Events | The Lowdown on the The Flat White At Second Cup

Last week I was invited to hang out at Second Cup on King and learn about how to make the perfect Flat White. The flat white is a fav in Australia and New Zealand, something I’m very familiar with!  When I lived in Australia, each morning I’d ride my bike over to the Le Paris Go cafe in Bondi Beach and get a flat white to start my day. I’m so glad it’s made it’s way to Canada! Nicole from She Does the City, me, Wendy from Hip Urban Girl, Nicole from Dainty Girl The girls and I sat down at the coffee bar with Second Cup’s in-house coffee expert and curator Pat Russell, Senior Product Developer. Pat has been with Second Cup since 1996, so he REALLY knows his stuff. A photo posted by C A S I E S T E W A R T (@casiestewart) on Sep 8, 2015 at 6:55am PDT The flat white is known for its smooth texture which highlights the true taste of the espresso, without any bitterness or excess of milk. It features a double shot of Second Cup’s rich Espresso Forte, velvety steamed milk, and a thin layer of micro-foam. I prefer a flat white over a latte because it has less milk.  (I had a lactose allergy growing up so I try to do have too much milk these days.) If you’re not a milk drinker, you can request your flat white be made with almond or soy milk for a bit of added sweetness and nutty flavour.  Another thing to note is the Flat White is only available in one size – an 8oz/250 ml cup – this is to preserve the proper ratio of espresso to milk. How a Flat White is Different than Other Coffee Drinks I invite you to switch up your coffee routine and try a Second Cup Flat White…

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i’ll have a second cup please

This is totally rad! My french press, (which I loved, thanks mum!) broke when I moved into my new condo. Yesterday, I got this amazing contraption from Second Cup. It is a french press on the go. I tested it out today and just like the packaging says, it really does keep your bevvy warm for two hours. I love it. Makes drinking coffee so enjoyable! Get one for your mama!

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Fill Your Cup and Reward Yourself w/ Coffee ☕️

Ahh, this view. Goes so well with a coffee ☕️ in the morning! I’ll be spending lots of time working from this office the next few months. In other news, Second Cup Coffee Co. has a new rewards programs and I’m giving YOU some rewards right now, scroll down for deets. Have you been to a Second Cup Coffee Co. lately? They went through a rebrand recently and have a new sleek, modern look. The coffee is also great. They’ve recently introduced SecondCup Coffee Co. Rewards, a loyalty program w/ mobile app where you earn points on every dollar spent. See details in the video below. Made in Canada for Canadians, the app also allows members to: Find out when there’s a new promotion, a nearby offer, or a customized offer. Pay for purchases directly from the app. Top up their card balance with easy reload. Track rewards and redeem when desired. Find a Second Cup café with the Café Locator. Pay for purchases and collect points using the Second Cup Coffee Co. Rewards app on the brand new Apple® Watch. I really like how brands are getting on this mobile rewards train. I think we’ll see more and more retailers putting out things like this to give back to customers. I’m all for mobile payments! 🙌🏼 A photo posted by Second Cup (@secondcupcanada) on Mar 31, 2015 at 9:56am PDT To become a member, pick up a card in café or download the FREE Second Cup Coffee Co.™ Rewards app from the App Store or Google Play. GIVEAWAY DETAILS: Win yourself a Second Cup Coffee Co. Prize pack worth over $100. Scroll down for easy entry! For more information about the new rewards program please visit secondcup.com/rewards. a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Monday, Take the Sunshine Wherever You Go

This weekend was just what I needed. After a busy Friday night celebrating 2 of my best friends I spent most of Saturday & Sunday on the couch with my nose in a book. Simon Schuster sent over an advance  copy of Hidden Bodies by  Caroline Kepness. It’s got murder, suspense, sex, and modern lingo like Facebook, Instagram, Tinder, etc. There’s a book before this one with the same character I need to go back and read now! Highly recommend.  I didn’t realize there was a Second Cup at the Stockyards shops when I was there on Saturday, so I decided to try all the baked squares. The pecan was my fav followed by the lemon and Nanaimo. I love Nanaimo bars.  Really got me thinking about holiday baking and making some shortbread soon.    Sean made me the most lovely dinner of steak and scallops last night w/ sprouts, roast vegetables, and kale. Saturday night we stayed in watching Trainwreck w/ takeout. Something I love about the colder months is staying in the house with someone you love. Today I’ve been in Facebook ads reporting all day and will be heading to the Beaches later to see my sister.   I’m really looking forward to reading more of my book once I wrap up all my duties for the day. Sorry this is a boring update lol. Tomorrow I’m Sirius Xm at the Todd Shapiro Show and later this week I’m judging the finals for the travelcuts Travel Documentary Film Festival. Never a dull moment!    

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2000 small acts of kindness one big difference

I would like to take a minute to remind you ALL that tomorrow is Pay it Backward Day. I’ll be at the PIB headquarters as Chief Firecracker located at Second Cup, Queen & John (across from Much Music). However, if you can’t make it there, find one of the 170 locations across Ontario. Finally, if you can’t make it to Ontario, you can still take part by making a donation through the secure donation form on the Daily Challenge site. This time, our goal is to raise $10,000 for the Sick Kids Foundation in less than 12 hours.  Second Cup will donate $5.00 to the cause when you buy the person BEHIND you in line a coffee. In April, we had over 600 people take part in about four hours. I KNOW we can do this. Flow 93.5 will be broadcasting live, Metro news & Notable TV will be there and MANY other cool do-gooders. Last time I got asked out on a date by a total hunk so you never know what might happen! See you tomorrow 🙂

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i pay it backward. do you?

Earlier this year I was part of the team behind the first Pay it Backward. I was Chief Firecracker and my job was to get everyone excited. Let me tell you, it was out-of-this-world-crazy-fun!!  We broke a Guinness World Record too. On September 30th, you can join this amazing effort in social good just by visiting one of over 170 Second Cup locations and buying the person BEHIND you in line a coffee.  Second Cup will donate all proceeds straight to the Sick Kids Foundation. How cool is that?! Imagine if everyone got involved? That a whole lotta good going on! I’m excited. I  just watched this awesome video by Notable TV and it gave me goosebumps knowing the positive the social force behind it. Enjoy. If you have a story from Pay it Backward Day I’d love to hear it 🙂

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rain or shine baby!! #pibTO

The day has finally come! I’m stoked for #pibTO today at 1pm. If you haven’t got all the details or joined in on FB, that’s a-OK all you have to do is SHOW UP for 1pm to Second Cup at Queen & John. It’s meant to clear up by mid-day and not be too wet. If it is wet, don’t let that stop you from being involved in something really awesome. I’ll be rocking my favorite Wellies and rain coat just in case! You’ll be able to find me with the media, Raptors girls, Flow 93.5, Freestyle Soccer, and lots of others on location at 1pm. All proceeds, yes 100% go directly to the SickKids foundation. See you at 1pm! ♥

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the more we get together, the happier we’ll be

“For your friends are my fiends and my friends are your friends” and #genyTO meetup’s are a great way to get together! Yes, Raffi. It was really awesome to see many familiar and new faces. I met some tres cool people and have lots of pix that I will add to the #genyto group on FB later this weekend.This month’s meetup was at Andy Pool Hall. Must say I’m sorry that some of my stickers got ‘stuck’ on the pool hall and not just on peoples clothes etc. I won’t be going back there with this a haircut. I recieved a nasty email today from Andy’s that went something like “your f***in stickers, what the f**k “. Sheesh, sorry guise. Don’t have to be so mean about it. I had a blast dancing, it’s abviously a really classy place. I wasn’t quite having as much fun as barefoot lady. She went all out! For real. I’m really excited to be part of this growing group of wired, creative, motivated young people. Seeing the growth from the first #genyto in February to last night’s April meetup has been really cool. I’ve met some of the most inspiring & fun people ever. Hope to see heaps of you out at #pibTO today 1pm, Second Cup @ 307 Queen Street and John Street! 100% of the proceeds go to SickKids so bring your travel mug and get in line!

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great people doing great things

I’m really looking forward to Saturday for #pibTO. There has been lots of attention around the event and coverage from a number of sources including The Globe, Punch PR and Sweetspot.ca. It was mentioned on BT this morning, if you were watching!! There are over 600 confirmed attendees! We are going to knock Starbucks right outta the park!! These pix are some of the #pibTO team. We were having such a great time at the meeting and I thought it would be nice to share. We’re got bibs with numbers on them and an official counter so we will know as soon as the record has been beat! Second Cup will be serving fair trade coffee and 50% of the proceeds go to SickKids Hospital. Every hundredth person wins a $50 itunes gift card. Hmm, I wish I had an iphone.

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it’s my very first time…

breaking a world record. On Saturday Toronto’s Flow 93.5 will be broadcasting live on location at Second Cup at Queen & John. The Street Team will be there as you exit Second Cup to a crowd of ‘Do Gooders‘, photographers and notable Toronto celebrities. We will be be giving out $50 iTunes gift cards to every hundredth person as they make their way through the line. Canada’s professional basketball trickster, Q-Mack and North American Freestyle Soccer Champion, Eli Freeze and his Canadian Freestyle Soccer team will be sharing tricks and techniques. These athletes will be a great attraction for people of all ages! Helping out behind the Second Cup counter serving drinks will be Michael Landsberg, the host of TSN’s Off The Record, and Erica Ehm one of Canada’s most recognized television personalities & host of the Yummy Mummy Club. If you can’t make it out you can follow live, in real time, on UStream.TV, Twitter or Facebook. Looking forward to seeing you there and breaking a world record together! Yahoooooooooo!

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something big is coming….

I helped out with TwestivalTO in February, an event that took place at CiRCA and was part of a world wide effort to raise money for Charity Water. Toronto raised over $10,000 and we had hundreds of people out. There’s some really huge Toronto party events happening this year, I’m stoked.  Our friends at Daily Challenge are doing something awesome and when they asked for me to join their team for the event, I was all in! The event is called Pay It Backward Day and the idea came from one of the earliest challenges for DC. It involves doing something nice and purchasing a drink for the person behind you in line (see image->). The goal is to beat Starbucks who have the current world record and get 500 people in a row to take part. It is on Saturday, April 4th at Queen & John, Second Cup. It’s right across the street from Much Music. The New Flow 93.5 will be broadcasting live, there will be all kinds of interesting stuff going on. I’ve never broken a world record, that I know of, and I would really like your help to do it. So come. Join in on FB. I took this pix-mix of our city on the way to work today – Toronto the GOOD!

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Day 323: Elon Musk on Clubhouse

I set an alarm to wake up for this at 1am! Am I crazy? Idk but I don’t want to miss Elon Musk on Clubhouse for the first time. I hope I can get into the room before it fills up tonight! If you’re on Clubhouse you can find the Good Time Club & room details here. I love this app. Update: I woke up at 1:30 am, the room was full! It capped out at 5,000 people, then Clubhouse upped it so that the CEO of Robinhood could join, then Elon Musk interviewed him about GameStop. WILD! I listened from a secondary room that was playing the audio, it sounded like an iPhone in a Solo cup when you don’t have a speaker. Not great but it was cool to hear some of it and be ‘there’, kinda. I listened for about half an hour until falling back asleep. I was so tired on Monday, all day!

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Day 247: The Great Windstorm of 2020

Well, the last 24 hours have been something else! It’s not often that we have a power outage at the cottage but yesterday, there was a massive wind storm in South Western Ontario and it hit us hard. We lost power around 3pm and I was only on 50% phone battery. We charged up devices best we could, made a fire for heat, and pulled out the candles. Sean and I slept in the living room near the fire with doors to the rest of the cottage closed off. It was pretty scary at times, since it was dark around 5pm, we had only candles & flashlights to make it through the night. The wind outside was the fiercest I’ve ever experienced here, with rain, snow, hail, and cold temperatures. Sean woke up a couple of times in the night to add wood to the fire and by 6 am we were both awake. The power didn’t return until about 3 pm but we managed to still stay connected and avoid any meltdowns (me lol). Monday is the busiest day at my job so I charged my phone in the car so I could make out weekly status update calls. After that, I organized the spice cupboard and did some exercise. I figured since I was trying to conserve my device batteries, I could make good use of my ‘offline’ time. In other news, I got a big beautiful Monstera plant at Walmart yesterday for $34.99! I’ve wanted one for a while so I am pretty happy to watch her grow. There’s some bright new growth and she seems to be pretty healthy. Kinda wish I picked up a second one! Over the next few months, I’d like to add Monstera to my propagating. They had fiddle leaf fig plants…

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Day 33: How to Dye Clothes with Turmeric

After getting heaps of comments and questions about my turmeric dye, I’m writing this post for you! It’s very simple to turn your clothes a beautiful bright yellow. THIS TURNED OUT SO GOOD. It has faded with a couple of washes but it’s still a nice yellow. There are lots of tutorials on Pinterest, I checked a few and went for it. I made a COVID19 board that has a couple DYI videos if you’re looking for more info. I am so happy with the final result. I worked with a white hoodie, a leopard print top, and a vintage tank top that was a washed-out yellow. You Will Need Clothes – Older stuff that has been washed works best. Gloves – Otherwise you will have yellow hands! Turmeric – Find in the spice section at the grocery Big Pot – To boil water Tongs – To transfer the hot fabric Roasting Pan – To rinse/transfer to sink/drying area Sink – To rinse clothes Water How to Dye with Turmeric Step 1: Soak Your Clothes in Hot Water Soaking your clothes before you dye them will loosen up the fibers so the colour can really soak in. I soaked my hoodie in a roasting pot in the shower. I didn’t soak the leopard print or tank top before dying them. Step 2: Boil Water & Add turmeric Grab a huge pot and fill 3/4 with water. Bring to a boil. Once boiling add the turmeric. I eyeballed it and didn’t use a specific amount, kinda like my cooking haha. I started with about 1/4 tablespoon and then added about 2x more. The water will turn a bright amber. Step 3: Add Clothes & Soak Transfer the clothes to the pot and you will start to see the colour right away.…

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