Self Isolation Week 12

Weekend Cooking is now hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader!

Sunday Salon

Seasons
Farm Fresh Tuesday

May 2020 - Toronto ON

Ontario state of emergency extended to June 2 June 9.

New rules in effect at Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

We headed out for a walk to see the Lake Shore closure to cars in effect.
We left at 11, hats and masks in hand but we forgot the lotion for our necks and ended up with sunburns.

We ended up doing 14.2 thousand steps not bad for my first long walk in weeks.

I showed you last week the chaos created by closing Lake Shore to cars. This is Windemere, where they have to turn north away from the lake.

Wide open spaces going east into the city.

It was open for take away only. The burger/poutine place and coffee/smoothie places were not open.

Police exercising their horses, the horses are boarded not far from here, on the grounds of the Canadian Exhibition (cancelled this year).

Mural on the Roncesvalles bridge that crosses Lake Shore and the Gardiner expressway.

Looking south...

Looking north, just over that wall, bumper to bumper traffic on Gardiner.

New territory to me, John has been here in the last few weeks on his own.

Going right to the water's edge away from the street, a lovely boardwalk. Still hazy, looking towards home, on the far right by the bridge.

The flowers are just finishing.

It was so warm that we decided to have micheladas - a Mexican drink.

We stayed in on Sunday, there was a total uproar by city officials and the Chief Medical Officer on the total disregard for social distancing that occurred at Trinity Bellwoods on Queen St downtown on Saturday.




"There will be lessons learned from this", says Mayor Tory, as he stands in the park with his mask pulled under his chin??????

By Sunday the police presence was increased and the picnic tables removed and chained.
We'll see what the numbers spike to in two weeks.

Monday we went to Longo's to get gluten free bread for John.

Then we planned on seeing the rhododendrons at Brueckner Rhododendron Gardens. But the gardens are in Mississauga, a former town that is now part of the GTA, Greater Toronto Area. However they have their own mayor and she has deemed it is too early to open the parks (see Toronto above), along with several other municipalities around, so the park was closed.

So, here is a collage from another year.

John went for a walk when we got home.

 Getting mooned!

On Tuesday we went straight into the heat of summer with temperatures at 32C feeling like 40C+ with humidity.

We headed to Dupont and Dundas to see some murals. They rest will feature in a Monday Mural post.

A new street for us to investigate, although it was too hot to walk far.

Interesting...

I see John caught me in the photo. This place had signs for gluten free, will check it out.

The Farmhouse Tavern looks like a fun place to try, whenever we get restaurants open again.

Church, St. Rita's, closed for now.

To the point.

Love Chix a chicken takeout and grocery.

I'm guessing, but I think this might be by Spudbomb!

The murals here at the Lansdowne underpass are worth a visit.

Summer temperatures with spring flowers.

Picked up a hens and chicks on Dupont in a cute little flower shop, $15 no tax!

Wednesday was a quick run to Lanzarotta for fruits and vegetables and then John golfed. Another hot day, and John shot an 82!!

I picked up an ivy at Lanzarrota for $20, the balcony is now done.

Thursday John returned a tablet to Best Buy and then we thought we would get a take out lunch. We decided on Burito Boyz, it's been years! They now have a gluten free tortilla. Since there are strict rules for take-out, only 3 people in location at a time. one family member only, place order with cell phone number, step outside and wait for call. I wrote out each of our orders on a sheet so it was clear for we wanted, server was pleased. Fifteen minutes later and we were on our way home with lunch. BUT I looked in the bag on the way and said "they screwed it up". Broke our own rule, don't leave until you check order!!
Anyhoo... I asked for steak, no beans or rice or jalapenos (not on my list). Mine had NO meat, lots of rice and beans and jalapenos and little else.

This is their printout of my written request, it is correct but bears no resemblance to what I received.

So after my hissy fit and complaint email yesterday I received an apology and a complimentary replacement.

Friday and it rained. We had the screen repair guy come and take away our balcony screen to repair!! And was back in a couple of hours with the sliders replaced along with the grungy screen!


Online shopping was at a peak this week.
John received his new golf jacket.
Returned his tablet.
I received a 9 inch baking pan part of an order.
Still awaiting my pictures for the bathroom.
A couple of summer pants for me.
John's golf towels.
Kitchen parer knifes, our old one has been used to death, the handle is chipped and now a piece fell out of the handle!

COOKING

I roasted a whole chicken, it's been a long time, with roasted potatoes and carrots.

Pulled pork with homemade rub and sauce, a little spicy, and salad. The same recipe I used a few weeks ago, but John made the rub and sauce this week.

I made the fast bread sticks again, with better results but had trouble piping them into six sticks. Still good. I'll conquer it yet!

Leftover hot chicken sandwiches, a Canadian staple, with homemade copycat Swiss Chalet (truly Canadian chicken franchise) sauce.

I also made lemon cream cheese coffee cake NEW

Haddock fish and chips and I used this video, this turned out to be the best fish ever.

Chicken divan with homemade cream of chicken soup, even the stock was homemade from Sunday's chicken.

Cilantro lime shrimp lettuce wraps  with a Thai peanut dipping sauce. Yeah, frozen shrimps we had bought at start of pandemic are finished. These recipes are keepers, but will either serve as a salad or use romaine or endives, as iceberg lettuce just can't carry all the ingredients.

Had picked up strawberries for $1.99 that were on the overripe side, I have an ice cream maker, but that meant the bowl had to be frozen first. So I found a recipe for 1 ingredient strawberry ice cream. Simply take the frozen chopped strawberries and blend in food processor. I added some honey, lemon juice and a little 35% cream and it turned out delicious.

LEARNING

Check out the great ceramics that you can buy from the Gardiner Ceramics Museum shop.

WATCHING

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) had an article this week listing all the movies "it" has played a role.








I forgot to mention we started watching Brockmire as our mindless comedy entertainment although not quite my kind of humour.


We continue with Prison Break.

John finished Ozark and Waco. He started watching the Jeffrey Epstein:Filthy Rich.

I'm still on Mad Men.

I finished The Great Canadian Bake Off three seasons as a new season aired this week. There was a lot to learn about various baking techniques and I am now planning to try some of them. The third season had 3 out 4 new hosts who were so annoying and uninteresting that they distracted from the baking.

READING

I mentioned last week that our libraries were opening up for curbside pickup, but I was wrong, they opened for curbside returns, pickups will be next week.

Started The Girls With No Names, it's growing on me. I am petrified for the thirteen year old!

THROWBACK TRAVEL

In these times of armchair travel, I am looking back at food on previous trips.

In 2011 we took an amazing river boat cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg which was a highlight of our travels.

Part of the package was a tour of Moscow with a stop at a restaurant/gift shop for lunch.

There was a traditional potato salad with egg, borsht, and a hot pot mainly consisting of root vegetables and potatoes. Dessert was crepes served with honey. 

A stop at Sparrows' Hill for a photo op.