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| I posted this on Instagram yesterday, but I know you’re not all checking out that platform, and I’m really pleased with this image, wanting to share it. . . |
Still busy around here, as it is around your place too, I imagine, but after Saturday’s full-to-the-brim-and-then-some post, I thought it might be time for some calming images, fewer words. . .
Snow muffled much of the noise surrounding us yesterday, and I called it a pyjama day, but popped my boots on to putter around the terrace with my camera. Isn’t this filigree on the ornamental maple exquisite? This photo I didn’t share on IG — saved it just for you. . .
I did finally change out of my pyjamas in the early evening; Pater had made reservations for a special date dinner at a favourite restaurant (Bishop’s on 4th), and I tried to gussy up (does anyone still use that expression?) as much as one can when walking almost 5 kilometres across slushy roads and snow-packed sidewalks. Keeping cars off the roads when possible always seems the wisest approach to me and earning the calories for dinner also let us admire the festive lights in a wintry wonderland.
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| Seriously, could you get any more Canadian Christmas lights than this display at Kitsilano’s Kit and Ace? |
Outside, this morning, there are more pedestrians than usual and the cars are moving a bit more slowly, but as I note that many of those pedestrians are wielding umbrellas and the windshield wipers are working away on those cars, I suspect the Winter Wonderland will have turned to a Wet and Slushy Land by this afternoon. A Wet Christmas is much more likely than a White one, but at least the snow pack in the mountains will be increasing substantially, good news for next summer’s water. . .
Hope your Monday is off to a relatively peaceful start. This may be a very busy week, but let’s try our best to remember what’s truly important and let’s cultivate calm when possible so that we can pass it along when it’s needed.
(on a considerably lower note: have any of you discovered the, ahem, less desirable aspects of the delicious sunchoke? Several of them, roasted, formed a tasty base for my dish of seared scallops last night, and let’s just say I was motivated to do some research this morning and wish I’d known before about their other nickname.)
Beautiful pics of the ornamental maple. The moose-in-lights is fun and absolutely quintessentially Canadian! We haven't gotten any snow in Dallas yet, but it was 18F here this morning. Nothing to compare with anything north of us, but bitter cold nonetheless.
That's 8 below, Celsius — cold enough! In fact, that's about as cold as we go (with a few rare exceptions) here on the west coast of Canada, at least down near the southern border…Bundle up!
The second photo is particularly lovely. It would make a gorgeous Christmas card. We haven't yet seen snow in the UK and Christmas looks as though it will be relatively mild and warm this year.
Have a wonderful Christmas, Frances x
Thanks, Marianne! I really should follow up that idea and turn a few photos into cards, as I've been thinking of retrieving my old Christmas card practice after years of abstinence. . .
May your Christmas be wonderful as well!
I thought the sunchoke effect only occurred if they were eaten raw! I have used them in soup and don't remember any 'backlash'.
Best wishes for the holiday season Mater, to you and your family.
I've eaten them before, cooked, with no noticeable ill effects, but perhaps not quite as many. I read several articles and it does appear that there can be differences in the 'chokes themselves, in the inulin content, and that roasted with skin on can cause problems. The "bed" my scallops sat on might have been three-quarters to a full cup of them, and the consequences were very noticeable, would have been very awkward if I'd had to be around anyone. And the 'chokes were the only obvious culprit…
Thank you for the holiday wishes. May yours be happy as well.
The filigree looks to be dancing in the snow–a bit of magic on your patio.
Lovely, Elle, thank you!
That Kit and Ace location is the head office where my daughter worked for a year or two. It looks VERY Canadian. Not a whiff of snow here overnight and the thermometer is rising so what little we did have will be long gone by Christmas. Still, it was lovely while it lasted.
Yes, a busy week, but a different pace.
Your snowy filigree photos are the prettiest things I've seen today.
Isn't it funny? I don't know your daughter at all, but I thought of her when I first saw that HQ of Kit and Ace and again the other night when I saw the moose. . .
And your last sentence — just made me happy, thank you!
Oh! We have no snow in Richmond today but M. headed off to Broadway and Burrard and encountered gridlock with stalled trolley buses. Kit and Ace image is so Canadian. We're off tomorrow for a PV rental. I'm not a resort person but I will keep an open mind.
Mme. L-B. Bon voyage! My sister and BIL are down there right now — I feel as you do about resorts, but I can see the appeal and the practicality and sometimes we need to accommodate the one(s) we're with. An open mind is always a good idea, right?
I just love the illuminated moose. And your photo, as I said on Insta!
Yes you did! đ
Your photos are amazing-I'm nostalgic and happy looking at them. And the Moose lights-beautiful! Google does use "gussy up" expression đ
I had to google sunchoke,too (we call them "chichoke") to check the side effects-I didn't have them,but they are rare here,only in heath food stores so I don't cook them a lot.
I love pyamas days,but this would be a busy week!
Dottoressa
I'm glad you enjoy the photos — the snow left a horrid mess in its wake (it's almost rained away now, but there's a threat of flooding), but it was pretty while it lasted…
We don't see sunchokes much at the market either (they used to be called "Jerusalem artichokes" here), and I've only bothered to cook them once or twice. See my response to Georgia above re effects…Not harmful but awkward and dramatic, for sure! đ
Yes, I use gussy up, even if spellcheck tries to dissuade me. Anyone ever come across the expression to prink, as in to smarten up, titivate or generally gussy up one's appearance. Only heard it once but I rather like it. Hope this gets through as my comments have been disappearing into the ether recently. Ceri in Bristol
I've seen "prink" once or twice, but only in books, and I've never used it.
Sad to hear your comments have been getting lost, as I enjoy each one.
Too kind, Mater, too kind
May the first Christmas in your new home be especially happy, ma; I know you will maintain some traditions, but also enjoy your new condo and the ease with which you can now see much of your family. "Gussy up" takes me back years to my parent's time. My Dad also used to say "get spiffed up". At any rate, I know you gussy really really well!
Spiffed up, all gussied here, and wishing you a Merry Christmas with big thanks for showing the way to a big post-retirement move. . .
I had to Google sunchoke but from your er, symptoms suspected they were Jerusalem artichoke and they are. Its reputation is well known in the UK. They are terribly easy to grow and have a pretty yellow flower. I grew them for a few seasons. I was watching a programme by the well known UK cook Nigel Slater (whose Kitchen Diaries I and many others read as nonfiction in their own right) anyway, there was Nigel on TV referring to their propensities as he cooked a dish featuring them.
Yes, we used to call them Jerusalem artichokes here as well — they are TOO easy to grow — those yellow flowers (pretty enough, but a bit straggly, right?) used to cross through our fence from ex-neighbour's garden…
There's been a rebranding of them here to "sunchokes," with the efforts over the past few years to introduce them to the market more forcefully. . . I'm sure the marketers would hate for the other label to stick. Hint: rhymes with "artichoke," begins with "f" . . . .