Time for a Mammogram

 Frozen bananas, blueberries and raspberries with milk.  The milk froze around the fruit like ice cream, so good!

I went for a mammogram on the 22nd, it is recommended every two years.  This place is so efficient and quick, if painful.  They took me ten minutes early, did a temperature check and I was out in half an hour.  They promised results within 5 business days, that sounded quite quick.

Lunchtime

 Sharing a recent lunch I had with you today.  It is half a homemade onion bun, scrambled eggs with cheese and some broccoli sauteed with basil.

Natalia had posted a simple recipe for her homemade sauerkraut and I was thinking of trying it.  My family asked me to make more bread instead, as sauerkraut is easy enough to get at the grocery store.  So that is why I had some onion bread for lunch!  The onion bread is a favourite and also Natalia's recipe!

 

Fresh jalapenos

 My friend S dropped off these lovely jalapenos along with some fresh basil and kale.  So I was busy that morning making kale chips, kale stem pesto, and I will use the jalapenos in some chili I plan to make another day.  S is adjusting to new covid school routines in her job as a school administrator.  

The Dream

 I decided to throw some frozen blueberries into my salad the other day and they were delicious!

So the other night, I dreamt that I was getting my hair cut at this inexpensive salon near my grocery store.  After giving some brief instructions to the hairdresser, it didn't seem to be going well, in fact it was looking awful...then I woke up.  I think it means I am ready for a haircut, it has been at least 6 months.  We will see as we seem to be going into a 2nd wave of Covid, Ontario's numbers are back up to where they were in June at the peak.

Garlic and Herb Biscuits

 I got this recipe from Nicole.  I just realized I forgot to add the grated cheese, I guess I will just have to make it again!  It is delicious anyway!

1/2c grated cheese

2 c flour

1 tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 egg

2/3c milk

1/3 c butter

topping

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

2-3 tbs butter 

makes approx 12 biscuits

400F

grease or line a cookie sheet

In a bowl, combine grated cheese, flour, baking powder, salt,

garlic powder.

In another bowl combine egg, milk, butter

Mix (barely) with dry ingredients

Drop by tablespoons onto cookie sheet

bake 10 mins

While these are baking, melt 2-3 tbs butter

add italian seasoning, brush over biscuits, bake 5 more mins

NB I did 350F 7 mins in my hot oven, then another 3 mins after brushing.

Paint Party Friday - Leaf Shadows Through the Curtains ACEO

 Welcome to Paint Party Friday!  This is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in permanent marker on cardstock.  It depicts leaf shadows thru the curtains.  I folded the paper in places to give it some texture.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Crops and Farming

 Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date.  The theme is 'crops and farming'.  I did a cabbage patch ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in alcohol ink markers  on cardstock.

A Savoury Strudel

 Martha at Seaside Simplicity posted this savoury strudel on her website and it was delicious.  I got comments like 'it looks professional'.

I used sausage, eggs, onions and celery in mine.  Of course I don't make my own puff pastry, the sheets are readily available at the grocery store here.

The torn cheque

 I was careless opening the mail the other day and didn't realize I was tearing a cheque by mistake.  I took it to the bank teller and she taped it up and deposited it for me!  Many people now just take photos and deposit their cheques via their phone apps, but I am not comfortable doing that yet.  It is a lack of trust of the security.

So my friend A came by a couple of weeks ago for her birthday walk.  We ended up having coffee and a snack in my backyard afterward.  The weather was gorgeous, on the cooler side.  It was a lot better than getting takeout coffee from the coffee shop in these times.

And today is officially the first day of FALL!

Grass Faux Pas

 

The above photo has an interesting list of Canadian products.

So I am talking to this neighbour a few weeks ago, he always walks by with his dog and sometimes his lookalike son. He was saying no matter how brown the grass gets it always comes back. I say ‘I know! There’s this house around the corner they never water their grass and I was surprised their grass did come back. Guess where he lives?  I saw him step out of his house one day.

An Easy Apple Strudel

 I found this easy apple strudel recipe and decided to try it.  It did not disappoint!

Luffa Sponges

 My neighbour had given me these Luffa gourds from his garden.  They are delicious stir fried but Martha at Seaside Simplicity mentioned that they are also used as sponges, then I thought, of course I have seen those luffa sponges.  Here is a neat video showing how the sponges are made.

Paint Party Friday - Best Friends ACEO

 Welcome to Paint Party Friday!  This is a 'Best Friends' ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").  It is done from a photo my nephew shared of his family's dog and cat who are apparently the best of friends as you can see here.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Architecture ACEO

 Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date! For the 'Architecture' theme, I did the Duomo in Florence, Italy.  It is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on canvas outlined with a PITT pen and coloured in with permanent markers.  Even a quick sketch like this impresses me with the many details of this period.  The cathedral was started in 1296 and completed in 1436.

My kale stem pesto

 

My friend S dropped of some fresh kale from her sister's farm recently. I always make kale chips with the leaves but she told me I should use the stems somehow.

So I found a pesto recipe I can make from kale stems and was very happy with it! I would not add the extra salt to the recipe as the parmesan cheese has enough. But basically you just blanche the kale stems for about 3 minutes. Then I used a food processor (a blender would work too) to blend the kale with olive oil, parmesan cheese, chopped garlic, roasted sunflower seeds, pepper and some lemon juice. It is good with crackers or even mixed into pasta.  The pesto can be frozen portion size in freezer bags.

My sister teased that I am becoming quite the chef, the person who hates cleaning her food processor.  Also I had some newly expired, roasted sunflower seeds so I did cheat.

Some Funnies

 

My Cinnamon Rolls

 Thanks to getting the perfect recipe (comparable to Cinnabon) from my sister, I made these moist and delicious cinnamon rolls recently.  This will be my 'go to' recipe for cinnamon rolls.

I leave some without icing, they taste just as good without in my opinion and save on eating all that sugar.

Cheese and Onion Muffins

 I made these cheese and onion muffins based on a recipe Gloria of Canela Kitchen shared recently.

I didn't have chives that Gloria used but I did have a packet of dried chopped onions.  The 2nd photo shows the muffin with a slice of bacon inside.

makes 12 muffins

2 1/2c self rising flour  (1 1/4 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt)

1/2c parmesan

1 tbs dried chives (or use dried chopped onion)

2 eggs

1 c milk

pre heat oven to 350F   (I did 300F in my hot oven)

grease muffin tray

(I found that liners stick in this recipe)

In a large bowl, mix salt, cheese and onions in  a large bowl

whisk milk and eggs

add these to the dry ingredients

spoon into greased muffin tray

bake 20 min.  

Note I baked at 300F in my hot oven for approx 15 mins)

No Hard Feelings

This is one of my sunflowers from seed, the photos taken on September 3rd last week. It was just about to open! 

Here is the sunflower on September 8th!

And here it was the next day!

And then the next morning it seems someone had come by and clipped the bloom off,  Luckily I had taken the photo in its short glory.  It left us with an awful feeling, what to do?  Then I noticed the bright yellow petals scattered on the ground on the neighbour's driveway, the seed pod missing.  As my sister suspected, we think it is the animals.  Squirrels abound and I can just imagine one scurrying up the stake and taking a bite!  Everyone needs to eat I say, no hard feelings!

I noticed when the squirrel bit the head of the sunflower off, he seemed to know to take it just above the leaves, sort of like good pruning.  Nature is awesome.

Paint Party Friday - Rice Plant ACEO

 For Paint Party Friday I did a flowering rice plant ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on green cardstock.  I was inspired by a post Rough Terrain Crane did on rice recently.  Do you know rice is in the grass family, I never even thought about it.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Eyes and Ears

 

Welcome to Rain'sThursday Art Date.  The theme is 'eyes and ears'.  I did an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in alcohol inks.

A cute card

 A couple of daughter L's best friends gave her this card with chocolates to celebrate her recent engagement.  Isn't the card cute?

Chinese Okra

 My neighbours next door gave us these Chinese Okra from their garden recently.  They are quite long, maybe 18 inches.

The Chinese name is 'si gua', also known in English as 'luffa'.  It cooked up very quickly, simmered in chunks for about a minute and is very mild tasting.  The skin has to be peeled off.

The neighbours are so nice, they have given us some very tender Japanese eggplant and also some tomatoes.

A birthday

A vignette from my backyard

 

a larger view of the flowers

It is the Labour Day long weekend here, it marks the end of the summer season.  I have made plans to walk with a friend at the end of this week.  She (correctly) decided we should wear our masks as we are not in the same small social circle.  We plan to get coffee at Panera Bread and perhaps sit on a public bench nearby.  It is her birthday weekend and we have not seen each other since the pandemic started.  

Beer battered fillets

These are Highliner beer battered fillets.  They are quite good and it saves the mess of making one's own especially if they are on sale.  We do love fried food on occasion.  

Times have changed

 I didn't get this one immediately but it is a good one!

This is an interesting article from a 1958 McCall Magazine.  It features advice on how to get a husband.

Times have changed.

Paint Party Friday - Quintuple Rainbow ACEO

 Welcome to Paint Party Friday!  This a Quintuple Rainbow, an ACEO ( 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on canvas in permanent markers (and alcoholic ink marker for the blue background).  I have seen photographs of these quintuple rainbows so they do exist.  Hope this gives you a happy feeling today!  This one looks more of an abstract I realize.  

Rain's Thursday Art Date - The Masters

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date's 'The Masters' theme.

 I decided to do my take on Picasso's 'Bouquet of Peace'.  You can see his painting and information on his art if you follow the link.  In Picasso's painting, the hands holding the flowers are of two different people as they are both right hands, but you may not notice at first glance.  I did the same in my piece which is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") on canvas outlined with a Pentel Sketch pen and coloured in with alcohol ink markers. 

May years ago I had bought an inexpensive print of this Picasso painting because I just loved it.  A friend saw it and wondered how it could be considered good art.  It did not appeal to her and as such art is very subjective isn't it?

Paper agenda

Well it is that time of year, I bought my 2021 paper agenda/planner. Yes I still use one, how about you?

My September 2020 Calendar Page

 

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower - Albert Camus"

I am sharing my calendar page and quote for September with you today.  Happy September!