Automatic Phrases, Produce and Magic

I mentioned on Saturday that this is a holiday weekend, Civic Holiday. However, it could be any holiday or no holiday at all, it makes absolutely no difference to us other than that stores and banks which are normally open might be closed . Therefore I get a little irritated (comes with old age you know) when people ask me if I have plans for the holiday, or did I have a nice holiday. They don't think; I am always on holiday these days. I might get very bored with being retired, but I am still "on holiday" to all intents and purposes. Even my doc asked me if I had plans for the weekend and I know she knows we are retired. Not that we ever did things for the long weekends anyway, too many other people are out and about and we are not good with crowds. We always took our vacations in the spring or fall (autumn to you Europeans). Admittedly we might leave home on Labour Day weekend to take advantage of the extra day for our two week trip, or something similar but we generally avoided destinations to which everyone else went. From 1980 on it was usually North Carolina we headed to anyway as we had a mobile home in which to spend our vacations. Sunday we went to a farm especially for tomatoes, they didn't have any due to the bad storm a week ago, all damaged by hail apparently. I did buy myself some corn though and then ate it for lunch, it was gorgeous. Two cobs, 3 minutes in the microwave wrapped in grease proof or waxed paper. Roll each cob in the butter and.... heaven. There is nothing to beat corn fresh out of the field, cooked and eaten within hours. Marilyn mentioned it being ripened on the roof when she lived in South Africa, I have never eaten it that way, but you sure would have to go a long way to beat my lunch. I finished my Rules of Deception and have now started a new series of books by Katherine Kerr, the first being Dagger Spell. You may recall I got a book from the library the other day and discovered it was actually the last book in a long series. I took it back and got the first two books which begin the series. I have been reading a conversation with Glenda Larke (Tropic Temper, this page) about the different types of magic used. I admit it is something I hadn't really thought about, but authors come up with the most incredibly diverse ways of giving their characters power. This book talks of dweomer which Wikipedia tells me is and old English word for witchcraft which derived from an old Norse word meaning dwarf talk. I recently read a book where they called it geas, but that is really not the same thing - well from the original definition of being a compulsion or prohibition. Glenda has used two different forms of magic in her trilogies The Isles of Glory and The Mirage Makers and is apparently using another form of magic for her upcoming trilogy The Time of Random Rain. We had something different, to us, for supper last night. Fried ravioli. Matt came across the recipe on Rachael Ray's TV programme. In fact when researching on the net I discovered quite a few recipes for it, but we had never tried it before. I don't have a proper recipe, but it is good and can be served as an appetizer or as a main course. Fried Ravioli 1 jar roasted red peppers Tomatoes, chopped, we used a small can Chili flakes Garlic Salt and Pepper 1 packet fresh ravioli (we had cheese & spinach) 1 egg breadcrumbs Parmesan Cheese First make a sauce - basically a Marinara. Matt whizzed the first 5 ingredients in the blender and then put the results in a saucepan to heat. He then dipped the ravioli in beaten egg and then the breadcrumbs into which the cheese had already been mixed. He fried them in a little olive oil until they were golden and served them with the sauce on top. For an appetizer, you can serve the sauce as a dipping medium. If you want, you can make your own ravioli which would have a more noticeable filling, but we just bought the fresh from the grocery store. You could serve these with a side salad. Have a great day.