Hodge Podge

Today I have multiple things to write about so I decided to bundle them all together... 

 This picture was taken on Napoleon st. Near the top,you

can see Mount Royal and the cross. It lights up at night.

It was erected in 1643 by Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve (the city's founder)

 fulfilling his vow to the Virgin Mary in his prayers to end a disastrous flood.

The cross is made of steel and consists of 1,830 pieces joined by 6,000 rivets weighing 26 tons. It is 31.4 metres tall and its arms span 11 metres and it stands 252 metres above the St. Lawrence River. Following the latest renovation, it is lit by 158 18-LED bulbs.Next to the cross, a plaque marks the emplacement of a time capsule buried in 1992, during Montreal's 350th birthday celebration. It contains messages and drawings from 12,000 children, depicting their visions for the city in the year 2142, when it is scheduled to be opened.

It is one of my favorite things from Montreal and I would like to thank Wiki for 

that bit of history of our cross. I remember when I was a wee girl I saw the cross with red lights

during Holy week.

NEXT!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for fennel italian sausage 

at the grocery store and could not find any....

I wrote the company and lo and behold they invited me to their company store!

 It was so clean and exotic!

Dad would've love that!

He was super curious and was always amazed

of how I would find out about good deals and special places!

 I got my special sausage at half price!

YAY for me! 

Next!

 What enchants me about Easter candy are the beautiful shiny colors.

Most of the time I am disappointed with said candy...

 Look at those beautiful eggs!

I want them all because they are so shiny, bright and colorful....

But I know I will be disappointed!

NEXT!!!

Since Spring is officially here...

This is officially the first Spring sprout.

Forget me not that I got in my Xmas stocking.

I think the tomatoes are sprouting too !

Until next time...

Take care and stay thrifty!

Funny Food

To tell the truth I had no idea how to title this post.

The jist of it is that on the looooonnnnnggggg Easter weekend we don't have a lot of people over, we renovate!!!

This year's project was to replace the walk-in closet's old carpet and to clean it out!

Mission accomplished! We brought 4 large garbage bags to the church basement, removed the carpet, installed vinyl flooring, painted the molding, reinstalled said molding and cleaned the house.

Being Easter Dan had to open his big ol' mouth and invite his daughter for Easter supper....

So I kept it simple

                                                Olives and lupimis in sidedish Pyrex restaurant ware (of course)

                               I took this appetizer idea from the Rachael Ray show where they would stuff
                               mini bell peppers with refried beans. So I made a batch of hummus, stuffed it
                               in a zipper bag and used it to pipe the hummus in the veggies.

                              Some of it looks like diarrea! Really! we laughed so much! But it was served in a Red Kettle serving Pyrex plate so that makes it alllllll better!!!
                             

                                I made a beautiful bone-in ham but did nor think of taking pictures.

                               As for the dessert.....I decided to make a lemon meringue pie from a mix, because
                                that is the tradition. For some reason, I didn't get enough meringue and my oven turned it greyish instead of browned, but it tasted beautiful!

                                 Thank God for Easter miracles!

                                 Be well my thrifty friends!

All ready

We got an Eater lunch invitation from my cousin Josee.

She lives up north, in the mountains. She summounned what is left of the Montreal clan for an ham/ mashed potatoes/ green stuff and much fun lunch.

She asked me to do an appetizer but there was a bit of how shall I say it? That is when my dad decided he was going to make fennel salad and I was to bring chocolates....

Oh well, this got me pretty confused and finally I decides to stand my ground and actually bring some salads (which are not technically apps, I grant you).

We are baguette/ olives/ pickles/ pate app people. We like to graze.

So I made fennel and orange salad and asian slaw.

                                Dan made sure the lids were secured. What is not to love?
                                The Pimk Daisy was Gran-Mimi's so it was just like bringing her to Easter lunch; well the next best thing. 

                               I tought that the Pink Daisy and the green jug went so well together
                               I just had to snap the moment up.

                               We had a great lunch with great laughs and best of all the young ones were eager to take leftovers with them for lunches! COOL!

                                    Today we just hung out, read the newspaper and watched the final three episodes of The Walking Dead. I can't believe I will have to go without for 6 months!

Happy Easter!

Christo e rodi! That's what my Serbian friends would shout after Easter mass.It is such a joyous cry: Christ has risen!

These lovely bunnies were in the lobby of my work place

So cute and Springlike!

                                             Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Happy Passover!

Don't eat too much chocolate...LOL