The Iceman, Giant Pythons, Facebook Follies,

We watched an absolutely fascinating programme on Wednesday night about the Iceman. It was on Nova and talked about the 5,000 yr. old mummified man they found some years ago in the mountains in perfect preservation. It was talking about his apparent murder, he had an arrow  in his back, and they were trying to solve the mystery. Its amazing what they can find out from the tiniest particles these days. If you check the site, you can see the programme Iceman Murder Mystery. I do like the programmes which are frequently shown on public television, Nova being one of them.

Another one is Nature which Wednesday night covered the invasion of Burmese Pythons in Florida, the programme was called The Invasion of the Giant Pythons and showed horrific footage of these huge snakes, which are perfectly capable of killing a human, slithering around the Everglades and even along the side of roads. They only have two enemies, very big crocodiles and man. Even very big crocodiles don’t always win. I wasn’t planning to visit the Everglades, but I sure won’t be now. Admittedly they are fascinating to watch, bit like a rabbit being caught in a car’s headlights at night!!! You can see the full programme on their website too.

Yesterday was our Travel League bowling so we went to New Hamburg – had lunch first of all and then bowled. I had two lousy games and one really good one. Better than last Monday when you would have thought I had never bowled in my life before.

Don’t usually watch a lot of TV, but last night I watched the final part of the Nano Revolution and then a programme on the dangers of Facebook. It really is a very dangerous place to be and one of the main centres of criminal activity today so they stated. Makes me a bit nervous and Matt, who doesn’t really know much about any of the social networking or the cyber world in general, is pretty horrified about what he is learning. There is a YouTube video here. Despite all the warnings, I see Doc Zone has a Facebook page. As for the nano revolution, it discussed things which are already being done to clean up the environment whether it be air, ground or water. They are carrying out lots of experiments with various nanos but are still not sure what effect these marvellous results will actually have in the future.

I love lamb and this sounded like a very good way to cook it.

Caribbean Grilled Lamb Skewers with Long Beans

By The Food Gal

WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Ingredients

¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon cumin seed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon curry powder
Kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper
2 jalapeno peppers, minced
3 pounds boneless lamb loin or well-trimmed leg, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 pound long beans, tips removed, left long or cut into 3-inch segments (or substitute green beans)
2 teaspoons unsalted butter

Put 12 wooden skewers in a pan of water to soak for at least 20 minutes.

Instructions

To prepare the lamb marinade, whisk together ½ cup of olive oil, lime juice, lemon zest, garlic, cumin, chili powder, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt, cayenne, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, and jalapenos in a medium bowl. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, cayenne, and lime juice.

Put lamb cubes and marinade into a large glass baking dish and toss, rubbing marinade all over lamb. Thread 4 to 5 pieces of lamb onto each skewer. Place skewers into baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 and up to 4 hours.

While lamb marinates, preheat a grill or broiler to medium-hot and prepare beans. Sauté beans in remaining ¼ cup olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until they are tender and begin to blister. Stir in butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. When butter just begins to brown, transfer beans to a warm serving platter and drape with foil.

Grill lamb, turning skewers every few minutes, until medium rare (internal temperature of 130 degrees), about 6 minutes. (Alternately, skewers can be broiled until medium rare.) Transfer skewers to a plate and let stand for 5 minutes.

To serve, place long beans to the side, and lay skewers across them.

From Without Reservations by Joey Altman

Total Servings: 12

Have a great day