Saturday, September 26, 2020

Self Isolation Week 29

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


September 2020 - Toronto ON


It doesn't matter your nationality, as a human being you had to be sad at the passing of the Notorious RBG.





Thrilled to see Schitt's Creek sweep the Emmy awards! We loved this series and have to watch the final season.
We had a chance back in January to visit the Rosebud Motel (kind of) as the sign was in the lobby of the CBC building on Front St.



Our numbers continue to climb and we are heading into the second wave. 
Thursday news:
New COVID-19 cases surpass 400 again in Ontario after dip in new infections on Wednesday. 
About 63 per cent of all new cases are in people under the age of 40 but outbreaks are starting to inch up again in long-term care homes.
Canadian Thanksgiving is the second weekend in October but we are already being warned not to plan any large gatherings.  


We spent our weekend indoors as we usually do, we don't have any problem keeping ourselves entertained.

Here is a full post on our Winnie the Pooh visit last week.



Monday we attended a funeral virtually. My uncle's funeral, in Montreal, was shown on Youtube.


I took a few photos as we watched. It was great for his many relatives in Ireland who were able to "attend".






Strange times we live in, in the span of a week we attended our first virtual dinner party and our first virtual funeral.

John played golfed and took this photo.


We took the subway to Danforth and Woodbine to look for some murals. A few weeks ago we had done the same trip but by car and got too frustrated with traffic.

BTW this was meant to be a walk from one subway stop Woodbine to the next stop Main St. and then home. Instead we walked 14,500 steps and finally got on the subway at Coxwell.

Like their hours "to 1 PM ish".


Always something interesting to find.




We saw three Bell boxes being painted.






We were hungry and John had the bright idea we should go to Sarah's in our old neighbourhood. I looked online and their patio was open but they were not taking reservations. It was full so we went next door to El Sol, a Mexican that we often frequented. A case of looked open, had sign "Open for Lunch: but once the server consulted with the owner, we were told they were not open. Eight years later and the owner still has not learned any time management skills.


When hungry, fries will always work, and sitting outside in the sun made for a pleasant break.


You never know what you will find! This was a 7-Eleven that had been here forevvvver. But the company started closing their Canadian locations in 2017.
Paining was taking place, Flips is known for his swirls.


And around the corner Elicser was busy painting!!


Wednesday John golfed early and I walked over to get a mani-pedi. What a glorious day it was!



This guy had just finished his early morning paddle on the lake.


I then took the subway downtown and wandered into Winners and the $ store.

The subway was empty!




Thursday I decided that we should stock up for the second wave. I used Instacart to pick up my order from Loblaw's. Nothing exciting, but all heavy canned items such as coconut milk, canned corn, tomato juice, canned tomatoes, beef and chicken stock, canned clams, water chestnuts, pumpkin puree etc.
I had my delivery within two hours after I placed my order. Very impressed.


While I waited I made a huge batch 100 cowboy cookies so I could bring some to my BIL and nephew that we were meeting for dinner.


We headed out to meet my BIL and nephew for dinner at the Brogue Inn. I had made a reservation. This was our first inside restaurant meal since March and the first meet up with anyone as well.
Only half the pub was open for service and the tables were reduced by at least 50%.

Great evening catching up!


Friday strolling down King St. West. Check out the door handles.


On Spadina.


This billboard made me smile.


Got home and then thought "we need ice cream". So I wandered over to Lola's.


Another gorgeous afternoon!





COOKING


Gyoka:The Ultimate Dumpling Cookbook is a feast for the eyes!


Saturday roast chicken thighs and roast potatoes.

Sunday pork chops with garlic mushroom quinoa. 

Monday I made lasagna from Thursday's meat sauce and cheese. This was from the virtual dinner/cooking class.


Tuesday chicken divan.

Wednesday chicken tenders and Buffalo cauliflower. Definitely not keepers. The chicken was bland and they coating did not get crispy. The cauliflower was from my recipe box but it will be replaced with easy sticky sesame cauliflower.

Thursday dinner out wings for John and Guinness beef pie for me.


Friday steak with sauteed onions broccolini and baby bok choy.


BOOKS



One of my all-time favourite fall festivals is Word On The Street and it is virtually taking place this weekend. Photos from last year. 

There would be lots of freebies and loads of ideas to add to my reading list. 



It's been a rough reading week. I started several books only to not finish. Perhaps another time, I just couldn't get into any of these.


Enough! I am contentedly reading The Scholar, if in doubt fall back on an Irish writer who writes police procedurals!

19 comments:

  1. Love all the outdoor shots this week. We're hoping to get a hike in this coming week, hoping the trails and parks will be fairly empty. We're in a huge surge here too, and that's why I started ordering in veggies. When I feel comfortable again, I'll return to shopping for myself in the store or market. I just started rereading the Ken Bruen Jack Taylor books on audio -- I haven't read them all and I read them out of order. They're set in Galway. I'll put the Cormac Reilly books on my list (and just noticed they're also set in Galway!). As you said, what strange times we live in.

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    1. I love being out and about but have been limiting myself to avoid too much contact.
      I really liked all the Ken Bruen books and yes, Cormac Reilly is set in Galway too, a city that I love.
      I was really impressed with my online grocery order, will do it again. This was the kind of grocery order that is just boring in a big generic grocery store for a lot of canned stuff that I wanted to stock up on in case of lockdown. I do like doing speciality food shopping and never knowing what I will find.

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  2. I wish you were right about the sadness of human beings over the loss of RBG. In Washington, the maybe-not-so-humans are triumphantly working on her replacement before she’s even buried. We are a sad country, down here.

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Too true, Mae, they can't even be decent and wait until RBG is buried to begin gleefully rubbing their hands together and put forward a woman who will set women's rights backwards. Funny how they can change their own rules to suit themselves.

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  3. I can just imagine how cool the weather is in Toronto right now. Those trees are beautiful with their fall leaves. A perfect time to be out walking around town.

    So glad you were able to enjoy time with others at a restaurant. I've not been inside a store or restaurant until this week when I got my flu shot.

    Thank you so much for the heads up about the book festival. I'm keeping my browser open to it this weekend.

    A second wave is so discouraging. Our numbers dropped to almost nothing last week, but then I remembered: no one got tested because we had a hurricane! I'm sure we will see a rise in numbers soon.

    I hope you are able to find a good book soon. Maybe you'll see something at the festival online.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Marg in Australia reminded me about time zones for the book festival but it is probably only a two hour difference for you.
      Weather hasn't been cool at all this week, it has been t-shirt weather with temperatures in the high 70s.
      So glad your home and family did not suffer much damage from the hurricane.

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  4. The trees are looking beautiful, and the Guinness pie not half bad either.

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    1. Yes, it was a delicious pie, probably made more delicious as it was our first meal out in months and we were with family.

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  5. I am sorry for your lost of your Uncle. It seem strange not to attend certain things in life. The cookies are making my mouth water.

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    1. Thanks, Dora. The cookies are good and it makes a huge batch.

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  6. I think we are going to finally start watching Schitt's Creek ths week - better late than never right.

    we are seeing some of our restrictions lift this week after being in strict lockdown for weeks. Still won't be able to go more than 5kms from home but still. Hopefully that was our second wave and we won't have to go back into lockdown again.

    I did have a quick look at the Word on the Street website, but not sure the timezones work for me on this one!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That's true, the timezones wouldn't work.
      I saw on the news that some of your restrictions are being lifted. Fingers crossed that the worst is over for you.

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  7. I love that you are still getting out and about but doing it safely. From some of the stuff I'm reading it seems like there is only two options - locked in your house or life as normal. I did my grocery run this weekend. Friday I went to the local produce store to get my fruit and veggie basket and then popped into Aldi's for milk and a to stock up on a few items. I was worried it might be crowded as it was Friday afternoon. While it was busier than when I go on Sunday mornings it wasn't too bad - everyone had on their masks. Traffic in town was back to normal. I had a pickup order from Sam's Club on Saturday adn then went to my parents' house for lunch and doughnut making (I also had to drop off their groceries). I wanted to get the groceries out of the way as next weekend is the first home football game at the university and I just saw that ESPN Gameday show will be in town. Check out what I've been reading at Girl Who Reads

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for dropping by and I did leave a comment over at your blog.

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  8. Fall color! <3
    Lots of street art too. I love the sidewalk work!

    I do hope everybody does 'vote like RBG is watching.' :) Such a beautiful and befitting tribute.

    Keep that second wave at bay, Jackie. Take care. :)

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  9. It is worrisome to have to keep tabs on new cases in your area but so necessary. Stay safe. Love that cart of flowers at the top of the page!

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  10. Our numbers in BC are rising as well. A virtual funeral was a safe way to celebrate your uncle's life. An in-person funeral at our neighbouring First Nation resulted in a cluster of 31 cases with more for people who came and went back to their distant homes. Our local health authority won't give information about cases here in town, but the First Nation kept us informed with their numbers and placed their village on lockdown until all contact tracing and testing was completed. - Margy

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  11. Oh, am relieved after the last post I saw, you have not changed, and still are going places to visit and explore! It seems a lot of painting is done outside:) The most depressing places are the one which were always super busy and are now empty like the freeways and subways. Didn't know Canada was in the second wave. Had to smile too at the 1pm-ish:) Great post Jackie, and fun to see you back at All Seasons. Sorry you have to curb your contact with people right now, There is hope for a better tomorrow. Can't believe the colors of the leaves are already turning where you live. Here, everything is still very green. Wishing you some enjoyment this week, Jesh

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  12. Beautiful fall colors up there! I started Schitt's Creek after it won all those Emmy's. I just finished the first season.

    My state has had over 1000 positive cases for four days straight. We have a lot of universities contributing to those numbers and those cases will pass onto their older and more vulnerable family members. We can already see it. Stay safe and good idea on getting a few extra groceries!

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