Self-Isolation Week 13

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

Sunday Salon

Seasons

June 2020 - Toronto ON

Ontario's state of emergency is now extended to June 2, June 9, June 30.

The restaurant rules were released this week as part of Phase 2.
Eileen De Villa, chief public health officer, stressed that while there is no set timeline for these businesses to reopen, the city wants to give them a head start on putting new measures in place. "It's about being prepared so that safe reopening can happen in as timely a fashion as possible". There is no date as yet.

Gallery 1313 sent out a call for Covid-19 portraits and artists around the world responded. Check out these amazing works of art.

And on Monday we moved into the month of June!!! LGBT Pride Month.

Eaton Centre 2019 - it had opened earlier this week but is now closed for the weekend due to the number of protests expected downtown demanding justice for Regis.
Regis Korchinski-Paquet reportedly fell to her death out of the 24th floor of a High Park apartment. Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating the incident after her family raised questions about whether officers’ actions contributed to her death.

The protest was organized by Not Another Black Life, and some attendees estimated thousands of people showed. The high turnout is especially noteworthy because of the potential risks of large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.

But on the bright side, and we certainly need that.
This spring, Chika Oriuwa was elected valedictorian of the University of Toronto's medical school.

Union Station announces its new signage as people start using the station again.

2018 Union Station.

Andrew High Riser mentioned in a comment to me about how quickly we go from winter to summer! Yes we do! Last Monday it was 32C feeling like 40C with the humidity.

This weekend it was 10C when I got up.This forecast was off by Thursday it was 32C and felt like 34C.

Just like the weather the roads are up and down.


The Gardiner was closed for the weekend for seasonal maintenance. No worries, the Lake Shore ActiveTO closures of the last two weekends were not in place.
Lined up to get onto Lake Shore Blvd.

Thrift stores are now open for donations, boxes outside, so I can get rid of the two garbage bags we collected during lockdown.
Cleaned out the boxes that we were keeping in case we needed to return anything.

Balcony is done with new screen!

And on Monday we moved into the month of June!!! Pride Month.

John golfed Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Tuesday night we had an incredible storm. Touted as unlike anything Toronto has seen before.

Thursday we went for a drive, mural hunting in Welland. Why, Welland? Well, a good blogger friend, Tom The Backroads Traveler from Rochester NY,  introduced me to the collection of murals in that city. So off we went, click here for a detailed post.

With the pandemic the canal and museums were not open. Restaurants are limited to takeout only, with only three patrons allowed inside at any time, and only one family member. A perfect time for an outdoor activity like mural hunting and a picnic lunch from home.

Welland, city, regional municipality of Niagara, southeastern Ontario. It lies along the Welland River and Welland Canal. During the War of 1812 the area was the scene of several battles between British-Canadian and American forces. Founded as The Aqueduct by loyalists around the first Welland Canal (completed 1829), the settlement was renamed Merrittsville in 1842 after William Merritt, one of the canal builders. In 1856 it was renamed for the Welland River in Lincolnshire, England. It developed as a trading centre for the Niagara fruit-growing belt.

In Chippewa Park, just relaxing in Ablan Leon's living room. Ablan Leon opened the first Leon’s furniture store on King Street in 1909.
This was definitely a hot seat as the temperature was 32C and with the humidex felt like 34C!

Mosaic on the side of Holy Trinity church, the building at 77 Division St., opened in 1878, is considered the oldest active church structure in Welland.

Just going under the Welland Canal.

Heading home we took the lake route rather than the Burlington Skyway on the left.

On the right.
The Burlington Canal Lift Bridge is located on the western shore of Lake Ontario on a site rich in history. The bridge spans the Burlington Canal that was opened in 1826. Once a narrow cut, the canal now provides Burlington Bay (Hamilton Harbour) with navigable access to the Atlantic Ocean. The canal connected the Hamilton Harbour industrial region to international trade and commerce. It was among a series of waterway projects begun, 200 years ago, to provide navigation from Lake Erie to the Atlantic Ocean. Today the Burlington Canal remains a busy waterway and is vital to the area commerce.

Friday I walked to the grocery store on a gorgeous late spring morning. On my way back, I sat on our grounds and read for a while.

Took a look around the new condos on a new street.

The condo has to clearly point out social distancing around our BBQs. Guests are not allowed at the moment on the grounds. The tennis courts are open with strict guidelines in place.

My view of Lake Ontario as I read.

My new prints arrived, pizza poster is my photo of a local pizza place on Spadina.

Original photo

And a new one for our updated bathroom.

From a photo of a mural we took in Moriarty New Mexico in 2017.

Talking about online shopping - received my Joe Fresh order and happy with it. I am now set for summer with enough pants. Also got some PJ bottoms.

John received a golf shirt AND his golf towels.

COOKING

Baked a cranberry orange bundt cake but replaced the orange with lemons because I had them. It was a little on the dry side.

Roast pork belly with sauteed mushrooms, onions and peppers. Made extra for an omelet on Sunday morning.

Made another "one" ingredient ice cream. I had frozen pineapple in the freezer leftover from some other meal. Mixed it with some honey, coconut and 35% cream, turned out well.

Lamb chops roast potatoes and sauteed cabbage. Lamb isn't quite ready in this photo.

Marinated flank steak with homemade gluten free tortillas. This was our first time trying  gfJules flour and I was impressed.
John used our new tortilla press, the first time we've used it, and they turned out well. We forgot to take a photo. The recipe we used was from Mama Knows Gluten - gluten free tortillas.
How to use a tortilla press using flour.

Or using wax paper

I made a sandwich bread without yeast - VERY good! This was also with the gfJules flour so I'm batting a thousand with this flour.

Ham and colcannon, ham was in the freezer as was the spinach, frozen spinach works really well for colcannon.

Fish and chips - since I had such a successful cook last week John wanted the same fish for dinner. This time I used the gfJules flour and that didn't work out as well. Last week I used the Bulk Barn AP fluten free flour. I do think I may not have put enough batter. Will try again.

Leftover ham and colcannon with an egg on top!

Steak, baked potato and tomato salad.

I learned this week that I can make my own espresso powder from beans to make coffee ice cream!

I watched the finale of Top Chef Canada and I was so impressed with their final so Canadian menu plans. You can find this season's first episode here.



Great Canadian Baking Show Season 1 I've decided to learn and possibly try to make some of the challenges.
TECHNICAL                               SIGNATURE                 SHOWSTOPPER
Battenburg cake
Montreal bagels
Fondant fancies                                Pavlova
Maple leaf cream cookies
Brandy snaps                                                                              High tea
Rugelach
Opera cake                                                                                    
Pear Charlotte                                    Mousse cake

Starting with mousse cake maybe this weekend!

Or this easier version.

MasterChef Australia Season 16 is available and I am working my way through the episodes. It has totally new judges (one story here or this story), it has brought back previous contestants and Gordon Ramsay appeared in the first five episodes.
Episode 4 saw three contestants cook along with Ramsay for immunity from an elimination challenge.
I can't find it on YouTube but it is on Dailymotion.

The Toronto Public Library is offering free performances of plays and videos.

READING

June is PRIDE month, all parades in Toronto are cancelled. But in previous years the city would deck herself out proudly. This is the oldest city library.

Started Late in the Day, so far so good.


Zoomer Magazine produced an intriguing list of must read books for 2020.

THROWBACK TRAVEL - THE FOOD EDITION

This is the longest period of time that we have remained home in forever. We have not travelled since May 2019!! Even when we worked we travelled at least every six months. 

So during these strange times I am revisiting our travels for The Food Edition.

Since I mentioned both Gordon Ramsay and fish and chips above, we're going to Las Vegas in 2017.