Foto Tunes

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

May 2019 - Paris France

Ella Fitzgerald - I Love Paris

Every time I look down on this timeless town

Whether blue or gray be her skies

Whether loud be her cheers

Or whether soft be her tears

More and more do I realize that...

I love Paris in the spring time

I love Paris in the fall

I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles

I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles

I love Paris every moment

Every moment of the year

I love Paris, why oh why do I love Paris

Because my love is near

I love Paris in the spring time

I love Paris in the fall

I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles

I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles

I love Paris every moment

Every moment of the year

I love Paris, why oh why do I love Paris

Because my love is near

My Recipe Box - Ice Cream

UPDATED JUNE 2026
May 2020 - Toronto ON

2016 - Dolores Hidalgo Mexico

I bought a Kitchenaid ice cream attachment last year and went on a kick of making ice cream.

2014 - St. Andrew by the Sea New Brunswick

UPDATED - JUNE 2026

Easy homemade strawberry frozen yogurt.

Ingredients

½ cup plain yogurt (see note)

¼ cup honey or pure maple syrup

16 ounces frozen strawberries, about 4 cups

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, optional

Instructions 

In the bowl of a 7- or 8 cup food processor, add the yogurt, honey or maple syrup, frozen strawberries (and lemon juice, if using).

Process until the frozen yogurt is smooth and thick, about 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the container several times, if needed, and using a tamper for the blender to help incorporate the ingredients.

Serve immediately for soft-serve consistency, or transfer the frozen yogurt to a container and freeze for several hours or up to several weeks.

2020 post

But a few weeks ago I had frozen some strawberries and wanted ice cream, but the ice cream bowl needs to be frozen for at least a few hours. Ours wasn't in the freezer (it lived there last summer) as we needed room to stock up during the quarantine.

I found a one ingredient recipe which I tweaked with my additions.
I made it again with blueberries which was also good, but not as good as the strawberries.
I then made it with frozen canned pineapple I had leftover from another recipe. Also good.
I can see any number of combinations working.

INGREDIENTS
2 cups chopped strawberries or blueberries or pineapple
1–2 tsp sugar, optional I used honey

35% whipping cream, just a little to make it creamy
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Chop strawberries in half.
2. Freeze strawberries
3. Put frozen strawberries into a food processor and blend. You may need to scraped down the sides a few times.
4. Keep blending until it smooths out into soft serve strawberry ice cream.
5. Eat immediately or freeze for later. Serve with your favorite toppings.

I came across this article in the New York Times a day after I wrote this post.
Make sorbet from canned fruit. It contains some amazing combinations.

June 13 2020 - raspberries

June 21 2020 - blackberry and lemon honey 35% cream

                         4 bananas and peanut butter 35% cream
May 2021 - mango banana peanut butter

IDEAS
Pink grapefruit basil lime zest

Apple and cinnamon
Rum and raisin

August 13 2020

Found a recipe for no churn ice cream and decided I needed to make it since John had bought cherries and I had dark chocolate from another project along with some past its due date whipping cream. The recipe is from Foodie Adventures. I had also just read that if you soaked fruit in a little vodka it wouldn't freeze rock solid in ice cream, so I did that as well and it worked.

Ingredients
500ml-600ml of heavy cream/thickened cream
1 can of condensed milk (390-400g)
Any toppings you wish (think toppings like chocolate, cookies, nutella or flavoured sauces!)

OPTIONAL - vodka or your alcoholic choice
Method


Whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. This may take between 5-10 minutes.
Once stiff peaks have formed slowly fold in the condensed milk.

Soak your fruit choice in vodka. 
When everything is mixed, add your desired toppings and mix them through. *Note if you’d like to add some of your desired toppings on top of the mix, don’t add all of your toppings to the mix, set some aside.*
Pour the mix into a freezer safe container and put the mix in the freezer. *Note, if you set aside some of your toppings, place them on top of the mix now.*
Cover the container and put it in the freezer.

I could also see using flavoured liquors such as lemoncello with raspberries.

2021 

2020 Pandemic

Speaking of ice cream,  I named 2019 The Summer of Ice Cream as we set out to try as many places as we could.

Dundas West was our first introduction to exotic ice cream.

On Dundas West

Queen St. West

Here is a video from probably the most interesting! This was on Baldwin St. steps from the AGO but a new neighbourhood for us.

The there was the POOP CAFE! On Bloor St. West

Vegan ice cream on Queen West.

Yonge St,

Japanese on College St.

Sharing with Suzanne at Garbardine's on Bay.

Harbord St.

Chinatown - gigantic macaron ice cream sandwich.

In Stratford for the weekend.

Trinity Bellwoods - Nadege
John - Canadian Gourmet - maple, nuts and chocolate brittle
Mine - lemon cheesecake, not very lemony but lots of cheese chunks
Average.

Samples from Nani's - carrot and cream and sweet potato, both delicious.
He is top of our list for next summer!

Tuesday Treasures

April 2026 - Toronto ON

Tom hosts Tuesday's Treasures.

The Rock Shop - Famous Toronto store with cathedral-style ceilings is on sale for $3 million.

Check out the photos in the above link!

If you're a witchy, crystal-collecting, Tarot-reading, full-moon-manifesting Toronto spiritually curious person, you might want to sit down for this one.

Because one of the city's most beloved crystal, magic and metaphysical supplies spots is about to change hands.

The property at 154 Harbord St. — home to The Rock Store since 2009 — has officially hit the market.

My photo - 2019

Throwback Thursday

 March 2025 - Toronto ON

Since I am doing Throwback Thursday, I thought I would add labels to help anyone who may want to visit Toronto and/or Ontario!

Touring Toronto

Visiting Ontario - will include the county to make it easier to plan a visit.

Visiting PROVINCE

Visiting Canada

Spadina House my post when I visited in 2019.

Spadina Museum offers a glimpse of Toronto during the 1900-1930 period through the lens of the Austin family. The museum highlights the effects of transformative events on the Austins such as the First World War, the Great Depression, and societal changes in Canada. Spadina Museum opened in 1984 and completed an extensive interior restoration in 2010. Spadina’s artifacts feature the family’s contributions to the financial, business, and cultural development of Toronto through an intact collection and archival holdings, music, art, and decorative arts.

The site includes six structures: a three-storey large house built in 1866 and enlarged several times up until 1912/1913; a two-storey garage and chauffer’s residence built in 1909; a stable/gardener’s cottage circa 1850; and a greenhouse built in 1913.

Address: 285 Spadina Rd, Toronto, ON M5R 2V5

Opened: 1984

Construction started: 1866

Architect: James Austin

Owners: Ontario Heritage Trust, Municipal government of Toronto

Phone: (416) 392-6910

Current tenants: Historic house museum; (since 1984)

Admission as of March 2025

Visiting the historic house is by guided tour only. See tour schedule below. General admission is free. Some exhibitions and events may carry a separate charge where noted.

Hours of Operation

Historic House

Wednesday to Sunday: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Garden and Grounds

Daily: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Free Guided Tours

Wednesday to Friday: 12:15 p.m., 1:15 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday: 11:15 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1:15 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Weekend Roundup

 Welcome to The Weekend Roundup...hosted by Tom The Back Roads Traveller

1. Starts with "T"
2. A Favorite
3.TRIO - chosen by Tom

Starts with T

TULIPS

FAVOURITE

TYPEWRITER TELEPHONE TELEVISION TAPES

TRIO

This was taken many, many years ago but it is still a favourite.

1988 Isla Rosario Colombia

Weekend Roundup

 Welcome to The Weekend Roundup...hosted by Tom The Back Roads Traveler

1. Starts with "N"
2. A Favorite
3. NECESSARY - chosen by Tom

Starts with N

NOSE  Alex Bacon Mural Toronto ON

FAVOURITE

NEWSPAPER

Will Rogers Claremore OK

NECESSARY

Spotted this week at a subway station!

THREE

  One Word Sunday

Lyon France

Monday Mural

 I'm linking up at Monday Mural 

John snapped this on January 23 from the streetcar.

It is an ad for Nespresso, likely pasted, but interesting.

MURAL UPDATE

This was Drake's General Store, now across the street at his hotel. Taken July 2019.

I found this mural on Twitter attributed to Banksy after last week's devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey.

10 YEARS OF MONDAY MURAL

I thought for fun, that I would reverse post my Monday Murals, April 14, 2013 Shreveport LA.


Titled "Once in a Millennium Moon," the visually busy mural covers 30,000 square feet and took two years to paint. This building is fourteen stories in Shreveport LA and we found it in March 2013 on the A. T. & T building. It was considered the largest mural in the US at that time.

It was a project for Year 2000. The mural contains 19 people and 40 objects, capturing the people of Shreveport, their treasures, triumphs, tragedies. There is a viewing station with a paint-by- number grid that describes each. Many artists worked on this project, some who hung off the side of the building for months.

 It was produced by a team of professional artists and 2,600 community painters under the guidance of muralist Meg Saligman. Ms. Saligman, a nationally and internationally recognized mural artist, perfected a "paint by number" grid that is applied to sheets of plastic cloth. Once painted, the cloth is "floated in acrylic" on the wall, much like wallpaper installation.

This informative article describes many of the symbols used in this mural.

Spark(le)

  One Word Sunday

Gardiner Ceramic Museum Toronto ON

Tuesday Treasures

 Tom the backroads traveller hosts this weekly meme.

Travel Tuesday

Image-in-ing

My Corner of the World

The Yorkville Fire Hall, today known as ‪Toronto Fire Station 312‬ - photo below taken 2008.

The parking lot is gone, replaced by a park and the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences.

“In the early 19th century, individual citizens were responsible for firefighting. Each house was required by law to have two leather buckets and two ladders to reach burning roofs. The “bucket brigades” drew water from Lake Ontario or water tanks. The bells of St. James Cathedral were used to raise the fire alarm.

The Toronto Fire Brigade was created in 1826 with volunteers who raced to fires pulling hand-pumped engines equipped with hand-sewn leather hoses. Carters hauled water in large casks. Members of the first Hook and Ladder company, created in 1831, accessed upper storeys and roofs and used long pike poles to pull down burning buildings.

The arrival of steam-powered engines drawn by horses in the 1860s as well as rubber hoses encased in woven cotton improved firefighting. In 1871, the city installed its first fire alarm system with call boxes located throughout Toronto.

In 1874, as Toronto continued to expand, the city established its first professional fire service.” Heritage Toronto 2019.

1952 – Fire Station No. 10, known today as Toronto Fire Station 312, is located at 34 Yorkville Ave (Toronto Public Library R-1899)

1975 – Reopening day of Fire Station No. 10 after the restoration and addition was completed. Today it’s known as Toronto Fire Station 312 (City of Toronto Archives, Series 61, File 283, Item 1)

These photos taken 2019.

The hose tower dates back to 1876 and was designed by architects Herbert Hancock and Samuel Townsend.

Yorkville had a beautiful High Victorian-style town hall on the west side of Yonge St at Collier St. In 1941, that building was destroyed by fire, but the town hall’s clock and Coat of Arms were saved. The clock was transferred to the fire hall tower, while the Coat of Arms was added to the building’s front.

The crest is made of carved stone and features a beaver atop five symbols and letters that represent the town’s first councillors’ occupations, along with the first initial of their last names:

Bull and the letter H: butcher, Peter Hutty
Barrel and the letter S: brewer, John Severn
Brick and the letter A: brickmaker, Thomas Atkinson
Plane and the letter D: carpenter, James Dobson (the first Reeve)
Anvil and the letter W: blacksmith, James Wallis

1907 – Yorkville Town Hall was once located on the west side of Yonge St opposite Collier St in the Yorkville neighbourhood of Toronto. When the building was destroyed by fire, the surviving clock and Coat of Arms were relocated to what we know today as Toronto Fire Station 312‬ (Toronto Public Library R-6634)