Saturday October 16, 2010

Only another week ...

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Monday, October 2 2010

Canadian Thanksgiving today. As there are just the three of us here, I decided against going the full turkey, and went with the partial turkey: two legs, two thighs.

We deboned the thighs, and spread stuffing on them, and rolled them up. Rubbed the skin with butter, salt and pepper and popped into a hot oven. Meanwhile, we started on the stock by browning some turkey backs and then adding onions, celery and carrots.

Almost done ...

Meanwhile, we made some cranberry jelly.

 Success!

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And now, some relaxing music and pretty pictures.

Sunday, October 10 2010

Today is Double Ten day - or rather Triple Ten day - Taiwan's National day. It used to be a fairly big celebration in Hong Kong in the Eighties but for some reason barely registers there any more.

Here in Toronto, we still celebrate it by holding the final Farmer's Market of the year. Of course, in deference to Sino-Canadian relations, Taiwan is represented by root vegetables and gluten-free chocolate cake.

As befits the last market of the year, it was a spectacularly gorgeous day, rising to a giddy 22 C. 

I took a few pictures:

See, I wasn't kidding about the gluten free ...

This guy used to be in some lame job in Hong Kong, realized how lame it was (are you listening, kids?), and decided to come here and take up pottery instead. He now has a studio just round the corner from us.

My burger buddy, Nick.

My burger.

Nick.

Serena with Andy, who gives her her Saturday job.

Alexias decided to sing.

So, that's it for Unionville Farmer's Market 2010. Thanks to everyone for the tomatoes, the Hungarian bell peppers, the artisanal cheeses and breads, the plums, pears, berries, grapes, apples and - of course - the burgers. See you all in June 2011!

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Saturday, October 9 2010

This morning, Serena and I got up at 6 something to get ready for her Saturday Farmer's Market job, only to find she wasn't needed. So, today became 'The Day Of Doing Stuff'. In no particular order, we:

• Moved the lawn. I am guessing this is the penultimate mowing this year.
• Did laundry.
• Cleaned and swept.
• Baked a whole box of apples that our neighbour gave us and made it into a very tasty apple sauce.
• Boiled all the apple cores, strained and added sugar and lemon juice for a refreshing apple drink.
• Cleaned the kitchen. Again.
• Got both mixing boards working (a Behringer Eurodesk 3282A and Mackie 24.8). I will put both up for sale and keep one.
• Replaced the belt on my turntable. Sounds almost OK now.
• Went off to Wing-It for a chicken wing and salad dinner. They have about 60 kinds of wings but we settled on three: spicy bbq, lemon pepper, and creamy spicy garlic and parmesan. Beer, ice tea and lemonade. Serena asked for an Alrnold Palmer, but the waitress didn't know what it was and Serena wasn't sure. For future reference, it is a half iced tea, half lemonade.  The John Daly is an Arnold Palmer with a boatload of alcohol. For true authenticity, it should be served by a white-trash cocktail waitress.

The remainder of the day was spent relaxing.

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I was going to post a youtube link here to a T-Rex song. But the comments in the link are just so disgusting, having degenerated into the usual foul-mouthed uneducated debate that floods the internet like dog urine in Jardine's Lookout. I wonder, is this normal? Is it because there are so many voices now that the winner is just the one who screams the loudest, regardless of what they are saying? I know some of these people are a) male and b) 14, so they barely register as human, but many of them are adults. What is their excuse?

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Final day of the local Farmer's Market tomorrow. Burgers at 12:3 with Nick. Must remember to get his email address.

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Friday, October 8 2010

The girls went to Cosmo to practise drums after school. After that, sushi dinner at Richlane then they went off to the local arena for Rock Jam, which is held every Friday from 7-9pm. Just a few kids and a music teacher, learning to play as a band and respect each other's views and talents.

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Blondie were responsible for some great songs, and some great love songs in the late 70s/early 80s, Debbie Harry being the heartthrob for millions of teenage boys - and girls. This is one of my favourites from the album Parallel Lines,

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Thursday, October 7 2010

While I have been locked out of my upstairs kitchen, it did give me a chance to try out the kitchen in the basement, or B1 as it is known. Most of the things I made were quite mundane, though I did make a bolognese sauce using the canned tomatoes I had put away from summer. Very tasty.

I also bought a small beef roast - about 1.5 kg - as I saw the oven downstairs came with a probe attachment. This you stick into the meat, set it to the internal temperature you want, in my case 150C, and then the oven automatically turns off when it is reached.

I seasoned the roast with just salt and pepper though I think it could have taken a lot more seasoning, probably because it was quite a lean cut.

Served with roasties, a spinach and feta salad, and a gallon of gravy.

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Wednesday, October 6 2010

Well ... kind of a blanket update here.

For starters, the stove went out upstairs. I was in the middle of frying some chicken when I realised I didn't hear any sizzling sounds any more. I checked the breakers downstairs - they were all fine. I also noticed that the two ovens also were out, so I figured it must be something electrical, as opposed to appliance-related.

Then I looked at the big round glass fuses that are in a small fuse box in the kitchen, and that I assume have something to do with the stove. They looked OK, but I went out the next day and got replacements anyway. Still no luck. Another day went by, I called the landlord and he came by and fiddled with the breakers to no avail.

Next day: the elecrician. He fiddled with the breakers and a meter, finding out that the appliances were only getting 110v instead of the full 240v.

Next day: he came back with replacement breakers, only to find they were the wrong kind.

Two days later: finally came by with the right breakers, but the appliances still didn't work. An hour later, he had sorted it all out and everything worked.

After all that, the landlord told me: "You know, if he couldn't fix it, I was going to take it all out and replace it with gas!"

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