Darienne

Some plans are finally in place for Christmas. Ed has agreed to make Tortière and I am delighted. We have Thanksgiving's turkey still in the freezer...no working oven at that time...long story...aren't they all?...and so that's a start. Daughter is coming from Toronto for the weekend and alas, she's a vegan. Still she says if she makes the rules, she can break them when she feels like it and yes, she will have some turkey. And yes, she will bring some food with her. I've made Shortbread cookies but that might be it, except for the easy peasy Wacky Cake. Daughter will eat that because it is actually vegan. The Christmas bits and bobs are up in the Drive Shed and we have snow this morning up the wazoo and I hesitate to ask Ed to bring them down. If the tree is going to go up and be decorated, daughter will have to take charge this year. I'll manage my favorite Santa and reindeer set-up.

Horrific. Absolutely horrific.

Mind boggling!!!!!!

Somehow I just can't get used to the endless recalls on food for this kind of thing. In over 6 decades I've yet to serve food with pieces of metal, plastic or wood in them...or undeclared tree nuts. And so on and so on. And the thought that brand new mothers...who are so often scared sh*tless taking care of a completely helpless little creature for the first time...also have to look out for these 'ingredients' just leaves me quite distressed. Surely the food of infants should be subject to the strictest of regulations and care? Apparently not.

Spent the last lovely week in the hospital and what was for dessert last night? Yum.... Cantaloupe. I passed. Amazing!

I can't believe this. She was so good to me on eG from Day one. I'm just home one hour so I missed the last week of posts. Heidi and I 'talked' on messenger so many times and we go back so far, from when I first joined. Sorry. I'm not making any sense. But I am devastated. Dear dear Heidi.

I should have mentioned that we are a ketchup family. I think it's the one time in the year that the ketchup is brought out. Heinz. Gravy? Gravy? I think not. Ketchup is traditional in Ed's family. His sister and her husband still go to from the Canadian Encyclopedia: Another creation myth persists in discussions about the dish: that tourtière comes from tourte, which also means pigeon. Passenger pigeons, which went extinct at the end of the 19th century, numbered in the billions at the beginning of the 19th century in North America. They were notoriously easy to catch, especially at their nesting grounds on Île d’Orléans, on the St. Lawrence River, where they were hunted and baked into pie.

You can't see my mouth, but it just formed that strange distortion when confronted by something deemed 'revolting'. See the following from Google on the origins of the tourtière. Ketchup? Yes! Maple syrup or molasses or cranberry preserves? Not on your nelly!!!! "Many people use ketchup as a condiment, though the tourtière is also often eaten with maple syrup or molasses, or cranberry preserves"

Ed, whose Mother was French-Canadian, got his recipe for tortière from a French-Canadian teacher who taught French from a Quebecois point of view when we were living in Sherbrooke, Quebec. He usually makes two or three each Christmas but hasn't for a couple of years now.

Ed bought a turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving, just when our stove gave up the ghost. So whatever it was that we ate...it was small enough to fit into our toaster oven. So we'll have this turkey at Christmas. Our vegan daughter will be with us and refuse, of course, to eat it. That's about it for me at present I'm afraid, although I'll enjoy reading the plans of others on this topic.

You might try to write to my South African chef friend, @JohnT . He was a terrific help to me when I was looking for a Bobotie recipe.

I wish I could say that I carried through and made my winter garden as planned and posted about in this topic. Alas although I have all the ingredients and all the furniture is moved to accommodate said garden, I lack the essential drive and energy to do the work. I keep on living in hope...but my mojo just ain't working right now.

I would agree with that. But then I am not a fan of Tofu in any format.

So I've now made one dish from the websites suggested by @Dante.Curried Chickpeas and Potatoes. Of course, I didn't have a couple of the ingredients. Ed said the cauliflower was tiny and cost almost $5. No thank you. I made do with broccoli. Not as pretty, but it tasted fine. All in all: delicious. I might add that the website is called "Bad Manners" for a good reason. The language is certainly not my style. But then I am a very old lady. Daughter is arriving today and I know will like this dish. On brown rice I think.

Thanks for the photos, @minas6907. I've missed seeing your wonderful confections. I'll never forget the photos of those twirly golden lollies. In fact, I still have the photo saved.

My memories of pecans are the ones a friend sent me from Georgia which were extraordinary and the ones we bought in New Mexico which were the same. I guess by the time the pecans get to Canada they are less than perfect...or maybe we just don't get the best ones sent up here...sort of like how the very best olive oil apparently never leaves Italy and Greece. Not quite so wonderful in taste and texture, but so wonderful in terms of experience, were the pecans we picked off the tree outside our favorite second-hand store in Moab, Wabi Sabi.

You're right to say poor Ed. Because I can no longer do the grocery shopping, or even accompany him, he is quite often after ingredients he has never heard of and isn't sure why I want. And he has to ask someone for help...not something your average male seems to like to do...not to mention the regular impossibility of finding someone to ask.

So the polenta was purchased, a shelf stable one...apparently the only one available... but the next part is a bit confusing. The best buy date is June 2023...OK... but once it's opened, it's good for only 4 days in the fridge and it's not to be frozen. I just don't get it. And why can't it be frozen?

Beautiful pastries but my heart goes out to you. The hardest thing in the world I think is to lose a beloved spouse to dementia.

An oldie, but a goodie. Really liked that sitcom.

Good thing I quit eating cantaloupe a while ago after a massive passion for the stuff. I found the melons were getting less and less tasty with the passage of time. Now I'm on a fresh pineapple kick...and delighted to announce that my endless go round of leg cramps has suddenly stopped. Must be the bromelain.

One of my very favorite soups and a recipe which caught my attention in a magazine many years ago because it called for lentils, chickpeas and brown rice. Mine has no carrots. And I always put a lot of meat in mine because that's how Ed likes it.

Hard to believe what I have just gone through to find some polenta. Neither of the two largest bulk food stores carries Polenta in any format. Of the main grocery stores in Peterborough only FreshCo carries any form of Polenta and they carry only the preformed tube variety. So that's where it's at for this city apparently. Ed will buy me some Polenta at FreshCo today.

No instant pot. I can't even use my air fryer at this point. I think I am past my person sell by date.

Good one. Yes we have vegan milk substitutes. In fact, Ed drinks a combination of cashew milk and real milk. And I've done stuff with vegan milk. But no ricotta. I'll find a vegan lasagna. Thanks for the idea. Carolyn talks about vegan cheeses...we've never tried them. I had enough troubles trying to find a decent gluten free bread when I was following a naturalist's orders. (Before I finally decided that I was neither gluten nor dairy intolerant after two years off both.) I can't imagine what non-dairy cheese could taste like.