I’m still eating turkey. We definitely didn’t need a bird as big as the one we got. We won’t get through all the leftovers we have from Christmas. But I have to say that I do love leftovers.
To me the best lunch I can have at work is yesterday’s dinner. I’ll pass on sandwiches, and skip the fast food, give me the meal I had last night.
That said, I’m just about turkey’ed out. One more day to enjoy my mostly meat diet and it’s on to new meals… and new leftovers.
Last year I overcooked the turkey. This year I baked the biggest bird I’ve ever cooked, weighing in at 25.8lbs, and it was cooked to perfection. All the food was delicious.
But more than the food, the company was great. Any time that we can bring family together for a meal is wonderful.
Feeling blessed today.
It’s Christmas Eve and I had some of the best parking and lineup karma I’ve ever had. Five stops and in every case the hunt for a rare open parking stall was almost instantaneous. The stores were busy but in the 3 places that we purchased items, we never waited for more than a couple people in front of us.
The lineup karma didn’t seem to be working at one location where we stepped into a very long line. Then we heard an employee, “Lanr 7 is open, lane 9, lane 3… he just kept going and we basically didn’t pause, moving constantly forward until we were in a lane with a person getting their last 3 items scanned. This was the same lineup we couldn’t get past to walk in the store, that didn’t seem to be moving at all, which made us question if we even wanted to bother shopping at this busy grocery store.
I’m back home and Spanish rice is in the oven. Next is my grandmother’s dish-baked stuffing that doesn’t get stuffed in the turkey. That’s two items that will only need reheating tomorrow, giving me time for all the other cooking to be done on feast day.
Seems the biggest lineup I’ll have to wait for all day is for space in the oven:)
Wishing all happy holidays… as well as good parking & lineup karma!
It’s great to spend time with your mom!
We spent a good part of the day shopping for ingredients for some food I remember from my childhood… a simple but delicious turkey stuffing (that doesn’t go in the turkey) and a Caribbean special, Peas and Rice.
And on that note, if anyone knows of a grocery store in Coquitlam that sells pigeon peas, please let me know, we are still on the hunt.
It’s such a fun concept to sit at a table with a barbecue grill in the center, and be served a plate of raw meat. Hotpot is similar. Food served uncooked, and finished at the table to your liking.
My wife isn’t a fan of meat platters for dinner, but my daughters are. So, off to the restaurant I want with my youngest daughter, and we devoured a meal for two that could easily have fed 3 people… but we were both hungry and devoured everything. Simply delicious!
The next time you buy yogurt, take a look at how much sugar it has in it. Do the same when you are buying ‘healthy’ cereals like the ones high in fibre. If you don’t normally pay attention to labels, you will be shocked.
It takes a tremendous amount of effort to eat healthy these days. Almost every packaged item has more sugar than you’d expect. I remember being at a roadside grocery while on holidays a few summers ago. I was thirsty and ended up choosing a lemonade rather than a can of pop. I thought I’d avoid a sugary soda. I got back to my car and that’s when I looked at the label. My lemonade had over 30 grams of sugar, (about 10 times more than a can of Coca Cola).
I don’t mind indulging in a sugary, tasty treat every now and then, but I make a concerted effort not to eat a lot of sugar as part of my regular diet… and it’s hard. It shouldn’t be, but so much food in our grocery stores have high doses of sugar.
I try to get most of my sugars in fruit. I will occasionally order a sugar free Diet Coke when I’m having fast food. And I read labels and make smart choices at the grocery store. But it’s not easy, it seems like there is sugar and more sugar everywhere I look.
I’ve had a few opportunities to have lunch with, to break bread with, colleagues in the past several weeks. Having a meal together, outside of the usual staffroom with its comfortable banter is a treat. It is a good reminder of the fact that we all have lives outside of this thing called work.
I find that my connections to people can become fixed in a place-based kind of experience, and we all play the roles we are supposed to play… to leave that environment and break bread is an opportunity to find new connections, to be ourselves and not just our roles.
It was a different kind of Thanksgiving this year, the first one where both of our daughters were not with us. We went to my sister and brother in-laws, who were also without kids, and we had paella. It was delicious, I can honestly say that I didn’t miss having turkey.
I want to take a moment and be thankful. Thankful for family and friends. Thankful for good health. Thankful to be living in a prosperous country by global standards, and thankful that it is a democracy. Thankful to live in a beautiful country that is very green and very clean. Thankful for a great job where I can contribute my services to a meaningful cause for a good wage. Thankful for access to delicious food any time that I’m hungry.
It’s when we don’t have these things that we miss them most. The fact that I do have them should not go without appreciation and thanks. I have much gratitude for the life I live, and the people I get to spend it with. 🙏
For me blackberry season is bitter sweet. I love the taste, and enjoy picking and eating them, but they are also a reminder that summer is coming to an end. Blackberries, or blackblellies as my oldest daughter first called them, are so unique.
I’ve already shared that,
“Blackberries are a unique fruit. I can eat a handful of raspberries, strawberries, or blueberries, and it doesn’t matter how many I put in my mouth, I enjoy them all the same. That’s not the case for blackberries. Blackberries taste better when you have one at a time. Two blackberries in your mouth are not as enjoyable as just one.”
So, carefully, watching for thorns, I search for ripe berries. I pick them and place them one-at-a-time in my mouth… and I savour every one. Yes, summer is coming to an end, but I have the joy of blackberries to help soften the blow.
My wife’s family from England came to Canada and one of the things they complained about was the cost of everything. It wasn’t just the taxes and tip at the till that they struggled with, it was the overall cost of everything. This completely surprised me because on trips to England I have consistently found that country to be one of the most expensive places to visit after converting from Canadian to Pounds (or Euros).
However, I’m not surprised. I’ve been shocked by prices too. A pack of chicken that used to cost $12-$13 pre-Covid is now $18-$20. Two bags of groceries that used to cost $50-$70 now routinely costs $100-$120. I can’t remember the last time I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items and didn’t spend $100?
Hearing them complain about the cost of food made me realize just how acclimatized I’ve become to the new prices. We mostly shop at No Frills, which is a Loblaw Company.
Their stock price has more than doubled since 2021. Stock dividends are up. And a quick look shows profits in retail up 4.4% on 3.4% growth this quarter… so maybe it’s just my non-economic math brain but that looks to me like they’ve bled consumers of an extra 1% profit.
I honestly don’t know how anyone working a low hourly wage job can support a family these days? This is why companies like Uber can get drivers, because so many people need a gig-economy second job to make ends meet. The cost of basic living has skyrocketed, and I can foresee quite a few people struggling who would not have just a few years ago.
When I was in England in 2018, I had to stop converting from Euros to Canada dollars because it was ruining my holiday thinking about the cost of everything. Hearing our English relatives complain about Canadian prices has been a wake up call as to just how expensive things have gotten here. While I can pretend a Euro is a dollar on a short vacation and just pay a bit more while vacationing, it’s really hard to accept these inflated prices on a day-to-day basis here at home.
