Food For the Cold Weather

   A sunny day today with no wind and I was out without a hat and still no boots - quite unheard of here in January. It felt a lot warmer than -9C. However we have another chilly week coming up.

     As you can see from this snap from today's newspaper, we will have no positive values at all!  The warmest day will be Tuesday but it will bring snow....and just look at those overnight numbers! I wish I could stay home on Wednesday as it will be fiercely cold to go outdoors but that's my day in the kitchen at the Senior's Centre. There will be a few hardy types who will be there expecting their coffee. 

    The furnace will be chugging away non stop this week and my heating bill will be on the rise again. Luckily I changed the filter on the furnace today so it will be working more efficiently.

    I had a productive day in the kitchen today - a pot of carrot lentil soup on before I went grocery shopping, just a small shop for some fresh fruit and vegetables, but I did find a piece of blade roast marked down 30% so made a stew this afternoon. Not a great deal of meat but loads of veggies - carrots, onion, brussell sprouts (I love them in a stew), tomatoes and half an eggplant. It should be yummy and will do me several days. Normally I would have put in some red wine but I am having a dry spell so used apple juice instead and a splash of apple cider vinegar.

   I am still eating mincemeat tarts left over from Christmas so that, with a clementine, will be dessert. I can't think of anything nicer!

Keeping Warm

   I got my heating bill the other day and for the last month it was $220. Yikes!! And that was before the current extreme cold spell. Heaven knows what the next one will be. This is just for keeping the house ticking over at a very low temperature, heating the water tank and, in the evenings, the gas fire in the family room. I think I will have to wear a few more heavy sweaters for the rest of the winter or I will be bankrupt before Spring (Just kidding).

   The cold spell has finally broken - it was just minus 1C when I came home from tonight's meeting. It was the first planning session for the tennis club and rather long and tedious but it got me in the mood for getting out on the courts. That's still a long way off. It will be the end of April before the winter bubble comes down and the nets go up.

Another Frosty Day

   The bitter cold continues - this is what greeted me this morning.

Yes, that's minus 21C or minus 4F! 

I never did get my driveway totally cleared - only lasted 15 minutes before my fingers were frozen. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and we will get above zero by the middle of the week. Nevertheless, I ventured out with some other hardy folks to do another Burns demo and we have our Burns supper at my social dance class this evening. I wonder how many will turn up to hear the "Address to the Haggis"? The turnip is cooking as I type.

Sunday with the Family

  Oh, so cold today and a ton of snow to shovel! I had decided I wouldn't use the snowblower so didn't plug in the battery, but regretted it later. The driveway is half done and I cleared a path on the sidewalk for any intrepid walkers to get by. 

   The drive up to Markham for James' birthday was a bit harrowing as the roads were still slippery. But it was worth it to be with family. We had a lovely brunch and I brought a haggis to celebrate Rabbie Burns birthday as well as James.  Natalie interviewed me for a school project on immigration. Her dad is also an immigrant but came here at quite a young age.

   When I got home I worked on the driveway again for a bit but the wind was too strong so I only lasted 15 minutes. I will do the rest tomorrow, hopefully.