Weekend Cooking is now hosted by Marg at The Intrepid Reader
November 2020 - Toronto ON
COVID CHRONICLES
Ontario has announced major changes to how it will impose COVID-19 shutdowns, introducing a new tiered system for when to impose lockdowns and closures.
Under the new framework released on Tuesday, which has not been implemented yet, each of Ontario's 34 public health units will be placed in one of five categories based off their current COVID-19 trends.
The new system will act as a dimmer switch, allowing regions to gradually increase or decrease restrictions as needed.
The five categories are prevent, protect, restrict, control, and lockdown.
The five categories are prevent, protect, restrict, control, and lockdown.
Toronto Mayor John Tory has asked for more time and will move to the restrict phase on Nov. 14.
In all scenarios, except a full lockdown, indoor dining and gyms can reopen with modified guidelines in place.
Ontario's gathering limits remain at 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors for private events, while organized events can have 50 people indoors and 100 outdoors, unless the region moves to the control phase.
We watched Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy for the first time in a long time last night. We noticed that there were covid safety protocols in place.
“The wheel was slightly redesigned to extend the platform surrounding the Wheel to allow for 6 feet of space between Pat Sajak and each of the contestants,” the release said. A curved monitor has been installed to surround the wheel. Each contestant will be given a “spinning cap,” which is a cloth that allows contestants to grip and spin the wheel without touching it.AROUND TOWN
We spent the weekend packing up the living room in preparation for the floors replacements beginning on Monday. The china cabinet items ended up in the kitchen, knick knacks and my box collection were placed in boxes.
John, out golfing a couple of weeks ago, I forgot to post the photo.
Most of the week was spent overseeing the floor replacements. These guys were amazing and it was far less of a mess than I had thought.
Only some of the boxes, others were stacked in the living room and den.
Den, removing the old floor, cement under the foil.
They did an amazing job in the walk in closet - before photo.
The installer said it was wall to wall carpet when it was built in 1978, the height of luxury then.
I will post before and after photos next week when everything is back in place.
I always comment on how diverse Canada is, which I love. So it was interesting listening to the installers. They were having a coffee break, and one guy was Filipino and the other Macedonian. They were comparing what their kids wanted for Christmas, then they started comparing things "back home".
The boss was Croatian married to an Albanian!!
Then when I was buying the pizza mix, the cashier commented that she had just bought the mix too. She asked how I liked it and how I cooked it. I mentioned that I thought it was a little too thick so next time I would take some of the pastry and freeze it for empanadas. She said, of, I am from Chile, so I made them all the time!
I spent my time in the kitchen while they worked and did some online shopping.
I always wanted one of these.
John did golf on Wednesday and Thursday. He snapped this.
I also went out both mornings while the guys worked away.
I got to the new Farm Boy at 9:30 so there wasn't any lineup.
A kinder message on the subway.
All the Christmas crap stuff is in the stores.
Another amazing sunset.
We have had amazing weather for November. It has been around 18C and it will continue into next week with even 20C being forecasted.
The floors were finished on Thursday afternoon and then began the thankless task of putting everything back. But at least everything got a good cleaning and dusting.
That also means getting some new things and rearranging.
They will be back in a couple of weeks to install some more thresholds as they were out of stock and being ordered from Calgary.
Getting these floors done is a BIG ✅✅✅✅ off our to do list!
Friday and no one was coming in! It was so warm we decided to go for a full Irish breakfast at the George Street Diner where we had coffee a few weeks ago.
Remember, we are currently in a modified stage 2, no indoor dining.
We got our same secluded sidewalk table.
This time our coffee was served in styrofoam (kept it warm) and our breakfast came in pizza takeout boxes.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. It was all good, despite mixing up our orders. Ham was too dry, sausages good, mushrooms were home pickled (not our taste).
We drove to Lakeshore and Coxwell to see a huge new mural.
A massive mural spanning approximately two city blocks has just taken over the Beaches. The construction site for a new sewage purification plant at Lakeshore and Coxwell has never looked prettier thanks to a project from Wallnoize and is now home to a tidal wave of 95 murals.
Our ice cream selection this week was sassy sea turtle and rum and raisin. btw, the rum and raisin is already finished!
Last week was pumpkin spice and cherry cheesecake.
Looking out after sunset, photo taken 5:40.
COOKING
Saturday we had Spanish chicken thighs, a favourite. I used a package of gluten free noodles that I had bought online for $11!! They were horrible!
Sunday I used up the couple of potatoes mixed with cauliflower in an au gratin along with pork and Brussels sprouts.
We ordered chicken on Monday night as it was the first day of the floor replacement.
Tuesday we made pizza using a new gluten free mix I bought for $3.99!
The box makes two 12 inch pizzas, my pan was 16 inches so we made one large one. In future, I would freeze a portion of the dough for another purpose as it was a too thick for us.
I let it rest longer than the 5 minutes on the box and it rolled out beautifully.
I also baked banana cranberry bread using the linked recipe. I had an issue with the instructions. It begins by saying grease two loaf pans. So I did but once I made the mixture it really fit into one pan.
Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray two bread pans with non-stick cooking spray, set aside.
Then it says
Bake for 1 hour in a loaf pan, 35-45 minutes in a small loaf pan or 25 min in a muffin pan.
Oh, so it fits into one pan...but it took me 1.5 hours for it to bake through. It was delicious though. Also it is unusual to bake at 325.
Wednesday was salad, shrimp and cheddar biscuits also from the same company.
At 3.99 a box these are a bargain for a gluten free product. In fact I found and bought some that had been reduced to $3 at one of the Winners, I must head back there. They also reheat very well.
Thursday pork belly and a sauteed mix of bok choy, broccolini, snow peas, scallions and bean sprouts and we finished off the cheddar biscuits.
Friday steak and the same vegetables with mushrooms added.
WATCHING/READING
We're still working our way through Suits and enjoying it.
I am up to season 4 of the Great British Bake Off.
I'm almost finished Scandal.
Not much reading done however.
I didn't read much this week either -- it's all election news, all the time. Sigh. I really, really like how Ontario is handling COVID -- clear tiers that can be easily implemented. We had planned on replacing the kitchen floor this year, but since eating out while the kitchen is dismantled is not so great right now in our area, we've opted to wait until next summer. Things have to be better by then, right???? Good eating and beautiful skies.
ReplyDeleteLove your new floors. It's funny how much mess we have when cleaning out a room or getting an installion. Also loved hearing about the international flavor there with so many folks with different nationalities.
ReplyDeleteCovid control where you are is so much better than here in the US. But look what we have to work with with our current govenment. Ugh.
Your new floors look great, but it's always a lot of work to move everything. Beautiful sunsets..
ReplyDeletePretty good week by the sound of it. Are you happy with the new flooring? We will always have carpet in our bedrooms but we are considering timber flooring elsewhere instead of carpet.
ReplyDeleteAustralia too is very diverse and I like that. We white people can be quite boring at times.
Is that John on the far right? He looks the slimmest.
Amazing sunset photos. Your temps now are much the same as ours, but that will change soon.
Loving the new flooring, it feels so good to walk on. It is vinyl flooring, very easy to clean and scratch and waterproof.
DeleteYes, John is on the right and is quite pleased by your comment!
I'm off in Arizona and I only brought two books with me. So far, I'm less than fifty pages in. There's so much to see here, and birds to watch, and hot tubs to enjoy, and hikes to walk that I may not get in much reading this week.
ReplyDeleteLove the floors. We hope to do that soon. We're trying to figure out what sort of floors we want. Under all that is there, we have original wood floors. But do we want to go to that much trouble?
It's so frustrating when I order something in the mail and it disappoints.
I should be finishing up the drawing book in the next 2-4 weeks and then I will send it on its way to you.
New floors.....exciting!
ReplyDeleteWe just bought a new blow torch today. We did have one that my stepson liked to use to light candles, but it got mysteriously broken.