Tuesday 4 - Autumn This & That

 It's time again for Tuesday 4 held in memory of Toni Taddeo it's founder and previous host.  

It's Autumn and temperatures in many places will be going down, days will be shorter and leaves will be tumbling down. 

Let's discuss these things.

1. Do lower temperatures bother you or make you uncomfortable and are you more of a warm climate person?

Lower temperatures in Winter bother me now that I'm older but I absolutely love the crisp, cool air that Autumn brings.

2.  Do you like the colors associated with Autumn. Clothing wise do they look good on you?

I love the natural, earthy colours of Autumn.  For most of my adult life I never wore them because I thought I was a "Winter" colour in the seasonal colour personality. These days there are so many colour analysts and they all seem to have their own system for determining what colours look best on you. 

A few years ago I did a colour 'test' through Linda Waldon, personal stylist.  Her system concluded I had a "Copper" pallette which  has all the colours of Autumn. Since then I've slowly been transitioning my clothing purchases to these colours and trying to simplify my wardrobe to make do with less. I'm still working on the less part. I think the Copper colour options make me feel more comfortable and I'm getting some compliments when I dress in these colours.

3. Would you rather:… 

•  .… get lost in a corn maze or go on a hayride?
•  …. visit an apple orchard or a pumpkin patch ?
•  …. eat a caramel apple or  a candy apple?
•   …. Cinnamon buns or Pumpkin muffins? 

All of the above sound good to me!

4. There are 7,500 varieties  of apple.  What is your favorite and do you like apple pie?

 I love crispy, crunchy apples. My favourite varieties that I can buy where I live are: Fuji, Honey Crisp, Gala, Ambrosia Gold & Pink Lady (Cripps Pink). I do love apple pie too; especially the kind made with Granny Smith apples which are now a little too rough against my gums for me to eat raw.

Friday is Here!

Hello everyone,

The week has gone by so fast I forgot it was Friday!

I'm sharing some beautiful sky shots from November 7, 2020. We had such a beautiful, sunny few days and I was very grateful for them. At this time of year they are few and far between.

On Tuesday I mailed some parcels to my niece and nephew for Advent. I still have to prepare their Christmas presents. It has been raining all week and this past Wednesday we had a holiday when we pause in our day to day activities and remember those men and women who have served us in the various wars. In addition to remembrance, I used some time in the day to prepare snail mail to send to a friend.

Despite my desire to get the garden cleared up and patio furniture put away by the end of October,  I still haven't done it. Today is Thursday and it rained more heavily than usual. But tonight I went out and purchased a patio table cover to help in the task. My plan is to wash the patio chair covers and the patio table and cover them all up for the winter.

 

I've been busy this week dealing with a few small items I've been procrastinating about for one reason or another. I didn't do any decluttering.  But one floor fan went to the recycling center. Even though it works, it is on it's last legs. As always there was lots of paper and containers that needed to go to recycling too. Those ones I just take to the recycling room.

A few days ago, our top doctor in the province brought in new restrictions due to ever climbing Covid 19 numbers and the country's top doctor recommended wearing 3 ply masks. I went out and bought another box of masks in addition to what I already have on hand. I also bought toilet paper and hope to buy some more this weekend. I don't go crazy and stock pile but want to make sure I have a reasonable amount of paper on hand this time in case more measures are brought in in two weeks.

We have at least been eating well during this rainy, cold season and I've probably spent more energy thinking of a variety of meals each week and more time cooking them than I normally do. It keeps me occupied during these difficult times and also makes me think of ways to use a variety of fruits and vegetables and other foods that I find in the weekly sales.

This first dish is roast beef covered in bacon before the final roasting. In the pot are onions, cauliflower and red peppers. On the side I made brown rice and green peas.

Another day we had spaghettini topped with a stir fry of big prawns, broccoli, cauliflower, onions and red peppers in a garlic-soy sauce. Wednesday night I made ham and pea soup but didn't take a photo.

Did any of you watch the Country Music Association Awards (CMAs) on Wednesday night?  I did and I watched it again on Thursday night on my PVR to enjoy the performances a 2nd time. Especially wonderful was seeing the great Charley Pride who received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. I remember listening to Charley Pride as a young teenager while I babysat the neighbourhood children for my pocket money. He was really inspiring to me then and he continues to be with his fabulous career and his deeply humble nature. I always wondered how he handled being a "cowboy" as a black man since he would definitely be in the minority.  The CMAA show was great and I enjoyed all the performances by the various bands and performers some of whom I'd never heard of before. I also enjoyed the co-hosting and singing done by Reba McIntyre and Darius Rucker, two great talents. Those of you who are not country music fans may know of Darius Rucker from his days fronting the band, "Hootie and the Blowfish". The band still exists but they took a long hiatus of 10 years while Darius pursued a solo career in country music.

Thursday night I made roast pork with onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Side dishes were mashed potatoes and green peas along with some gravy. It was very chilly outside and I got a bit wet running to stores in the rain so the dish really hit the spot tonight.

Apples seem to be a big feature in the stores right now. I bought a bag of Pink Lady and I'm snacking on those. I also bought a bag of Gala apples which I will likely use to make apple pie or apple crisp, perhaps both. I always think of this beautiful scripture when I see a beautiful apple.

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver."  Proverbs 25:11

This verse reminds me how important it is that we have the right words to say at the right time. I am often in the position of having to know just what to say as it seems people I know do like to talk to me whenever they are going through difficult times. This week a friend of mine is going through marital distress. I try to say the right things that would not only be scriptural but also comforting. I sure hope that things work out for the good of everyone in this situation.

 Last, but not least, I enjoyed a few pomegranates this week.

 “Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates
With choice fruits, henna with nard plants," Song of Songs 4:13
 

Pomegranates are so delicious. I love the juicy seeds and I'd like to get more.  But soon we'll be fully in the season of mandarin oranges and I buy a lot of oranges in the lead up to Christmas.

I remember a funny story from when I was very young, in Grade 4. A boy in my classroom used to come to school every day with his lunch which consisted of 1 package of deli meats, 1 entire loaf of white bread and 1 pomegranate. He ate it all every day. I remember being amazed by that and also being intrigued by the pomegranate which no one else I knew ate. In fact, I only knew the name of the fruit from the Bible but no one ate it that I knew of except for this one boy. It's funny the memories that remain with us through our lifetimes. I often think of that boy when I eat a pomegranate and wonder what happened to him. I don't recall his name.

With that I wish you all a wonderful weekend and a safe weekend ahead.

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Fall in Vancouver

 I'm continuing the Fall theme in this post. 

The trees photos were taken on Tuesday late afternoon when I was out running errands. I was looking for one small item and ended up having to go to four (4) different stores to find it. It is a simple little thing called a plate or tray hanger. You used to be able to find them almost anywhere.  Now I think they are becoming extinct though you can buy them on Amazon.  I found what I wanted at Michael's. The fact is, I knew that Michael's carried what I needed because I looked on line first.  But I was hoping to find them in one of the small stores near to where I live.

In the short video I am standing in the parking lot of a grocery store and looking down over Broadway Avenue. One block to the west (to the left of the scene in the video) they are connecting the street with a subway line that will eventually go out to the University of British Columbia.  This transportation option is long awaited and long overdue. The building of it has already started.

Once I picked up what I needed at Michael's, I was famished and had this lovely Teriyaki Beef Bento Box for dinner. The small restaurant where I ate was packed with diners.  They were mostly police officers on meal break but I was too tired to look for another restaurant.  At least the restaurant did have hand sanitizing and social distancing measures in place.

The next few photos are of my garden  and were taken Thursday, October 1st. The blooms are hanging in there so I haven't plucked anything up yet.  In fact, if I have time in the next week or so, I hope to try out my brother's camera lenses again.  I think the photos below were taken with my camera and the prime lens that came with it.

Here are a few more photos from Tuesday night's outing.

I found these apples growing on this tree amidst the high rises. I didn't pick them.

This blue sky photo was taken on Monday night.

 A book I recently completed and can recommend is:

It's a book about slavery, the underground railway and the magical, mystical powers of some of the people who helped their own as best they could. I did not know before reading this book, that the author and journalist, Ta-Nehisi Coates, has also written a Black Panther series for Marvel Comics. That was a happy connection for me as I very much enjoyed watching the movie, Black Panther.  I was saddened by the recent loss of one of it's lead actors, Chadwick Boseman, who by all accounts was not only a fabulous actor but a very fine human being. The more I read about him and what he did in his short life, the more I realize what a great loss it really is.  May his family and loved ones be comforted and may his legacy continue to impact many people around the globe. ♥♥♥

 

 Happy Friday and Happy Weekend to you all. Stay safe.

Joining in with Skywatch Friday today.

A Sweet Tooth

Lately, I've been craving apple pie so I purchased a few small apples last week in anticipation of making it.  Today I noticed the apples were going a bit soft and as I wasn't up to making pie crust, I decided to make some apple crumble instead.

This was my first attempt at making this dish though I have eaten it from time to time. I knew before hand that it is not too difficult to make so I googled a diabetic recipe.  The following recipe came up but somehow I don't think it is that diabetic friendly. I'll have to look for another one but in the meantime, this one will be eaten.  I did reduce the sugar and the oil and increased the oats so that will help a bit.

Recipe from IFood

Ingredients

* 4 large cooking apples

* 4 tbsp olive oil

* Zest and juice of 1 large lemon

* 3/4 cups of sugar (any kind will do). I like brown.

* 2 pinches of ground cinnamon

* 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter

* 1 cup plain flour (I increased this slightly by about 1/4 cup)

* 5/8 cup sugar (I reduced this to about 1/2 cup)

* 1/8 cup porridge oats (I increased this slightly). 

Directions

1. Peel and core the apples and cut into large chunks.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the lemon zest and juice, sugar, cinnamon and then add the apples. Cook for 5 mins to soften slightly.
3. Tip into a large baking dish.
4. Place the cold butter and flour into a food processor and pulse until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
5. Tip into a bowl and stir through the extra sugar (1/2) carefully. Spoon over the top of the stewed apples and sprinkle over the oats.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 mins or until well-browned. Serve your apple crumble plain or with custard or ice cream.  Today we had French vanilla ice cream to go with the crumble.

This dish was delicious and I highly recommend it. It was made special by the addition of the lemon juice and lemon rind which really enhanced the overall flavour of the dish. 

Bon appetit!