Category Archives: food

difficulties…

27 Wednesday Dec 2023

Posted by in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

had a quiet and relaxed day on Christmas…

got up late for me, about eight;-)… made tea and watched a Christmas movie while I had my breakfast and waited for the Ottawa family to contact me…

after some technical difficulties, we had a lovely visit and opened presents;-)… technology really is an amazing thing…

after saying goodbye to them, I got the chicken into the oven and may have watched another Christmas movie, lol…

my grandson arrived home from one set of parents, we opened gifts, and had a lovely lunch…

then he was off to visit the other set of parents and I may have had a nap…

tv shows and leftovers took up the rest of the day…

thawing…

26 Tuesday Dec 2023

Posted by in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, travel, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I found out in the morning on Christmas Eve that we were going to have lunch on Christmas Day between trips my grandson was making between his various family clans;-)…

it was a quick trip to the freezer to pull out a beautiful chicken and get it thawing… I had been planning on a Cornish hen, with all the fixings, so it wasn’t a lot more to do to cook the chicken;-)…

a turnip was peeled, cut, boiled (so that the water would be available for the chicken gravy), and mashed…

mashed potatoes were also prepared and put into the fridge which helps with making a resistant starch…

stuffing was made and packaged, ready to go into the chicken…

took most of the day to thaw the chicken, lol, but it was ready for the oven in time…

everything turned out beautifully and we had a delicious Christmas lunch…

possibly a new tradition;-)…

process…

25 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in business, food, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

on Wednesday I had a lovely lunch with my BS buddies… we went to the Olympia Diner and had delicious food, lots of laughs and shared great stories…

it was quite the process for us all to get there as car trouble caused a bit of excitement, but eventually we all made it…

the food is always tasty and the portions are large… I had spanakopita, with lemon potatoes and Caesar salad, and had leftovers for the next day…

parcels were exchanged (which will be opened on Christmas), and one gift was our lunch… a lovely treat…

we always try to get a holiday photo and our waitperson took a number of photos to be sure we had a good one…

these women are so important to me and such a gift;-)…

walkways…

23 Saturday Dec 2023

Posted by in business, family, food, health, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

nearly a year to the day, we went back to The Leaf in the evening…

we ate dinner at Gather Craft Kitchen and Bar and then wandered through the biomes…

the restaurant was very busy, but we were seated by the window at a two-person table, so were quite a distance from the other diners…

we shared chorizo spiced seitan tacos, I had pork and veal meatballs, and my grandson had a fancy hamburger and everything was tasty… we decided to skip dessert and go for blizzards after our visit to the biomes…

as we wandered through the Tropical biome it was quite amazing to see how the plants have grown… the place is absolutely lush;-)… leaves fell over the walkways in a number of spots, lol…

looking down from the bridge on the third floor it was striking to see how much everything has grown…

it was the first time since that inaugural visit that I’ve been at night… unfortunately it was too dark for my Nikon so all my photos were with my iPhone… got to see some bananas, a pineapple, coffee beans and cacao pods…

it looks like the inside of the biomes have been wrapped with plastic, and the fans in the Tropical biome were blowing rather vigorously…

it was exciting to see that there were a great number of various-sized smaller koi in the pond… babies, maybe;-)…

the next post will be about the Mediterranean biome;-)…

wishlist…

21 Thursday Dec 2023

Posted by in family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

one of the items on my Christmas wishlist was a visit from my grandsons, so I was excited on Sunday to prep for their visit…

had fun setting the table all fancy for our dinner…

I haven’t seen them since the summer so this was a great treat…

it was fun to watch them open their Christmas presents after dinner…

thanks to the oldest for making this happen;-)…

napkins…

18 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in family, food, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

tried to make napkins shaped like trees;-)…

they would have been better with green fabric, but this was what I had to work with, lol…

the first one came out not too bad, but after that, each one was different;-)…

apparently I need to practice for a while with the video in front of me…

bodes…

11 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in food, garden, life, moments, nature, retirement, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

so, the strangest thing happened…

I looked out at the bird feeders and discovered this…

I think that maybe the squirrel has stuffed the feeders full of grass and fur…

I have never seen this before…

wonder what it bodes for the winter…

recommend…

05 Tuesday Dec 2023

Posted by in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized, weather

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

at our time together last Monday, it was lovely to have everyone in the room, with no technology required…

amongst our conversations, we talked about our favourite pho restaurants… it is always great to hear about spots that others recommend…

later my grandson and I worked away on the garage project even though it was rather cold out, lol…

when we came in, with frozen fingers, the pho we’d talked about earlier called to me;-)…

those delivery apps are very handy, lol…

it was just what those cold fingers needed;-)…

viper…

04 Monday Dec 2023

Posted by in business, family, food, health, life, loss, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

tonight we had supper with my son-in-law in Ottawa… earlier today my daughter, on vacation in Europe, texted me that she’d had a burger for her lunch, in memory of her dad;-)…

we tried a new app called Viper, and it worked great… think I will use it again…

burgers were had by all… ours came from one of my beloved’s favourite burger places… and we even shared a chocolate milkshake here… it was delicious…

birthdays often seem hard, but coming together to share a meal is a lovely tradition to remember him…

and it is always such a delight when the technology works, lol…

versions…

01 Friday Dec 2023

Posted by in business, family, food, health, life, moments, retirement, technology, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

happy first day of Advent… it has always been a special time for me…

this year there are three different calendars for me…

the first is a digital version which comes via email every day with things to do or think about;-)… all focussed on chocolate, without any calories… this was the first one, which provides an opportunity to check items off over 25 days…

the second is on the wall in the living room and this year is filled with nuts and seeds and the odd bit of chocolate…

the third climbs the stairway… it is made up of twenty-four different sized boxes with items in them from the kids in Ottawa… last week a parcel arrived addressed to my grandson, who then filled each one… they look very cute on the stairs…

as I empty a box, I am breaking it down and stashing it at the top behind the last few… I don’t want to lose any of them…

every day is a treat;-)…