Rain's Thursday Art Date - Halloween!

My 2018 painted pumpkin last year

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date on Halloween! Have a good one, I don't expect a lot of kids tonight, but hopefully a few will come by.

You know my sister who lives in California says some houses get 1000 kids, in the area where the tech magnates live, such as Mark Zuckerberg.  I cannot imagine.

Pear with Cottage Cheese

Daughter L mentioned to me that pear and cottage cheese was a good combination. I went searching on Google for some ideas and decided to add some roasted salted almonds, a pinch of cinnamon and some honey to the pear and cottage cheese mix. It was filling, nutritious and delicious!  It is great for breakfast or just a snack.

Painted Pumpkin

I painted our pumpkin a couple of weeks ago, so we are all ready! Last year I kept it outside but the squirrels got to it and I had to get another one. This year I remembered to keep it inside for a bit longer.

Celeriac Mash

I was very pleased with making this celeriac mash in my blender. It is very similar to making mashed potatoes. You peel the celery root and cut it into cubes. Then you boil it with a tablespoon of salt for 20-30 minutes until it is fork tender. Transfer the celeriac cubes into the blender with 1/4 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of water, a handful of shredded cheese, salt and pepper to taste, a pinch of your favourite herb and a tablespoon of butter. Puree it in the blender.

This is a great low carb dish.  Of course if you don't like the taste of celery you won't like celery root. 

Cranberry Sauce

My friend S suggested I try making my own cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. The packet contains simple instructions and who knew, after all these years of just getting it from a can?

1 c sugar
1 c water
3 cups of cranberries

bring the sugar and water to a boil, add the cranberries and boil until the skins split, about 5 minutes.

Do you make your own cranberry sauce?

Candy

I picked up our Halloween candy for this year! How about you?

Paint Party Friday - Secretary Bird

This is a Secretary Bird I did for Paint Party Friday on cardstock in Sharpie oil paint markers. It is based on some photos I saw, they are big heavy birds from Africa with long eyelashes.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Jack O'Lanterns

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date, here is my Jack O' Lanterns piece for this week's theme! It is a greeting card on brown cardstock. The orange Sharpie oil paint doesn't show up so well on my scanner.

Here is a photo I took:

Steamed Brussels Sprouts

This is my latest attempt at perfecting brussels sprouts. I cut them in halves and steamed for 5 minutes. Then I sauteed them in olive oil, butter, salt, pepper and minced garlic for 2 more minutes. It works!

Fall Trees

These photos were taken a few weeks ago, the maple trees are so pretty. We have turned the heat on now as it has become colder.

It appears at time of writing that Justin Trudeau is headed to win a minority government as our Prime Minister. Congrats to him.

You never know

Canadians vote for a new Prime Minister today.

 I just liked the above meme, not related (intentionally or unintentionally) to voting day.

We were invited to an upcoming 60th birthday celebration. It seems not too long ago we were celebrating 50th birthdays.

Cream Biscuits

Marie posted a recipe for cream biscuits that I had to try. They are scones, but she had me at 'cream'. It was easy to make and delicious!

Halloween Display

I was out on a walk a few weeks ago and spotted this cute Halloween display:

Paint Party Friday - Night Creature

I did a night creature for Paint Party Friday, October is that kind of month after all.

Here is a photo I took as my scanner doesn't show the pink colour.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Creatures in the Night

Here is my piece for Rain's Thursday Art Date. The theme is 'Creatures in the Night'!

I took a photo as well, my scanner changes the pink.

On destiny

This meme on destiny spoke to me, it is so true.  I got this from Baili's blog.

Chocolate Nut Bread

I made this delicious chocolate nut bread using Natalia's recipe, The moistness might come from the greek yogurt used in the recipe. My oven is very hot, so I baked it at 350F for about 40 minutes. I used 3/4 cup of sugar instead of 1 cup that the recipe calls for.  

David's Tea

I had received a free David's tea a few weeks ago so I decided to go back there and buy one.  To my surprise,  it seems I was entitled to another free tea when I had registered my email at that time!  I chose this monster mash with pumpkin butter and almond milk that they are featuring for the season. 

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all the Canadians!

Perfectly steamed eggs

Here are the steaming times for perfectly steamed eggs every time depending on how you like them:

6 minutes warm liquid yolks
8 1/2 mins fudgy yolk
11 firm yolk

remove to a plate after steaming and allow to cool naturally before shelling.

The photo above shows 8 1/2 minutes.

A new documentary

A friend recommended this good documentary which debuted recently on Netflix. It is a 3 part series called 'Inside Bill's Brain'.  It features Bill Gates, who founded Microsoft.  

In the documentary, he has all these great plans eliminate polio, he was almost there, then terrorism erupted in Nigeria and foiled that. Then he tackled safe nuclear energy. They were all ready to roll out these plants in China. Then the Trump /China trade war cancelled the agreement. He and Warren Buffet hit it off, and have become great friends, Buffet is a powerful ally.

At the end of the series we are left with the question: did Bill Gates bite off more than he can chew. It looks like it, he is not God after all.

i enjoyed this series.

And after about a year, I had my new implant tooth installed yesterday, I am good to go!  So far it is very comfortable, I can hardly tell the difference from the rest of my existing teeth, although nothing is as good as your natural teeth.

Paint Party - Friday - Pumpkins Revisited

Showing some former artwork celebrating the pumpkin as Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is upon us. Wishing all Canadians a wonderful Thanksgiving!

And linking to Paint Party Friday.  Thanks to our hosts Eva and Kristin.

Advance voting starts today and runs until Oct 14th for the Canadian Federal Election where we will choose a new Prime Minister.  Election Day will be October 21st.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Horror and Scary

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date, It is 'Horror and Scary' day. My piece is done on brown cardstock (4 12" x 6 1/2") in sharpie oil paint markers and permanent markers.  It is meant to be eyeballs and brains served up in a bloody sauce, it is scary just saying it, eeps.

Where is the Camel?

I you can't find the camel in this photo, message me in the comments and I will visit your blog with the answer. I needed help myself!

Glorious Fall Weather

It was a glorious fall day yesterday, a light cooling breeze, perfect sweater weather. I took these photos for you. Husband M and I celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary today.

The cashier at the local drug store told me she was feeling stressed as all the Christmas deliveries are starting to arrive at the store.  Yes, Christmas and Halloween is not even here yet.

Peach Crisp

I bought some peaches from the grocery store but they seemed to be almost overripe. Daughter L gave me the idea to bake something with it rather than let it go to waste. I found this simple peach crisp recipe online and was very happy with the outcome. (I didn't bother with removing the peach skins as described in the recipe.)  Fortunately I had some whipped cream on hand so it went beautifully with it!

The Waiter

We were in a restaurant we have been frequenting for years.  I asked the waiter how long he has been there as we have been seeing him for as many years.  He said 9 years full time and the last 3 years part time on weekends.  It seems he got a full time job at a casino quite far away.  I asked him where he gets better tips.  He said at the restaurant.  If people lose at the casino, they won't often be in a mood to tip.  Interestingly his goal is to move into the banquet halls at the casino, he said workers there get a lot of perks such as bonuses.

He is a hard worker, the restaurant was very busy that night and they seemed understaffed.  Daughter L said she noticed 3 younger workers who seemed to be slacking off at the other end of the restaurant, go figure.  

Wintermelon

My neighbour gave me another fuzzy squash. I found a video that stir fried it with peppers and garlic and just added a bit of sesame oil and soy sauce. Some recipes refer to this squash as wintermelon or 'chi qua' in this video. The squash peels readily using a potato peeler.

Paint Party Friday - Oak Leaves

For Paint Party Friday, I did a couple of oak leaves to celebrate fall today. I hope the photos show some of the gold colours I used on the leaves.  I used my sharpie oil paint markers and outlined the leaves with an umbra coloured permanent marker.  The piece is done on brown card stock (4 1/2" x 6 1/2").

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Ghosts and Ghouls

It is 'Ghosts and Ghouls'for Rain's Thursday Art Date today! Here is my piece! I made a friendlier ghost, to tell the truth, I find graveyards and realistic looking ghost scenes scary, haha!

Sugar snap peas

Sharing my sugar snap peas recipe with you today, they are so crunchy sweet and delicious I can't wait to make them again. You just sever the top with a paring knife and pull the strings off the sides then stir fry in garlic and a bit of oil for 3 minutes!

October 2019 calendar page

Welcome to October! I am showing my October calendar page based on some harvest art I have done in the past. The quote I chose was:

"Honour the hands that harvest your crops"