December 2020 - Toronto ON
More of the same. We stayed home on the weekend, as usual. John did take a walk on Saturday.
Love this photo someone posted! I love our mounted police.
Curbside pickup on Queen St. West
On Sunday we decided to head out for a drive at sunset to check out some of the decorated houses that were on a BlogTO list.
Not on any list, but cute.
Not on the list.
On the list.
On the same street.
Random find, across the street from each other.
On the list, we were not impressed although it was state of the art. There were so many people here the street was blocked with cars.
One last unscheduled stop on the way home.
Monday morning sunrise, winter solstice, looking north Bloor and Islington.
The week passed uneventfully, lots of cooking and baking happened.
John did a Costco, Metro run. And a wine order arrived. We had a bottle of their wine last Friday (bought during our summer wine tours) and decided to order some.
We got these cute heat activated mugs from an acquaintance.
And Portuguese custards from a friend. We met in the lobby on Christmas Eve and had a socially distanced chat.
Christmas Eve "afternoon tea" lunch.
Christmas morning kitchen music.
Big breakfast, mushrooms, eggs, bacon and tomatoes.
Some family zoom calls.
The turkey is done!
Trifle, Mom's way.
Quality Street chocolates.
Saturday we had roast pork, roast potatoes, carrots and mashed potato, parsnips and turnip.
Sunday I got a head start on Christmas Eve afternoon tea. I made the scones and the raspberry jam. Berries had been a good price last week for some strange reason.
I made the cranberry orange scones, had the cranberries in the freezer and the oranges needed using up.
Dinner was salad and garlic butter shrimp.
I updated the holiday menu, I had forgotten I needed to make a gluten free cake for the trifle. I also added a cranberry lemon mousse for afternoon tea.
Monday I added the final dessert for afternoon tea chocolate muffins with fudge frosting, I love this recipe. I did cut the icing in half and had more than plenty. I got 12 large muffins and 18 mini muffins.
Dinner was chicken wings and fries.
Tuesday I made the fillings for my tourtieres, French Canadian meat pies.
Dinner was a simple stew made with beef short ribs, lamb kidneys and vegetables served with the leftover mash from Saturday.
Wednesday I made gluten free pastry for the pies and got two completed. This was my first successful pastry making and used this GFJules recipe. I had watched her video on Monday so had to place an Amazon order for a couple of things which came on Tuesday.
A totally new (to me) invention, changed my pastry life forever.
I made the fillings for our afternoon tea sandwiches. John made the gravy for our meat pies and he made the lemon mousse for tea and a couple of extras.
Dinner was quick and easy, steak and sauteed mushrooms, green peppers, onions. We needed to use up some of the vegetables.
Thursday Christmas Eve and we had our afternoon tea for lunch while watching some shows.
Dinner was tourtiere, fries and beans.
Christmas Day turkey, stuffing, gravy (stock made last week), Brussel sprouts, Irish (my Mom and aunts called them Irish peas) mushy peas, mashed parsnip turnip potatoes, roast potatoes.
Trifle, making my first ✅ever sponge cake, gluten free!
Christmas memories - looking for my mother's trifle recipe, I came across these in my Mom's writing.
WATCHING/READING
No reading done other than slogging through The Tenant. I started reading Such a Perfect Wife.
I finished Rectify and will admit it grew on me towards the end. A little.
At John's suggestion I started watching Ozark and I am hooked.
Still working through Great British Bake Off, up to season 9.
John watched a series of James Bond movies.
We finished Ripper and Unabomber on Netflix.
Christmas Eve afternoon we watched The Bee Gees documentary. Absolutely fascinating and I learned all kinds of things about them. Also brings a tear...
And for fun Dolittle.
And then in the evening we watched Hillbilly Elegy if I had realized it was so sad I would have picked something more uplifting for the season.
How wonderful to find recipes in your mom's handwriting. Thanks for the Christmas decoration tour -- we didn't get out to look at lights at all this year. I haven't read much this month either, but I did start Bridgertons (or whatever it's called) on Netflix. Good escape viewing. Happy New Year to both of you -- I'm hoping to be more present next year.
ReplyDeleteAll your holiday meals look wonderful! I hope you are continuing to have a great holiday, even in isolation.
ReplyDeletebe safe... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Great tourtieres. Having been away the last 6 winters, it was great to have them(soooo good, and one of my favourires- trifle. Thank god Jackie loves to cook.
ReplyDeleteYou saw some great lighting displays. LED has meant there is little restraint and more is better.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun...so glad to see all the lights, as well as hear about delicious food! My car just signaled it's engine needs some help, so all my plans to go get food, or see more christmas lights are dumped. I can eat what I've got, and look at whatever is on TV or Netflix, or read (I'm into my Terry Pratchett books these days.)
ReplyDeleteSo many great decorations. We haven't seen as many this year although we did get lights up at our home. Oh yes please to those custards!
ReplyDeleteHubby and I celebrate Christmas. So glad for techie and had nice visit with our sons. I keep hoping next year will be that we can get out and see more world.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe
I wonder what the neighbors think in the first few pictures where the house in the middle is all lit up but the houses on either side are completely dark. So much food! Now I'm hungry. I watched Dolittle a couple of weeks ago - I love the orginal as a kid. I hope you have a happy new year!
ReplyDeleteWe are on lockdown here too in Quebec. I love French Canadian meat pies! My aunt makes them. Enjoy your reading this week!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering about the neighbors next to some of those enthusiastically decorated houses, too, especially the ones in the duplex! I love that you share your successful gluten-free recipes. All your food, bu especially the afternoon tea, looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas decorations are lovely!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year! Enjoy your week!
We never made it around to do a Christmas lights walk, so I especially enjoyed seeing all the decorated houses. Something about lights seems to brighten my spirits.
ReplyDeleteI must look into heat-activated mugs. Nothing I've tried (lids, etc.) so far has really kept my coffee hot.
I've always been curious about a tea, about what that looks like. Surely your Boxing Day lunch is a bit more than a regular tea? It was lavish, I think.
Shortbread is a kind of cookie my dad loves. His family is English/Scottish.
Off to look up "tourtieres." I shall add it to my Baking Bucket List at Pinterest.