Sorry about the lack of blogs, but we have had a few problems with Matt being ill. After spending time at the docs on Monday and hours and hours in the hospital on Tuesday, things are beginning to settle down, it has been established that he has a kidney infection. In the middle of this, yesterday, the tilers came to fix the wall in the small bathroom where the soap dish had fallen off plus yesterday was 12th Night so the decorations had to come down. Matt was unable to help of course, so I asked one of the tilers to get the strings of cards down for me as I couldn't reach them. The tree itself is still up, but that will be dealt with today I hope. I haven't been sleeping too well either so it has been a rough few days.
However, last night I went with a friend to see Shen Yun at The Centre in the Square which is
Kitchener's theatre. Neither of us really appreciated what Shen Yun was all about. It is a celebration of Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong of which I had heard) which is banned in China. If you would like to know more there is an official website for Falun Dafa at
http://www.falundafa.org/. The show itself is an exhibition of classical Chinese music and dance originating thousands of years ago. The dancing is full of lea
ps and bounds, tumbling and grace and exhibiting excellent control and synchronicity. It is in fact very beautiful to watch. If you get the chance to see the show it is well worth going to. My friend and I did find the first half of the show to be a bit lacking in diversity although the presentations were beautiful, but the second half of the show was excellent. There are three companies and they travel all round the world although New York is their home town. We were actually sitting next to a Chinese woman who, at the end of the show, was standing waving vigorously. I commented "can they see you from there" and she said it was her son in the show. He is a 17 yr old, almost 18 and has been with Shen Yun for three years, she told us. She herself lives in Toronto so when they come to Kitchener, she drives down to see the show. Her son has travelled all over the world too and has been to Asia and Australia recently. Lucky young man, but by what we watched last night, he will be working extremely hard for such luck. If you would like to see more pictures go to
http://www.falundafa.org/ where they also give you information on the upcoming tours.
Today I have to go shop, so that is the end of my blog for today. Here is an inexpensive meal from Eating Well, which is their theme right now.
Cheese-&-Spinach-Stuffed Portobellos
From EatingWell: March/April 2009
Here we take the elements of a vegetarian lasagna filling—ricotta, spinach and Parmesan cheese—and nestle them into roasted portobello mushroom caps. The recipe works best with very large portobello caps; if you can only find smaller ones, buy one or two extra and divide the filling among all the caps. Serve with a tossed salad and a whole-wheat dinner roll or spaghetti tossed with marinara sauce.
4 servings
Ingredients
4 large portobello mushroom caps
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped kalamata olives
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3/4 cup prepared marinara sauce
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, mash ricotta, spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, olives, Italian seasoning and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Place marinara sauce in a small bowl, cover and microwave on High until hot, 30 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes.
When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Spread 1 tablespoon marinara into each cap; cover the remaining sauce to keep warm. Mound a generous 1/3 cup ricotta filling into each cap and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until hot, about 10 minutes. Serve with the remaining marinara sauce.
Have a great day
Sorry about the lack of blogs, but we have had a few problems with Matt being ill. After spending time at the docs on Monday and hours and hours in the hospital on Tuesday, things are beginning to settle down, it has been established that he has a kidney infection. In the middle of this, yesterday, the tilers came to fix the wall in the small bathroom where the soap dish had fallen off plus yesterday was 12th Night so the decorations had to come down. Matt was unable to help of course, so I asked one of the tilers to get the strings of cards down for me as I couldn't reach them. The tree itself is still up, but that will be dealt with today I hope. I haven't been sleeping too well either so it has been a rough few days.
However, last night I went with a friend to see Shen Yun at The Centre in the Square which is 
Kitchener's theatre. Neither of us really appreciated what Shen Yun was all about. It is a celebration of Falun Dafa (or Falun Gong of which I had heard) which is banned in China. If you would like to know more there is an official website for Falun Dafa at http://www.falundafa.org/. The show itself is an exhibition of classical Chinese music and dance originating thousands of years ago. The dancing is full of lea
ps and bounds, tumbling and grace and exhibiting excellent control and synchronicity. It is in fact very beautiful to watch. If you get the chance to see the show it is well worth going to. My friend and I did find the first half of the show to be a bit lacking in diversity although the presentations were beautiful, but the second half of the show was excellent. There are three companies and they travel all round the world although New York is their home town. We were actually sitting next to a Chinese woman who, at the end of the show, was standing waving vigorously. I commented "can they see you from there" and she said it was her son in the show. He is a 17 yr old, almost 18 and has been with Shen Yun for three years, she told us. She herself lives in Toronto so when they come to Kitchener, she drives down to see the show. Her son has travelled all over the world too and has been to Asia and Australia recently. Lucky young man, but by what we watched last night, he will be working extremely hard for such luck. If you would like to see more pictures go to http://www.falundafa.org/ where they also give you information on the upcoming tours.
Today I have to go shop, so that is the end of my blog for today. Here is an inexpensive meal from Eating Well, which is their theme right now.
Cheese-&-Spinach-Stuffed Portobellos
From EatingWell: March/April 2009
Here we take the elements of a vegetarian lasagna filling—ricotta, spinach and Parmesan cheese—and nestle them into roasted portobello mushroom caps. The recipe works best with very large portobello caps; if you can only find smaller ones, buy one or two extra and divide the filling among all the caps. Serve with a tossed salad and a whole-wheat dinner roll or spaghetti tossed with marinara sauce.
4 servings 
Ingredients
4 large portobello mushroom caps
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped kalamata olives
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3/4 cup prepared marinara sauce
Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
Meanwhile, mash ricotta, spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, olives, Italian seasoning and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Place marinara sauce in a small bowl, cover and microwave on High until hot, 30 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes.
When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Spread 1 tablespoon marinara into each cap; cover the remaining sauce to keep warm. Mound a generous 1/3 cup ricotta filling into each cap and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until hot, about 10 minutes. Serve with the remaining marinara sauce.
Have a great day
I do hope that Matt is on the mend.
ReplyDeleteNot yet I'm afraid.
ReplyDeleteAt least they know what the problem is and they can tackle it. Fingers crossed for a speedy return to health...
ReplyDeleteThanks Glenda. I hope so too.
ReplyDeletehello Jo !!
ReplyDeleteif i understand what is a kidney infection, it means you only need some antibiotics to fight the infection that's all , hope matt will be better soon ^^
i did'nt buy a real tree this year: it's the first time we're buying an artificial one... it's not so bad abd looking, but the smell is reaaly missing ^^
noway, no spinach for me ^^
Hope you're right Gynie.
ReplyDeleteWe have had a synthetic tree for years. I have no sense of smell and Matt doesn't seem to mind.
I love spinach, especially in a spinach potato gallette.
i can hardly imagine no smell , but as glenda describe it in the gilfeather, it is sometimes quite annoying, for me espacially in my office : 12 women and 12 different perfume and other smell like cigarette, food, baby, and dust from air conditioner !! sometimes i have to put some horrible things under my nose so i can't smell anything (violet is the best i can't eat anymore after smelling violet water, like an anaesthetic ^^
ReplyDeletehope Matt will be better soon