Furniture, Wine, Cardiology, Dogs

As I mentioned, yesterday, we bought some furniture. This meant we had to dispose of our old furniture. It turned out that for some unknown reason, the city garbage collectors won’t pick up such things from an apartment block although they will from a house? So with the assistance of our superintendent we had to make all kinds of arrangements. In the end the super took our old stuff and put it in his truck, then he brought the sofa and lounger down from the 9th floor for us. We hadn’t expected him to do the lot, but he did so that was great.  The sofa is a bit bigger than I realised, Matt reckons you can seat four, I figure they would have to be quite friendly. It came with its own cushions, but I am not sure I don’t prefer a couple I already had, trying it out.You will gather, from the laptop next to it, that the chair is mine. I tried taking pictures of the sofa, but it looks awful in the pix.

Matt had his echocardiogram done and then we had to rush back to deal with all this furniture moving. Later he went and picked up our bottles of Clos du Val Zinfandel which had been put aside for us. It has gone up a bit from last time we bought it. Basically what hasn’t lately?  Matt has a stress test scheduled for the end of the month, another test next month and then the following month he gets to see the cardiologist. This is one of the failings of our free health system, everything takes so long.

Sad little story out of Alberta about a husky who mauled a new born baby to death. No details of what happened yet. Another story of two Akitas in Calgary who attacked a couple. From what I can pick up, the Akitas had puppies, a couple went in to the garage to feed them accompanied by their own dog. It appears the man was attending to the dogs and the woman entered with her dog whereupon  the female attacked, the male followed. Bringing another dog where there are new puppies is asking for trouble. It appears the male Akita, Diesel, has been put down already and the female is to be put down when her puppies are weaned. Sorry, I don’t blame the dogs and as so often, blame the humans. I love Akitas, they are Japanese and a gorgeous looking animal, I wanted one some years ago, but basically couldn’t afford one. Both these stories are so sad.

Here’s an interesting looking soup and one which I think I will add to my personal collection. It sounds fairly easy and very tasty.

Cheddar-Ale Soup

Source: © EatingWell Magazine
6 servings

Take the chill off a cold winter's night with this creamy cheese and beer-lover's soup. Make it a meal: Serve with hearty whole-grain farm bread and a salad dressed with a tangy vinaigrette.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 12-ounce bottle beer, preferably ale

2 18-ounce bags precooked diced peeled potatoes (see Tip)

1 14-ounce can vegetable broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 cup water

2 1/2 cups nonfat or low-fat milk

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided

1 small red bell pepper, thinly sliced or finely chopped

Tip: Look for precooked diced potatoes in the refrigerated section of most supermarket produce departments—near other fresh, prepared vegetables.
Substitution tip: Peel 2 1/4 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and boil until tender (about 15 minutes).

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add beer; bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Add potatoes, broth and water; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and mash the potatoes with a potato masher to the desired consistency.

Whisk milk and flour and add to the soup. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook, whisking occasionally, until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in 1 1/4 cups cheese and stir until melted. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese and bell pepper.

Have a great day