Category Archives: food

cupboards…

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

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spent some time reorganizing the container area in the kitchen cupboards…

still trying to figure out the best system, lol… thought I had a perfect plan…

also made a few things in the Instant Pot… mashed potatoes worked well…

sadly, the pork hocks and cabbage didn’t turn out, but then I used the crockpot feature and got it done;-)…

more learning and experimenting required…

drought…

25 Saturday Jan 2020

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for the last few days I haven’t been eating all that well…

not sure exactly why… there is food available, but I’ve been uninterested in eating it…

I’ve been kind of eating out of the fridge… had leftover spaghetti and meat sauce, made fried rice with leftover chicken, spinach and scrambled eggs…

last night I had bacon and mushrooms… it was a meal that we had when I was young… always on toast… I rarely have bread in the house, but last night I tossed some croutons in… it was a perfect addition;-)…

today I made a lovely wonton and mushroom soup for lunch, and roasted chicken with cauliflower, sweet and baby potatoes for supper…

hopefully I am over the eating drought…

trivets…

21 Tuesday Jan 2020

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Monday is our usual night to gather… we have been doing this for years… last week we got to talking about Chinese food and decided to have supper together this week… Monday evenings are already blocked off in everyone’s calendars, lol, so changing the time was fairly simple…

we each offered up our favourite dishes, a menu was circulated by email, adjustments were made and a person chosen to order and pick up the dinner… times were chosen and rides were organized…

we had hoped that my grandson would join us as he was expected to be here to collect Indi to use on Tuesday… unfortunately things changed and he couldn’t join us…

it was wonderful to have the time to prepare for dinner… I had fun digging through my dishes and finding tea pots and cups; a variety of chopsticks and stands; and various trivets to put the food on when it arrived…

we had a lovely dinner and tons of great conversation… it was a wonderful treat to share a meal… finished the evening with more conversation, coffee and a lemon cake…

life is good…

 

frozen…

20 Monday Jan 2020

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a few days ago I cooked chicken thighs from frozen (just took thirty minutes) and then white rice in the Instant Pot… both came out nicely…

had a lovely dinner and visit with a dear friend… good to catch up…

was laughing to myself because I completely forgot to take a picture of my plate as supper was later than expected…

earlier in the day I tidied two drawers in the dining room…

hope this desire for tidying and reorganizing continues…

saje…

19 Sunday Jan 2020

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actually went outside for the first time in at least a week…

walked to the “A” and met my grandson for breakfast… had a lovely meal and conversation…

from there we headed out to do some errands… bought some rollers at Saje… been trying to get there since I got back from Ottawa… picked up Sleep Well, Peppermint Halo and Pain Relief… I used the first two while I was away and will give the third one a try for some of the pain I’ve been experiencing in my knee…

was able to replace a Google Hub to get the correct colour… it was one of my Christmas gifts… but I did see a Lenovo Smart Display 10″ with Google Assistant… going to look into that a bit more in case it would do more of what I want than the Hub…

Indi finally had a bath and a few groceries were purchased, including a cute new plate…

I have been enjoying using different plates to eat from and I think this one will be a great addition…

home, put away the groceries and my grandson took the car… the plan was that he would come back tomorrow for dinner…

then it was afternoon nap time, lol…

enjoying…

16 Thursday Jan 2020

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saw the most amazing sky tonight as I was walking through the house…

it always amazes me when I just happen to look out and see a gorgeous sunset or sunrise… there are so many moments that we miss because we aren’t looking, lol…

here is one of the photos that I took, just before my camera advised me it was exhausted…

I am feeling that a pattern is appearing in my days… I am getting up around eight or nine and then having a relaxing breakfast… today I had some chicken soup I’d made a few days ago in the Instant Pot… I hadn’t tasted it when I made it so was pleased with it this morning… I’d woken up with a stuffy nose, so chicken soup seemed like a great start to my day…

for my lunch I had some of the Mexican Chicken Soup I’d made at the same time…. I will make this again as it is very tasty…

a bit later I spent some time working at cleaning out a kitchen drawer… even went as far as putting a liner in as well… took a while for everything to dry and be ready to go back into the drawer and a number of things hit the garbage and pass-me-over box…

reading, watching tv, tidying, napping and cooking take up the rest of the day…

so far I am enjoying the relaxed quiet days…

decluttering…

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

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had a very productive and enjoyable day…

spent time in the morning decluttering, deep-cleaning and reorganizing a rolling cupboard that my beloved built many years ago…

felt very pleased with the outcome… got rid of some stuff and made space for the Instant Pot;-)…

then had a delightful visit and some treats with a dear friend…

followed by some reading and a few phone calls… caught this sun dog as I looked out the window;-)…

enjoying the moments in this new portion of the journey;-)…

sauté…

14 Tuesday Jan 2020

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a few days ago, after doing a lot of research, including a conversation with my Ottawa kids, I went out and picked up a wifi Instant Pot…

I decided to cook a whole frozen chicken… it didn’t go quite as well as hoped, but eventually the chicken was cooked… I boiled some potatoes to go along with it as they had gotten a bit soft and were growing eyes while I was away, lol…

yesterday the wifi connected rather easily… now I can turn it on, off, or give it directions from my phone, lol…

my grandson and I plan to have dinner together on Monday evenings as he will be using my car on Tuesdays for the next while… we’ve decided to try Instant Pot recipes every week…

last night we made chicken thighs with baby potatoes… next time I’d use a bit less liquid, but it was tasty and moist… and we had fun using the sauté option on the Pot;-)…

today I picked up a recipe book as it didn’t come with one… eventually we should be able to find recipes online but this Instant Pot Bible is going to be helpful as we learn more…

looking forward to some fun dinners…

insta…

12 Sunday Jan 2020

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I’ve seen lots of ads for the Instant Pot, but felt that I didn’t need another appliance in the kitchen…

and now that I’m retired I have all day to prepare food…

but… my daughter showed me hers and told me all the things it can do which made me think about it more seriously…

apparently, it could replace my egg cooker (which is currently not working), be a rice cooker (which I’ve wanted), act as a crockpot (which I have, in purple), act as a steamer, sauté things, keep things warm, and even be a sterilizer…

we made salmon (from frozen) and smashed potatoes with spinach in about half an hour… and it was delicious…

we also made white and wild rice with chicken thighs (again from frozen) in about 45 minutes from start of prep to eating…

and mushroom soup, and risotto…

think I just might have to buy one now that I am home…

hosts…

10 Friday Jan 2020

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recently I flew home from Ottawa… I spent the majority of the trip with my eyes glued to the window… it was like the entire sky was filled with a sunset for the entire flight… what a gift…

I had the most wonderful visit with my daughter and son-in-law… also had a fun time meeting and getting to know his mom…

it was quite a different Christmas for me… flew out on Christmas Day and celebrated New Year’s there as well… his mom was with us for a week and then I spent another six days with the kids…

had so much fun… the kids are wonderful hosts* and offer up all kinds of interesting things to do… I stayed in their AirBnB room which was very cozy…

while I was there we ate great home cooked meals, fed birds out of our hands, went to see butterflies, had afternoon tea, went to the Market and restaurants, spent a day at the spa, had a photo shoot, and two chocolate tastings…

and enjoyed great conversations…

now I am home and able to begin retirement living…

*AirBnB Cozy Blue Room Ottawa