• Home
  • Blog
  • Archives
  • Links
  • About
  • Guest Blogger
  • Contact

Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto

  • Home and Lifestyle
  • Recreation
  • Health Fitness and Beauty
  • Entertainment
  • Web and Technology


You are here: Home / Archives for Home and Lifestyle / Family

Happy Turkey Day!

October 13, 2008 by Tricia

I’m sure that most of my fellow Canadians are feeling more than a little full right now! Well I am anyway since today is Thanks Giving.

I think that I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that we were supposed to have a big family get together, this year it would have been with my husbands family. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. My sister in law moved to a new house on Friday (a little earlier than planned) and being busy all weekend to complete the move kind of put a dent in the family get together. So this year Chris and I had Thanks Giving at home on our own.

This year I made Rosemary Honey Dijon Turkey breasts, accompanied by mashed potatoes, stuffing and sweet peas. In a little while we’ll have a slice of pumpkin pie … well if my stomach ever empties enough to make room for a piece of pie, that is!

The turkey was really easy to prepare. I used:

  • 2 cloves garlic, cut in slivers
  • Tiny sprigs fresh rosemary OR 1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried
  • 3 tbsp (45 ml) honey
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp (2 mL) pepper
  • 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt

I mixed the honey, Dijon mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, salt, rosemary and slivered garlic in a bowl and then I drizzled the mixture onto two boneless turkey breasts that were about 350 grams each. I then baked the turkey breasts at 350 F covered for about 20 minutes, and then after basting them I cooked them uncovered for another 20 minutes.

Can you say … Tasty? Yum!

I usually roast my whole turkey or turkey breasts, however I couldn’t find my small roasting pan when I looked for it earlier today. I have no idea what happened to it .. maybe I lent it to someone and they didn’t return it.

I loved that small roasting pan. It was great for doing a whole small chicken or two large turkey breasts in the oven. I’m going to have to keep an eye out for a sale on Roasters. I’ll bet as the American Thanks Giving and or Christmas approaches I’ll find some deals online!

Can you tell I love turkey dinners? – that’s just another reason why I have to get another small roasting pan … we should have turkey more often.

Fellow Canadians – did you have a big Turkey dinner this weekend? Which day did you eat your big meal … or did you have more than one big meal? LOL

I’ll bet that my American readers and looking forward to celebrating Thanks Giving too.  I know it’s one of your biggest holidays.  I’d love to hear what you’re planning for your holiday celebration and what you plan to eat.





Filed Under: Appliances and Accessories, Dining and Restaurants, Family, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Recipes, Recreation Tagged With: cooking, Family, garlic, home, honey, honey_dijon, lemon_juice, mashed_potatoes, missing, peas, pumpkin_pie, recipe, roaster, roasting, roasting_pan, rosemary, small_roaster, stuffing, sweet_peas, Thanksgiving, Thanks_giving, turkey, Turkey_breasts, turkey_dinner

Paying for a night out on the town

October 11, 2008 by Tricia

Wow, I’m starting to slow down in my posting quite a bit aren’t I? It hasn’t been the best week for me. My Crohn’s has been acting up – the worst of the symptoms … bleh …

I think I might be feeling so bad this week because Chris and I went out on Wednesday night. His sister was in Toronto for a quick Government related course and then she was going back home on Thursday after a test for the course and then well .. as I said in my last post she and her husband were moving to a new house on Friday (with Chris’ help).

Anyway … when Chris came home on Wednesday we drove off to meet his sister at her hotel in the lovely section of Toronto called North York. Uh huh … she was staying in a Novotel and she was waiting for us in the bar.

That wasn’t the best idea! She’d already had 5 Cosmopolitans while she waited for us! Once we got there she talked me into having a Cosmo and Chris tried out a new beer. Chris and I were both hungry and while we tried to talk his sister into going down the street to the Baton Rouge restaurant for a meal we were snacking on some kind of pretzel/ beer nut/ cracker mix.

In the end I had three Cosmos and my sister in laws tally came to 8 cosmos all while sitting on these weird modern furniture style bar stools at the bar.

By the time we got to the restaurant my sister in law was of course too drunk to eat. She ordered appetizers but only had a nibble. I wonder how she felt the next day? LOL I guess I’ll have to give her a call and find out.

I wasn’t feeling so good even by the time we got home. I don’t drink much anymore, so three pretty much pure alcohol drinks were enough to make me pretty tipsy, but unlike my sister in law I did at least eat half my dinner before getting the rest packed up into a doggy bag.

The drinks, the snacks that I ate and probably the dinner that I had all combined to make my Crohn’s act up worse than it has been for a while. Yes I should have known better, but you can’t be good all the time. Even people on a diet cheat every once in a while right?

Hopefully I’ll be feeling a little better in a few days. Maybe not though. My Crohn’s just seems to be getting worse and worse as each week goes by … maybe Wednesday night isn’t even what caused this latest flare … who knows.

BTW it’s Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada so Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians!

Filed Under: Chronic Pain, Family, Health Fitness and Beauty, Home and Lifestyle, Inflammatory bowel disease, Items to Try, Life with Chris, Socializing, Toronto Tagged With: Baton_Rouge_Restaurant, Canada, canadian, Chris, cosmo, Cosmopolitans, course, crohns, Crohns_disease, dinner, drinking, drinks, Food, husband, moving, night_out, restaurant, sick, sister, sister_in_law, Thanksgiving, Toronto

I Can’t believe it’s just about time to start shopping for Christmas presents

September 29, 2008 by Tricia

Do you ever watch American Dad? It’s on, on Sunday nights and the season premiere was on last night. Chris and I taped the show last night on our PVR so we’re just watching it now.

We both love that show, its so funny! It’s definitely not for people that have young kids around though!

We were just thinking that a DVD or two of past American Dad seasons might make a great gift for Chris’ brother. Whenever he comes from Chicago for a visit he always has a good time watching some of the TV shows that he normally doesn’t watch at home when his kids are around.

I’m sure he’d love the show. I found the American Dad Vol 3 DVD at Buy.com. It’s a pretty good price and it would make a great Christmas gift.

Wow, I’m thinking about Christmas already … well I guess with September coming to a close it’s only natural to start thinking about one of the biggest days of the year and along with that what gifts we should get our friends and relatives. I guess that’s all the more reason to keep an eye on the sale at Buy.com. If I can save some money and still get some great gifts for people that would be wonderful.

I hate to ask, but have you started shopping for Christmas yet? I’m usually a notoriously late shopper.

Filed Under: Entertainment, Family, Gifts, Home and Lifestyle, Shopping, Television Tagged With: American_Dad_DVD, brother, chicago, christmas, christmas_shopping, funny_show, Gifts, gift_idea, season_3, shoping, show, Television

Tomorrow night is FEAST night

September 19, 2008 by Tricia

Tomorrow evening we’re going to be going out of town to celebrate our brother-in-laws birthday. We’ll be going to an old friends of ours’ home to have a feast.

Our friend, J, loves to cook. Whenever she has these parties (and believe me, she’ll use any excuse to have a dinner party) the meals are always HUGE. Like 8 to 10 courses and three to five desserts! If she invites 10 people to her dinner party there’s enough food to serve 50!

Oh and it’s not light fair. It’s full of fats, sugars and all the bad stuff. It’s usually delicious, but I’m sure if we were to attend her dinner parties regularly we’d soon have clogged arteries!

We have one major problem though. Since this dinner party is out of town we normally stay over at Chris’ parents whenever J has a party. Too much food and too much drink isn’t a good mix for a two hour drive home!

We can’t bring our dog! J hates, hates, hates … did I say hate? Yeah, she hates dogs. So there’s no way we could bring Midnight with us. Plus … Chris’ parents have been invited to the dinner party as well, so they won’t be able to take care of our puppy either. Midnight’s so hyperactive anyway, I wouldn’t saddle them with her, she’d probably end up knocking one of them over or dragging them own the street. She certainly drags me around!

On top of all of that, Chris’ sister and our brother-in-law will be moving in October, so they’ve asked if Chris could come over and help with a few things around their house to help prepare them for the big move. So … Chris is going to drive to Waterloo this evening, help our brother-in-law with a few things and then drive back to Toronto tomorrow morning … well, I know him … he probably won’t get back until early afternoon.

I’ll stay home and take care of the dog while Chris is gone.

Then, sometime late tomorrow afternoon we’ll drive to Paris for the dinner party … but we can’t party too hard as we’ll be leaving Midnight at home alone (in her crate) and we’ll have to drive home sometime after the big FEAST is over.

Don’t count on any new posts on Sunday … There’s a good chance I might be a little hung over and or my tummy might be upset by all that food. Most of J’s dinner menus usually don’t go well with my Crohn’s and she’s the type of person that doesn’t seem to understand if you beg off eating something she’s cooked (simply because you can’t digest it!). LOL So I guess I’ll be eating a variety of tasty food, but probably paying for what I ate on Sunday and who knows … maybe well into next week if it irritates my already irritated Crohn’s affected system. Ugh …. (don’t worry I won’t be too stupid about what I eat.)

So I guess I’m going to try to do a day or two’s worth of posts this evening! Hope my fingers don’t cramp up with all the typing!

What are your plans for the weekend? Any dinner parties or family trips planned?

BTW I haven’t been to one of J’s parties for a while (Chris has, but I haven’t). The last one I went to was in the summer of 2006. Long time readers of this blog might remember that that’s when I tripped and fell on a weirdly shaped curb and tore a tendon in my knee (took 8 or more months to heal and hasn’t been the same since). Luckily for me that was my last most spectacular klutzy move. I haven’t done anything nearly as self-injury causing since that time. Let’s hope that if I go tomorrow night I don’t trip and fall or klutz out in any way!

Filed Under: Dining and Restaurants, Entertainment, Family, Health Fitness and Beauty, Home and Lifestyle, Inflammatory bowel disease, Life with Chris, Our Puppy, Recreation Tagged With: 10_course_meal, Birthday, blog, blogs, brother_in_law, celebrate, clogged_arteries, cook, cooking, crohns, desserts, dinner, dinner_party, dog, dogsit, drinking, drive, driving, eating, evening, fats, feast, Food, Friday, hates_dogs, hung_over, in_laws, menus, moving, out_of_town, parents, Party, partying, posts, Saturday, sister, stuffed, sugars, tasty, tummy, upset

Thanksgiving and other favorite holidays are just around the corner

September 15, 2008 by Tricia

The remnants of Hurricane Ike passed through Toronto yesterday evening and through the night and now that all of that weather has passed it’s quite cool here today. Brrrr

I guess it’s obvious that the cool weather we’ve been experiencing this month has got me thinking about Autumn and Winter. I want the warm weather to last a little longer, but it doesn’t look like it will. Perhaps instead of thinking of the cool weather I should be thinking about some of my favorite upcoming holidays? It certainly won’t be long before we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas!

Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holidays. Most likely because it almost always means a big family get together.

When I was a kid we used to always go up to our cottage to celebrate Thanksgiving. Now that I think it about it does seem appropriate to celebrate Thanksgiving surrounded by beautiful natural scenery.

We’d always cook up a feast for Thanksgiving – Turkey, sometimes a ham, sometimes wild partridge, mashed potatoes, gravy, and lots of vegetables such as peas, glazed carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, cranberry jelly and of course, my favorite, Pumpkin pie!

The large table that sat at least 14 people would always have hand crafted Thanksgiving ornaments and of course beautiful Thanksgiving flowers in the center.

All this reminiscing is making me long for Thanksgiving … but oh … won’t that mean we’ll really be into the cool weather by then? Ha, I can’t have it both ways, can I? Perhaps this year I’ll hold a big family Thanksgiving get together.

Have you thought about your Thanksgiving plans yet?

Filed Under: Family, Home and Lifestyle, Recreation, Socializing Tagged With: autumn, carrots, celebrate, cool, cooling, cranberry, dinner, fall, Family, favorite, flowers, gathering, gravy, ham, holidays, jelly, partridge, peas, pie, potatoes, pumpkin, squash, Thanksgiving, together, turkey, weather, winter

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • …
  • 41
  • Next Page »

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Categories

Sites of Interest

Useful Links

Eavestrough Cleaning Toronto

Shopping

Gifts, Gadgets,
Books and More!

Recent Posts

  • Is your home well insulated or do you have energy leaks?
  • Pet Safety Tips
  • Top 10 Most Fundamental Yoga Poses For Beginners
  • Will My Interior Décor Stand The Test Of Time?
  • Outdoor Furniture- Spicing Up Your Backyard
  • Ensuring You Have A Good Experience Staying At Hotels With Children
  • Mother’s Day Cookies

Recent Comments

  • Bill on Top 10 Most Fundamental Yoga Poses For Beginners
  • [bonus]old school new body-f4x workout on Why does my husband always bring home the wrong stuff?
  • Rodhe Stevens on 5 Little Known Secrets To Finding Cheap (But Durable) Furniture
  • Julia Carlson on How To Install A Mosaic Tile Kitchen Backsplash
  • Humane Raccoon Deterrent Idea on Helped save a baby raccoon last night

Subscribe


Subscribe to our RSS Feed It's FREE!

Subscribe to Tricia's Musings by Email It's FREE!


Follow me on TWITTER

Find us on Google +



Find us on Facebook



I have two mottos-
1. Live life to the fullest; and
2. Don't have any regrets.

Get More Traffic

Visitors since 2006

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Search this site

Tags

blog blogs camera Canada Chris computer crohns dinner dog Family flower flowers Food friends funny garden Gardening Green Thumb Sunday Health and Fitness Health Fitness and Beauty holiday home Home and Lifestyle house husband IBD Inflammatory bowel disease Internet Music neighbors pain photo photos plants puppy Shopping sick sleep spring Toronto TV Video visit website Wordless Wednesday

Blogs I Visit

  • BlogTO
  • Say No to Crack
  • Rick Mercer
  • Get WebStyle
  • LifeCruiser

Copyright © 2026 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in