Nasty Weather

So I made the Classic Potato Leek Soup recipe I found recently. I was not disappointed, it was delicious and felt healthy. I did add a bit of salt to my bowl, but that is totally optional.

We are having some nasty weather this week, with quite a bit of wet snow. I shovelled yesterday evening and it was no fun, being wet, heavy and slushy. It was a real cardio workout, and a sweaty one.

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The Tuna Burger

This post is appropriate for Ash Wednesday when I think about it. Catholics are supposed to abstain from eating meat today.

L made this tuna burger for supper the other night. She was intending to make a tuna sandwich but was out of mayonnaise. So she found a recipe for tuna burgers on google. She mixed together one egg, 7 soda crackers, salt, pepper and a can of tuna and was very happy with her efforts.



My brother and his family are crazy, they signed up for flying trapeze classes of all things. They seem to be having great fun.

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New Fashion Trend

I was reading the newspaper on Saturday and noticed this fashion article with a picture of Madonna in combat style pants. Then I realized I've been seeing a couple of the instructors at the gym wearing this style, usually with one pant leg folded up to the knee. Have you noticed this fashion trend? I'm not one of those that keeps up with the latest looks.

Last night, I needed L's signature on a document. Of course, she happens to be out of town. So we realized I could simply scan the page and email it to her. She in turn, printed it, signed it and emailed it back to me. This is all about the wonders of technology! You don't even have to fax anymore. I felt sad that she's growing up so fast. Although I was a lot more sad when she first moved away to school last September.

She's so looking forward to turning 19 in April, the legal drinking age here. I'm just happy that we have blackberry smart phones and can send instant messages to each other at any time. And of course, there's Gmail video and Skype. M's worse than me, he almost expects daily contact. Well, we seem to have daily contact anyway, even if it's just a quick message or photo. In fact, here's a photo she sent us last week. She had made her first salmon dish and said it was delicious:




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Flowers for Elton - didn't know Elton John loved flowers so much

Creative Tuesdays - Scarf

When I heard this week's theme was 'scarf', the first thing that came to mind was a houndstooth pattern. So here is my houndstooth scarf. Can you spot an error in my pattern? I guess that's what makes it a true original! It's really a fascinating, classic pattern and it was quite tricky to do. I pencilled it in and then finished it with a finepoint marker. Please stop by the other Creative Tuesday entries to see their interpretation of 'scarf''.





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Sunday Sketches - Tortilla

I was flipping through magazines at the dentist's office last week and came across a McDonald's ad. I decided to draw their tri-colour tortilla chips for this week's Sunday Sketches.

I trudged thru the newly fallen snow to church yesterday evening. I don't think the wind chill was -11C like they said, it wasn't too bad. There were a few changes on the choir for the New Year. They had a boy (about 12 years old) on drums, woke us up! He was cute like a young Justin Bieber. There was another older boy on guitar, playing very quietly. The choir sang a lively folk song at the end 'Malo malo thanks be to God'.

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Soft Puff Mints

My latest food craze are these soft puff mints. They are soft, chewy and addictive. I seem to be having 5 of them at a time (I stop for the day after 5 or 6).

Here is a healthy recipe called Penne Primavera with Fresh Salmon that I got from the 'Your Healthy Weight' website. It's on my list to try.

Penne Primavera with Fresh
Salmon

8 serving(s)

Ingredients

3 2/3 (900 ml) cups whole wheat penne

2 1/2 cups (625 ml) 2% MF milk

2 tbsp (25 ml) flour

1/3 cup (75 ml) basil pesto or more to taste

1 cup (250 ml) medium-spicy salsa

2 large garlic cloves (or to taste), minced

8 oz (250 g ) fresh salmon fillet, cooked and chunked

2 cups (500 ml) cooked chopped broccoli flowerets

2 cups (500 ml) cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup (50 ml) fresh basil, chopped

Preparation

In large pot of boiling water, cook pasta until almost tender. Drain pasta and return to pot. Whisk flour into milk and pour over pasta. Stir in pesto and garlic. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sauce thickens, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in salsa. Gently add broccoli and salmon pieces and reheat about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato halves, sprinkle with fresh basil and serve immediately.

Simplicity Wall Calendar

I found the perfect wall calendar this year called 'Simplicity - Inspiration for a Simple Life', it has a beautiful photo and quote for every month. Even better, I think it's an 18 month calendar. I thought I would share the lovely 'January' photo with you. The quote for the month says 'Honest minds are pleased with honest things', by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher.

I finally bought one of those 'group deals', 10 hot yoga classes for $19. Enough people were interested so we got the deal. It's for M to try, not me, hope it does him some good. A friend had told him yoga is good for various aches and pains.

Ricky Martin's new video has gone viral. I like it, do you? He just 'came out' the other day and is really happy now.

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Food Photos

L and I were trading food photos on the weekend. We opened our last box of Christmas chocolates, they are sooo good, I think I will have one now. L made a spinach, cheese and potato omelette with a 100 calorie bagel for supper one night. It looks equally delicious in a healthy way.

Let the New Year Begin!

I received this free Jetta (Volkswagen) travel mug in the mail a few days ago because we went in for a test drive the other day, how neat is that? We really are in the market for a new car this year. Apparently their new diesel powered Jetta is winning a lot of awards and selling well. It's great value for the price. Of course, I like the more expensive models.

That same day, L received a $10 refund cheque in the mail, a school book rebate we had mailed in awhile back. Then M came home with a BestBuy gift certificate he had received at work. To top it all off, I had taken my car in to repair the tire. They didn't find any problems, other than they made sure all the tires had the right amount of air. But get this, there was no charge! Let the New Year Begin!

Happy New Year 2011!

We went to a fun open house party at a friend's house last night. The host estimated there were about 50 people in attendance, a higher than normal turnout, perhaps due to the mild weather. It rained a bit that day and the temperature was about 8C. Delicious hors d'oeuvres were served and we ended up staying until just after midnight. K met a few boys his age and there were lots of other kids, so he had a great time too.

L went to a party at her friend's house.

Smitten Kitchen posted a milk punch recipe that looks really interesting, as I've never had that before.

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A Nice Evening Out

We went to dinner at the CN Tower 360 revolving restaurant with some friends the other night. It was pricey, but we had received a gift certificate, so it helped considerably with the cost. We had never eaten there before, so we played tourists. It takes about a minute to ascend the 1100 or so feet to the restaurant. It did a couple of rotations by the time we had finished our dinner and L and one of our friends felt queasy by the time we got to dessert. They are not cruise worthy. Afterwards, we went down the stairs to visit the observation deck. It was a clear night, but cold.

This is the wine cellar in the restaurant, they have a considerable wine list:

This is the view from the observation deck:

The CN Tower in seasonal colours:

Happy New Year when it comes!

Japanese Food Photos

We were at an authentic Japanese restaurant the other day and K snapped a few food photos for us: grilled scallops, cold soba noodles and steamed mussels. That seems to be a quail egg beside the noodles. I must admit that was our least favourite dish that went largely uneaten, but it was unusual for us and worth photographing. We thought we were ordering the transparent glass noodle salad that L and I love. We ate tons of other stuff, so we did not go hungry that night.

A Day of Unwinding After Christmas

Yesterday was a day of rest and unwinding, after all the gifts were packed away. We have so many chocolates, cakes, nuts, candies and cookies left to eat, oh dear. L and K made these spicy gingerbread cookies using a recipe I found on Smitten Kitchen. They are delicious, with just a hint of sweetness. The kids like to dunk them in a cup of milk.

We went over to my mom's on Xmas Eve. I baked her some salmon with zucchini strips, being careful to use no salt, just herbs and spices. She said it was delicious. She has all the symptoms of heart failure and the doctors have advised a no salt diet. I had a damaged baby photo of her at 10 months old restored in time for Christmas and gave her an 8 by 10 inch framed photo as a gift. She loved it. L and K exchanged gifts with their cousins. A cousin of mine who recently moved back to Toronto dropped in to say hello.

On Christmas morning I went for an enjoyable early morning walk, I felt I needed the exercise. Then, we opened gifts. I usually get the kids a lot of gifts then I realized it's just more for me to pack away every year. They are older and it's not as if they still believe although they look forward to Christmas. So I just got them a few nice things and I think it was a good idea.

In the afternoon, we went to M's sister's place for a large family gathering as we have been doing every year for over 20 years. We met M's nephew's new baby daughter, just one month old. She is gorgeous. M's niece has a 19 month old son, so the next generation is well underway. The turkey was moist and delicious.

M's sister had photos of their recent tour to Africa scrolling on the TV. Their group of 24 people flew into Nairobi, Kenya before heading out to the National Parks. They stayed in some lovely resorts with fabulous views overlooking the parks. A highlight of the trip for the group of seniors was the hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti. They brought back some gorgeous photos of the wild animals in their natural habitat.

One of M's sisters was looking in good shape and she told me she lost 5 pounds simply by not eating after 6 pm. She felt it aided her digestion and she is now sleeping better at night. I'd love to lose 5 pounds.

We got home after 2 am, it was a long day and I was exhausted.

Gingerbread House

Merry Christmas Everyone!


The Gingerbread House is all decorated and ready for eating, thanks to L. I won't post tomorrow in honour of Christmas Day.

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The Christmas Invitation

Swiss Delice

I bought these Chocolates from Costco and they are absolutely to die for or should I say 'heavenly', I knew they'd be good.

Party Favour Extraordinaire

We went to a wonderful dinner party this past Saturday. Our friends went all out. My friend used to be a florist and made these pretty flowers for us to take home. Her house is perfectly decorated at this time of year and it was a treat to be invited over. Dinner was delicious followed by a chocolate ganache cake. K just ate all the sugar cookies that adorned the top. The hostess has all these delicious chocolates lying around so I had to have a Laura Secord Frosted Mint chocolates and some butter crunch candy.

While walking out of church on Sunday morning I heard this young boy conversing with his mother. She was saying 'I don't know, after the way you were behaving yesterday...' The kid smiles at her cheekily 'Well, that was yesterday, today's a whole new day' To which his mother replied, 'well...no' as they kept up their argument. I'd say he was about 10 - 12 years old. I wonder if he was able to talk his way out of his bad behaviour!

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Upscale Dim Sum

M, K and I decided to do a dim sum lunch with my girlfriend this past Saturday. We ended up waiting for an hour and a half to get into this restaurant/banquet hall that we've never been to before. It was lavishly decorated inside and the food was delicious, served on fancier dishware than in a normal Chinese restaurant. After we paid the bill, my girlfriend estimated it was about double the normal price and perhaps not good value. However, we did enjoy the upscale ambience even if the jumbo shrimp dumplings (har gow) were twice the price. To tell the truth, I sent these photos to L and she can't wait to try it when she gets home. It's Christmas after all. We can try going during the week, it might not be as busy then.

Huge Chandeliers


Beautiful Dishware , extra large teacups

Sticky Rice encased in Yam Wrappers

Milk Tart Dessert

Sunday Sketches - More Holidays

Here is my Sunday Sketch continuing with a Holiday theme. Sophia's Sunday Sketches rock! There is such a lively bunch of contributors here, do check them out at Blue Chair Diary.

Lowe's Toronto Christmas Market 2010

The weather was mild on Saturday evening, so M, K and I decided to check out the Toronto Christmas Market downtown. We struggled to get parking but eventually found a spot a few blocks away. That's downtown for you. It was crowded with families. We ate Slovenian sausages on buns. They were fresh and yummy. We found some melt in your mouth shortbread cookies, although they weren't cheap at a dollar apiece. Enjoy the photos!

Sunday Sketches - Holidays

Here's my first Sunday Sketches entry for Sophia's art co-op, I chose a Holiday theme.
Sophia says, 'Just grab whatever you love to draw/sketch with and have at it.'