Ice Dancing Gold, Snow and Toaster Ovens.

Canadians were thrilled to watch the ice dancing last night and to see a young Canadian couple win the gold medal. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir gave a perfect performance in their free skate which was absolutely beautiful to behold. They had a 5.8 point lead over their competitors from the States, Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who also turned in a wonderful performance. The bronze medalists, Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin from Russia, were not, in my opinion, as good as the Americans who came fourth, but of course I am not a judge. One thing which was so exciting, the Russians in particular as well as the Europeans have been dominating ice skating for years, so it was particularly great to see two couples take the gold and silver medals, the first time these two medals have been won for ice dancing by North American skaters. These two medalists train on the same ice with the same coach and choreographer in Michigan so a lot of credit will be going to that team. Virtue and Moir have been skating together since they were 7 and 9 yrs. old at which time they didn't talk because they were too shy. The arena where they skated last night went wild when the Canadians skated, and if possible, even wilder when they won the gold medal. The couple come from quite near to us, from London, Ontario and from Ilderton which is quite nearby. Canadians were very disappointed that the hockey team was beaten by the US, a friend at the bowling alley said they shouldn't have boasted so much, however, other friends assure me the women's hockey team is much better. Tonight the women's single figure skating starts so yet more treats to watch. I always like the end of games performances by all the medalists.

Well, we had snow yesterday, first time for quite a few weeks, it was forecasted we should have 10 cm. of the stuff, I think the forecasters may well have been right. Today we are supposed to get rain and Wednesday more snow. The roads were a mess yesterday as it appears they don't bring the plows out until it has stopped snowing. No salters either as far as I could tell. We only drove to the bowling alley which is about a 15 minute drive and the roads were a mush of dirty snow. When we came out after bowling we had to clean the car of quite a lot of snow. In fact Matt did OK, I got him start the car whilst I and our team leader (also a woman) brushed off the car.

Once home, we discovered our toaster oven had decided to give up the ghost, so Matt went out again to get a new one. He did well, a $50 toaster for about $25. Canadian Tire were having a sale again. That's $600 saved on the treadmill and another $25 on the toaster. This morning I was trying to figure out how to use it, it appears somewhat more complicated and I ended up with a piece of dry bread instead of a piece of toast. Back to the drawing board.

I love rice puddings and here is an easy one to make. Something of a blast from the past.

Currant Rice Pudding Food Network

Yield: 6

Ingredients 3 cups milk 2 cups water 4 pared peels from a lemon 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract 3/4 cup short grain rice 1/3 cup dried currants 3 tablespoons sliced almonds, lightly toasted 2/3 cup sugar 1 egg yolk (optional) cinnamon, for garnish Directions

Heat milk and water with peelings from lemon and vanilla to just below a simmer and stir in rice. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lemon peels. Add the currants, almonds and sugar and simmer 10 to 15 minutes more, testing rice for doneness. Remove from heat, let cool for 15 minutes then stir in egg yolk. Spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon. Rice pudding will set further as it cools. It can be served warm or chilled.

Have a great day