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Things I adored about Iceland

Posted on by elemonated

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A picture Mr. Chokkattu took of me while we were on a kayak.

This will be my last post explicitly about Iceland!

So we all know now that I adored the country of Iceland, and I want to go back some day really, really badly, with maybe a job long enough to support me for a few months or just some more cash in my pocket. And that the scenery is beautiful and the landscape breathtaking, etc. But I have to share some of the specifics I jotted down. Some of them are important, some of them are surprising, some are less about Iceland and more about trips in general, and some are pretty stupid but whatever they seemed important enough to write down at the time. This list is a little long, so let’s get started:

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Shenanigans

Posted on by elemonated

The boys have been getting into more and more hi-jinks since I last posted about them. Bloo tried to make copies of himself. (With the aid of Mr. Chokkattu of course.)

Fortunately, Bloo, being a stuffed representation of a dog, doesn’t copy well so there is not evidence beyond these pictures of this particular incident.

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Kind Bars are Under Fire

Posted on by elemonated

http://www.businessinsider.com/kind-bars-under-fire-from-fda-2015-4

They aren’t health and safety issues, thankfully! But Kind Bars simply aren’t as “healthy” as they claim to be according to the FDA (but honestly, who really thought they were super healthy anyway? They’re so sweet!) and some of the labeling is off-kilter. Simply writing “peanut butter” or “mixed fruits” doesn’t seem to legally cover it; which if you’re looking to avoid things like corn syrup that can be found in a lot of “peanut butter coatings” should be something you’re wary of.

Your Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot, Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Coconut, Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein, and Kind Plus Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants products are misbranded within the meaning of section 403(r)(1)(A) of the Act [21 U.S.C. ยง 343(r)(1)(A)] because the product labels bear nutrient content claims, but the products do not meet the requirements to make such claims.

The FDA lists phrases that the company uses that it maybe shouldn’t, including:

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Miami, Florida: Day 4

Posted on by elemonated

Originally we were supposed to just stay out all day, but yesterday’s sun knocked us out about halfway through, so we ended up driving back for some rest at around 4, and stayed there until 10. I did get a tan though, and it was from walking around Wynwood, Miami’s art district.

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Miami, Florida: Day 3

Posted on by elemonated

I guess it’s really fitting that recovery comes with the smiles and the kindness of family. I have the smallest family out of the group I’m with, but I still feel that caring big family vibe when I decide to count my extended family and my friends, and their families, and I think this sort of inclusion, if sometimes grating and bothersome as families can be, was wholly invaluable to our activities yesterday. I mean, the first thing we did was go to the mall on a Sunday.

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Dolphin Mall is gigantic and gorgeous and sure, it’s ultimately a shopping mall, but it also has a Dave & Buster’s, a bowling alley, a mini-golf course, and a movie theater alongside its dozens of sit-down restaurants and food court. It is the largest value retail shopping center in the Miami-Dade County. Plus, I needed a swimsuit that wasn’t from Goodwill. (And a top and two skirts from Garage, which basically doesn’t exist where I live.) Which reminds me, I still don’t have clothes for St. Patrick’s day. I need to fit that in somewhere.

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Miami, Florida: Day 2

Posted on by elemonated

We hit Miami Beach yesterday, which was gloriously comfortable and warm, and seriously full of gorgeous people. I honestly haven’t seen this many beautiful people in one place at a time. The beaches in Miami are wholly different from the Jersey Shores I’m used to; the sand for one is much softer, and there doesn’t tend to be seaweed at your feet. And the water is somehow saltier, which is kind of gross when you’re surprised by a wave and you get a mouthful, but it was lovely nonetheless.

There were also tons of really expensive cars and lots of dogs. I have yet to see a Mercedes G Wagon (my favorite), and there were no big dogs in sight. I just want to see a rottweiler, damn it. I love those.

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Mast Brothers Chocolate Tour

Posted on by elemonated

This is painted on the left wall.

I took a tour of the Mast Brothers’ factory on Friday. It was brilliant. I’ve taken “chocolate themed” tours before, and visited the Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco when I was a teenager, and neither of those visits made me feel as excited about chocolate as the ~45 minute walk around the factory watching things being made did. I feel more educated now, and not in the way Starbucks or Teavana wanted its employees to feel and to make the customers feel when I worked for them (apologies to the, honestly, really great people who complimented me on how genuine I was), but more like when we visited the Kitchen at Grove Station and talked to the guy serving Modcup coffee near the door about how cold it was to be right next to the door during a late autumn grand opening. I still need to try honey processed coffee.

Sorry for the potato.

I tried to take some pictures, but my new phone’s camera is kind of a potato (thought apparently an improvement on the old camera), and my hands are not the most stable. I should ask for a new camera for Christmas.

I like the wooden flag. The bags with the color on them are sugar and the bags with no visible markings are cocoa beans. I convinced my boyfriend not to go lay in them, somehow.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures after passing the counter, which is understandable, as the ideas behind any number of their machines is fairly simple and easy to steal with a few good pictures, and they have a policy of a human touch being most important, which means many of their machines aren’t perfect automatons. If they did, I’m sure someone with fantastic business sense and fewer ethics could probably drive them out with a few tweaks to make the machines perfect. Although the idea of keeping the machines imperfect and stressing out the employees is a little odd, they did make a comment about how the latest they’ve worked until was maybe midnight, made it sound outrageous, and confirmed that their job was way, way better than retail in that regard at least. Anyway, the machines obviously don’t hold them back. Read More