Happy New Year!

Happy New Year my blog-reading friends. Here's hoping that 2015 is happy and healthy for all.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

 Last weekend a few of our gang at work decided to stat setting up our display at the park.

 Our sign will light up and hopefully everyone will see whose display it is.

 Giant plywood Christmas trees strung with lights.

 And a giant snow-family too.

 All those sandbags hold down the displays and make sure they don't blow away.

 From previous experience they found out that plastic added to the bottom of the displays makes it easier to remove when they are iced in...

And here's our sweet display. It's for the Festival of Lights in Alexandria, Ontario, which runs all December with tons of lights and trees and is really a fun experience, albeit usually freezing cold. Every year we've added to this display. This year, the deer and the lollipops are new. I'll take a photo of it at night and report back!

Cupcake Time!

 Chantal and her son Zavier came over to decorate cupcakes...

 Zavier drew his Minecraft characters with edible markers on fondant circles.

 They fit perfectly on top of buttercream-iced chocolate cupcakes.

 Here's the artiste putting on his finishing touches.

 And voila! Here's the outcome, half done by Zavier, the balance done by his mum.

Okay, let's try 'em out!

Pumpkin Pie Judging

 Over the weekend, the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan hosted a reenactment of the War of 1812. Participants camped on the grounds in 1812-style camping gear.
For the pumpkin pie contest, they had to make a pie, right from the pumpkin itself and bake it on an open fire. A challenge to be sure.

 My friend Peggi and I were asked to be judges and taste the pies.

There were five in all and they differed somewhat in flavour. Amazing to both of us that you could actually prepare a pie, in the rain, on an open fire. Pretty great results!

Mondrian Cake is in the Building!

 I go the most delicious delivery this afternoon.

 I had a feeling that the metallic bubble wrap, squishy peanuts and dry ice 

could only mean one thing.

 Could it be???

Yup! All the way from Oakland, California, FedEx delivered (next day!) my very own Mondrian cake. I'm tickled pink. Or red, yellow and blue I guess.

This is the very same cake I had last year at SFMOMA 
(which is now closed for renos for a few years).

The clever folks at Blue Bottle Coffee have decided to start shipping their signature cake and lucky me, I got a test shipment all the way to the great white north.

Yipee!! Thanks to Caitlin Williams Freeman, the inventor of the Mondrian cake for the speedy and welcome sweet delivery.

Cookin' with Gas!

As an addendum to my post The End of an Era, here's the stove's replacement. It's fun to learn how to use this new stove...and now I'm cooking with gas. Stay tuned.

Another One Bites the Dust

 It was time to bid adieu to Richard's old Focus.

 And to say hello to a bright blue Toyota Matrix.

I'm looking forward to many fun road trips in this beauty!

The End of an Era

My parents got this Jenn-Air stove in 1978 and it has cooked many a meal! My mother loved the cook top that allowed you to grill indoors (!) but she loathed the size of the oven. Teeny tiny Barbie sized because the left half had the drainage for the grill. Well, it's outta here! The new one arrives Friday and I'm delighted to finally have a large oven to bake in. Stay tuned!

Of Mice and Men

 My friend Natalie made truffle mice for the holidays.

 Richard ate them very much like my cat Cookie eats hers -- tails last!

One of them tried to run away and oooooops! Got caught in a mouse trap.

The Big Dumpster in the Sky

 I had this really really old sofa that my parents bought in the 1970s. I also had a pee pee cat who loved the sofa. When Cinnamon died, I swore I'd get rid of the sofa. A few weeks back, I finally did.

 And the perfectly ugly sofa came with two ugly side chairs that the other cats took a liking too. I bet I had generations of cats who liked to claw those chairs.

 Lucky for me, Gordon and Natalie were getting a dumpster and graciously offered to schlep my old furniture away...

 Oh gawd, I was so hoping that everything would fit in  their trailer.

 Gordon was pretty adept at fitting the puzzle of the sofa and two chairs together.

Then of course, there was time for me to wear the little arm protector thingies one last time.

 This is me being very happy to get rid of that darn old furniture. Truth be told, my mother brought this set home and I think she hated it from day one.

 But as I recall, Dad got it from a furniture place in trade for a brochure he did for them.

 My mum would be delighted to see the back end of these!

And see, I never removed the tag that said, "Never remove this tag under peril of prosecution!"

RIP Old Friend

1993-2012. You were a true friend who always delivered the goods and scrubbed every trace of gravy off every plate. Solid and reliable friends like you don't come along too often. Nineteen years of solid service! Although you have been replaced with a quieter, more energy efficient model, your good work has not gone unnoticed. You will be fondly remembered, old friend. Time to retire.

Musee Mechanique

When you enter the Musee Mechanique located on Pier 45 of Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, you are greeted by the Gypsy Queen.

Oddly enough, I had visited this museum 10 or more years ago when it was in a different location in San Francisco, so I was delighted to stumble upon it at Fisherman's Wharf. And it's free to get into to boot!

 It is full of arcade games from a different time.

 A time when you could spend a penny or a nickel and have your fortune told.

 Or watch silly musicians play for 30 seconds or so.

 Now it costs 25 cents or sometimes 50 cents.

 But where else could you have your palm read for such a bargain?

Although there are some more current video-type games around the sides of the museum...

 ...most of the games of chance are more old fashioned and fun to watch.

 This one was a particular favourite. I should have this at home! Wonder how/if it works?

 Put a quarter in and watch people smoke! Yipee!

 Barbershop quartet singers for twenty-five cents!

This sailor kind of creeped me out. But still kinda fun!