Chocolatier

Purdy's Christmas catalogue

Husband M and I were at the mall. We stopped by Purdy's chocolatier for ice cream. There was a nice young man working inside the store. He mentioned that Purdy's chocolate was made from sustainable cocoa. It is a Canadian company from Vancouver since 1907. The young man said he loved working there, knowing that even if the prices were higher it was for the best cause. He even pointed out no sugar chocolate options for M who is diabetic. He gave me a free chocolate sample , their Sweet Georgia Brown, which tasted like a Turtles chocolate. When I asked, he told me he was allowed to eat one piece of product a day and he is given a 30% discount on their boxed chocolate.  It was obvious that he loved his job.

Scribble Picnic - Generous

Welcome to Michael's Scribble Picnic! This week's theme is 'Generous'. I had an idea to do an Iphone X as a generous gift, it is surely expensive! So here is my piece on textured coloured cardstock (6" x 6") done with my permanent markers and outlined with a black pilot fineliner.  I wonder who was inspired to take a less materialistic take on the theme, lol.

A nice gift

My sister who lives near me had been in Italy on vacation this summer. I finally got her little gift last week, it is some olive oil and a sachet of lavender. It's always nice to receive thoughtful gifts!

And what exciting news about the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle yesterday!  I enjoyed watching their first interview, so romantic!  Meghan lived in Toronto for many years and in fact they said that the white coat she wore yesterday was sold out at the Toronto designer.  They plan to make more of the coats and will rename it  'Meghan'.

Craft sale

Husband M and I went to the church Christmas craft sale the weekend before last. It is always well attended. They had many baked goods for sale, M picked up some oatmeal cookies. There were gift baskets and seasonal floral arrangements for purchase, a raffle, a silent auction, knitted items, scarves and so on. We ran into some friends, new grandparents and they had their adorable 2 year old in tow. I had to remark on how beautiful he was. Yes, it's a wonderful time of year!

Mall Decoration

Everyone was taking photos of this moose all lit up now for the season. Speaking of moose, one is loose in our city, he was seen bounding across a busy road and ended up along the river.  He had even been in someone's back yard, having broken through a fence.  They said moose can die of stress, which he was evidently under.  It was thought to leave him alone as much as possible and hope that he could make his way north eventually.

Daughter L recently made us some restaurant quality ravioli stuffed with ground pork.  After boiling them, she sauteed them in herbs and olive oil.  Her cooking trip to Italy this summer really paid off!  The ravioli disappeared before I thought of taking a photo.

Tote bags

Santa's House at the mall

all lit up

I read this article saying that complimentary tote bags are overwhelming us now that they have taken the place of plastic bags. Come to think of it, I do have a mountain of them, how about you?

Paint Party Friday - Handmade Ornament

Inspired by Stefanie's post, I decided to make this handmade ornament for Paint Party Friday. Here are the instructions we used to make the star. I think I will hang this on our Christmas tree once it goes up!

Roasted Cauliflower

Inspired by an Ina Garten recipe, I decided to roast some cauliflower with some olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs. It takes about half an hour at 350F. She recommended putting a cup of grated cheese all over it for the last 2 minutes in the oven. It was delicious!

Festive Lights

The tree is up at the mall, isn't it pretty?

I was watching the American Music Awards on TV on the weekend and I noticed that the backup dancers were more full-bodied in figure than I expected. It seems that in the past few years they have moved away from using the skinnier dancers, which may be a good thing.

Blackberry Drop Biscuits

Recipe

I was reading an old Jun 2017 issue of People Magazine and decided to try this recipe for drop biscuits. They were a success, and I will definitely make them again. I used blackberries instead of raspberries.

Coffee promotion

Until Dec 10 you can enjoy any size McDonald's coffee for $1. Maybe this promotion has replaced the free coffees they have been offering twice a year. Pictured above is the extra large coffee I purchased. I got it with 2 creams instead of my usual 1 cream as it is a very large cup!

A new book

This is a new book by Walter Isaacson called Leonardo Da Vinci.  Isaacson has done many wonderful biographies including Einstein, Steve Jobs, Ben Franklin.  It is a 600 page book full of detailed research.  It was on hold at the library for weeks and a copy finally became available for me.  However, the details from 600 years ago have overwhelmed me somehow and I did not enjoy the book.  It is hard to draw definite conclusions, there are a lot of 'it seems' and 'perhaps' from a time past.  I don't know if I really care.  Maybe it would be a good study text for a school course.

Interestingly, a Da Vinci painting (the Salvator Mundi) sold at auction Nov 15th for US 450.3 million dollars.  That's not bad for a 400 year old painting.

The Allbird

Here's a festive cushion I saw at the mall.

So have you heard about the Allbird?  It is a knit wool loafer made of wool and castor bean oil that is all the rage at least in California according to my sister who lives there.  It has minimal styling and comes as a runner or a lounger, costing US$95.  It does look very comfortable in that link I followed.

In fact my sister did visit the Allbird store and was not impressed.  The shoes reminded her of bedroom slippers, very comfortable but no support.

Paint Party Friday - Fall Walk

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This piece is called 'Fall Walk', based on a photo I took. It's done in my sketchbook (9' X 12") in watercolour pencil and crayon.  There were no blustery winds that day so it was indeed an enjoyable and pretty walk!

Latte Mugs

I bought these new stoneware latte mugs recently, I decided it was time to get new ones. We were using these ceramic ones which are so difficult to clean of tea and coffee stains. My porcelain mugs are really easy to clean, I noticed. I love large mugs, it might be time to cull my supply.

Scribble Picnic - Gift Wrap

Welcome to Michael's Scribble Picnic. For this week's 'Gift Wrap' theme, I wrapped my gift in brown paper, my design complete with red string and a christmas tree ornament,  is in acrylic on brown cardstock (4 1/2" x 6 1/2").  It was fun doing this one, I love wrapping gifts to begin with, how about you?

Window shopping

I snapped this decorative cushion at the mall the other day, I thought the reindeer was so cute.

Husband M felt saddened by the sudden death of Major League baseball pitcher Roy Halliday a week ago.  He pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and also for the Philadelphia Phillies.  He was only 40 years old and had retired 4 years ago when he took up flying lessons.  Apparently it was his dream to fly and purchased a small aircraft just a month ago.  His wife was very much against him taking up flying.  He leaves 2 sons behind as well.

Organic living lettuce

I saw this organic living lettuce for sale at a grocery store the other day. This ensures really fresh, clean lettuce for your use!  From what I can google the lettuce is grown hydroponically without soil.

Yesterday morning I went for a cold walk with my friend S.  I wore my winter coat and thought it might be time to start wearing my long johns (thermal underwear) under my warm pants. S was also bundled up.  Today promises to be a bit warmer.  Government offices and banks will be closed today for the Remembrance Day holiday.

Japanese inspired salad

I decided to try making this salad I ate as an appetizer at a Japanese restaurant I recently dined at. The sealegs were on sale at the grocery store so I got some iceberg lettuce and a bottle of thousand island dressing. So it just required chopping up the lettuce (perhaps not as finely as the restaurant did), and shredding the sealegs. I used a lot more dressing than I normally would have because that is what the restaurant did. It was delicious and didn't last long but the next time I might just use a normal amount of dressing.

We were in the grocery store yesterday at 11 am.  There was an announcement for a minute of silence, they played the Remembrance Day song and the Flander's Fields poem.  Everyone stayed still and quiet. 

Duolingo

We commemorate Remembrance Day today, lest we forget.

It is time to put snow tires on our cars.  The snow can come at any time now, in fact it did snow a bit yesterday and we had an extreme cold alert which was luckily lifted by the afternoon.

I met an old acquaintance last week and she was telling me she tried to learn Spanish using Duolingo which is a free language learning website and app.  She and her husband were taking a vacation in Panama and she actually tried using what she had learned.  This didn't really work for her but she tried!

Paint Party Friday - Lest We Forget

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! This piece commemorates Remembrance Day. It's done on textured red cardstock (6" x 6") in acrylic, outlined with a black waterproof Pitt artist pen.

Mixed Martial Arts

Husband M watched the UFC217 mixed martial arts event televised from Madison Square Garden in New York City this past weekend.  He thoroughly enjoyed it, he said the underdogs all won their games.  I cannot watch people fighting like that with all the blood and gore, can you?  I just don't get it.

In other news, our dishwasher was repaired.  There had been a recall on the power cord, the part was ordered and a technician came over and did a wonderful job replacing the part.

Scribble Picnic - Cookie

Welcome to Scribble Picnic's 'Cookie' theme! I did a Christmas Tree cookie for you in my sketchbook (9" x 12") in permanent markers with a touch of acrylic for the silver ribbons trailing down the 'tree'.

Poke Bowl

Kabuki Restaurant

Poke Bowl

Sushi

Banana Tempura with Ice Cream

Husband M and I went out to dinner recently and I had a chance to try a poke bowl for the first time. It is pronounced  'po-kay'.  I learned that it is a raw fish salad that has become very popular here although is a centuries old Hawaiian dish. In truth, It was an experience and it tasted fine, although I am more used to sushi and sashimi.  M had Sapporo beer, a lighter beer and a sushi platter.  Dessert was bananantempura with a selection of ice cream.  I chose black sesame and M had vanilla.

Maxed Out

Breakfast Brunch

My share

Husband M and I decided to go out to a breakfast brunch this past weekend at one of the Eggsmart chains here. They had a large breakfast for $10.99 that seemed perfect for sharing with 2 of everything including the pancakes.  A lot of people must share.

There was another couple at the table next to us and as they were paying their bill, M overheard the lady saying that she had maxed out her credit card (it had reached its limit).  The gentleman asked her if she was okay and she said she was, that she had some cash on her.  Hmm.

Reflections on Life

 An old friend contacted me, she is planning a luncheon with a bunch of friends towards the end of November.  She is now 75 years old, her husband was diagnosed with congestive heart failure this past year.  She said when he started his medicines he lost control of his bowel movements and that it was an awful experience for her having to cleanup after him.  He just had a knee replacement on one knee so these days she is doing lots of nursing.  His kids don't really help, the responsibility is all on my friend.  He is lucky he has her.  In truth they enjoy the companionship that a relationship brings. She keeps herself sane by meditating and yoga, in fact she teaches yoga in her condo.  One tip she has learned is that smiling does a lot to make us happy, she encourages her students to try it often.  She imagined she would be free at this time of her life to enjoy more.  I told her it's a life stage..toward the end actually.  And that there are bumps, challenges in every life stage because that is what life is all about.   One of her friends has cancer, one widow has Alzheimers...And we had a good laugh about us being tough survivors and overall good people.  We value our long years of friendship, some 35 years.

Such is Life

I got this Swedish milk chocolate bar from Ikea recently, it is a large bar and very delicious.

Earlier this week, I was at my dentist for a checkup and cleaning. Thankfully it was a good one. He was telling me that a patient died of a stroke recently. The 60 year old man woke up one morning and told his wife that he wasn't feeling well. He lay down again and went into a coma and died 2 days later. It was a shock because they could remember him coming in not too long ago laughing and cheerful. He had 6 grandchildren and life was good. It's not a bad way to go, although 60 years old seems like a relatively short time these days. Such is life.

Paint Party Friday - Pumpkin Vignette

Welcome to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday! I did a pumpkin vignette based on a photo I took. It's done in my sketchbook (9" x 12") with my permanent markers.

Fallling Leaves

The leaves have started to fall and look pretty at this time of year. Apparently the milder temperatures have delayed the colouring of the leaves somewhat but it has become colder so things should be back on track.

Scribble Picnic - Toy

It's time for Scribble Picnic! This week's theme is 'Toy'. My piece is done on coloured cardstock
(6" x 6") with my permanent markers. It is a classic Fisher-Price Corn Popper.

According to Wikipedia, 'It was invented in 1957 by Arthur Holt, who died in April 1996, and sold to Fisher-Price for $50. The Corn Popper is one of the most popular toys for young children in history.'

And welcome to November!  We are that much closer to Christmas.  But of course the Americans have their Thanksgiving just before that.