Monday, February 2, 2015

Birthday and Present, Book.

Now I am in to birthday countdown. Saturday we had a kind of special meal with fillet steak and port wine sauce accompanied by baked potato and Petits Pois a la Française which is an old favourite and which I haven’t done for a long time as it is somewhat high in calories. Matt also phoned his daughters to thank them and their families for the birthday present. Turned out hisDog racing youngest had gone dog racing with a bunch of her girlfriends. That will be a new departure for her. Something I have never done although I often used to go to the horse races. Her poor hubby was all on his own for the evening as none of the kids were home either.  It turns out that the card Matt got with all the restaurant logos was made by him. He apparently worked through my blogs to find the names of restaurants we liked then went on their websites to get their logos. Very clever, but a lot of work. Matt keeps talking about going out for a meal on them (kids) on Wednesday night but of course we are going to the Mandarin for his free lunch on Wednesday. I am hoping he doesn’t decide he wants to go out on Thursday evening as he knows nothing about the bowling party. We normally don’t go out to eat at the weekends because it is usually too busy.

I just finished reading Defying Reason by Elizabeth Seckman who is Defying Reasona friend. I helped with a bit of proofing. It turns out this is a series about a particular family, The Coulter Men, bur I have to tell you, I didn’t mean to start reading it yet, but just checked out that I could read it on my laptop and then couldn’t stop reading. I finished it in two days and enjoyed every minute of it. I am not good in genre allocations but assume it would be classified as romance which I do not read very often, but I really think I will read the other books in this series. Defying Reason is not yet released, but if you like romantic fiction, I can highly recommend it. Very well written. Of course the fact that Elizabeth borrowed my name for her principle female character did help a bit.

This is Nigella Lawson’s version of Petits Pois a la Française. I never put stock in mine and nowadays I usually cook them in the microwave.

Petits Pois a la Francaise

Recipe courtesy of Nigella Lawson
Petits Pois a la Francaise 
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
  • 3 small or 2 fat scallions, finely sliced
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 drop garlic-infused oil (or any oil really)
  • 1 Little Gem (Butterhead) lettuce, shredded
  • 2 cups frozen petits pois
  • 1/2 cup hot chicken stock (concentrate or cube and hot water is fine)
Directions
Cook the scallions in the butter and oil until soft. Stir in the shredded lettuce, and when it is wilted add the frozen peas and stock.
Cook at a robust simmer, uncovered, until everything is tender and the liquid flavourful and reduced.

Have a great day
Jo_thumb[2]

18 comments:

  1. That was very kind of his son in law. Count down started, indeed!
    If only I were not allergic to peas .

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    1. I have never heard of anyone being allergic to peas before. What a pity.

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  2. finally a recipe that may help me eat a little more peas, although I find myself liking them better now than my younger years. Thanks.

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  3. Finished in two days - she'll be happy to hear that.
    Even if he decides to go out Thursday evening, you'll still surprise him with a birthday lunch.

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    1. I think she was pleased.

      And a cosmic bowling game too.

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  4. I know it's a fancy recipe when I can't pronounce a single word of it. Also, did you say surprise cosmic bowling party? That sounds like a fantastic time.

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    1. You can't mean this recipe surely? Yup, cosmic bowling, I thought it might be fun, certainly different.

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  5. That recipe sounds amazing! Calories schmalories.

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    1. We've always enjoyed it and, as I said, I don't use stock, just butter. More calories.

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  6. His son-in-law went to a lot of trouble, but that made it much more personal.

    I've been to one dog race. We went to Portland, Oregon's dog track in July 1980 on the day Mt. St. Helens erupted for the third time. Needless to say, watching the volcano spew ash was far more interesting.

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    1. Yes, it was a lot of trouble. Not sure how much Matt realized but I certainly appreciated it.

      I can imagine it would have been although not sure I would want to watch a volcano, thank you very much.

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  7. Elizabeth is great!! Glad you enjoyed her book, it's been on my list of reads and now I'm going to have to bump it up the list. Hopefully I'll get a chance to read it soon. And I've got a birthday countdown this month too! And yes to peas! That recipe looks easy and delicious. :)

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    1. This one isn't released yet, not sure of the date, but soon.

      Coincidence about the birthdays.

      I would have thought you would be familiar with this recipe living in la belle France.

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  8. I've been to greyhound racing a few times. It's a bit cruel. The dogs often drop dead after a race. At least they've instigated the adopt a greyhound concept so they aren't just put to sleep when they're retired now. Birthday wishes to Matt!

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    1. Never been and when I was a young woman it was not considered a nice place to go for young ladies and all that stuff. They do the adopt a greyhound here too, but I didn't realize they dogs drop dead after a race. That is cruel. At least not as cruel as dog fights which still happen in some places I understand.

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  9. What a nice gift of time and skill Matt's son-in-law offered. Happy Birthday to Matt. Hope you can choose a great meal out for that gift.

    Is the bowling party a surprise Birthday party for Matt?

    Greyhounds are sweet dogs but highly competitive--of course many 'working' dogs are. Greyhounds are great sight hunters. I've seen them race. I'm not a big fan of dog or horse racing.

    Sia McKye Over Coffee

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    1. Wasn't it? Must have taken him forever. I will pass on the birthday wishes.

      Yes it is a surprise. I still haven't decided how I am going to stop him having lunch before we go bowling!!!

      I used to enjoy horse racing, horses seem to enjoy it so much.

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