“Right now, we still need to get people boostered to try to protect us against severe outcomes, get our children vaccinated, try to slow things down and minimize the impact to Islanders…” Dr. Heather Morrison
We’re trying to do our part. Now fully vaccinated and continuing to follow the rules. Our circle of contacts is very small but I’m ok with that. Just being safe.
In my last post I showed you the Good Things Jar that I’m going to have for 2022. I’ll share this weeks entry. I wrote “Got the booster shot.” And to me that’s a good thing. A good thing for me, for those around me, and for the world. It affected us a bit more than the previous two. We had it last Wednesday and the rest of that day and Thursday our arms were sore plus we were tired and achey, but really that’s not too bad. By Friday, even though our arms were still tender, the ‘brain fog’ was gone. No complaints here.
This weeks’ recipe:
Roasted Cherry Tomato Penne with Italian Sausage and Fresh Basil from Chef Michael Smith’s Kitchen cookbook.
Michael Smith is a celebrity chef and bestselling cookbook author who lives in PEI. He has hosted various cooking shows, including The Chef Inn and The Chef at Home. He is also a member of ‘Farm to Table’ Cuisine and a passionate advocate for simple, sustainable home cooking. Chef Michael and his wife Chastity are the proprietors of The Inn at Bay Fortune, a five star country inn on Prince Edward Island. The inn is set amongst 48 acres of seaside serenity, during your stay you can explore their organic farm, gardens, whimsical grounds and walking trails. Sadly I haven’t been there but I’ve heard rave reviews from friends and family who have been.
Easy to make. I made regular penne pasta for Richard and gluten free penne for me. Plus I used our own basil and Newby garlic. Don’t you just love it when you can use ingredients that you grew.
Loved it. Adding it to the recipe binder.
I couldn’t help but choose this for my music selection-a bit ‘tongue in cheek’. Lol.
Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benetar.
Stay safe.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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“Just knowing you don’t have the answers is a recipe for humility, openness, acceptance, forgiveness, and an eagerness to learn – and those are all good things.” Dick Van Dyke
Gotta love Dick Van Dyke. Good things. Maybe we all need to remember the good things in our lives. I don’t know about you but I need to do this instead of dwelling on the negatives that have been surrounding us these past years.
I found this on the internet the other day and immediately liked it. As we’ve been in such turmoil these past two years this might be a way to focus on the positives in our lives instead of dwelling on the negatives. I’m starting it this month.
What are your thoughts on this idea?
This weeks’ recipe Fish Cakes is a combination of recipes from two cookbooks-the Acadian Pictorial Cookbook I borrowed from the local library.
and a new cookbook The Hairy Bikers’ British Classics I received as a Christmas present. (Thanks so much Brenda and Teresa)
So today’s dinner is British meets French.
Parsley sauce?
Parsley sauce must be a British thing as Richard automatically associated it with fish cakes but growing up on PEI my mother never served it.
And the final product.
😋
I have loved this song since high school. And that wasn’t yesterday. Lol. Every year, as part of our Winter Carnival, Charlottetown Rural High School would have a variety show on the main stage at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. My best friend Joan Robinson and I sang it as part of the coffee house scene. What fun that was! Especially exciting as we were only in grade nine and the other performers were older students. I even remember the two guys who accompanied us on guitars-John Martin and Paul Druet. They were amazing. Such great memories. Guess that’s a sign of old age. I can remember happenings from the past but often can’t remember why I went upstairs. Oh well. C’est la vie.
Scarborough Fair-Simon and Garfunkel
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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Spoonful of sugar-ha ha. We certainly had more than a spoonful of sugar this weekend.
In my last post I shared the baking that my daughter and I had done for Christmas. Sugar overload. Here’s some from Christmas Day.
Yummy Yummy
Now back to reality and the ever difficult sugar detox.
A quick note about Christmas. Up at 7:30. Unwrapped gifts. Lovely gifts from everyone. As always my family and friends overwhelmed me with their thoughtful presents. Here’s a few: much needed new sneakers in great summer colours, silk pillowcase, fantastic new hair straightener, always loved gift certificates, a sweet homemade tree ornament, and a beautiful British cookbook. I’m super excited to try some of these recipes. I’ll certainly share them with you. Most of all I love seeing those I love open their gifts. I try to find meaningful ones. This year, besides the purchased gifts, I made sea glass pictures for them. Then, in addition, for my three children I made bears using their baby sleepers and buttons that my mother had saved years ago. They weren’t the prettiest but they were made with ❤️ and lovely memories.
I hope everyone had a safe and healthy Christmas and that the new year brings us all a healthy and less stressful life.
“A Spoonful of Sugar” from Mary Poppins- Sherman and Sherman (Sung by Julie Andrews)
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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“It’s been a crazy week, …that would be the best way to put it.” Paul Green
Aren’t we all feeling that way? It seems to me that we just start feeling comfortable and more at ease with life as we now know it and then
A Great Big Kick In The Pants!
But what can we do. We just keep on truckin’ and do the very best that we can.
Other than the Omicron news I had a fantastic week. I spent Wednesday to Saturday at my daughter’s house doing the Christmas baking. To be honest she did most of it. She’s an excellent baker. Let me make this perfectly clear. She didn’t get that talent from me. (Or maybe she got all my talent and left me with none.) Nope. She got it from her grandmothers and great grandmothers.
A little of our Christmas history: In 1979 my father died and from then on Mom spent every Christmas at my home. How excited my kids were every year when she’d arrive in her car that was overflowing with presents and, of course, all the Christmas baking. 🍪 🍰 🧁 To say she went overboard on the baked goods is not an exaggeration. She loved it. Every year she’d bring the old favourites plus a few new experimental ones. Some new recipes she’d deem good enough to keep for the next year and others she’d toss. Years later, when she had a stroke and was not allowed stove access, my daughter and I assumed the Christmas baker role. Sadly in September 2017 Mom died but her Christmas baking and all the wonderful memories live on. ❤️
This week my PEI recipe, Old Fashioned Fish Chowder is from “The Very Best Recipes” by The Women’s Institutes of PEI.
This was a very easy recipe. (My kind of recipe) 😊 And it included our wonderful PEI potatoes. Our little sampled spoonfuls tasted delicious. Well, I thought delicious, Richard thought it tasted better than he expected.
Then we decided to vary the recipe slightly and added some corn niblets for an added veggie. Plus a homemade roll from our local Borden cafe Crossings Cafe. https://www.facebook.com/CrossingsPEI
One of my family’s Christmas traditions is watching “Home Alone” and “Christmas Vacation” every Christmas Eve, always roaring with laughter even though we’ve watched them more times than I can count. I love Christmas traditions. Great memories. 🎄
My music selection is from “Home Alone”. Somewhere in My Memory by John Williams
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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” A goal without a plan is just a wish “-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
It’s been a while.
You know that feeling when you haven’t done something for a while, like exercising, and even though you love doing it the longer you’ve been away from it the harder it is to get motivated to get back at it. Well, that’s what it’s been like with my blogging. I wanted to get back at it but just couldn’t get myself to start. So I had to come up with a plan-something to get me motivated.
So this is it. Each week I’ll make a recipe from various PEI cookbooks and let you know how it goes. Some will be recipes passed down from my mother and others will be recipes from recipe books I checked out from the PEI Library.
If you have any favourite recipes please share with me. I’d love to try them.
We’re staying on PEI this winter (or at least until Covid and its variants are more under control) and we all know what long, cold, dark winters can bring. Oh yes. The dreaded winter blues. My goal is to try and keep them at bay the best that I can. So to work towards this goal my plan is to create projects to keep me busy. One recipe a week will be just one of my winter projects. I’ll share the others as the winter progresses. (Richard is to be thanked for this as he’s big into creating ‘to do‘ lists and encourages me to do the same.)
Who remembers when various local groups would publish cookbooks, possibly as fundraisers? I remember having had quite a few in my collection. Sadly, years ago I decided to downsize and most of these were given away.
One of these types of books was in the library: Spanning The Gulf With a P.E.I. Flavour by Free Church of Scotland W.F.M.A. On Prince Edward Island.
Today’s recipe is Shepherd’s Pie. Over the years I’ve made my own version of this many times, but never followed a recipe.
I love how they added a quote to the bottom of each page. Gives us something to think about. I don’t know about you but I am a big worrywart. And yes 😊 that is a word. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary a worrywart is defined as “a person who’s inclined to worry unduly”. Guess that says it all. Maybe someday I’ll figure out how to worry less. (Don’t hold your breath. Lol)
Making this dish was easy. That’s a good thing. And supported PEI potatoes too.
The big issue: everyone has a Shepherd’s Pie that they’re used to and that they love. So trying this recipe was risky.
We liked it. Both of us said it was different that any that we’d previously eaten. I’ve never put cheese on Shepherd’s Pie. Richard said his was always richer, with more meat, gravy and cheese but with less potato. That’s ok. It was fun to do it. And it passed some time. Yay!
When I taught elementary school music I often played Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. They would envision the seasons while listening to the music and create drawings.
Close your eyes and enjoy!
Vivaldi Four Seasons: Winter (L’Inverno), original version. Freivogel & Voices of Music RV 297 4K
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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What a dreary, rainy day! While lamenting about the miserable weather we’ve been having, certainly not summer weather, my Aunt Fran reminded me that people in British Columbia would relish receiving our rain. That took me out of my self pity. Smart lady.
Today, July 4th, Americans are celebrating. Here we’re also celebrating. We’re celebrating Richard’s birthday. But I use the word ‘celebrating’ loosely. Richard doesn’t really celebrate them. We had planned to go to our ‘local’ Lone Oak Brewery for a late lunch or an early supper. They were having outdoor entertainment: Keelin Wedge and Roland Beaulieu. Guess we’re fair weather people. Due to the miserable weather we stayed put. Change of plans. I told him I’d make him Fries with the Works. He’d never had it before moving to PEI and now really enjoys having it-once in a while.
Thus today’s quote. He took a break from healthy eating. In addition to his supper he had a Tim Horton’s Boston Creme doughnut as his birthday cake. He acquired a taste for them from my mother. Boston Creme doughnuts were her favourites. And, for her, they had to be from Tim Hortons. I made that mistake once but only once. She was in a community care home in North Rustico and I stopped at Robin’s Doughnuts to get her a treat. She took one bite and promptly said,”That doesn’t taste right”. Lesson learned. My whole family doesn’t get together very often but when we do we usually have Boston Creme doughnuts in remembrance of her. Love you Mom.
I wish I had more to share but things are pretty tame around here. Mostly do the same things every week. So I’ll share a few meals we’ve had lately, mostly healthy ones.
Southern Baked Picnic Chicken Bowl
This was delicious and will have again. Included in the bowl: chicken, avocado, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, and cucumber all on a bed of lettuce. To add a bit of ‘fun’ to the salad I used our Spiralizer to create cucumber ribbons.
Coronation Chicken
This is a major favourite of ours. We’ve made it many times and for many guests. On that day we served it along with mango and small, spiced potatoes.
Southern Baked Picnic Chicken Bowl
Coronation Chicken
Fries with the Works
Scrambled Eggs with Cherry Tomatoes
The two pictures directly above are from tonight’s birthday supper. Hmmmm. Easy to tell who had what. Richard enjoyed his and I love scrambled eggs so we were both happy.
So today I’m saying it was okay to take a break. We don’t do it very often so no guilt here. Well, I wouldn’t have guilt about mine anyway. Ha Ha 😊
I hope you’re enjoying the summer and allowing yourselves the liberty of “taking a break”.
And in honour of Richard’s birthday here’s today’s musical selection. (unapproved by Richard)
You Say It’s Your Birthday-The Beatles
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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“Food is an important part of a balanced diet.” Fran Lebowitz
Today’s title is the name of a song from the musical”Oliver”. Love that musical. (I bet the workhouse boys back then would have appreciated a balanced diet.) When I was in grade 12 my high school did a production of it at The Confederation Centre of the Arts.
I had the role of ‘Bet’. What an amazing experience. Memories that last a lifetime, with more learning experiences than you can imagine. A prime example of the importance of ‘the arts’ in school programs.
So I haven’t posted in a while. Haven’t been doing very much. Just working around the house and the yard. Not very exciting. But there have been some interesting meals and I’ve been saving the pictures to share with you. Today’s the day.
I’m starting with tonight’s supper. This recipe may be meant to be eaten as an appetizer but it was delicious and filling as a meal.
Pineapple Avocado Salsa
Tastes as good as it looks.
The next three we enjoyed over the last two weeks. Even though Meatless May is done we’re still including many vegetarian recipes in our diet.
The far left is Chick Pea Curry and Basmati Rice
The centre is Mango, Beef, and Rice on a bed of lettuce.
The far right is Cheese Omelette topped with Garlic Scapes.
The eggs are local from Kool Breeze Farms https://koolbreezefarms.com/. The garlic scapes are from our garden. For those who haven’t heard of garlic scapes (we hadn’t until last year): Garlic scapes are the tender stem and flower bud of a hardneck garlic plant. (Hardneck garlic is the kind of garlic that typically grows in Canada and the northeastern U.S.) Scapes first grow straight out of the garlic bulb, then coil. When harvested, they look like long, curly green beans.
So we’ve been working, exercising, and eating healthy. Or at least we’re trying. always a work in progress.
Food Glorious Food from “Oliver” – Lionel Bart
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” —Thich Nhat Hanh
This article “How Happiness Impacts Health” that I recently read states,
“Happiness is good. It provides us with a sense of optimism, a “take on the world” attitude and a positivity that can be infectious. According to a recent study, everyone attempts to find happiness in three ways: Doing good for others; doing things you’re good at; and doing things that are good for you.”
We left Borden early yesterday morning in order to make the most of our first day. The weather was slightly on the cool side but we accepted that and would still enjoy ourselves. After a short detour to stop at Winners 😊 in Charlottetown we headed to Greenwich National Park and its 2.5 km floating boardwalk. https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/pe/pei-ipe/visit/greenwich Stopping at the PEI Visitor’s Information Centre in St. Peters https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/building/st-peters-visitor-information-centre we sat on one of their outdoor picnic tables and had some tea, crackers, and chocolate – we brought our own little picnic. After a little visit inside (Richard picked up some travel brochures and I changed into my shorts as it had turned into a lovely hot 🌞 day) we were off to the boardwalk and beach.
Floating boardwalk
It’s so beautifully pristine there (the mosquitoes 🦟 in the woods part of the trail were not but I’m choosing to put them out of my mind). Including our walk along the beach 🌊 we did a total of 7 km. and we only saw four others on the beach. Pure happiness!
Happiness
Next stop Rodd Brudenell River Resort in Cardigan. https://roddvacations.com/hotels/rodd-brudenell-river/ COVID 19 protocols are obviously taken very seriously here. Perfect. Oh my, oh my, oh my! Imagine my extreme delight when I opened our room and discovered we had a King Suite with a wraparound deck overlooking the water. Took a bit of time to enjoy it and then off for dinner at Bogside Brewinghttps://bogsidebrewing.com and an ice cream cone at What’s the Scoophttp://www.whatsthescooppei.com in Montague. At Bogside Richard had Slow Smoked Chicken. The flavour was yummy but his preference would be for the chicken to be cooked more. We both prefer meat to be really well done but realize others don’t. I chose to enjoy the moment and chose nachos (think about calories another day). They were good but I’d have preferred more cheese and jalapeños. But they can’t cater to everyone’s particular tastes now can they. Our ice creams, on the other hand were scrumptious. Can’t beat a good ice cream cone. 🍦 Richard-Sugar Free Vanilla Cone. Me-Belgium Dipped Cone
Deciding to make the most of our amazing accommodations we bought a bottle of champagne ‘ooh la la’ 🍾 and had a very relaxing evening enjoying sun ☀️ and champagne 🥂 on our deck. Why not. This is our vacation time.
What a fabulous day! We really were attentive to the moments we were in and saw the joy in them.
This morning? Cold! Cold!Cold! I’m so glad I brought a heavy sweater as we walked over the their Club 19 for breakfast. And it was very windy. https://roddvacations.com/restaurant/club-19/ Again I was impressed with all the protocols they have in place. Our breakfast was very good and nicely presented- eggs, bacon, pan fried potatoes, toast, and slices of fresh cantaloupe, pineapple, and strawberry.
Back to our room for tea, reading, and newspaper crossword puzzles. Might as well enjoy every last minute in our fabulous suite.
But, as always, the time comes to leave. Off we went. Another stop in Charlottetown, this time at Home Depot to get some supplies for work projects and then back to Borden. It’s always great to go somewhere but returning also feels terrific. These two days were a great get away and I’m so happy we took this little vacation. A change no matter how big or small, can be so beneficial.
With this vacation, as with anything in life, you have choices: be present in the moment or dwell on other things, focus on the positives or on the negatives. You know what I chose. These two days brought happiness to my soul and I savour every moment. I’ll remember all the positives and let the negatives fade away.
Hopefully we’ll have a few more mini staycations this summer in various other parts of PEI. Will let you know when we do.
Richard often sings this song around the house. He remembers it from when he was a child. I thought it was a wonderful choice for today’s song selection.
Happiness – Ken Dodd
“Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I posses
I thank the Lord that I’ve been blessed
With more than my share of happiness”
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
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“Just because you’re struggling, doesn’t mean you’re failing.” Unknown
I need to say that to myself every day. Usually I think the reverse. I struggle with my weight. I’m very hard on myself. I’m a work in progress trying to focus on being healthy rather than looking at numbers on the scale but it’s difficult. So I need to remember that just because the scales aren’t moving or I eat something I think I shouldn’t, it doesn’t mean I’m failing. I just need to keep on pushing through.
Just this morning Richard and I were talking and he’s telling me that as long as we keep active we’re doing ok. And although I agree with him, in the back of my mind I also think it’s easier for him to say because he’s not overweight. Our conversation reminded me of how often my best friend has said to me that it’s better to be healthy on the inside. Smart lady. But still I struggle. I’d like to be smaller. Who am I kidding. That’s not true. I’d like to be small. I find it difficult not to focus on the image in the mirror. I’ll keep trying. It’s all part of my health journey.
It’s not that I’m inactive. I do cardio, 🏃♀️ weight training, 💪 and yoga.🧘🏼 One of my yoga instructors posted this the other day, “Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.” I work at that physically but I need to work on the mental. To be more accepting of the body I have, is one of my goals. Always a work in progress.
The opening quote can pertain to many aspects of our lives. We all have struggles and they’re all different but important to each of us. I realize mine may seem insignificant but they’re important to me. More than ever we’re struggling with life issues, especially during this pandemic. Things may not always go exactly the way we want but we have to give ourselves a break. I struggle with this. Maybe you do too. We need to remember that quote. We may be struggling but we aren’t failing.
On a positive note I’m now enjoying the celery juice. Imagine that. That small change in ounces made all the difference. And it was an absolutely beautiful day. Those who don’t enjoy sun and heat might disagree but as I love both it was perfect. I sat on the deck all afternoon. Yes, I had sunscreen on and my sun hat. 👒
Richard made this supper creation using our own chives.
Egg and Potato Salad with Chives
Pretty purple petals
The Impressions leader, the late Curtis Mayfield, wrote this song which is about perseverance and finding strength to get through the tough times.
Keep on Pushing – The Impressions
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
I invite you to click follow to receive timely updates, like to show your love and support, share my post on your social media site, and /or comment.
“There are friends, there is family, and then there are friends who become family.” Unknown
In my last post I talked about family and how we’re always there to help them whenever and however we can. It’s what we do. I believe that’s also part of being a healthy person. Studies show that helping and giving can actually boost your physical and mental health.
But in our lives we also have friends; friends on many different levels.
According to Suzanne Degges-White, “When contemporary researchers quantify friendship types, they usually come up with around three or four levels of relationship depth—acquaintances, casual friends, close friends, and intimate or “best” friends.” She states, “The number of close friends we need to feel that we have enough is somewhere between three and five…And if you have one person who considers you their best friend, the satisfaction you enjoy in life is significantly higher than those who don’t.”
If we are truly blessed we have that best friend; a friend who becomes family. I am so blessed. I have known my best friend for over forty years. What? How can that be when we’re only in our twenties? 😉 Well, we feel like we’re in our twenties. Hmmm most of the time, except when we try to get up after sitting for a long time. Then we quickly realize our age. Just saying I’ve known her for forty+ years blows my mind and, I’ve got to admit, makes me feel kinda old 😧. Who am I kidding? I am old, but only old in number, certainly not old in spirit. Where has the time gone? Years fly by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday we were sipping frozen daiquiris 🍹 all afternoon in the back yard. Come to think of it we had a difficult time standing up then too but for a completely different reason. 😊 Maybe we need to do start doing that again this summer. She is part of my family and I would do anything for her. I’m sure she’d say the same about me. In fact she has been there so many times for me that I’ve lost count.
Hopefully you have that kind of a friend in your life. A friend you can always count on and who can count on you. And in the words of Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager, “That’s what friends are for.”
There are so many songs I could choose. Here are a couple of great ones.
You’ve Got a Friend in Me – Randy Newman with Chris Thile
You’ve Got a Friend – James Taylor and Carole King
For those interested in my celery juice saga, I’m enjoying it much better now that I’m only having 4 ounces a day. Not minding it at all. Thank goodness.
Sorry no food pictures today as we emptied the freezer of leftovers and that’s what’s for supper. A freezer surprise as we don’t remember what they are and can’t tell from looking at them. Insert huge laughter here. Hahahahahaha. We’ve decided we have to start labelling them.
The most exciting news is we received our second COVID-19 vaccination today. Yay!
Stay safe and healthy.
As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.
I invite you to click follow to receive timely updates, like to show your love and support, share my post on your social media site, and /or comment.
Debi's Junket Journal 