My Favourite Things #1

I make a point of buying one new item every time I go grocery shopping. It's a way to avoid shopping cart complacency and its a challenge to keep things fresh and new. A couple of years ago, Clover Leaf's brand of spicy thai chili tuna made its way into my grocery cart.

The first thing I noticed was how convenient it was. The pull-top lid makes it easy to get inside. It's the perfect size for a lunch bag.

But the taste. Holy cow.

It's so deliciously spicy and zippy (helped, in part, by a large chili in each can) that as soon as I tried it, I grew worried that it would be pulled from the shelves lest it offend the bland Canadian palate.

The best part is that this tuna can liven up a green salad like nobody's business. You won't even need salad dressing.

Haven't tried it? Now's the perfect time to give it a whirl. Sobey's has it on sale for .88¢. I bought ten cans on the weekend.

Shaken

A catastrophic earthquake hit the already impoverished country of Haiti yesterday.

Gentle men, women and children who were already struggling to find enough to eat, clean water to drink and a way to eke out a living for their families, literally saw their lives crumble around them.

I knew a few CARE folks who worked in Haiti about ten years ago. Food was so scarce that they'd have to order it from Miami and get space on incoming defense department planes. Ordinary Haitians weren't so lucky.

Now this.

If you've never been in an earthquake, I don't wish it on you.

We had regular tremors when I lived in Japan. Sometimes several a day. But there was a 6.0 quake toward the end of my tenure there. I was seated in a train in Akebane station -- on the third storey up -- when the quake hit. Our car rocked back and forth like it was been handled by a giant grumpy kid's hand. No one screamed. There was an eerie silence. Probably one of the most frightening things that ever happened to me.

The Haitian quake was a full point higher.

How important is makeup to you?

Did you know that the average "worth" of a woman's makeup bag is about $400?

According to 2006 PMB data, in a 30 day period the readership of Flare spent $37.5 million in cosmetics.

I've been working on something at work that has makeup at the core and it's led to some fairly lively debate about the importance of makeup in a woman's life. You'd be surprised -- or maybe you wouldn't -- how intimidating most people find it to go au naturale.

So I'm wondering....how important is makeup to you?

Weapon of Mass Destruction

In the few weeks since a crazy Nigerian dude tried to blow himself up on a transatlantic jetliner, the feds have really stepped up the security screening at airports.

Do you feel any safer?

I bet you don't. I bet you mostly feel irritated that you can't take anything larger than a tampon case through security.

I've been on a bit of a rant lately about the fact that if someone has the intention to do harm, no amount of security clearance will stop them.

In fact, I've mentioned the fact that you could gouge someone's eye out with a plastic spoon so many times that people are actually getting a bit jumpy whenever I linger too long around the cutlery drawer.

Fact is, security is necessary. But I think we're losing our minds a little. Our culture of fear (can you say H1N1) is in overdrive and no one seems willing or capable of saying "the emperor has no clothes".

As for crazy Nigerian dude -- the best part of that story is this. The other passengers stopped him. No retina scan. No full body scanner. Nothing. Just old fashioned football style tackle.If only they'd had plastic spoons...

Mind-Blowing Thought of the Day

There is no them.

Only us.

Don't Nut

Someone over at Tim Hortons clearly has a direct line to the fact that most people break their New Years resolution to lose weight fairly quickly into the month of January.

What could be better than the low tech Wheel of Donuts. It invites you to spin the arrow and purchase, for the low, low price of 49¢, a little ball of heavenly dough. It's certainly a damn sight better than chasing another brown and soggy lettuce leaf around the plate for another day.

See, they even almost got me. And I'm not even trying to lose weight.

So after hearing the siren song of the new Apple Fritter stuffed with apples and caramel, I took a little trip online to check out the nutritional information of some of these tasty treats.

Word to the wise. If you love something. Truly love it. Can't live without it. Don't bother looking up the nutritional information. It will never be the same to you again.

But if you're prepared to have your world collapse around you, you might be surprised to learn a few things. Like, what has more calories -- an apple fritter or a raisin tea biscuit? Cue Jeopardy music.

I might guess the tea biscuit is the healthier choice but they're nearly identical in calories -- 300 for the fritter and 290 for the tea biscuit. Shocking, especially since I'd be tempted to slather the tea biscuit in strawberry jam and pretend I'm British. But wait for it -- the tea biscuit has 590 mg of sodium. That's not a treat, it's a salt lick.

Tim Bits are slightly better on the gluttony front, providing you exercise a little self control.

A single old-fashioned plain timbit is about 70 calories, while an old-fashioned donut is 260. How many times have you crammed half a dozen timbits into your cake hole when you'd never, ever consider eating a whole donut?

Then there's the chili -- a popular choice among my colleagues. It has 1320 mg of sodium in a bowl. The recommended daily intake of sodium for adults between 9 and 50, is 1500 mg.

Forget The Wheel of Donuts. I think Timmies might be on to something. Wheel of Hypertension! I'll have my marketing people call their marketing people.

Winter Feast for the Soul

Happy new decade, everyone.

According to Rumi, what 9 months does for the embryo, forty early morning will do for your growing awareness.

So I've decided to join thousands of people worldwide in a 40 early day spiritual practice period for world peace.

The project is called Winter Feast for the Soul and the aim is to generate awakening and peace for all sentient being. A little heady perhaps, but it's all about intention.

Participants are asked to commit to a 40 minute practice period every day for 40 days. It starts on January 15th and ends on February 23, 2010.

If you'd like to join in, you can register here .

Last year, over 10,000 people from more than 29 countries joined in.

May all living beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May we all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May we always rejoice in the happiness of others.
May we abide in equanimity, free from attachment and aversion.

~ The Divine Abodes, or the Four Immeasurables