A Buggy Life, Souvlaki Flame, The Year of the Red Monkey,

Good Morning.I'm back. I would like to believe you all missed me. We have just had a dreadful week. It turned out that the apartment across the hall from us was infested with bed bugs. The Superintendent's wife finally admitted it to me - we knew something was going on - and I realised I had seen some strange bugs in our apartment. She agreed to call in the pest control people. The upshot of all this was, yes, we had a mild infestation and they would come and deal with it in a week. No doubt they were busy, but this was one of the worst weeks of my life. They told me not to spray but there was no way I was going to go to sleep in a buggy room, let alone bed. So spray I did. For the first day or two I didn't get much sleep at all, worrying myself sick. Not only that, we had to virtually strip the apartment as if we were moving. Not funny for anyone, let alone an elderly couple. (Something I don't normally admit to). Anyway, I won't go into the whole long story, it could take hours, but they finally came in last Friday and things seem to be OK. They will be coming back in two weeks to check it out. I don't usually get stressed, but I got stressed this week. I couldn't concentrate on anything. JoJo Earle of Tahoma Beadworks talks about Mercury Retrograde. which is supposed to cause bad things to happen. Boy did it ever cause bad things for us. One thing I have to say - thank you to the fellowship to which I belong. You were life savers. Also to the friend who put up with us for the day on Friday when we were virtually evicted.

Talking of last Friday we took our friend to lunch at the Souvlaki Flame which has opened fairly

close to us. I was impressed with their food. I had gyro in a pita as did our friend, Matt had pork souvlaki in a pita. Only mistake, I had a glass of red wine. I don't think it was what it was supposed to be and it certainly wasn't a very good wine at all. However, we will be going back there for lunch. It's so new there are no pix of the restaurant yet and I certainly didn't think of taking pix of the food. However, this looks like my gyro. Seems to be pretty popular with the local citizens anyway.

We did go bowling which was something of a break for us this week. We were supposed to go to a Travel League on Thursday but didn't in the end. Couldn't spare the time. Hopefully our next week will be different. Matt has a birthday on Thursday and we will be going for his free birthday meal at the Mandarin on Friday. As you know I love the Mandarin and it is the Chinese New Year so they have dumplings. I love dumplings. Actually they usually have some dumplings, but during the New Year they have lots of different ones. It's the year of the Red Monkey apparently. The Mandarin celebrates a lot longer than is done in China, but so long as there are dumplings, I am happy. So Gung hai fat choi to everyone.

Right now I don't have a lot to write about, but just to let you know why I wasn't blogging or reading your blogs. At least tonight, Sunday, I get to watch Downton Abbey. Didn't miss it last week either. A bright spot. It was good by the way.

This sounds like a great dish and when I saw it in the New York Times email on Sunday, I simply had to share.

Chicken Mafe

By Francis Lam Yield: Serves 6 to 8


This West African favorite, adapted from Rama Dione and Papa Diagne, balances the richness of peanut butter with tomato and aromatics, cooked down to a thick gravy. The addition of Southeast Asian fish sauce gives the dish depth and is somewhat traditional, given the Vietnamese influence, via the French, in Senegal. But absolutely

traditional would be to eat this with guests, directly from a large platter, to demonstrate welcome and unity.


12 cloves garlic
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled
Kosher salt and black pepper
Crushed red-pepper flakes
2 pounds bone-in chicken, skin removed
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 tablespoons fish sauce
6 ounces tomato paste
1 cup creamy unsweetened peanut butter
½ pound green cabbage, cut into 2-inch wedges
3 medium carrots, peeled, cut in 2-inch lengths
1 medium sweet potato
12 ounces waxy potatoes, like Yukon Gold
Scotch Bonnet chile slices, to taste (optional)
White rice, cooked, for serving

Step 1 Finely mince 6 cloves garlic and the ginger with a pinch of salt, plenty of black pepper and crushed red­pepper flakes to taste. Season chicken all over with salt, and rub with the garlic mixture. Marinate for three hours or overnight, refrigerated.

Step 2 Finely chop the remaining 6 cloves of garlic. In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium­high heat. When it is hot, add the onion, chopped garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the onion is starting to become translucent. Stir in the fish sauce, then the tomato paste, and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes, until the paste and onions have combined and are a shade darker. Stir in 6 cups water, scraping up any browned bits.

Step 3 Add the chicken, bring to a boil and turn heat down to a moderate simmer. In a mixing bowl, stir a cup of the cooking liquid into the peanut butter, a splash at a time, to loosen it. Pour the peanut butter mixture into the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrots, and simmer 10 minutes. Peel and cut the sweet potato and waxy potatoes into 11/2­inch chunks, add them and simmer 30 minutes, until the vegetables and chicken are tender and the sauce is like a very thick gravy. (The oil will be separating in the sauce.) If the chicken and vegetables are tender but the sauce is still a little loose, remove them, and let the sauce cook down. Add the chile if using. Taste, adjust seasoning with salt and serve over white rice.

Have a great day