PCs, Dutch Dinner Party, NC Fish Story.

Grr, just had trouble booting up. I haven't turned my PC off overnight in months although I reboot it every day, because it was giving me problems. Thought I would try it out last night and went to bed leaving it off. Big mistake, took me forever to get it to boot up this morning. I don't really understand why. It gives me a "no signal" message all the time. Then eventually it gets tired and gives in to me.

Saturday night we went to friends for dinner and had a great evening. Being Dutch she promised we would have a Dutch meal. Our main dish was liver which is not normally one of my favourites, but this was delicious. It didn't taste too "livery" at all if you know what I mean. We had a delicious Belgian Endive casserole which is also a Dutch recipe; I have asked for copies of both. The dessert was a little like carrot cake but wasn't, it was good, too good maybe. We had taken a bottle of Apricot Bols as that is a Dutch liqueur and we sat around the table til midnight discussing everything and anything. We have arranged to have a party on September 13th to celebrate the birthday's of three of us, mine in particular as I hit the big 70. You should worry ru!

I thought of another Carolina fish story this weekend. Matt and a friend went out fishing on the Carolina Princess which is a large boat which takes dozens of fishermen on board. If you are lucky and hit them when they aren't too, too busy, it can be quite fun. Anyway, when the two guys returned they had a stack of fish including some Trigger Fish which was a new one to us. Matt helped the friend with skinning and filleting and they had a heck of a job with the trigger fish and really worked hard at it. Matt was no weakling and he really had to fight to skin these things. We learned later that in fact to skin Trigger Fish you start from the other end. Also that the skin is so tough you can lay it directly on the barbecue coals to cook your fish. However, we didn't know this at the time and because it was such hard work, Matt decided to throw our Trigger Fish away and so he buried them in the back yard. Later, the friend and his wife got us to cook the fish for the four of us and it was absolutely delicious. White, firm wonderfully flavoured fish. I have never forgiven Matt for throwing ours away. Even though he went out on the Carolina Princess again he never caught any more.

We have to go get some more asparagus today and then there will only be one more trip I am thinking, a week tomorrow is Canada Day which is the day they close. Do you hear my tears. In the meantime, having spoken about liver, and not having the recipe for the dish we ate this weekend, I leave you with a Portuguese liver recipe which I like very much. Even if you don't like liver, I can highly recommend it, you can't taste the liverishness (new word) at all.

Iscas
Marinated Liver with Red-Wine Sauce
Foods of the World by Time Life
Serves 4

1/4 pint dry red wine (UK pint or about 5 fl. oz)
1 1/2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1/2 bay leaf, crumbled
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. calf's or beef liver, cut into 1/8 in. thick slices
2 1/2 tbs olive oil
3 rashers bacon, coarsely chopped
2 tbs finely chopped parsley

Put the wine, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, salt and a few grindings of pepper into a glass, enamelled or stainless steel bowl. Add the liver, turning the slices about with a spoon until they are evenly coated. Marinate at room temperature for about 2 hours.

Heat the olive oil over a moderate heat in a large, heavy frying pan until a light haze forms above it. Add the bacon and cook, stirring frequently, until golden brown and crisp. Drain on a double thickness of kitchen paper. Remove the liver slices from the marinade and pat them dry with paper towel. Reserve the marinade. Heat the remaining bacon fat in the pan until it splutters. Add the liver and cook the slices about 2 mins on each side, regulating the heat so they brown quickly and evenly without burning. Remove the liver to a heated dish. Quickly pour the reserved marinade into the pan and boil it uncovered over a high heat until it has reduced to about half, meanwhile scraping in any browned bits clinging to the bottom and sides of the pan. Taste for seasoning. Scatter the bacon pieces over the liver, pour the sauce over it and sprinkle with parsley. Serve at once.

Have a great day.