I live in Toronto.  It's an ok place to live.  We have a good subway system.  We have lots of bike lanes.  We have wooded areas where you can run and walk and bike and picnic.  We have lots and lots of cultural stuff.  We have lots of areas in the city where you can get great stuff from other countries and lots of diversity in our population.  We have freedom, we have support systems for people who need it.  It's the place that we happily call home for now.  What we in Toronto don't do so well though is... snow.
I know.  I know!  We live in Canada and crap.  For some of you that might mean we live in igloos - just for the record I don't, neither do any of my friends or any one in this country that I've ever met... in my life.  We Canadians though should know what to do to deal with snow.  If you go out to Alberta or up to Quebec, hell, just about anywhere else in the province of Ontario even, they know what to do with snow.  Toronto... well, allow me to illustrate.  About 10 years ago we got a lot of snow in a 24 hour period and over the course of about 2 weeks we got about 80 cm.  That's a lot of snow, yeah, but our mayor called in the army to help us dig out.  The army for god's sake!  It's still a source of embarrassment for most Tdot residents and as far as the rest of the country is concerned we'll never live it down.


Most recently, ie. Today!, I'm home from work for the day, in the middle of the week.  The reason that I'm home is because all the schools have been closed.  They are not closed because we got a lot of snow, that we couldn't dig ourselves out, that we couldn't get to our cars, that we couldn't walk through... we closed our schools because we thought we were going to get a lot of snow... a whole 15 - 20 cm here in the city.  When we woke up this morning, thinking we were getting a lot of snow and closing our schools in anticipation, there was in reality about 8 cm on the ground.  So, here we go again being the brunt of jokes for the rest of the country... but really people, 8 cm!!!
Please don't misunderstand me and think that I'm complaining though because I got a day off work.  If living in a city that is the brunt of jokes for the rest of my country means that every time it snows, or even 'maybe will' snow, more than 10 cm that I get a day off work... well, then bring on the jokes!
Because this blog is called 'When I'm not at Work', here is what I did today instead of being at work...


Sausage Puffs aka Pigs in Blankets
made about 40 piggies

1 pkg ready made puff pastry (so sue me)
1 1/2 lbs sausage of your choice (I used mild italian), casings removed
1 small onion, diced
1 med/small carrot shredded
dash of nutmeg
1 egg
sesame seeds for topping


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicon liner.


In a bowl combine the sausage, onion and carrot with your hands until it's all squished together and stuck in your finger nails!  Add in the nutmeg (and maybe a dash of honey if you are feeling in the mood).  In a heated pot or caste iron frying pan, cook the pork mixture until the meat is cooked through.  Set aside.
Flatten the puff pastry on your counter and cut each piece (mine came in two pieces) lengthwise so that you have 4 rectangles.


In a small bowl, crack the egg and whisk it until the yolk is combined.  Keep nearby.
Have the sesame seeds ready.
Place a quarter of the meat mixture lengthwise on each of the 4 pieces of puff pastry.  Brush some of the egg on the pastry edges left by the meat.  Roll the pastry lengthwise, making sure that the edges are fairly secured by the egg.  Brush the top of each roll with more egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Cut each roll at about 1 1/2 inch lengths (unless you want 'em longer) and place on the cookie sheet.


Bake for about 20 minutes or until the puff pastry has puffed and is golden.
Cool for about 10 minutes before digging in...