Movies, Bowling, Tar Balls,

Been seeing a few old movies lately, the other day it was The Man In The Iron Mask with Leonardo di Caprio as the king. Its not a bad movie but I am not sure how closely it ties in with the original story. di Caprio plays a suitably nasty little bugger as the original king and a suitably nice young man as the missing twin. Then last night it was Four Weddings and a Funeral. I know we saw it before, but didn't remember much about it. Hugh Grant was very young when he played the part. It is generally a frothy little tale of young bachelors. We enjoyed watching it although there was another movie that I thought I would like to see, maybe another time.

Monday is, of course, our summer league bowling and we were allocated to our new teams for the first time. It is all done by our averages and as I bowled so very badly last week, I was placed on a team with the top bowler in the group, only he didn't turn up yesterday. I was a tad concerned as that is unusual for him to not turn up and not tell anyone why. We also got our banquet ticket for our tournament in June in yesterday's meal. This year they have given us a paper bracelet to wear (for the tournament or the banquet?) plus a map of where the banquet is being held.

Do you use Facebook? I know many people do these days, we have been having fun changing the language. You can get UK or US English, or Pirate!! The pirate version calls me a saucy wench and uses lots of other standard piratical terms. It is quite funny. I haven't seen 'shiver me timbers' yet, but no doubt it will crop up eventually.

Finally the weather seems to be improving with expected high temps later in the week. We had such a lousy summer last year, I hope we will get a better one this year.

I was dismayed to hear they have been finding tar balls on the beaches in the Florida Keys, they are being tested for origin. I wonder how they can tell? The assumption is that its from the Mexican Gulf of course, but ...... It seems to me that when we go down to North Carolina for our vacation, shrimp will not be something we come back home with this year. Matt heard that BP are paying the local fishermen although some of them are helping with the clean up anyway.

Here's a somewhat different recipe for Asparagus. I came across a recipe yesterday using canned asparagus, when fresh is so plentiful, I don't know how anyone could even consider using canned.

Asparagus Onion Casserole

AsparagusRecipes.net

1 lb of fresh asparagus. 1 medium onion, sliced.

5 tablespoons of butter.

2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.

1 cup of milk.

3 oz (1 package) of cream cheese.

1 teaspoon of salt.

Pinch of pepper.

½ cup of mild Cheddar cheese, shredded.

1 cup of fresh bread.

Cut the asparagus into 1-inch pieces.In a skillet, sauté the asparagus and onion in 1 tablespoon of butter until crisp/tender. Transfer to an ungreased 1 ½ quart baking dish. In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter, add the flour and stir until smooth. Add the milk and cook until thickened and smooth. Add the cream cheese, salt and pepper. Pour over the asparagus and onion.S prinkle with the shredded Cheddar. Melt the remaining butter and toss with the breadcrumbs. Sprinkle over the casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 350°F (175°C) for about 40 minutes or until heated through.

Have a great day