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Longo's January 2021

Front St. April 2021

Self-Isolation Week 9

May 2020 - Toronto ON

Johnny Reid's People Like You dedicated to the people of Nova Scotia and the 22 folks who lost their lives in that senseless shooting last week.

Can things get worse this year???

As we struggle with a pandemic lockdown, a horrific plane crash in Iran and the worst mass shooting in its history grieved again on Wednesday as it honoured the victims of Canada's worst military tragedy in more than a decade.

Prime Minister Trudeau, wearing a mask, attended the service.

I realized that I never mentioned that when we venture out we always wear masks and gloves. Our shop in the building had packages of masks and gloves available for sale weeks ago. I also ordered a package from Wal-Mart, the quality of these were not as good as the ones from our shop. I have tacked the elastics to ensure they don't break.

Our building "requests" all residents to wear masks when in the public areas, like the mail room, elevators, shop, lobby etc.
All entrances have a sign stating that all visitors must wear a mask to enter the building.

Longo's, a favourite grocery store of mine, has announced that effective May 4 all shoppers must wear a mask.
TTC Toronto Transit Workers' Union has stated that they want a mandatory fack mask rule for all riders.


I ordered a couple of masks for us from a local fabric shop Peach Beserk and picked ours up on Wednesday.

These are wonderfully made with silkscreen stamps.

I found a great video to make no sew masks from t-shirts.

And I made one in my favourite colour.

I tidied up my closet shelves and got rid of some stuff.

Sunday was a really warm sunny day and we even sat on the (dirty) balcony for a while.

John washed our living room balcony windows inside and out!

I received an online order of two tops from Reitman's, a Canadian retailer. One I liked but the other will be returned.


Monday we went for a drive to track down some murals. It turned out to be a cold windy day.

The Abbey Lofts is a 24-unit loft conversion carved from a neo-Gothic church that was built in the Medieval Revival style in 1911. The light-grey solid limestone walls and stone cladding of architect William George Burns’ church, built for a Methodist congregation, are unchanged in nearly a century. The 90-foot church tower, built with the same limestone, quarried in St. Mary Ontario, is a square campanile with pseudo ‘battlements’ on top.

Check out the units!

Love this on Dundas West

Mural by Elicser and Sweetman

Monday's Mural will show a beauty!

The plan was to order pick up from our favourite pizza place but when we looked at their online menu they were not offering gluten free.
We decided that since we planned on Mexican for Cinco de Mayo on Tuesday we would switch it to Monday and drop by the Mad Mexican Market which we were sure was on Keele. We googled it to no avail. John found what he thought was it but it was way north in Downsview and we took one look and said nope, wrong place. I found one on Jane and remembered what had been on the corner so we headed to Jane and Annette with heads shaking as we couldn't remember ever driving along Annette before. Voila it was there!!!

I received my online order of a tortilla press and a set of sheets from Linen Chest , a Canadian company.
It's funny, before this, I would have just put a set of old sheets into the charity bag, but now I look and see a lot of material that could be made into masks.

John took a walk in the afternoon.

Sculpture from John's walk

Wednesday we made a trip to Lanzarotta for produce and plants.

A large, expensive to me (John convinced me) planter, it has hibiscus, geraniums, white flowers?, creeper and ivy. At least I can winter the geraniums and ivy!

Herbs, had to find one that had rosemary.

Cherry tomato plant. I had to bring it inside on Friday night because the temperature dipped below freezing.

Picked up our masks mentioned above.

Then some murals at Lansdowne and Queen.

Some Elicser

Some of these look familiar as they were done by Womxn Paint artists.
They also did some at Dundas West here  and here.

High Park may be closed for cherry blossom season...

...but not these along Harbord at U of T.

From there we decided to get our first lunch out since lockdown. I called our favourite burger place, Holy Chuck and ordered burgers and fries and then picked them up. We drove to the U of T campus and ate our lunch. It was disappointing, just wasn't up to par.

We decide we needed to walk off out lunch and drove over to Harbord.

Bicycle parking outside a restaurant.

Along Bloor St. West

Korean grocery store in Little Korea, there was a lineup out front.

Along Queen St. West

John took a walk, our building on far left.

Looking east towards downtown. John also took the blog header photo.

A selfie

COOKING

This week's menu

Spaghetti focaccia and frozen homemade meat sauce

Slow cooker pork ribs with leftover coleslaw


Mexican - tacos, guacamole, bean dip. Used up an odd piece of steak we had frozen.

Chicken Divan with homemade cream of chicken soup rather than canned, much healthier and so cheap to make!


Canned salmon and salad. I made a lime honey dressing.

Chicken wings and fries

Steak and broccolini and mushrooms.

Breakfast fruit salad a couple of mornings as we had blueberries, grapes, grapefruit and bananas.

I made another bread in the new breadmaker using the psullum husk powder that they suggested. Still not a winner, there was a huge hole in it.


I baked a blueberry banana loaf which John proclaimed as delicious.

Need some Cinco de Mayo recipes?

Click here for Doubletree's cookie recipe along with other hotel signature dishes.

LEARNING

We should have been going to the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit with friends on Friday, the tickets were bought back in January. 

But that is now postponed until July, and I'll bet that will be delayed as well.

Funny enough we saw it in Paris this time last year.  Click here to see videos of the Paris exhibit and the planned Toronto version.

Love people making their own versions of art.

Here are some great creative challenges to motivate you as you stay safe.

READING

I can't believe how little reading I am doing. I did finish The Girlfriend finally, loved it until the ending!

Tried reading An Unwanted Guest, but got bored with it.

Finally got The Witch Elm by Tana French from the library and enjoying it.

THROWBACK TRAVEL

May 4 -  Paris to Dijon
    Notre-Dame de Dijon
    Epernay France Wine Regions

Check list for dining in Dijon:

✅Begin with a kir
✅Borgogne wine with dinner
✅Eggs en Meurette  is a classic Burgundian dish of poached eggs in a rich and flavorful red wine sauce.
✅Snails
✅Beef bourguignon
✅Cheese plate for dessert.

May 4 -  Paris to Dijon
    Notre-Dame de Dijon
    Epernay France Wine Regions

May 5 - Dijon to Lyon
May 6 - Lyon to French Riviera
May 7 - French Riviera
            Antibes Cathedral
Week 2 Recap
May 8 - French Riviera to Carcasonne
      Carcassonne Cathedral

LINKING UP WITH

Beth hosts Weekend Cooking where you can post anything food related.

Sunday Salon

Seasons