Disasters, Tiger, Windows Mail.

Last night there was an explosion in a mine in West Virginia with a report of 7 dead and 19 missing. This is the report from last night at this moment they have no idea what the situation is with the remaining men http://tinyurl.com/y9j69jo Seems to me there have been so many disasters lately what with a plethora of earthquakes, the latest being quite serious ones on the Mexican/USA border. I hope they will be able to find the missing people. For non North Americans, West Virginia is a different state to Virginia.

Update on the mine disaster, this morning's report says 25 dead and a very slim possibility of finding the remaining men alive.

I am sick to death of hearing about Tiger Woods – now I’m writing about him too. Every time you turn on the TV he seems to be mentioned not only his private life, but how he will do in the Masters which starts this week. I actually don’t care although I suppose millions do. He is such a brilliant golfer that he will probably have no problem at all. That reminds me of another thing I have always wondered about, what on earth is the point of winning a green jacket at the Masters and then it is kept forever in the golf club so you don’t get to wear it unless you are in Augusta. Tiger himself has got several of them.

Yesterday I downloaded Windows Mail, I didn’t know Outlook Express was supposed to be unsafe these days (where have I been?) so now I not only have a brand new email programme, I also got Windows Live Writer which enables me to write my blog off line and then to publish it when its finished. That should work pretty well I think. I am using it to write this blog today and I will see how it goes. Of course I frequently look up sources of information, so I am not sure how I do this from Live Writer.

The following recipe is from the most recent issue of Food and Drink from the LCBO. Several of the recipes they give are for artichokes. They look delicious, but I personally cannot be bothered to strip the artichoke and would probably take the easy way out and use canned or frozen chokes.

Sauté of Artichokes and Wild Mushrooms’

Food and Drink

The combination of artichokes and mushrooms gives this dish a rich, earthy, almost meaty quality, making it a great vegetarian alternative. You can use any dried mushrooms but porcini will give the deepest flavour. Serve with polenta or cooked pasta.

1/3 oz or about 1/2 cup loosely packed, dried porcini mushrooms

1 cup boiling water

12 small or 6 large prepared artichokes http://tinyurl.com/yfzpqt5 for video on preparing artichokes.

3 tbs olive oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 large thyme sprig

1/3 cup dry white wine

3 garlic cloves, germ removed and thinly sliced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup garlic chives cut in 1/2 inch lengths

2 Tbs unsalted butter

Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Place the mushrooms in a bowl and pour over the boiling water, leave to soak for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain the artichokes, pat dry and cut the small ones into quarters or the large ones into 8 pieces, lengthwise.

Carefully remove the mushrooms from the soaking liquid, squeeze dry and chop coarsely. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve, discarding the dirt. Set the chopped mushrooms and liquid aside.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add the artichokes, chopped shallot and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or until the shallot and artichokes are golden.

Pour the wine into the pan and deglaze by scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the mushrooms, the soaking liquid and garlic to the pan. Season well with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Lower the heat so the liquid simmers; cover and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover, add the garlic chives and continue to cook, uncovered, until the artichokes are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove the thyme sprig and stir in the butter. Serve over polenta or pasta and pass the grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 4.

Have a great day