemonade from scratch using the finest ingredients I can find, because it is always the simple things that make the biggest difference.

At this point, I believe it would be to our benefit to decifer the title vs why I keep referring to “lemonade.” Just as most Americans refer to football as soccer, I am refering to citron pressé as lemonade. It is simply a location based “blurring of the lines” that so few people care about. At least, I certainly don’t care about matters like this…anymore. But beware: if you strictly follow my recipe below, the sides of your tongue will ache and your mouth will be watering (the sour kind) before the glass even reaches your lips. It is not for the faint of heart. It IS for the lover of elemental surprise.

Lemonade/Citron Pressé

Ingredients:

• 4oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 4-6oz water
• granulated sugar
• ice

Instructions:

• Fill large glass with ice.
• Add 4oz fresh squeezed lemon juice (microwave lemons first to get high juice yield).
• Add 4oz water (use good water, filtered…it matters).
• Add sugar to taste (I use 2tbsp).

Serves one.

Add this to your to-do list: make some lemonade on a summer afternoon.

Chorophobia

Q: What is chorophobia

A: The fear of dancing

So I was checking out hunch this morning. Hunch has a cool concept. They say:

Hunch is a decision-making tool, built by its users. In ten questions or fewer, Hunch gives you its best hunch of what you would like.

They first ask you a minimum of 20 questions to get a “hunch” about what type of person you are. Whatever. It’s a neato idea that I have no use for. Not the point.

One of the recommended questions (after I confirmed I should be a fan of Manchester United) was “What phobia do I have?” I clicked on it. I answered their 10 questions. AND IT TOLD ME I HAVE CHOROPHOBIA. “Do you agree with this result?” I chose no. It asked why. I wrote, “I dance often…as in everyday. Pretty sure I don’t have chorophobia. Thanks, though.”

Hunch fails unless it’s recommending restaurants. Sorry.

to-do list: dance, dance, dance

This American Hero

Have you ever heard of This American Life? It is…I love it. It started as a radio show on Chicago Public Radio. It still is a radio show, in fact. Now, it is also a TV show on Showtime, a free podcast, and my most recent obsession.

For about one hour (one episode), the host, Ira Glass, brings the listener/watcher stories surrounding a central theme. It is the type of show that is easy to listen to because you feel smarter in the end. You feel as if you’ve been given a backstage pass to life. Ira, our guide, neatly wraps the central theme in the stories that are selected in such a way that it seems as if it could not have happened any differently. Give it a shot – I dare you.

This is the wall in my dining room.

Ira Glass in the dining room

That is correct. Ira stands from floor to ceiling in my home. It’s rad…not weird (I checked).

Anyway…

To-do list: find a new hero

ECHQUO

Last month, a friend and I launched a new project called echquo (pronounced like “echo”). It is a user-driven quotations site. It is built for casual quoters (aka it’s not a deep, intense quotation database). Find a quotation, pick a font, enjoy.

The driving rule behind the site is that your echquos may not be your own words. Echquo’s don’t have to be lofty quotations from Ben Franklin and company (though they often are). They can be song lyrics, lines from a play, something from a book, a piece of an overheard conversation, etc etc etc…

One of the coolest features: an automatic wallpaper creator. You’ll notice the wallpaper link under all of the [non-image] echquos. Click it. It’ll generate a desktop background for your screen size with the echquo, font, and color.

link: http://echquo.com

twitter: http://twitter.com/echquo

to-do list: find a quotation and “echquo” it

guess what? i’m back.

As my sister linked from her blog to this one, I decided I should update and try to formulate the habits of a regular blogger [<--goal]. You can see I have been stellar at that in the past by the date of the last post. HA.

I’ve been thinking about ambition quite a bit recently. I was digging around in my old dreams and I came up with a gem for you to add to your to-do list. This is a big one…get ready…

Start a [vegetarian*] restaurant based on the fusion of two cooking styles.

For example, I had the idea to do a French v Japanese restaurant. The vegetarian bit would be difficult – combining a style based primarily on meat with another based primarily on seafood. The idea was more to use flavours and ingredients that would remind the palette of those styles than, say, creating a wasabi omelet. I like food that is unexpected and confuses my mouth.

On second thought, starting a restaurant might be a little out of reach for most people right now. Let’s scale it back a bit…

Add this to your to-do list: Create a recipe that reflects two [or more] styles of cooking.

*I am a vegetarian. We aren’t offered too much in the ways of fine dining.