Wednesday Memes

 

I got the one above from Grannie Annie.

Amaryllis update

 This is a photo I took yesterday to show how much my white amaryllis has grown.  It was a  plant I received winter 2023 that seems about to reflower.  I will try to catch it in bloom, hopefully before the plant falls over which it seems to do shortly after blooming.

Another happy thing is that I reported our damaged recycling bin at our community mailbox and they replaced it within a few days!  

A Sign of the Times

 I was at the mall last week, I don't go there often anymore, since Covid.  We were in the Adidas store where they were having a sale.  I asked the salesperson if it has been busy.  He said it has been slow.  I mentioned that the Old Navy store there was closing down.  He mentioned that they do well in online sales and evaluated whether they need so many physical stores.  This led to this location closing.  He said 3 more stores are also closing,  'The Children's Place', 'Little Burgundy' and he couldn't remember the other name.

This is a sign of the times.   Speaking of which husband M always goes to the Walmart self checkout these days.  I tend to seek out the cashier, it seems easier.  Although lately, I self checkout at the drug store unless it is senior discount day and I am buying a regular priced item.

A good Pinot Noir

 

We received a bottle of Meiomi Pinot Noir for Christmas and I really liked it.  I am not a wine drinker so it was good to find one that I would drink again.  It is a flavourful blend of grapes.

Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Freezer-safe Mason Jars

 Here is a helpful article on freezing Mason Jars.  I did not know there were freezer safe types of mason jars.

It is not something I do myself but good to know.

Friday Art - Southern Tamandua

 Welcome to Friday Art!  This is a southern tamandua which I saw on my laptop screensaver the other day.  It is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in watercolour pencil.  It hails from South America and is a species of anteater.

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Clocks and Jerk Chicken Fried Rice

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date! The art theme is 'Clocks'.  Here is my retro vintage take on it.  I added some shadow and light in watercolour pencil to give the clocks a more 3 dimensional look.  The rest of the piece is in acrylic.

 For the Dinner Date, I am showing my jerk chicken fried rice.  It has more chicken than rice, so less carbohydrates.  I am inspired by using up leftovers.  I had some baked jerk chicken legs which I deboned and tore into inelegant smaller pieces.  Then it was just a matter of mixing them into the fried rice.

Wednesday Memes

 

A wonderful surprise

 Well I was delighted and beyond surprised to see my white amaryllis plant reblooming!  I had cut it back and put it in a bag to go dormant for a few months maybe last November.  Then I put a couple of fertilizer sticks  and kept watering it.  In no time leaves appeared and not long after I saw the flower appear!

Baked Eggplants and on high cholesterol

I made some tasty baked eggplants.

1 tomato chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

1 onion chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp sugar 

2 tbs vinegar

3-4 tbs olive oil

1 tsp dried basil

4-5 Japanese eggplants chopped 

On at baking sheet lined with parchment paper, mix together all ingredients

Bake 425F 25 mins

Husband M's friend managed to get his cholesterol levels back to normal by having steaks every couple of weeks instead of 3 times a week.  It is inspiring me (and by extension my family) to eat more chicken and fish instead of red meat.  

Interestingly husband M noticed when he has tofu his readings are very good the next day.  This will be a regular item on the menu for both of us.  Son K doesn't like tofu unfortunately.

Blueberry Oatmeal cookies

 2 c oats

2 bananas

1/2 c peanut butter

1/4c blueberries

Mix oats, bananas, peanut butter.  Add blueberries.  Shape into cookies and bake 

350F for 11-13 minutes.

(daughter L tried this in her air fryer for 10 mins at 350F so I will do that next time)

 you can add a glaze for extra sweetness, but I loved them as is.

Go here for the recipe.

Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Neighbourhood Excitement

 We had a few emergencies to start the New Year on our street.  There was a break in 3 houses down across the street.  We had a cop come to our door asking if we had any video footage, unfortunately we did not capture anything.  It seems the family had gone out to dinner when the person broke in.  There were reports of the person seen running down the street.  It is alarming.

Then the next week we saw an ambulance next door at the house where the 3 young children live.  I was able to speak to the mom when I saw her outside one day.  It seems the 9 year old daughter had a very high temperature and started turning blue.  So they called emergency and they went to the hospital.  They say it was a virus but she is ok now.  Another scary event.

It seems earlier this week there was another break in on our street apparently the owner was away on a business trip to the US.

Fingers crossed that things calm down around here.

Friday Art - Oystercatcher

Welcome to Friday Art!  Showing an Oystercatcher ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").  Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday.
 

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Matches and Pasta with proscuitto and peas

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date! The theme is Matches and here is my matchstick yard!

 For the Dinner Date, I made pasta with proscuitto and peas.

half an onion thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic minced

3 tbs olive oil

1 tbs unsalted butter

1 pkg proscuitto cut slices into matchstick sized strips

1 lb pasta

juice of half lemon

2 c cooked peas

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tomato chopped

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook the pasta in salted water

In olive oil and butter, saute proscuitto until browned.  Add onions until softened then add garlic, parsley.  Add tomatoes for a few minutes then mix in a cup of pasta water.  Mix in spaghetti, parmesan, lemon juice, more olive oil.  Add more pasta water if you like.  Grate some pepper to taste.

Wednesday Memes

 

Mozarella

Antifreeze Proteins

 Did you know?

Healthy blueberry muffins

 I made these healthy blueberry muffins using this recipe.  I liked that it uses Greek yogurt and honey.  I decided to use spelt flour as well. We really enjoyed them and will make them again.

Teacup has been mended!

 Daughter L came over and glued my broken teacup with krazy glue!  We tested it, it seems very strong.  However, I have just stored it in my display cabinet.

Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Place Settings

 

Are you good at doing place settings?  We dine very casually most of the time but it is good to know the proper place settings.  Being left handed I always switch my knife and fork around anyway.

Friday Art - Owl

 Welcome to my Friday Art.  This is an Owl ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off.  I think Gillena is on a break this week.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Coffee Shop and Dried beancurd soup

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date! This is my 'Coffee Shop' art for the theme.

dried bean curd sticks

dried shitake mushrooms

dried bean curd soup

For the Dinner Date, my sister gave me this recipe for dried beancurd and dried shitake mushroom soup.  She said it is a popular Cantonese comfort food.  I visited the Asian grocery store and purchased some dried bean curd sticks and dried shitake mushrooms for the recipe.  I was curious to try dried bean curd.  The soup is delicious and low carb.

1/2 boned chicken breast.  (I used a chicken leg quarter)

1 pack dried bean curd sticks

5 dried shitake mushrooms

1 carrot (optional) peeled and cut into chunks

1 chayote squash (optional) peeled and sliced

2" fresh ginger sliced

1 bouillon cube

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

8 c water

shitake mushroom water:

1 c water

1 tbs light soy

1 tsp sesame oil

Soak bean curd sticks (snapped into 3" pieces), rehydrate for 1 hour in a bowl of cold water

Wash 5 mushrooms and soak in 1 cup of water with 1 tbs soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil for 1 hour.  Remove stems from mushrooms and slice into 3/4" slices.  Pour the water off without the grits.

Add chicken, ginger slices, bouillon cube, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, carrots, chayote squash, 8 c water, 1 c gritless shitake mushroom water.  Bring to a boil and simmer 1 hour.  Add bean curd for another 10 mins.  The chicken meat should just break apart in the soup, or you can do it.

 

Wednesday Memes

 

Beautiful Designs

It is time to pack the Christmas decorations away, these are some of the cards I received this year.

 I got this card a bit late, but I love it.  It is a beautiful design, the ornaments even glitter in the light.

I think our friend's daughter designed and made this handmade card, I loved it.

And Rain sent me this lovely card with her art on it!