Thank You

It's the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. It's gone a bit on the chilly side this weekend.

For Sunday Sketches, I'm using a piece I did last year to commemorate Thanksgiving.
It's a small ACEO art card.


Please visit the other talented participants in this fun blog hop hosted by Alexandra.

Dairy free meat free gravy

My daughter L is home for the long Thanksgiving weekend.  We hadn't seen her for all of September!  I have a small (10 pound) turkey thawing in the refrigerator.  It should be ready for roasting tomorrow!

I cooked a whole chicken in my new crockpot this week.  It was so flavourful after 5 hours on the high setting.  I roasted some brussels sprouts and celery to go with the dish.  We are having a large e-coli recall of beef products in Canada unfortunately.  I've just happened to be staying away from beef.  Apparently it's ok if you ensure your beef is very well cooked and I know K has been buying beef burgers.  I just don't like the part where they say you wouldn't show symptoms of the illness until 4 to 10 days after you've eaten the contaminated beef.

Here is a dairy free meat free gravy called 'groovy gravy'  to try.

Joke for today:

Paint Party Friday - September Leaves

For Paint Party Friday, I've done an acrylic on cardstock (6.5"x4.5"), entitled 'September Leaves'. I did them from a photo I took, I'm finding I work well this way.

Greek frozen yogurt

I saw this photo of Greek frozen yogurt in a U.S. magazine and if it comes here, I will try it. The product name says 'healthy choice'.  It would be healthier than ice cream or gelato.

I spent some time yesterday unsubscribing to a lot of junk emails that I currently receive, a lot of 'groupon' like companies featuring the latest deals. I was on the email lists of a lot of companies like Sears Travel, Laserquest laser games, Party Packagers, etc. I wasn't using a lot of their information. I will enter the odd contest and before you know it, I've given them my email id. Do you get a lot of junk emails?

Butter Cookies and Steamed Broccoli

Not necessarily in that order!

Gloria of Canela Kitchen recently posted a recipe for butter cookies, we tried it and it was delicious!  It's the kind of cookie where it's hard to stop at just one.  I hope you will try it too!

In other food news, I have been steaming a lot of broccoli.  My pressure cooker came with a trivet and steamer basket but I had never really used these pieces.  They fit perfectly inside a large saucepan. I've never steamed much as I didn't think I had the right equipment.  I don't own an actual  steamer appliance. Anyway, I just chop the broccoli into small pieces, season with spices (onion powder, garlic salt, pepper, herbs).  I place the trivet into the saucepan, with a couple of inches of water, cover and bring to a boil.  Then I put the steamer basket filled with broccoli atop the trivet, cover and simmer for 12 or 13 minutes. Do you steam a lot of your food?  It's a good thing!

trivet

steamer basket

saucepan

And here's a joke for you!

The mind reader

Some Fall Colour

Some of the stores in our area have now taken to keeping baby formula under lock and key. Some grocery stores won't even sell the item anymore. A friend told me me it's because the powder is being stolen to be used as an ingredient in making drugs. She says the kids steal it because they don't want to be seen in the videos at the cashier checkout. My friend says these kids work to feed their habit. Were you aware of such dealings?

And here's a scary video for you to watch.
An amazing mind reader reveals his gift.

Dog Dilemma

Welcome to the month of October!  It was a wonderful weekend weatherwise, very good walking weather.  We went out to dinner with some friends.  They are getting ready to move into their new condo in a couple of months.  But they've just discovered that the building will only allow one dog, not the two that they have.  It seems the real estate agents did not do their jobs properly, having told them this would not be a problem at the outset.  That large commission is for a good reason!   It's quite a stressful situation for them.  They said choosing one dog (which they won't) reminded them of the situation in the movie 'Sophie's Choice' if you have ever seen that.  I didn't see it myself but according to google, Sophie had to choose which of her 2 children would go be gassed and which one would go to the labour camp at Auschwitz.  And I'm glad I didn't see that movie!

One a more pleasant subject, these are the leaves of a coral bell plant, don't they look gorgeous and shimmery for the season?  I read that they can be used to liven up  a salad but they are a bit tangy.