Morning Moon

I took this photo of the moon the other morning. It's not the best shot, but until I get a better cell phone camera....

I made some baked kale chips recently and wanted to use the kale stems. This is how I did them, and they were delicious:

Kale Stems Recipe

kale stems finely chopped
1 onion chopped
3 tbs oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 c stock
1/2 c water blended with 1/2 tsp cornstarch

Saute stems and onions until onions are tender. Add stock and water blended with cornstarch. Cover and simmer 15 mins.

Creative Tuesdays - Forest

Here is my contribution to Creative Tuesdays'  'Forest' theme.   It's acrylic (6" x 6") on cardstock.

Linking to Creative Tuesdays.

My beef outside round roast

I was at the supermarket and I will frequently check out the meat that is going for 30% off. I saw a few pieces of outside round roast which had a 'best before date' of the day I was shopping. I thought, what a waste, and almost felt obligated to get one because I knew they would throw them out that day. The piece I got weighed about 4 1/2 pounds. You could freeze the meat if you are not cooking it that same day. However, I decided to marinate it and roast it that same evening. The meat was tender and would provide many leftover sandwiches for days after. Here's how I roasted this less tender cut:

Beef Outside Round Roast

4 1/2 lbs of beef outside round
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp herbed garlic salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
t tsp dried thyme (or herbs of your choice)
2 tbs dark soy sauce
6 tbs ketchup
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
2 cups of low sodium broth

(my measurements are approximate so feel free to marinate to your preference!)

Preheat oven to 325F

Put the marinated meat in a baking tray lined with first with foil and then with parchment paper on top. Pour the broth into the tray, you might even do this before adding the meat. Then lay a sheet of foil loosely over top with the shiny side down. Bake for 1.5 hours for a medium roast. It will be moist and tender and ready for slicing. I made a gravy with the drippings after slicing and with the leftover stock in the pan.

Sunday Sketches - The Pig

One of my sisters was recently in San Diego at a fair and sent me a photo of her with a 600 lb pig named Peaches. I decided to sketch him with watercolour pencils on cardstock (4 1/2"h x 6 1/2"w).

She saw the pig races and said  'it was hysterical.  The names of the little pigs were soooo funny.

...The worst behaved pig's name is Lindsay LoHAM.  A couple of the others' names were Brad Pig,  Barack of ribs Obama, and Christina HOGulera.'

Linking to Sunday Sketches.

Careful what you ask for....

A middle-aged couple had finally learned how to send and receive texts on their cell phones. The wife, being a romantic at heart, decided one day that she'd send her husband a text while she was out of the house having coffee with a friend. She texted:

If you are sleeping, send me your dreams.
If you are laughing, send me your smile.
If you are eating, send me a bite.
If you are drinking, send me a sip.
If you are crying, send me your tears.
I love you.

The husband, being a no-nonsense sort of guy, texted back:

I'm on the toilet. Please advise.

Paint Party Friday - The Spill

I spilled some coffee the other day and thought it would be interesting to paint it. It's acrylic and pencil on cardstock (6 1/2"h x 4 1/2"w).

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

Frozen Grapes

I received these gorgeous art cards from Sharon in the mail yesterday.  Thanks Sharon, they are beautiful, and all the way from New Zealand!

Here is our latest summer snack, small, frozen, seedless grapes. I had the idea from a cashier at the grocery store. She told me they are so good to take to a picnic. Son K loves them.  Have you tried these before?

Here's a great article I read in the newspaper recently. It highlights the law firm 'McCarthy Tétrault' as being a leader in work and family balance.  It tops up maternity pay for lawyers and a portion is available to fathers taking parental leave.  Support staff also have similar benefits.  It offers lawyers flexibility at different times in their career and there is a focus on moving women into leadership roles.  It would be great if more companies would understand the business benefits of work and family balance.

And did you hear McDonald's introduced the McLobster roll to Ontario, Canada yesterday?  It retails for about $7 and $9 for the combo although it's unclear which locations are carrying it. Here is some information I found. Here's some more.

Clear Blue Skies

The weather this past weekend was wonderful, 25C (77F), balmy with clear blue skies, I mean not a cloud in sight!  The heat wave had cleared.  I had gone to church then met my friend S for a walk.    I thought, these are truly the best days of summer.

Here are some wild raspberries that grow every year by the roadside.

Wild Raspberries

The Dessert Party

Taboule

I had a small dessert/tea party this past weekend for four girl(women) friends. Each person was asked to bring a small dessert or savoury item. One lady brought a tub of Lebanese Taboule salad which was delicious with some water crackers. I learned that it is quite easy to prepare couscous or bulgur, which is a grain. You simply add a cup of boiling water to a cup of the couscous, mix it in and let it cool. I found a recipe online and altered it as follows:

Taboule

2 bunches parsley finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
4 large tomatoes finely chopped
3 lemons, juiced
5 tbs canola oil
1 c couscous (or bulgur or cracked wheat)
1 c boiled water
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions

Bring water to boil, remove from heat, mix couscous in, and cool.
Mix in the remaining ingredients

8 to 10 servings, great with water crackers.


It was a fun party, I learned that 3 of us were quiet and 2 were the life of the party being quite chatty and more entertaining.  It takes all types to make a world (and a successful party)!  Would you tend be more chatty or quiet?

One friend can't be more than 52 and has discovered she has osteoarthritis which involves pain in her hip and knee.  Another friend is 63 going on 53.  Another lady's husband retired this past February at 60 and is adjusting well, he has volunteered for a big upcoming golf tournament.

My daughter L made these cake pops for my party.  She says it was a very time consuming process that she did not enjoy.  They were however, very delicious!

Cake Pops

Easy Crisp Trout

My son K was downtown with his friends this past Friday evening and took this nice photo at Dundas Square. They caught  a Led Zeppelin tribute in the Square.  They had a great time finding their way around on the subway.  They did get caught in a scary thunderstorm but it didn't last long.

Here's a cute video I got in my email called 'waking up is hard to do' done by some singing anaesthesiologists.


I was watching TV at the gym the other day.  For some reason I no longer get the FoodTV channel at home so I'm happy to catch it at the gym when I remember.  I saw this quick and easy Crisp Trout Starter recipe from Chuck's Day Off and decided to try it.  You cut the trout fillets into 4 inch sections, marinate in some olive oil and a dry rub (of your choice I would say).  Then you sear the fillets one minute on the skin side in a pan, flipping for another 30 seconds.  There is even a 3 minute video of the process you can watch on the FoodTV website.

Sunday Sketches- Fireworks

This piece is called 'Fireworks'.  Acrylic on card stock (4 1/2"h x 6 1/2"w).

Linking to Sunday Sketches.

Eerily Beautiful

Here is a photo of the night sky at about 9pm last night. There was a thunderstorm a few hours earlier then it cleared up. It was eerily beautiful. 

The movie 'Despicable Me 2' is very popular.  I realized that the other day when I was in a McDonald's restaurant and a mom was up at the counter asking if they had any of their 'Minion' toys.  It seems they were all sold out and were waiting for another delivery.

These new chocolate creme lifestyle cookies from Peek Freans are quite good. They were on sale at the grocery store and were maybe 150 calories for 2 cookies.  I think the food companies are improving the taste on their healthy selection items.

Paint Party Friday - The Hole in the Fence

I spotted an intriguing hole in a fence as I was walking one day.   I couldn't resist peeking through it.  Don't worry, it was an office building as opposed to a private home.

This piece is done in acrylic on cardstock ( 6 1/2"h x 4 1/2"w).

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

Here is my inspiration photo (there really was a tree behind there!):

Summer of Color - Sage and Sepia

We're at the final Summer of Color challenge 'Sage and Sepia'. Thanks to Kristin for hosting this fun theme with fabulous prizes.

So these colours really made me think, I mean, I wasn't even sure what these colours meant. I had an idea about 'sage' but I'd never heard of 'sepia'. Anyway, I looked at the examples, read some definitions and puzzled about what I could do. Shortly afterwards I'm walking in the mall and I see 'sage and sepia' in living colour, I could hardly believe my eyes!  I've attached my photo inspiration following my acrylic (6" x 6").

linking to Summer of Color.

Edo Japanese

We went for a nice dinner and a movie (Now You See Me) the other day with some good friends.  We decided to take advantage of the city's Summerlicious 2013 restaurant prix fixe menus.  We chose Edo Japanese restaurant in mid-town Toronto.  Here are some photos.  I wish I had chosen the beef striploin instead, but everything was very good.  It was just a lot of tempura for the main course, I thought the shrimp would have been sauteed and that only the vegetables were done tempura-style.

The movie was enjoyable, fast-paced and exciting with a surprising ending.

Tuna, Scallop Appetizer

Sushi Appetizer

Shrimp Tempura Main Course

Cold Black Sesame Soup with Ice Cream

Creative Tuesdays - Ship

The current theme is 'Ship' and here's my interpretation based on a photo I saw on Google.  I hope I haven't violated any copyright.  When I investigated the photo further, it seems there is a story tied to this ship called the 'ARA Libertad'.  It seems this Argentinian navy training ship was detained in Ghana by creditors 'seeking to collect on defaulted Argentine bonds'.  That would be 4.5 billion in defaulted bonds.  At the time of this story (Oct 19, 2012) there were 320 crew on board the ship, high adventure!

Anyway, back to my painting. It's done in acrylic on acid free 1 pound quality card stock  (6" x 6").

I was very pleased with this batch of card stock I recently purchased and chose a darker blue coloured one for this piece.  You can see that blue representing the 'sea' in the painting.

Linking to Creative Tuesdays.

Banana split smoothie

It's been a busy weekend with my brother and his family visiting from the U.S.   They are on a road trip across the U.S. and stopped off in Toronto for several days.  It's been great to see them, a wonderful reunion in fact. 

I found a recipe for a banana split smoothie here.
You just need chocolate milk, strawberries, a banana, strawberry yogurt or ice cream and of course, a blender!

Here are some pretty summer flowers I spotted at the mall:

Sunday Sketches, Summer of Color - Candy Apple Red and Yellow

This is an art greeting card (5 1/2"h x 4 1/4"w) done in acrylic and pencil.  The colour theme at Summer of Color is 'candy apple red and yellow'.  I like the bold colour combinations in fashion for this summer season.

This photo from a sales flyer was my inspiration:

Linking to Sunday Sketches and Summer of Color.

Maddening

I keep getting these calls regarding 'air duct cleaning'.  I have been hanging up on the caller the minute they start telling me what they are calling about.  The last one was a blocked call and I got so mad I said 'If you don't stop calling me I am going to report you to the police'.  Well, husband M and daughter L were home at the time and had a good laugh because it is not like me to say something like that!  I'm tempted not to answer the phone, but I do in case it might be something important (schools, doctors) even though I have call display.  Recently I was very abrupt with the Police Association calling about their charity.  They announce themselves as the Police and you don't want to be rude to the Police, but they are using their name for the purpose of soliciting in this instance.  How do you handle unwanted phone calls?

I got this joke from Ploughing Through Life:

Paint Party Friday - Planet Earth

I am really pleased with the way this one turned out. I was inspired by a brief image of planet Earth that I saw in the recent 'Man of Steel' Superman movie. This piece is done in acrylic on one pound cardstock (6" x 6").

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

RFID products

I was in the CAA (Canadian Automobile Association) store the other day and noticed these new travel products while I was in line. I actually went to buy some movie tickets as they offer the best discount. The RFID blocking Shields or wallets marketed as RFID-blocking devices can make it more difficult for someone with an electronic reader to read your cards.  Do  you use these products?  I don't.


RFID blocking wallets:

Airline Carry-on Compliant Shampoo and Bodywash:

Atrial Fibrillation and Some Colourful Lives

I got this joke from Ploughing Through Life:

Here is this informative video on Atrial Fibrillation from the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Find out if you are at risk. This condition can triple your risk of stroke.

And if you enjoy reading biographies of interesting people, I read about John McAfee in the newspaper recently, what a colourful life he has had.
He is the antivirus pioneer. 'NASA programmer, drug dealer, technology guru, so-called “eccentric millionaire” living a bizarre existence in Belize surrounded by dogs, armed guards and young women'.

And Chuck Hughes of Food Network's 'Chuck's Day Off'  is promoting his new book and has also lived a lot in his 36 years.  Here is the article I read in the newspaper. 'Chuck Hughes talks food and kicking booze and drugs'.

Dragonfly

There was major flooding in Toronto yesterday evening.  The subways were shut down and even the airport was affected.  There were power outages all over the city.  Fortunately we were fine, but  the next block over had a four hour power outage.  Everything happened so suddenly, a deluge of rain between 4 and 5 pm in some areas.

To continue with my regular post,  we spent the Canada Day long weekend with L's boyfriend's family at their cottage up north. They had a lot of dragonflies hatching at this time of year. Here are a few photos of one of them emerging as an adult, leaving its larval skin behind. It's fascinating, I didn't know they did that. They are predators that eat mosquitoes, which is a good thing.  They take a couple of hours to moult.  Here's a video describing the dragonfly life cycle if you are curious.

Melon Salsa and Conch meat

Here's a nice looking recipe for 'Fresh Melon Salsa' from whole foods. 
It only needs 5 ingredients. I'm thinking you could use apples, pears, whatever fruit you have on hand for this kind of salsa. In fact I've seen an apple and pear salsa at Whole Foods before.

I took  this photo of some conch meat I saw in a Chinese grocery store the other day.  I didn't try any but it seems we can get just about anything here these days.  Have you ever had conch meat?  I might have tasted deep fried conch on a Caribbean vacation, needless to say I can't remember how it tasted. 

Conch Meat

Sunday Sketches, Summer of Color - Charcoal Grey and Pale Pink

I was inspired by this fashion photo I saw in a magazine.  At first impression, the colours didn't seem to work, but then they did for some reason.  It is an intriguing combination.

Art Inspiration

Here is my version.  It's a store mannequin in charcoal grey and pale pink, a  greeting card in acrylic (5 1/2"h x 4 1/4"w).

Linking to Sunday Sketches and Summer of Color.

The ABCs of Me - Meme

I'm doing a meme passed on by Farida. It contains interesting facts and is a fun way to get to know each other. I don't do a lot of these, but this one looked simple and fun. Feel free to share or do one yourself! I won't name anyone in particular.

A. Attached or single: Attached
B. Best friend: a bunch, I've never been a 'best friend' kind of person, more of a loner
C. Cake or pie: chocolate cake
D. Day of choice: Saturday
E. Essential Item/s: toothbrush, purse
F. Favorite color: blue
G. Gummy bears or worms: worms
H: Hometown: Toronto,Canada
I. Favorite Indulgence: chocolate truffles
J. January or July:July
K. Kids: 2
L. Life isn't complete without?:Free Time
M. Marriage date: October
N. Number of brothers/sisters: 1 brother/3 sisters
O. Orange or apple?:orange
P: Phobias: crowds
Q. Quotes: comparison is the thief of joy, I love quotes
R. Reason to smile: cute babies
S. Season of choice: Spring
T. Tag 5 people: anyone who wants to do this
U. Unknown fact about me: I had at least 50 penpals in my early teens, it was so fun exchanging mail
V. Vegetable: love them all
W. Worst habit: worry
X. Xray or ultrasound: xray
Y. Your favorite food: prime rib au jus
Z. Zodiac sign: Cancer

Paint Party Friday - Comfy Couch

I love looking at the soft cushions on this couch, so I'm calling this piece 'Comfy Couch'.  I was inspired by a photo I saw in the decor section of the newspaper.  It's an acrylic art greeting card (4 1.4"h x 5 1/2"w).

Linking to Paint Party Friday.

Perfumed White Lilac Tree

Happy July 4th to our American neighbours!

This is a  flowering white lilac tree. These trees are actually quite common around here and the flowers are now starting to turn brown and wither.  When I took this photo a few weeks ago, you could smell their perfume in cool breeze and I thought how much I loved summer.  Until yesterday which might have been the hottest afternoon of the year.  And tell me, how many bug bites have you gotten so far?  Just kidding, it sure beats the cold winter.

White Lilac Tree

Graduated!

K has graduated high school and passed all his exams, so now it's on to College! Yay!! Well, for now.  My regular readers will know that June was a stressful month for us.

He is leaving us big hints.  Hmm....

He says I represent the 'me' photo, and he is the 'rich friend'...that's K for you!

Thoughtful Treasures

I received a lovely package from Valerie at Bastelmania recently, what a wonderful surprise. I loved all of her thoughtful treasures, thanks so much Valerie!

Summer Flowers

It's a public holiday today, Canada Day!  Welcome to the month of July.

I was reading a magazine yesterday that said some plastic wrap is made of PVC and should be avoided where possible.  There is a safer kind made out of polyethelene.  I found more details here.

Here are some summer flowers to brighten your day!