Snow? Peter O’Toole.

The weekend has been snow, snow, snow. Saturday it snowed virtually all day although it was a very fine, light fall then Sunday it continued to snow but bigger flakes came down. It certainly covered everything in sight. From the reports on TV though, we didn’t get as much as some areas. It is supposed to warm up again during the week and, as Christmas is still over a week away, who knows whether we will have a white or a green Christmas. Stephen Tremp posted pictures on Facebook showing the Pyramids, in Egypt, covered in snow which hasn’t happened for 100 years. There are also pictures of camels in the snow, they must be wondering what on earth has hit them. Later I saw pictures of Jerusalem covered in snow.

I was very sorry to hear of the death of Peter O’Toole this weekend. He was my all time favourite actor. He was absolutely brilliant and we all admired him when I was in drama school as a young woman. At the time the general opinion was that anyone who acted with the Bristol Old Vic was going to be outstanding, it had a very good reputation. Although he is most well known for his part in Lawrence of Arabia, I always loved his portrayal of King Henry in Becket. Apparently both O’Toole and Richard Burton (who played Becket) both drank heavily and their off set carousing made headlines. In those days, mind you, actors generally drank a lot. I remember some actors would keep a case of beer in their dressing rooms during performances. I loved the quoted comment by Nöel Coward, “if O’Toole had been any prettier they would have had to call it Florence of Arabia”. O’Toole also smoked Gauloises (French cigarettes) and I am surprised those didn’t finish him off years ago. When I was in France I tried them and they were, in my opinion, lethal.

This looks like a yummy way to cook shrimp
.
Foil packet shrimp

Anastasia Young

1/2 stick softened butter...
1 cup chopped parsley
2 chopped garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1 lb unpeeled large shrimp
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Place all ingredients into 2 foil packets, fold up and seal
Grill 8-10 minutes or until shrimp are fully cooked.

Have a great day