Saturday, April 24, 2010

Great Lakes, GMA’s News You Missed,

I heard a report this morning which said the Great Lakes are, on average, 13% lower than usual. This is a result of the lack of precipitation this last winter, we had really very little snow and we haven’t had much in the way of rain since. This means that all the other 3,899 lakes in Ontario will be much lower this year too and could cause us drought problems in the hot weather. This happened shortly after we came to Canada – I remember because we rented a tent trailer and travelled north west in the province ending up at Jesse Lake which is in the Thunder Bay region. There we rented a dinghy to go fishing and caught Whitefish which one cannot usually catch in the summer but we did because the water was so low. Great eating I might say although at the time we had no idea what we were catching. Talking of travelling in a rented tent trailer, this was probably the first time I realised just how big Ontario, and therefore Canada, is. We travelled well over 1,000 miles and were still in Ontario. Europeans have no conception of the vastness of this country.

GMA Weekend have reintroduced their News You Missed segment this morning because it was so very popular. There was mention of a woman in England who becomes so very unpleasant when drunk that she has now had her picture circulated and been banned, by the courts, from every bar or club in the country (and there are a lot of them). Generally this segment has fascinating little snippets, often quite funny, which escaped the headlines. If you go to GMA’s website at http://abcnews.go.com/gma you can see some of these segments.

One of the segments I really liked this morning was the story of Buddy who led a State Trooper to his owner’s burning house. There is video of the dog leading the car and turning his head to check the cop car is behind him. The owner had second degree burns and needed help – he just said to Buddy “we need help” and Buddy shot off to get it. Meanwhile the Trooper was lost and his GPS had frozen so he didn’t know which way to go until Buddy arrived. You can find this story at the same link as above.

I had my first feast of asparagus for supper last night, it was gooooood. I can’t believe I had had the asparagus almost 24 hours without eating any, but of course it was a bowling day yesterday and I didn’t have time to cook any for lunch. I am pleased to report that after my recent fiascos, yesterday I bowled well. About time.

I said I 300 pinwould try and scan my 300 pin and I have just done so. I hope you can see it. The black area has the figures 300 in it which you can’t quite see, but the figures are gold coloured with a gold coloured edging. In fact there is a lot of gold edging to the pin so this doesn’t really do it justice, however, you can see the general idea. I am pleased with it. Of course, I didn’t see it til I got home as it was pinned on my shirt.

Now I will be looking for lots of asparagus recipes, I gave you the soup yesterday, and a Balsamic recipe the other day plus one with lobster a week or two back which I might repeat it looked so good. The following recipe comes from the Asparagus Growers of Ontario who publish quite a few recipes.

Asparagus in Bed

1 lb Ontario asparagus, trimmed (trimming is not necessary if you buy straight from the farm) 8 eggs 1 tbsp vinegar 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 8 slices prosciutto freshly grated pepper 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Preheat oven to 450º F (230º C). Steam or simmer asparagus just until tender-crisp, 3 to 5 minutes; drain well. Fill large skillet with water. Add vinegar and bring to simmer over medium heat. Slip eggs, one at a time, into simmering water; cook until whites are firm and yolks are just set. Remove eggs with slotted spoon and carefully blot dry with paper towel. (Eggs may be poached several hours in advance; transfer to bowl and cover with cold water. Drain well before proceeding.) Divide butter among 4 gratin dishes. Divide asparagus among dishes; drizzle with lemon juice. Drape proscuitto over top. Arrange 2 eggs on top of each prosciutto. Season with pepper to taste. Sprinkle cheese over top. Bake for 3 to 4 minutes or just until cheese melts. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings Have a great weekend.

2 comments:

  1. Great! I was waiting for a new asparagus recipe. Thanks!

    Yes, the Buddy story is mind-blowing. That dog has a soul.

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  2. I shall be publishing more asparagus recipes. Did you see the one with lobster? I think I may print that again.

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