Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe

Sally and Beth host inSPIREd Sunday!

February 2016 - Guadalajara Mexico

This was a stunning church we happened upon while wandering.

Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

The first stone was laid on 7 January 1777 and after 4 years of work, the church was opened in 1781.

Bishop Fray Antonio Alcalde came up with the idea of ​​building a church in the northern part of the city of Guadalajara, which at that time was virtually uninhabited.

The building is Churrigueresque, covered with yellow limestone from the canyon Huentitán. 

Back outside and hidden around the corner is this statue depicting The story of Guadalupe begins in December 1531 in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) when the Virgin Mary appeared four times to the Indian peasant Juan Diego. 

I am thinking of dedicating a post to the many icons of Guadalupe I have seen on this Mexican trip.

Weekend Cooking

April 2016 - Toronto ON

Saturday was lunch at the Elephant and Castle. My fish tacos looked great but they were too stuffed to be easy to eat and the mahi mahi was chopped up into little pieces.

And then an afternoon production of Kinky Boots. I don't know why it took us so long to see this as it was fantastic. John said it was "almost" the best musical he's seen (nothing can move Phantom of the Opera from his #1 spot).

Kyle Parker, on the left played Lola in the production we saw and he was amazing.

Sunday was a lazy day home with blueberry sour cream pancakes for breakfast.

Monday was lunch and a movie. Lunch was at La Carnita, Mexican tacos.

In Cod We Trust (front with red cabbage) on left Beef Cheeks and a pork carnita.

They have cheladas on the menu!! Viva Mexico. 1 spicy with Corona and 1 citrus with Negra Modelo .

It was a freezing cold day for the end of April. We went from winter to spring to summer to winter in a week. 
How cold was the rest of the week? I brought my winter coat back out and the cherry blossoms updates say they won't bloom until May due to the cold weather.


Movie was Criminal, really enjoyed it.

The rest of the week passed in various appointments and administrivia such as taxes and such.


We watched Brooklyn and I prefered the movie to the book, very unusual.

Friday we went to the ROM, Royal Ontario Museum to see the Tattoo exhibit. It was very interesting to learn the cultural differences for tattoos. Stay tuned for a post dedicated to the show.

SMOOTHIES

Our favourite this week was one I made.

Almond Milk
1 banana
1 pear
1 cup pineapple
1 cup mango
Protein powder

DINNER

Saturday we had cheese pate and baguette as we had a big lunch out.

Sunday roast pork, cauliflower au gratin, parsnip turnip and carrot mash.
Monday - Sunday's leftovers
Tuesday - Gingered beef with peppers
Wednesday - salmon in oven with Dijon mayo sauce, oven fries and corn
Thursday - leftovers from the gingered beef with salad as John had a meeting.
Friday - steak, baked potato, peppers, onions and mushrooms.

EATING LUNCH AROUND THE WORLD (IN TORONTO)

Italy pizza at Olympic Bloor/Yonge

International Burgers at Batch in Financial District

Chinese General Tao Chicken at Sawtow in Chinatown (Spadina)

Thailand Thai curry soup at Noodles and Co. in TD Centre Financial District

Mexico La Carnita John St.

Fun Friday Favourites 

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

The Right Snuff

April 2016 - Toronto ON

I was at the AGO recently and really loved these Chinese snuff bottles some of them dating back to the 1730s.

They’re all small; almost none are taller than 3 inches. And they’re made of all kinds of materials, from glass to jade, agate, precious stones such as tourmaline, even ruby matrix, amethyst, porcelain.

Chinese snuff bottles were only made in the Qing Dynasty, which started in 1644 and ended in 1911, and contrary to what some people think, they were used only for holding powdered tobacco, usually with some herbs and spices in it, which was inhaled through the nose. They were never used for opium; that’s a totally different thing.

Make My Saturday Sweet

 Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy. 

Photo Friday Finds

1. Starts with R
2. Week's Favorite
3. At Rest

The first two will be the same, except we’ll work our way through the alphabet. The second can be a favorite image or activity from the week. The third will be different each time.

Friday Finds and Photo Friday.

April 2016 - Toronto ON

Starts with R - Toronto's streetcars are nicknamed Red Rockets. 

The term "Red Rocket" was only taken up by the TTC as a marketing slogan in the early to mid 1980s. It was in widespread use throughout the 1970s thanks to John Downing of the Toronto Sun, who applied the nickname during a series of articles attempting to bend the will of the TTC in favour of retaining streetcars. John Downing got the idea for the term from John Bromley during a lunch meeting between the two and Mike Filey. John Bromley originally coined the term on March 30, 1954, to (in his words) "facetiously" describe the slow Gloucester cars operating on the newly opened Yonge line. The term remained in limited use amongst John Bromley's friends during the fifties and the sixties until John used it during the lunch meeting with John Downing, and the idea took off like a (ahem) rocket.

Here is one at going west on Queen at Spadina.

This is one of the new models going north on Spadina at Queen.

We can see the Humber Loop from our condo and spotted this streetcar all dressed up.

Week's Favourite - taken while waiting for shuttle outside Union Station.

Texture

Well, that's easy as this week I framed some photos from Mexico and hung some fabric I had bought in San Miguel de Allende. I used a hanger, for now for the fabric until I can find a dowel or something more decorative.