Yesteryear Stars, Power Sources, Diamond Cars

Marilyn of French Marilyn's Blog (see link) was talking about Brigitte Bardot a well known (at one time) an actress and a 'sex kitten', although I am not sure she is so well known in North America. Today she is best known for her racial remarks about France and its immigrants, plus her fights for animal rights. However, talking of her made me think of other artists of yesteryear such as Sacha Distel who was a singer and very popular in the 50's, Mireille Mathieu, another singer in the 70's although apparently she is still around and performing well. The reason I get a bit depressed, when I mention some of these people to younger friends and acquaintances, they have no idea who I'm talking about. I am not just referring to French artists either, but those who were once the great icons of Hollywood, or songs and shows of yesteryear. I couldn't believe it when I mentioned Porgy and Bess at work and with one exception, the younger people didn't know what I was talking about. Whilst looking for some information, I came a cross a YouTube video of Sacha Distel and Brigitte Bardot singing You are my Sunshine in French. I believe they were an "item" at one time.

Yesterday we did our weekly trip to Barrie's Asparagus farm and I was chatting to Tim Barrie about his proposed field of solar panels (see Monday June 2) and he tells me he also has a blog about solar power and asparagus. I was telling him about some of my recipes, he has read this blog and two other customers said the recipes sounded interesting - I gave them a card with my blog address on, so hope they will come and find me and look at my recipes. Meanwhile I am waiting for Tim to let me know what his blog address is. There are lots of references on Google to the proposed solar field at his farm. He already has, as I mentioned, solar panels on the roof of his "store" and Tim is very committed to solar power as a clean way of living and generating power. Maybe this apartment block, where I live, should put some solar panels on the roof and then our rent would stay static.

I am very pro wind farms too, I have heard them described as a blot on the landscape. I totally disagree, I think it is fascinating to see them especially when they are turning in the wind. In fact I think they are quite attractive.

The price of gasoline is soaring, maybe this is why, this morning someone sent me an email with pictures of a new Mercedes which is totally covered in diamonds. It was built for Prince Alwaleed of Saudi Arabia and cost $4.8 million. It costs $1,000 if you just want to touch it. If you enlarge the picture you will see that it is totally covered in diamonds, in the pictures I have, even the exhaust pipes which protrude from the rear, are diamond encrusted. I don't object to people spending their money how they wish, but when we are paying for it because of the price of oil, it does rankle somewhat. Can you imagine parking it on the street, someone would want to prise off a few of 'them sparklers', I'd be right there with my screwdriver.

Decisions, decisions, asparagus or rhubarb. Asparagus has won out today:

Asparagus with Hazelnut Sauce
Source: WW Recipes

Note: Hazelnuts are also called Filberts.
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
6 Tbs (90 ml) butter
1/4 cup (60 ml) finely chopped hazelnuts (filberts)
1 tsp (5 ml) tarragon or red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 lbs (900 g) asparagus, trimmed and steamed until tender

Instructions:
Heat the butter in a small saucepan over moderate heat and saute
the chopped hazelnuts until lightly browned and aromatic, about
5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar, salt, and
pepper. Serve over cooked asparagus. Serves 4 to 6.

Have a great day.