Snowy Sunday - Stayed indoor being productive

First day of December, although it was not the first snow, I considered it was.  Sometime in November we had a little bit of snow but in a couple of hours it was gone.  So technically I count today as our first day of snow because there was quite a bit.  By the looks of it, this one will be staying.  After breakfast, I decided I was not going anywhere.  It was time to bake and cook.  But before that, I tried to finish up with all the Christmas decorations that was mine to do.  I am sure you feel the same way, when it is cold outside, you think of SOUP.  I asked my hubby to save the bone of the ham from thanksgiving.  Using is for my broth and then I added vegetables and alphabet noodles. It's like a minestrone aka vegetable and ham soup. LOL.  Now it was time for baking.  First I check what I have in the pantry as well as the fridge.  Then I look for recipes that I can follow as a guide.  Sometimes I have replace an ingredient or two, but still sticking to the rest of the instructions.  It was a very successful day even though I did not get a chance to go outside.  Well, maybe just for a few minutes to change my garden flag and add a few decorations for outdoors.   I manage to bake the oatmeal pecan lace cookies, cranberrry whole wheat muffins with chocolate glaze, hawaiian pineapple coconut bread and of course my soup.  Check out the photo of our neighborhood with all that snow. 

Thanking Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving

Today we are hosting our second USA Thanksgiving Dinner with friends from our neighborhood.  Last year when we hosted it, we received such a great response and so we decided to have it again.  Since most of the guests are the originals of the neighborhood group, we will also have a short annual meeting to discuss the events for 2020.  We will also take volunteers to take on the task for a particular event.  For the dinner tonight, my husband will be cooking both turkey and ham.  In addition to that he will be making mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing.  The rest of the sides and desserts will be brought by the guests.  In our neighborhood get together it is always a BYOB rule.  The following are the sides that will accompany our thanksgiving dinner.

• Dinner rolls and butter
• Sweet Potatoes
• Green beans
• Broccoli salad
• Roast brussels sprouts
• Roasted vegetables
• Cranberry sauce
• Green salad
• Peaches and cream corn 
• Pecan pie and pecan tart
• Apple pie

We are very thankful to our neighbors who embraced us in their group and made is feel so welcome.  Although some of them have move out of the neighborhood, they still are part of our group and we never lose touch.  Since our families are all in the USA, this thanksgiving the neighborhood is our family.  You are probably wondering what my contribution is for tonight.  I couldn't just let the guest bring the dessert, that's why I made my oatmeal pecan lace cookies.  And then at the last minute made a puff pastry appetizers.  It was a success thanksgiving dinner with all of the above going so well with each other.  Of course the combination of the people in attendance was amazing.  We also manage to have our annual meeting. We think this will be totally a yearly event for our group.

Magically Monday - Deconstructing a dress

Lately I have been watching a few episodes of The Great British Sewing Bee.  Sometimes even if they are older episode I would still watch it as long as it's one that I have not seen.  The part I like is the second challenge because it is when the contestant really shows their creative side and their speed to put together a piece of clothing from the two materials that is thrown at them.  For example, the last one I saw was when the gave them an umbrella (outdoor) and a lounge chair (outdoor) which is a bit thicker material and both stripes.  Everyone of them created something magical using both fabrics from the two items.  Last week my neighbor came to me for some help with a dress that she wanted to wear to a Christmas party.  They were asked to wear something from the roaring 1920's also known as flapper dress and headband.  The dress she brought has never been worn and I was hesitant to practice on deconstructing it.  Luckily I have an older long black dress that was too big for me and I was just going to donate.  She was happy that I agreed to take on the challenge of deconstructing this dress to give her more room.  I also need to design and make her an head band in the same theme.  I measured her and told her to go home and I'll have her dress and headgear ready in a couple of days.  The first day, I remove the stitches on the sides of the dress, then I cut off 8 inches from the bottom of the dress.  I used that material to place on each side of the dress to make some room for her hips.  Then I added some white ruffled material for the sleeves as she prefers to cover her arms.  She came over to try the dress and it was a perfect fit. Yeah.  Next day I worked on the head band using fabric, sequence, lace, feather and ribbons.  In addition to this, I offered to curl her hair on the day of the party.  Once it's all put together, she will be going back in time and feel like the Great Gatsby.

Score Saturday - Vernon Vipers

Most cities in each province in Canada usually have a hockey team.  Some belong to the OHL, WHL, CHL, etc. In Vernon, the team is called Vernon Vipers.  Their home area is at the new Kal Tire Place which just opened in September 17, 2018.  Shortly after, we started thinking about getting some tickets and watch some local hockey games.  It has been over a year and we still have not been to one.  Until last week when someone offered free tickets to watch the Vernon Vipers.  It was a nice treat and we decided to take advantage of this great opportunity to support the local team.  The Vipers will be playing against the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.  We don't really know anything about the standing of each time.  But we know that some of their games are more exciting as they tend to have higher scoring games.  This is just from watching the local evening sports reports.  It's an evening out and hopefully it will be a great game.  Of course, since it will be in the area, I am planning to dress warm and bring a blanket, just in case.  Since it is a free ticket, the seats are a bit on the higher part of the arena.  Hopefully not to high or we won't be staying long.  The other important part of this event is that it is honoring the First Responders of our city.  Luckily the Vipers won during a shoot out.  

I was the lucky winner for this gift certificate for being in the lucky seat for that night.

This was the lucky ticket.  They were giving a price after the Vipers scored the first goal.

Flavorful Friday - TGIF for working friends

Sometimes we like to invite a couple or two couples to share dinner with us.  I have been trying to invite one couple but it seems like they were out of town on the days that I pick.  Last week we finally got a chance to get the two couples together and since both of the couples are still working, I thought that it would be good to give them a break from cooking on a Friday specially after working. I gave them a few choices of the type of food they would like to try.  Both couples agreed that they would like some Asian cuisine.  So I started checking online to see what would be a good combination.  Of course I wanted to make something that I sort of know the recipe and how it is actually cooked.  For our starter, I made a chicken lettuce wrap.  Then it was the Singapore Noodles with shrimp, Rich man's fried rice with lobster, Chinese BBQ Pork and Black pepper chicken.  They we so appreciative of the fact that there was plenty of food to have seconds and even some to take home.  For dessert, I made a Purple Yam pound cake, mango flan, buko pandan salad and Jeff's chocolate chip cookies.  It was a great evening sharing old stories and life experience.

Everyone was so thankful that we all live in a great neighborhood. 

Trail Tuesday - The Rail Trail Cafe

When my golf buddy called and asked if I wanted to go for coffee, I thought about it and then agreed after he mentioned that we will be checking a different quaint spot.  When we got there, I recalled that I had been there but only to check out what they were selling.  What I didn't realized was that they had a small seating area for coffee, treats and even soup and sandwiches.  We ordered our coffee at the counter and my buddy had the cinnamon roll and I had their ham and egg croissant.  Everything was delicious and it was a great mid morning place to sit in and actually have a conversation.  The owner/employees were friendly and attentive.  Anyway, I decided to take a photo of my breakfast and some of the other treats available.  Their prices were reasonable and the service was great.  Anyway, if you are ever in the area, please checkout this quaint place located on Kalamalka Lake Road, Coldstream, BC.  It is called the Rail Trail Cafe. 

Snowy Sunday - I don't like snow

"I don't like snow" that was my daughter's message on Monday when the Greater Toronto Area received quite a bit of snow.  It was cold and the roads were slippery.  I understand what she was talking about as I used to live there for over 20 years.  It was even more snow when I temporarily relocated in Ottawa.  I did not learn from the first time, I did it again a couple of years later.  When you think of where we relocated the first time in Canada, one would think that we wouldn't mind the snow.  But I guess after residing in the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory, one might get tired of the cold winters.  The difference is that Ontario has the four seasons and it is beautiful specially in the fall.  Leaves changing their colors is amazing and spectacular.  After having a chance to live in California, it's truly difficult to return to a city where snow is available sometimes from November to March.  But sometimes in life, you really have to weigh everything.  Sometimes you have to give up more than what is important because even if it's only a couple of things that the other city can provide, it is something that is life changing.  If you think of how others have to put up with flooding, tornado, hurricane, typhoon, etc., having a few months of snow is actually not so bad. So far we had one day of snow but it did not stay.  Hopefully we will have a shorter and milder winter.  Are you willing to give up everything you have currently and move somewhere without a winter but has all of the other issues?  Here are some winter wonderland photos.