J J Bean

 Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Hearth and Soul Link Party

March 2022 - Toronto ON

St. Clair West Toronto

Proof of vaccine passports are no longer required effective March 1. Some restaurants are opting to keep the passport vaccines in place. I also had an email from the Stratford Festival that they will follow the same restrictions as Broadway vaccine proof will continue to be required until the end of April. Other theatres announced the same, one into May.

Masks remain in effect, for now, since our a$$hole of a premier DoFo is up for election in June, he will probably remove that restriction in hopes of votes. He removed the $120 license plate sticker fee as well, taking billions for the coffers for health and education. This is the guy that ran on a buck a beer campaign. 

We continue to watch with bated breath the Ukrainian situation.

Sunday the sun peeped out for a bit giving us this delightful shot.

Saturday was a dull day but again we got this sunset.

We had run out of peanuts from Picard's, whom we first discovered last summer.

There is a new location not far from us, in Woodbridge so we went there on Tuesday. 

That time of year when we are fed up with the dirty hard piles of snow. It is supposed to rain so it will wash some of it away.

Our stash, includes coconut, Australian ginger, Turkish Delight, dried cranberries along with all the various types of peanuts.

I had also found a gluten free Chinese food place, Bean Sprout, in Vaughan. The traditional egg rolls in front, $7.99, were good but the pastry is a little thick.

John finished this puzzle in record time!

Time to order some new puzzles.

I placed a pick up order for the pizza kits we so enjoyed from Libretto's next Thursday.

Wednesday I took a quick trip downtown to pick up some make-up!

 I also went downtown on Friday to shop around. During the night the thought went through my head - where are the free RAT Rapid covid tests we were promised? So I stopped into a Rexall and she said they didn't have any, check next week. As I was going to The Bay, I walked passed a Shoppers Drug Mart and they had a sign saying they had none available but scan the code for a list of stores and availability. I did scan and eventually checked it and saw there were some available at Brookfield. I picked up sushi at our new favourite Zen Kyoto in FCP and then went to Brookfield and got a box of 5 tests. 

I also got John two new tops and one for me in Winners. Then I met John at the bus stop for the 11:40.

Some new displays in Union Station.

I am land that remembers is the second chapter of the I am land exhibition series and considers how artists take on the role of chroniclers. From Iván Argote’s investigations and interventions into monuments to Miles Rufelds’s and Tania Willard’s critical take on researching within the archive, the exhibition considers how we approach official history.

Women in Lima Peru - Venuca Evanán Vivanco

Click on photo to enlarge for details.

Bogota Columbia - Iván Argote

COOKING

Saturday roast pork, roast potatoes, mashed carrots/turnips and I burnt Brussels sprouts, what a smell! The last time I burned vegetables was about 30 years ago, that's what happens when you leave the room to do something!

Sunday I made Thai red curry shrimp

Monday baked sticky orange chicken thighs, mashed broccolini/potatoes, Brussels sprouts. I always buy boneless skinless thighs, but for some reason (recipe in mind??) I had John get the bone in skin on a while ago, and we both said they aren't worth it. The orange chicken recipe was okay, but not a keeper.

Tuesday Bean Sprout spring rolls for lunch and Kung Po chicken for dinner with pancakes (it is Shrove Tuesday). The spring roll pastry is too thick. The chicken was all right, nothing great. The onion pancakes are very good.


Wednesday we had the vegan spring rolls for lunch. Dinner was slow cooker short ribs stew.

Thursday we tried the Wagyu hot dogs delicious.

Friday steak garlic bread green peppers onions and mushrooms

WATCHING

Watched a good movie Percy, a 2020 Canadian-American-Indian biographical drama film. The film follows 70-year-old small-town Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser, who takes on a giant corporation after their GMOs interfere with his crops.

Also watched Attica, a 2021 American documentary film. It is a harrowing, infuriating look at racism and the abuse of power by people who see others as inhuman. Its subject is the riot that began at Attica Correctional Facility on September 9, 1971. Over 30 prison staff members were taken hostage in the largest prison uprising in American history. Once they temporarily gained the upper hand, the prisoners at Attica—mostly Black and Latino but also White—tried to negotiate for better conditions. They brought in a slew of outside personalities including senators, lawyers, journalists, and even Russell Oswald, the NY Commissioner of Corrections. Instead of reaching a peaceful conclusion, however, the standoff ended five days later in a hail of bullets that took out hostages and inmates alike.

I watched Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker is an American drama streaming television limited series, based on the biography On Her Own Ground by A'Lelia Bundles. It received generally positive reviews with praise for Octavia Spencer's performance; however it received criticism for various historical inaccuracies and artistic licence. For her performance, Spencer received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.

I also watched This is a Robbery a documentary about the world's biggest art heist.

The definite highlight was watching Belfast ($6.99) together.

Belfast is a 2021 British coming of age drama film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The film stars Caitríona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Morgan, and newcomer Jude Hill. The film, which Branagh has described as his "most personal film", follows a young boy's childhood in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the beginning of The Troubles in 1969. The film deserves an Oscar as do all the stars and the writer/director.

House of Gucci entertaining but so campy. This review says it all.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye $6.99 gave me a different opinion of her.

Click here for a recap with spoilers of the movie.

READING

I couldn't finish This Little Light. I tried, I really wanted to like it. But it is more geared to teenagers. But the writing is awful, most teenagers of their age can string a sentence better than this is written. It is her blog and she writes and sounds like a 12 yo.

I read Vietnamese Simple Vietnamese Food to Cook at Home 

I started The Lost Ones debut novel by a new to me Canadian author Sheena Kamal.