Friday, August 26, 2011

Family News, Books, Irene,

Yesterday we heard the news from family in England that Granddaughter, Beth, REsults_thumb2got 10 A*s and one A in her GCSE’s. What is particularly phenomenal about this is that she has taken them a year early. We are both thrilled to bits with these marks although with her it seems to be par for the course. I just felt I had to do some bragging about it in my blog. She is actually planning to go into the theatrical world which seems a little bit of a waste to me.
I finally finished A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin A Dance with Dragonsyesterday, I did enjoy it but I didn’t like the continual switching of characters every time a new chapter started. Another thing I am not keen on, every time he introduces sympathetic characters, he ends up bumping them off. Someone pointed out that he has too many main characters, I guess this is the problem although when he kills them off, that deletes that segment. A chapter or two we won’t have to worry about in future books, however many he ends up writing in this series. His books are available on Kindle by the way.

The Golden KeyI am now reading another book which was recommended to me by someone on line and I am damned if I can remember who that was. It is The Golden Key a collaboration by three authors, Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliott, not sure if I have read any of their work before. Its actually an old book (1996) although the copy I have looks absolutely new and is not a paperback. I haven’t yet got very far, but what I have read is good.

Irene is causing lots of worries along the east coast of both the States and Canada. During a golf game in New Jersey which Matt was watching, they were talking about plans for Saturday or Sunday when the hurricane would arrive. All our friends in NC are battening down the hatches, and the outer islands are being evacuated. It is being described as a monster storm, particularly as it is over 500 miles wide. If you are out that far, high winds and rain will be about it, for you, but closer to the eye it could be very nasty in some areas. It is being touted as a category 4 in the near future. On GMA yesterday they were advising people not to try and take hurricane pix in cities and towns because of the dangers from flying debris. Even taking pix on beaches you could get caught in storm surge. Matt nearly was once. The swirling water came up the beach and surrounded him, luckily there were steps he could hang on to til the water retreated and that wasn’t even a hurricane just a major wind storm. We are hoping the rental cottage will be OK of course.

This morning there was a report of a rogue wave in Florida which swept 8 people from a dock/pier area. This wave was tied in with Irene. As they pointed out on GMA, today the hurricane is off land so there won’t be a lot of pictures about it, but tomorrow it is expected to hit land at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and the tides are morning and evening this weekend, just when the storm is expected to hit causing a surge. New York city is also evacuating low areas in the expectation of a storm surge too.
This looks like a good lunch.

Turkey, Corn and Sun-Dried Tomato Wraps

From Eating Well: July/August 2011
Fresh corn kernels, tomatoes and lettuce fill these hearty turkey wraps. This wrap is great for picnics or when you need to have Turkey Wrapsdinner on the run. Add some crumbled feta or shredded Cheddar for another layer of flavour. Serve with carrot sticks, sliced bell pepper or other crunchy vegetables plus your favourite creamy dressing.
4 servings  Ingredients
  • 1 cup corn kernels, fresh (see Tip) or frozen (thawed)
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomato
  • 1/4 cup chopped soft sun-dried tomatoes (see Shopping Tip)
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar or cider vinegar
  • 8 thin slices low-sodium deli turkey (about 8 ounces)
  • 4 8-inch whole-wheat tortillas
  • 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
Preparation
  1. Combine corn, tomato, sun-dried tomatoes, oil and vinegar in a medium bowl.
  2. Divide turkey among tortillas. Top with equal portions of the corn salad and lettuce. Roll up. Serve the wraps cut in half, if desired.
Nutrition
Per serving :321 Calories; 12 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 5 g Mono; 35 mg Cholesterol; 35 g Carbohydrates; 19 g Protein; 4 g Fiber; 682 mg Sodium; 325 mg Potassium
2 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 1 vegetable, 3 lean meat, 2 fat
Tips & Notes
  • Tip: To remove corn kernels from the cob, stand an ear of corn on one end and slice the kernels off with a sharp knife. One ear will yield about 1/2 cup kernels.
  • Shopping Tip: Look for soft sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed) in the produce section of most supermarkets. If you can only find dry (and hard) sun-dried tomatoes, soak them in boiling water for about 20 minutes before using.
Have a great day.
Jo_thumb[2]

4 comments:

  1. Gosh, Jo, why is it a "waste" for Beth to go in for theatre? If that's what she loves, she'll never be happy doing anything else. She's unlikely ever to be rich, and she might be church-mouse poor, but those of us who are drawn to the arts in whatever form really can't countenance taking up a job that means you have to work at something tedious for fifty years, just so you can have a comfortable retirement. I've been involved in the arts all my life and have not regretted one minute of it. I'm 68 now and living on the pension, but a lifetime of near-poverty teaches you good money management skills, if nothing else!
    Like Beth, I did my final school exams a year early. I did eventually get a degree when I was in my forties, but it was because study and research are two of the things I love, not because I wanted a qualification. I've always done the things I love the best, whether I got paid for them or not, and would not have it any other way. I'll bet Beth would not, either.

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  2. I suppose I shouldn't have said this, bearing in mind that I wanted to go to a theatrical school when I was a youngster and my parents told me I wasn't good enough. Mind you, I didn't have the kind of marks Beth had either. I never got rich either way. I was involved in amateur dramatics a large portion of my younger years which I really loved doing. In fact I think my parents were right, I was a good technician but my first husband was the actor.

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  3. Yeah, I've been married to a couple of "actors"! :-)

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  4. He was, actally, brilliant. My first old man I mean. He might have made it on the stage but decided to marry me instead. He was a physicist so had a good job anyway.

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