Tuesday, October 29, 2013

St. Jude, Cracked Window.

News reports about St. Jude (funny name for a storm), in the Fallen-tree-on-car-in-north-London-2646870UK, say/show there were lots of downed trees and damaged houses; 5 people died and other damage reports and yet my friends all living in the south of England almost dismissed the storm so I got the impression it didn’t amount to much until the news reports last night. I am assuming we would have heard if anything had happened to Matt’s kids and grandkids, but it was too late to phone by the time we saw the TV reports.

Some of you may remember we had new windows put in all our Bluebirdbestbedrooms a few months ago. Sunday morning I walked into the bedroom to get dressed and noticed a crack in the window. No idea how it happened unless it was because of heat inside and cold outside. Super came up to look at it and will no doubt get it fixed. I also complained about one of our toilets ‘singing’ or ‘groaning’. He fiddled around with the tank and told me it was fixed. We shall see. But it is nice just being able to call and say ‘fix it’. Friend at bowling was telling me about his chimney needing fixing, we don’t have problems like that. Once in a while I get a hankering to have a house and then I think about all the things we would be responsible for. No thanks, not any more.

Bowling was above average on Monday. Thursday is our Travel League. I have been working very hard trying to persuade one of our buddies to join us. Won’t know if she does til the day.

I don’t eat sausage a lot these days, other than when I was in NC last, can’t resist Jimmy Dean sausage. However, this recipe peaked my interest so I decided to share/save it. It suggests bread for sopping up, I was thinking noodles would go well.

Sausages, Potatoes, and Artichoke Hearts in Tomato Broth

Source: Quick From Scratch - Italian
Serves 4
Rec Image
Simmering chunks of potato, Italian sausages, and artichoke hearts in a tomatoey broth meld their flavours into a savoury stew. Sop up the plentiful broth with crusty bread.

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 pounds mild Italian sausages
3 cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
1 1/2 pounds boiling potatoes (about 5), cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 cups canned low-sodium chicken broth or homemade stock
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree
1 1/2 cups drained and rinsed halved canned artichoke hearts (one 14-ounce can)
6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a large stainless-steel pot, heat the oil over moderately high heat. Add the sausages and brown well, about 10 minutes. Remove. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.
Reduce the heat to moderate. Add the garlic, potatoes, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and boil until reduced to approximately 3 tablespoons, 2 to 3 minutes.
Stir in the broth, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, 4 tablespoons of the parsley, the salt, and the sausages. Bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley and the pepper.

Variations:
Substitute:
*Rosemary for the thyme
*Red wine for the white wine
*Hot Italian sausage for the mild

Have a great day
Jo_thumb[2]

13 comments:

  1. Nice you can call someone. When you're the homeowner, you are Mr. Fix It.

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    Replies
    1. I know, that's why I am so glad we don't have to 'fix it' any more. Particularly at the moment when we see all these people raking leaves. We have lots of trees in our area too.

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  2. I read that it was called St Jude after St Jude Thaddaeus whose feast day is 28 October (he isn't the only saint with a feast day on 28th though - there are apparently 14). St Jude was one of Jesus' 12 apostles. According to our Met Office they have no idea who had the idea to name this storm as normally hurricanes (not storms) get named ....

    anyway, very pleased to say that although it caused problems and, sadly some loss of life, it was nowhere near as bad had been predicted. I hope Matt's family got off unscathed.

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  3. Thanks for the info Sue. I had heard of St. Jude, didn't know the Thaddaeus bit.

    Glad it wasn't too bad.

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  4. Just about to comment on here when the phone rings and it's Matt asking about the storm! Ha! The storm turned out to be nothing much more here than a bit of a brisk breeze and some drizzle. I think the met office were in an awkward situation where they were damned if they did warn everyone and damned if they didn't so they went with the warnings. I went for a walk on the Monday morning and there were lots of branches down, one or two small trees and I only saw 1 large oak that had been fallen and the base of it was riddled with rot and fungus anyway so it was the venerable old gent's time to go.

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    Replies
    1. Coincidence. Anyway, glad it wasn't a bad experience for everyone. I guess you must have been sheltered being in land as well.

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  5. Hi Mike.
    You're not a million miles from us in Whitstable of course. Sunday was really windy here but I maximised and got two large loads of washing dried on the lines - very windy and dry up till about 4pm when the winds turned more violent. Monday was pretty grim and extremely windy all day. Today back to brilliant blue skies and sunshine and not a sign of the recent storms.

    What would we Brits talk about if the weather was boring and predictable ???

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    Replies
    1. Got news for you Sue, Canadians and Americans talk about the weather lots too.

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    2. We'd probably still talk about the weather!

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  6. Hubby and I discuss selling the house for a condo, hard decision. We like the solitude but not the expense or the work, and it will only get worse. The boys want the house, just hope they'll let us stay! LOL

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    Replies
    1. A condo you still have the expense. All we have to do is pay the rent and everything else is taken care of.

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