Coffee, Owls, Watch, Bowling

Well, you probably didn't realise what a major crisis it was in this household when my coffee maker went kaput. However, I just made myself coffee in the Instant Pot. Boy do I love that machine. I used 8 cups of water, 1/2 cup ground coffee and cooked it for 5 minutes. The recipe I found was for a bigger pot and didn't say how I should release the pressure, so I let it sit for a while and then opened the vent to let of the steam. It might be a little bit strong and maybe I should decrease the coffee slightly, but not much I don't think. I bought a new coffee maker online planning to pick it up today but I was out of luck, not heard anything, so glad I could brew coffee in the Pot.

I just read David Gascoigne's Travels with Birds which included some wonderful pictures of the snowy countryside round here and particularly incredible pictures of a very large Snowy Owl male, how I would love to have seen him. What a magnificent bird.

I went bowling this afternoon, on my own again, and I was thrilled to bits to have three very good games, each one better than the last. 168, 175, 189. Gotta boast, I was so pleased with myself. My average went up 2 points. As a team we gained all 7 points but we are unlikely to move off the bottom much, if at all, because our team was formed so late in the year.

Matt wants to go and try to bowl tomorrow. He said next Monday but he doesn't understand he can't bowl on the team any more so I suggested tomorrow aft. We'll see. Might be better after we see the doc for the results of his tests which I suspect are going to be negative.

Spent a large part of this evening playing with my new watch. It is like a FitBit but a damned sight cheaper. Will take me a while to get it all set up but at least it tells me the time and date now which it didn't earlier LOL

There are so many delicious pasta recipes out there that it is no wonder we have a waist expansion issue. Here is yet another one.

Pasta with Sausage, Basil and Mustard

In 2018, Food & Wine named this recipe one of our 40 best: In matching spicy sausage with a creamy

mustard sauce and fragrant basil, British cookbook author Nigel Slater created a quick pasta supper with warm, mildly spicy flavors, perfect for a cool fall or winter evening.

1 lb penne, rigatoni or medium shells
1 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
8 hot Italian sausages, meat removed from casings and crumbled (about 1 1/2 pounds)
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 Tbs grainy mustard
pinch of crushed red pepper
1 cup thinly sliced basil

1. Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente; drain. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet. Add the sausage meat and brown over moderately high heat, about 5 minutes. Add the wine and simmer, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom, until reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the cream, mustard and crushed red pepper and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat, add the pasta and basil and toss to coat. Serve at once

Servings: 4

Author: Nigel Slater
Source: , Food and Wine

Have a great day