Monday, January 16, 2012

Snow, Bed Wear, Food and Wine.

Dunno what happened to all this snow they have been promising. We sure haven’t had much yet except a few flakes here and there.

I was reading a book with lots of sex and passion in it the other day, not really my scene, but… anyway, the heroine was in bed with sweats, a T shirt and underwear beneath her sweat pants. Why on earth would you wear all that clothing to go to bed? You might as well be dressed to go outside somewhere. To me it was weird. I personally would find sweats way to warm for wearing in bed.

Had chili for supper Friday, Steak Diane for Saturday and the rest of Cline Zinfandelthe chili for Sunday. Not bad eating if I do say so myself. I went a bit gung ho on the cream for the Steak Diane but it was still good. I haven’t been eating all that well recently, maybe all the Tylenol 3 I have been shoving down my throat lately, I don’t know. I also seemClos du Val Zin to have gone off wine a bit too, just doesn’t taste very good to me at the moment. Big tragedy, I usually enjoy my wine, especially a good Zinfandel. Matt opened a Cline Zinfandel on Saturday and I really wasn’t that enthusiastic about it. Mind you, Cline is not my favourite Zin anyway. I am hoping to get some Clos du Val Zinfandel next month and maybe some Rosenblum later in the year. Lets hope I’m back to enjoying it by then. We only discovered the Clos du Val vintage last year and both thoroughly enjoyed it. Then had trouble finding any more. We also like the Dancing Bull Zinfandel but can only get that at Toro Neroone liquor store round here and we only pass it on bowling days. We do like other wines of course, but my favourites are Zinfandels. Another wine we are very fond of is Magnotta Toro Nero which we discovered some years back during a taste testing at their local store. Christmas 2010 we bought ourselves a case as a Christmas present (cheaper by the dozen), we did think of doing the same last Christmas but didn’t in the end. We still have one bottle left so will have to stock up with a couple of bottles at least.

This Christmas, I missed out on mincemeat pies or tarts – we actually didn’t come across any good ones and I haven’t seen mincemeat for sale for a while although I expect some stores have it. Anyway, I decided I would make some myself, basically the real stuff I think because I copied the recipe from my 75 yr. old copy of Mrs. Beeton’s cookery book. The book was my mother’s of course and was really how she learned to cook and boy could she cook. By the way, a gill is about quarter of a pint. I haven’t made it yet but plan to do so within the next week or two when I can assemble all the ingredients. One thing I can buy locally is suet, when I lived in NC I couldn’t find it anywhere.

Mincemeat

mincemeat

1 lb suet
1 lb currants
1 lb raisins
1 lb chopped apples
1 lb sugar
1/2 lb sultanas
1/4 lb candied peel
2 lemons
1/2 gill brandy
1/4 tsp each of nutmeg, mace and cinnamon

Pare the lemons thinly, simmer the rinds in a little water until perfectly tender, then pound them or rub them through a fine sieve. Mix all the ingredients well together, press into a jar, cover closely and keep in a cool, dry place, for at least 1 month before using.

Yield: 4-5 lb mincemeat

Have a great day

Jo

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