Earth Hour, Mansion for Sale,

I am sorry so few of my readers and friends have signed in to Commit 2 1 which is in support of Earth Hour. If you want to do so you can still sign on at this site to make a commitment to turn off your lights this evening between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. The more people who turn off their lights tonight, the more it makes the world consider the plight of the home we all share and what we have been doing to make a mess of it. Please take a minute to do this and remember to take part this evening. Marilyn of French Marilyn's Blog (see link this page) has written now and again about mansions in the south of France which are for sale for stupendous amounts of money. The Americans now have one of their own for sale, the mansion which belonged to the late Aaron Spelling is being sold for $150 million by his wife Candy. Hell, why not, people are losing houses in all directions because of the economic situation!!! There is an article about it here if you would like to read more about it. It has a 'gift wrapping room' - why on earth would you want that? What's wrong with the dining table that most of us make use of for gift wrapping? Apparently the property used to belong to singer Bing Crosby but Spelling demolished Bing's house and built his own French Chateau style. I guess the Spellings would sympathise with the Countess wanting more than $53,000 to live on per week. See yesterday's blog. To me some of this is pretty obscene when you consider all the folk who are out of work and out of their homes at the moment. I know some of these gazillionaires contribute to charity, but then they get whacking great tax cuts on their donations. I don't quibble with people making lots of money, but I think people don't want wealth flashed around under their noses at the moment. As Satima said in the comments section yesterday, the Swedish Countess should try living on the meagre pensions paid to senior citizens and see how she gets on. That is one of the things bugging me at the moment. General Motors has been negotiating with its employees in order to qualify for a hand out from the Government. The latest I heard was the white collar workers have agreed to salary cuts, the pensioners are going to have to pay $15 towards their health benefits, but the workers who are pulling down something like $75 an hour don't have to pay anything, but they will forego increases for the next year or so. How very generous of them. Meanwhile, car sales companies are bending over backwards to dispose of cars with huge discounts and cash back options. There are way more new cars than anyone needs or can afford to buy. The car lots are full. OK, something a bit different today from the light recipes I have been adding. This one is from The Best Three and Four Ingredient Cookbook. Caramelized Onion and Sausage Tarte Tatin Toulouse sausages have a garlicky flavour and meaty texture that is delicious with fried onions. Serve with a green salad of bitter greens. Serves 4 1 lbs Toulouse sausage (I am unfamiliar with this, but any good garlic sausage would do I imagine). 2 large onions sliced 9 oz. ready made puff pastry, thawed if frozen From the store cupboard 3 Tbs sunflower (vegetable) oil salt and ground black pepper Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan with an ovenproof handle and add the sausages. Cook over a gentle heat, turning occasionally for 7-10 minutes, or until golden and cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Pour the remaining oil in the frying pan and add the onions. Season with salt and pepper and cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until caramelized and tender. Slice each sausage in four or five chunks and stir into the onions. Remove from the heat and set aside. Roll out the puff pastry and cut a circle slightly larger than the frying pan. Lay the pastry over the sausages and onions, tucking the edges in all the way around. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the pastry is risen and golden. Turn out onto a board, pastry side down, cut into wedges and serve. My Note: If you don't have a pan with an ovenproof handle, you can wrap the handle in foil to protect it in the oven. Have a great weekend.