A nice lunch

Here we are at the end of another month, wow. We took an old friend to lunch last week. It was at an all you can eat Chinese buffet restaurant in the area. I couldn't resist taking the photo above, the ornament was decorating the washroom. They have some beautiful pieces at various places in the restaurant. Maybe the next time I can take this carved wooden flowers piece which I thought was lovely.

My friend had treated us to a lovely lunch at Christmastime. Her husband is suffering from heart failure. As we bid them goodbye and left, we had no idea that he had fallen outside of the restaurant and had to be taken to hospital. She was her usual cheerful self, despite having made arrangements to put her husband into a home as soon as an opening becomes available. It is just too hard for her to continue looking after him.

Anyway, I was happy to be able to take her to lunch last week.

Marigold

I spotted this pretty marigold plant in the neighbourhood and found some great facts on them from wikipedia. I knew that it deters insects because of its scent, and learned that because of that it is planted with tomato, eggplant, chili peppers and potatoes. However it is not to be planted with legumes as the marigold has some antibacterial compound in its roots. The marigold is used for food colouring, items such as pasta, baked goods, mustard. Butterflies love them and they are pollinated by beetles.

Hope for long term care facilities

neighbourhood wildflowers

The city of Toronto may adopt the Butterfly program in its city-run nursing homes, it is a new long term care model that has been very successful in Peel region, outside the city.  I was happy to read this article in the paper recently.  The mayor read the original article that I featured on this blog post and asked if it could be brought to the city of Toronto.  The goal is to make long term care homes less institutionalized and more home like and caring.

Icelandic Style Yogurt

I recently tried this Icelandic style yogurt and was glad I did. It is creamy and no fat and I will definitely buy it again!

Paint Party Friday - Baby Sandals

These baby sandals were done based on a photo my nephew sent me of my new great niece in her sandals that don't quite fit yet! I thought it was so cute! This is a greeting card (3 1/2" x 5") in permanent marker. I also used PITT markers and my new white painting marker and pen.

Happy PPF!

Color Me Beautiful

I have an old book that I bought in the early to mid eighties called Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson.  It teaches you what colours suit  you based on your skin tone, whether it be warm or cool.  The book was originally published in 1973 (you can still buy it) and I was surprised to see that there is now a website with even what make up will suit your skin tone.  I really believe this works, there is a handy test for you to find your season here (fall, winter, spring or summer).

Iced Drink

Well Michael has postponed Scribble Picnic until perhaps end of summer as people are busy.  However I had my 'Iced Drink' all ready to go so I thought I would still show it here today.  My piece is done on textured cardstock (5" x 7") in permanent marker. It is a cranberry cocktail on ice, a drink I poured into a fancy goblet that I actually own. I think it tasted better drinking from it!

Tragedy on the Danforth

There was a terrible tragedy in Toronto Sunday night on the Danforth where we ate dinner with friends just the week before. A gunman opened fire on the street leaving 2 dead (a 10 year old and an 18 year old) and 13 injured. They are saying he had mental illness.  The city is in shock once again.  It was just this past April when we had the van tragedy.

Beer bread

Amid the Construction

For all the beer lovers, how about some beer bread with  your beer?  It is the latest trend in Toronto according to this article, I also saw it on the news recently.  Breweries are using their leftover barley grains and partnering with bakeries to make the bread.

Some new art supplies

opaque white pen and marker

opened package

discounted price!

I went to Michael's art store to look for these new opaque white pens and markers. There was only one of the Sharpie water based paint markers in opaque white. We asked if we could get a discount on it as the package was opened. I was very happy with the $1.75 price, discounted from $7.49! Then I had a 50% off coupon so I used it to purchase an opaque white PITT artist pen. The normal price is $11.99 so it was a good shopping day!

Amongst the Weeds

I saw this strawberry in my neighbour's yard amongst the weeds and thought it would make a nice photo for you!  It was gone by the next day, seriously.

Paint Party Friday - Roses

Inspiration Photo

welcome to Paint Party Friday! I did a greeting card in permanent marker (3 1/2" x 5") based on a photo of some roses I had taken.

Summerlicious 2018

The Danforth

Lovely evening

We had dinner out with friends last weekend, participating in the Summerlicious 2018 restaurant promotion in Toronto. We decided to try Pan Restaurant, Greek fare. The food was good, and we sat outdoors and chatted for awhile after we left the restaurant. It was a lovely evening to be outside.

Scribble Picnic - Hot Dog

Welcome to Scribble Picnic! This week's theme is 'Hot Dog' and here is my piece done on brown cardstock (4 1/2" x 6 1/2") in acrylic.

Do you know that today July 18 is national hot dog day?

Burrowing

Husband M bought this chipmunk trap in an effort to capture the ones around our house. We also got some sunflower seeds to lure them into the trap. I know, it looks awful doesn't it?  The plan is to drive them off to a suitable spot maybe 5 miles away. They have burrowed into the side of our house underneath some flowers but we don't want them damaging the foundation walls.

Valsartan medicine recall

Last week I saw on the news that a bunch of blood pressure medications had been recalled by Health Canada due to contamination with a potential carcinogen.  Wouldn't you know that mine is on the list.  It is called Valsartan.  I immediately called my pharmacist as advised.  They had just been notified of the problem themselves.  I was advised to keep taking the medicine for the time being until further notice.  I also have the option of contacting my doctor to discuss alternate medications.

A few days later the pharmacist called, they said they were going to fax a request to my doctor to have the medicine changed. I called my doctor to ensure he didn't put me on a medicine called Coversyl which I had tried in 2006 when I was first getting on Blood pressure meds. It made me cough a lot as a side effect.  The reason I remember the year is based on some old photos I had saved on Shutterfly of a vacation to Quebec City at the time.  I remembered all the coughing at the time.  The doctor's secretary was able to find the medicine in their records based on the year I gave her.

So my new medicine is called OLMESARTAN MEDOX which I have started on and am monitoring.  The pharmacist says this one is in the same family of medicines as Valsartan and has been around for years.

Do you keep a file of your own medical records?  It is a good idea, I started doing that about 5 years ago as it is so easy these days to forget things.

A new product

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Well I was the recipient of a free Oatmeal sample. In return I have promised to provide feedback on what I think about the new product. It contains oats, quinoa and flax seed. You have to add milk up to the line specified on the container,refrigerate overnight, then have it in the morning. It cost $4.79 at the drugstore, but it might be less expensive at the grocery store. 

So it was a granola type cereal, slightly sweet. It has a lot of calories as granola does, while being nutritious. I will share the other container with my friend S who lives on stuff like this. It is not really what I enjoy personally.

In an update to my post on touchscreen running gloves, son K says they work perfectly, he is very happy with them. It was as if he wasn't wearing any gloves, the phone was very responsive.

Something new

I found these garlic scapes at the Chinese grocery store recently, one of my sisters had told me they are good stir fried with beef. She said they call them garlic stems in the Chinese restaurants. Well they called them garlic hearts in this grocery store. I found a simple recipe on youtube. It recommended stir frying for about a minute in a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce, topping with sesame seeds. However it tasted very peppery and the stems were very tough at that point. So I decided to stir fry them for 9 minutes as described in another youtube video and they were sweet and crunchy just like she said! They have a mild garlic taste with the texture of asparagus.

Garlic scapes are the shoots that grow from garlic bulbs.  I found a nice article here.  Further research led me to discover there are 2 types of garlic, hardneck and softneck.  The softneck garlic is the kind we see at the grocery store.  This type has a green onion type of soft stalk.  The hardneck garlic has a sturdy stalk called a scape.

Paint Party Friday - Roses Greeting Card

Welcome to Kristin and Eva's Paint Party Friday! This is a greeting card (3 1/2" x 5") that I did in permanent markers, everyone seems to love flowers, good for all sorts of occasions.

Touchscreen running gloves

I picked up these touchscreen running gloves for son K when I was at Costco the other day. I didn't know they had such features now. May be they will start selling regular touchscreen gloves for us all to wear in the winter!

Scribble Picnic - Stars

Here are my 'stars' around a campfire for Michael's Scribble Picnic. They are done on textured purple cardstock in acrylic (6" x 6").

Fried Cheese Curds

At the airport in Milwaukee there was a hot dog restaurant where we decided to try these fried cheese curds, a staple of the area.  They didn't last long and I was glad we got a chance to try them.

Pewaukee Village

We had some time to stroll Pewaukee Village the day before my nephew's wedding last weekend. It was really hot that day, but we took a little walk along the main street and admired the lakeside.

Frozen Custard

Frozen Custard

Custard Machine

While in Milwaukee for my nephew's wedding last weekend we had some time to stop at Kopp's Frozen Custard to try frozen custard.  It is similar to soft serve ice cream, but of a thicker consistency.  I have included a photo of the custard machine above.  Of course it is delicious.

Milwaukee

We went to a family wedding last weekend in Milwaukee in the USA. It is only an hour and a half flight from Toronto so we were happy about that.

My nephew married his gorgeous bride and it was a wonderful reunion of family and friends.  They were married by one of the bride's girlfriends who had specially taken a course so that she could be ordained to marry the couple.  It was a modern ceremony organized by the young people.  My nephew and his bride wrote their own wedding vows (sniff).  Apparently they weren't allowed to let each other read these vows prior to the ceremony although the minister checked them beforehand.

It was VERY hot that day, and the ceremony was held atop the roof with a view, which was covered with a tarp for shade.  Fortunately, it was air-conditioned downstairs in the banquet hall.  Would you believe the groom's grandmother fainted minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to start.  She was taken away to the hospital and will be fine, it appears it was heatstroke.  She is more embarrassed than anything.  This delayed the ceremony by half an hour but it was beautiful and everything went perfectly after that.

Paint Party Friday - Red Sunset

Welcome to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday! I did a red sunset for you today it is an ACEO
 (2 1/2" x 3 1/2*), acrylic on canvas.  

Alfajores cookies

alfahores

Daughter L brought home an alfajores South American cookie for us to try. They sell them at the Aroma Expresso bar and coffee chain chain. The cookie is made from cornstarch with a dulce de leche filling. Of course it is good.

Milk Chocolate from Ireland

Happy July 4th to the Americans!

Daughter L received this delicious milk chocolate bar from a friend who is home from Ireland for the summer. The friend studies there. It says it is handmade in Cork, Ireland by O'Connaill Chocolate.