Iron Grate Coffee House

 Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Sunday Post

 April 2023 - Toronto ON

                                                     Dundas East Toronto ON

We hosted Easter brunch on Saturday with my cousin's family. We had done a lot of prep on Friday. I made a loaf of gluten free bread (bread maker) and then a lemon cheesecake. Then we set the table and got everything ready.

We started with mimosas and Italian sausage. Menu below.

 They are going to Ireland in September so we discussed places to go.

Gifted tulips.

I am going to attempt to keep this hydrangea alive.

By supper time we were not very hungry.

At around 6:30 John commented on the traffic on the exit to Lake Shore Blvd, aha, they were going to the 7 PM Cirque du Soleil show which just opened. There are two lanes but you should be in the right lane for CduS (no traffic light, just merge). Left lane has a traffic light to go straight or turn left..

This photo is from a Book of Faces group I belong to, taken from a condo overlooking the venue.

You can just see the ramp in the top middle just above the tents..

Here's an article about the traffic chaos.

In the middle of Saturday afternoon John got a call from the never--ending fridge repair company scheduling ANOTHER appointment for Wednesday. He had also sent an email to the manager he had spoken to last week and he replied on Monday that he would get someone ASAP, followed by a call scheduling someone for Tuesday. Well, Monday evening, Peter the repairman, called and talked to us, as Friday he had changed the fan to no avail. He determined it was the motherboard, none in stock, so no point in coming on Tuesday. Tuesday morning Peter called with his manager and said they have discontinued this motherboard (why? because it doesn't work???) so they are recommending to LG to replace the fridge. Next up John had to speak to LG several times providing, for the third time, all the documentation. Wednesday John got an email stating a new fridge would take 7 to 15 business days from the warehouse to us. That's fine, it better fit and work! 

John used the golf simulator twice this week. Photo from simulator, playing St. Andrew's.

I rearranged the tulips and they lasted all week, very unusual for tulips as they usually have droopy heads.

Wednesday we went for lunch at Union Chicken in Union Station. I'd eaten here last summer and wanted John to try the Nashville chicken since it had blown my head off with the heat. He enjoyed it but didn't think it was too hot.

I had the fried chicken, photo was too blurry, it was alright, too much breading. But this drink was delicious.

We won't be going back, he agreed that it is too noisy (ceiling is low) and the service is rushed to say the least.

 The weather was incredible 24 C or 75 F!

It was opening day for Blue Jays baseball, I caught a glimpse of the open stadium from the bus on the way downtown.

Towers of Finance.

Then we went to upgrade our phones as the buy back period of two years had ended. We could with "buy out" our phones for $460 or return them and get that  credit. We worked with Richard at Telus and came away with a decent deal.

This doesn't surprise me - Toronto is crane capital of North America.

Bay St. south of Front.

Walked down to Farm Boy for a couple of things, including Wagyu hot dogs that I had promised to our bus driver, Amir loves hot dogs! UPDATE he said they were great.

Walking back to bus from Farm Boy Harbourfront.

Again from the bus - Rogers Centre ready for season opener at 7 PM.

Home and we discovered that while our phones had converted everything it did not bring over the library data, Starbucks, or Flipp. We use Flipp to store our loyalty cards so we spent the rest of the day tracking down our cards/account numbers and updating. John has updated Bitdefender as it still had my old laptop and the old cell phones using up our number of devices allowed.

I glanced up from my laptop and got this shot!

Thursday I met my BFF for lunch, another hot day! We went to our usual, WVRST, but it is time to find a new spot, we had trouble finding something we wanted. We even spent time discussing what we were missing - steak sandwiches at College Park.

We also miss our lobster rolls from The Chef's Hall on Richmond, just checked and the lobster place is no longer there. I did find Buster's Sea Cove so we will check that out next time.

I had the chicken schnitzel sandwich, a little dry for me.

While I was at lunch John went for a walk along the lake.

2023 Spring Stations exhibit is being hosted in front of Mirabella Condominiums at Sir Casmir Gzowski Park (1751 Lakeshore Blvd. West)


The three winning designs were selected from hundreds of submissions worldwide, including one with a Toronto story. “Conrad,” named for the raccoon who died at Yonge and Church Streets in the summer of 2015, has come alive in a 3-dimensional sculpture to inspire warmth and compassion in this larger-than-life incarnation.

Ripple Hut

These designs perfectly compliment the 395-foot-long Motion in Air mural facing onto the Gardiner and confirm this area as a place to enjoy the natural environment and appreciate art.”

P.S. that's us at the far right.

Friday and golf season officially starts with John playing at Burlington Springs.

I went downtown and poked in the shops and picked up steaks for dinner. 
I booked our spring booster shots for next week at Commerce Court.

Placed a call to the guy who installed our blinds as one of them is getting tangled as the threads are unravelling. He did call me back, but didn't leave a message.

 I was on the phone to Telus about the "connectivity fee" we were charged this week $50 X2. Richard had suggested calling and getting it reversed as a longtime loyal customer. She said that only applied to online orders. I said we had a "bring it back" phone so obviously we had to bring it into the store. No, she said, we would send you a mailer to send it back. So I said that would take a long longer than the 30 minutes it took us to go to the store, trade in our phones, get a new contract, have our phones set up - all times 2 phones. Finally she gave me a $25 X 2 credit. Better than nothing..........

I'm still tracking down our contractor to do the painting he promised. My third message asked him if he was ghosting me? No response...

Click her for my Titanic post on the anniversary - April 15.

COOKING

Saturday Easter brunch - ham, potato salad, kale salad, coleslaw, sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes, cheese, pickles, beets, homemade bread. For an appetizer we had Italian hot sausages from Highland Farms. Dessert was lemon cheesecake with gluten free crust.

Dinner - cheese and crackers

Sunday ham, au gratin potatoes and Brussels sprouts.

Monday sirloin steak stir fry with rice.

Tuesday leftover au gratin potatoes and ham.

Wednesday out for lunch - cheese and crackers

Thursday lamb doner with fajitas

Friday steak and loaded baked potato.

I posted my gluten free hot cross buns recipe.

WATCHING

We started the series Empire and are in season two.

Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is a hip hop mogul, former drug dealer, and CEO of Empire Entertainment. Informed of his own imminent early death from ALS, Lucious is forced to choose, from amongst his progeny, a successor who will control his dynasty after his demise. He begins working to groom one of his three sons to take over the family business – Empire CFO Andre (Trai Byers), R&B singer-songwriter Jamal (Jussie Smollett), and rapper Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray). In the process, Lucious pits them against each other. Lucious' ex-wife Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) is released from prison after serving a 17-year sentence, and also pulls for control of both the company and of her sons.

We're also watching Food Channel's Tournament of Champions season 4 and Top Chef International so no spoilers please.

READING

Not my usual reading style but I enjoyed The Lost Art of Mixing, it was a pleasant change from murders, but thought it ended rather abruptly, I wanted more.

I started The Kitchen Front In a new World War II-set story from the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies' Choir, four women compete for a spot hosting a wartime cookery program called The Kitchen Front - based on the actual BBC program of the same name - as well as a chance to better their lives.

Another cute read, I am enjoying the cooking and recipes.