a peek inside the fishbowl

We have a winner! Thank you for your entries everyone!

Regular readers may remember that Fishbowl patron Alison Fowler hosted the same kind of giveaway at this time last year. I was absolutely smitten with her Wall of H’arts and I know a bunch of you were too.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Well, have a looksee for yourself:

I bought one of her hearts last year and I love it to bits. I remember standing there, in her studio, sweating to death in my parka, trying to narrow it down to at least FIVE OR SIX pieces and finding it next to impossible. But after A LOT of soul searching and a bit of guidance from the artist herself I finally picked one. It has a glossy sheen and has a teeny feather embedded into it. (I.DIE. It’s just so darn cute it kills me.)

Here it is:

It’s sitting on our mantle right now, but it can be easily hung on a wall if we desire. (In my dreams I see a wall of hearts in our home… just like in Alison’s photo above. They look amazing grouped together. Sigh.)

ANYWAY, this giveaway is for ONE (1) original 4″ x 4″ piece of heart art by Alison Fowler. Interested? Read the rules carefully please:

• This giveaway is open to anyone residing in the Ottawa area but is void in Quebec. (Sorry guys, here’s why.)
• In order for your entry to qualify, using the comments below, please tell me about a favourite piece of art that you own, or about your favourite artist. Bonus points if it’s a local Ottawa artist and you share a link to their website. :)
• The draw will be at 9:00 a.m EST on February 13th. Here’s the tricky part: the winner MUST be able to pick up their prize at Alison’s studio on that day. (It’s at 1395-B Wellington Street West, just one block east of Island Park Drive.) She’ll be there until 5:00 p.m. but may be convinced to stay until 5:05. :)
• If you can’t post your comment because you’re behind a firewall at work (or whatever), 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!
• This is not a requirement of entry, but you might be interested to know that Alison is on Facebook and Twitter too.
• One entry per person please. We want lots of people to have the opportunity to win.
• So, yes. I will do a random draw using Random.org at 9:00 EST on February 13, 2012. Please make sure leave me an email address so I can reach you right away. The winner must get back to me within one hour otherwise it’ll go to the runner up.

That’s it! Thank you Alison for this awesome giveaway! And if you don’t win, you can always swing by the studio and pick up a heart or two for that special someone. You can read more about them on her website.

We have a winner! Thanks for your entries everyone!

We are a bookish family here at Casa Fishbowl… and we like our gadgets too. So when I was offered the chance to test drive the new Kobo Mini eReader I had to take it.

I’ve had several generations of Kobos in my hands over the past few years. I wasn’t overly pleased with the first one, I found it bulky and clicky, but they got better and better as time went on. Mark has a black Kobo Touch and really likes it and uses it almost exclusively for library reads.

The one I’m writing about today, the Kobo Mini, is really sweet and I’m quite taken with it. There’s something that’s especially alluring about its compact size. BEHOLD:

It is quite irresistible, even though Piper doesn’t know what to make of it. As soon as my eldest daughter spotted it she picked it up and started reading. It is a READING MAGNET. The Parent Tested Parent Approved™ (PTPA) community gave the new Kobo Mini a seal of approval for ease-of-use for even the youngest of family members. I can totally see the girls getting a lot of use out of the Kobo Mini.

Personally, I didn’t know if I’d like the smaller screen, but once I got comfortable with it I realized it has some serious advantages.

(1) In a strange way, having fewer words on a page makes it easier for me to focus my attention on them. I’m a bit of an ADD reader so anything that keeps me on the page is a good thing in my books.

(2) It’s very light, and the smaller size makes it miles easier for me to hold in one hand. It’s very easy to read in bed, especially if you’re like me and tend to read on your side. It’d be the perfect size to slip into a purse or pocket too, which makes it ideal for travellers… or anyone who likes to read on the go. This one is quite pleasant to hold in your hand, which I appreciate because the first generation Kobo wasn’t.

Some nitty gritty via the Kobo people:

• The 5” Kobo Mini is the smallest, lightest full-featured eReader in the world
• With Kobo Mini’s glare-free E Ink touchscreen, it’s just like reading print on paper—even in direct sunlight [Agreed. It is very easy on the eyeballs.]
• The Kobo Mini is fully customizable and allows you to choose from 7 font styles and 24 font sizes, as well as exclusive weight and sharpness settings so you can adjust the text to suit your eyes
• The Kobo Mini is sleek and stylish with the option of 3 interchangeable SnapBacks in a range of colours to suit anyone’s reading style
• Readers have direct access to the Kobo eBookstore from the Kobo Mini with a Wi Fi connection—and a storage capacity for up to 1,000 eBooks

Me: I love the built in dictionary! I use it all the time. In fact, this is what I miss most when I’m reading paper books! I’m also looking forward to trying the Facebook integration. :)

Here’s something that’s good to know: the Kobo Mini eReader will be available for only $59.99 from January 25 to February 14, and as an added Valentine’s Day bonus, consumers can customize the Kobo Mini with a complimentary, colourful Kobo SnapBack.

But this is a giveaway, and I have one to give to one lucky reader! If you are interested in having a Kobo Mini eReader of your very own, please read on.

• This giveaway is for ONE (1) Kobo Mini eReader, and is open to anyone residing in Canada but is void in Quebec. (Here’s why.)
• In order for your entry to qualify you must answer the following question in the comments below: If you win this giveaway, what’s the first thing you will read on your Kobo Mini? You can leave a link to a book you’ve been coveting, tell me about a new title, whatever!
• One entry per family please. We want lots of people to have the opportunity to win.
• If you can’t post your comment here for whatever reason, you can email it to me for posting. Send it to andrea at quietfish dot com … however I cannot be responsible if your entry is misdirected or gets stuck in my Spam folder.
• Good karma goes to those who tweet or post about this on Facebook. Do you know someone who would appreciate the chance to win one of these? I bet you do. Forward this info to them! They will love you, especially if they won. Personally, I’m thinking this could be a great present for Valentine’s Day. Forget roses… give the gift of reading! You can even give it to someone preloaded with something romantic for Valentine’s Day (!).

I will do a random draw of all qualifying entries using Random.org at noon EST on February 13, 2013.

Sound good? Over to you. Good luck!

It’s been awhile since I wrote a “did they eat it” post, hasn’t it? This recipe is one that I’ve been thinking about the past few weeks.

“Remember that chicken pot pie thing I used to make? The one with the easy crust?” I’d ask myself.
“Yeah, it was really good,” I’d answer myself.
“Where on earth is that recipe?”

… and on it would go.

I finally found the recipe, handwritten on a sheet of white paper buried in a bunch of other recipes I haven’t organized. I don’t even know where it came from originally, but it’s just the kind of dinner you’d want to have on a cold winter night. It’s deceptively simple. This is probably the only recipe that’s in my personal catalogue that incorporates a can of soup. I know, call it snobby, but there it is.

The crust is the interesting part about this recipe for sure. I’m intimidated by the thought of making a traditional crust and I’m not likely to buy prepared pie crusts, so this is a great substitution. The sour cream creates a really sticky dough-like substance. When you make it for the first time you’ll be like, ohmygod, what IS THIS, but it will be OK. Trust me. Just scoop and drop, scoop and drop…  assuming you do what I do and put it on top of the pie as opposed to the bottom. (That sounds confusing, doesn’t it?) Do NOT cut out the sage. The sage totally makes it.

Here it is… it sure doesn’t look pretty, but trust me when I say that it’s darn tootin’ good.

The question remains, did the kids eat it? I wish they did. Unfortunately they’ve never been the kind of kids who liked casseroles (anything with cooked vegetables is almost always doomed) and this was no exception. Mark and I practically licked the plates. Oh well. Maybe someday.

Click here for my Chicken Pot Pie Recipe in its entirety. Note that instead of peppers and mushrooms I used carrots, zucchini and some celery because those are the vegetables (I THOUGHT) my kids were more likely to eat. And let it be known that poaching chicken is just a fancy way of saying BOIL UNTIL COOKED.

Let me know if you try this recipe. I really hope you do, because it’s a great meal that comes together with little effort.