Canadian Currency, Movies and Oscars.

Monday at 12:10 a.m. I stayed up til midnight. The big surprise winning film was The Hurt Locker, I think everyone expected Avatar to win. Sandra Bullock won best actress and Jeff Bridges for best actor.

My apologies for the lack of blog on Saturday. Matt has been having a few health problems and has been put on Warfarin or Cumoden which has to be monitored carefully. Also, I mentioned last time it happened, I think, that he had these really severe shakes involving his whole body. We thought they had gone away, but they started up again on Thursday which is why we ended up in Emergency (8 hours this time) in the end they decided there really wasn't a lot they could do for him but they did agree that it wasn't an Anxiety attack which had been posited as the cause for these major tremors. He got two more attacks of these tremors on Friday. The hospital are referring him to the neurologist he saw before. Whilst in the hospital they did a urine test which showed traces of blood (the Warfarin) then on Friday afternoon he got a lot more than traces so Saturday morning we hi tailed it to the family doc (no appointments on Saturdays) and sat there a couple of hours. She is referring him to the cardiologist he has been seeing. Docs to the right of us surgeons to the left of us!!!!

Whilst at the docs, I asked for two scrips for orthotics which we get subsidised by our insurances and was horrified to have to pay $25 a piece for them. I thought all prescriptions were free. The doc said our insurance would pay for this, I wonder?

Apparently Canada is planning to switch to plastic dollar bills next year - that should be interesting. I understand from the article I read that several places, Australia in particular, already have a polymer bank note and we will be buying the polymer from Australia. The article says that the polymer bills will be more difficult to forge. A bit later they say that the mint are not disclosing what the bills will look like so that the forgers won't be able to get a head start on copying??? I gather the main point in favour is the durability of the money. I must admit I hate getting tatty old bills in change and get rid of them as fast as I can.

I was writing this on Sunday morning and everything is Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. There are as many speculations as there are people I think. One of the main choices for best film seems to be Avatar but then others are saying some of the smaller, lesser known movies could win. Precious has had a lot of air time and looks like an interesting film. A friend went to see Avatar, without the 3D, and said it was great. I have got to start going to movies on my own, people keep praising stuff and I don't get to see them til many years later. The favourite for best actor is Jeff Bridges they say. One thing that did suprise me, Barbara Walters, whom I have mentioned a couple of times on this blog, does a star interview every year before the Oscars, this year is apparently her last year. I thought she would go on doing these interviews til the bitter end. She is approaching her 81st year so maybe she feels its time to ease back. Another thing I caught this morning, they were doing an interview with Jeff Bridges and apparently he has made a remake of True Grit which originally was a Big John Wayne movie from 1969 - the one time he won an Oscar. Jeff Bridges is playing the John Wayne part of Rooster Cogburn. I wonder if it will work. Seems a shame to me to remake such a classic but it appears they run out of new ideas or something. Saturday night we watched Maid in New York which was a fun romance with Jennifer Lopez. Unfortunately it was on a TV channel which really saturates the movies with ads. I think we were getting 8 minutes of movie and then 10 minutes of ads. It really does ruin the movie. There are a couple of channels which don't have advertising spoiling their shows, but you can't always find what you want to see.

Got this recipe from Becel which is a very healthy margarine we get in Canada, not sure what you would sub in other countries, but Becel has no trans fats and lots of Omega3 in it. I love scallops too which, compared to the prices I remember in Britain, are relatively inexpensive here, even more so in North Carolina of course.

Thai Scallops with Coriander Ingredients:

Prepared coleslaw , for garnish (optional)

.75 lb 375 g fresh or frozen scallops , about 22 2.5 tsp 12 mL Becel margarine with Olive Oil .25 tsp 1 mL Thai red curry paste Salt to taste Squeeze of lime juice 2 tbsp 30 mL coriander, chopped Preparation: 1.Mound coleslaw on a platter, leaving an indentation in centre. In a small bowl, place some decorative toothpicks. 2.If using frozen scallops, thaw. Pat fresh or thawed scallops dry. In a large wide non-stick frying pan, melt 1 tsp (5 mL) Becel over medium-high heat. When bubbling, add half the scallops. Cook until golden brown on one side, about 2 minutes. Turn then continue to cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Remove to a plate and repeat with 1 tsp (5 mL) Becel and remaining scallops. Meanwhile mix remaining 1/2 tsp (2 mL) Becel with Thai curry paste. Return scallops on plate to pan. Add Becel-Thai paste mixture to pan and stir until scallops are coated. Sprinkle with salt. 3.Remove from heat, and place in indentation in coleslaw. Squeeze with lime juice and sprinkle with coriander. 4.Tip: Thai green curry paste also works well in this recipe.

Have a great day