"Family Day" in Ontario, a recently established provincial holiday that features patchy availability of goods and services. A fair few people don't really believe in it, notably us Olde Phartes who grew up without a statutory holiday between New Year and Easter. The groundhog, St. Valentine and St. Patrick still have more pull with most of us.

The snow has stopped (for now) and we're having another bit of thaw -- high of 7C and sunny today, high of 11C tomorrow and rain. Before the rain starts, I shall unwind the Christmas lights off the mulberry tree and maybe take a little stroll downtown.

Beets are excellent roasted, Stilly, especially if you give them a light coat of olive oil and a good dose of garlic and thyme along with the S&P. I've never bothered pressure-cooking them; like potatoes and carrots, I cut them up and just boil them in a saucepan.

Supper today will be the third round of Norwegian braised lamb and cabbage, and it's definitely better with time in the fridge. I made it in Edmund's enormous cast-iron skillet, the only pan in the house that accommodates an entire cabbage as well as the lamb and celeriac. That's the first time I've had that brute of thing on the stove since Edmund died, but I hadn't forgotten just how awkward it is, mostly because it has only one handle. Nowadays, most large skillets also have a "helper" handle on the opposite side for cooks who do not have hands like back-hoe shovels.