A La Carte

April 2017 - Toronto ON

Photo taken December 2012 Gallup NM

After our first week back, getting organized it has been a quiet week.

Saturday other than running out for last minute Easter stuff we each spent our day doing as we wished.

John made Caesar salad according to our server Jose Luis from Mazatlan. We followed Bob Blumer's recipe. For croutons we still had some of these left from Las Vegas.

Sunday - Easter Sunday and we had my cousin and her family over for a small family dinner.

I made ham, potatoes au gratin, Brussel sprouts with bacon and roasted cauliflower.

Dessert was crema di latte, it's been a long time since I made this and I was worried it would never thicken, but it finally did just as the recipe says, at twenty minutes.
Served with lots of fresh fruit, the leftovers were my breakfast for the next few days.

Monday we headed out to replace our cells phones. We went to Telus but weren't pleased with the offer/service so we came home frustrated planning to look around. We did and there really weren't any deals so we bit the bullet and I chatted online with Telus and got a better deal than they offered me in the store.

Dinner was leftovers.

Tuesday John headed downtown to drop off our taxes to the accountant. I completed my passport renewal forms online, not the easiest experience.

Remember our terrible experience with our cable company Bell Canada last week? Here it is in case you missed it.

He then spent an extremely painful hour on the phone with Bell Canada, our TV/internet provider. That they are our provider is not our choice, they would be our last choice. However, they have the monopoly in our building.
Long story short, kitchen receiver is not working and two remotes are not working.

Receiver - John jumped through hoops as the customer service rep asked for serial numbers (not on file???) and then for him to test this and that. Try the box on another TV, that means lifting the TV up to get the box in another room, disconnect it, plug in the other one. It turns out to be the power source. They will send another one.

The remotes - seems we would have to pay for replacements???? Not happening. John is adamant as he told her that they gouged it enough as it is. John has just spent an hour doing a technician's job who would have been paid, how much?? Thank you, Google! $23 an hour. The rep salary $17 an hour.  Cost to ship a plug???

A technician could have come, had the available parts with him and be done in probably less than thirty minutes....and they would have had happy customers.

I am listening to all this and thinking if it had been me, I would have said, no I am not technical, and can't lift the equipment, send someone, goodbye.

So UPDATE -  We received the new power source and guess what????? It is the wrong one!
I am heading out as John is exploding and saying he refused to talk to them again and sent a scathing note, as imagine! They had no reps available to chat online.
It turns out he does call them, and the rep says "well, of course, that won't fit." They would send a technician the next day between 10-12.
Wednesday UPDATE rep came, replaced two boxes and set up wireless and replaced two remotes. IF they had done that in the first place we would have been happy customers, but no, it was better to thoroughly pi$$ us off.

I headed out to get a haircut, passport photos and drop off my passport. It didn't expire until June 2018 so I had to explain that I wanted to do some early bookings in 2018 and I needed six months remaining at least on my passport. I also wanted to have a ten-year passport.

I made quiche from the leftover ham and served it with salad.

Wednesday my BFF and I met for lunch, lots of catching up after four months absence!
Before I left I made a hamburger stew.

Thursday we were awake at 5 AM as John wanted to make an early start to his drive to Montreal to watch his grandson play hockey in the Quebec Provincials.
We packed him up with food supplies as he is staying in an Airbnb condo.

I sorted out my kitchen cupboards so I now know exactly what I have on hand.

It was a great day as I headed out for some treats for myself, scones!!
Then home and a scone(s), a cup of tea and my book!

I roasted some potatoes and chicken for dinner.

Friday I took the shuttle to Cloverdale Mall, it has everything in one place. I stopped for a quick lunch as well before getting the shuttle back.

I even browsed in the bookstore and thought this book sounded interesting enough to add to my TBR list.

BOOKS
29 books YTD

I finished The Other Widow and it was a letdown. The premise was promising but the conclusion just didn't work for me.

So Say The Fallen was a quick read, good but a little flimsy on the storyline but the development of the character, DCI Flanagan is excellent as she deals with the demands of her job and her somewhat whiny husband.

Started The Real Liddy James and am enjoying it. A woman who appears to have it all only to have everything become unraveled.