Daily Ritual

Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

Front St. East Toronto

 

Liberal-NDP deal paves way for Justin Trudeau to stay in power until 2025, at least

How do I feel about it?

It was a wet weekend. John had a physio appointment on Saturday, other than that we stayed home, warm and comfortable.

Monday morning - the waning moon.

Most of the week was cold and miserable with strong winds.

John did physio Tuesday and Thursday. 

He also took our taxes in to be done. Then I needed a form from the Canada Revenue Agency which required my list of answers to their list of security questions. Who asks "who is your favourite person in history?"!!!!

Tuesday we had our virtual Thai cooking class 5:30 to 7 so we spent time prepping everything. 

Menu was mango cucumber salad, Tom Yum soup with shrimp and Pad Thai.

Mango salad, was good, nothing to rave about.

The Joyce of Cooking was an excellent instructor. Check out her website she teaches other virtual classes.

Sadly, we both felt the Pad Thai was boring and bland.

Wednesday we went out for burgers and stocked up at the $ store.

Thursday and we woke to a dead refrigerator! We managed to get most of the perishable stuff into either the freezer or small fridge in the pantry. It's a good thing we also have a balcony, not all the units in this building do. Plus it's still cold enough for the vegetables and some jars.

Some things did get trashed, like a frozen Thai chicken gluten free dish I had just ordered last week, frozen blueberries that unfroze, ginger that went soggy, as well as some odds and ends that were lingering in the freezer. Cleaning out the fridge part and almost empty jars/bottles got dumped.

We spent the rest of the day with popcorn and movies!

Friday I went for a haircut downtown.

I took this because it featured as the bus terminal in the Oscar nominated movie Nightmare Alley that we watched this week.

Interesting, they added a new entrance at the Royal Bank building.

All these cranes are where they are demolishing the old bus terminal. New terminal in new building on right, the new CIBC headquarters. Click here to see the new bus terminal when it first opened during the pandemic.

New LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) store, I can't remember what was here before. Must be more new condos going up. When you see an LCBO and a bank open up, it is a sure sign of new construction. Royal Bank is busy renovating the building on the left.

Another location, they do some great gluten free pastries.

Royal York hotel is decked out for Easter. The hotel was very busy as there was a convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre - CMPX 2022 Canadian Mechanical & Plumbing Expo - sounds exciting!

The Candance competition was also taking place. I had to google that, it is a dance competition.

I notice the remaining two events on their calendar have been postponed to the fall.

I picked up sushi for lunch.

Then we went fridge shopping. We went to Canadian Appliance Source and were very pleased with it. Great service and good prices, as good as appliance prices are.

This place was so amazing, invoices emailed and they completed the warranty requirements. They also asked us to check for our credit card insurance policies to ensure we didn't over insure.

 There is still great difficulty in sourcing some items, so we went with a fridge that could be delivered ASAP as in Monday (loading dock is closed on weekends). We are also confined by the tight space we have for a fridge.

We also decided we may as well replace the washer and dryer, but with a later delivery date as we need the plumber to update the taps (request submitted). The dishwasher is another story, as the size we need is out of stock, the salesman will look as finding us one, it is not urgent. 

So are we done now? First the toilet ($500), then the heat valve ($500), dishwasher (removal $160) and now the fridge!!! Plumber (dishwasher and washer/dryer TBD), handyman (dishwasher plug TBD) never mind the cost of the appliances!

However, these appliances have served us for 10 years, since we moved in, as they are all around 25 years old.

RIP

WATCHING

We watched Prisoners a 2013 American thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve (Canadian, he is a brilliant director) from a screenplay written by Aaron Guzikowski. The film has an ensemble cast including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, and Paul Dano.

The plot focuses on the abduction of two young girls in Pennsylvania and the subsequent search for the suspected abductor by the police. After police arrest a young suspect and release him, the father of one of the daughters takes matters into his own hands. The film was a financial and critical success, grossing US$122 million worldwide.

Beans is a 2020 Canadian drama film directed by Mohawk-Canadian filmmaker Tracey Deer. It explores the 1990 Oka Crisis at Kanesatake, which Deer lived through as a child, through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed "Beans"), a young Mohawk girl whose perspective on life is radically changed by these events.

The Padre is a 2018 Canadian drama film directed by Jonathan Sobol and starring Tim Roth, Nick Nolte and Luis Guzman.

Cruella is a 2021 Oscar nominated American crime drama film based on the character Cruella de Vil from Dodie Smith's 1956 novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians. This was such a fun watch!

Nightmare Alley is a 2021 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Guillermo del Toro from a screenplay by del Toro and Kim Morgan, based on the 1946 novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham. We are big del Toro fans and loved this. Click here to see an exhibit we saw a few years ago.

Much of this was filmed in Toronto and we had great fun picking out locations. See above.

We're also enjoying Super Pumped: The Story of Uber.

We also re-watched The Crying Game.

COOKING

Saturday slow cooker ribs with coleslaw.

Sunday St. Patrick's Day leftovers became a hash for lunch.

John's choice - curry

Monday pan seared salmon with garlic lemon cream sauce and broccolini and bok choy, I threw in some cherry tomatoes at the end.

Tuesday cooking class mango salad - quite good Tom Yum soup delicious Pad Thai bland and boring. See above.

Wednesday out for lunch so scrambled eggs and sausages cooked by John.

Thursday ground beef nachos, this will get added to our rotating menu. I forgot to put the cilantro on top!

Friday steak and frites with chimichurri and dipping sauce for the frites.

READING

I'm reading Lying Ways, a good read but it hasn't really caught my attention yet.

This week, Toronto’s tech industry received international recognition, with a New York Times piece spotlighting our booming tech sector and world-renowned talent pool. As the piece details, Toronto’s tech sector is growing at a faster rate than any other hub in the United States.

Weekend Roundup

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

Starts with K

Favourite

KIND - chosen by Tom

TATS and TOKES

I'm going to feature the many Toronto tattoo and cannabis outlets that are proliferating around the city.

Starts with L

LOCALLY 

FAVOURITE

LANDSCAPE

Stunning - Sedona AZ

FRINGE BENEFIT

LITTLE LIBRARY LOOK

Bloor St. Toronto ON

Signs 2

 Joining Tom at Signs2.

Random-osity

Wordless Wednesday Wordless Be There 2day

Longo's January 2021

Front St. April 2021

T for Tuesday

 T Stands For is hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard

Memories of breakfast from San Miguel de Allende Mexico.

Monday Mural

  I'm linking up at Monday Mural

March 2022 - Toronto ON

Painted by Young Jarus titled When We Return

It replaces a Cosby Hayes and Sarah Painter mural.

Lunch Counter

 Linking up at Marg at The Intrepid Reader 

Weekend Coffee Share

Sunday Salon

2014 - Charlottetown PEI

I did an online order from a close by gluten free bakery - Bread Essentials. John is enjoying their white wholegrain bread so far.

Tuesday John went for his first physio appointment. It was a horrible rainy, sleet, snowy day, which made me change my mind about going out.

He stopped off to see the swans.

The plumber had an appointment at 1 but he asked to change it, which was not a problem to us. We went to Longo's to get some groceries.

It is spring break here and the line up for the aquarium was insane especially since there are no walk in tickets they are all online timed entries, it doesn't make sense.

I have to find out the story behind these, at the corner of Bremner and York. Perhaps paying homage to Union Station, just steps away?

We attended a virtual town hall for the condo. I have attended before John hasn't. This was the presentation of the budget and it was very interesting. We will have an increase in monthly fees, the first in three years. We came away with several follow ups, in particular water damage insurance. 

Thursday was another foggy morning but it burned off around noon and went to 15 C! We both had 10 AM mani-pedi appointments, our first since December. 

I took this on my way home. The fog is finally burning off and as mentioned in the town hall, the window washers are at work. This is the loading dock entrance and the two guys on the ground are clearing away all the winter ice salt. The gardeners were busy at the front. 

The plumber finally came and we came up with a plan for the dishwasher and washer /dryer. He fixed the heating valve ($450) and will be back when I need him for the dishwasher.

I finished John's scarf from leftover wool.

John's new golf cart was delivered.

And it is that time of year again, so John took our taxes to the accountant.

COOKING

So my bright idea of a week of new recipes quickly feel apart. I won't be so ambitious in the future as we sometimes just don't want something or we decide on something else based on what we had on hand or our plans that day.

Saturday Peanut Butter Chicken with cauliflower rice, broccolini, onion pancakes (the last)
I used chicken stock instead of water in the chicken and added the broccolini and some onions into the stir fry. Cauliflower rice was the packets from Costco, first time using. Next time I wouldn't bother cooking on the side, the rice is already cooked so just add it to the sauce. This rice is not as good as a fresh container, but it is more economical and less waste for us. John rates the chicken 9/10.

Crispy pork with saucy spicy noodles use pork belly I didn't fry the pork belly in oil, I put it in the oven instead. For the noodles I used Le Veneziane GF fettucine nests I found at Farm Boy as they reminded me of egg noodles. These noodles were disgusting, they all stuck together. The sauce was okay nothing to write home about. John's score pork belly 8/10 sauce okay noodles 0/10.

Thai coconut curry shrimp soup hamburgers instead.

Grilled lemon curry haddock slow cooker pot roast with vegetables served us Tuesday and Wednesday,

St. Patrick's Day corned beef, boiled potatoes and buttered cabbage and for dessert  lime mousse.

Friday - I baked this super healthy ginger banana bread, I used almonds instead of macadamias.

I also made mushroom ketchup and chimichurri.

Steak and sauteed broccolini and bok choy with garlic bread. 

John finally enjoyed chimichurri. He had turned his nose up at the mushroom ketchup but then really enjoyed it. We spread it on the garlic bread and it was a great pâté. We both agreed it could use a little more spicing. The recipe contains mace which I don't have (I just looked it up and it is the sister to nutmeg), I did use nutmeg so perhaps a bit more. I also see that there are substitutes for mace such as allspice.

WATCHING

I continue to watch Great British Menu.

The Gateway is an American crime thriller film.
A troubled but dedicated social worker assisting a working and struggling single mother and her daughter intervenes when the father returns from prison and drags his family back to his habitual world of crime.

Kajillionaire is a 2020 American crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Miranda July. The film stars Evan Rachel Wood, Debra Winger and Richard Jenkins as members of a petty crime family whose relationship becomes frayed when a stranger played by Gina Rodriguez joins their schemes.

READING

Browsed through Bunner's Bake Shop Cookbook. Bunner's is a local gluten free vegan bakery. It gave me some ideas for using up the GF pastry that I bought.

Here is their donut recipe which looks good.

It uses apple sauce for egg replacements which is something I have been doing for a while.

I finally had a book that I couldn't put down Little White Lies. You definitely get into the characters, especially the girls. The sisters sound like most sisters, one overbearing and bossy. Like all families it gets a bit messy. Although I guessed quite early what the mother's secret was and I had an inkling of what might come, it was nothing like I imagined, I was WOW!