Soup Weather

  Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 
Sunday Salon

Seasons 

Hearth and Soul Link Party

November 2020 - Toronto ON

2015 - Blarney Ireland

COVID CHRONICLES

Has anyone else had the problem of trying to open a produce bag at the grocery store with a mask on???

Oxford 2020 Word of the Year Is???

This year has seen so many seismic events that Oxford Dictionaries has expanded its word of the year to encompass a whole bunch. They include Covid-19, WFH, lockdown, furlough, Black Lives Matter and moonshot. Casper Grathwohl, from OED, said he'd "never witnessed a year in language like the one we've just had".

We are locked down for 28 days starting November 23.

At the libraries you won’t be able to browse books, periodicals or videos in person at libraries. But you will be able to pick up holds, go to the washroom and book an hour’s worth of time at a computer.

There's always one...we had a BBQ Rebellion to the lockdown.

It is illegal to open a restaurant to patio or indoor dining at the moment. But this owner was determined as he pointed out the inequities to the lockdown rules. Just up the street from his BBQ joint, Costco is open with far more people and in closer contact than his place.

He opened Tuesday and Wednesday and sold out his food before he was forced to close. He tried again on Thursday and this time the police were out in force, they even brought in the mounted unit and had 6 -7 officers on their horses!

In the days before the BBQ culture war started, the city shut down a community fridge that provided free food to area locals, and issued a warning letter to a Black man, Khaleel Seivwright, who built shelters for the homeless that aren’t permitted on city property.

Toronto hair salons fight lockdown by showing how little they contributed to the spread of the virus. I can attest that my salon is one of the safest places I've been.

Last Friday I had an appointment. No walk ins are allowed now and that was the bulk of their business located in the heart of the financial district. My stylist is now only working one day a week. She was the only one working. She had a customer when I arrived, I signed in, filled out the contact details (with a sterilized pen then put into a used container), and had my temperature taken. She wiped everything down before I sat. As she finished me another customer arrived.

The front door was kept open at all times even the temperatures are dropping.

I have said that the stats should be produced/shown to indicate the real contributors to the virus.

AROUND HOME

It is the first week of lockdown so it will be a short post. We haven't left the building since last Friday! John did go for one walk.

As of Friday Nov 27 we had 1850 cases.

We started the week with typical November weather, gray and dull. But we can't complain November has been an unusually warm and sunny month so far.

But we got our windows washed!

Sunday was like this. 

But, hey, at least we had our summer, John golfed several times a week since May. 

I'd rather be locked down in this weather!

Normally we would be either travelling, just travelled or be planning the winter sojourn. Oh well, nothing is normal, so instead we will cocoon during this lockdown.

We tried a new bourbon.

Up early on Monday morning and it was golden!

Click here to see more of the murals I mentioned a couple of weeks ago.

Catch up on my series on Toronto lanes.

Tuesday we stayed home as well, although John went for a walk. He also took the stuff leftover from the floors down to the locker, the carpet from the den, extra box of flooring, four storage containers, and the extra chairs from the balcony.

The Christmas tree   seasonal decor I ordered for the balcony arrived. It's small but perfect for that space and has lights.

Plants seem happy being inside but it's early days yet, the geraniums are starting to lose their leaves *le sigh*.

The new lobby furniture arrived. One of the manufacturers had gone out of business during the last lockdown so a new source had to be found.

Side lobby. I'm neutral on my opinion, it's nice to have a change, but it is a bit too monochromatic for me.

Main lobby

So glad the stained glass was kept. The art hasn't been received yet, and the ceiling panels need to be completed.

As an aside, I was talking to a member of the board, and he mentioned/showed me the new touchless wave to open option that is being installed in common areas.

New masks received from Mask This Face, half price sale and came with a laundry bag for the washing machine.

I had planned that we would attend many of the outdoor Christmas markets around town as a show of support for these businesses. But lockdown cancelled all of them.

Stackt had Miracle Toronto that was on my list. They then offered their cocktails as boxed kits for delivery.

Photo from their website.

So even though they were a lot little overpriced I decided to order a couple. Get into the Christmas "spirit" as such.

To say their had some learning experiences with this is to say the least but they were always pleasant to deal with. It took two deliveries to get my order right.

First order, I did not order these mugs, I returned them.

Second order, got the glasses right.

He brought a couple of canned cocktails as an apology.

Bad Santa - 2 x 750ml bottles of Campo Viejo Temperanillo
750ml bottle of Kranemann Tawny Port
375ml bottle of Grand Marnier
750ml Holiday Spice Cordial

Yippee Ki Yay Mother F****r! Kit - 200ml bottle of Appleton Estate Rum
200ml bottle of Bacardi Gold Rum
375ml bottle of Wray & Nephew Rum
350ml Pumpkin Almond Orgeat
8-10 Limes
10 Cocktail Umbrellas

Friday was our anniversary and John sent this emoji.

All the museums have closed for the lockdown so the AGO has virtual classrooms that I am going to make an effort to attend.

COOKING

This video will make us all feel better about our food photos!

And who knew there was an chef's art pencil??

Saturday we had Chinese curry chicken, a favourite here. Yes, there is a difference between Chinese curry and Indian curry, as there is with the multitude of various curries.

Sunday roast pork, mashed cauliflower and potatoes with broccolini.

Monday hot Italian sausages, salad and bread.

Tuesday beef fajitas. I am working on getting rid of freezer items and this steak had been there since March (2020, I hope) from Longos. We typically get most of our meat from Costco. BTW the fajitas were delicious with gluten free coconut fajitas that had been hanging around the freezer as well.

Wednesday Creamy bacon chicken and potato chowder as I had thought I didn't have enough beef for the fajitas last night, I also took out chicken breasts so I need to use them. We also had some of John's gluten free bread to finish.

It was good but not as thick as I expected. I also should have added more potatoes. Perhaps I would make a roux (GF) after the bacon and chicken were cooked...

Thursday (American Thanksgiving) i unknowingly took a container of frozen turkey meat out to make something for dinner. Left over from our Thanksgiving last month, I had frozen it with gravy, as Google had advised. This was part of my using up frozen items. I made a turkey pot pie. The pastry, Bob's Red Mill gluten free mix, was also leftover, I had used half the box sometime earlier. The pastry turned out really well and the turkey tasted fine.

Friday we had a tentative plan to go to the market just to get out. We decided to play it safe and stay in. We had our usual steak with a baked potato and used up some languishing vegetables in the crisper, one bok choy, some broccolini. I do not do well with keeping bean sprouts. But again, Google advised me to store then in a container of ice cold water and it worked.

WATCHING/READING

I found and finished The Keepers by accident on Netflix. If you grew up in an Irish Catholic family and went to an all girls high school run by nuns in the late 1960s as I did then this is for you. WARNING it is sad, frustrating and explicit.
The Keepers is a seven-episode American documentary web series that explores the unsolved murder of nun Catherine Cesnik in 1969.

I also watched The Investigator: A British Crime Story, another cold case.

I started watching The Confession Killer, The plot revolves around the 1983 case of Henry Lee Lucas who confessed to over 200 murders in the United States. Years after his admissions, they turned out to be lies.

We finished Suits!! And John will be happy not to hear me say "I know where that is" and "I've been there".

This place was in one of the last episode on Friday and I had to say "I've been there"!!

Am I the last person to hear of BookTube?????? Another article.

NY Times Best Movies of the 21st Century (so far).

I started reading the chilling tale of a pandemic, The End of October, There is (for me) too much detailed information about pandemics and vaccines, but it is definitely a great read and you can skim on the medical details.