Saturday, April 2, 2022

Henrietta Lane



We emptied out and cleaned the dead refrigerator on Saturday. John had physio.
Another rainy day, we seem to have had a lot of that in March.

I put the roots of the cilantro into water and it started to sprout so I thought it was going to regrow. But alas, later in the week it all went to mush.


Monday and the new fridge arrived.


These guys were so efficient, we had never seen a fridge being delivered with just 2 straps!
As you can see the only criteria was that it fit and that it was available immediately, due to supply chain issues.



Weird to have freezer on the top.



That meant spend time getting everything back in its rightful place which didn't happen as we need to flip the doors to open on the other side as well as level the legs which our handyman will do. UPDATE he will be here April 5 AM.
The plumber finally set a date of April 5 PM. No luck on finding a dishwasher as yet.

Tuesday John had physio and I went downtown for some vegetables. Don't let that blue sky fool you, it was bitterly cold. I had my heavy winter coat on and texted John to dress warm as he would be walking along the lake.


Cutting through Union Station.




Wednesday I was going to meet up with my BFF but the covid case numbers are climbing like crazy due to spring break last week so we decided to postpone.
Taxes finalized and will wait until the deadline to pay them their money!


Thursday John's birthday. I didn't have to get him anything since he has been merrily shopping for himself all month (golf cart, cigars, wallet). Although I have picked him up some tops this month as well. 

We took the 9AM shuttle and walked over to Blue Jays Way.

In CBC building, going underground in case it rained.


Metro Hall, they turned one of their many empty shops into a quiet room. I had to check it out, John said I am the nosiest biatch.



We started with breakfast out. I made reservations at Kost in the Bisha Hotel.
Describes itself as piercing 44 storeys above Toronto 's entertainment district, an entirely new standard of elegant private residences and boutique hotel environment.

My new header is from the restaurant.


Only the facade of Crookshank House was preserved with the new Bisha Hotel (44 floors)  erected behind it, known as facadism.


With over 30 public art commissions around the world including New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo, Jun Kaneko is best known for creating large-scale ceramic sculptures and installations. Jun is increasingly drawn to installations that promote civic interaction. The Untitled Heads at Bisha boast over 7 feet tall and are created out of bronze, resting on stainless steel bases.



It reminded me of the head outside the Gardiner Museum and sure enough it is also a Kaneko.


Kost




My eggs Benedict with salmon.


John had green chorizo and bacon with his along with gluten free English muffin.




John braved the 90 km winds to get some photos from the deck.



From there we Uber'd to the opening exhibit of Immersive Frida. I am a massive Frida fan!










A rather blue selfie.







In Maple Leaf Square they were just setting up. The NHL Black Hockey History Tour presented by American Legacy. The NHL and American Legacy present a mobile museum that celebrates black achievement in hockey. The museum showcases today's stars while also looking back at the pioneers and trailblazers who helped shape NHL history.



John had to get yet another team photo. 



Then home and dinner in the condo restaurant, now under new management, Veloute.
The restaurant has been remodelled and it looked really well. The dining room was quite full and service was a little slow, but we weren't in a hurry.




Mine - pan seared Atlantic salmon with leek crisps on top - delicious.



John absolutely loved his gluten free linguine bolognaise.


Friday we had planned to go to the market but decided to avoid crowded spaces. John went to Food Basics and got fruit and vegetables for the weekend.

COOKING




Saturday with everything upside down due to the dead fridge we decided to order Swiss Chalet chicken and fries for dinner.

Sunday John found the side ribs and I made a stew in the crockpot for dinner, we had plenty of vegetables sitting on the cold balcony.

Monday we had the frozen Libretto pizza from our pickup a couple of weeks ago. For some reason the crust was the best we've had.

Tuesday Chinese pork with green beans, I haven't made this in forever! It is my recipe from the late 1980s Szechwan cooking class I took.

Wednesday gluten free fried chicken thighs and poutine.

Thursday dinner out. See above.

Friday steak and loaded baked potato.


READING

Announced this week


I finished book 1 Gracelin O'Malley of the Gracelin O'Malley trilogy. I started book 2, Leaving Ireland. I will finish the series although I find I am skimming a lot of historical detail that I already know.
“An epic saga that sweeps you into the life of a remarkable woman,” Ann Moore’s trilogy of breathtaking historical novels covers Gracelin O’Malley’s life from the 1845 Famine and the Young Ireland movement to the mass emigration to America, culminating in the wild frontier of 1850s California (Romantic Times). Through it all, Gracelin’s indomitable spirit and Moore’s “vivid historical detail” prove most hauntingly memorable (Kirkus Reviews).

22 comments:

  1. I admit ot getting excited about new appliances as well! Your fridge is a beauty. You have so many options to look at art, I love the photos.

    Happy birthday to John.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think everyone is now buying appliances and other major purchases the same way -- "Don't show me anything unless you have one in the warehouse!"

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yup, Mae, that is how we now shop. One fridge would have been a six month wait. We are still trying to source a dishwasher.

      Delete
  3. Wonderful new header! Wish I could find a library copy of the Gracelin O'Malley trillogy, but alas, not happening. It reminds me of the legendary (and real-life) woman, Grace O'Malley the pirate. Thanks for the most interesting tours of your town!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you on the header. Yes, she mentions in the book that her father named her after Grace O'Malley.

      Delete
  4. AH! Now I know where you got your new header. I want a new fridge/freezer, but I want my freezer on the bottom. No more freezer on top for me, please.

    Your problems with the cilantro are 1) it looks like you didn't cut the bottoms before immediately inserting them into the water and 2) you may not have changed your water daily.

    You are SO lucky to have a restaurant in the same place you live. I guess condo living is good for something (grin).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Some of the notes in the quiet room are very meaningful.

    I like the hockey player statues, as meaningless as hockey is to me.

    The Welcome to Marriage sign sounds very familiar to me.

    The public library late fines is interesting and it is happening elsewhere. As I understand it hasn't made a great difference and the cost of administering late fines has gone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Late fines never bothered me, I considered it a low fee for the amount of books available. The beauty of reading library e-books was they were automatically returned on the due day, so never any late fees.

      Delete
  6. Beautiful header photo. How was the food and service at Kost? Thank you for your #weekendcoffeeshare.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kost was okay, I wouldn't go back. Food could have been warmer. Service average. Horrible dingy staircase down to washrooms.

      Delete
  7. Its funny. Here it is standard to have your freezer on the top and the fridge on the bottom. They are more expensive when it is the other way around. When I lived in the UK it was more fridge on the top and freezer on the bottom.

    Fantastic view from the restaurant

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The norm is the freezer on the bottom, and they are more expensive than freezer on top.

      Delete
  8. I love your new header!

    We bought a kitchen appliance set when we moved and they said they had everything in stock but after we paid they told us the fridge had a 2 month wait. So we told them to just send everything at the same time and used our old set until they arrived. I love my new ones much more! Mine has the freezer on the bottom, the first one I've had like that.

    My library stopped having late fees when Covid hit, and you can keep books until someone else puts a hold on them.

    Thanks for taking us on a tour of your outings. I hope you have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh yes, I know what you mean by new appliances. I get excited by a new vaccum or a new kitchen sponge, funny as you get older your priorities change.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a busy week you had! I loved seeing your photos of the Frida exhibit! I missed it when it came here and have regretted that! Congrats on the new fridge! New appliances are *very exciting... I guess that means I'm an adult, ha? ;-) Hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  11. New appliances and electronics are so exciting. I also get excited around new furniture because I take ages to finally commit. I always research the product before I buy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. coriander/cilantro is always a tough one for us to grow here in sunny brisbane. it always bolts! Love Frida. ONe day i will get to mexico city to see the museum - the blue house.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Immersive Frida looks so cool! Those immersive art things come to Denver fairly often. Someday I'll get to one.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'd love to see the Immersive Frida exhibit. It looks like you had a great time.

    Sorry cases are going up there. We hear that they are climbing here in Paris, but we just continue to wear our masks when we go inside and hope for the best.

    Gracelin O'Malley is a book a new member of our book club recommended to us. We all loved it. She said book two was good, too, but I think she wasn't a big fan of three.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The late fees thing was removed from our library system a couple of years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow great post with lots of things happening Enjoyed reading it with the photos

    ReplyDelete
  17. HOw cool that you got to see the Frida exhibit. Yay on the new fridge -- I'm not a fan of upper freezers either, but they seem to be popular. Our COVID numbers remain low -- hoping it stays that way.

    ReplyDelete

This blog does not allow anonymous comments.