Geeky Cat Miusings

December is one big long celebration. Lots of parties and, if there is going to be a party, there is going to be the taking of photographs. Geeky doesn’t like to be in photos so she tries to get out of them as best she can without being missed. When the pictures involves family, she is usually the one taking the photos so it is easy for her to avoid being in the photograph. But have a look at this photograph taken with friends…she managed to get half out lol….

Do you love chocolate? I love good quality chocolate and enjoy trying different brands and mixtures, including chocolate mixed with chili. Thanks to a thoughtful friend of mine who discovered a chocolate lover’s cooking class at the Whole Foods Market, I had the opportunity to join cookbook author Lisa Slater for an evening of decadent chocolate delights. For only $10 you learn much about cooking with chocolate, eat all the heavenly dishes listed below, and receive $5 Whole Foods Market gift card.

I have heard that chocolate can be used in cooking but have never experimented with it and so I was really excited to try the chili con chocolate. There was cocoa powder in the bean chili which was then layered into a tortilla along with guacamole and it was all covered with a chocolate sauce. It was the best chili I ever had!

This was the menu… I don’t think there is any restaurant in Toronto that can offer this kind of dinner theme:

• Salad of shave pears, goat cheese, cocoa-ed nut and chocolate balsamic glaze - I thought this was heavenly!!!
• Three bean chili spiced with cocoa and cocoa nibs in tortilla cups
• chocolate caramel tart
• pots de crème au chocolat
• spicy hot chocolate

I had no idea I could eat so much chocolate in one sitting!

Whole Foods Market overs a variety of courses including lectures on well being. So it is well worth trying one out and using the coupon to pick up one of their prepared foods or specialty items.

Hello Everyone!

I have been busy lately with trips out to Prince Edward County including Picton, Belleville and the Sandbanks Provincial Park. It is really beautiful out there and I loved taking photos. I was very lucky because the sky was just gorgeous:

To end a very fine week I went to a concert given by David Francey in the Newmarket Townhall. David is one of the biggest stars of Canadian folk Music and he has truly mastered the art of storytelling through song. He has won Juno awards in the Roots and Traditional Album of the Year. Do check out his cds but, if it is at all possible, try to see him live as he’s truly incredible on stage.

Tonight I am reading Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk for my book club meeting tomorrow and I have signed up for a chocolate class for chocoholics this week. So it will be a busy week for me but I hope to keep in touch with you real soon.

Here is a quote from the book:

“..if you’re not on videotape, or better yet, live on satellite hookup in front of the whole world watching, you don’t exist. You’re that tree falling in the forest that nobody gives a rat’s ass about”

Yesterday evening I attended a vegetarian cooking demonstration at a Superstore. The chef prepared Mediterranean roasted vegetable and spinach phyllo pie, tangy Asian noodle dinner soup, teriyaki tofu with whole grain rice stir fry, and Indian beans in a flatbread bowl (a tortilla pressed into a round bowl, sprinkled with chili powder and baked until hard). The chef had many tips for easy cooking, how to modify the recipes to accommodate people with different kinds of tastes and preferences, how to add something to make the carnivore at the table happy, and reducing the amount of time spent in the kitchen.

While the class was not hands-on….which I think is the best way to learn how to cook…it was a good value since the students had a four course meal at the end…without ruining nails or getting dishpan hands.

But the nail polish will have to come off at some point since I have promised to make all four of these recipes. I know you are all waiting for sampling

The Halloween festivities at Church and Wellesley were fabulous last night. People came to the street party decked out in costume and glitter and some worked very hard to look all glamourous, like this White Queen of the Orient who forgot to wax her chest:

Turtlenecks are a girls best friend when there is no time to wax.

I thought this guy was a good advertisement for a Chinese food establishment. But when we called the telephone number listed on the front of the food container … we received a rejection message. Dogdammit not again!

See more photos.

Here I am walking down my driveway pulling my wooden ducky along. I loved that duck and I kept it for a long time. Look how shiny it was:

I am starting to scan some pictures from my youth and it is bringing back such sweet memories. My first phase in this walk down memory lane begins with my first trip to Italy and I put those images together in this album. Just click on picture to see more ….

Me thinking I have to get off the couch to go to the ROM walk (I am possibly the only person in Toronto who could be laughing at that thought):

Diana T, Christel, and I met in front of the ROM to take one of their free instructional walks of the surrounding area. We lost the tour guide within 5 minutes of the beginning of the walk because we were too busy chatting amongst ourselves. After some searching around corners and peering through bushes, we found our guide and he was talking about this building:

while we continued to chat The scholarly guide was not too happy with the three chatty gals and gave us a sign to be quiet — for there were others there who were very serious about it all.

We could not be quiet for we had much to say. So off we went for a place to converse. There at Far Coast sits Diana T and Christel with a smoothie:

Christel and I (with snow-white belly exposed) sitting in comfy chairs with the lovely posters in the background:

Diana T and Diana C showing off funky wall and how well coordinated we were (she forgot her silver earrings):

I am looking a bit skittish — maybe because it looks like snow outside:

The Gladstone, my favorite hotel in Toronto, is hosting a lovely cocktail party every Wednesday until September 19. The friendly waiters offer you a cornucopia of farm fresh appetizers showcasing autumn produce delivered from the farmer’s field. You also enjoy locally produced wines and beers and the freestyle, world, grooves of seewhysound! The tomato soup and cauliflower bruschetta were fabulous. The waiters were very friendly and able to give us the inside scoop on topics of interest to us (sorry, but I cannot reveal them). It is a very good deal at $12 a head and no cap on the amount of alcohol.