Daleks at Proms, Arthritis.

For those of you who are Dr. Who fans, apparently there was a section at the Proms (held in the Royal Albert Hall in London) which included the Dalek symphony together with a Dalek on stage. Fun I thought, sorry I didn’t see the actual programme.
Bowling again yesterday, I now have a new problem, some of you may remember I had an extremely bad left shoulder a year or so ago, now I am developing a painful right shoulder, so I can blame that on my lousy bowling, right? Saw a bit of a programme on TV about arthritis and natural cures, mostly pushing the books written by the doctor I think, but there was some interesting stuff including the importance of diet and exercise. The doctor said, if you can’t do much at all, go to therapy in a pool and progress from there. He suggests walking half an hour a day which is what I am beginning to do on my treadmill. He also said 2,000 calories of the right foods will get you to lose weight. I stick to about 1,200 at the moment so I should look into this more carefully. I wonder if our library have his books, Dr. Vijay Vad was the name of the doctor.
I persuaded another friend to get some asparagus from Barrie’s, well actually I got it for him. I will be interested in what he says. I couldn’t get him to try it raw, think he thought I was having him on.


Asparagus, Goat’s Cheese and Smoked Bacon Quiche
British Asparagus – Marcus Bean

"One of my favourite foods is warm quiche, the crumbliness of the pastry the soft texture of the eggy centre, combined with smoky bacon and fresh asparagus, serve simply with buttered potatoes & salad."
Serves: 8

You'll need:
Pastry; or buy readymade short crust pastry
250g plain flour
125g unsalted butter (room temp)
1 egg
2 tbsp water

For the filling:

2 rashers of thick smoked back bacon (finely chopped)
100g of goat’s cheese
300ml double cream
200ml of milk
4 medium eggs
Salt & pepper
6 sprigs of asparagus
30g butter
2 tbsp grated parmesan

What to do:

1

Start by making the pastry; sift your flour into a large bowl, then rub in the butter with your finger tips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg, then add to the flour and bring together with your hands, add the water and knead on a cold floured surface until fully mixed. Then cling film and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.

2

Next remove your pastry from the fridge and roll out on a floured work surface until it’s an even thickness of about ½ - 1cm. Get your loose bottomed tart case (20cm diameter by 3-4cm deep. Grease the tart case with butter then line it with your pastry making sure you press into the edges of the tart case all the way round (use a 2cm ball of pastry to do this to stop from piercing the pastry). Prick all over the pastry base with a fork, to release trapped air and stop the pastry from rising.

3

Now line the pastry case with parchment paper, fill it with baking beans or rice. Then place onto a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes at 190°c, then remove the beans and the paper from the case, brush the pastry with a little milk or egg wash, then pop back in the oven at 180°c for 10 more minutes until golden, remove from oven and set aside.

4

For the filling melt the butter in a pan and add the diced smoked bacon, fry until golden brown and cooked, then set aside. Now get your asparagus spears trim of the hard root, cut them length ways then add to a hot griddle pan with a little oil & cook until charred. Spoon the bacon mixture into the cooked pastry case, add the asparagus and crumble the goat’s cheese on top. Make your mix up by adding the cream & milk to a jug adding the eggs and whisking together, add a little salt and pepper to season.

5

Then pour the mix into the pastry case, don’t worry if you have some mix left over. Sprinkle the top with the grated Parmesan and bake the tart in the oven at 180°c for about 20-30 minutes until the filling is golden and the mix is set.

To serve:

Slice a good size piece of quiche and put onto your plate, serve with fresh watercress.
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Have a great day

Aches and Pains, Movies,

Not a whole heap of interesting stuff going on in our lives at the moment. Matt started physiotherapy for his back yesterday and now is walking around like a cripple. I hope and pray this will improve. He also has had some more shaking episodes but as nobody seems to know why this happens, or to care much either, he just pops a pill and hopes for the best!!! There was a woman bowling on Monday who was obviously in major pain in her hip/thigh area. I asked her about it and all she is doing is taking Tylenol arthritis. She's nuts, I told her to get something from the doc (we take Mobicox) and if that doesn't do the trick to get a hip replacement. People are reluctant to do that, I understand why if you have never had one, but really, they take a little while to recuperate but after that, you are as good as new. This woman looked so bad, it hurt me to watch her, personally I wouldn't have been bowling anyway (not that I was from the look of my score). At the crack of dawn (well it is to me) I had to go down to the lab to get my regular bloodwork done for diabetes. I got there at 6:25 a.m and there were already two guys in front of me. It was raining and miserable and I was not looking forward to standing there for half an hour or so before the doors opened. However, got chatting to No. 2 in the line and told him I wasn't good at standing, so checking with No. 4 that it was OK, he suggested I go sit in the car. I was very grateful. Talking of bowling, we watched The Next Karate Kid last night, in which there were a bunch of Japanese monks who went 10 pin bowling and through prayer and concentration got a strike every time. They were teaching those around them how to do the same thing. It was quite funny. I enjoyed the movie, it starred Pat Morita who was also the teacher in the first Karate Kid (which I see they have re-made and is being released on Friday) and Hilary Swank as the student. He didn't get away with the wax on wax off trick with Hilary Swank. I have always remembered that from the first movie. I also downloaded Avatar onto my laptop which I might well buy if I enjoy the movie as much as everyone says. Yes I know, I should have seen it in 3D but I didn't. I have since heard some health concerns voiced about 3D so maybe its just as well I didn't. If this blog looks a trifle disjointed, its because I am trying out new things with Amazon.com - there are all kinds of ways one can add links and advertising. I find Amazon very efficient, if you order something from them it appears to arrive in next to no time. Having downloaded the movie several times from iTunes to find it didn't run properly each time no matter what, I finally ordered Stardust from Amazon yesterday and it is already on its way to me. Excellent service. Went over to Barrie's Bros. again yesterday for an asparagus refill. Getting to the end of the season, but they stay open all year these days. They are already selling strawberries. I didn't get any but I do need some for Saturday, didn't figure they would last though. It seems, from checking, they sell all kinds of fresh vegetables too, I hadn't realised that. I also hadn't registered that most of their stuff is gluten free which is useful for people who are allergic to it. Everything they sell is organic and as far as possible local, although I guess there is no-one in Ontario who grows coffee beans, LOL. I introduced Matt to Tim Barrie yesterday, the place is so busy I never get to talk to him much any more which is a pity for me, great for him. Plus a lot of their products are being sold in other stores, I know of one local to me which is carrying their salsa and probably their asparagus, I'm not sure. I came across the following salad recipe in Joe Barkson's World Wide Recipes yesterday and as I liked the look of it, I saved it and may well serve it on Saturday. I much prefer seedless cucumbers although I am not quite sure why they are called that. They certainly have seeds but not like the cucumbers most often used here which have large and often inedible seeds and need to be peeled. Pear, Cucumber, and Walnut Salad http://www.wwrecipes.com/ 2 ripe pears (variety of your choice) 2 cucumbers (I am assuming just 1 English or seedless, cucumber and no peeling) 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped in large pieces Small bunch Italian flat-leaf parsley 1/4 cup basic vinaigrette dressing 1. Remove core and stem from pears and cut into bite-size pieces. Peel cucumbers and slice in half lengthwise. Scoop seeds out with a spoon and discard. Slice cucumber into 1/4-inch (1/2 cm) slices. In a bowl combine the pears, cucumbers, walnuts, leaves of Italian parsley, and the vinaigrette, gently tossing to mix the ingredients Servings: 6 Source: WW Recipes Have a great day