Cartoon, Rambling, Vincenzo’s.

A friend posted a bunch of cartoons on Facebook yesterday, this one, in particular, appealed to me.

Matt thinks I have an odd sense of humour anyway, but I return the compliment.

We are a pair of dummies, no you don’t have to agree; at the weekend we were wondering why Matt hadn’t received Father’s Day cards from his daughters, guess what, we are in the middle of a postal strike. It just didn’t occur to either of us.

I didn’t go bowling yesterday, decided to wait til next week before stressing my puncture site. I am supposed to be allowing the dressing to “fall off” naturally, it certainly shows no sign of doing so, maybe it will be a permanent fixture and my skin will rot out underneath LOL. I must say I am most impressed with this dressing, it adheres extremely well, I wish we could get Band Aids which stuck as well as this thing does.

Having said I prefer my strawberries plain with a dollop of good cream, I got a recipe this morning which I think I will share tomorrow. It does look pretty good, it’s a kind of strawberry cheesecake although not quite like the ones we normally see over here. It is a BBC version.

Today we are going on a store hunt. There is a shop called Vincenzo’s which is wonderful for all kinds of deli items, great cheese selections, breads, cakes, you name it they have it. They moved last year and we have never actually found where they are although we think they have a pretty good idea. So today we are going to check it out, in particular as we have discovered that the store where we always bought Borgonzola doesn’t stock it any more and Vincenzo’s do, according to Tre Stelle who market it. I mentioned Borgonzola a few years back, it is a creamy blue cheese which is a Canadian version of Cambazola (German) and to our taste buds, better. I have heard it described as a copy of Gorgonzola, not really the same at all. Vincenzo’s are also the only place I know of which sells Colman’s dry mustard powder. Once again, there is only one mustard to me. Of course I was brought up with Colman’s mustard. There is nothing better than a really good slice of ham with some Colman’s mustard, yummy. We always used to serve that on Christmas morning with champagne cocktails. We still do, but just for us these days. Everyone else is too busy.

We both like cooked pears and these look good to me. We do another recipe where they are cooked in red wine which is delicious.

Honey Roasted Pears

By The Sprouted Kitchen
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Inspired by Joy the Baker

I used three pears, because that is what fit perfectly into my cast iron skillet. You could probably adjust more or less depending on what type of pan you use, just be certain it is heavy bottomed and oven proof. I don’t often push an organic agenda, but since this is a short list of ingredients, I’d suggest using organic dairy products for best flavor results.

Ingredients

3 Ripe Pears (Bosc worked beautifully)
2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
½ Cup Honey
1 tsp. Real Vanilla Extract
2 Tbsp. Muscavado or Brown Sugar
½ Cup Thyme Sprigs
Salt
8 oz. Whipping Cream
1 tsp. Cinnamon
2 Tbsp. Honey
¾ Cup Plain Greek Yogurt

Instructions

Heat oven to 450′

Cut the pears in half length wise, use a small spoon or melon baller to remove the tough seeded center.

In a cast iron or heavy bottomed skillet, add the butter, honey, vanilla, muscavado or brown sugar, thyme sprigs and a generous sprinkle of salt. Let everything come to a gentle boil and stir continuously, about 2 minutes.

Add the halved pears to the pan, cut side down. Give it a shake and let them simmer on the stove about 2 minutes. Turn the pears over so they are now cut side up and transfer the pan to the oven, middle rack. Bake for 12 minutes until the pears are soft and the sauce has caramelized.

While the pears are baking, beat the cold whipping cream with an electric mixer until stiff. Add the honey, pinch of salt, cinnamon and beat another minute to combine. Gently fold in the Greek yogurt, this will make it a bit thinner, but that’s ok, it still tastes lovely, I promise.

Put one or two pears on a plate, drizzle with a hefty spoonful of sauce with a sprig of thyme for garnish, and a generous dollop or yogurt cream

Total Servings: 3

Have a great day