Margaret - do you have Quebec roots? I thought all the sugar pies were made there. Are yours plain sugar or maple sugar.

I got the meringue base for the Pavlova made today and my mashed potato casserole is in the fridge - or rather my enclosed porch which will have to double as a fridge for the next couple of days. Reminds me that I should check the turkey though. It's out there as well. It might get a bit too cold over night for the turkey to defrost any.

Ann, my DH is French Canadian and I lived there for many years. I invented my own recipe using brown and white sugar with maple flavoring, until DH was satisfied with the texture and taste. No maple sugar, I think that would be rather expensive here.

I took the prim rib out of the freezer yesterday and it is still frozen solid.

We went for a walk yesterday.

Did my workout this morning. Today it was "back".

We went to the gym and exercised for an hour.

Karen

Margaret - you have better maple extract in the west than we do in the east. I use a mix of maple-flavoured brown sugar syrup and real maple syrup (about 40/60) for waffles and pancakes. But I've learned that all maple flavour is not the same. I like best what I find in the USA or Mapleine and I buy it when I'm travelling. Have you tried Costco for real maple syrup? That's where my Vancouver daughter buys it. She generally says I don't need to bring any.

My turkey was still frozen solid last evening after a whole day in the porch which was slightly warmer than my fridge. I put it in a cooler inside overnight and back out in the porch this morning.

We took a good neighbourhood walk. I wouldn't want to do it early in the morning because there are lots of spots where snow melt covers the sidewalks and then freezes overnight, but after it warms up mid-day the sidewalks are fine.

I have my first couple of crocuses blooming!

Ann, I buy the pure maple syrup at Costco, it's the only thing we use on pancakes and French toast, also good on ice cream.

Hope the turkey thaws by cooking time Ann. I checked my beef and it is now soft on to the touch, should be fine by tomorrow..

The turkey is gradually thawing. Keeping it in the cooler overnight helped and it's still quite chilly in the porch. I may run it under cold water tonight so I can separate the neck and giblets. I like to simmer them quite awhile to use in the gravy. First frozen turkey I've cooked in quite awhile. Heck, first turkey period. But the last few have been fresh. I bought this one when they were a good price at Christmas time.

I'm gonna head out to the post office to mail hats to the Vancouver granddaughters. Daughter sent these pics of them wearing the sweaters and mittens. Last job was matching hats with remaining yarn. I hope they fit. Glad to see that the sweaters and mitts are a big large - they might fit next year.

Very cute little girls. And Ann, you are so talented!

Karen

My exercise today was working in the garden. Mostly planting peas.

Then after that went for an exercise walk with the dog. Tired now.

kqcrna said:Very cute little girls. And Ann, you are so talented!

Karen

I agree too! Those are lucky little girls to have hand knit clothing custom made for them.

I doubt that I have ever had real maple syrup. Now I shouldn't eat it or waffles, pancakes, or French toast.

We went hiking for 2 hours and 20 minutes yesterday. It was all up and down.

If you've had REAL maple syrup, you'll never go back to Log Cabin or Aunt Jemima.............LOL

That was a good hike Kelli. We don't eat pancakes or French toast very often, too many calories.

Same here. Too many EMPTY calories. They're for a special treat, and then I make pancakes with carbquick.

Our gym is closed today for Easter, but I did walk outside for half an hour. A light jacket was OK but I needed my polartec gloves and my face was freezing. This isn't what I think of as Easter weather.

Karen

Karen, it's sun and clouds here and darn cold, only 31F, and we have a 40% chance of getting snow showers this afternoon.

Other years we have flowers blooming. Tulips and hyacinths. This year only the crocus and the early daffs are blooming. Poor Easter Bunny did not have great places to hide his Easter Eggs.

Went on an exercise walk with the dog earlier. Got home and was too lazy to do any work out in the garden.

Hi everyone. I just found this thread and read all posts.

I started following weight watches on January 14th of this year and as of yesterday, I have lost 19.6 lbs. I feel so much better. It is a struggle to make a life style change but I am doing it, one day at a time. I haven't really gotten into exercising yet. Lots of equipment in the basement but not much ambition to get on them. Hopefully one of these days, the weather will be more spring like and I will be outside working in the yard for my exercise.

Hope everyone had a great Easter.

Welcome Jeanne and well done on the weight loss.

We allow ourselves waffles or French toast for Sunday morning breakfasts, but I ensure that they are whole or multi-grain, not totally empty calorie white pap.

For Easter dinner dessert, I did allow empty calories - a Pavlova. Basically egg whites and sugar with whipped cream and some fruit. But otherwise, the meal was fairly basic - turkey without dressing, mashed potato casserole, asparagus and a salad.

Just finished a good mall walk. Hoping that this will be the last week we walk inside. We are usually seeing daytime highs above freezing now, but sometimes the snow melts across sidewalks and freezes overnight. I had a few crocus blooming on Saturday, but yesterday those buds were closed up tight, complaining about the chill. However, we did have a good outside walk both Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Easter Monday today. Not a stat holiday nor a bank holiday, but it's government holiday. Garbage pick-up delayed a day, no government workers today, no schools open.