Saturday, December 5, 2020

Bowled Over

 Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 






Another quiet weekend avoiding any contact. I did meet a friend in the building for a distanced visit in the lobby.


Quebec Premier François Legault has backtracked on his plan to allow gatherings over the Christmas holiday period after a rise in cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Legault announced a "moral contract" last month whereby people would be allowed to gather in groups of 10 over a four-day period, from Dec. 24 through Dec. 27, if they isolated for a week before and after.
He later said people should only gather twice during that period.
On Thursday, Legault said that gatherings in the province's hard-hit "red zones," which take in most of the province, will be prohibited altogether over the holidays.

A feel good story from our neighbourhood. John would often give a couple of bucks to this pleasant young man panhandling at Windermere and Lake Shore. He usually has his three dogs with him. Thanks to Facebook, and the Humber Bay Discussion group, we learned a lot more about him this week. Some of the condo owners near us look directly at the lake and would see this little red sailboat out there. 
Photo source from BlogTO - his boat in front of our building.



We all know that Amazon makes way too much money.
Last weekend, just before the lockdown started, local social media manager Ali Haberstroh grabbed a $10 URL – the self-explanatory not-amazon.ca – and plopped in a Google spreadsheet to collect user-submitted spots doing curbside pickup, delivery and shipping.

Since then, Not-Amazon has gone mini-viral, ballooning to over 500 local businesses and counting. It’s now a full-on designed-out website, like an online mall directory of exclusively independent businesses throughout the city and online.

For fun, I looked back to see what we were doing this week last year! It turns out we signed up for Netflix this time last year, who knew how much use we would end up getting out of it!

We really didn't get out this week, other than a couple of appointments. 

The lake had a silver ribbon.


It continues to bloom.


A snowy morning as John went to Costco.


Our Christmas present to ourselves - a smart TV.




Since we have officially entered December I opened my Christmas diffusers, they smell so good!


A cold crisp day with little traffic on the Gardiner.


My new toy to replace my old slow cooker which only had two functions, high and low. It would drive me crazy to have to brown something in a pan before placing it in the slow cooker. This one also browns as well as bakes and steams.


What to do on a grey rainy December Friday afternoon? Popcorn, coke and a old movie. Would you believe I had never seen Psycho?? I knew the premise and had seen the shower scene many times but never the whole movie.



COOKING

Saturday - John and I baked the GF donut holes again, this time 48. I'm not sure how many were left after the dipping part!




I tried a new recipe lemon snowcap cookies
I gave some to a friend and she really liked them as did John. I was a bit iffy on them.




Felt lazy so we ordered pizza.

Sunday - finished off most of the leftover turkey and broccoli in a divan. Also made cheddar cheese biscuits from the packages I bought.

Monday - made cranberry orange scones. Interesting recipe, it uses almond and coconut flour. The dough is quite wet so it was easier to make it into 8 round drop scones. I also made an icing of icing sugar and orange juice. Actually I didn't use oranges in the recipe as I had mandarins that needed using. We both really enjoyed these, the texture is not quite a scone.



Pulled pork on the leftover cheddar cheese biscuits and salad.

Tuesday - I was all gung ho to bake every day in December but then realized that I wouldn't have room to freeze everything. I started with these cranberry orange cookies and I'll bet they would be really good if I had put the baking soda in them! Crap!!

Wednesday - These gluten free chocolate dipped gingersnaps, and they were delicious. Recipe says makes 42 I got 66 and they were a good size. I also used dark chocolate because that is what I had!! Definite keeper.




Dinner was slow cooker beef short ribs and lamb kidney stew. Lamb kidneys are a new to me to cook.

Thursday I baked raisin oatmeal cookies - an old favourite of ours.


General Tao chicken - gluten free this was delicious and quick! I doubled the sauce as we like it on our rice. I also added green peppers, onions and celery.

Friday - steak and I had a craving for old fashioned Caesar's salad after watching an episode of The Kitchen along with a shared baked potato.

WATCHING/READING



We watched the Queen's Gambit and the latest season of The Crown. We also watched the movie The Rhythm Section.


Another interesting movie this week Official Secrets.





Cookbooks I browsed this week.

I am reading The Vanishing Half, an excellent read! I can't wait to see how it ends.


YIKES from Vogue magazine Super Bad True Love Story about Stephen Miller and his wife Kate Waldman.

11 comments:

  1. Hello. You were a new commenter on my blog ... thank you for visiting. I enjoyed reading your post as well. Boy, all the stuff looked yummy. I will be back again. Stay well. Don't get too close to others! The virus is serious stuff.

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  2. Thanks for getting back with me. I discovered the problem. The size of your page is bigger than my screen and I didn't see anything on my first visit on the right. Found it now. I am subscribed.

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  3. Not too busy being out and about for you. Best to avoid strangers. While I like our smart tv, they are still a little slow and clunky to use compared to a computer.

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  4. Wxactly what John said today as he tried to search for something!!!

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  5. All that food look yummy.
    Stay Safe and Coffee is on

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  6. The Vanishing Half was good; glad you're liking it. I'm really curious about how you'll like your new crockpot. I'm in the market for one and have been looking at that one. Yay on the TV! I love all the baking you're doing. It must be hard to make the switch to BF and it looks like you're getting a handle on it.

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  7. I'm still staying with the antique (twentieth century) crock pot, but having given up most meat, I'm hardly using it anyway. Your new one looks like fun to use. So sad that the resurgent virus has wrecked your happy freedom again -- it's relentless! We still aren't going anywhere that people are, but fortunately our neighborhood is very distanced.

    be safe... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  8. I'm still staying with the antique (twentieth century) crock pot, but having given up most meat, I'm hardly using it anyway. Your new one looks like fun to use. So sad that the resurgent virus has wrecked your happy freedom again -- it's relentless! We still aren't going anywhere that people are, but fortunately our neighborhood is very distanced.

    be safe... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  9. Yes, let's listen to Pooh and Piglet and stay home.

    The idea of making a moral contract is fascinating to me. My dad's wife (90 years old) really wanted to go to her family reunion in Oklahoma, but my dad (93) didn't want to go, so they decided that she could fly there and then self-isolate for a week at her daughter's when she returned. All went well. I'm proud of them for figuring out how to do things safely.

    Love your new smart tv. We will probably do that one of these days when this Toshiba goes out. If it ever does!

    Our last crockpot is like yours, able to work on the stove, too. Very helpful.

    I would love to bake every day in December. Maybe next year. We are contemplating doing some big time baking and delivering baked goods to various family and friends in a safe, socially-distanced way.

    I've finally finished 50 Ways to Draw Your Beautiful Ordinary Life and I've got it packaged to take to the post office to mail to you tomorrow. Be watching for it. No idea how long it takes things to travel to Canada right now.

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  10. I’m sorry your back in Lockdown over Christmas, I hope it helps improve the situation though.
    At least you’ll get plenty of use out of your new television.

    Wishing you a great week.

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  11. Love the little story about your hubby's friend:) When you stay inside a lot, you start noticing these little things, eh? Nice TV! Am glad your premier is gracious to give people some opportunity to meet with friends:) So, a premier is over a state of province? Oh I love scones!! There was a time that I organized some tea with scones for a group of women.
    Felt sad for their husbands, but I knew I could not go against status quo, sigh. Your hisbiscus flower is still blooming - that's crazy (good)! Thank you Jackie for keeping All Seasons up to date with your experiences, and have a comfortable December week, Jesh

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