Friday, November 22, 2013

Bowling, Cleaners. Tailor and Chestnuts.

Not a good day for bowling for me, a pretty good day for Matt and our one friend who came today. The other friend couldn’t make it, having furnace trouble. I have been telling him they should move into an apartment, so I got another dig in about this assuring him we were nice and warm and hadn’t spent a couple of days without heat. ThumbholeApprovedViewHe wants to move into an apartment, but I think his wife is not so keen on the idea. Whilst we were bowling one of the owners showed us a thumb hole ball. I had neither seen nor heard of such a thing. The one he showed us was for a customer, but he had two in their downstairs alley and brought them up for us to try. All three of us did, but after playing with them for several frames, we all decided we much preferred our own balls. What we couldn’t understand was why the customer had ordered two balls, one with a thumb hole and one without. We all thought the thumb hole edging threw the ball off.

Took three pairs of pants to the tailor after bowling. Two to be takenChestnuts in and one, the pantsuit pants, to be shortened. Gonna cost me about $50 in total, but cheaper than buying new pants, particularly as I am planning to lose more weight. Although I am not doing too well this week. Thursday afternoon I bought a few chestnuts as I was hungry for them. Cooked a few in the microwave (having found a method on line) and ate them. One of the things I loved in Portugal was that you could buy roasted chestnuts in the streets. They used to do that in England but I hadn’t seen it in years.

Thursday morning we were visited by two women who are offeringMrs. Mop to clean for us. They were a little more expensive, but from everything they said, I think they will do a really good job. I told them I would call them and when they had gone, Matt and I discussed it. We decided a definite yes so eventually we called them back and hired them. They actually asked for more money, but when I said it was too rich for our blood, they dropped to something we felt capable of sustaining. So that is a problem off our shoulders.

I thought I had posted this recipe before, but on checking it appeared I hadn’t. I have made this a couple of times because it’s so easy. The second time I made it in the slow cooker although because I wasn’t expecting to do that I ended up with too much liquid, if you want to use a slow cooker, don’t use the water and certainly cut down the tomato juice from the canned tomatoes. Actually, I didn’t use the water when I made it in a skillet. The ingredients also call for tomato sauce, I don’t keep that in cans and usually make my own but didn’t have any, so I subbed with tomato ketchup. Tastes fine.


Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls

Actually serves 6 to 8

Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
1 1/2 to 2 lbs lean ground beef or turkey
1 Tbs oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small cabbage, chopped
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp sea salt

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the ground beef and onion and cook, stirring, until ground beef is no longer pink and onion is tender. Add the garlic and continue cooking for 1 minute. Add the chopped cabbage, tomatoes, tomato sauce, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cabbage is tender.

Have a great day
Jo_thumb[2]

13 comments:

  1. You can still get roasted chestnuts when they are in season from trollies in central London. I've never bought them but they do always smell really good! My Dad used to cook chestnuts on a shovel in the open fire when we had one. After that he would cook them on a bit of scrap metal he had which he heated over a camping stove. Beth and I try to go out once a year in autumn to collect chestnuts and I grill them, it's a nice little tradition we have made for ourselves. Free food, what's not to like?

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    1. Glad they still do them. You should buy them Mike, they taste great. Never did in Portugal as we ate so much there all the time, we were always too full. Matt says he used to roast on a shovel too. Years ago, we used to use a warming pan on an open fire, worked great. Like the idea of you and Beth doing the father daughter thing with chestnuts.

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  2. A bowling ball without the thumb hole? That would be difficult to toss.

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    1. No Alex, our 5 pin balls do not normally have a thumb hole, or any other kind of hole. We hold them in our finger tips. They are much smaller than a 10 pin ball and weigh around 3 lbs.

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    2. Posted another blog with just a picture of one of my bowling balls.

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  3. I saw roasted chestnut stands in just about every large city center when I was in Germany last month. When I was a kid, my aunt made them in her fireplace every Christmas. Now I just put them in my stuffings or make chestnut soup.

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    1. London always had them and according to my sinlaw, they still do. I love chestnut stuffing for turkey. Only stuffing I really like.

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  4. Thanks for posting the cabbage recipe. Like cabbage and will make it as it does sound good. But then your recipes are. So glad you found cleaning ladies. I've had a bit of problem but think I have found one now. I have arthritis so really can't do much anymore. Good ones are a treasure.

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    1. You're welcome Lulu. You are so right, good ones are a treasure and the one we just had was just that, a treasure. We were sorry to lose her.

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  5. Trying to imagine bowling without the thumb hole. I think I would drop the ball. Your posts always make me hungry. Will try your curry recipe in the CP.

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    1. I have posted another blog which is just a picture of one of my bowling balls.

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  6. Hi Jo .. I've no idea about holes and no-holed balls .. live and learn I guess. Glad the cleaners seem hale and hearty and I sure hope they will do a good job for you .. I love cabbage and used to make stuffed cabbage leaves years ago ...

    Cheers Hilary

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    1. You only have 10 pin in the UK as far as I know. I hope they will be OK, seemed like they would.

      Used to make stuffed cabbage leaves, in fact I think I like this better.

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