Toronto’s Terrible Transit Commision

This week while in transit….

I was groped by a gentleman in a stupor getting off the subway at Bathurst Monday evening.

Wednesday afternoon the TTC announced that there would be no service on the Yonge-University-Spadina line  between Bloor and Eglinton for the remainder of their evening service. As a result they told everyone travelling with them to get off at Bloor to take a shuttle bus from their to Eglinton. 

 Then I found this gem on the TTC page for service disruptions,” it is important to note that in the event of a TTC Subway/RT service delay, shuttle buses cannot carry the subway passenger volume due to their lower capacity and road congestion”. Right, well I think it’s a great idea to tell everyone to get on a shuttle bus at Bloor if you cannot carry the volume of passengers.

I would also like to point out that they kept mentioning that this service disruption was due to an outside contractor who compromised the bridge structure at St Claire Station. Yes placing the blame  on a contractor that you hired to work on your already rundown tunnels is another great idea. I felt like they wanted the passengers to be sympathetic with them because an “outside” contractor was the reason we were all experiencing this major delay (my total delay was an  hour).

And yet again they announced just a few weeks ago that they would be increasing the price of tokens by .25. While everyone is asking themselves how they could possibly increase the fare after not only being a ridiculous organization with really sub par workers who are at times more than unwilling to help their clients, I’ve decided to just take it in stride. Yes, I could be angry but then I would just be angry for no reason as the TTC isn’t going to change their ways because their passengers are unhappy with their service. I would just  be wasting a lot of energy working myself up for nothing because the TTC is still cheaper (at the moment) then it would be to drive from uptown to downtown and back 5 days a week.

FYI instead of taking their ridiculous shuttle bus with the overloaded crowd at Yonge and Bloor, I hightailed it to St George Station (and got a nice walk with window displays along the way – I love Christmas) and then took the subway north bound to Lawrence West and took the east bound bus Lawrence and then took the subway to my stop.

The important thing is I got home ok and their service disruption only lasted until 8:25pm.

Thanks for giving me the right perspective TTC.

Filed under: Travel , TTC, Toronto Transit, Commuters

Rustic Shortbread

While I was perusing Amazon.ca for good French cookbooks I somehow managed to find this website Chocolate and Zuchini - I am in love with this site. The recipes are simple and yet elegant. The website has a lot of French style receipes but I came across this recipe and I bought cornmeal and got started on creating homemade rustic shortbread.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup top-quality semi-salted butter (if not using semi salted, add a “fat” pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon (loosely packed) freshly grated, finely chopped citrus zest
• 7 tablespoons stone-ground cornmeal
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

In the bowl of a food processor (or by hand, in a medium mixing-bowl, with a sturdy rubber spatula) cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla or zest. Add the cornmeal and mix until combined. Add the flour and process until just combined.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, knead for a few seconds until smooth, and gather into a ball. Press the dough with the heels of your hands into a spring form pan (or you can spread the dough out and use cookie cutters but watch the oven). Level out the surface with the back of a tablespoon, prick holes all over the dough and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until lightly golden.

Transfer to a cooling rack, mark rectangular or square or triangular pieces using a sharp knife while still hot and malleable, and let cool completely. Separate the pieces and serve.
They were particularly yummy but I might use limes to flavor them next time for a change! They made my home smell delicious.

Filed under: Food , Baking, Easy Recipes, shortbread

Cranberry Lime Biscotti

Last Christmas I made these on a whim. I thought the flavors would go nicely together and that they would be a cheery flavoring for biscotti. And I had tried several recipes from this book and all were excellent. I thought they would go nicely with the rest of my Christmas baking menu. Not to mention there is great satisfaction in being able to make biscotti that looks like it was store bought!

I adapted this recipe from Alice Medrich’s “Cookies and Brownies”.

Cranberry Lime Biscotti

Yield: about 45 small biscotti

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Grated zest of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees f.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk/fork.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and lime zest in a medium bowl until well blended. Mix in the lime juice. Using a wooden spoon stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the cranberries. The batter should be sticky and thick. Scrape batter onto a baking sheet, dividing it evenly into two long skinny loaves of about 14 inches long and 2 – 2 1/2 inches wide. Loaves should be at least 2 inches apart. Shape the edges of the loaves.

Bake for 35 minutes or until firm but springy when pressed. let cool for 10 minutes on the pan. Leave the oven on! Use both hands to remove each loaf carefully from the paper to a cutting board.

Using a sharp serrated knife slice the loaves on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices. Lay the biscotti cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake for an additional 12 minutes. Turn the biscotti over and back for 12 – 15 minutes more or until golden brown. Cool the biscotti on a rack.

Enjoy!

Filed under: Food , Baking, biscotti, Christmas Baking, cranberries, Food, lime

HBO Canada – I Love You on TMN ON Demand

Since having gotten my very own cable box from Rogers I have been watching a lot of tv maybe a little too much really. But I was watching a lot of FOOD Network and watching that makes me want to bake and eat and sit and have lots of tea and think about butter cookies, pear tarts, peach pies, and a whole lot of other tasty delights that should not be devoured on a regular basis.

Then I discovered that TMN on demand came with my movie package and also has all the shows that I love love love and some shows that I didn’t know about – Entourage, Californication, Big Love, Hung and on and on. And the movies ……… better than a batch of cookies.

In an effort to reinstate my good taste in television I have been watching a lot more of the shows and this Billy Joel song can really do a lot to express how I feel about HBO Canada….

Oh, oh, oh
For the longest time
Oh, oh, oh
For the longest
If you said goodbye to me tonight
There would still be  TV(music) left to write
What else could I do
I’m so inspired by you
That hasn’t happened for the longest time

Once I thought my innocence was gone
Now I know that happiness goes on
That’s where you found me
When you put your cable wires (arms) around me
I haven’t been there for the longest time

Maybe this won’t last very long
But you feel so right
And I could be wrong
Maybe I’ve been hoping too hard
But I’ve gone this far
And it’s more than I hoped for

Who knows how much further we’ll go on
Maybe I’ll be sorry when you’re gone
I’ll take my chances
I forgot how nice romance is
I haven’t been there for the longest time

I had second thoughts at the start
I said to myself
Hold on to your heart
Now I know the kind of network (woman) that you are
You’re wonderful so far
And it’s more than I hoped for

I don’t care what consequence it brings
I have been a fool for lesser things (NBC)
I want you so bad
I think you ought to know that
I intend to hold you for the longest time…..

Forever and ever and ever until you start playing garbage television like most of the other networks. I love you HBO!

Filed under: Movies and Television , Billy Joel, HBO Canada, Rogers, TMN on Demand

Chocolate Chip Scones with a Chocolate Ganache

I was visiting one of my favourite food blogs Orangette, rather unfortunately Molly has not been posting as regularly since opening a restaurant in Seattle – Delancey’s , but on a happy note I was perusing her recipe index and found a recipe for chocolate scones … and then I just had to make them….I mean I had all the ingredients at home already.

You can see her blog and original post about these scones here.

Chocolate Chip Scones with a Chocolate Ganache

Yield – 6 large scones. (For Christmas I am going to make these tini-tiny. I felt that the large scones were a bit much, I mean there good but too much of a good thing.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the scones:
1 ¾ c unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ c plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
2 ¾ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks (I did not use a measure for this as I had one huge brick of butter)
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup heavy cream (also known as whipping cream)
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (I used regular but the mini might be more interesting)

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Drop in the butter, and using  two knives, cut the butter chunks into the flour until they are reduced to pearl-sized nuggets. Add brown  sugar. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, eggs, and vanilla.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients, add the chocolate chips, and stir to form a dough. The dough will be firm but moist, and a bit sticky to the touch. Knead the dough lightly in the bowl,  if the dough is too sticky, don’t worry about kneading.

You can shape the dough into a round flat ish disk and cut it into sections or you can shape each scone separately. Bake the scones for 17-18 minutes, or until set. Remove them to a rack to cool, and set the rack over a rimmed baking sheet.

For the ganache (I halved this and still had plenty):
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (be sure to choose a good-quality chocolate that you’d enjoy eating on its own)
3/8 cup (or 1/4 cup plus 1/8 cup) heavy cream

To make the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan until it is very hot and steamy (not boiling, but close), remove it from the heat, and pour it over the chocolate. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate is thoroughly melted. Use a spoon to drizzle the ganache over the cooled scones, and serve. [You will have leftover ganache, which can be refrigerated or frozen; the scones also freeze well and are remarkably good cold.]

Enjoy!

Filed under: Food , Baking, chocolate, Easy Recipes, ganache, scones

The Tank

Being that I live in a condo that is rather on the small side and that one of my very good friends bought me a fish tank as a Christmas present a few years ago….I decided it was time to set up the tank and have pets to call my own.

I set it all up and put in the appropriate chemicals to neutralize the water. Waited a week and then I added some fish… 2 have since died, one from being attacked by another fish and the other for absolutely no foreseeable reason.

Our fish tank now holds – including the clean up crew we added this past week-end:

• 1 red brick swordtail “Rudder”
• 1 Mickey mouse platy ”Meanie”
• Two Cardinal Tertras “Huey” and “Lewis”
• 2 Ghost Shrimp
• 1 Common Pleco
• 2 Oto Catfish

We are pretty happy with our fish and they seem to have adapted nicely. We added some live plants with the first round of fish and they are looking really great in the tank.

The shrimp are pretty hard to find as they are actually see through. But we got the cheapest kind to see how they do, if they do well we will obviously keep them, but if not we will get a more durable kind of shrimp – the almond shrimp which changes colours depending on what it consumes.

 

Filed under: Pets , aquariums, fish tank, platy, shrimp, swordtails

Country Vegetable Soup

It was chilly out last night and I was in the mood for something comforting to have for supper and healthy as well! Up for the task I scoured through the fridge and pantry and found

• half an onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 medium size celery stalks
• 1 large carrot
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 2 variety of noodles
• 5 tsps of this concentrated broth paste, mixed with 5 cups of boiling hot water. I added a bit more water as well to cover everything in the pot.

I chopped the onion and garlic and added it to the already hot large pot with 2 tbsps of olive oil. I then added the celery and carrot and let them sweat while I got my broth ready and opened the can of kidney beans. I added the broth and kidney beans and gave it a stir. Then I added a handful of noodles – not recommended…. way too many noodles, but the soup is good for a first try of country vegetable soup no recipe… I added a little salt and pepper.

I will post the name of the vegetable broth concentrate that I used. It tasted a lot better than some of the boxed broth you can get in the grocery store.

Filed under: Food, Uncategorized , cooking, Easy Recipes, Food, Soups, Vegetable

Frank Lloyd Wright

Having just finished Nancy Horan’s first novel Loving Frank, I felt in the mood to write a little about it as it kept me well entertained for a few days.

The story is told from the point of view of Mamah Cheney then Borthwick… a client of Mr. Wright’s at the beginning of the 20th century. He built a prairie style home for the Cheney’s and while the house was being built Mamah and Frank had an affair. The story is particularly interesting because of the time period and the controversial relationship the two shared together.  Mamah left her children at home with her husband and left for Europe with Frank for quite a long time before returning home.  The book discusses a great deal about women’s rights etc and centres on Ellen Key, a feminist from Sweden.

For more information on this book check out this  website !

Filed under: Books and Reading , Architecture, Books, Loving Frank, reading

Here’s the good news…

I made an apple cranberry crumble pie and it has the perfect balance between sweet and sour. It is devilishly (I am in the Halloween spirit but not ready to let go of the flavors of thanksgiving) good.  I say it’s the good news because the sad news is, last Friday someone stole my lunch bag ( a reusable bag from the Strand, that fit everything perfectly and wouldn’t allow for my tea to fall over and spill all over me, my lunch bag and the unfortunate person on the subway next to me). I thought that it had been thrown out by the cleaning crew at 3:30pm but was informed that they had not seen the bag either. BOO.

Now for great food….

APPLE CRANBERRY CRUMBLE PIE

Find it here on the whole living website affiliated with BODY + SOUL magazine.

Ingredients

FILLING

Juice of 1 orange

Zest of 1/2 orange

5 cups of peeled, sliced apples (approximately 5 medium apples) I used a mix of golden delicous and empire apples.

1/2 cup  brown sugar

1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped (if frozen, do not thaw)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

TOPPING

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons oats

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

To make crust, follow directions for a traditional pie crust. Preheat oven to 400. Roll pie dough out into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Place dough in the pie pan and refrigerate while you make the filling and topping. Or use a frozen pie shell….

Mix together all the filling ingredients in a medium bowl.Use a small bowl to mix together the topping. The topping mixture should clump when pressed together.

Pour and level filling into pie crust. Scatter the crumble topping evenly. Bake for an hour or until the center of the pie is bubbling. If the crust or topping becomes too dark, cover the pie loosely with foil.

Cool completely before serving.

Was awesome and fairly easy to make. Next time I’ll be making my own crust!

Filed under: Food , apple-cranberry, Baking, crumble pies, Easy Recipes, Food, pie, small comforts

Adventures in New York – Part 2

We woke up on Saturday morning to find it rather windy and overcast with a good chance of rain……… but we found a great walking plan and headed out by subway to the South Sea Port. We visited the old printing press, Browne and Co. Stationary and got ourselves postcards and cards and posters. It was a really fantastic gift store and things were really reasonably priced.

We then walked out to the end of the pier and took a picture of ourselves. This is the best of them.

We then walked out to Canal St and enjoyed a BBQ pork bun while walking through Little Italy and then we promptly sat down to enjoy rice pudding at Rice to Riches. When I first heard of this place I was wondering how they could make an eatery with just rice pudding. But I was willing to check it out anyways because our good friend Bryan had recommended it. We tried the Milk chocolate only rings twice with graham cracker crumble as well as a french toast flavored variety. Both were excellent and come in cute take away bowls.

We also took a moment to check out this Cervantes statue….

We then walked back to Washington Square park to site and ogle everyone and debate who was actually from New York and to watch all the unruly dogs glad to get off the pavement and hit the park.

Filed under: Travel , Central Park, New York City, Rice to Riches, Travel