In Her Name, Death by Snake.

I wrote last week about the books by Michael R. Hicks, at that time I was reading the first trilogy, In Her Name The Last War, now I am reading, I should say devouring, the second book of the In Her Name: Redemption trilogy. I am absolutely fascinated by the stories and the aliens portrayed. It is a long time since a series of books has kept me so interested from start to the current point. This series started with the history of a young human, Reza, who after all kinds of vicissitudes is captured by the Kreelans and taken back to their home world and then his problems there adapting to his host planet and to a people who would kill him as soon as look at him. As the author points out himself, the first trilogy is more militaristic than the second trilogy, but both are, to me, absorbing. Michael R. Hicks allows you to obtain the first ebook in each trilogy for nothing so that you can decide if you like the story. Being on book five, you can see that I like them. I can’t recommend them highly enough.

Hideous tale of two young boys, 5 and 7, murdered in their sleep by a snake. It turns out they were staying in an apartment above a reptile store, one of the pythons escaped and climbed up to the floor above. The store owner, Jean-Claude Savoie, was hosting the two boys for a sleepover with his own son. Reports say it was an African Rock Python which is about 4.5 metres long and weighed about 45 kg. That’s a large lump of reptile. Being a python it crushes its victims. Another reptile expert from a small, private zoo has said that it is unlikely the snake regarded the boys as food and it is unusual for them to attack humans. They figure the snake escaped and then got into the ventilation system which carried it to the apartment upstairs. This happened in New Brunswick by the way. Personally I consider the sale and owning of such reptiles to be intrinsically wrong as is the import, transport, capture and sale of any exotic animal.

This recipe from Food and Wine interested me because it’s for crab cakes without the crab. Not sure about that, but it does sound tasty just the same and for my Vegan friends, right up your street. I am not certain if we can get Old Bay seasoning round here, but I am sure there is something similar.

Crabless Cakes with Hearts of Palm and Corn

Contributed by Richard Landau

SERVINGS: 6

When chopped, hearts of palm break down into shreds that look like fresh crab meat. Richard Landau seasons the hearts of palm cakes with Old Bay, vegan mayonnaise and Dijon mustard for a sensational main course.

1. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for frying
2. 2 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 4 ears of corn)
3. 1/4 cup minced onion
4. 1/4 cup minced green bell pepper
5. One 15-ounce can whole hearts of palm—drained, thinly sliced lengthwise and cut crosswise into 3/4-inch lengths
6. 2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
7. 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
8. 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
9. 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
10. 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain dry bread crumbs, plus more for coating
11. Salt
12. Freshly ground pepper

1. In a nonstick skillet, heat the 1 tablespoon of oil. Add the corn, onion and bell pepper and cook over high heat until crisp-tender, 4 minutes. Scrape 1 cup of the mixture into a food processor and pulse to a coarse puree.
2. In a bowl, squeeze the hearts of palm to break them into shards. Add the puree and the remaining sautéed vegetables to the bowl, along with the Old Bay, parsley, mayonnaise, mustard and the 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs. Season lightly with salt and pepper and stir until evenly moistened.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and fill a pie plate with bread crumbs. Scoop scant 1/4-cup mounds of the hearts of palm mixture into the bread crumbs and roll to coat. Form the mounds into eighteen 2-inch cakes and transfer to the baking sheet.
4. Wipe out the nonstick skillet, then add a scant 1/8 inch of oil. Fry half of the cakes over moderate heat, turning once, until crispy, 2 minutes per side. Wipe out the skillet and add clean oil before frying the remaining cakes. Serve the cakes hot.

Make Ahead The formed, uncooked cakes can be covered and refrigerated overnight. Serve With Green salad.

Have a great day