Simply Smoothies

When I was a teenager, one thing I liked about visiting the US was getting to go to this smoothie chain called Jamba Juice. When I would occasionally get them I thought they were really good. I love berries so much and since berries seem to be a key ingredient for smoothies have also always liked smoothies. There is a Jamba Juice (or at least there used to be) in Berkeley on Bancroft right across from the main entrance to UC Berkeley and sometimes during my first year I would go there for a smoothie. I started to think after a while, however, that Jamba Juice's smoothies had a somewhat generic and manufactured taste. They tasted kind of like the ingredients were not all that natural. They tasted (to me anyway) like they sugar in them instead of just letting the berries sweeten the drink.

During our first year at Berkeley, S. discovered Brewed Awakening (primarily a coffee shop) and its fabulous smoothies. We used to go there regularly for smoothies. I can't remember which flavours I liked best anymore but I know I always got the berry ones. Brewed Awakening's smoothies tasted "homemade" and were made with natural ingredients right in front of you. S. and I always had a lot of fun going to get smoothies and then going for a walk around north side.

When I spent five lovely days in Aix-en-Provence in early July 2008 doing research, I found this little stand that made juices/smoothies. It is sometimes hard to know the difference between a juice and a smoothie. Are smoothies supposed to have milk or yogurt in them? Maybe. If they are, this place made juices then because there was no dairy in their products. I really liked the drink I got there (and I went almost every day of my visit) and observed the recipe closely so I could make it on my own. They made the juice like this: ice, an entire banana, strawberries (cut up) and/or raspberries, a glass of water, and the juice of an entire lemon (this part I especially liked because I love using a lemon squeezer). I loved the juice so much that that whole following year in Austin I would make that exact juice almost every day.

My brother A. makes smoothies with almond butter. I can't remember what else he put in the smoothie but I think blueberries and maybe yogurt? I should ask him. In any event, almond butter seemed like such a unique and delicious option for smoothies. Almond products seem like a good addition to smoothies in general. Since moving to Montreal, I have fallen in love with this smoothie place called  Liquid Nutrition. In my opinion, it is the best "chain" smoothie place ever. I am super excited because I just went to their website and discovered they now have two locations in Toronto. They are both way downtown (so not near where I normally go) but still so cool! I'm happy! I think the company started in Montreal and now is trying to expand. In any event, they have a location on the McGill campus and I go there all the time. Their smoothies are delicious and never taste manufactured or fake. They taste like they are made with real ingredients. My favourite smoothie is called "Douceur" (it's called Sweetness in English but I always - even if ordering in English - just ask for the Douceur because they only have their menu up on the board in French). It used to be called La Vie en Rose which is a better name, but they changed the name (but not the smoothie) maybe a year and a half ago. I once tried another smoothie there which was also good but I can't remember what that one was called. I probably only had it 3 times whereas I've had Douceur so so many times. Douceur is made with banana, strawberries, raspberries, (maybe blueberries too?) honey, ice and almond milk. Typing this is making me want one so badly right now. Liquid Nutrition also sells a lot of supplements and things like that. I've never tried any of those things. I had had their muffins a few times - which were just okay - and a sandwich there once - which was also not amazing but fine. They are primarily a smoothie place and it shows. Anyway, I just love the Douceur smoothie and I really recommend going there if you have the chance.

Secret ingredient

When I moved back to Toronto in the summer of 2009, I had to get a new blender (I had left my previous one in Austin) and I didn't like it as much as my old one. Maybe this was all just in my head but I felt that same drink I used to make in Austin just did not taste as good at all. After trying a few more times, I stopped making it and haven't made them on my own since. I could easily make the Douceur at home but I don't. It probably wouldn't taste as good as the Liquid Nutrition one but still. I should try! I really should get a blender and get back into making them. First, because I am positive there will be no Liquid Nutrition where I live next year and so if I want a Douceur I'll have no choice but to make it; and second, because as almond butter or almond milk attests, there are so many possibilities for smoothies I need to explore!

Thoughts on Texts & more importantly Emojis!

My favourites are all in the first row: the two with blushing cheeks, the winking one and the blowing a kiss

I've never been - and am still not - that big a fan of text messaging. I prefer sending emails to texts because I can type on a computer keyboard much faster than I can "type" on a phone. I have gotten used to them now and I understand their utility but I still don't love them. So many people I know love texting though and send texts all the time! Maybe one of the reasons I've never wholeheartedly embraced texts is that my phone plan didn't have a texting option when texts first caught on. I think the first text I ever received was from A. back when we were both at Berkeley and I was so confused to see a written message from him on my phone :) Wait, it just occurred to me that I would occasionally text in Santiago. So A.'s text wasn't the first I ever received. Texting was pretty popular in Chile. I remember L. remarking once that texting was way more popular in other parts of the world than in North America (that has changed I believe!). So correction: the first text I received in North America was from A. Regardless, as that last year at Berkeley continued on, more friends started to send me texts and it was frustrating to be unable to text them back!!

When I lived in Paris in 2007, my cell phone came with a text option (texting - called either "textos" or SMS -  was really popular in France) and I got more used to sending texts. My British friends C. and S. texted a lot and would always end their texts with an "x" which I really liked. When I came back to North America, and then ended up in Austin, I made sure to get a cell phone with a texting option. I didn't send a ton of texts but I definitely sent them fairly regularly as it caught on more and more. What was super frustrating about that plan though (my carrier was Verizon) was that for some reason whenever I went back to Toronto, my phone refused to send texts. E. had the same plan as me (she lived in NYC at the time) and when she came back to Toronto she could send texts. No fair :) I even called Verizon and they weren't particularly helpful just telling me that they weren't sure why some people could send texts when in Canada and others couldn't.

My pre-iphone phone looked like this. Texting is hard on one of these!

When I moved back to Toronto and got a cell phone with Koodo, I was happy to see that texting was included with all their plans. However, I soon learned, much to my annoyance, that I could not make smiley faces like this :) on my phone. So annoying! Those smiley faces are much more useful than I initially knew they would be. I feel like they could change the whole tone of a message (tone in general can be so difficult to convey over text) in an important way. I can think of countless times when I wanted to put in a smiley face but couldn't and was frustrated!

Finally, at the beginning of last November, so five months ago, I got an iphone. Besides it being great that I can now check my email from anywhere (I especially like checking from bed when my laptop is in the other room) and that I have cool apps like a flashlight app and UNO (which D. and I play a lot!), and that  texting is much easier now that I have a keypad vs. having to type everything with my thumbs on a regular number pad like on my old phone, the hands down main reason I love my iphone is because of the emojis. They are so much fun! Emojis are Japanese which is so unsurprising to me because the Japanese are just so great at things I like like stationery and stickers and clothes and cool kitchen supplies and loving French culture and so of course they'd be great at emojis. I now try to use emojis as much as possible. D. and my mom also love them and so I can use as many emojis as I want when sending them texts. Emojis just add so much to a text. They make them cuter and more fun and sweet. And easier! Why type "I feel like a glass of wine" when you could replace "glass of wine" with an emoji of a glass of wine? My very favourites (and most used) are the blushing ones, the one blowing a kiss, and the one with the sunglasses but I seriously love all the emojis. I love the hearts and the lips & all the random ones. I hope you can use emojis too, and if you can't just enjoy looking at all these pictures. And, be sure to click on this link which features drawings of all the emojis. Super cool!

Here is a screenshot from my very own phone! You can see all the emojis I recently used. You can also see that I asked D. if I could post this on my blog and he obligingly said "Of course"  :)

One of my most used

So this is another screenshot from my phone. See the bubble with the dots, it means D. is writing something and is about to send me a text! In my recently used, you can see more of my favourites like the bathtub, the pink heart with the bow (I think that's my mom's favourite one) and the sunglasses one! 

I included this one to show all the variety: there are animals, flowers, foods, fruits, etc. etc.