Linking up with Marg at The Intrepid Reader
6 March 2026 - Toronto ON
The Note Cafe was such a fun and delicious find in Hanoi.
SATURDAY
A lazy morning with scones for breakfast, each of us reading and pointing out various topics to each other.
I had a great catch up call with my cousin.
I made a new blog header for March.
Sitting here thinking I am glad that I didn't book any trips for John's birthday at the end of the month, as this planet is plummeting out of control!
SUNDAY
Another slow it down Sunday, our favourite.
John did bacon and eggs for breakfast, yummy!
I made a batch of blueberry and one of orange cranberry scones for freezing. I used the peel from our daily tangerines as the orange component - note to self not worth doing, no real flavour.
What did I do? Cleaned up the kitchen after making scones, scoured new recipes on Pinterest, shopped online for some spring tops (on sale), watered some plants, found a new Substack writer and sent it on to some interested people, wrote some posts, added books to my library wish list, borrowed some books, sent a knitting pattern to a friend, read lots of stuff, flipped through a cookbook, sent some book recommendations to a few friends, did weekly menu plan, fixed my Adblock Plus, baked some scones, watered some plants, modeled my new dress for John and my BFF.
My dress that I had ordered yesterday came and I love it. I'm going to ordered another one. Yes, I did put one (Shein) garbage dress into the charity bag and two tops.
I also got 3 tops on sale from Cleo's and a topper coat that was only $15!! Royal blue and black t-shirts. Pics from their website. The topper coat will go well with 2 pairs of pants I bought in Vietnam.
Dressier top
MONDAY
Monday Mural from Tokyo
John went for his driver license renewal this morning, the one where you have to do a test due to your age! He aced it. ⭐⭐⭐
Although we had a severe cold alert, it felt quite spring-like. It is supposed to be our last cold day.
I went to Longo's as I wanted to get one of those heirloom tomatoes and I had seen lamb shanks, we haven't had lamb shanks this winter! I also wanted the chicken quarters on sale at $3 a lb.
Good grief - 1 green pepper cost $2.55!
I packaged up the 5 (3 and 2) chicken quarters.
Update the heirloom tomato was so good! And it was product of Canada. so it had to have been brown in a hothouse, therefore there is no reason not to get decent tomatoes all year and stop importing those tasteless ones.
The electrician had mentioned he might drop by to switch the lights in the hall, but then had to reschedule to tomorrow, no big deal.
I reluctantly decided I should start to label our trip photos! Still working on it, I get distracted!
TUESDAY
Tuesday Treasures was a fun one to do!
John took the car into the dealer for the radar sensor (collision) but it was too busy so he made an appointment
I went to Longo's for ribs on sale and fruit for breakfast. I quite like going for "my shopping" like an Irish mammy! Although she would say going for the messages!!
Aha, I wondered where that expression came from!
"Going for the messages" in Ireland and Scotland means doing grocery shopping or running errands. Historically originating from when people sent notes to shopkeepers for orders or delivered household necessities, the term remains common for fetching household items, milk, or bread.
Speaking of Irish mammies, this popped up! It's gone on my wishlist!
I saw the ad for Starbucks new spring menu and I must say I am looking forward to trying them.
Iced Ube Coconut Macchiato, Toasted Coconut Cream Cold Brew, Iced Lavender Cream Chai and the return of lavender.
WEDNESDAY
Signs from Hue Vietnam
We tried a new place, all you can eat (AYCE) sushi. I was sure it was in the Atrium, nope it was in The Tenor at 10 Dundas E.
I told John this was the place, in the food court at the Atrium, just kidding.
We walked through Muji, a minimalist Japanese retailer with a wide range of generic products, including apparel & home goods.
The have an automated coffee counter and a free library!
We went here. $22 pp classic or $30 pp all items, not just sushi.
Rookie mistake, don't order 4 plates of 6 pieces! Go for the 1 or 2 pieces if you want to try more items. Great set-up, order via tablet, as you want, just add items as you eat.
Tuna, salmon and red dragon with tempura shrimp in the middle. We also ordered a chicken toll which neither of liked and we didn't.
Close up of red dragon. Tempura vegetables and deep fried chicken dumplings.
General Tso and spring rolls
Deep fried custard roll, so good! John also had an ice cream.
We should go bowling here!
Then to T&T, where I had planned on buying more, but it is true, if you shop on a full stomach, you don't want to look at more food. I only picked up the Shanghai curry and a bottle of gluten free soy sauce. Love looking around here.
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I LOVE this!!
We walked back to the bus station. I was surprised that the ice was still there, but as John said, it is artificial. There were quite a few people skating, some newbies, holding on for life!
Not so many in this photo, because I wanted the sign behind it.
My second dress arrived as did my items from Cleo's that I had bought on sale.
OMG tonight's sunset was epic, the sun has moved into a perfect spot.
THURSDAY
John took the car to the dealership to have it checked out.
I took some stuff into Stitch It for repairs. They don't "do" ballcaps and neither did the shoemaker have buckles (new description for me), the thingie used to tighten ballcaps. Amazon does though, so we'll order some.
I got some cash and picked up some stuff (one sweatshirt and 2 golf shirts) for John in Winners. I'm calling it some of his birthday gifts. I also ordered some theatre tickets for his bday as well.
He did put 5 golf shirts into the charity bag.
Cutting through the Royal York.
FRIDAY
John did a massive Costco order, we figure we should have a good supply of stuff as prices just keeping going up and will continue the way things are going. Coffee is a good example!
While he was out I did some administrivia, plant ministering, chatting with my cousin, ordering the ballcap buckles, bathroom sink plug, and reusable baggies.
Someone on social media, put up a photo of this saying no one would know what it was, and people responded by posting their own photos like mine.
It took us over an hour to put the Costco order away, packaging the meats into meal sized portions and reorganizing things and yet my fridge is not full!! $432!! He forgot his rebate cheque - next time!
There were three meats - chicken wings, lamb chops and steak. No paper products.
The rice will probably last us a year, although the bag has suffered from shrinkflation. As will the passata and the dishwasher pods.
We don't really "need" the chocolate and ice cream.
We really like these dumplings (an Asian friend recommended!) but the packaging is ridiculous. I froze them as is last time, and found that they got freezer burn, they ended up with ice around them. So this time I took them out and put in a reusable baggie with parchment paper. The dipping sauce is not bad, better if you add some rice vinegar.
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We don't usually get potatoes, onions and carrots from Costco.
I had to clean out my vegetable bins for the 10 lbs of potatoes, onions and carrots. This time I did not use paper towels to line the bins, although they do fit so nicely, I used old dishtowels that I was going to discard.
I did plan on going out but ended up not. It was a foggy, rainy day, a good day to stay put.
AROUND TOWN
A friend sent me this ad from the late 70s, promoting our building.
The Monet Immersive Exhibit is coming back to Toronto. We saw the Beyond Monet immersive exhibit in 2021 when we were social distancing ourselves during the pandemic.
When we had eaten at Canoe a few weeks ago, we had discussed a building that we could see that was under construction. Here are some cool photos - it will be 106 floors.
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COOKING
What do I have in the fridge/freezers that should be used up? I've crossed them off if I used/planned to use.
Pantry frozen mozzarella half used
WHAT WENT INTO THE FREEZERS
2 lamb shanks
5 chicken quarters (sale)
1 pkg ribs (sale)
lamb chops
chicken wings
steak
dumplings
I changed the menu around on Monday, choosing to use up the steak, tortillas, onion and frozen mozzarella. I moved the leftover roast beef to Tuesday. We also moved Tuesday lunch to Wednesday.
MENU
Saturday
L - dumplings
D - pork stuffed peppers
Sunday
L - tea and scones
D - roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts
Monday
L - leftover stuffed peppers - finished tomato sauce in fridge, frozen mozzarella (frozen forever) and 1/4 green pepper
D - leftover steak fajitas, green pepper (bought new) onions, sour cream (yay me, we finished a container) 3 cherry tomatoes
Tuesday
L - bacon and tomato sandwiches
D - -leftover roast beef, some of snow peas, celery, onion, green pepper, leftover gravy (with sitr fry ingredients added) and Yorkshire pudding, served with pappardelle
noodles.
Wednesday
L - AYCE sushi
D - popcorn
Thursday
L - tomato sandwiches
D - curry chicken used up the celery and pita
Friday
L - leftover curry
D - steak and loaded baked potato. John has got his steak skills down to perfection! Costco potatoes were delicious.
RECIPES ADDED TO MY RECIPE BOX
WATCHING
I finished season 3 of The Gilded Age.
I started watching Forsyte Saga through the library Hoopla app. but it has limitations on the amount of episodes I can watch in a month. It is on Prime PBS Masterpiece, but I'm not getting another subscription. PBS has it for a donation.
Ah, I see the library has a BingePass, go for seven days of watching.
John is motoring through Game Of Thrones, having a great time matching up the filming locations to places we've been.
Red Eye is a British thriller television series. A London Detective investigations lead her into the world of National Security.
We tried watching The Killer but gave up on it.
Ordinary Days , a 2017 Canadian dramatic thriller film. The film centres on the mysterious disappearance of Cara Cook (Jacqueline Byers), telling the story from three different perspectives.
Frankenstein 2025 was spectacular! I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did!! I was spellbound for 2.5 hours. But then it is del Toro!!
We really enjoyed Train Dreams, another that I thought I wouldn't like. Based on Denis Johnson's beloved novella, Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.
We didn't like or finish Bugonia, but it is not our type of film. Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
We've seen Sinners.
READING
I borrowed a 7 day copy of Beautiful/Ugly by Alice Feeney. I really did not like this book, especially the main (male) character. The premise is interesting, but the whole island thing is ridiculous, and a mess. Okay, I'm done.
Up next! Meh.
What is the Wonder Test one might ask? It’s the current “it” thing in the increasingly competitive academic world, the gold standard of standardized tests. Doing well on the test individually can greatly improve a teen’s chances at getting into their dream school, and doing well collectively as a high school doesn’t just engender pride, it can skyrocket property values in the district. Schools, including the one Rory is now attending, have shifted their entire curriculum to prepare students for the test, and there is such intense buy-in that at one point Lina half jokingly wonders if she’s wandered into a school budget meeting or a cult.
OTHER
There are no photos in the Shoestring book! I much prefer to find her recipes (and there are many) on her website Gluten Free on a Shoestring.
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