Wednesday, January 31, 2018

2017 In Review

January 2018

I finally finished my 2017 recap!

This is how Google captured our travels, not sure how accurate it is.




Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Tuesday Treasures

Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme. 

I am reposting this from 2014 as it is fun to re-read some of our travels.

November 2007 - Cairo Egypt


A day at the souks in Cairo. I love markets and we had firm orders from our guide not to buy any gold!!!

Khan el-Khalili is a major souk in the Islamic district of Cairo. The bazaar district is one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike.

















Sunday, January 28, 2018

Monday Mural


I'm linking up at Monday Mural hosted by Oakland Daily Photo.

July 2016 - Rochester NY

Andy and the Big Dead Waltz

Caitlin Yarsky grew up on Long Island and came to Rochester, NY eight years ago to attend Rochester Institute of Technology. Since graduating, she’s been at Workinman Interactive, designing and art directing for games played by kids all over the world. She also collaborates with local musicians and creative folk regularly, painting fantasy-based portraiture of inspiring people within the community.







Shadow Shot Sunday



Shadow Shot Sunday

January 2018 - Toronto ON

Black Bamboo at the Harbourfront Ice Breakers Exhibit.


inSPIREd Sunday

Sally and Beth host inSPIREd Sunday!

April 2015 - Austin TX


Saint Mary's Cathedral is the cathedral parish of the Catholic Diocese of Austin.




The origins of this church date back to the 1850s when the largely Irish Catholic community in Austin, (originally called "Waterloo"), built a small stone church named St. Patrick's on the corner of 9th and Brazos Streets. It was built of locally quarried limestone.The parish continued to grow, due in no small part to the increase in German Catholics. In 1866, the parish decided they needed a new church and could afford masonry construction. While the Irish preferred that the church retain the name of St. Patrick, the German residents hoped the new church would be dedicated to a patron saint who reflected their heritage. Both sides compromised and agreed that the new church be named in honor of Mary. In 1872, after Austin was made the permanent capital of the state, the parish laid the cornerstone for a new church choosing a location one block north of the original building. At the time, Austin was part of the Diocese of Galveston. St. Mary's was finished in 1874 and dedicated in 1884. St. Patrick's was demolished around 1874.






Saturday, January 27, 2018

Lines

One Word Sunday

January 2018 - Toronto ON






28 January:        Lines
4 February:        Square
11 February:      Discreet

Short Order Cooking

January 2018 - Toronto ON Week 4

September 2017 - Denver CO



Saturday
Six Word Saturday Niagara Falls

I baked this triple berry bread using gluten free all purpose flour. Two cups of berries is too much in this batter.


Sunday
Shadow Shot Sunday
Inspired Sunday
One Word Sunday

It goes without saying that it was football Sunday!
I finally finished that initial pile of old papers that needed to be shredded.
And backed up my 2017 photos.

We have been working on eating out of the fridge/freezer this weekend.
Last night was frozen meatballs and spaghetti sauce.
I made a pot of turkey soup for lunch.
To use up some chicken I tried this soy chicken thighs and it was horrible.

Monday
Monday Mural


It has gotten really warm and all the snow is gone!
John met friends for dinner.

Tuesday
Tuesday Treasures
Foto Tunes

We headed out to run some errands on a really sunny warm morning.
We found a mirror for the bathroom and had lunch at Burger's Priest, rated the best burger joint in town. They do a gluten free bun.

Came home and hung the last of the pictures left down after the painting.


Then to the movies to see The Commuter which was fun and action-packed.



Wednesday

After lunch we headed down to Harbourfront to see the Ice Breakers outdoor display. It was a sunny cold day.




Ensemble


Winter Fan Fare


Black Bamboo


Root Cabin


Through the Eyes of a Bear


We also found one of the polka dot streetcars! The TTC is going dotty for the upcoming AGO Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors . We have our tickets!




We then headed downtown to meet John's son for dinner as he was in town on business.
We went to Quinn's in the Sheraton Hotel where I had tuna tataki and John had mussels and fries.



Thursday
Thursday Doors

I met a friend for lunch.
WE then met up with friends and went to the Festival of Lights at the Distillery District.









John photobombing!


It was chilly, mainly our fingertips since we kept taking photos!
So we stopped for coffee and tea at Balzac's. Photo from their website.










Dinner at a "new to us" restaurant Cluny's and it feels like a real French bistro.



Steak for three and liver for me. As well as a Caesar salad with crispy chickpeas instead of bread croutons.






Friday
Weekend Roundup
Weekend Reflections

I have bought Nate's gluten free bagels from What a Bagel on Spadina in the past. It dawned on us to look them up and discovered they are a local totally gluten free bakery that make many types of bread.

So that was this morning's mission. They are about thirty minutes away from us.
We walk in and the baker says "ignore that fridge" and gave us an order form along with a freshly baked wrap that was incredible!

We bought wraps, foccacia, French bread, bagels, mini pizza crusts, ciabatta.
Then a sample of blueberry waffle, delicious and two additional bagels thrown into our order.

Then I wanted to check out a new grocery store Nations Fresh Foods which just opened in Toronto. This is a 155,000 sq ft grocery store that carries an incredible selection of food from around the world with good prices. It also has an arcade, playground and all day dim sum. The food court already seats 300 will more to come.
Forget your grocery store's "international aisle" this is the world at your fingertips.

We have yet to become big sushi fans but we decided to try theirs for lunch and might have become converts!




We tried the Nate's pizza crusts for dinner and they were perfect!


BOOKS


April 2015


Total 2018 - 7 YTD


For a change of pace I finished The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. It wasn't hard to see where the story was going, not an easy book to read and it just ends abruptly but I still enjoyed it.

Lying in Wait blew me away from the first sentence. I am a sucker for any book set in Dublin. This is a deeply disturbing psychological thriller and I loved the way Lydia manipulated everyone and everything.

I am now reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell and really enjoying it.

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