Livery Barn Cafe

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Weekend Coffee Share
Sunday Salon

May 2024 - Toronto ON

Ogallala NE

 

Another quiet weekend with the usual chores.

Administrivia - renewed photo card online/backed up Important Documents file to external hard drive/booked latest vaccines/renewed library card/fixed my Aeroplan password/updated my MC online.

I cleaned up some blog posts Missouri 08/Boca Raton 17 and started Winter 13/14)  and also went through my draft posts and deleted many.

Monday and Tuesday, John used the golf simulator in the morning.

 I did a quick trip to Longo's for some groceries. They keep moving everything around!

I spent time on the weekend and today cleaning up blog road trip posts over the years and linking them together. 

Tuesday I went shopping and got two pairs of pants and a sweater after trying on three other pants and a jacket.

There was a protest in front of Union Station by the Freedumbers a$$holes.

Our skies are hazy due to the wildfires out west in Alberta.

Wednesday John headed out for his weekly golf game. 

I took the bus downtown, at around 12:55 all the phones on the bus squawked with an Ontario Emergency Alert test but it seems not everyone received it. The power was out at the traffic lights at Lake Shore and Lower Simcoe due to a massive outage, however I didn't any other signs of it.

I walked up to the Textile Museum.

A new bank??

A new restaurant.

The work on the new Metrolinx line is causing traffic chaos just as the other line, Eglinton Crosstown did for years and it still doesn't have an opening date!

Metrolinx CEO Phil Verster gave an update on the progress of the much-delayed Eglinton Crosstown LRT. Updated March 26, 2024 at 7:50 p.m. The $12.8-billion Eglinton Crosstown LRT was originally scheduled to open in 2020. There's still no date for when it will start operating.

A new 15.6-km subway line in Toronto that will run from Exhibition Place, through downtown, all the way to the Ontario Science Centre.

As I cut through Nathan Phillips Square!

The Second Harvest Truck Pull Challenge is a one-of-a-kind race that puts your strength and teamwork to the test. Teams of 10 compete to pull a 20,000-pound delivery truck across Nathan Phillips Square in the fastest time, raising funds for Second Harvest’s food rescue and redistribution efforts.

I found a video online.

For the last, at least three years  2018-2023, as I walk to the Textile Museum this corner was a construction sight. I was totally blown away to see this functioning building and I was disoriented at first, until I realized it was the new courthouse (NTC) across from the Armory exit of Superior Court of Justice (Criminal).

The new courthouse brings together under one roof most of Toronto's Ontario Court of Justice criminal court operations from across the city, including the lovely old building, Old City Hall, you see behind the trucks in the above photos.

To prepare the site for construction of the courthouse, IO undertook a complex archaeological excavation that uncovered thousands of artifacts from when the site was part of St. John's Ward, one of Toronto's earliest immigrant settlements. The work ensures that the historical value of the site is documented and preserved.

Textile Museum - The Secret Codes: African Nova Scotian Quilts brings together historic and contemporary quilts from makers connected to Nova Scotia, embodying the stories and voices of the community. Curated by David Woods, this exhibition includes more than 35 quilts and a selection of 8 paintings that highlight the various functions of quilts over time: as decorated blankets in the home, as possible codes of communication for enslaved people seeking freedom, as records of family history, as a celebration of Black women and culture, and as inspiration for other art forms.

BTW to see previous exhibits from The Textile Museum, click on the words "Textile Museum" in the labels/tags at the bottom of this post.

They were gorgeous!

Love Stories Under the Quilt

There was another exhibit that didn't really interest me, other than this piece.

This piece was in the lobby.

Coming out of the museum on the other side of the courthouse, it was nice to have the sidewalk open after all these years.

Back in Nathan Phillips Square and the brains are back, now being sponsored by Mattamy Homes! Click here to see previous posts. Click here to see previous posts.

Coming home took 45 minutes, it should a max 20 minutes due to the construction on the Gardiner that is supposed to take three years! That will put a damper on companies making employees come back into the office!

From mid-April until mid-2027, the Gardiner will be reduced to two lanes in each direction between Dufferin Street and Strachan Avenue with intermittent additional lane closures as required. The eastbound on-ramp from Lake Shore Boulevard, east of Jameson Avenue, will also be closed.

Thursday John mentioned that Google Docs was using up his space on his phone, so I removed his access to the files. Here is an excellent document explaining how Docs duplicates files across multiple devices. Here is an excellent document explaining how Docs duplicates files across multiple devices.

That led me to cleaning up and editing some of our large recaps of our various travels on Docs.

Figured out how to get my Rakuten account working again for online shopping discount. I turned off my ad blocker (didn't help) but then turned off Bitdefender anti-tracker and it worked!!

WOW I managed to fix my Blogger issue of not being able to make comments on my own blog and others, unless I went incognito!!! It was Bitdefender that was messing with Blogger! BTW John didn't have this extension installed.

We went to St. Lawrence Market as it is supposed to rain tomorrow as we head into a long weekend.

We got mussels (I'll try not to kill them before we cook them), good hamburger, sourdough bread and some vegetables. We always go to the same vegetable place, because they have good stuff, are very nice and always knock a buck or two off our cost. 

We also found a new butcher who actually knows what he is taking about. DiLiso's Fine Meats.

John had just mentioned that there was a shortage, I'll have to stock up at the $ store.

Amazing steak selection!

Our first strawberry creme of the season!

Friday we both went for mani-pedis. It was $45 last month and now $50. It was a gloomy and chilly day so I stayed in while John ran an errand as it is a long weekend here.

I did more work on our travel recaps in Docs (China 09) as there was some duplication.

COOKING

Sat ham, roast potatoes, mashed turnip and carrots and Brussel sprouts

Sun ham and veg leftovers and mashed potatoes NEW spicy honey mustard sauce

Mon NEW Vietnamese pork and shrimp rice paper wrappers with Thai cucumber salad. I used my dumpling dip for the spring rolls. John didn't care for the shrimp in them with the pork.

Tue ham, scalloped potatoes and cauliflower and spicy honey mustard sauce.

Wed liver, onions, garlic mashed potatoes and cauliflower

Thu mussels (Jamie Oliver cookbook Bloody Mary mussels) and fresh bread. This was so disappointing, there just wasn't any real flavour, despite the horseradish, garlic and chilis. I think the mixture needed cooking to blend the flavours, and more liquid. Jamie mixed all the ingredients (cold) and then simply poured it over the mussels while cooking.

Fri steak and loaded baked potato

WATCHING

Earth is a 1999 Indo-Canadian period romance drama film directed by Deepa Mehta. It is based upon Bapsi Sidhwa's novel, Cracking India (1991, US; 1992, India; originally published as Ice Candy Man, 1988, UK), set during the 1947 partition of India. This was very interesting and a piece of history we really knew nothing about.

The Sympathizer is a 2024 TV mini-series. Near the end of the Vietnam War, a plant who was embedded in the South Vietnam army flees to the United States and takes up residence in a refugee community where he continues to secretly spy and report back to the Viet Cong.

Prince Andrew: Banished

Cooking with Stella also by Deepa Mehta. Inside the Canadian diplomatic compound in New Delhi, a mischievous cook affects the lives of her employers and fellow staff.

57 Seconds57 Seconds When a tech blogger lands an interview with a tech guru and stops an attack on him, he finds a mysterious ring that takes him back 57 seconds into the past.

READING

Best Friends Forever was a quick read but I enjoyed the twists and turns, although the female cop left me shaking my head.

I finished reading The Skeleton Road and I am enjoying the side story about the skeleton but I am skimming over the very detailed descriptions of the Balkan war.

Goldstruck

 Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Friendship Friday

June 2022 - Toronto ON

Yorkville Toronto ON

Odd things I learned this week in Blogland.

Ashwaganda powder blend

You can see our neighbourhood in Natalie's photo Sunnyside looking west

Maphead's post about the Southern Baptist sex scandals lead me to listen to the podcasts mentioned.

There is an Amnesty International travel warning for the US.

UPDATE Debbie from Readerbuzz said my link didn't work and sent me a better one, let me know if it doesn't work! Amnesty International travel warning for the US.

NEW WORD - Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɪˌkɔːr/) is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. Courtesy of Jon Batiste.

I posted some Platinum Julbilee videos.

As always I found some great book recommendations.

We don't normally sit outside downstairs, but we did on Saturday. 

I baked cherry crisp bars on Sunday. I had the can of cherries forever as I don't remember why I bought it. It was really good but impossible to lift out of the pan!

My funny story of the week featuring Prince Louis.

Monday was a coolish morning as I headed out for my second booster shot. John took the car to a dentist appointment as the bus schedule didn't work for him and he didn't want to take public transit.

The Royal York Hotel has a new historical plaque.

I wandered through Union Station and found some new art. 

Here Now, Here Always, Walk with Us
This installation by Anishinaabe artist Emily Kewageshig depicts four figures who walk ahead into the future, striving forward with ways of being and existing. The painting symbolizes the importance of culture transitioning throughout time and history. Kewageshig created the imagery to display how life is cyclical: it shifts, changes, and adapts in cycles in order to preserve knowledge and allow for continuity of future generations.

I am land that speaks is an exhibition of contemporary artwork by local and international artists, curated by Maya Wilson-Sanchez. The exhibition brings attention to stories that come directly from the land. Engaging with story-telling practices specific to a certain place, the artworks in this show highlight history-making as a site-specific exercise. June 6 to October 6, 2022.
I am land that speaks is the third and final chapter of the I am land exhibition series that considers how artists take on the role of chroniclers.

Since I was here on June 6 not all the exhibits were up so I look forward to seeing more.

CARRYING MEMORIES OF THE LAND
This series of digital images explores value. The birchbark basket, cedar, and antlers have a direct relationship to the artist and the territory of the Secwepémc nation. The images were taken by the artist during this winter. The materials, carefully placed on the snow, are materials that Willard and her family harvested from the land and either made things with or consumed. The text is an acknowledgment and gratitude towards each material—an intentional valuing.

Tania Willard, Secwepemc Nation and settler heritage, is an artist, curator and assistant professor her ongoing collaborative project BUSH gallery, is a land-based gallery grounded in Indigenous knowledges in her home territories of Secwepemcúl̓ecw.

OVERTURE

This work is a new commission in Lisa Myers’s ongoing practice of working with berries and berry pigment in relation to ideas of land, history, and storytelling. She describes Overture as a proposal, an offering, and a movement. It speaks back to predatory real estate practices and celebratory consumerism as facets of ongoing colonialism whereby stolen lands and resources are fragmented and packaged into discrete parcels of speculative capital. Made with blueberry pigment, the phrases OVER ASKING and OVER TAKING evoke these tensions as ways in which individual wealth continues to be amassed at the expense of home, community, land, and sustenance. Appropriating the ubiquitous phrase “Over Asking” from real estate “sold” signs invites us to question the social costs of inflated real estate bubbles and the “Over Taking” inherent in colonization.

 

I will go back and get a better photo without this guy in it!

Ration Market Special is a new commission that presents a fictional scene from the near future where mass displacement has begun in order to avoid rising sea levels in Southeast Asia. This work is part of a vast project by artist Alvin Luong to imagine this inevitable migration that will affect his family in Vietnam. The speculative food cart, and the commodities within it, anticipate the hurried needs of people in transit, which include meals, sim cards for telecom companies in Asia Pacific, currency exchange, and support services for visa applications. The rectangular food rations are made from rau muống, or water spinach, a vegetable which was rationed to people in the aftermath of the American-Vietnam war. Packaged as shelf-stable survival rations, the artist reimagines this plant as a necessary meal during the future climate crisis, as it grows in water and flooded areas. Ration Market Special also takes into account the special characteristics of Union Station as a hub for transportation within Canada and a connection to international travel by rail and air.

We Live Future Ancestral Technologies Entry Log

We Live is both an entry log from a time/space jump and documentation of a performative land-based action. The work is set in a future where half of the Earth’s population left the planet after causing its ecological destruction—taking with them the notion of colonization. The remaining inhabitants are left to mourn and apologize to the land. Wearing sensory-muting regalia, the figures use their physical presence to pledge accountability to the land and waters affected by resource extraction and industry. This video illustrates how Future Ancestral Technologies approaches Indigenous futurism, blending media, place, storytelling, and documentation of a living practice. As a short film, it communicates the ethos of Future Ancestral Technologies while evidencing the live actions that the work requires.

Flowers for Majd Kaleel, Flowers for Anesian Issa

In 2021, Waard Ward collective offered a series of workshops to Arabic-speaking newcomers to develop flower-arranging skills at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington. Each photograph is titled after the workshop participant who created the floral arrangement.

 

Tuesday my arm was sore but no other side effects. It was a foggy very rainy day so we didn't bother going out.

Wednesday John golfed and I paid my first visit to the Textile Museum of Canada since the pandemic started.

On my way there.

Dreaming by Plensa follows me.

A wedding at City Hall.

This was my main reason for my visit, a display of digital photos by Aida Muluneh called Water Life. Click here for my post of her works.

I also looked at Double Vision.

Double Vision profiles three ground-breaking artists from Nunavut—Jessie Oonark (1906 – 1985) and her daughters, Janet Kigusiuq (1926 – 2005) and Victoria Mamnguqsualuk (1930 – 2016)—and shines a light on a highly distinctive art form called nivinngajuliaat that developed out of government-sponsored craft programs in the Arctic, beginning with the sewing program in Qamani`tuaq (Baker Lake) established in the 1960s.

Click here to see the other two exhibits on display.

I decided to walk back to the bus stop as I had plenty of time.

You can tell it is the end of the school year as they are all doing school trips. No idea what these boys are up to with the hats.

Even as I approach her from the opposite direction she follows me.

Thursday I had planned on going out but didn't. Big mistake...Fire alarm went around 12:15 and then an announcement that due to an emergency we needed to evacuate the building and meet on the grounds by the BBQs. Elevators were working and no crowds, No sirens in earshot. People kept coming out. People saying this has never happened before.

There is no parking on our street, but the parking garage was also closed off so cars are parking where they can. People start wandering about.

 Finally we saw a flashing light at the front of the building so we wandered over.

Man in blue suit of our head of security.

After much speculation the Head of Security and building manager came out and said it was a bomb threat, police had searched the building and we were allowed back in.

John headed to acupuncture late afternoon.

Friday we did have a plan to go out in the morning, but never got our butts in gear. That's okay we are taking a mini trip on Sunday and Monday to London Ontario.

COOKING

Saturday mushroom pasta

Sunday pork chops broccoli new boiled potatoes

Monday hamburger steak with gravy, mashed potatoes and beans. Comfort food! I would usually call it hamburger patties but when I googled a recipe it said hamburger steak which is Salisbury steak in the States according to Wikipedia. 

Sooooo...going down that rabbit hole....

Hamburg was a common embarcation point for transatlantic voyages during the first half of the 19th century and New York City was the most common destination. Various New York restaurants offered Hamburg-style American fillet, or even beefsteak à Hambourgeoise. Early American preparations of ground beef were therefore made to fit the tastes of European immigrants.
Coming from this history of ground meat dishes is the Salisbury steak. James Salisbury (1823–1905) was an American physician and chemist known for his advocacy of a meat-centered diet to promote health, and the term Salisbury steak for a ground beef patty served as the main course has been used in the United States since 1897. Today, Salisbury steak is usually served with a gravy similar in texture to brown sauce, along with various side dishes. It is a common item in supermarket frozen food sections. 

Growing up we never had frozen TV dinners but I have a recollection of ads for a brand called Salisbury, but could not find any mention of a company by that name.

Tuesday chicken quarters, roast potatoes and carrots

Wednesday curry chicken

Thursday fish tacos - haddock and shrimp

Friday steak and loaded baked potato

WATCHING

Injustice is a five-part British drama television series about criminal defence barrister William Travers, who has lost faith in the legal system following a traumatic series of events.

We enjoyed it (always love British shows) and I liked seeing Dervla Kirwan, an Irish actress who was in Ballykissangel.

Yes, we are late to the party watching this and there are six seasons!

The Americans is an American period spy drama television series. Set during the Cold War, it follows the story of Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys), two Soviet KGB intelligence officers posing as an American married couple living in Falls Church, a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., with their children, Paige and Henry.
The series begins in the aftermath of the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan in January 1981 and concludes in December 1987, shortly before the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Knowing is a 2009 American science fiction movie, set in Boston and filmed at The Docklands, Melbourne Australia.

Fifty years after it was buried in a time capsule, a schoolgirl's cryptic document falls into the hands of Caleb Koestler, the son of professor John Koestler (Nicolas Cage). John figures out that the encoded message accurately lists every major disaster from the past five decades, and predicts three future calamities -- one a global cataclysm. When his warnings fall on deaf ears, John enlists the help of the prophetic author's daughter and granddaughter to try to avert the ultimate disaster.

READING

Thanks to Beth's recommendation, I borrowed BOSH! Healthy Vegan

You can check them out here on YouTube BOSH.TV.

Indian spiced soup

 Green shakshuka  or green shakshuka I would have to add an egg.

I especially like the desserts, as I don't have a sweet tooth, and when I bake I try to reduce the amount of sugar in recipes. And I love the use of bananas since we always have frozen bananas.

Salted caramel apple crumble and custard I am definitely making this! I'm thinking breakfast.

Banana chocolate mousse

I finished Not Our Kind, historical fiction set in New York after World War II and there is still a lot of discrimination against Jews. I enjoyed the perspective from two very different women on the class differences and relationships. It is a quick read.

I read The Long Weekend by Gilly MacMillan, what a riveting storyline! Just when I think I have it figured out I hit another twist!