World Cup, Oil, Wild Eyes.

My sympathies go out to the Mandela family who just lost their 13 yr. old great grandchild in a car accident yesterday which means Nelson Mandela will not attend the opening of the World Cup today. Making it a double tragedy as he was instrumental in bringing the Cup to South Africa.

Robin Roberts from Good Morning America is in South Africa for the World Cup and this morning she was broadcasting from Soccer City! My South African friend has been telling us all about the noise of vuvuzelas and this morning I finally saw, and heard, them so I really understand what she is on about. Robin is bringing some back as souvenirs she says. The reports she was making were certainly noisy enough and trying to hear what she said was not easy. There are opening ceremonies taking place quite soon and then the first match will take place later today. Apparently the first match for the US is against England. If you follow soccer I have no doubt this will be an exciting game. The photo came from wordpress.com.

According to reports, 16 yr old sailor, Abby Sutherland, (her boat is Wild Eyes), was out of touch for a while, much to her family's distress. However, she has now been spotted alive and well in the Indian Ocean - her mast is down and she has lost radio contact. That poor girl. Everything has gone wrong for her on her bid to sail round the world. Jessica, from Australia, seemed to have fair sailing the whole way except for in the waters at the bottom of South America, Cape Horn gave her a pretty rough time, but other than that, she did pretty well without too many hitches, Abby has had nothing but. She had to pull into Cape Town for technical repairs and then her boat has now been damaged in a bad storm in the Indian Ocean. There is a fishing vessel on its way to help her.

One of the main reports this morning was the astounding figures of the oil actually gushing into the waters of the Gulf. 87 million gallons of oil so far and it is still gushing despite all efforts to stop it. Some people are blaming Obama. What the hell it has to do with him I am not sure. Just because it happened "on his watch". I wonder just how big this oil field is, it seems there is no way to stop it emptying its contents into the sea which will eventually spread to the oceans of the world. Don't think that because you don't live there, you won't be affected, because at this rate, I don't think there is anywhere that won't be damaged by all this oil. They showed one company shucking oysters, today was their last day after over 130 years of business. I don't know if oysters will ever recover.

Amongst the many foodie emails I get is one from Eagle Brand. They have several strawberry recipes and this one particularly appealed to me. Strawberries are now out locally and Barrie's has them in their store along with their asparagus.

Strawberry Panna Cotta Eagle Brand One bite of this beautiful dessert will bring you right into strawberry heaven! Each serving has a whopping two thirds of a cup of sweet juicy ripe strawberries. Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 13 minutes Serving: 6 servings (1/2 cup/125mL each) Freezing: not recommended Ingredients: Panna Cotta 2 cups (500mL) strawberries 1 can (300mL) Eagle Brand® Regular or Low Fat Sweetened Condensed Milk ½ cup (125mL) Carnation® Regular, 2% or Fat-Free Evaporated Milk 1 pkg (1tbsp/15mL) powdered unflavoured gelatin 1 tsp (5mL) vanilla Topping 2 cups (500mL) strawberries, quartered ¼ cup (50mL) sugar 1 tbsp (15mL) lemon juice

Preparation: 1. Purée strawberries in food processor or blender. Strain mixture to remove seeds. Reserve. 2. Combine sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin over and let it sit until gelatin softens, about 10 minutes. Whisk mixture constantly over very low heat just until gelatin dissolves and mixture is lukewarm, about 3 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat. 3. Whisk in strawberries and vanilla. 4. Divide mixture among 6 ramekins or custard cups. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours or overnight. 5. Topping; Combine ingredients for topping. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Run small sharp knife between panna cotta and ramekins to loosen. Dip bottom of ramekins into bowl of hot water to loosen. Invert onto plate. Spoon topping over and serve.

Have a great day