Quote of the Week - Henri Poincare

Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house.


image from the collection of Stacy Reynaud

10 Tips for the Party Host

When your hosting skills are brought to the test, don't fail.

1. Take your guest's coat. Don't put them on the bed.* Hang them up. Small, unrealistic closet? Rent a sales man's rack or invest in one (I have two).
2. Your guest's shoes are part of their outfit - allow them to keep them on. I bring fancy house slippers with me just in case the dreaded pile of shoes is at the door.
3. Offer your guest a drink after you've taken their coat and before they're more than five steps in the door. Tip: have non-alcoholic drinks (soda, tonic and juice), red wine, white wine, bubbles, beer, vodka, rum, rye, scotch, tequila, gin, sweet and dry vermouth and cognac. Don't forget fresh ice, cocktail napkins, lemons, limes, olives and cocktail straws.
4. Never introduce your guest's boyfriend, girlfriend, fiancee, spouse or whatever, as such. They have an identity of their own.
5. You are responsible for your guest's safety. Read my post, How to Deal with Drunk Guests.
6. Keep the lights and the music low.
7. If you're a couple, work tag team. Lay out each of your defined 'duties' beforehand and cover each other's backs with refilling drinks, conversation starters, toilet paper and hand towel checks, lit candles, cleared plates and stocked ice.
8. Never let them see you sweat. As far as your guest is concerned you're already the monarch of the mingler - they don't need to see the dirty dishes. Get some of those big plastic crates with tops and hide your dirty dishes in there until the guests leave. Throw a table cloth over it and they'll never know. I used to hide stuff in the bathtub of my ensuite.
9. Accept that you'll have a guest that snoops in the medicine cabinet of your bathroom. You know what to do with that stuff.
10. To prevent guests from overstaying, lay out a start and end time in your invite. If there are still stragglers start unloading those crates with the dirty dishes in them.

* Back in the old days laying coats on the bed was considered faux pas due to bed bug infestations.

image from the collection of Stacy Reynaud

Originally published December 27, 2010

9 Christmas Gifts for the Intergalactic Traveler

in case they get lost - Galaxy Sweatshirt Bittersweet

to find their way home - gemstone globe

self explanatory - Louis Moinet Astralis

metallic makeup case for those evenings in the stars - Mulberry

To soothe erratic emotions and enhance personal courage - lava, pyrite and blue opal ring

metallic pens for doodling - Athas!

large solid gold Tiffany's flask self explanatory - 1st Dibs

to keep the clothes in - vintage Gucci duffel bag, Stated Style

to ward off night crawlers - bronzed cabled letter opener, Wilson Metal Works

Quote of the Week - Albert Einstein

from the collection of stacy reynaud
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.

10 topics I've been meaning to write about but haven't gotten around to

Bijou Living Tumblr

It's much easier to publish with one's pseudo-opposable thumb than ten digits.

I've had a month-long case of insomnia (brought on by stress), which in turn aggravates my moods - hence many Tumblr and Instagram posts but no blog updates. 

Post ideas have been coming and going through my thoughts, but that's it.

Here are some things that have been floating around:

1. Have you watched the Upstairs Downstairs remake on Netflix? The set design and costumes - oh my cat - wrap me up in them! Those silk velvet gowns - purr.
2. How about Mr. Selfridge? We need more Roderick Temple.
3. Society women in Edwardian times
4. Gong meditation
5. Finding the perfect wasabi chickpea recipe
6. The phrase, 'Nothing personal, it's just business.' Screw that. Business is personal.
7. Only Lovers Left Alive
8. Predictive analysis
9. Out-of-body experiences 
10. Mallard green interiors

Whipped Coconut Cream and Chocolate Chia Pudding - Vegan Recipe

It took a few attempts with different recipes but I finally found a whipped coconut cream recipe (whipping cream made with coconut milk) that actually has the consistency of whipped cream. If you've tried making whipped coconut cream you know that you could stand there whipping it for an hour and you still wouldn't get it to peak.

I've made carob chia pudding with almond milk before and had been meaning to try it with coconut milk but never got around to it. Well thanks to Finding Vegan and the Foodily app I was reminded.

So, here are two recipes that go perfectly together.

Chocolate Chia Pudding with Coconut Milk

What you need:

• 2 cups coconut milk
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder - to make it vegan use cacao
• 8 tbsp ground black chia seeds (I use the ground ones as they're not so crunchy)
• sweetener of your choice (I used four tbsp sugar - ech it was way too much)
• hand mixer
• medium bowl

What you do:

• Pour coconut milk into a medium size mixing bowl
• Add the rest of the ingredients
• Beat with a hand mixer until everything is blended
• Cover and refrigerate for a few hours (I usually leave mine over night)
• Serve cold topped with whipped coconut (cream recipe below)

Serves four

I adapted this recipe for the pudding.

Whipped Coconut Cream

What you need:

• 1 can coconut milk refrigerated for 24 hrs.
• optional sweetener or vanilla (I used one tbsp sugar)
• hand mixer
• medium bowl

What you do:

• Put your bowl and beaters into the freezer an hour before you're ready to start whipping
• Take the can of coconut milk out of the fridge and turn it over. The heavy cream will have lifted to the top of the can so when you flip it over the coconut water is on top and you can pour it out easily. Be careful not to lose any of the heavy cream.
• Use a spatula to scrape the heavy cream from the can into the bowl you just took out of the freezer.
• Put the frozen beaters onto the hand mixer and whip the cream at high speed for three minutes if you're adding sweetener add it after three minutes and beat for one or two more minutes. Total whipping time four/five minutes. The coconut cream should form peaks when you lift the beaters up.

Serves two - four

For the whipped coconut cream I followed this recipe. My recipe definitely didn't yield two cups of whipped coconut cream. Maybe a cup at the most. I left my can of coconut milk in the fridge for a week though because I didn't have time to make it the next day (or the next day, or the day after that).

**The next time I make this I'll add less sugar, or even skip it all together as my blood sugar levels after eating it made me feel like I was having a panic attack.

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Quote of the Week - Bleak House | Charles Dickens

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.

Katherine Hepburn is cooler than me.

BC Binning Residence SOLD

BC Binning Residence, West Vancouver, BC image Stacy Reynaud

A Canadian National Historic site is headed to the Supreme Court on November 18.

I first wrote about the BC Binning home, located in demolition permit happy West Vancouver, in 2010 - the post is below. 

Ironically, I spent Friday at the Association of Fundraising Professionals' National Philanthropy Day luncheon. Awards were presented to x for raising x amount, y for raising y amount, etc. 

The Land Conservancy, the nonprofit that owns the Binning home, is $7.6 million in debt (as I noted back in 2010, they were headed for trouble). 

Listening to the keynote speaker, Dan Pallata (the guy whose TED Talk has over 2.5 million views), break down salaries for top earners in the US blew my mind. 

The developer offered the TLC $1.6 million for the home - rumour is that he bought the house next to the Binning residence. 

Checked out Crack Shack or Mansion lately - there's a Part Deux? 

You'll see what $1.6 million buys you in Vancouver.

BC Binning is almost always a favourite. He's a local hero. Kate Barron Gallery Manager Art Emporium.

It's too bad the TLC didn't hand the Binning Home over to the District of West Vancouver as they did with the Arthur Erickson designed Baldwin Home in Burnaby in May 2013. 

West Van is a corporation and could hold it as an asset - not to mention it'd be a perfect public relations and marketing tactic for them. 

Suppose West Van is opening a Centre for Art, Architecture and Design. In that case, you'd think a home listed on the Canadian Historic Sites registry would be a top priority for acquisition. 

Come on West Van - offer the TLC $7.6 million for the Binning Home and write it off as an advertising and marketing expense.

For a story in the Vancouver Sun from 2007 see here.

My Caramel Apple Failure

I'm sure you saw this recipe floating around online over the past few months - the one for inside out caramel apple slices. Well, I thought that since it had melting involved I'd probably by able to make it - wrong.

Things were working out okay until it came time to take them out of the fridge.

I don't think the apples were dry enough before we put the caramel in. The caramel was one big ball of slime.

eww

My next attempt was to make sure the little buggers dried enough so the caramel would stick. I put them in our food dehydrator. It worked out ok but the apples were sliced too thin and the caramel was really hard and majorly stuck to my teeth, serious stickage - not like your typical soft caramel that comes off with your tongue sticky. I felt like I needed a dental scaler.

The horror.

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