Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Queen Mask, Salt, Waka Taua, Duke of Edinburgh, Breakthrough.

MaskSomething I don’t understand, watching all these celebrations, is the masks people wear. What for? But why put them on at all. Hallowe’en maybe, but for a pageant, I honestly don’t get the point. One young lady was being interviewed on TV on Sunday and the reporter lifted her mask, she immediately brought it back down, maybe she didn’t want anyone to know she was there? Most people would be delighted to have their faces on TV. I originally had a picture of one not being worn, it looked too ghoulish for words. I prefer this one with someone behind it. They do look pretty good – cost about £3.30 which is roughly $6.00 to us.

What a sad end to a wonderful day, I have just heard from a friend that many of the NZ Wakaboats in the pageant had to wait 4 hours to get off the river at the end and many people were carted off to hospital with hypothermia. I felt sorry for the New Zealanders when I saw them paddling past, they were not very well dressed for the weather, OK whilst they were paddling, but afterwards?? This is their ceremonial war canoe (waka taua) and they were saluting the queen as they went past the Spirit of Chartwell. But can you imagine sitting around for four hours in the rain dressed like this. I think the organisers slipped up somewhere.
Poor Prince Philip ended up in hospital on Monday with a bladder infection. PhillipBecause of his age, they are keeping him in for observation, so I guess he won’t be taking part in any more of the Jubilee celebrations. I thought they both held up very well at the pageant on Sunday standing up for so long. I don’t know why they didn’t sit down they had a couple of comfortable looking chairs on which to sit and Her Majesty might well have found it a lot warmer with part of her not exposed to the weather.  He looks pretty good for his age, 91, doesn’t he?

A blogging friend, Stephen Tremp from Welcome to Author Stephen Tremp’s Breakthrough Dust CoverWebsite is promoting the latest novel of his series called Breakthrough. It will be available for borrowing and/or free download later this month. For details check his blog site. I have one of Stephen’s books on my TBR list and will certainly take the opportunity of getting hold of this book as well. As yet, in Canada, we do not have the ability to borrow these books, the technology will, no doubt, be available to us soon, but not just yet awhile. If you are interested in science, speculation and fantasy, you should read Stephen’s blog anyway, I find it very interesting and thought provoking. Many authors are going the self publishing route these days as it seems they find it so much more rewarding than the hassle of going through publishers. The problem there is that a publisher will do a lot of the publicising on your behalf, but doing it oneself means you have to do all the work.

saltHere’s an interesting article called “Salt We Have Misjudged You” – it makes me feel vindicated because I have never reduced my intake of salt, which is not large anyway, because I have taste issues. Of course I get really mad with people who sit down to eat a meal I have prepared and instantly cover it with salt without tasting it first, I always wish I had done that to their food before giving it to them. It is so bloody rude. There is no doubt about the fact that some people do eat way too much salt, but according to this article, a moderate amount of salt is NOT harmful.

Last night we decided to do an easy recipe from Hellman’s. We did it once before and obviously enjoyed it. It comes out very moist and tasty.

Parmesan Crusted ChickenParmesan crusted chicken
Serves 4


1/2 cup Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/4 lbs.)
4 tsp Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Combine Hellmann's® or Best Foods® Real Mayonnaise with cheese in medium bowl. Arrange chicken on baking sheet. Evenly top with mayonnaise mixture, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Have a great day
Jo

4 comments:

  1. I bet those guys from New Zealand were freezing by the time they got on land.

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    1. I thought so too. In fact I wondered if any of them were taken to hospital with hypothermia. It wouldn't surprise me.

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  2. Who will put the blame if these guys got sick? They're doing it
    because of the tradition.

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    1. True Becca, but you can't help sympathising.

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