Elephants and Cancer, Bowling.

I learned on USA Today (Thursday) that elephants rarely get cancer although they should do so as they age, from everything we know about aging they are ripe for it, but it appears that they have 20 times as many copies of a key cancer-fighting gene as humans which is a possible reason for their relatively cancer free existence.. Bowhead whales have also found a way to defeat cancer and they live longer than elephants, up to 200 years (so long as they are not harpooned) - which is something I didn't know. It's quite an interesting article. Scientists are studying this phenomenon. But at the moment it is merely and interesting fact about elephants. The thing which scares me, elephants are already being slaughtered for their ivory, are people now going to slaughter them for their cancer fighting potential even though it hasn't been proved yet. Sharks are already killed and their cartilage sold as a cancer preventive when there is, in fact, no provable benefit from such cartilage. You know, I never thought about animals getting cancer, in my mind it was a totally human disease. I guess I never really considered it at all.

Bowling today, Matt got on OK although neither of us bowled particularly well. My last game was respectable I guess. However, at least Matt was able to enjoy the game which he hadn't expected to do for a while. We also got the appointment for the surgeon to fix his remnant cancer on his forehead, it will be done on the 22nd. I learnt one thing today I hadn't known. Ten pin pins are bigger than those for Five pin. Somebody asked how much the pins weighed but the owner didn't know, said he had never weighed them. Why would he?

This is a recipe Matt discovered some time ago, when we were living in North Carolina. We used to entertain a lot of people at either Christmas or Thanksgiving, and the first time he made it, as a side, one particular neighbour went nuts about it. Must have been at Thanksgiving as he made her a batch as a Christmas present that year. I believe she ate it all and didn't even share with her hubby LOL. I am not quite sure why we called it Spanish Stuffing, I am not even sure where Matt got the recipe from in the first place, but here it is. I have actually just made a half batch for our dinner on Saturday. These days I don't have access to country ham as such, so I used Prosciutto. I also bought 2 plantain so have one left over, gotta figure out what to do with it.

Spanish Stuffing


1/4 cup Chopped onion
3 Tbs Olive Oil
3 Med Garlic cloves, crushed
1/4 cup Country smoked ham, chopped
1/2 cup Green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup almonds, sliced
2 lbs ground pork
1/4 cup raisins
4 oz pimientos (jar)
3 tsp capers
2 med Plantain (ripe if possible but not essential)

1. Soften onions and garlic in oil. Add green pepper and ground pork. Stir fry until pork is cooked. Add remaining ingredients except plantain. Cook for approx 5 mins, on med/low heat. Add plantain (use ripe if possible but can be green) and cook for a further 5 mins.

2. Suggest serve separately. Reheat in microwave when ready to eat.

Servings: 10

Have a great day