Shake It

Happy 19th Birthday to the loveliest girl this world has yet to come across,

the definitively irreplaceable, 

 quintessentially chic,

simply adorable

Michelle Tiangco.

Home Sweet Home

Photograph by Claire Webber

Her beautiful maritime neighbourhood

How To Go To Court

Maybe you don't have a criminal charge.

And maybe you're not a lawyer, judge, typist or Elle Woods.

But by golly, you too can go to court!

Here are just a few tips, should you feel inclined to experience our country's vessels of law and justice.

Don't chew gum

There is no excuse for slappin' your gums in court.

Turn off your cell phone

As in, off. Vibrations make noise too and it's definitely not 'cool' with the judge that your phone goes off.

Speak quietly, or not at all

You never really know who's listening.

No committing crimes

Wrong place, wrong time.

Broke, Not Broken

Just a heads-up to all you die-hard Romacers, we've got a brand new section, 

Broke Not Broken

...

Tips and tricks for livin' the high life on a budget

Cleanup In Aisle Five...

Saturday morning.  

Known to keeners for its 7am trips to the market.  

Known to normal people as 3pm trips to the grocery store.

But this time all of us slackers are coming out on top because

EVERYTHING IS ON SALE

If you're a Toronto gal and you've got a metro nearby, slip into a pair of loafers and high-tail on over.  Strawberries are flying off the shelves at two boxes for a fiver, Oatmeal Crisp (God's gift to cereal lovers) is down to three bucks a pop, and you can now drink your body weight in Tropicana for a measly four dollars.

Oh, and how could anyone forget?

There are samples on Saturday.

We're talkin' ShaSha's best cookies and all-natural loafs, Lipton teas and Hershey's chocolate (who doesn't know what Hershey's tastes like...?)

In other words, if you're on a budget but would like to remain in the land of the living (i.e. a nourished, sustained individual) rustle up the gang and hit up that supermarket.

Oh.

Don't forget your reusable bag.

Queen of Hearts

When you're making the long trek home from a night on Queen West, more often than not (being the cheerful bunch that you all are) it's your tummy doing most of the grumbling.  So when hunger pangs hit, sink into a comfy-womfy chair or banquette at the ever-so-lovely Queen Mother Café.  Not quite hidden gem status since it's a fairly well-known eatery, but my-oh-my is this place delicious.

Props for... friendly service and cream-of-the-crop ambiance (think candlelight and union jacks, chuchotte-ing customers and tall, tall ceilings)

A little miffed because... no debit!

Yum!  Bumble Berry Crumble Flan (heated up with ice cream)

Café au lait (in a bowl)

Uhh... nahhh: Have yet to try anything not delicious

So much more than produce

Okay, okay, Happy Birthday Barbie.

Sure, Pink Tartan reps Canada well.

Joe Mimran- and your baby, Joe Fresh - we salute you.

LG Fashion Week has swallowed the city whole, with well-dressed yuppies prowling the streets, badges dangling from the lanyards around their lucky necks as designers flaunt their best for Fall/Winter 09.  And who takes the cake?  

Hint:  It's the same place you buy cake.

Attention all recessionistas: the grocery store is the new sample sale.

Trade in your runway for the freezer aisle, because Joe Fresh is where it's at.

If, like so many in the starving student set, you find your piggy bank getting dauntingly empty but just can't give up on the joys of beautiful clothing, it's time to start multi-tasking: slip those retail therapy sessions in next time you're picking up that box of KD- as designer Mimran puts it, "you can sneak it on to the grocery bill".

Yes, please.

Made for Walkin'

Photograph by Ali Columbus

When you're livin' in the Great White North, it's all you can do to keep from getting cold feet (we're talkin' legitimately freezing digits, kids).  But even if you're just trekkin' around the city, a solid pair of workboots will never let you down.  Take a cue from our Marathon, Ontario correspondent Ali Columbus and slip into something like this.

Brown boots

Cost: Free

(in exchange for three months work at a thrift store)

Hindsight is always 20/20

From our nation's capital: a look back at winter, with love.

A very warm thank-you to Emma Pickard for her wisdom and unendingly cool sense of style.

In the soft words of the Great Lake Swimmers, winter this year was all about 'fur and feathers, leather and scales'. In short, our lovely friends from the animal kingdom lent us some great inspiration.

Don't worry you environmental types, these things can be and were often accomplished without actually harming any animals.

So long, winter, you lovely little excuse to hit the shops.

But, no offense... we're ready for spring.

The Art of the Dinner Party

With weather this blissful and friends this lovely, there's nothing like a dinner party to celebrate life.  So set the table, crack the window open, and plug in the iPod- it's time to eat.

The Eats

-Strawberry and Zucchini Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette-

-Blue corn Nachos with Green and White Onions, Cherry Tomatoes, Green Pepper, Cheddar Cheese and Coriander-

-Chocolate Cupcakes with Icing Sugar and Strawberries-

-Maple Walnut Ice Cream-

-Evening Jazz Herbal Tea-

The "Sundays-are-for-lounging-but-let's-amp-it-up-anyhow" Playlist

1. Rueben deGroot June Carter
2. Ratatat Mirando
3. Kiss Strutter
4. Belle and Sebastian The Boys Are Back In Town
5. The Virgins One Week of Danger

and to drink?

Pinky and the Brain

1/2 teacup white wine 

(Frisky Zebra Sauvignon Blanc)

1/2 teacup pink lemonade

garnish with lemon

The Rules

Be polite.

Don't wash the dishes until tomorrow morning.

Spray the cupcake tins if you're not using liners.

Vacuum before your guests arrive.

Have a ball!

Shake It

So You Think You Can SNAP?

Think you have what it takes to rule the roost?  

The Polaroid roost, that is...

Preeeesenting 

Romance In The Dressing Room's first ever contest:

PolaRAD

We're on the prowl for the very best in Polaroid (or Poseroid, at least) photography.  

Send in your very best to anniewebber@hotmail.com

Brownie points for those who have already converted theirs with the Poladroid application mentioned a few dozen posts back.

All contributions will be posted at one point or another, and the winning photographer will receive a mystery prize pack to end all m

ystery prize packs.

Mystery prize pack will be featured on the blog at a later date (for legitimacy, obviously).

Photographs must be original works.

Judging will be based on creativity, artistic merit, and general coolness.

Good Luck!

Shake It

Desk Job

Perhaps a shameless plug, perhaps a chance to show my artwork to the world, please excuse this breach in the strictly-third-sometimes-second-person narrative Romance usually adheres to.

I couldn't resist.

Check THIS out.

Shake It

Thank-you to Maja Hipkin for this glammiest-of-glam poladroids!

Notable Quotables

What the kids on the street are sayin' these days:

"There's about as much law in here as there is marble and hardwood"

(At the courthouse)

"I love him as a person, but not as a ginger"

(Out for lunch)

Truly outrageous.

Shake It

A big shout-out to Madeline F Webber, who's off and away in beautiful Paris.

You've Got Mail

Who doesn't love a good bit of mail?

And who doesn't love a good deal?

If you answered "Not I!" to either of these questions, check out the very latest in greeting cards, handmade and delivered to you for one measly little dollar.

Bluefish Cards

Stow Away

Calling all pack rats!  If you're one of those kooks who just can't let go of that bus ticket or luggage tag, rest easy in the fact that you're in good company.  To avoid a situation similar to the sickeningly sloppy participants on TLC's Clean Sweep, tuck your memorabilia away in semi-organized vessels- try the ol' cigar box if you've got one kickin' around the house.

Worth Saving

Concert tickets from shows you really loved

Luggage tags or boarding passes from especially nice trips

Postcards

Photobooth photographs, Polaroids, well any photograph really...

Foreign currency (sometimes comes in handy in a pinch)

Knicks and knacks you pick up in your travels

Anything that makes you smile/laugh/cry/etc

Decidedly Not Worth Saving

Pop tabs

Wrappers (unless they're really cool)

Every business card you ever receive

Toothpicks

Greeting cards that you're not particularly attached to

Things that rot

In other words, junk goes in the garbage, souvenirs and memories go in a memory box.  You can decide the difference for yourself.  Happy hoarding!

The "What-The-Heck-Is-Going-On-Today" Playlist

Meredith Gillies returns with a playlist to soothe your soul.  When frazzling realizations lead to could-have-been nervous breakdowns, plug in your earbuds and find calm in these jams.

1. John Legend Lay Your Head Down
2. Martha Reeves Jimmy Mack
3. Danny Michel Tennessee Tobacco
4. The Velvet Underground Pale Blue Eyes
5. Pixies Where Is My Mind?

Shake It

Sodalicious are soooo delicious

Bryan Webber models spring's fashions.

We're springing forward today, and if that lost hour you're feeling a little less than ambitious in the kitchen, know you're not alone.  Whether you're pinched for time or taking the day off, here's a throwback menu to get yer motor runnin'

The Meal of Childhood Goodness

 for a Lazy Sunday

-Ginger ale and dill pickle chips-

-Campbell's tomato soup and a million Premium Plus crackers-

-Pizza Pops if you're still peckish-

-Chocolate Snack Pack-

Sure, it isn't dinner at the Ritz, but hey, when you're filled to the brim with organic-this and whole-food-that and all you want is something you can throw in the microwave, what's a girl to do?

Bonjour, le printemps! (We hope...)

Spring is sprung

The grass is riz

I wonder where the birdie is?

The birdie's on the wing.

Well, isn't that a funny thing!

I always thought the wing was on the birdie.

Balmy short-sleeve-worthy afternoons, plenty of (March) showers, and birds chirping in the morning- just when you think it can't get any colder, spring comes along and teases you a little with a burst of sunshiney loveliness.

In honour of the charming weather: a few songs, a few stories, and a few flicks to put a spring in your step - ha. ha. ha.

The "Oh-how-lovely-I-can-finally-wear-my-trench-without-getting-hypothermia" Playlist

1. Sufjan Stevens Come On! Feel The Illinoise!
2. The Beatles Mean Mr. Mustard
3. Grizzly Bear On a neck, on a spit
4. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us
5. Young Galaxy Swing Your Heartache

The "So-what-if-I-lose-an-hour-I'll-just-sleep-longer" Reading List

For the girl who climbs a tree and scrapes her knee

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

For the girl who just wants to have fun

How to Walk in High Heels by Camilla Morton

For the collegiate-chic set

Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith

For the girl who doesn't have time to read

Vanity Fair

...the magazine.

Grab your beau and catch a flick- here's what's worth seeing in the theatre

One Week (if you're Canadian, it's kind of your duty)

Milk (if you haven't seen this yet, cancel today's plans. This is the movie to see)

Cinematheque (this isn't a movie, it's a way of life. For all you lucky Torontonians in the mood for something deliciously foreign, abstract, avant-garde, what have you: you don't have any excuse. Cough up the five bucks and check it out)

Smushin' Our Sorrows Away

You've all heard of the Naked Chef.  You're all aware that he is not, in fact, a naked man cooking food, but rather the most scrumptious of brits stripping dishes of pesky gourmet frills and bringing cooking down to the realm of mere mortals.  But have you seen what the man does with ice cream?

A recipe (though some would argue it's more of a fluff piece for the cookbook) born of a childhood love affair with those bowls of frozen paradise, Smush-Ins are a do-it-yourself version of flavoured ice cream.

Click here for the original recipe, or pay close attention to the steps listed below.

The Smushing

1. Start with a bowl of plain ice cream.  Vanilla is a very very good idea, but if you're jonesin' for an extra kick of cocoa goodness, you can use chocolate ice cream, too.  Or strawberry...
   
2. "Smush" the bejesus out of the ice cream by any means possible.  Some people melt their ice cream in the microwave a little, but that's pretty gross.  Just go at it with a spoon for about a minute and you'll get a nice consistency.
3. Choose your base flavour.  Berries are nice if you want to keep it light, peanut butter is great for a full-bodied flavour (just beware of friends [particularly boyfriends!] with anaphylaxis.  That would be bad).  Mix it in well.
4. Add your first 'chunk' flavour- chocolate chips, bananas, caramel chips- but don't stop there.  These little bowls of heaven are certainly not limited to the dessert sphere.  Why not dabble with other food groups?  Sourdough-bread-and-jam ice cream sounds legit...
5. Keep adding and adding until you can add no more, and get creative!  (The creativity factor, however, depends on what you've got in your kitchen...)
6. When you think you're done, through a sauce in there.  Popular choices include fudge or butterscotch, but some of the best are some of the least expected.  Red pepper jelly, anyone?  (This could be a little out there, but jams do go nicely with ice cream.  Nutella, too, obviously).
7. Presto!  You've got yourself your very own ice cream flavour, known by no-one else on this globe, and tasted only by the lucky few you select to share with.  Congratulations.

The Most Important Step:  Drink. Water. You will otherwise perish.

At Last

For all you hungry-mungry-romancers, a quick little somethin' to get you through to tomorrow... The Day The Blog Is Updated.

PS: This lovely photograph is brought to you by our latest contributor, Miss Maja Hipkin (pronounced My-yah, not Mahhh-Jahhh, contrary to popular belief).