100 ft Wave, Snow Travel, Ultra Sound, A to Z.

Did you hear about the Hawaiian guy, Garrett McNamara, who surfed a record 100 ft. wave off Nazaré, Portugal? He was interviewed on Good Morning America. The height of the wave is not confirmed yet, but if it was actually 100 ft. he has beaten his own record. In my personal opinion, he’s nuts. We never went to Nazaré when we were in Portugal, I wish we had, not that I am a surfer but I would like to see some of the waves which occur there. Mind you with my kind of luck they would only be ripples the day I went. On TV he said he was glad he’d done it, but wouldn’t want to do it again. What, I wondered, happens to these waves when they hit land? In some of the pictures there are buildings in the foreground which look like they would be hit by the water from this huge wall. I just watched a video and it looks like there are cliffs on the coast.

Thursday morning we woke up to snow and its supposed to snow on and off for the next few days. I hope the conditions won’t be too bad on Saturday for our friends who are coming to dinner. They drove through terrible winter conditions to get to us for dinner once before and swore they would never do it again, don’t blame them. Hmm, extra Cannoli for us!!! There was travel league bowling but I had already decided not to go. I find it a bit too much, sometimes, to bowl two days running. Spent a while on the phone with some of the others wondering whether they should go or not, it's out of town, Matt said he wouldn’t have gone in the weather. It's blowing a howling gale as well which won’t help on the open highways.

This morning I have an early appointment at St. Mary’s hospital for an ultra sound on my kidneys. Then we have our regular Friday seniors league bowling.

I have written my A post for the A to Z challenge in April. I am going to try writing something for the letter of the day as well as posting a recipe for that letter. Now to think of something for B.

February 12 is Shrove Tuesday, or widely known in England as Pancake Day. We always had dessert pancakes (by the way to us pancakes were what are known as Crèpes in North America) but there is no reason why one shouldn’t enjoy savoury pancakes on that day as well. This recipe particularly appealed to me because it has asparagus in it. If you can’t get Parma ham, Prosciutto is a good substitute.

Pancakes with Parma Ham and Asparagus

bbc.co.uk/food 
By Simon Hopkinson
From The Good Cook

Asparagus and Parma ham is a great combination – only bettered with an additional dollop of homemade Hollandaise sauce.
 
Serves 4

Ingredients
 
For the pancake batter
100g/3½oz flour
2 free-range eggs
large pinch salt
250ml/9fl oz milk
50g/1¾oz melted butter
 
For the hollandaise sauce
3 free-range egg yolks
250g/9oz unsalted butter, melted
½ lemon, juice only
salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 Parma ham slices
16 asparagus spears

Preparation method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and preheat the grill to high.
2. For the pancake batter, place the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk in the flour. Add the salt and half of the milk. Finally, whisk in the butter and remaining milk to achieve a thin, pouring cream consistency. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Melt a small knob of butter in a 20cm/8in non-stick frying pan. Once it is hot and sizzling pour in enough batter to thinly cover the base of the pan. After 30 seconds you can lift the edge with a palette knife to see if it's tinged gold as it should be. Flip the pancake over, cook the other side for a few seconds, and then slide it out of the pan onto a plate.
4. Without greasing the pan again, repeat the process in stage three to make eight thin pancakes.
5. For the hollandaise sauce, whisk together the egg yolks with a tablespoon of water in a stainless steel saucepan set over a very low heat, until thick and smooth.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and continue to whisk while adding the melted butter in a thin stream, leaving behind the milky residue that has settled in the bottom of the butter pan. Season the sauce
with salt and freshly ground black pepper and sharpen with lemon juice, to taste. Keep warm.
7. Boil the asparagus in salted water until tender. Once cooked, refresh the asparagus in a bowl of iced water. Drain and pat dry.
8. To assemble the délices, place a slice of ham on top of a pancake, then arrange three asparagus spears upon it. Roll up and place into a lightly buttered baking dish. Repeat with the remaining pancakes,
Parma ham and asparagus. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until just beginning to crisp at the edges.
9. Serve the délices on a serving dish and coat each one carefully with a spoonful of hollandaise sauce, running it along their length. Very briefly flash the délices under the grill until only just gilded by the heat

Have a great day