Train Crash, Ground Cherries, Tardigrade.

That train crash in Spain is pretty horrific. Have you seen the video of it actually crashing? You can see the train is speeding as it comes round the bend. I wonder if it was purpose or whether something happened. The thought of heart attacks comes to mind although these days they have dead man fail safes on trains I believe. At the moment the death toll is 78 with over 140 injured, some critically so they are expecting the death toll to increase. If you want to see the video of the crash, go HERE.

I just learned something new. Wednesday, at bowling, someone was talking about ground cherries and ground cherry pie. I had never heard of them and they didn’t really know what they were. So of course I googled. It appears they are a husk tomato similar to tomatillos which I have never eaten anyway and a lot of people like to eat them straight off the bush but you can make a cream pie of the fruit. They are, in fact, slightly smaller than tomatillos and as far as I can tell, not the same colour. I just found a lovely sounding recipe for Ground Cherry Chutney at EatBoutique. Now I wonder if they sell Ground Cherries anywhere round here.

Look at this, it’s a genuine photo from National Geographic which at first I thought couldn’t be real.
Germany—A color-enhanced electron microscope photo reveals a half-millimeter-long tardigrade in moss. Called water bears, these eight-legged, alien-looking invertebrates can survive extreme pressure, radiation, and temperatures—and years without food. What a peculiar critter. Wikipedia says: Tardigrades are small, water-dwelling, segmented micro-animals with eight legs. Tardigrades are notable for being one of the most complex of all known polyextremophiles. Apparently they have recently found that these can survive in space. The are really weird but fascinating.

Just cruising the web and I came across the following recipe which is one we will try, probably tonight. For some reason we frequently eat fish on Fridays although we have never been Roman Catholics. We had some of our frozen mahi mahi the other day and found it pretty tasteless, so this would be even though the recipe calls for cod.

Roasted Cod with Warm Tomato-Olive-Caper Tapenade

From EatingWell:  October/November 2005, The EatingWell Healthy in a Hurry Cookbook (2006)

The Mediterranean flavours of a warm tomato tapenade will brighten all kinds of white fish as well as chicken. Make It a Meal: Orzo and sautéed spinach will round out this meal.

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 pound cod fillet (see Tip)
• 3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped cured olives
• 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Rub cod with 2 teaspoons oil. Sprinkle with pepper. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and roast until the fish flakes easily with a fork, 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet.
3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 teaspoon oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, about 20 seconds. Add tomatoes and cook, stirring, until softened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add olives and capers; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds more. Stir in oregano and vinegar; remove from heat. Spoon the tapenade over the cod to serve.

Nutrition

Per serving : 151 Calories; 8 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 6 g Mono; 45 mg Cholesterol; 4 g Carbohydrates; 15 g Protein; 1 g Fiber; 602 mg Sodium; 335 mg Potassium
0 Carbohydrate Serving
Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 1.5 fat (mono)

Tips & Notes

• Tip: Overfishing and trawling have drastically reduced the number of cod in the U.S. and Canadian Atlantic Ocean and destroyed its sea floor. For sustainably fished cod, choose U.S. Pacific cod or Atlantic cod from Iceland and the northeast Arctic. For more information, visit Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch at seafoodwatch.org.

Have a great day