How Much a Week? Hematoma, Nessie

There has been a story on the news this week about a Swedish Countess who is divorcing her husband and saying the $43 million agreed to in their prenuptial agreement isn't enough. She says she needs $53,000 per week to live. How disgusting is this? In these times when people are losing their jobs and a lot of households don't get more than $53,000 a year, she is claiming she needs that much a week. Get real. She is also claiming she was forced to sign the prenup. Oh yeah!! There was a nice story on GMA today as a result of the tragic death of Natasha Richardson last week. A little girl banged her head and had quite a lump, her parents iced it and she was fine for two days. She then started getting headaches. The upshot being she ended up having surgery for the hematoma in her brain cavity and she is now fine. The parents ended up reacting quickly because of the story about Natasha. As the surgeon said, anything which raises awareness is a good thing. In fact there is a lot on their web page this morning about brain injury. Another segment today was about the Loch Ness Monster. Since Nessie was first reported 1,500 years ago, no-one has ever definitively decided if she is there. At the end of this morning's report, they said there have been no sightings for a while and the theory now is that she could be dead; so they want to search the bottom of the loch to see if they can find her skeleton. Jacques Cousteau searched Loch Ness some years ago and came to the definite conclusion there was no such thing as a monster in the lake. No-one believed him. Bowling went fairly well yesterday. Before that we had lunch in The Old Country Restaurant. Not a bad spot to eat, this is about the 3rd or 4th time we have been there. Their food is good, their service is very good they seem to be busy every time we go. Yesterday I had a Monte Cristo sandwich. I had one last month for the first time, previously I had never heard of a Monte Cristo. Basically its French toast (eggy bread) surrounding ham and Swiss cheese. Not bad at all. Although I doubt I would ever make them, I like the originals too much and shouldn't really eat those either, I just have to share with you the recipe from Food and Drink for Chocolate Cranberry Hot Cross Buns. I must say I think they look pretty good and having typed the recipe, I think they sound good too. Maybe......! Chocolate Cranberry Hot Cross Buns Chocolate cake meets bread and you can eat it for breakfast. These hot cross buns, decadent and rich, are inspired by my family recipe for Easter paska which combines a yeast starter with what is essentially a cake batter Starter 3/4 cup 2% milk, room temperature 2 Tbs sugar 1 Tbs dry instant yeast 1/4 cup regular cocoa powder (not Dutch processed) 1/4 cup all purpose flour. Base 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup sugar 3 large eggs, room temperature 2 tsp pure vanilla extract 4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup regular cocoa powder (not Dutch processed) 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temp. 1 cup dried cranberries 1 cup dark chocolate chips 1 egg whisked with 2 tbs water for brushing. Icing 10 Tbs icing sugar, sifted 2 Tbs cocoa powser, sifted 1 Tbs water For starter, stir all ingredients together and set aside while preparing base. For base, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture alternatively with buttermilk, blending well and scraping the bowl after each addition. Stir in started and add dried cranberries and chocolate chips (dough will be wet and sticky). Place dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise, refrigerated, over night. On a lightly floured surface, turn out dough and divide into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round and place 4 into each of 2 greased 8 inch cake pans. Cover lightly and let rise 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350°F Brush buns with egg mixture and bake for 50 minutes (as the buns bake they will create a cross shape as they rise and press against each other). Let buns cool completely in the pan. For icing, beat icing sugar, cocoa powder and water until thick. Pipe a cross over each bun (or over the cross seam that has been created) and store buns in the pan. Makes 8 large buns. MY NOTE: I am not sure I would use the cranberries but that is my personal taste. They do sound good though. Have a great day.