Freebie Friday - Guacamole

This week for Freebie Friday we are sharing a picture from social media about Guacamole! Everyone has heard of the traditional Guac but this photo shares inspiration on how to jazz that up and how to make them more cultural for different countries!

Freebie Friday - Battleship

This game is called Battleship. It is a single person version of the classic game. There are ten ships in this game. One with four parts, two with three parts, three with two parts and four with one part. This is important to keep in mind when playing. (Each game will have a legend so you can keep track.) Any square with no boat piece in will be water. 

Along two sides of the grid, we give you numbers. This represents the number of boat PIECES that are in that row or column. Keep this in mind, it will also help you fill in the squares. All squares around a ship are water. This means for example: If you place a two-piece ship  < > the two squares above and below are water and the three on each side are water also (creating a box around the ship). 

Here is the second battleship puzzle, enjoy!

Check out the original post on our website for last months answer! 

Tips, Tricks, Tutorials - Left Over Stock

For today's Tips, Tricks and Tutorial Thursday we are going to talk about Stocks. This is a great thing to have on hand and very simple to make. When we say "Turn Left Overs to Stock" we mean save some of your scraps for a stock. 

Great things to save for stock are: 

Celery Ends

Carrot Peels and Ends

Onion Skins and Ends

Excess Garlic Cloves

Chicken, Beef or Pork, Bones, or Skins

Mushroom Ends or Caps

Potato Peels

Chicken Skins

Meat Fats 

Meat Bones

You can freeze these things also until you have enough to make a stock. Once you have all the things to throw in, just add them all to a pot, cover with water and let boil (30 minutes to an hour). It is just as easy as that. 

If you are vegetarian or Vegan, you can use any and all vegetable scraps you have. For chicken, beef and pork broths you want to usually stick with the basic vegetables (listed above). This is especially true if you plan on using stock for gravies. 

How to store homemade stock: 

There are a few way to store your stock, you can fill Mason Jars with your stock and freeze for up to 6 months in the freeze (defrost in warm water in the sink). You can fill ice cube trays so you have small portions to use when needed. Or you can store it in an air tight container in the fridge for one work week (five days). 

Tips, TRicks, and Tutorial Thursday - Working the Round

This blog post is going to be dedicated to working in the round (example: hats, rugs, coasters, place mats, doilies, etc). This chart is great to have handy because it shows you exactly how to start a basic double crochet circle. This can be used for a number of things and sometimes its just nice to have something simple to follow. (This photo was found on social media, full credit goes to Maggie Weldon - creator.)

Movie Review: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Let me start by saying I am a big fan of Star Wars. I have grown up watching Star Wars and my older brother is completely obsessed with the franchise including the extended universe. I have seen each previous installment numerous times and enjoy them each time. 

The Last Jedi is the 8th installment in the core movies. While many complained that The Force Awakens was too much like A New Hope (or simply "Star Wars" for the hardcore fans), The Last Jedi kind of just goes all over the place that made it feel really long with a lot of filler, it is NOT a retelling of The Empire Strikes Back.

Personally, I felt there was a lot of build up with a lot of let down. The Force Awakens made us ask questions, lots of questions that we hoped to get answered in The Last Jedi, or Episode 9. Instead, they throw a lot of it out the window and say it never mattered leaving a feeling a disappointment.

There were a few scenes that annoyed me, not only as a Star Wars fan but a movie fan in general. There is one scene in particular that still annoys me to this day. Anyone who sees the movie will know the exact scene I am talking about (Yes, that one). 

However, overall the Star Wars: The Last Jedi was still good. I enjoyed it an will watch it again. The story was good and the battles were epic and of course, who could forget the musical talents of John Williams who once again brings his best to conduct an amazing score, worthy of an Oscar. I am still wondering whats next, what will happen in Episode IX. What they did right, outweighs the things they did wrong in a tenfold.

If I had to give Star Wars: The Last Jedi a number ranking it would be 4/5.

Wednesday Review - Adult Colouring Book: Be Inspired

As we talked about before Colouring books are a big thing and the trend isn't dying anytime soon. Which may be for the best. A lot of people claim that colouring helps them relax and it is a great tool for dealing with anxiety and depression. This Adult Colouing Book, is part of a series of colouring book and if they are all the same as this one, they have beautiful drawn pictures in them. Whether they are normally such a good price or if it is just Amazon pricing. This book (and others like it) sells for $8.48 (CAN) and because it is shipped by Amazon it will ship for free on orders over $35.

Recommendation Wednesday - Starting Soap Making!

As everyone in the "soaping" world will tell you Bramble Berry is one of, if not, the go to place for anything soap or body product. They even offer easy to do kits if you want to just try your hand at a certain project. They also offer a Starter Kit that includes a handful of useful items for getting started with the Soap Making or other Bath and Body Product making process. 

Unfortunately, Bramble Berry is an American based company and that can result in very high and expensive shipping charges. Some alternatives to this are of course ordering to a P.O Box in the US that you can pick up your order from, or ask a friend to looking into what may be cheaper shipping charges or to hold them for you until you can pick them up. (Please note that it is your responsibility to claim anything you bring into a country at the boarder, this includes Soaping Materials.) 

Alternatively, you can try and find what Bramble Berry suggests to start with. According to the listing on their website for the starter kit, it includes: 

     - 1qt Mixing Bowl 

     - 1 Square Spoon

     - 1 Spatula 

     - 1 Ladle 

     - 1 Round Spoon

     - 2 Easy Pour Mixing & Measuring Containers

     - 2 Squeeze Bottles

     - 1 Pair of Soaping Goggles

     - 1 Plastic Mini Mixer

     - 1 KD 7000 Scale with Adapter

The only other item we would recommend is a Stick Blender especially for making soap. This will come in very handy. Some of these items can be easy to find and if you are new to soaping you don't need to spend crazy amounts of many just to start off. 

The mixing bowl seems to be a Tempered Glass Measuring Cup, and this should work fine especially when beginning. Though we couldn't find any online examples of this, we recommend Anchor products they are tempered (please read the information provided with the glass containers to make 100% sure of this) and they are good quality. We got ours at Canadian Tire for less than $12. The Spoons, Spatula, and Ladle can all be found at a Dollar Store or any kitchen supply store. The key to buying these is to make sure they are silicon. Some of the other items can be found at Candora.ca or Amazon.ca, These are the best Canadian options we have found. Unfortunately, Candora's shipping charges can get expensive too so trying to buy a large order at once or picking up personally would be a good option.