Brussels Sprouts Soup

This is all that is left of my brussels sprouts soup. I had a package of frozen brussels sprouts and made a soup out of it. I sauteed some onions, added the sprouts, a teaspoon of dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and a box of low sodium chicken stock to the pot. After simmering for half an hour, I mashed the softened sprouts with a potato masher. It was delicious, healthy and low carb.

I have a food processor, but it seemed easier to mash the vegetables manually.  They retained a bit of texture this way too.

Happy last day of February!

A new face - ten dollar bill

I noticed that we have a ten dollar bill with a new face, that of Viola Desmond.  She is Canada's Rosa Parks.   It is the first time a Canadian woman has appeared on Canadian currency.  Desmond was a cosmetics pioneer for black women and ran a succesful business.  In 1946 she entered a segregated movie theatre and was asked to move from a good seat.  She refused and was jailed.  You can read about this here.  

cardboard straw

cardboard straw

garden salad

prime rib

We went out for a nice steak dinner this past weekend. I had been feeling tired for days and thought I could use some iron. It is interesting that the restaurant is now serving drinks with cardboard straws. I heard that one restaurant is using pasta strands as straws (penne?).

Vegetarians and Iron

eggplant art

If you are thinking of becoming vegetarian (I  am not), you have to ensure that you are getting enough iron in your diet.  I learned that there are 2 types of iron, heme and non-heme.  Heme is the readily absorbed iron in meats and fish. Non-heme iron is found in legumes and some vegetables.  Non-heme iron is not readily absorbed by the body.  You need to eat the non-heme foods with citrus and other vitamin C foods which help greatly in the absorption of iron.  Here is a good article you might want to read concerning this topic.

Mushrooms and Peppers

Mushrooms are on sale this week so I decided to roast some with peppers:

2 227g packages of white mushrooms, cut in half
3 or 4 red peppers sliced
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
3 or 4 tbs olive oil
3 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs white sugar
1 tsp dried basil
1 clove of garlic minced
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped

pre heat the oven to 350F

mix all ingredients together on a tray lined with parchment paper
bake for about 20 minutes.

Fruit Salad

Here is my colourful fruit salad for you today, 2 servings of fruit.

Ivy was telling me that there seems to be a trend on the west coast (California, Vancouver) to go vegetarian.  In fact, one of my nieces in California has roommates who are vegetarian, they make wonderful vegetarian meals that they share with each other.  My sister thinks the trend is due to a desire to save/preserve our environment.

Paint Party Friday - Seascape ACEO

Welcome to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday! I did an ACEO Seascape on canvas (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") for you today. It is done with permanent markers and Sharpie oil paint white marker.

Healthy Salad

Just sharing a healthy salad I made for myself recently, that would be 2 vegetable servings for me for the day!

Scribble Picnic - Hearts

Welcome to Scribble Picnic kindly hosted by Michael. The current theme is 'hearts'. Here is my piece, a greeting card on pink card stock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") in permanent marker. My inspiration for hearts was in the jewelry I designed, haha.

Autoshow 2019

Lego Bugatti

Son K and I went to the Autoshow which is now on in downtown Toronto, we go every year. One of the highlights this year is this Bugatti contructed out of a million pieces of Lego. It took a year to build and required a whole team of people and one designer.

Wonderful Gifts

Lissa sent me these wonderful gifts last week, I was the winner of a birthday contest she ran on her blog as a way of celebrating her own birthday. I chose a couple of books that I am enjoying reading. Thanks again Lissa, you are beyond generous, a sweet friend.

On Mothers

dinosaur baby

I know this 89 year old woman whose son recently had some kidney stones removed.  She was so worried about how he was doing and the fact that it is a very painful condition.  It is not life threatening but it made me realize that a mother will always worry about her children no matter what.

It would have been my mother's 81st birthday today, I do miss her. I realized I took her for granted as she was always there for me and my siblings.  She wasn't perfect mind you, but none of us are, we just try to do our best.

Some good nutrition info

I got some good, current nutrition information, a diet sheet, from one of our doctors and wanted to share it with you today:

It advises avoiding breads and grains as much as possible.  Use sugars rarely and in small amounts.  Surprisingly it says to avoid canola oil, margarine, vegetable oil and recommends olive oil, coconut oil, butter, animal fats. It advises drinking water, coffee, tea  (no sugar, cream is fine).  Avoid regular and diet soda and fruit juice.  It advises eating full fat plain yogurt, full fat milk and avoiding skim milk and low fat dairy.  There are lots of surprises, have a look.

This page deals with added/hidden sugars:

A tablespoon of ketchup has a teaspoon of sugar added. I knew that a can of regular soda had 10 teaspoons of sugar added. It advises against using artificial sweeteners they may impact insulin, worsen cravings and stall weight loss. Diabetics should check their blood sugar response when using any artificial sweeteners.

Paint Party Friday - Deer

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I did a greeting card on textured pink cardstock (4 1/2" x 1/2") in acrylic of a deer based on a photo Jenn took and posted on her blog.

Happy Valentine's Day 2019

I was working on a card for an upcoming Scribble Picnic 'hearts' theme due Feb 20th and ended up with 2 greeting cards on pink card stock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2"). Here is one of them done in permanent markers. I thought it would be perfect to post for today.

Have a wonderful Valentine's Day if you are celebrating.  Maybe I should have some chocolate.

A nice lunch

snowflakes

My godmother was in town recently so I took her to lunch at Swiss Chalet.  She had never been there, she lives in the US and they don't have that restaurant chain there.  We had a nice rotisserie chicken lunch.  Both she and her husband will turn 80 this year.  We had a nice chat just the two of us.  She has started going on these seniors bus tours every year and quite enjoys them.  At this stage of her life it is a good thing to do.

Ghost Apple

ACEO on canvas in permanent marker and sharpie white marker

I was watching the weather channel and they spoke about these ghost apples being formed from rotten apples after an ice storm.  When the tree was shaken, the rotten apple fell out of the ice shell leaving the 'ghost' apple shell behind.   I thought it was interesting.  Here is a story on that with a photo.

A nice roast

I did a triple A sirloin tip roast recently and was happy with the result. It was a clearance cut at 50% off at Walmart. It is so easy to find instructions on google these days. After marinating the meat, I pre-heated the oven to 325F. The nearly 2 pound cut was roasted for 55 minutes. I even inserted a thermometer to ensure it reached 140F and it was a perfect medium! It will make a lot of sandwiches.

The new Canada food guide encourages us to eat more at home and this meat is a lot better than buying pre-sliced deli meat for sandwiches too.

Goat's Cheese

One of my sisters made her own goat cheese recently and said it was so easy. She sent this photo of the packet she used with the instructions printed on it. Maybe you can try making our own? I will leave that to people like Rain.

Rotary Phone

Reindeer ACEO

In case you haven't heard of this one yet, these teens had the hardest time trying to figure out how to dial an old rotary telephone.  They were given 4 minutes to complete the task.  This article has the video at the end of it.  My kids had better not give me a hard time with adapting to new technology after they see this one!

Paint Party Friday - Beautiful Model

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I painted my version (attempt) of a beautiful model in my sketchbook (9 x 12") in pencil, watercolour pencil and acrylic for you today. It is based on a photo of Duckie Thot for L'Oreal that I saw in a magazine recently. I thought her features were perfect and I liked the chain she wore.  Duckie is an Australian model of South  Sudanese descent.

On human interaction

cardinal

Well I was finally able to walk to church this past Sunday as the temperatures hit 5C (41F).  Afterwards I met up with my friend S, it had been a month since our last meetup.  It was nice to get back to the routine.  The pathways were plowed for the most part, except when I cut through one park, it got a bit treacherous in spots. 

At the drug store I noticed they had put in those automatic kiosks for self checkout.  It made me sorry for the regular cashiers, they must feel threatened for their jobs.  S says she is quite happy to use the kiosks if there is a lineup.  So much for human interaction.

Scribble Picnic - Market

Welcome to Scribble Picnic's 'Market' theme. I did a (9" x 12") piece in my sketchbook in permanent marker, outlined with a PITT fine point marker.  

Blue Jays

This is a great photo of blue jays weathering a harsh winter storm in at a bird feeder in southern Ontario in Canada.

My truth

One of my sisters sent this to me thinking it sounded like me. I loved it. JOMO - Joy of missing out. Feeling content with staying in and disconnecting as a form of self-care.  That is my truth sometimes.  Large parties and gatherings among people you don't really know have never appealed to me.  Going out for the sake of going out must be for extroverts.

Some mild Italian sausages

Winter Scene

I bought some mild Italian sausages clearing at 30% off the other day. They are easy to prepare. First I will saute some chopped onions, then brown the sausages with the onions. Next I will add about a half cup of water and simmer them covered for 25 minutes. Husband M had gone to the gym. Looking forward to eating the sausages, he picked up a jar of Polish sauerkraut on the way home, to go with them.

Enjoy the Superbowl today if you are a fan! I googled some of the commercials a few days ago.

Plans made and cancelled

Hot Cuppa

This week, I braved the record cold temperatures to get my hair cut and coloured as I do regularly.  It was so tempting to cancel, but the weather was sunny and the ground was clear of snow and ice.  I mentioned to the hairdresser's assistant that I hadn't walked with my friend S all month, we had been forced to cancel every week due to the weather.  The assistant said she had cancelled meeting with friends for weeks for the same reason.  Plans were made then cancelled at the last minute.  I am sure this must have happened to many others.  We were all spoiled with a mild winter the year before.

I actually saw a poor bird in a tree this week.  He wasn't moving much, just a bit.

Paint Party Friday - February 2019 Calendar Page

Welcome to Eva and Kristin's Paint Party Friday! I am showing my February 2019 Calendar page from a calendar of my art that I had printed up with quotes. It is an ACEO on canvas piece I had done in acrylic. The quote I chose to go with it says'no winter lasts forever, no spring skips its turn'.

Welcome to February as we skip through 2019.