Activated Charcoal Bread

Daughter L and I noticed this activated charcoal bread at a mall bakery recently. It was an interesting find that we declined to taste. This article is not impressed with eating activated charcoal.

Busy People

Some of you might like doing this puzzle!

Do you notice many people walking around seemingly talking to themselves? Then after a closer look you realize they have earphones in their ears and assume they must be on their phones. They must be busy people.

Slang Dictionary

This one's for the cat lovers!

Are you familiar with the urban dictionary of slang terms.  It is quite useful as I find myself going there increasingly these days.  Yes, a new language is evolving as we speak.  I read an article about Justin Bieber making a 'thirsty' comment about his wife.  Wouldn't you know it means 'seeking attention and compliments' as opposed to needing a drink of, say water.

It wasn't that long ago when I was introduced to wikipedia and look at how it has grown.

Easy Roasted Tomatoes

Roasted Tomatoes

I was at the gym watching the Food Network channel as I worked on the elliptical machine. The Barefoot Contessa was on and just happened to be roasting some tomatoes. It inspired me to try roasting my own as pictured above. It is an easy and delicious addition to a meal.

On a tray lined with parchment paper, I cut some large tomatoes in half and placed them face down onto the tray.  I added some olive oil, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, balsamic vinegar and a pinch of sugar. They roasted at 350F for 15 to 20 minutes.

Paint Party Friday - Birthday Cake

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This is a birthday cake done in my sketchbook (9" x 12") in permanent markers, sharpie oils and outlined with a PITT fine point marker. It is based on an actual cake that daughter L designed for her brother. K thought I should paint it.  It was a smaller cake surrounded by cupcakes, with a luxury car theme.

My children have April birthdays, I planned it that way so that I could have maternity leaves off work during the summer and was lucky it worked out that way.

Coffee Time

bear claw and multigrain bagel

Husband M and I hadn't been to Panera Bread in awhile and now that the weather is improving we decided to stop by and have coffee with a multi grain bagel and a bear claw. We split the bagel and bear claw.  The bear claw has a delicious almond paste filling inside it.

Why Not?

I went browsing around, doing some spring shopping and picked up some artificial flowers and new coasters, why not?  They had these cute little packets of soap leaves for your purse.  Apparently, you use a leaf at a time to wash your hands when you are out.  I decided to pass on that one, less clutter you know.

Designer Swimsuit - Not

I bought this swimsuit for son K, as a part of his birthday present. At a glance it seemed like a designer swimsuit, but it wasn't. Look at the label! Luckily he wouldn't really care, it fit well which is what is important. I must admit to thinking I had bought a Ralph Lauren swimsuit at a bargain price, it is a bit deceptive don't you think?

Easter Monday 2019

Martha posted this meme on her blog the other day, I thought it was funny!

Hope you are having a Happy Easter weekend.  Good Friday was a holiday here, and I believe most businesses are back to normal today.  Schools are closed, as are the government offices and there is no mail delivery today.

I had my second followup appointment for my dental implant last week, a nice young nurse removed my stitches and the doctor said I should come back in a month for another checkup.

This is the time of year when we change the snow tires on our cars back to regular tires and our car licence plates need to be renewed for another year.  The income tax deadline approaches.

Happy Easter 2019

Have a wonderful Easter, we will be eating too much as usual!  

Cauliflower Fried Rice

cauliflower rice fried rice

This dish was an instant hit and low carb too!

Ingredients

2 tbs dark soy sauce
1 tbs oyster sauce
3 green onions chopped
1 head of cauliflower cut into florets and riced
2 eggs
4-5 tbs canola oil
2 c chopped celery
1 c chopped red pepper
2 c leftover meat chopped (such as chicken or pork)

Whisk and season 2 eggs with pepper and a pinch of salt. Heat 1 tbs canola oil in a saute pan. Add the eggs and cook them, set aside.
Mix soy sauce and oyster sauce into the cauliflower rice. Heat 3-4 tbs canola oil. Saute cauliflower, celery and peppers until  tender, maybe 5 minutes. Add chopped meat, eggs and green onions. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything together for a few more minutes and enjoy!

Paint Party Friday - Donut Tree

Happy Paint Party Friday! This is a donut tree with three sauces, caramel, strawberry and chocolate. One of my sisters recently had this dessert in a restaurant. I thought it looked very creative. My piece is an ACEO on canvas (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in Winsor Newton acrylics, outlined with a PITT marker.

Gratitude

crocus

I took this photo more than a week ago, it is time to give the yard a good raking (husband M's job) but the crocuses looked pretty peeking out. It was around the same time that I went back to my aerobics class at the gym. My wrist was about 99% better so I was able to do most of the routines. It was a good feeling getting back to the class, sometimes it is like a sufferance getting through it but this time I felt nothing but gratitude to be able to attend a step class.  Take nothing for granted, least of all good health.

Low Carb Dinner

salmon with lemon pepper

salmon with zucchini

We have started making a lot of salmon lately. It is so easy to bake some salmon fillets. I sprinkle some lemon pepper seasoning on top of the fillets and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes. That's it! I had some with roasted zucchini, tomatoes and peppers the other night. It is a healthy, filling low carb dinner.

Peanut Butter and Pets

If you have dogs you may want to ensure you don't give them peanut butter with xylitol, it can be deadly to them.

Food Question

This is an interesting question. Papaya would be my answer, how about you?

On Raising Bees

Bees at the bee store

My brother-in-law in California enjoys raising bees for honey as a hobby. He was trying to capture a spring swarm of bees to propagate a hive but it failed for some reason. They ended up at the bee store to purchase a queen and some worker bees. Apparently the slightly larger queen bee is in the boxes and those are the worker bees swarming around. They took home a box with the queen and a bunch of worker bees.

Raising bees is quite a study, an educational process as I discovered when I googled 'raising bees'. Worker bees, drone bees and the queen bee form quite the community, everyone has a specific role. There can only be one queen in the hive. Drone bees have one role and that is to impregnate the queen, after which they die. The queen's job is to lay eggs. The workers of course do all the work in the hive. There comes a time as the hive grows, when a new queen will supersede the old queen who will have to leave the hive along with some of the worker bees, in a swarm to find a new home.

Dental Implant Surgery

Pretty flowers on a box of tissues

I had my dental implant surgery on the 4th.  It went well, lasting about an hour.  The dental surgeon did an excellent job to this point.  He allayed my fears just before the surgery, telling me the most pain would be getting the needle for the anaesthetic.  He also said there would be some hammering towards the end, which there was.  That was a strange experience.  My jaw was swollen but I didn't need any painkillers for the next few days.  I was able to eat soft foods the first day and started to feel more normal by the next day.  I have had a follow-up checkup since with another next week.  Hopefully all the stitches can come out then.   There are a couple more steps but I should be done the process by the end of the year all things going well.

Paint Party Friday - Blue Eyed Foal

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This is a blue eyed foal inspired by a photo that my sister-in-law took on her horse farm. It didn't occur to me that there were blue eyed foals, what a darling. It is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on canvas in Winsor Newton acrylics.

Easy cheese scones

The English Kitchen shared a recipe for a three ingredient cheese scone. It was really easy it just required self raising flour, plain yogurt and grated cheese. She even has instructions on how to make your own self raising flour with baking powder and salt.

Vegetarian Hot Dog

I tried the new Ikea vegetarian hot dog. It is delicious and a steal at .75c.
'The vegetarian sausage – made with kale, red lentils, carrots, ginger, quinoa, onion, potatoes and spices – is served on a bun with mustard, red cabbage and roasted onion.' I have yet to try their chick pea based meatball, maybe that will be next.

Cannibal Sandwiches

funny

I just thought the meme above was funny, it doesn't represent me.

Recently I found this article on cannibal sandwiches from Wisconsin. It is raw beef sandwiches made from lean freshly ground meat and eaten with onions. It reminded me of steak tartare, a raw beef dish eaten in Europe. Indeed there are restaurants in Toronto that serve steak tartare. I may have had it once out of curiosity but at this point it doesn't seem too appetizing. Although I do eat raw sushi fish.

Spring shoots

I was excited to see the spring shoots one day, even a lone crocus in bloom!  It wasn't long before we had a surprise snowfall one morning and the crocus turned to the last shot above.  This is spring in Canada.  Fortunately the snow melted off within hours.

It has become a lot nicer now with most of the snow gone.

Sharing Carrot Muffins

carrot muffins

Natalia posted a carrot muffin recipe that I decided to try. I liked the idea of using cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg for spices. I had some gluten free flour that I wanted to use up and I really enjoyed these muffins. They are not very sweet tasting but I am fine with that. I did have to add 2 cups of water to the recipe which made 12 muffins.

I shared some of these muffins with my friend S.  We were at the drug store and she gave one to the cashier that we always talk to.  She was happy to accept it!

Salmon Burgers

If you have a large can of salmon, you can make these salmon burgers in minutes:

1 15oz can of salmon
1/4 c breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 egg whipped
1 onion finely chopped (or 1/2 tsp onion powder)
1/4 c milk
3-4 tbs canola oil

Mix all ingredients together, except for the oil.  Form into 6 medium sized patties. Heat the oil in a pan, saute the burgers 4 minutes per side until browned.

Paint Party Friday - Sheaf of Flowers

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This is a sheaf of spring flowers, an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") done with Sharpie oil paint markers, permanent markers, and outlined with a PITT marker.

Wow we are in April already.

New Medication

anthuriums at the grocery store

I went to the doctor yesterday to check on my blood pressure, it has been higher this winter compared to my readings last year. He added a new medicine Norvasc to my existing Olmesartan. I do use the generic names for these medicines. I will monitor this combination for the next month. According to this blog it looks like I only started the Olmesartan last July. Hmm, maybe it stopped working?

Meanwhile I seem to have gained 5 pounds this winter, have to get back to the gym and watch the diet more closely.

Banana Flower

Banana Flower

Recently I learned about the banana flower.  The banana flower or blossom hangs at the end of banana clusters on the tree.  It can be eaten raw or cooked in salads, curries and soups (used a lot in Asia).  This link contains more information.  Here is a really good video which explains things really well.

My banana flower painting above is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on canvas in permanent marker, outlined with a PITT fine point marker.

Motivated by Love

This was the scene that greeted us on Sunday morning.  The snow did not last long however and we look forward to much milder temperatures this week.  I bravely walked to church, still fearful of slipping since I fell on ice a month ago and hurt my wrist.  It is maybe 98% better.  I then did a bit of snow shoveling to help conquer my new fear.

The priest's sermon was based on the story of The Prodigal Son.  It seems I covered this topic 6 years ago in this post.  It is the story of a rich man with 2 sons.  The older son is a model child who works hard for his father.  The younger son asked for his inhertance early and squandered it away only to return home destitute.  The father welcomed him with open arms to the dismay and anger of his older son.  As a younger person growing up I could make no sense of this teaching.  The answer I now learned and understand as a much older person, is that the father was motivated by LOVE.

April Calendar Page

Welcome to April! I am sharing my April calendar page and quote here with you today (happiness blooms from within). Hope you survive April Fool's.