I am a little behind on this too! But catching up on posts is kinda fun in a way… These were all read in 2022! Oops
In Cold Blood : A true account of a multiple murder and its consequences by Truman Capote
The Storygraph key words: nonfiction classics crime true crime adventurous dark tense slow paced
Me: This is one of those books I’ve actually had for ages but couldn’t remember actually reading. It was really interesting to see how Capote told the story with the various viewpoints and shifting the narrative around. However now that I’ve read it, I’ve handed it off to my dad who also hasn’t ever read it. So it’s out of the house!
The Wealthy Barber: The common sense guide to successful financial planning by David Chilton
The Storygraph key words: nonfiction business informative fast paced
Me: It was pretty good for a financial book written in the late ’90s 😉 The basics are good and tie in nicely with my supposed focus on being more mindful with money. It talks about “paying yourself first” (we have automatic RRSP/TFSA account contributions on top of our workplace group plans) and those kinds of basics. I also have the sequel somewhere in the house but it can wait I guess: I’ve had this one for years and years. It went into a local free library as soon as I was done.
Nosy Parker: by Lesley Crewe
The Storygraph key words: fiction historical emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
Me: this was a fun read. It takes place in Montreal during the expo. You definitely get the idea that family is what you make – friends become family and the “ideal family” just doesn’t exist. It’s told from the perspective of a middle-school-aged kid. I was a little nervous about this but it was actually quite good and not at all cutesy (as I feared). I gave this away on our local free group on FB ’cause I knew I wasn’t gonna read it again.
Left to my own devices, I will stay inside and never leave the house. Now I have a puppy. I leave the house several times a day. I have spoken to more people – STRANGERS! – in the past 7 months than I probably have since 2012 when we moved into this house.
Toby likes going out. And Toby loves trying new and different places to eat.
So I thought I’d combine the two – a list and going out to eat.
What better list than ALLLL the countries of the world?!?
Well, probably lots. There are honestly loads of better lists to use to pick restaurants than “an alphabetical list of the countries of the world.”
First of all, not everyone agrees as to what is “a country.” And seriously, this is not at all supposed to be political (not the blog, the eating out!). But if the list didn’t have Palestine on it I wasn’t gonna use it. This is my favourite list though – it recognizes Palestine and Kosovo (to the Mighty Q’s great relief).
And second, wow there are a LOT of countries that start with A. And not a lot of restaurants for all of them in Toronto. So Toby suggested, 1 country per letter and just keep cycling through the alphabet. I think that’s actually what I’m going to work with.
But wait…why eat around the world at all?!?
Okay, let’s step back a minute. I was born in Toronto Ontario Canada. In the early 1970s. I basically grew up with the story that Toronto is the most multicultural place in the world.
It turns out it is actually not just a story – see here: BBC Radio – behind the stats; or here: BBC Travel: the city of 140 languages; about half our population comes from elsewhere AND half of the immigrants to Canada come here: wiki.
But of course it’s not all honey and love and equality. Most people have heard of Little Italy or Chinatown. But we also have a Little Jamaica, and a Chinatown East, and Little India. I live near Greektown. And then there’s Koreatown. And so so many more. So the idea came to me to get out of the house and explore the city a little more. To entice Toby, and maybe some friends too, I’d link it to food.
Start at the beginning
So – I started at the top. With Afghanistan.
Map Of Afghanistan And Surrounding Countries
I googled “best [country] food Toronto.” I relied heavily on reddit: specifically /FoodToronto. And this is obviously not a new idea. There are other blogs dedicated to this: Eat the World TO, Global Toronto Eats, even a food tour! But hey I am still gonna do it my way.
On January 14, Toby and I and the Mighty Q and some friends (people came along! wheeeee) met at Bamiyan Kabob on Overlea Blvd. in East York. Inexpensive and cheerful – think hard tables, plastic chairs, picking your food up on trays etc. – and the food was really really good and three of the boys (7, 11, and 48 years old) all really liked their mango smoothies too. It was busy. We grabbed a table for the 9 of us and almost all the other tables turned over while we were there. A mix of ages and races and genders and everything.
barg kabobkofta kabob
Even Q ate it. Well, not the lettuce 😉 Turns out he liked the barg best. I ordered it because I had no idea what it was. According to the website it’s filet mignon. Kid has good taste.
And then across the “street” in the little plaza-type place, there was an ice cream shop. Remember we had 3 kids with us.
Anyway – why not have Afghan dinner and then Thai dessert?
Ice cream is rolled out on a tabletop that is chilled to -19 degrees Celsius. Then rolled up. That’s it in a nutshell. The Mighty Q got smores (complete with marshmallow). I got blueberry cheesecake with whipped cream and white chocolate. I don’t even remember what Toby got but I’m sure there was fruit involved. And no pictures even. Clearly we’ll have to go back.
Next up I think is Belgium. Moules…. lambics…ales… steak frites.
My brain is already thinking things like “so many different types of “Chinese” food – what the heck are we gonna do?!?!?” But one thing at a time I guess. January was Afghanistan. March will be Belgium. If you have a favourite “country” restaurant in the GTA let me know!
This sort of shouldn’t count for the decluttering / organizing part of this activity because it turns out the actual physical book I have is book two in the series so I read book one from the library.
Me: while parts of this “written in the 70s” detective story were kinda painful to read nowadays (bosoms should just not be commented on okay?!?) the overall premise of this one is awesome and I will be reading more! I don’t want to spoil it – which is weird to say about a book as old as I am but still. Once I get through the alphabet I’ll come back to read the second one.
Milkman by Anna Burns
Storygraph key words: fiction historical literary challenging dark reflective slow-paced
Me: if you want to read a book that seems to me like what my brain is like read this. Digressions all over the place (like for pages!), but always swinging back around to the point etc. Again, not my usual sort of thing but I LOVED it. So far it’s still on the shelf. And will likely stay there for a while.
I loved this book first published in 1979. Usually Butler is lumped into science fiction but I far prefer The Storygraph’s use of “speculative fiction.”
I thought this was just beautifully done. And also so much of what I would do. She travels through time, but doesn’t understand how or why and she and her partner try to figure it out as the story progresses and I love that part of it. I will definitely read more by her. I have read Bloodchild and Other Stories – I love short stories and these were all fantastic.
So I was really happy that I read three A books and got 4 books out of the house. Less decluttering with B books – they are all still here. But ohhhh so worthy of staying on the shelf. On to C next!
So, exactly how much stitching did I get done this week?
Oh you know
It really is hard to get anything done with a puppy around.
So here’s the last thing I did as part of a group project known as Steotch and it’s most recent Steotchalong. I had a deadline. I knew I could barely make it. So I was a few days late but I did it.
Toronto as touque. Our team picked a Canadian motif; the touque. Or toque. Or tuque. Whichever you use is fine. I use touque. Deal.
Our team – the Screaming Beavers no less – has some amazing people in it and some have really gone above and beyond. Our captain keeps us all informed and motivated and others have really done so much – one is putting all the touques together to submit as our group project; a bunch of us “sang” bits of ice ice baby and others put it all together; others acted out a spoof on the fold it in bit from Schitt’s Creek (complete with a cameo from one of the actors on the show!); they made cookies; and so much more.
And WE’RE IN FIRST PLACE
So apparently the final push is the percentage of the team to complete the stitch. By December 26. Clearly I need a solid deadline and there we go….I guess I should start!
Okay – so here’s where I’m at in my stitching projects. I do intend to finish them all I really do!
Stupid Big Stitch:
Everything else sort of went to the wayside when I started this. But even this hasn’t been worked on in months.
So – I need a December goal = 90 minutes a week? Sure. Let’s go with that. No wait, the baby announcement (NO! Not mine; more on this below) goes first in order of priority but I want to do a little bit on this every week in December – maybe Wednesday evenings will be to work on this one, 20 minutes? great! 60 minutes? even better.
Galaxy Temperature Stitch:
Ohhhh so I love Climbing Goat Designs so much it’s actually a little ridiculous. And, obviously I’m a bit behind.
So December goal – my excel temp chart only goes to April 12 right now. I would like to get the chart at least up to date even if I don’t do any more stitches right now.
Secret Project for the kid of a friend:
Okay – I bought the pattern and pulled out the treads for this one. That’s about it.
December goal = pick the fabric because…..
Project for my cousin’s baby
(who’s obviously not getting his baby announcement as early as his sister did!) Pattern and threads have all been purchased. I even picked out the fabric for this one now.
This is going to be my primary December focus.
Secret Xmas Project for a friend:
This is one of those things I’m gonna work on as a break from the baby announcement and not on Wednesdays lol And if I get it done for this xmas then terrific; and if not, she’ll get it next year!
Okay – I do have a December goal for this one. FIND IT! 😱
And another secret thing so secret I can’t even write about it really:
I am superduperthisclose to finishing something for a dear friend. I had hoped to get it done for min-November but that got lost in the puppy/sick Q shuffle. Should still be doable for December though.
Lisa tries to be “secretive”
I’m posting this stitching update on a Thursday so I’ll try and update every Thursday in December. The last Thursday might be dicey as we’ll be in BC but I’ll try!