Game of Thrones, Blogfest, Conserving the Seas.

Well, it turns out our son-in-law was right and I had somehow got hold of the wrong DVD for the series. Having discussed it with the librarian, I ended up getting the right DVD and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am now waiting for the next one. I’m not sure where in the series the one I did watch came, but it was obviously well on from the beginning. I am told some of the scenes I was looking for were certainly included. Once again, I am lauding the series. I absolutely love the music and must try and get a copy of it.

The Underrated Treasures Blogfest was fun yesterday. I was surprised at the people who did know my choice of movie, The Song of Bernadette. It is such an old film, I thought nobody would ever have heard of it. Other people had some very interesting books and films as well as bands and TV shows to recommend, some of which are no longer being aired. Thanks Alex J. Cavenaugh for hosting this blogfest.

As many of you know, I am very keen on conservation and was very disturbed to read the blog by Hilary Melton-Butcher yesterday - Sustainable Fishing and Marine Conservation Reserves ... The figures she quoted were horrifying. Although I
am aware of the damage we are doing to the waters of the world, I tend to concentrate a lot on land and animals when I talk of conservation, but, of course if we don’t protect the seas of the world we will end up in all kinds of trouble. Sustainable fishing must be implemented everywhere not just in a few countries. We are denuding the sea beds making it impossible for fish that used to live somewhere to continue to do so. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is very active on this side of the world in helping with marine conservation. They regularly publish a list of fish which are OK to be eaten because they are sustainable. A useful resource. They have done a lot to help sea otters and recently are nursing a pup which was found abandoned on the beach.

The following recipe I found through following a recipe on Yummly. It turns out to be from Smitten Kitchen and I thought it looked really good. It is a Russian recipe but as it’s made with apple I thought it would be a good recipe for Rosh Hashanah perhaps.


Apple Sharlotka

Adapted from Alex’s mother, who adapted it from her mother, and
so on…

Butter or nonstick spray, for greasing pan
6 large, tart apples, such as Granny Smiths
3 large eggs
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon, to finish
Powdered sugar, also to finish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and the sides of the pan. Peel, halve and core your apples, then chop them into medium-sized chunks. (I cut each half into four “strips” then sliced them fairly thinly — about 1/4-inch — in the other direction.) Pile the cut apples directly in the prepared pan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs with sugar until thick and ribbons form on the surface of the beaten eggs. Beat in vanilla, then stir in flour with a spoon until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
Pour over apples in pan, using a spoon or spatula to spread the batter so that it covers all exposed apples. (Updated to clarify: Spread the batter and press it down into the apple pile. The top of the batter should end up level with the top of the apples.) Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out free of batter. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on rack, then flip out onto another rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip it back onto a serving platter. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon.
Serve warm or cooled, dusted with powdered sugar. Alex’s family eats it plain, but imagine it would be delicious with a dollop of barely sweetened whipped or sour cream.

Have a great day