a peek inside the fishbowl

This is the time of year I start to crave a particular combination of baked apples, butter, and sugar. And this weekend I decided to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Enter, the apple crisp:

This recipe (mentioned at the bottom of this post) is pretty good, but if I’m really honest with myself I have to admit that it doesn’t really beat my mother-in-law’s recipe for apple crisp.

New algorithms search for signs of consciousness in brain injury patients http://t.co/csBRsXeFMi pic.twitter.com/xa70yV1Xrv

— WIRED (@WIRED) October 16, 2014

• How family dynamics at the dinner table affect kids’ weight, time.com
• Nobody Knows What The Hell They Are Doing, 99u.com
• Why You Should Always Say “Hello” In The Elevator, linkedin.com
• Learning to Love Criticism, nytimes.com

On the nightstand: My Ghosts.

We have a winner! Her name has been posted in the comments below this post. Thanks for your entries everyone. Hope to see you at Tiggy’s store wide sale!

Hoo boy. Do I have a great giveaway for Ottawa peeps today.

Many of you are already familiar with Fishbowl patron, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s. They’re a locally owned store (there are five of them in fact) that has a long history of making people happy in the Ottawa area and beyond. Three cheers for shopping local!

Honestly, the store is so full of great stuff I hardly know where to look. Here are a few standouts you may find interesting:

Here’s the good news:

1) Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s storewide sale will be taking place Thursday October 23 to Sunday October 26. It’s a biggie: 20% OFF all regular priced in-stock items. This includes Lego and Playmobile too! (!!) Note that Melissa and Doug merch will be 20% off during the storewide sale (just not an additional 20% off the already 20% off if that makes sense) and it will be 20% off all of October.

2) They’re giving away a $50 gift card to one lucky Fishbowl reader in time for the sale. And guess what? All of the items shown above are all under $50.

You can use the gift card to make a dent in your Christmas gift list, buy an advent calendar, a Halloween costume for your kid, a surprise for your family (like a new board game or puzzle) or something for yourself! (Like the cat popper. I want a cat popper!)

Interested? Read on!

• In order for your entry to qualify, please leave a comment below and tell me what you’d buy with your gift card. That’s it! If you need help figuring that out I recommend taking a look at the Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s website.
• For an extra entry, comment on this Facebook post too. Just let me know you did so in a second comment below.
• This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
• If you can’t post your comment for whatever reason you can email it to me for posting at andrea at quietfish dot com. Please note, I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
• I will draw one name using Random.org at noon EST on October 23, 2014. I’ll contact the winner via email, who will have to pick up their winnings at the Tiggy’s location of their choice.

This is not a requirement of the giveaway, but if you’re a fan of Mrs. Tiggy Winkle’s I highly recommend you follow them on Twitter and Facebook for advance warning of sales, contests, and other great insider scoop.

Sounds good? Over to you! Good luck!