Saturday, March 13, 2021

Caffeine


March 2021 - Toronto ON

2020 - WELLAND ON

We moved to grey zone on Monday, meaning all retail stores could open with 25% capacity.
It is also spring break, however, I can't imagine many will be heading to sunnier climes. Canada cancelled all flights to the Carribean and Mexico in January until April and the Canada-US border is also closed to non-essential travel.

Click here to watch a history of the Humber Bay neighbourhood that we live in.



I spent most of Saturday revamping and updating our 2020 year recap.
I began a new embroidery kit, it's been a while since I embroidered anything.
This is a perfect spot for needlecrafts especially if the sun is shining.





Monday's Mural featured a beauty from Hamilton a couple of weeks ago.




The weather is unseasonably warm this week, but anything can happen. In fact it hit 21C on Wednesday!!! 21C is 70F how crazy is that.
But we may have our second winter next week as temperatures dip.




Looked out the window on Tuesday morning and saw this! Obviously speed! It was a clear dry morning and I didn't hear any squeal of brakes and he climbed out (in white). There was another car involved as I saw a blue car being towed away as well.


Soon there was a cacophony of sirens as emergency responders arrived and moved all the morning rush hour traffic to one lane.


Hosed down to avoid any fires.

I spend so much time standing in the kitchen with my laptop I ordered a small folding stool.



My summer balcony geraniums are doing amazingly this winter, I have never had them look so good, by now they would normally be spindly and bare.


MARCH 11 THE DAY OUR WORLD STOOD STILL -ONE YEAR AGO
Who knew we would still be in lockdown!!!!!
It was our last public social gathering a year ago today. John and I attended a sushi making class at Longos.





Wednesday I could hear some tooting and there was a long line of cars in the inside lane driving slowly with flags on their hoods. Turns out as a helpful FB Humber Bay Discussion member posted:
“Tibetans and Tibet supporters around the world turned out on March 10th to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising. Calls were made for an end to the illegal occupation of Tibet and for human rights for Tibetans in cities as far apart as Canberra, London, New York, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, Taipei, and Dharamshala.”


Wednesday was a spectacular day for a drive and fish and chips in Hamilton.
Gluten free!
Hamilton is in a red zone, so everything is open, I actually saw people sitting on patios having coffee!!!




John Howard Society




Courting/kissing bench?


Ventura's Signature Restaurant, serving Portuguese cuisine since 1998 with a model of a ship, hanging above the entrance. Since we didn't get to Portugal last year and it doesn't look like we will be going to Europe this year, we should try this place.














Ahhhh such an angel!









Spotted this cute mural that we didn't really get a good photograph.





Bernie Faloney was a native of Carnegie, Pennsylvania. He was such an outstanding quarterback at the University of Maryland, that the San Francisco 49ers drafted him in the first round, 11th overall, in 1954.

But Faloney found out he could get more money north of the border and signed on with the Edmonton Eskimos.

After serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, Faloney took his football talents to the east and hooked up with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1957-64. He also called signals in Montreal in 1965-66 and in BC in 1967.

Faloney was a three time Grey Cup champion, first with Edmonton in 1954 and with Hamilton in 1957 and 1963. He was the first man to quarterback both East and West teams to CFL championships.




Thursday was stay at home. I inventoried, restocked and cleaned my spice drawer!
Don't judge me, I enjoy poking like this!


Now I know what I need at the Bulk Barn.


I thought my plants were big, I took this shot while waiting for our shuttle bus.




Friday John went to bottle his wine and I ventured out to Winners and the $ store not that Winners could be open to 25% capacity. There were no lineups but the shelves were pretty bare as I guess they haven't had an opportunity to receive stock.
I did get these gluten free crackers for a $1!!!!


John didn't get off as cheap when he went to the green grocer $41 later.


Wine labels.


I received a new cookbook. I had seen the chef on MasterChef Australia and decided to get it.

COOKING

Blood orange mousse I made on Saturday.


We switched our weekend menu as we wanted to try wings and fries in the air fryer for the first time.


SATURDAY  SUNDAY COCKTAILS V
Gin Fizz 



The fizz became widely popular in America between 1900 and the 1940s. Known as a hometown specialty of New Orleans. Demand for fizzes went international at least as early as 1950, as evidenced by its inclusion in the French cookbook L’Art Culinaire Francais published that year. A gin fizz is the best-known cocktail in the fizz family. A gin fizz contains gin, lemon juice, lime cordial and sugar honey, which are shaken with ice, poured into a tumbler and topped with carbonated water.


 
  • Silver fizz – addition of egg white
  • Golden fizz – addition of egg yolk
  • Royal fizz – addition of whole egg
  • Diamond fizz – sparkling wine instead of carbonated water, more commonly known as a “French 75”.
  • Green fizz – addition of a dash of green crème de menthe.


Wings and fries in the air fryer worked out really well. The wings were nice and crispy without getting dried out.

Roast beef, roast potatoes (sweet and white), Brussels sprouts. I used the slow cooker to make onion gravy. Carmelized the onions on brown function for a few hours. Then added wine, hot stock, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard and thyme and give it a good stir on low slow cook for 1-2 hours. Add a slurry of corn starch and stock for a few minutes on roast for a few minutes.

Monday we had pork belly and sauteed bok choy, broccoli and onions.

Tuesday roast beef leftovers as a beef stir fry with onions, peppers and mushrooms over rice.

Wednesday we used the leftover fries from lunch and fried them up with eggs and beans.

Thursday BBQ air fryer chicken legs and salad. This did not work well for us, but it turned out that we were using chicken leg quarters (does not include the back), that is the chicken leg and thigh so of course it needed longer cooking. Lesson learned.




Friday steak and fully loaded baked potato with broccoli.

WATCHING

2019 MAZATLAN MEXICO 

Tuesday movie Let Him Go was what a day at the movies should be like. We actually paid for this movie on Crave as a new release and it was worth it. However, we both felt the title didn't really work nor did the overview really pull you in and invite you to watch.

In the words of the Roger Ebert website
The water’s too hot in the kitchen sink. A black horse quietly returns to the ranch, riderless. A scoop of ice cream falls from a little boy’s cone onto the sidewalk.
.
Subtle moments, all, but they do so much to set the scene and establish the themes of regret and redemption in “Let Him Go.” This is the kind of solid, grown-up drama we don’t see very often anymore. In a world of superhero blockbusters, this low-key throwback of a Western is the stuff of timeless cinema, but it may as well be a unicorn. Understated in its quiet rhythms and vast beauty, it’s also fortified with strong performances and, eventually, punctuated by shocking moments of violence.

Our second choice, The American 2010  was not so great although RogerEbert.com gave it good reviews.


Coroner, a set in Toronto series is turning out to be quite interesting.

Finally finished MasterChef Australia 2020, could Melissa be more annoying when she screams or dances? On the whole I like the new judges.

READING

2019 ROME ITALY


On my phone - normally I enjoy Denise Mina's books, and I did enjoy The Long Drop but I didn't love it.
Now on my phone The Calling set in small town Ontario,

On my laptop - Appetites: A Cookbook  by Anthony Bourdain, I liked it but didn't take any recipes away. I did enjoy his anecdotes.

On my tablet - Conflict of Interest

16 comments:

  1. You found many nice murals this week! Cleaning the spice drawer is a great idea too.

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  2. Starting from the end: We haven't seen Let Him Go yet but I loved the book. He's one of my favorite authors. I need to check out that new cookbook you got. And, sigh, you may have inspired me to sort out my own spice collection. ARGH! It's hard to believe it's been a year since lockdown. We're double vax'd now, but don't plan on traveling anywhere for at least a couple months. And then, only to Ohio to pick up the last bits of my mother's things that we want to bring home. My kind brother has been storing them for us for a year now. Love the Delft-looking gin bottle.

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  3. The annual weather predicter is clever.
    On the 10th when coming home from the city there were some very colourfully dressed people. They left the tram at our stop to change to the tram that would take them to the Chinese Embassy. Now I know why.
    The long drop here is a pit toilet.

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  4. I will be very interested to hear your thoughts on the Atlas cookbook. You know the Atlas Masterclasses I have been posting about over the 9 months ago where we received three meals from a particular destination - this is the same guy that developed those!

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    Replies
    1. Wow, Marg, I have followed your Atlas meals but never made the connection!!

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  5. You definitely are a cute angel...nice shot! I enjoyed reading through all these diverse topics...murals, food, drinks, books, movies, shopping. I almost forgot, I like the embroidery project. Will it be a pillow? That's ok, don't answer. I'll wait and see.

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  6. I haven';t donw embrodery for decades but I used to do that with my mother. That's some accident you had a bbird's eye view of on the highway!
    We are currently watching Justified with Timothy Olypahnt and it's been ne of our favrorites.

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  7. I'm tempted to order the Atlas Cookbook, but I'm going to (try to!) give it a little time and see if it comes to my library. I like cookbooks that also combine a bit of travel, too.

    Take your meme and replace all the "winter" words with "summer" and then sub in "fall" for "spring" and "summer." That's our weather.

    We missed the BiblioBar when we were in Rome. It looks like my sort of spot.

    I hope you feel safe enough and that the weather is good enough to get out a bit more.

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  8. Coming to see all your photos is such a treat. Thank you for taking the time to put them out for sharing.

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  9. I enjoyed your post and all the photos...Love the name of the coffee house...the embroidery piece looks fun too. I have one I need to get started on, I just haven't taken the time.

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  10. I'm laughing because I took everything out of my spice drawer and reorganized it last week. Even though we just moved in a few months ago, I thought of a different way to organize that would make it easier to find things. My husband thought I'd gone crazy!

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  11. Your angel photo is adorable! I also cleaned out and reorganized my pantry last week. It's suprising how many expired items I had in there.

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  12. Last year only seems a few months ago. Since the lockdown last year, it seems time goes so slow! Good for you - that embroidery work looks like it's going to keep you busy:) Hey, I love that blue angel! I feel for the person whose car went upside down - for sure totaled:( I did not go for fizz since I discovered it gives me serious burbs, lol. A few days ago I started my long term project. which is picking up my writing about creativity. The typing and editing part I hate, so I thought, now I can't go anywhere, I might as well:):)Great that you had a pink sunset ...something to celebrate and share with All Seasons! Have a great week embroidering) You keep us up to date with the progress, eh? Jesh

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  13. What a great post, it looks like you’ve got quite a view from your window, I’d be glued to it all the time! We will be a year lockdown on the 24th, I can’t believe it’s been a year.

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  14. Thank you for sharing this little glimpse into your life with the Hearth and Soul Link Party Community! I remember the seasons you listed from when I lived in Canada - I was often taken in by Fool's Spring and so disappointed every time! Reorganising your spice/drawer cupboard can be so therapeutic, I always enjoy it! Thank you for sharing, and for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Link Party. I hope you are having a good weekend!

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