Well it’s finally arriving … as foretold … all of Ontario will be going into COVID lockdown 12:01 a.m. on Boxing Day (26th December to all you non-Commonwealth types). Northern Ontario will be for at least 14 days, Southern Ontario (yep, that’s us) for at least 28 days. And you really can’t blame the government, they have to do something to stem the pandemic and hopefully have successful vaccines in the new year. The good news is that we are better prepared for lock down this time around – last time we were caught short – we were in Mexico and didn’t have many supplies left in the pantry when we got back to Canada 
This time I’ve stocked up (stocked up, not hoarded) on the necessary food stuffs – flour (corn and AP), rice, dried beans, etc. (and beer, don’t forget the beer
) and should only have to visit the grocery store once a week for the fresh stuff – veggies, milk, eggs, etc.. And on a positive note I’ll be trying out new recipes and old favorites on a daily basis Last week saw the end of the Seafood Chowder – Kelly made the remains into an amazing Seafood Casserole – I made a batch of chipotle in adobo sauce; that was used in Chipotle Chicken with Mexican Rice, and a little bit in Albondigas Soup (meatball soup) for extra flavour – Pork in Tomatillo Sauce with Refried Beans, Rice, and Corn Tortillas – Beef Birria with Noodles – the list goes on Tonight – for Christmas Eve – we are BBQing Burgers, why not – tomorrow is the big day for eating And tomorrow will be our traditional Christmas dinner – Steak, Shrimp, Scallops and assorted vegetables – might not be traditional for everyone, but I’ll tell you, it’s fast to make, delicious to eat, and quick to clean up after!! And I’ll keep studying my languages – I added on 3 more this past year for a total of 18 (19 if you count American as a separate language ). And Netflix Series – lots to catch up on!! I finished watching ‘The Mess You Leave Behind’ – a Spanish murder thriller filmed in Galicia - it turned out to be pretty good. I’ve been binge watching ‘Babylon Berlin’ – a German murder / political thriller set in Berlin starting in April 1929 – Stalinists and Trotskyites and Nationalism, oh my!! Throw in drugs, and porn, night clubs, a few murders and a train full of poison gas and / or gold … and you have a pretty good show to watch!! I’m almost finished Season 3 – Season 4 should be arriving on Netflix in March. I have a few reviews to catch up on writing - hopefully over the next couple of days. Kelly and I put ‘Transparent’ on hold – we watched Christmas Movies (her favorite – the original ‘Grinch Who Stole Christmas’) and all 6 episodes of Season 2 of ‘Home For Christmas’ – the Norwegian series that was such a big hit last year – this year, a little ‘mehh’, but still enjoyable. No major upsets in the NFL games on Sunday – with the exception of L.A. Rams losing to the Jets (who hadn’t won any games this year) and falling one game back of Seattle, and Pittsburgh losing again – to Cincinnati of all teams !! My ‘Hawks held on to beat the WFT last week and earned a spot into the playoffs. The ‘Hawks are playing the Rams next weekend – if they win that they will have sewn up the NFC West Got to go back to work … Have a great and safe week … Merry Christmas and / or Happy Holidays … we will see you in a bit!!