Oprah, Handling Turkeys. Christmas.

Oprah Winfrey has announced her show will no longer air after 2011. Personally I don't care, but thousands, if not millions, do. But why announce it now, surely closer to the actual date would be more sensible? She says her audiences have enriched her life, cynically Matt and I both commented that rich was certain. Today she is one of the richest women in the world, some of it through excellent investments. The story goes that she was given a pair of Reeboks and liked them so much she bought shares in the company which started her fortune. She has done a lot of good with her money, particularly helping impoverished areas in Africa. I don't follow her so I am not sure of all the things she has done, but you can't live on this continent without hearing her name mentioned frequently. I don't know what kind of impact she has made on the rest of the world. Tonight we are going to friend's for dinner which will be fun. Also means no cooking and washing up for us. Not to mention the good company of friends. Yesterday on Good Morning America, Sarah Moulton, a regular contributor to the programme, had some very good tips on safe turkey handling. If you go to this site you can see the video and read the article. Food was never such a risk factor in my younger days, salmonella and ecoli weren't heard of. I remember hearing about that once, but I really don't know the details. I am pretty sure that ecoli is a totally modern problem, not sure about salmonella. But it sure pays to be careful these days or you can get very sick and even die from such contamination. I am emphasising this at the moment as, quite soon, many houses in the US will be cooking turkeys and its as well to be cautious and well informed about the risks. I wouldn't mind cooking some more turkey, but Matt thinks I am nuts as we had lots of it last month for our Thanksgiving and will soon be cooking Christmas turkey. I bought my Poinsettia yesterday by the way, I use a small plant as the centre of a table decoration for Christmas. Its still a bit early for us although all kinds of places already are fully decorated, the stores in particular, there is even a place for Santa in our local mall although I am not sure if he has arrived yet. The lobby of our building is decorated as are several of the apartments here. We probably won't do anything til the beginning of December, I think Christmas is coming earlier every year but Matt says not. Having said that, I mailed all my overseas cards the other day. The recipe today is particularly for Matt's youngest daughter. When she visited us in Canada many years ago, she was 15, and went nuts about chocolate pies. We were buying them for her all the time. Kept several in the freezer ready. I just figured this recipe would be right up her street. Classic Chocolate Cream Pie Hershey's Kitchens. Ingredients: * 9-inch baked pastry shell or crumb crust, cooled * 5 sections (1/2 oz. each) HERSHEY'S Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Bar, broken into pieces * 3 cups milk, divided * 1-1/3 cups sugar * 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour * 3 tablespoons cornstarch * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 3 egg yolks * 2 tablespoons butter or margarine * 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract * Sweetened whipped cream(optional) Directions: 1. Prepare pastry shell; cool. 2. Combine chocolate and 2 cups milk in medium saucepan; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until mixture boils. Remove from heat. 3. Stir together sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt in medium bowl. Blend remaining 1 cup milk into egg yolks; stir into sugar mixture. Gradually add to chocolate mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until mixture boils; boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. 4. Pour into prepared pastry shell; press plastic wrap directly onto surface. Cool; refrigerate until well chilled. Top with whipped cream, if desired. 8 to 10 servings. Have a great weekend.