Well, you likely won’t be surprised to hear that, throwing all good intentions to the cold, cold wind, I did not do any more cleaning on Sunday. Instead, I spent the day slogging away at my Nina Shawl.

I’m glad to report that it is now (finally!) blocking. JJ, however, was less glad when he came in from a long hard day at the Security Guard Spider Solitaire Challenge 2008… ahem, the coal mines… bearing crate upon crate of free food, only to ask what was for dinner.

KB: Dinner? Isn’t there something in one of those boxes that would do?

JJ: Ah’ve bin eatin’ this stuff all day, hen.

KB: Well, AH haven’t!

JJ: Are ye makin’ fun of the way I speak again?

KB: I’d never do that… anyway, I hadn’t thought about it. I’ve been busy.

JJ: (gesturing in a deprecatory fashion at the Nina Shawl which by this point extended half way across the living room floor) Ah can see that… so, where’s mah dinner?

KB: I suppose that Walkers Salt and Shake crisps wouldn’t do, eh?

Dead silence. I almost thought he had bought it, until three minutes later:

JJ: And since ye’ve bin here all day doing nothin’, I assume that there will be something better on offer than leftovers… AGAIN.

Sigh. He did have a point, though – so off I trotted to the kitchen to put on my Nigella Express hat and come up with something fabulous.

Now, I have a zombie-chasing Ogre friend who shall remain nameless who claims that she cannot cook anything without burning it (despite the fact that she has ventured into breadbaking – but I digress…). Well, Holly (oops, did I use your name? Sorry!), I think that you could well manage this without burning it. And – it’s tasty. And – it disguises leftovers!!! All of this in about the time it takes me to open a can of soup (admittedly only because I keep losing the can opener…)!

So, here is a recipe which will no doubt become famous, with step by step instructions:
Brouhaha’s Chicken Tortellini with Previously Enjoyed Food Soup

1. Get some chicken stock or broth.

I actually make my own stock most of the time… aren’t you impressed? (Don’t be… it’s only a matter of freezing chicken leftovers until I have enough to throw in a big pot and boil the hell out of it all for a few hours). No reason why you couldn’t use the packaged stuff as well.

Actually, most of the stock I make, funnily enough given that I am a dedicated carnivore, ends up being vegetarian. Why? Because most of the vegetables that enter the House of Brouhaha never end up getting onto a plate before they start to disintegrate.

Anyway, probably about a litre (or quart) of stock will do for four or so people plus leftovers. If using packaged stuff, put in whatever spices you want.

2. Extract the trusty cheese tortellini stash from the freezer.

I always have some of this stuff kicking around and buy it by the kilo at Loblaws:

A couple of handfuls will do for that amount of broth.

3. Cut up whatever leftover meat you have as long as it goes with chicken broth.

Yesterday’s selection: the remains of one of those prepackaged mini ham roasts. MMMM. I actually prefer ham to chicken in this soup for some reason. A cup of so of diced meat should work.

4. Bring the stock to a boil…

Then simmer all of the above for 5 minutes or so. When the tortellini are done they will float to the top. Turn off the heat.

5. I guess you’d better stick in some green stuff as well.

I know that not everyone wants to be the only North American with scurvy in the 21st century!! Since I don’t have any veg in the fridge at present, I had to settle for peas (which I like because they are easy to fish out of the soup!

If using frozen veg, just let them sit in the hot broth for a couple or three minutes.

6. Season to taste.
I like parmesan cheese grated on top of this. JJ, however, does not. Salt and pepper also go well with everything, I find!

7. Serve up with some homemade crackers which you have spent all day whipping up.

OK, OK… I didn’t make the crackers (I knew I should have taken them out of that plastic tray). But they’re still yummy…

… and don’t believe everything you read. They’re not only for cheese.

So, a quick, tasty soup meal from the House of Brouhaha. However, I should note that this is by far not the only chicken soup innovations going on in this household. Viz:

(the condition of the soy sauce bottle should about tell you just how much I enjoy this particular version!).

And then there’s this:
(Have you gathered yet that I really, really like chicken noodle soup? I eat this stuff with lashings of hot sesame chili sauce…).

And, when entertaining, I break out the expensive stuff:

Check out the noodleface bowl, by the way. I’m trying to picture JJs face if I got him one with his photo on it… hmm. Maybe I’ll just leave that one alone!

Oh… I almost forgot… bon appetit!

Well, yesterday the time had come to face reality – I was living in a complete and unmitigated pigsty. So, after a nourishing beverage and power bar for breakfast:

I tackled the living room. Doesn’t it look nice now?

I actually quite like the furniture, even though JJ picked it. I had just about forgotten what it looked like given that it is usually covered with coats, bags and JJs newspapers.

I even managed to locate the throw that is supposed to go on the couch in the winter…

(a freeform log cabin made with various Fleece Artist yarns).

And… I finally managed to get some of the stuff I’d done in the autumn out on display!!

To the top left is my Serendipity at Sunset and to the far right is my No Mirrors in My House!.

So, feeling very virtuous indeed, I traipsed off to the spare room. Remember this?

It now looks like this:

At least (for awhile, anyway) I will not face any trip hazards when going in to get my computer!

I also came across the following lost treasures:

If you haven’t read this book, go out and buy it. Akbar and Jeff are hilarious.

And a greeting card from Natalie which I had meant to frame:
In case you can’t read the bottom line, it says “Who’s going to kick your ass?” Heh. Heh.

And, speaking of knitting: here is Part 1 of the stash:

This tote (which I originally thought would be more than large enough to hold the whole stash when I bought it last year. Silly me!) contains such goodies as Rowan Calmer (11 balls), Twilley’s Denim Cotton (12 balls), Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (four skeins), Rowan ASC (about eight balls), another Rowan cotton (obtained in a swap – enough for a medium-sized sweater), all kinds of Fleece Artist and Super 10 part-balls and…

23 balls of Knitpicks Cotlin. Almost enough for the Bespoke Jacket from No Sheep For You! Does anyone have 3 balls of CotLin they’d like to gift me? Ahem, I mean, swap me for?

And here is Part 1(a) of the stash (because I can’t admit to myself that this also will not fit in the big tote):

This is what is left of a box sent to me in a swap by Natalie. The real treasure here for me is the seven blue skeins of Berocco Suede! The book has a pattern for sweaters to make out of the Twilley’s denim cotton whenever I get around to it.

But that will probably be difficult, given the beautiful promises contained within Part 2 of the stash:

(and yes, all three drawers are crammed full of yarn. Did you really need to ask?)

The first drawer holds my burgeoning Super 10 stash:

23 skeins in various colours! That, at 230 metres/251.5 yards per skein, amounts to 5.29 km or 5784.5 yards (I don’t know how many miles that is, but it must be a few!) of Super 10 – not including all of the scrap balls from other projects. Sigh. I really must stop buying it for a while.

The bottom drawer actually yielded some forgotton treasures: eight balls of this…

(Not my usual colour, but I fell in love with it back in the summertime. I was going to make the Safari from Stitch Diva with it. Now, I don’t know…)

…and six of these (plus two more in black).

This is Eden Madil DK weight bamboo. It is addictive.

And then there are 12 balls of this:

Dale Svale cotton. I can’t remember what I bought this for, even! But I love it.

In addition to this, the drawer contains Blue Sky Alpacas cotton, Needful Kelly, the Mados cotton I bought the other day, 3 skeins of Berocco Suede for a Stitch Diva cap, and a few balls of Cascade Fixation.

But now onto the real treasures: my Handmaiden/Fleece Artist drawer!

(Inexplicably here, I found this photo of myself from a time long before I even knew that yarn shops existed…
Please note that the hairstyle has not really changed in 37 years.)

Anyway, I feel the need to catalogue the Handmaiden and Fleece Artist stuff in an attempt to prevent myself from buying any more in the near future. (I suspect the landlord will not accept yarn, even luxury silk yarn, in satisfaction of the rent!)
Handmaiden

• Sea Silk: seven skeins (400m each) – two Ocean, two purple, two Popsicle
• Silken: two skeins (250m each) – Sangria
• Flaxen: two skeins (250m each) – periwinkle
• Camelspun: two skeins (300m each) – one Monarch, one Vintage
• Lace Silk: two skeins (600m each) – one blue/green, one pink/purple/brown
• Mini Maiden: one skein (500m) – buttercream
• Silk Spun: two skeins (150m each) – one blue/turquoise, one lime green

total metres: 5,700 (even more than the Super 10! Gasp!). 5.7 clicks or 3.6 miles – almost exactly the distance I travel to work every day (which takes 40 minutes by transit on a good day). I won’t calculate the cost for fear of coming down from the virtuous little high I’ve got going right now).

Fleece Artist

• Suri Blue: two skeins (600m each) – both Burgundy
• Italian Silk: three skeins (350m each) – two Rainforest, one moss-green (but actually chautreuse, funnily enough)
• Rumplestilskin: one skein (600m) – Polar Sea
• Goldielocks: one skein (500m) – Aegean

total metres = 3,350. Not quite as far as it would take me to get to Lettuce Knit, my “only on a rainy day” LYS.

Oh, and this doesn’t take into account the six skeins of Alchemy Silk, two skeins of Noro Silk Garden and two skeins of Noro Kureyon which are also currently making their home in this drawer.

So, there really is no reason for me to go near a yarn store for the next year or so, right??

Anyway, so now I feel much better and far more organized. And, I came across this photo as well, which reminded me of a happier and warmer season:

Me and JJ going on the Thousand Islands boat cruise from Kingston this past summer.

Stay warm and I do hope you enjoy your Sunday. For me, more cleaning. Argh.

Well, that Joan went and tagged me while I was away (typical lawyer! LOL). In my inimitable passive-aggressive fashion I’ve left off responding until now (kidding – actually, I forgot about it) – but it seems like a decent way to pass part of a Friday afternoon while awaiting the 457th Tenant Advocates’ Summit at the Bar Wellington!

I know that this is one of those tag things, but I’m not going to tag anyone else if only because I’m getting this so late I imagine people have seen it already. If interested, please lift it and maybe you can drop me a line if you post on your blog about it!

Crazy Eights Tag

Eight Things I’m passionate about

(aside from knitting? this one is going to be hard)

(a) Dancing – of all types except hiphop (and probably I’d like that too if I could stand the music). My style is rather freeform and I have not responded well to lessons. In this regard, a coworker and I recently choreographed a mambo.

(b) Mosaic art – check out the sidebar under “Mosaic and other crafts” if you need proof of this. It’s fun – and you get to smash plates!

(c) Treasure hunting – whether it be at the thrift shop, the dollar store or in the shared laundry room in my building. I have other friends who share this love, and so frequently head out with one or more of them.

(d) Freeform Knitting and Crochet – being a long-term pattern slave, I would never have told you two years ago that I would be into this. But it’s fun, especially when I try to combine it with mosaic! And a great stashbuster to boot.

(e) Silk Yarn – well, I’d better say I’m passionate about that, given the increasing collection of it I keep flaunting!!

(f) Politics – or, rather, bitching about politics. In my view, not enough people concern themselves with politics and what their leaders and politicians are (or aren’t) doing. I won’t get into my personal politics here but a glance at the sidebar will likely give you a sense where I’m at.

(g) Neckties – I’ve been collecting them (used, from Goodwill or Value Village) for some time now. Any day, I’m going to start making pretty vests, skirts, quilts etc. with them and hopefully some of it will look as nice as the stuff posted on Woof Nanny’s blog (post dated 10 December). I just need to buy a sewing machine.

(h) Law and Order – not in real life… the television series. One of my deepest darkest secrets is that I am completely addicted to Law and Order in all its flavours. I really don’t know why. Good to knit in front of, though.

Eight Things I want to do before I die

(a) Learn to speak French properly

(b) Go to Scotland and Ireland with JJ.

(c) Go to Australia and meet Susie and Jenny

(d) Go on a yarn road trip with Holly Ogre and Amy.

(e) Learn to knit as quickly as Wannietta

(f) Get accepted by the Ontario Crafts Council.

(g) Get a Master’s degree of some description, and preferably not by mail order.

(h) Once I have learned French properly, get a very high-paying job in Paris and move there.

Eight Things I often say

(a) What a chickenhead.

(b) Wanna go for a smoke, Jennifer?

(c) …eh?

(d) We really must stop watching the CTV evening news, JJ.

(e) A pint of Keith’s and a glass of water, please!

(f) Is it 4:30 yet?

(g) Well, that’s the last time I’m going to buy yarn this [week/month/year], for sure!

(h) aman.

8 Books I’ve recently read or am currently reading

(a) The 100-mile diet: a year of local eating (Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon)

(b) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)

(c) The Tin Roof Blowdown (James Lee Burke)

(d) Fleshmarket Close (Ian Rankin)

(e) Holidays on Ice (David Sedaris)

(f) Tescopoly (Andrew Simms)

(g) The Wal-Mart Effect (Charles Fishman)

(h) Cod (Mark Kurlanski)

8 Songs I could listen to over and over

(a) Shape of My Heart (Sting)

(b) Marrakesh Market (Loreena McKennitt)

(c) Tango to Evora (Loreena McKennitt) and the greek version Tango tis Nefelis (Haris Alexiou)

(d) I’m Gonna Live Until I Die (Frank Sinatra)

(e) Ain’t Love a Kick in the Head (Dean Martin)

(f) anything by George Dalaras (greek singer)

(g) Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel)

(h) Loch Lomond (Runrig)

Eight Things that attract me to my best friends

(a) Intelligence

(b) Self-reflection

(c) Openness to discussing politics without kneejerk reactionism (whether left, right or centre)

(d) Love of dancing

(e) Caring

(f) Wicked and somewhat sarcastic sense of humour, without however bitterness.

(g) Flexibility in thought

(h) Ability to keep wits around themselves when partying.

Well, although I have not been to the LYS for about 3 1/2 weeks (some kind of record!), that does not mean I have not been spending. Quelle surprise.

In this regard, I went to John Fluevog on Queen Street yesterday to check out the Boxing Day sale!

Well, guess what – no deals left for me, given that it was 7 January (almost two weeks after the sale started!) and I do not have size 12 feet. Alas.

But don’t feel too sorry for me. I did manage to acquire two sets of beauties (at the full price):

These are the Saint Michael loafers.

These – I forget the name. They’re so new, apparently, that they are not yet on the website! Hee hee hee.

My rationalisation – I did not spend anywhere near all the money I had allocated myself for the trip. Of course, I did manage to spend some of it, mostly on books. I don’t know what it is about travelling that makes me purchase books en masse. I needed one extra suitcase for books coming back (and one, of course, for British crisps and chocolates as you will remember if you’ve already read this post).

Here is one of my new purchases:

I thought the title was very appropriate. I’m hoping to acquire a sewing machine in the near future.

To balance this off, a book by a true Domestic Goddess:
She rocks! And meals in 30 minutes? I like. Anyone who can midnight snack all the time and look as sexy as her is a true hero in my book.

Another purchase for the workplace:

Handy for staff meetings, I thought.

And, being the ever generous person that I am, I did not leave JJ out of the bounty:

with such gems of wisdom as:

Don’t drop cigarette-ash all over the living room carpet. Some people will tell you that it improves the colours…

Huh?!? Why didn’t JJ buy that excuse when I gave it to him after the last Tenant Advocate Summit at the pub (“Oh aye?!?  Last time ah was at the paint shop ah didnae see the colour ‘ashtray’, hen.  Two and a half million colours, mind ye, and no ‘ashtray’.  Mebbe ye should write all the paint companies.  Ye could make millions and ah cuid retire…”)???

…but your wife won’t care to try that recipe.

Oh. I see.

Don’t refuse to eat cold meat once in a way (sic) if you are home to that meal. Unless you keep a large staff or domestics, you can’t always have a hot meal both at midday and in the evening.

Dang tootin’!!!

Don’t expect to understand every detail of the workings of your wife’s mind. A woman arrives at things in diffferent ways, and it is useless to worry her with “Why?” does she think this or that.

Hmm… how many self help books have I seen on the shelves with that theme?

Don’t “talk down” to your wife. She has as much intelligence as your colleague at the office; she lacks only opportunity.

Seems pretty progressive, actually, for the time period – let’s have a look at the conclusion of this paragraph:

Talk to her (explaining when necessary) of anything you would talk of to a man, and you will be surprised to find how she expands.

(…in the fields of sports, peeler bars and gossip?!?)

Actually, not all that bad considering the time period in which it was written. I’ve seen Oprah and Dr. Phil come out with worse stuff. Who wrote this, anyway?

Blanche Ebbutt

Well – that explains a lot.

But lest you think that I’m picking on JJ by buying this book, I did buy something similar for myself as well:

I’ll save the nuggets of wisdom from that one for a future post, I think. This one is getting a tad out of control.

In parting, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish a very happy birthday to Shirley Bassey, one of my favourite singers. Her name may not spring to mind, but doubtless you remember the theme song from James Bond Goldfinger? That was her. And if you don’t remember that, perhaps this will refresh your memory:

Please have a couple for me, Ms Bassey!

Hello all:

This has been my first chance to post to wish you a very happy New Year! Just returned to London from Paris. I did have access to a computer while there but had not clued into the fact that the keyboard would be completely differently ordered! By the time I figured out how to type in my Email address, I couldn’t find the @ sign!!!! So, rather than smash the computer, I decided to chill. (Given the prices in Paris, I suspect I would have been paying about $20,000 for a replacement).

Can you believe that PayDay has come and gone… with no yarn purchases?!? I feel quite virtuous. (To be honest, probably this has nothing to do with any forbearance on my part – the only yarn I have come across was in a department store and acrylic blend costing roughly quadruple the Zellers price).

However, I will have to get my hands on some yarn quickly, I think – I have eaten so much while on holidays that I will need a whole new wardrobe upon my return to Canada! Sigh.

Paris was fab. I want to move there – but only when I win the lottery.

I’ll bore you some more about the trip in a couple of days upon my return to Toronto… (and you get to see pics of the stuff I knit while on holiday too! I know you can’t wait…)

Kristina

Hello all!

Just thought I’d take a brief pause from eating, drinking and spending $$$ (or, rather, £££!) to drop you a quick line…

Yesterday we did some last minute Christmas shopping (and here I thought that since I had the whole week before Christmas off, this would get done a bit sooner than normal – but NO). The stores here are madness at this time of year. I felt as though I had been on a marathon by the time we finished.

Can you believe I have not yet been in a LYS? I feel as though I’m slipping into some form of withdrawal. However, at the prices over here it’s probably best I not venture into one… and besides, PayDay is not for another six days or so!

Time to resume eating…

Ho ho ho,

Santa

Well, we’re here and having a great time thus far… and I even managed to knit a hat with my Malabrigo on the plane and am halfway through a matching scarf! (you’ll hvae to wait for pics until I get back to Canada, unfortunately… but it is lovely, lovely stuff!)

I have to say, though, that it’s very disorienting being in a place where we all speak the same language but everything is different. I nearly got myself killed crossing the street yesterday because I looked the wrong way for the traffic, for example!! This, I hadn’t expected. I also have to keep reminding myself to times the prices by two and add a bit… at first everything seemed so cheap – until I remember that one pound = two plus dollars!

(I shall have to remember this essential fact, for example, if I trip across a LYS and snap up all the Rowan ASC in the place because it only costs £7!!!! as opposed to ‘it only costs $7’! I trust hat J will remind me of thisact of vacation life…but then agin J has never seen me in a LYS and this sight in itself could well destory the relationship!)

In reality the only cheap thing here is the alcohol – it costs about the same here as in places in the US I have been, meaning half what it costs back home. If I had to live here, I don’t think I’d ever stop drinking!

And, funnily enough, the computer keyboard is different! Only slightly, but for exmple I had a big problem finding the @ sign… and there are no double quotation marks. So, any typos in this post are to be blamed on the keyboard rather than on the fact that I am enjoying my fourth cheap pint of the day.

(On this topic… they label the beer cans here with anti-drinking information. For example, the can of beer in front is me, which is 440ml and 4.0% alcohol, advises me that it constitutes 1.8 UK alcohol units and, moreover, that ‘responsible drinkers’ do not exceed 3 daily alcohol units (for women -four for men). By my calculation, this is one and a half cans of said beer. I don’t think that Canadian beer drinking units could ever be this stingy… especially given that the normal alcohol content for Canadian beer is 5% and 4.5% is about as light as it gets.

And what would be the point of drinking 1/2 can of beer anyway??

I’ll stop boring you all now… hope you’re all keeping warm and storm free…

Kristina

… but desperately hoping that I will actually be able to. Check out what Air Canada has to say this evening on their website:

Flights to/from Toronto, Montréal, Québec, Ottawa and Halifax

MONTRÉAL, December 16, 2007 – Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz advise that winter storm conditions are expected to cause delays and cancellations to flights on Sunday December 16 and Monday December 17.

AGHGHGGH!!!! Go figure – the first time I’m leaving the country in years and we get the first December storm in the same amount of time. Sigh. The evening news tonight said that anywhere between 60 and 90 per cent of flights leaving from Pearson were cancelled today. I’m just crossing my fingers that this discrepancy together with the evening news’ usual propensity for hyperbole means that I will in fact be winging way eastward tomorrow morning as planned.

So meanwhile, to avoid a panic attack, I’m just doublechecking to make sure I’ve got everything I need for the BIG TRIP.

First, money to get out of my country and into two other ones…

Why are different currencies different sizes, anyway?

And – here’s some proof that Canadians are more pragmatic and realistic than Brits. Viz. the Queen as depicted on the British 20:

… and on our 20:
I mean, come on! The woman is 80 years old for Goddess’ sake!!! Sheesh! Am I about to enter into La-la land??

And this reminds me: I will have to keep in mind that all this money has different values. That is to say, if I see Rowan stuff in a shop in London marked “9” I shouldn’t get excited and buy it all. The pound is worth just over double the amount of the Canadian dollar.

But I digress. Next… passports?

Check. (This photo, by the way, almost didn’t happen. JJ put his passport away safely two years ago… so safely that it took us the better part of two evenings to actually find it. Found the three previous ones easily enough though! I thought for a while that I’d be going away alone…this is almost funny now, but not quite – we were, shall I say, not amused.)

Next – umbrellas for the rain deluge promised us in London.

Guess which one is JJs and which one is mine?

And – extra smokes (just in case they’ve stopped selling them in the UK. One never does know these days). I’d better make sure I have enough for the flight…

Check. Oops. I forgot – you can’t smoke on airplanes any more (it’s been a while since I went overseas, as you can tell).

So – necessary medication for flying:

Check. And what about the insurance policy in case we run out of money halfway through the trip?

Yup.

And, of course, the new cut and colour:

(This photo does not really show just how red the new ‘do actually is. Nor, thankfully, does it show the ears which have also been dyed red. Really should break out the debit card and pay Topcuts $44 to colour it for me… how about that for a resolution?!)

No offence intended, but I really do hope that this is my last blog post for awhile (and I’m sure you don’t want to hear the big ol’whine which you will get if I’m grounded for a couple of days!) I’m not sure how much opportunity I’ll get to blog while away but I will try to check in with you from time to time. If I don’t manage to – my heartiest wishes to all for a very Merry Christmas and a stellar New Year! I’ll be back on or about 5 January and will see you then!

Well, the storm I was carping about earlier todayis raging outside but I don’t care because I have finished the Tilted Duster!! I managed to get it done before the trip! (now, whether I’ll get the other work I have to do done is another story…)

Aphrodite wears it very well, don’t you think?

Not really fair of me to pose her outside given the 6 inches of snow that has fallen today… but at least she’s got a fancy jacket!

Specs:

Pattern: Tilted Duster by Norah Gaughan (Interweave Knits mag, Autumn 2007)
Size: 32″
Yarn: Rowan All-Seasons Cotton – seaspray, espresso and mocha
Needles: 5 mm Addi Turbo
Notions: Buttons from Lettuce Knit:
… and Romni (these are vintage buttons – aren’t they fab?)

Date started: 9 November 2007
Date finished: today

Notes:
– a very straightforward but fun pattern. Great TV or public knitting (I knit most of both sleeves and some of the skirt while commuting). It knits up quickly with the bulkyish wool.
– I’m glad I went with the ASC as I like the way it shows the ribbing off.
– I decided that the pattern begged for some extra colours. The assymmetry of the espresso and mocha is due to the fact that I had only one skein of the mocha. I quite like it though. Initially I was going to do the front side rib panels in a third colour but am now glad I didn’t.
– it is a very flattering pattern and I will be wearing it tomorrow to Jolly Olde England with my new taupe cords!

Oh, and what is Aphrodite wearing underneath?

This t-shirt is from Fresh Baked Knits in Kensington Market. Well worth a trip if you’re coming through Toronto.

Now, off to the laundry room… sigh.

… is colder than one might think.

This was the scene facing me when having to journey out to the dreaded Forest Hill Market.

And this was the back window of JJs car right after he drove it home from work in the storm!

I scraped, I brushed, I swore… and then I drove at the rate of apprximately 30 km/h to…

This was the scene in the parking lot:

I was very briefly heartened when I entered the complex to see this cheery display:

…only to be almost immediately depressed by a dry cleaning bill of $39.75. And then to the LCBO:

I really find it difficult to believe that anyone would actually be idiotic enough to take a shopping cart the size of a small pony:
… into a “boutique” liquor store approximately the size of my living room but containing 10,000 full liquor bottles (as opposed to the 10,000 empty liquor bottles I will get to schlep out to the recycling bin tomorrow…).

(I tried to take a pic inside the store to show you just how ridiculous this would be. However, a cop – a real Toronto cop, mind you, not a wannabe Intelligarde “cop”- stopped me. He told me that it was illegal to take photos inside the liquor store. I answered that I found this very difficult to believe, and suggested that his time would be better used arresting the woman who was braying into a cellphone at top volume and butting into the 10 person line at the same time. He disagreed. I didn’t think I should push my luck, and put away the camera.

The Toronto Police Force budget last year was something along the lines of $740 million. This was an increase from the previous year – every other municipal budget line in the same year was cut. I must tell you that it is really very heartwarming to see my tax dollars so hard at work.)

However, apparently this is a big issue since they had about 15 copies of this sign plastered around the entrance to the shop. I tell you no lie. I counted them – it was either 14 or 15.

I tell you, it’s enough to drive you to drink!

I picked this cocktail as it best reflected my state of mind after talking with Mr. Policeman.

I also picked up the requisite elixir for JJ:

(I keep asking him why this grouse is so famous. He keeps replying “Ah’d have te kill ye if ah told ye, hen.”).

And, in my usual generous spirit, here is a gift for someone else:
This is intended for and Mrs Super Mario. Well, kind of. I’m keeping the Bombay Sapphire martini jug for myself.

And now on to Loblaws:

This is the entrance to the store. Anything else I typically want in the store is at least 2.5 km away from this point. Grr.

So I navigate my cart (I have owned a car only once. It was a Fiat and I think it was smaller than the shopping carts at this Loblaws) past the requisite display of stale Italian Christmas cakes:

Does anyone actually eat this stuff? I’ve never really been tempted. They look nice, but the shelf life of seven years puts me off.

After about 15 minutes of trying to get through the store and arguing with morons who block the aisles with their carts:
I reach my destination.

It is a real testament to the powers of The President that I even bother to come into this damned store, I tell you.

So, here’s what I scored:

Candies for the kids of Super Mario:

Canadian candies to take to JJ and JC (JJs sons – I anticipate no little confusion over the next three weeks…):

Maple syrup to smuggle into the UK and sell for at least 10 times the face value:

Christmas crackers (I liked the penguins!):
And… these disgustingly sweet soft sugar cookies that I’m always compelled to buy. I then bring them home, eat half of one, pick up the two teeth that fell out of my head immediately after, then give the rest to JJ to take to work.

I then reached the checkout line, which resembled what I imagine the line at the movie theatre on the opening night of a Harry Potter movie would look like (I wanted to take a picture, but unfortunately Mr. Policeman came by at the exact moment bearing his dinner in hand. He butted in line, by the way.)

In leaving the store, I heaved a sigh of relief, and noticed some pretty things.

The sight of the flowers near the exit was also cheering:

Don’t you love this colour of yellow?

Ooh – aah!

So, for once as I left this godforsaken place, I had a smile on my face. It lasted approximately four minutes, or until I saw this road sign:

Why the hell are they doing construction in WINTER?!?!

And then I saw this, a sight always guaranteed to make my mood even worse than it normally is:
Can someone explain to me how the price of gas can go up and down seven cents in three days? We bought it the other night at 99.0/litre. Yesterday it was up to 105.6. Today, 102.8. Is it not, in all likelihood, the same #$&*($@#&* shipment of gas they’re selling? Legal theft!!

Anyway, I managed to make it back home without further ado – and just in time to heat up the dinner I bought for us at the churrasqueria earlier: roast lamb and potatoes cooked with pork. MMMMM.

Happy Sunday… I’m very happy because now I don’t have to go out to Loblaws today. Almost happy enough to forget that I have about a million pieces of clothing to wash… and a paper to finish revising…

Grr. I am my own worst enemy, really. Better relax by doing some knitting for an hour before the laundry room opens!