Splash

 One Word Sunday

June 2020 - Niagara Wine Region ON

Eat Drink and Be Scary

 Weekend Cooking is now hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Sunday Salon

Seasons 

2017 - Edmonton AB

October 2020 - Toronto ON

COVID CHRONICLES

The New York Times published an article touting Canada's handling of the virus which was great to read.

Unlike in the U.S., conservative politicians in Canada are not doubting the wisdom of mask-wearing, Ian said. This spring, Doug Ford, the conservative premier of Ontario, described people protesting social-distancing measures as “a bunch of yahoos.”

And some top public-health officials in Canadian provinces have become semi-celebrities, as they have repeatedly urged social distancing, mask-wearing and other forms of caution. Imagine versions of Anthony Fauci, but ones who are praised across the political spectrum, rather than being called “a disaster,” as President Trump did with Fauci.

Finally a chart that uses an average daily rate per million population comparing Canada and the US by province/state. Quebec, Canada's highest number of cases ranks after California (#43) and Ontario follows Hawaii (#49).

Here's an interesting podcast explaining why the US was overwhelmed by covid.

Trump’s obstinance and hostility, it’s explained, is the result of a life spent creating an alternate reality in which he simply refused to entertain any challenge to his firehose of brand-embellishing bullshit, and eventually wore down any opposition to his invented world-view.

Some of our higher numbers can be attributed to those people who just HAD to have large gatherings at Thanksgiving.

We are already being warned that we shouldn't be planning any large Christmas get togethers. At the moment we are told to limit our contacts to those we live with and a maximum of 6 others. 

Halloween is very different. Door to door has been cancelled but many places are cashing in on drive through events.

One such event is in the city by the lake.

There is also a Halloween drive thru light display. These cost an average of $30-$40 for 2 people per car. 

Casa Loma is running its annual Legends of Horror with social distancing rules in place.

On the fun side one restaurant is turning its patio into an outdoor hunting camp.

Union Station this week.

AROUND HOME

The weekend was the usual, stayed home, did chores and whatever struck our fancy.

It was a quiet week, staying in, keeping away from people.

John golfed Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I went to the stores on Monday and Wednesday, dropped a parcel at the post office. 

Thursday we had tickets for Ferrero Golden Gallery Signature Experience, an interactive pop-up, bringing the essence of select chocolates to life with immersive multi-sensory themed rooms. However, the Department of Health has temporarily (hopefully) closed it done due to Covid.

Friday was cold and grey when I went to College Park to do some shopping. I couldn't believe the number of people out, Winners was packed as they had got their first Christmas inventory. It was the first time I saw the line at Service Ontario (renewals for driver's license, health cards, license plates etc) wrapped around the mall.

I am going back to going out early in the morning!

COOKING

Saturday I did a roast chicken with mashed potatoes/cauliflower and mashed carrots and turnips. I also made gravy.

Sunday we used the leftover chicken to make hot chicken sandwiches with copycat Swiss Chalet sauce.

Monday was lamb shanks in dark (gluten free) beer with potatoes, carrots, turnip and celery.

Tuesday I did pork hocks using this recipe for schweinshaxe with boiled potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

Wednesday we were out of ice cream so I made a lemon mousse.

Burgers for dinner.

Thursday I used the meat sauce I had frozen along with frozen cabbage leaves to make lay cabbage rolls. 

I made the cranberry pumpkin loaves again.

Friday was steak frites, a joint delicious effort.

WATCHING/READING

We watched and thoroughly enjoyed The Boys in the Band.

We finally finished all 11 seasons of Modern Family, our dinner time entertainment and thought it was an excellent series and the finale brought some tears.

Next up we tried the British Borderline. which was okay but after three episodes we abandoned it. 

Despite its many awards Arrested Development didn't last three episodes.

Suits, however, made the cut, although it is labelled as a drama. 

My cookbook to browse was The Everything Gluten-Free Slow Cooker Cookbook. I didn't really learn anything new nor found any recipes of interest. 

I started Peter May's I'll Keep You Safe.

T for Tuesday

 T Stands For is hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard

I need to get my act together to produce some interesting posts for this challenge. In the meantime, since we are in a modified lockdown, and can't dine in anywhere, I'll rely on my archives.

On our trip to Ireland in 2015, a first time for our friends, we had used a private tour guide. While we were touring around Killarney, he took us to the island of Valentia and the surrounding area.

For lunch we stopped in an old post office now cafe.

Nothing like a bowl of soup, sandwich and a cup of tea!

Signs 2

 Joining Tom at Signs2.

Wordless Wednesday Wordless Be There 2day

Mosaic Monday

Continuing with pit stops...
a stop (as during a trip) for fuel, food, or rest or for use of a restroom.

Killarney Ireland

River Kwai Thailand

Rotorua New Zealand

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge

 Cee's Fun Foto Challenge

90% needs to be all one color

Danforth Ave Toronto ON

El Quelite Mexico

New York City NY

Orange and Green (separately or combined)

 Cee's Fun Foto Challenge 

Orange and Green (separately or combined)

Ring of Kerry Ireland

My salt and pepper set bought in Mazatlan Mexico

Las Vegas NV

Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

Travel Tuesday
Our World Tuesday
Image-in-ing
My Corner of the World
Timeless Thursdays is hosted by Stevenson Que

Continuing with Toronto lane names.

Laneways, also known as alleys, are narrow streets that add to the diversity of the overall public space network, supporting the fine grain character of a city. ... Laneways can work as a network for pedestrians to navigate the city and build an overall identity for the city center.

Just 10 per cent of Toronto's more than 3,000 public laneways have a name. Usually the titles recognize community figures, events or local traditions, but many are delightfully strange with brilliant backstories.

This week I am just going with some random downtown lanes I have in my archives.

Biscuit Lane is named for Brown’s Bakery where Mr Christie first started baking cookies.

With Alexander Brown, Christie co-founded a city bakery, which became Christie, Brown and Company in 1853. By the 1880s, Christie's was considered to be the largest manufacturer of biscuits in Canada.

There really was a man named Mr. Christie and he actually made good cookies. He made such good cookies that Toronto named a street after him. William Christie moved to Canada in 1853 and was the co-owner of Toronto’s first bakery. The bakery sold over 4,300 boxes of cookie each year. After a few years of success and many returning customers a company slogan was made, “Mr. Christie, you make good cookies.”

Mr. Christie moved to Toronto's west end in 1948 and built a factory in Etobicoke which closed in 2012.

We can still see its landmark water tower from our place.

2009

2011

2020

Reverend James Porter lived at 1 Wood Street. Reverend James Porter was the local superintendent for Toronto City Common Schools from 1859 until his death in 1874. He would have worked with Egerton Ryerson and previous Toronto mayors during that period to develop the foundation for Ontario’s education system.

This street sign, marking the laneway running on the western edge of the Wellesley subway station, is new. Chechalk Lane takes its name from one of the two chiefs of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation who signed the 1805 Toronto Purchase.

Alan Powell and Art Eggleton Lanes  Harbord

Boys of Major, Peperonata, Jewish Folk Choir Lanes Harbord

Ice Cream Lane Danforth Ave.

Ching, Ditty, Leader Lanes Downtown

Monday Mural

 Monday Mural

October 2020 - Toronto ON

I gave you a teaser about these murals last week.

Evergreen Brick Works and Friends of Pan Am Path led a project to have murals painted on Bridge 81 concrete pillars on a disused rail bridge.

THE PULL OF THE LAND, TORONTO, 2013 by faith47 XLVII

Liberty Du, who is widely recognized as Faith XLVII, is a South African Multi-Disciplinary Artist.

Her journey into art began on the streets of South Africa in 1979, as a young graffiti writer taking on the name Faith47 (the number being a reference to her grandmothers numerological theorem). In 2006, Liberty began on a nomadic journey which has brought her to create works in 39 countries and, in 2017, saw her relocating to Los Angeles, USA.

Japanese artist Hiroyasu Tsuri has done that a massive mural below the historic rail bridge featuring a large snake and plants native to the area.

I can't find any information on this mural.

Some other murals in the area.

Black and blue watertower
Flood Lines  Artists: Paul Aloisi and Dan Bergeron

Flood Lines addresses the increasing frequency of heavy rainfall events in our contemporary climate by creating a spatial dialogue between three cisterns and the roof of The Pavilions in which they collect water from.

Creepy

 One Word Sunday

CREEPY - causing an unpleasant feeling of fear or unease.

Coffee To Go

  October 2020 - Toronto ON

2017 - Jimmy's Dundas West Toronto

COVID CHRONICLES

Ontario reported an additional 826 cases of COVID-19 on Friday  Premier Doug Ford hinted that more regions could be headed for a modified Stage 2 next week.

Currently Toronto, Peel. Ottawa and York are still in our 28 day lockdown for eating inside, anywhere. Durham and Halton regions may soon be joining us.

Which means restaurant owners are getting desperate for business as weather gets wet and colder.

This is the Harbour 60. In 1917, the Toronto Harbour Commission first opened its doors in what was then New Toronto. Eighty-two years later, in the very same building, Harbour 60 was established as the city’s premier steakhouse.

This is their patio set up in the parking lot behind their iconic, historic building.

The fire proof tent is ventilated with two walls open as is required by public health, so no air lingers in the tent.

Now that winter is coming the restaurants had to remove their curbside seating areas in anticipation of snow removal.

Toronto’s bars and restaurants are scrambling to winterize their patios setting up canopies, awnings, tents and wind barricades. Many are selling blankets that you can take home with you. Sidenote, when we were in Edinburgh back in 2015, blankets were offered to patrons. 

What are the patio rules?

All tables are six feet apart, menus are by QR code, all staff is temperature checked daily.
The number of patrons inside any restaurant or bar will be limited to 75 at a time, down from 100.
Staff will also need to collect contact information for every customer, not just one person from each party.
Only six people will be allowed per table, down from the current limit of 10.Restaurants and bars will also have to turn down background music to the “volume of a normal conversation” to discourage patrons from leaning in closer to hear each other.
As I walked around the entertainment district on Friday I saw many restaurants and bars keeping the plexiglass companies in business. Gas heaters are now allowed as well.

ON THE HOMEFRONT

Saturday we headed to Evergreen Brickworks intending to wander around on a lovely fall morning. It was so crowded with lines for the farmers' market that we couldn't find a parking spot so said we would come back during the week.

From there we decided to try a coffee place I had on my list. With the weekend road closures to cars we had to detour.

This was our plan for coffee but when we stepped in to order we were told they were only doing "beans", no drinks.

However, as we were parking I noticed we were beside a park I had on my list.

This is a new to us and the city neighbourhood. Although this is where we were last weekend as well. In last week's post I showed the cidery, the bridge and the Broadview Hotel.

The Riverside spans 10 vibrant blocks of Queen St East from the iconic Queen Street viaduct (Riverside Bridge) at the Don Valley, to just east of the world-famous De Grassi Street. Rich in history and art, the area boasts over 100 unique eateries, shops, and attractions. It is home to the Riverside bridge – illuminated nightly in dynamic colours – The Broadview Hotel, The Opera House, two breweries and Toronto’s first cidery, and much more to explore.

Riverside runs alongside the Don River – an icon in Toronto’s landscape and history. The name ‘Riverside’ dates back to the 1880s. As you wander Queen Street East in the heart of Riverside, note the curving blue brick ‘river’ in the sidewalks and the public art referencing that connection throughout. 

Here is an article explaining who Joel Weeks was and how the neighbourhood has changed.

Joel Weeks Park is named in honour of Joel Andrew Weeks, an eight-year-old boy who lived in the community and drowned in a nearby sewer Easter Sunday 1982.

The reason it was on my list? To see the acorn worshipping squirrel sculpture created by Mary Anne Barkhouse, an Indigenous artist acclaimed for her sculptures and jewelry, who’s based in Haliburton.

The park includes a beaver and a puffy-tailed fox perched on rocks that are carved in bas relief with fish and other wildlife.

Back in the car and we went looking for coffee.

Oh look, let's make a stop!!

See more of these artworks in the link below.

These were in the windows of a condo near where we parked.

Click here to see the murals and artwork we came across.

Still looking for coffee. We parked around the corner from one of the murals.

The embassy of Indonesia, here? 

I had read about the murals at the George Street Diner and they were still here.

Serendipity! It also helped that I knew the owner was Irish.

During the initial lockdown in March when restaurants were closed she kept her staff busy making and delivering their Irish soda bread.

They have tables lining the curb along the street.

They do a full Irish breakfast so it is on our list, hopefully we will have some more warm days.

But we snagged the perfect table here in the sun for our coffee and soda bread.

Randomness as we drove home along Dundas.

Sunday we stayed home and Monday was a very rainy day which ruled out John's golf game.

I decided to clean out the freezer properly. Then I made a batch of meat sauce and a pot of soup stock (ends from the freezer).

Tuesday we went back to the Brickworks and it was easy to park. I had pointed out these murals last week when we spotted them from the other side of the Don Valley Parkway at the Chester lookout.

The Don Valley Brick Works (often referred to as the Evergreen Brick Works) is a former quarry and industrial site located in the Don River Valley. It operated for nearly 100 years and provided bricks used to construct many well-known Toronto landmarks, such as Casa Loma, Osgoode Hall, Massey Hall, and the Ontario Legislature (links will take you to our visits to these landmarks). 

Since the closure of the original factory, the quarry has been converted into a city park which includes a series of naturalized ponds, while the buildings have been restored and opened as an environmentally focused community and cultural centre by Evergreen, a national charity dedicated to restoring nature in urban environments.

We wandered (I don't think we were allowed in there as the exhibits are currently closed due to Covid)tThe Kiln Building where we admired the industrious looking tunnels, now silent and cold. The building is 53,000 square feet showcasing the history of the brickworks.

The kilns, and the tracks that served them, were in operation from 1957 until the factory ceased production. The tracks enabled metal carts – holding upwards of 1,110 bricks at a time – to be moved throughout the Brick Works site.

Watershed Consciousness

Artist: Ferruccio Sardella
Media: Steel, copper, brass, plants, water

Watersheds are areas where all waters drain to a common body of water. “Where is your watershed address?” is the question this installation asks, as it depicts the rivers that flow through city and raises awareness about our extensive ravine system.
Toronto’s largest living map; Watershed Consciousness is a living work that looks and behaves differently in each season and responds to the changing conditions of its environment.

Deep Time

Artist: Ferruccio Sardella, 2011
Media: Mixed
This installation is a poetic interpretation of the geologically significant north slope. The artwork interprets two glacial periods with an interglacial period between. The panels within the doorways represent a snapshot of this interglacial period approximately 120,000 years ago—a time when this place was home to giant prehistoric beavers, bison, deer and catfish—entire ecosystems thriving in a carolinian temperate that was 2 degrees warmer than today.

Native Tenants
Artist: Ferruccio Sardella
These large-scale sculptural representations of native plants are poetic emblems of the transformed brick factory. They are a reminder of the importance of nature’s place in urban communities, and remind us that the division between nature and the built environment is socially constructed.

We walked up to the lookout.

Wednesday John golfed and I went out for a few things.

Thursday we had 10AM tickets to see the Mummies exhibit at the ROM but it was dreary and we decided not to go. As members, the tickets are free and we can rebook for an afternoon.

Since they were coming to do our windows and spider treatment for the last time this year, we cleaned up the balcony and took the plants inside until they are done.

Laundry got done.

I baked a cranberry soda bread and then experimented with a jalapeno and scallion loaf.

These guys didn't use a platform, they were in a harness!

Friday's forecast was for a high of 24C!! And this was our view when we got up.

John headed out to golf, the view at noon.

It was still swirling around.

I decided to go to the entertainment district and went into Marshalls, Michael's, Kitchen Plus, no purchases!

This blew me away as I looked up John St. I had worked in this area for years so I knew every nook and cranny. 

This was a parking lot forever until the hoarding went up and we lived through the construction the last couple of years.

The PJ Condos at John Street & Pearl Street have a total of 41 storeys with 373 Units.

Across the street, the northeast corner of Adelaide and John.

As I said I worked in this area, in fact I worked in that building behind the crane in the middle.

Snapped as I lined up to buy potatoes and broccolini in Fresh and Wild.

At the LCBO.

Came home and headed out for ice cream, I had to stand in line as only two customers are allowed inside at a time.

Fall cleanup outside the condo.

COOKING

George Street Diner - Toronto ON

Saturday I used up the leftover pork in  easy stir fry pineapple pork.

Sunday John requested pot roast so I used the slow cooker and served with mashed potatoes and cauliflower.

Monday I made meat sauce for spagetti.

Tuesday we had the rest of the pot roast with Irish cheddar soda bread, so delicious! I must make soda bread more often, no mixer required and only 20 minutes to bake. I used gluten free flour.

Wednesday Chinese style curry chicken.

Thursday baked ginger soy glazed haddock, roast potatoes and sauteed bok choy. This was a new recipe and I wasn't sure if John would like it, but he did!

Friday steak, baked potatoes and sauteed brocolini.

WATCHING/READING

Check out this curious recipe from the LCBO magazine miso wasabi goat cheese truffles.

Check out the free virtual Toronto International Festival of Authors.

We watched The Trial of the Chicago 7 and really enjoyed it, enough that we are both interested in reading more.

Click here to see what the movie didn't tell you.

We also watched Beirut with Jon Hamm.

We also got caught up in The Staircase the true story of Michael Iver Peterson (born October 23, 1943) is an American novelist who was convicted in 2003 of murdering his second wife, Kathleen Peterson, on December 9, 2001.

I am very late to the Great British Bake Off party. I am watching the current season as well as going back in time to the beginning. I have finished season one and have started season 2.

I also finished the Ruth Reichl book and loved it, I plan on reading her others.

I started the Cresswell Plot and didn't love the first chapter but now I am engrossed.

I really enjoyed Secrets of Great Second Meals and even learned some things.

My favourite line "no canned soup was injured in the making of this cookbook".

A new one to me was a vinegar barrel used in many restaurants, as we know chefs are notorious in keeping their food costs low. The barrel is used for ends of wines to make their own vinegar.

I didn't know that restaurants had cheese refrigerators, kept at a warmer temperature than normal fridges.

The author prefers gochujang over sriracha, I use both. Gochujang is a new favourite this year and I am almost finished my first container.

Now this I thought was brilliant for making uniform size meatballs.

AHA what to do with the jar of tahini I have in the fridge.

Add mustard and horseradish to mayo for egg salad or devilled eggs.