Saturday, February 16, 2013

Meteor Explodes, Blade Runner, Dummy Me.

Russian meteorThank god I don’t live in Russia. Apparently the count of people injured by the exploding meteor on Friday is up to 1,100. How very frightening. It was the size of a bus they say and exploded with the power of an atomic bomb becoming a fire ball. Shortly after it happened, a large asteroid passed by some 28,000 kms out. If you haven’t seen it there is some video of the meteor here. It looks pretty scary.

Bowling was not good today, I had one good game and the other two were lousy. Matt didn’t even have one good game. Really is very frustrating. We forgot to take a pain killer before we went out which didn’t help.

Everyone is somewhat shattered by the news that Oscar Pistorius Blade Runnerhas been accused of murdering his girlfriend. After all the fuss and fame of his entry in the Olympics last summer and everyone backing him because he is a disable athlete, the Blade Runner, he became a popular icon world wide and then to get the shock of the accusation today really is quite horrifying. I’ve heard/read several people defending him and saying they don’t believe it, but we also heard a report that there had been several domestic disputes prior to this event. No doubt the future will reveal more of what happened. At the moment they consider it to be premeditated murder.

You may have wondered what happened to my Friday blog. When I posted it, I found something I needed to change so I ‘edited’ it and somehow it was posted as a draft and never made it to being published until the next afternoon. Dumb thing No. 1. The second dumb thing I did was to order some DVDs from BBC UK which it turned out DVDswould not play on our DVD player. I was going to return them but it would cost me almost as much as I originally paid. I then discovered I could actually play them on my desktop, only trouble was, I bought them for Matt and he is unlikely to sit and watch them on the computer. My IT guy also tells me I shouldn’t switch the regions too often either (the DVDs are region 2). A friend sent me DVDs of her TV programme in England and they played fine, I assumed that the ones I ordered would too, wrong. I also ended up with one DVD which was a repeat of one I already have. They say I ordered it, I say I ordered another one. Ah well.

I’ve always enjoyed the taste of fennel and this combination sounds like a good one.

Roasted Squash and Fennel With Thyme

WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

We have only one word for this recipe: magical. As the vegetables roast in the oven, the fennel develops sweet, caramel flavouroasted_squash_and_fennel_with_thymers and the summer squash is infused with the garlic. Serve it with grilled pork chops or chicken.

Ingredients

Prep: 30 Minutes | Total Time: 30 Minutes

  • 2 small summer squash (about 12 ounces)
  • 1 1/2 cups sliced fennel bulb, (about 1 small bulb), plus 1 tablespoon chopped fennel fronds, divided
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced garlic

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450°F.
  2. Quarter squash lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces. Combine the squash with sliced fennel, oil, thyme, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
  3. Spread the mixture evenly on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 10 minutes.
  4. Stir in garlic and roast until the vegetables are tender and the fennel is beginning to brown, about 5 minutes more.
  5. Stir in fennel fronds and serve

Have a great weekend

Jo_thumb[2]

8 comments:

  1. Love the thought of the roasted squash/fennel. Will have to look out for Fennel in our greengrocer/supermarket and give it a whirl.

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  2. Hi Jo .. the meteor entrance into our world was amazing wasn't it ... great photos we saw ... it's the shock wave I wouldn't have liked ...

    Love fennel and squash .. always a good veggie mix, or main course with a cheesy sauce ...

    Cheers Hilary

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    1. Yes, lots about it on TV again this morning. Quite terrifying for the people living there.

      Didn't really have squash in England when we used to live there, other than marrow - which I miss.

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  3. Yeah, always need to check the regions with DVDs and VHS tapes.
    The meteor was wild. They said had it not exploded in the sky, the impact would've leveled the city as if eight atomic bombs had hit.
    And real shame about that athlete. To overcome so much and then piss it all away in one moment.

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    1. I had forgotten about the regions. There may be a programme I can use to change them though.

      Eight atomic bombs, God forbid.

      You are so right about Pistorius, that's exactly what he has done. Mind you he hasn't been convicted yet.

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  4. The meteor was huge! I was a bit taken aback that no one knew it was coming. I think the report I read is that it was about 7000 tons (is that right? It seems like a lot). Anyway, I know there are many people that are devoted to tracking asteroids and meteoroids that could potentially strike. I know they track objects in orbit down to the size of a baseball. They can't do that the further out they go, but still, folks have their eyes peeled.

    I was sorry to hear about the possible murder too. I feel bad for everyone.

    And your squash, fennel & thyme looks amazing.

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    1. Not sure of the size Rusty, but I have just read that the explosion was the size of 20 atomic bombs. I wondered why no-one knew about it too. As you say, I thought these things were tracked all the time. Now they say there was one near San Francisco.

      Yes, the murder story is tragic.

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