Dinners' On Me!

Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Sunday Salon

Seasons 

Hearth and Soul Link Party

Weekend Coffee Share

2020 - Bloor St. West Toronto

 January 2020 - Toronto ON

The federal government and Canada’s major airlines announced Friday that flights to sun destinations would be suspended from January 31 until May in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

A blogger friend posted this image on Facebook and credited the art to 

Ann Macdonald Baron, a Canadian friend of hers.

DOING

Saturday John is taking it easy after pulling something in his neck when working out this week, no worries, lots of sports on TV.

I worked on my sketch book and started a new knitting project, a scarf for one of my coats. It is leftover wool from other projects. I watched a movie as I worked on it.

We received another Amazon order.

A WIFI booster, since last spring we have had trouble getting a signal at the back of the condo. So far it works well.

I ordered some fairy lights with batteries to put inside bottles myself. So much cheaper!

I also got us a 1,000 piece jigsaw to keep us busy. It is sitting on the dining table.

Once John started working on the puzzle he started to complain about the table setup. I sent him to Amazon and told him to order a puzzle mat.

We're catching up on some of our PVRd series Blue Bloods, 9-11, The Resident. Interesting to see how they stepped up to the pandemic and social distancing as they built it into the storylines.

I'm still working on our 2020 recap. I plan to complete by the end of January. Once again, why don't I do this weekly or at least monthly???

As I  linked up my Monday Mural I realized I am into my stash of scheduled murals from past trips that never made the light of day as yet. It means it is time for us to get out!

John cut my hair, it feels so good. My last haircut was end of November, just before this latest lockdown.

Got our puzzle opened, but we are waiting for a puzzle mat to arrive before we start.

Finally Tuesday we got snow! John headed to Costco just before it started to fall in ernest.

 I did some house chores and made homemade freezer soup for lunch. 

As things happen in our house, John wanted to arrange some stuff in the pantry, so he pulled out my Kitchenaid attachments. 

We sorted them into the shredder - not needed as I now have the food processor. Then we looked at the parts for the meat grinder/food strainer by looking at Youtube. That led to looking at the sausage attachment (we don't have), and we totally loved the recipes. 

Then we settled in with popcorn and a movie (and my knitting).

I then met a building friend in the lobby for a chat.

Wednesday a lazy morning and then we got a UPS package. It was our air fryer  

 digital toaster oven! 

So much for my outing plans. We ended up watching Youtube videos about the air fryer and recipes. And then the fried chicken recipe led to shopping online for a couple of nifty things we saw.

Then I asked John to glue a magnet so that led to finding another thing that needed gluing, a spatula that had lost its rubber end. That led to searching in the dishwasher for it (never found) that led to the dishwasher needing cleaning. Which led to another Youtube video on how to attach the extender to the vacuum.

And discovering that there are two filters that should be washed on the vacuum, so that was done.

Which led to organizing a drawer and so on and so on...

Thursday and the bitter cold has moved in. The city opened 4 warming centres for the homeless. It gives those who are vulnerable and may be experiencing homelessness an additional place to rest and access snacks, washroom facilities and referrals to emergency shelter. Warming Centres are traditionally activated when the City, in consultation with the Medical Officer of Health, issue an Extreme Cold Weather Alert (ECWA) based on a forecast from Environment and Climate Change Canada of minus 15 degrees Celsius or colder.

BUT the sun was shining so we took a drive. First we ran some errands. Then headed to find some lane signs for my Tuesday Treasures.

Taken as we did errands.

Then we headed east and north on Jarvis to Cabbagetown.

Number 9 Audio Group is a nod to the Beatles “Revolution 9”.

They opened their doors more than 35 years ago and have worked with the likes of Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, David Clayton-Thomas, and many more.

Click here to here some of their recordings.

 Built in the 1880s as workers' cottages you can now buy one for a $million +!

Mural in a lane.

Example of a lane.

Heading home and those look like snow clouds in the west.

Bumper to bumper and there's a pandemic!

More goodies, meat thermometer, beeswax wrappers and more reusable storage bags.

I ordered some fairy lights to make our own lighted bottles with some of our favourites.

Friday and we have another outing. This is how I plan our outings. Plot a map and then add to it!

I found a new gluten free fish and chip joint in Hamilton. It is totally gluten free, well-priced and delicious, Hammerhead's.

All sustainable and Canadian sourced when possible.

We had taken our own cutlery and a Coke to have our lunch. No dining in allowed at the moment and anyway this place is strictly takeaway. It is only 400 square feet and only one customer is allowed inside at a time.

We found a parking lot and devoured our lunch. BTW we took home the leftover fries and had homefries for breakfast on the weekend! Delicious, why didn't we think of this before.

Hamilton is 68km from Toronto with a population of over 600K.

With nicknames like Steeltown, Lunch Bucket City, and Hammertown, you would expect a city to have a colourful history and rich diversity . And that’s exactly what you find in Hamilton Ontario, Canada’s eighth largest city. Founded in 1816 and named after settler George Hamilton, the city enjoys a combination desired by most major centres: a wealth of preserved heritage and a thriving modern culture. Boasting impressively preserved architecture, eclectic independent shops, and famous city sons & daughters such as Martin Short, Karen Kain, and Roberta Lynn Bondar, Hamilton is a city worth taking the time to explore.

 It is home to many artistic types and has a lot of street art.

Hamilton artist Kyle Joedicke explored his Indigenous heritage in this mural painted with the word “Ottawa” above an Orca, which symbolizes the strength of family. It was designed in the Haida style, the Indigenous people who traditionally occupied British Columbia and is dedicated to Joedicke’s grandmother.

A thimble.

Artist Daniel Davelaar's sculpture the 'Dressmaker's Manikin with Drapery'. The 3 m (10'-0") high sculpture is modelled on a local seamstress's manikin draped in cloth in such a way as to recall classical Roman and Greek sculpture. It is to be carved from a single block of Mountain Rose Granite.

 

Spools of thread.

Barber shop and tattoos.

Kryptonian Ink

Back home and good night.

COOKING

We decided to go back to getting bagged milk at Costco's, it's just so much cheaper.

Believe it or not, milk bags have been in Canadian fridges since the 1970s, selling mainly in Ontario, Québec and the Maritimes. Each package contains three un-resealable plastic pouches filled with milk, equaling 4 litres in total. Insert a single bag into a pitcher, snip off the corner and start pouring.

On Friday we talked about going out to get vegetables and said nah, do it on the weekend. We never did and managed to last most of the week using what we had.

Saturday lamb chops, lemon roasted potatoes and Greek salad.

Sunday roast pork, roast potatoes and carrots.

Monday hamburgers and potato chips.

Tuesday Chinese curry chicken a real fave around here.

Wednesday lemon parmesan Alfredo with pancetta and garlic bread

Thursday we decided to try fried chicken in the air fryer using chicken legs. Not bad, we need to work on the timing. I wouldn't use this recipe again. I made potato salad to go with it.

Friday we had steak, this time John tried broiling in the air fryer. Leftover potato salad and Greek salad. The steak was delicious.

So we have gone a week without going for fruit or vegetables and managed!

WATCHING/READING

I finally watched Elizabeth is Missing, we had PVRed it a few weeks ago. I read the book in 2017 and enjoyed it, the movie is excellent with Glenda Jackson. It is a very sobering and sad look at the havoc Alzheimer's brings to not only the patient but also family and friends.

We watched the movie Antebellum, Fracture (Anthony Hopkins, very good), The Rental (not bad). 

I started watching Bridgerton, it is cute and funny, not quite my cup of tea but entertaining while I knit/cook. Also fun to see one of the Derry girls.

For our weekly popcorn and a movie Tuesday (John chose Tuesday because that was the day we would go to the movies (seniors' prices). We rewatched Silence of the Lambs (saw it originally when it came out in 1991). We enjoyed it so much that we (gasp) rented the sequel Hannibal. John had PVRd Silence over the holidays. Hannibal was for rent only anywhere we looked.

That led us to start watching Hannibal the three season series.

Not much reading, I did finish Mum & Dad, and didn't start The Scarlet Letter yet.

I did start reading a new to me author that I know I am going to like Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer. Shelleyrae at Book'd Out introduced me to her.