I really like to make desserts, especially truffles. So when Mother's Day came along I realized that this would be a great thing to make my mom!

 Ingredients:

300g high quality dark chocolate (you could use milk chocolate too)
300mL heavy cream
100g dark chocolate for dipping (again you could use milk chocolate)
your choice of toppings to roll your truffles in. I used peanuts, chocolate shavings and sprinkles

     Directions:

 1) Heat up the cream in a small saucepan.

 2) Break up the chocolate in a medium sized bowl.

 3) Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until itmelts. This is called ganache.

 4) Let the ganache cool in the fridge for a least three hours.This is going to be the filling of your truffles.

 5) After the ganache is done cooling, it should be firm enough to shape into spheres.

 6) Melt the other chocolate. and get your topping into individual bowls.

 7) Dip your spheres into the melted chocolate. The two spoon method works well here, unless you want to get messy.

 8) Right after you dip your sphere, roll it in your selected topping. Then repeat for the other truffles

I hope you enjoy this truffle recipe as much as I do!

Hey there, everybody! I don’t know if you’ve watched it, but I have recently fallen in LOVE with BBC Sherlock, created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. [*Shakes fist at air screaming MOFFAT!*] The brilliant portrayal of Sherlock by Benedict Cumberbatch had me captivated, and the incredible acting from Martin Freeman as John Watson had my attention the entire time. [Because I definitely watch for the plot…. Yup] But in all seriousness, the series has six “episodes” in all, each considered a movie on it’s own, being an hour and a half long. If you haven’t watched, or don’t plan to [which you should], here’s a quick run-down of the show.

Sherlock Holmes is now in modern day, with cell phones, computers, television, and every thing else you could imagine. John Watson has returned from Afghanistan with a bullet wound in his left shoulder, and Sherlock, the world’s only Consulting Detective [he created the job], is a high-functioning sociopath, solving crimes with the Science of Deduction. The two meet when one of John’s acquaintances sets them up, both Sherlock and John needing a flat-mate. Without revealing TOO much about the series, they become partners: the insane genius and the army doctor. John follows Sherlock into several cases, solving them all, with Sherlock’s brilliant mind and John’s courage and sense of adventure. These crimes are all connected, in a way. But how? The man who joins them together is Moriarty, the consulting criminal. He’s quite the same, but completely the opposite of Sherlock. Will Sherlock stop the insane mastermind in a crown or will he continue to run loose, leading the two on a wild goose chase?

Ya… that is what the show is about… mostly. I highly recommend the series to absolutely anyone. Well, perhaps not five year olds, because the show deals with some more mature subjects, but it is really good, and the actors are brilliant (*coughadorablecough*). Unfortunately, the second series has just been released in North America, but that’s why we have this lovely invention called the Internet. Let me know what you think in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.

(P.S. Ten million Internet points and a gold star to anyone who can tell me what the reference to the show is. You get one hint: It’s in the summary. Have fun!)  

A part of Girl Guides that I love is camping. I love the effort you have to put into it, I love sleeping under the stars, and I love the people that do it with me.

Every summer I go to camp, and last summer I paddled the Missinaibi River for 22 days. You might think it’s a bit late to be reminiscing about last summer’s adventure, but stars are timeless.

On our last night of the trip, we were far, far away from any civilization. The closest town probably has a year-round population of fewer than a dozen. We had been through physically the hardest three weeks of our lives, portaging and walking our boats through rapids that were too shallow to shoot, nervously shooting huge rapids (and tipping on one) and getting far too little sleep. Some days, we would paddle until eight o’clock when camp policy determined we had to set up site – so we’d set up our tents on grassy shores and deal with sore backs in the morning, when we’d wake up in the dark and only see the sun rising after an hour or so.

After all that, we never forgot the beauty whose presence with which we were graced.  On the last night, we all lay down on the sand (it was probably close to midnight and as black as night can get) and stared up to the stars, and someone said something like, “I know it’s cold and late, but I know I’m not going to see this for a long... long, time.”

This weekend I went camping with the Brownies for whom I’m a junior leader, and as we were stargazing at the somewhat pathetic amount of stars you can see 40 minutes outside the city, and as we were silent to the sound of the highway, I thought back to that night. It’s one of those moments that I’ve replayed a thousand times.

It’s hard to have intense camping experiences at the age of eight, but Brownie camp is a start. I really hope some of the girls that I lead fulfill nature-related dreams. I, for one, dream of tripping the Coppermine River, which is in Nunavut, and flows out into the ocean in the northern part of Canada. I think it would be absolutely amazing to trip one of the rivers that far north. Part of the Coppermine River that I’m really interested in is the midnight sun – in certain parts of the summer, there is 24-hour sunlight that far north, and I think that would be cool to see.

For some of them, this will be the closest to the middle of nowhere they ever get, but I’m sure that for others, they’ll find they can excel in nature.

Camping really is a gift, even if it’s just two nights in the lowlands. It’s a break from constant crowds, Internet access, and the omnipresent labelling of people and things. Some people would say I like camping because it’s a break from reality, but it’s quite the opposite: it’s a break into reality. 

Hey All! So, I have absolutely no inspiration for anything whatsoever at the moment, so I thought I would take a project I wrote for French class. We had to write a obituary for an object we are fond of, so I chose my teddy bear which I have had since the moment of my birth. So here you go, the brilliantly stupid paragraph that got me 86% in French. The picture you see is an actual hospital-like scene I made for this, with the exact dolls I thought of while writing it. J  

Teddy Plush, loved by her family, her community and Becca, her best friend. Her husband, Tigger Plush and their two children, SnowBall and Lionelle, found Teddy on the floor of their apartment when returning from a day out with Dad. She passed away in hospital on the 5^th of January. Mrs. Teddy, was loved by all, and always had the biggest smile on her face. Teddy and Becca used to play every day, even though Becca was a little rough by pulling out her fur by accident. Her family, community and friends lost a joy in their lives. The funeral will be held on the 15^th of January in the bedroom of Miss Becca. Rest in peace, Teddy Plush. 

• 
  Dealing with Curly Hair...
  
  I have EXTREMLY curly hair and it is no picnic to take care of! Yet over the
  years I have discovered some ways to handle totally twisted hair styles.
  
  
  
  Products:
  
  
  
  1) Find a good conditioner! This can really make all the difference. Curly hair
  is prone to dryness and that means frizz. With a good helping of conditioner
  you can say goodbye to that. I recommend Herbal Essences "None of Your
  Frizziness", but it's really up to you use what works for your hair.
  
  
  
  2) Oil Moisturizer. I know it may seem really greasy but it's mostly not oil
  it's a cream and oil mix with lots of great moistening ingredients. For this I
  recommend Luster's "Pink", Original.
  
  
  
  3) Hair mousse is great, as long as you get the right type. Some can make your
  hair stiff and brittle. Not what you want. TresSemme "Flawless Curls"
  is really great because it holds but your hair still stays movable and bouncy.
  
  
  
  4) Anti-Frizz serum. I think the name says it all: ANTI-frizz! I love it.
  Garnier Fructis' Sleek and Shine even smells great.
  
  
  
  Those are the best that I have found but if anyone has any other hair product
  that they love, feel free to tell me! I've also come up with some good hair
  tricks, with the help of my sister.
  
  
  
  1) Don't brush your hair too much when it's dry. I have made that mistake and
  when I do I have to tie up my big ball of fuzz into a bun. ):
  
  
  
  2) Use more than a regular amount of conditioner. If you come out of the shower
  with hair that feels awful it might be because you didn't use enough
  conditioner. The bottle may say a quarter size amount but that's not enough for
  super curly hair. Use an extra amount for soft hair .
  
  
  
  3) Don't touch your hair to much. It's simple but touching curls too much can
  really mess up your hair. When you have your hair in the way you want it, leave
  your locks alone!
  
  
  
  4) Don't put products in when your hair is soaking wet but not when it's dry
  either. If it's wet it will just drip and dry out of your hair but will have
  almost no results if it's dry. So put your products in when your hair is damp,
  unless the product tells you specifically when to.
  
  
  
  I hope my tips have been helpful and remember to tell me your hair tricks and
  secrets too!