Tag Archives: husband

Happy Birthday, Kevin

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…. today we celebrated K’s birthday

After spending most of the day at the cross country meet with the kids, it was nice to dress up and put on a little make-up. My two daughters and their significant others met us at a very nice French restaurant to celebrate K’s birthday.

Earlier in the day my father phoned K to wish him a happy birthday, my aunt gave him a new book and our son phoned from Rotterdam. Apparently he’ll be coming to Canada on business in a couple of weeks. I wish we could see him but he’ll be in Montreal and I don’t know how long he’ll be there or how busy he’ll be. The good news is that he’ll be home for Christmas for about 4 weeks before he has to go back to the Netherlands.

The restaurant where we had dinner is called Merlot’s and is situated in the west end of Toronto in the Kingsway. Our waiter was fantastic and the food was wonderful. It was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday night. Reservations are highly recommended.

My appetizer, smoked salmon on a bed of mixed salad.

“Make a wish!”

Today I put on a dress that I haven’t worn before because it was a little tight over the hips. It fits perfectly now and I think it looks great. Back on the diet tomorrow so that I can continue to wear it. Cheers!

 

 

What Do You Do With Nine Pounds of Plums?

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…..make plum jam of course

I love plum cake, plum jam and Polish donuts with plum filling.

It’s part of my German upbringing. Every August/September, growing up, my mom would make ‘pflaumenkuchen mit streusel’ and serve it with freshly whipped cream. It was truly special.

Months after my mother’s death I purchased a plum cake from a local bakery situated near the cottage. When I served it, my youngest daughter started to cry because it reminded her of her Oma. No one, in her young memory made a better pflaumenkuchen.

I have tried to recreate her recipe. Of course she didn’t share the recipe with us and we only have our memories of the taste and appearance to go by. My father’s wife makes a wonderful version of this traditional German cake but always makes it with a yeast dough. I’m pretty sure that Mom used a batter made with butter, flour, sugar and baking powder.

http://www.huettenhilfe.de/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Pflaumenkuchen.jpg

Ah, memories…… however, I am trying to lose more weight and baking a plum cake right now would be counter productive. So most of the plums that we bought have gone into making plum jam and most of the jars will be gifted to family and friends.

My husband found an interesting recipe from a cookbook called My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss. It uses less sugar than most jams and is baked in the oven for 2 hours. We’ve tweaked the recipe somewhat and doubled the amounts suggested in the original recipe. I also love the name ‘Pflaumenmus’. If you’d like the original recipe go to: http://www.foodinjars.com/2012/09/my-berlin-kitchen-giveaway-spiced-plum-butter/

Eight pounds of plums soaking in sugar, cinnamon and cloves.

Pflaumenmus (Spiced Plum Butter)

8 pounds of Italian plums, washed, quartered and pitted

4 cups of sugar

4 cinnamon sticks

8 cloves or 2 tsp. ground cloves

1. Place the washed, quartered and pitted plums in a large ovenproof pot or baking dish.

2. Sprinkle the sugar and  cloves over the plums and place the cinnamon sticks under the plums.

3. Place the pan or pot in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

4. Put the pan of plums in a preheated oven (350 degrees) and bake for 2 hours.

5. Here is where we tweaked the recipe. The mixture was very soupy so we put the pan on the stovetop and cooked it longer until some of the liquid cooked down.

6. Place the mixture in a blender or use an immersion blender and puree the mixture until you get the desired consistency. If you like a chunkier jam, blend less and longer if you like  it smoother.

7. Place the hot jam in hot sterilized jars. Make sure that the rims are clean and place the lids carefully on top and screw on the rings.

8. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Three of the 14 jars of Pflaumenmus we made with 8 pounds of plums.

 Enjoy!

To Market, to Market…..

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…. and a few wineries to boot

Yesterday on our trip to the Niagara region our intention was to seek out a few farmers’ markets. I really wanted to purchase a large quantity of Italian plums for canning. Our first stop was in Beamsville where the market consisted of 9 vendors. It was rather overcast and everyone was afraid of being rained out.

None the less we found a few things to purchase and the vendors were very friendly and talkative. One thing I learned was that the fruit farmers in the area lost about 85% of their cherry and plum crop earlier in the spring because of frost. No plums at this market. On to the next stop.

Nothing says ‘autumn’ like a cornucopia of gourds, squash and pumpkins.

These radishes look like they’re on steroids.

Our next three stops were at wineries, Megalomaniac, Featherstone and 13th Street. All of them were very busy because we chose to drive to the Niagara Region during The Niagara Wine Festival.

The entrance to Megalomanic. An interesting place because it’s built into a hill.

A close-up of the door handles on those beautiful doors.

The tasting room was very busy today. We didn’t stay to sample but based on past experience they make an excellent white wine.

Our next stop was at a much smaller vineyard called Featherstone. This is where I posted the sign about welcoming dogs on leashes. This was a much more intimate experience and we were able to speak to the staff about the product. The owners actually own a Jack Russell Terrier that has his own doghouse made from a wine barrel.

The tasting room is inside this quaint little cottage.

Bocci is the dog’s name.

We stopped at one more winery, 13th Street. There was a Hand Made Fair going on at this  place. There were hundreds of people there. Too busy for us. We purchased a jar of Horseradish Garlic Pear condiment to serve with cheese or meat.

We made one more stop at the local cheese factory, The Upper Canada Cheese Co., purchased a smoked maple soft cheese and then drove into St. Davids to have lunch at the Old Winery Restaurant. It was already mid-afternoon and we were very hungry. We made some healthy food choices and thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

Before heading home I was determined to find a roadside stall where I could buy plums. As luck would have it there was a stand not too far from the restaurant and they were selling plums. I was a little shocked at the price, $12.00 for a basket, but I decided it was important to support the local farmers.

Italian plums next to peaches and grapes.

The irony of all of this is that when I got home I had to make a quick stop at Costco to pick up something for school and while I was there I saw Italian plums for $6.99 (5 pounds compared to the 4 pounds in the basket I bought). I bought them as well. Today we started preparing them for plum jam using an old German recipe (I’ll share with you tomorrow).

Eight pounds of plums soaking in sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Tomorrow the entire pan goes into the oven for 2 hours and then pureed and poured into sterilized canning jars.

All in all it was a great day. The sun eventually did come out. We bought a variety of vegetables, fruit, cheese, salami, a condiment and a few bottles of wine. We supported the local economy but more importantly I got to spend some quality time with my husband.

Cheers!

Confession is Good for the Soul

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…..and for quick results on the scale

Earlier in the week I confessed that over the weekend or at least since I’ve been back to school I regained 3 1/2 pounds. Today I’m happy to report that I’ve lost all of it.

I think sharing my ups and downs helps keep me honest and on track. Not only did I admit to the weight gain but I was able to analyze why it happened. One thing that I’ve learned about my body after all these years is that certain foods trigger my urge to eat. Pasta is a killer for me. I also love corn and pork but my digestive system doesn’t and they tend to slow down my metabolism.

Everything in moderation but when I’m trying to lose weight I know that I have to avoid some foods altogether. Years ago, Weight Watchers used to call these foods ‘red light foods’.

I’ve also gotten more sleep in the last few days. I start getting ready for bed by 11:00 and I’m in bed well before midnight. A huge improvement for me. I’m getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night and slightly more on the weekend. The benefits of course are that I’m far more rested and I have a lot more energy.

My new job at school, this week has kept me hopping as well. I’m doing “Art on a Cart” and this week it involved painting. I’ll explain more in a future post but bottom line is I’m on the move in the afternoon more than ever.

Today I made a list of things I wanted to do with my husband. We decided to check out some farmers’ markets in the Niagara region. On our way we stopped at a few wineries as well and I came across this sign. At first I thought how nice it was that they allowed dogs on the premises but I didn’t the get the humour because I only read the top portion. My husband had to direct my eyes to the signature in the bottom corner.

Sometimes choices come with limitations but as this sign points out there are reasons why!

The Joy of Buying New Clothes

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….in smaller sizes

It wasn’t that long ago when I was so happy about getting out of plus sizes and into x-large.   Today most of the tops I bought were large.

I have to admit that I am a bit of a shop-aholic. Today wasn’t the only day that I bought new clothes. Last week after a stressful day at work I headed for my new favourite store, Marshall’s, and tried on at least a dozen tops. Many of the extra larges were too big and I actually went back to the racks to find the same garment in a smaller size. I bought 3 sleeveless tops and I’ve already worn all 3 to work.

I don’t think I’ve ever had as many compliments about what I was wearing as I did last week. Not only were the tops pretty but they actually accentuated my new figure and people really noticed how much weight I’ve lost.

Today I convinced my husband to go with me to Marshall’s again. We had spent hours today making ketchup, cleaning the kitchen, washing the floor and organizing all our newly made canned goods. I really needed to get out. Come to think of it I more or less left it up to K to decide where we would go. I guess Marshall’s was the lesser evil of all the other suggestions that I made.

I spent most of my time looking at the large size rack and took 8 items with me to the dressing room. Only one top was too small and the pants were a little snug. I ended up with 5 items.  I spent just over $100.00. Not bad and all of these tops will take me into the colder weather.

When I got home I knew that I needed to clean out some more of my old clothes that were clearly too big for me. I used to think that looser fitting clothes would look okay but the truth of the matter is that they only make you look bigger than you are. Out with the old!

“Out with the old”…. I’m sure the pile will become bigger. These are only the clothes that were on hangers. I haven’t gone through my dresser drawers and then there are all my winter clothes that are packed away and stored under my bed.

 

 

 

 

I used to reward myself with food. I think I prefer my new reward system.

” In with the new!”….. they look much nicer on me. Maybe I can convince K to take some pictures for a future post.

Images From My New Bike

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…. I finally got out for a long ride on my new bike today

It started out as a beautiful day. I wanted to go to a market and pick up some more fruits and vegetables to can but my husband had other plans.

It would be a shame to let such a sunny morning go to waste by getting in the car and driving to a market. Out came the bikes and the panniers were fastened to the racks on the back of each bike.

We opted to head east toward the city. There are good bike lanes for most of the route. Good thing because traffic was heavier than normal due to road closures this weekend. As always there’s a lot going on in the city of Toronto. Getting there by bike is probably one of the best options to choose. Not only does it give one a good workout but we also didn’t have to worry about the heavy traffic and parking was a breeze.

The other benefit is being able to enjoy the scenery along the way and stopping to take pictures. At the Humber River we have a great foot bridge that on its own is wonderful to photograph but recently a piece of installation art was added that makes it even more interesting.

As you can see from the photos, our beautiful sunny day was quickly becoming overcast but we decided to continue our journey and we rode north to Bloor West Village to take in the sights, sounds and smells of the Ukrainian Festival.

A good part of this ride was all uphill but I’m happy to say I made it all the way without getting off my bike. I put myself in the same mindset when I’m running and just focused on my breathing and only concentrated on the road in front of me.

When we got to Bloor St. a parade was underway. We locked up our bikes and started walking down the street.

The sky got darker and darker as the morning gave over to the afternoon.

When the parade ended we found a relatively quiet cafe and ordered a couple of cappuccinos. We timed it well because the place filled up quickly. After finishing our caffeinated beverages we headed back out on to the street to enjoy the colour and din of the vendors that lined the centre of the road.

We made very few purchases this morning. I’m sure that some of the regular vendors on this strip lose money on weekends like this. We did buy a couple of loaves of fresh bread from Cobbs which we carefully packed into our panniers. We were debating whether to head home or wait out the impending rain. We decided to risk it and ride back. Good thing!  The rain still hasn’t materialized.

As we were riding down the hill (much easier) we became quite chilled so we stopped and put on our fleece jackets. We stopped at the bridge and took some pictures of the city skyline and a lone kayaker coming down the Humber River.

When we got home I checked gmap.pedometer and calculated that we travelled a total of 24 k today. Not bad for the first time on my new bike.

Cheers!

Who Looks Forward to Going to the Doctor?

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…. apparently I do!

It took me over a year to find a new doctor when the last one I had decided to retire. Not that I begrudge anyone the decision to retire. Quite the contrary but when both your doctor and your husband’s doctor decide to leave the medical profession at the same time (no relation to each other) it makes the search doubly hard.

My husband was definite about wanting a male doctor and I didn’t care one way or the other. My former doctor had her own business but for some reason no one wanted to buy it from her and consequently all her patients had to look elsewhere for a new medical facility to meet their needs.

My husband’s former doctor on the other hand was quite young and we’re not quite sure why he left the profession. His office was in a clinic shared by numerous physicians. It was always curious to me why his patients weren’t divided up amongst the other partners.

More than a year after losing our family doctors I went into a tail spin and started to panic about not having my own personal physician. I know that the walk in clinic up the road would do in a pinch but there’s nothing like having a doctor that knows your personal history and recognizes you when you walk in the door.

You may recall my experience of having a feeling of dread the day after my first 5 k race. I felt like I was about to die. It turned out to be an anxiety attack but it spurred me on to find a doctor for each of us.

I called the clinic where my husband used to go on the off chance that someone in the office had taken on some of Dr. S’s former patients. They hadn’t but they did have a new doctor that was taking on new patients and another clinic down the road was also taking new patients. I couldn’t believe my luck.

My husband got his male doctor and I chose to see the female doctor in the other clinic. We both had appointments the following week. Our experiences were quite different, even though both clinics were part of the same organization. We were interviewed by our new doctors and my doctor arranged for me to see a specialist right away for a minor problem that I’ve had in the past. My husband was given numerous tests right away while I had to make another appointment for a full physical.

After one cancellation by my doctor I finally made arrangements to take the day off for 2 separate appointments that were to take place today. When I got home last night there was a message on the phone from the medical clinic’s head office. Not a good sign.

I couldn’t believe my luck. Not only was my appointment cancelled again but this time it happened because the clinic closed down on the weekend for good. No one could tell me if my doctor was relocating or even continuing to practise medicine. After voicing my disappointment I made some inquiries as to whether my husband’s doctor was still taking patients. Apparently he was so I booked another appointment with him for later in the day.

I called my principal and we decided to cancel my supply teacher. I still had my second appointment with the specialist but it was scheduled over the lunch hour and I could easily get to that appointment and back again without too much disruption in my school day. The new appointment was after school hours.

At the end of the school day I attended a budget meeting and then I headed over to meet my newest doctor. I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t get my physical today but I knew that I had to get the process started again.

Dr. V is very young. I’ve always felt that the next doctor should be younger than me so that I wouldn’t have to worry about him or her retiring as I enter into my twilight years. Did I really say that? Anyway the first words out of his mouth were that he wouldn’t be staying at that location for much longer. I was gobsmacked but the good news according to him was that with this organization I could go to any of their clinics and would be looked at by anyone of their doctors.

I was and still am dismayed. The whole reason for this journey to find a new doctor was to establish a personal relationship with one individual who would know me as a person, not as data on a medical chart. The other kicker was that before I can make an appointment with him I have to find my old medical records and bring them with me to my next appointment…. if he’s still there.

What am I to do????????????

Up to Our Elbows in Tomatoes

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….that motorized food mill looks better all the time

After spending 12 hours with daughter number one on Saturday, I felt I had to extend the same courtesy to my second daughter, G.

I called G, early Sunday morning to see if she would be interested in making tomato sauce and learning how to use the pressure canner that she helped pay for. It was a Father’s Day gift for my husband who is becoming more and more conscious of the food we eat.

It took a bit of coaxing but G’s husband was away and she needed to do laundry. Being able to use my washing machine and having her father pick her up clinched the deal. G lives about 35 minutes from us, when the traffic is good. Luckily it was.

After putting a load of laundry into the machine we started the process of making our own sauce about 12 noon. A bushel of tomatoes is a lot of tomatoes. Until you start cutting them up and putting them through the hand operated food mill you don’t realize how big a job it’s going to be.

While one person fed the tomatoes into the food mill, another one turned the handle to grind them and the third person scraped the sauce from the screening and the slide into a shallow bowl. The advantage of using a food mill is that the skins and seeds are separated and deposited from a separate orifice  and you can eliminate the blanching and peeling and straining steps.

This is only the beginning. We had tomatoes next to the food mill and there are more tomatoes hidden behind this pot.

We started to fill the large pot that you see behind the smaller one in the picture. After preparing one bushel of tomatoes we ended up filling that pot about 3/4 full with sauce.

Our fancy new food mill.

Once we were ready to start cooking the sauce we realized that we didn’t have enough propane for the new burner outside. I volunteered to head out to Costco to purchase a new tank and have it filled. Nobody said that making your own sauce is economical.

My trip to Costco was a nightmare. You would have thought it was Christmas. I searched the entire parking lot before finally finding a spot to park and the line-ups to pay for your purchases literally snaked halfway through the store. I wish I had taken a picture of that. The girl at the checkout said that it was just as crazy the day before.

By the time I got home it was almost 5:00 and G and my husband got tired of waiting for the propane so they started cooking the sauce on top of the stove. Now you might wonder why we didn’t do that in the first place but I think when you see the next picture you’ll see why cooking inside isn’t the most ideal place.

K standing on the ladder so that he can stir the tomato sauce.

As you can see from the picture, K literally has tomato sauce up to his elbow. Another purchase that we need to invest in is a much larger wooden spoon.

After cutting, grinding and simmering tomatoes for 7 hours we were too tired to cook dinner so we ordered in. After regaining our stamina we started the canning process. Having never used the pressure canner before we did a lot of checking on the internet and watching youtube videos to make sure we didn’t end up with tomato sauce erupting over the entire kitchen.

The process was relatively simple but time consuming. We only managed to process 7 jars last night. By 10:30 G packed up her dog, Lucy, her laundry and 3 large jars of sauce and I drove her home. By the time I got back it was going on midnight and I had no energy left to write about our experience.

“The fruit of our labour”, 20 jars minus the 3 our daughter took.

Today K processed 7 more jars and hopefully he’ll finish the rest tonight or we’ll be eating a lot of sauce this week. Is canning your own sauce economical? We figured it will take us years before we recoup what we spent on equipment but the time spent with family is priceless.

Will we do it again? Absolutely!

Cheers

P.S. By the way for those of you who are following my fitness journey, I got out this morning and ran 2.4 k with the kids at school. Feels good!

Surprises – Part 2

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….. the best was yet to come

Walking into the restaurant amid cheers and clapping and flashing cameras.

As we were driving to the restaurant I knew that K had planned something; I just wasn’t sure of the size and magnitude of the event. I didn’t want to think about it for fear of being disappointed.

I wasn’t disappointed. As we approached the restaurant I could see some of my best friends sitting by the front window. When we walked in the welcome I received was heart warming and I had a hard time containing my emotions. Everyone asked me if I was surprised. I was on two counts.

First I was surprised that K and my girls had pulled it off and secondly I was surprised and delighted by the diversity of the people in attendance. My immediate family was there and my best friends, our oldest friends from Calgary, my sister from Chatham and her family, some of my colleagues/friends from work and some of my neighbours.

K socializing with the guests.

The chef, Amato and the owner, Tony came to greet us and dinner started. It was like an Italian wedding. The menu looked something like this:

Carol’s Special Birthday Dinner

Pizza

Salad

Pasta – Rigatoni with a red sauce

Tortelini with a white sauce

Calamari

Chicken with a Citrus glaze

Veal with Mushrooms

Rapini, Yellow Squash, Red Peppers

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Chef Amato welcoming me to my party.

As you can see from the menu, there was a lot of food. K asked them to cut back on the portion sizes but that fell on deaf ears. I had to leave food on my plate. It was delicious but too much.

Both K and I walked around in between courses to talk to all the guests. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just when you thought there couldn’t be any more food, they brought out the dessert. It was the biggest tiramisu I’ve ever seen and it was aglow with candles.

Thank goodness your 60th birthday happens only once in your lifetime. All the leftover food went straight to school the next day to be shared by the staff. I’m back on track with my eating and thank goodness I only put on 1 pound. I’ll be down again by the end of the weekend.

Cheers!

Reflections on Turning 60

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….time to slow down? I don’t think so….

Turning Sixty

Today I’m 60

A new milestone in my life

What does it mean?

Retirement?, maybe, eventually

I still love what I do 

Teaching doesn’t allow me to slow down

There’s too much to do

Too much I want to do

I’ve only just started running

Blogging and writing

and experimenting with photography

Time to slow down?

I don’t have time to shift into low gear

I want to take more art classes

and improve my painting craft

I love teaching art to children and

sharing books and reading to them in the library

I’m becoming more techno literate and

want to take more computer classes and

experiment with apps and new programs

Time to give my brain a rest?

I don’t think so

I want to read good literature 

and focus on my writing

I love playing with words and 

have started playing Scrabble again

both on the traditional board and on-line

Is it time to become less physical?

I don’t think so

I need to keep up my strength

to work the soil in the garden, mow the lawn

and prune the hedges

My dog needs her exercise 

and gets me out for long walks

I want to run and I mean really run more 5 k races

Is it time to care less about my appearance?

I’m too vain for that

I need to cover the grey in my hair 

and apply day cream and night cream

to slow down the wrinkles

I like the new thinner me and want

to take it further

I feel better, younger and more alive 

than when I was 50

Retirement?

It is near and I look forward to

more travel

I want to see the world and

spend more time with my sisters

in Calgary and Merlin

I need to spend more time with my Dad

who will soon be 86

His new goal is to live to be 100

but I need to enjoy his company now

I want to give back to the community

and volunteer my time

I just don’t know how

I need to continue learning

Taking another university course is a possibility

or maybe 

a photography class or two

and a cooking class with my husband

and maybe, just maybe enjoy the company 

of some grandchildren

Is it time to retire to the couch?

I couldn’t even if I wanted to

There’s too much to do 

Too much I want to do

Carol Cormier / August 28, 2012