Category Archives: Food

Business, Food, Photography

The Final, Last, Ultimate Pot of Red River Cereal, Sigh

It’s the final countdown. The end of the line.

Our last serving of Red River Cereal, placed in a pot to soak overnight before cooking tomorrow morning.

last pot red river cereal

This was my late Dad’s fave hot cereal.

Yes, I know there are subsitutes, or “mix your own” suggestions, but still . . .

The end of an era.

Oh, yeah, if anyone wants the empty box, complete with English and French sides, bidding starts at C$100 😉.
Food

Reporting on Public Commitment to Lose Weight

I vaguely recall making a public commitment to lose weight, so am reporting that I’m pleased to be down 10kg, or 22lb, from where I was at this time last year.

Slow but steady, eh?

No special diets, no fads or programs. Just simply tracking every single calorie eaten, and every calorie expended through exercise.

If I repeat that this year, I won’t have to buy any pants for years because I’ve got several pairs of jeans and several pairs of cargo pants that I, er, outgrew over the years, and that are still in great condition 🙂.

There are already a few pairs that I can wear now that were too tight a year ago. . .

Ganbarimasu!
Food, Photography

Making Varennyky – Perogies

It’s been a long time since I made varennyky (perogies) from scratch.
It’s a workout!

making varennyky perogies

Potato/cheddar. Boiled and then fried for crispy goodness, with sides of fried onions, and mixed vegetables.

Made enough that I could freeze a dozen for another day.

This makes me appreciate the efforts of my late grandmothers. They both made varennyky, lots of them, and while the two styles were slightly different, both were delicious. My paternal grandmother also made mouth-watering cabbage rolls.

I don’t have the patience to make small perogies or cabbage rolls. My grandmothers would smile, and gently admonish my efforts saying “those will do, but not for guests.” : – )
My late maternal grandfather was renowned for being able to down dozens of perogies in one sitting, yet he remained lean all his life. I envied his metabolism : – ).

Food, Photography

Finding Yummy Ways to Eat the Halloween Pumpkin

Yumi cooked the Halloween pumpkin but it was pretty soggy and tasteless. I’ve never liked pumpkin pie, but I love banana bread, so . . .

Found a pumpkin bread recipe and it’s delish! Threw in half a cup of oatmeal and several tablespoons of roasted pumkin seeds.

Oh, yeah, I also used a couple of cups of the cooked pumpkin in a scalloped potato dish, and that’s good, too.

pumpkin bread

Food, Japan, Photography, Society

Nikkei Mini Matsuri in Burnaby

We took in the Mini Matsuri (festival) at Nikkei Place in Burnaby, BC, today. It was scaled down due to Covid, but it was still a lot of fun. Great food, displays, and entertainment.

nikkei matsuri burnaby bc

Let’s move on to the food!

Yumi and I split an Okonomi Japadog, split an order of shrimp takoyaki, had one sweet red bean taiyaki each, and split an order of gyoza.

Don’t think we’ll need to cook any dinner today! 🙂

nikkei matsuri food burnaby bc

Food

Burgeoning Borshch

It began innocently and within reason when I saw a huge beet about the size of a small cantaloupe in the fridge. Hey, how about borshch?

But it quickly became enough to feed us for several days 🙂.

I started by simmering about a cup of dry split peas with a diced yellow onion in a medium pot. Once the peas were starting to soften, I added the huge beet, chopped into tablespoon-sized portions.
And then things began to get away from me, so I transfered the borshch in progess into a larger pot.

A couple of diced yellow potatoes and and couple of chopped carrots. Half a cup of chopped celery, and about a quarter of a large cabbage. . .

And another transfer into an even larger pot.

Whew, done! And it works out well because we’re expecting another heat wave coming this week, and borshch goes down just fine cold, eh?

And. . . no debate on how to spell borshch, OK? That’s how Ukrainians pronounce it, so there you go. 🙂

borshch

Food, Nature, Photography

Harvesting Balcony Potatoes

Today I harvested the potatoes I had planted in a half barrel by our garage, and in two reusable grow bags on our balcony.

Strangely the barrel produced little, but the small balcony bags were great. I’ll have to figure out why this happened.

I’d used fresh planting soil in the balcony bags, but had reused the soil in the half barrel, so there may have been a nutrient difference.

balcony potatoes burnaby bc

Food

Bran, Oatmeal, Pumpkin, Blueberry Muffins

I take after my late Mom. She liked to take recipes and “health them up.”

Yum, these turned out really well. Used the basic recipe off a Rogers Wheat Bran package for bran muffins, cut the sugar in half, added 1/3 cup oatmeal, about 1/2 cup of mashed pumpkin (yes, dating back to Halloween!), about 1/2 cup of blueberries, a dash of roasted pumpkin seeds, and some sesame seeds.

bran pumpkin blueberry bran muffins

UPDATE (Dec. 21): Damn those were good :-). All gone four days later. Still some mashed pumpkin from Halloween in the fridge, so another batch on the way. . .