Stupid Story, As We Know It,

So about a week ago we decorated for Christmas. Fine. But I have placemats which I use for Christmas time. They are dark green with gold poinsettias. I could not find them. Not only that, but I have extra place mats of the ones I use every day. Because of their tendency to curl, the Christmas ones that is, I have, for years, store them under the mattress on Matt's bed but because of a) bed bugs and b) new carpet in his bedroom, they were not there. So where on earth were they. I think I searched every nook and cranny in this apartment and in our storage area, but no luck. Finally, Saturday afternoon, I realised there was a plastic storage box in the computer room which I hadn't checked, and yes, they were there. I can't believe it took that long to figure out where they were. I did throw out a lot of stuff during the bed bug phase earlier this year, but I really didn't think I had thrown these out.

There is one heck of a storm crossing the United States at the moment (Sunday) although from what I can see, it is not expected to visit our neck of the woods. On the TV they were talking snowfalls of 30 inches in some areas, yuk.

A friend of mine, Carrie Butler, is releasing her new book today, It is called As We Know It and I had the privilege of proofing it for her a while back. It is a very unusual story and and excellent read. I have always been nervous about earthquakes and this is the background of Carrie's story. At the moment only Amazon seems to have a paperback.

About the Book: Deep beneath the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles alongside the Pacific Northwest coastline, lies the Cascadia subduction zone—a fault on the verge of unleashing a catastrophic earthquake, thirty times more powerful than the San Andreas. Unfortunately, like most tourists, Elena Cordova is oblivious.

She’s got her own pent-up stress to deal with, a humiliating breakup that’s driven her to end her tenure as a human doormat once and for all. So, when a pickpocket makes off with the last remnant of her relationship, she takes action—only to get trapped with him when disaster strikes.

Now, if either one hopes to survive, they’ll have to get past their initial impressions and work together . . . because in fifteen minutes, half the town will be underwater.

Ebooks:

• Amazon Kindle (US)
• Barnes & Noble
  
• iTunes
• Google Play
• Kobo
• Smashwords

Note: Amazon links also available in UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, JP, BR, CA, MX, AU, and IN.

About Carrie: Carrie Butler is an award-winning author and the owner of Forward Authority full-service studio—not to mention an inbound-certified marketer with a penchant for superhero socks and Firefly. Time away from her desk is spent playing with her rescue pup, yelling at the TV during hockey season, and indulging in target-based recreation. Otherwise, you’re likely to find her glued to her chair, discovering new ways to share her daydreams...


Here's an interesting recipe from England. What to do with all the leftovers after Christmas. Of course not everyone will have all these ingredients but it would be a case of mix and match I guess.

Christmas Dinner Pie

This mouth-watering Christmas dinner pie has to be one of the best ways to use up your leftover

Christmas food. It's the perfect Boxing Day treat, serving around 6 people and taking just 1 hr to prepare and cook. This delicious pie is layered with leftover turkey, ham, stuffing as well as veggies too like carrots, Brussels sprouts and red cabbage. The shortcrust pastry pie keeps all of the flavours and juices neatly tucked inside ready for the big reveal. This recipe uses a genius time saving cheat of readymade shortcrust pastry but if you prefer making your own go for it! Serve with plenty of gravy and watch this meaty pie disappear in seconds.

500 g is 17.6 oz
200 g is 7.06 oz

500 g shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten
200 g braised red cabbage
200 g sage and onion stuffing
200 g baked ham
200 g roasted carrots
200 g cranberry sauce
200 g cooked turkey
handful Brussels Sprouts, halved
200 g sausagemeat stuffing
gravy, to serve

1. Lightly grease the base and outside of an up-turned 18cm round cake tin, line the outside of the base with baking parchment and cover the sides and edges with tin foil. Heat the oven to 200C, gas 6.

2. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a rough 32cm circle. Place over the outside of the lined cake tin, fold the pastry around the sides to line the sides tightly and trim. Brush with egg wash and chill for 30 mins, then bake for 20 mins, keeping it upturned.

3. Collect and roll out the pastry trimmings into a 20cm circle and chill for 30 mins.

4. Once the pastry has cooled, carefully remove the cake tin, plug any holes with any extra pastry and begin to fill the pie. Spoon in the braised red cabbage, stuffing, ham, carrots, cranberry sauce, turkey, sprouts, sausage stuffing and top with the pastry lid.

5. Brush with egg wash, cut a cross in the centre of the lid and bake for a further 20 mins. Slice and serve warm with gravy.

Servings: 6

Tips
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat thoroughly before serving again.

Source: GoodtoKnow

Have a great day
 

Election, As We Know It, Earthquakes, Exercise Class

I had to leave the room on Wednesday evening because the news programme Matt was watching was all about the upcoming debate. Save me please. I cannot believe this is an election more like a fight between school children.

I am currently proofing As We Know It, the book by Carrie Butler. I haven't got too far yet, but it is quite a story. Based on a disaster which could happen, its background is an earthquake. I think most of us are pretty scared by quakes although I have a cousin in the San Francisco who has been thrown out of bed by earthquakes and seems relatively unconcerned. Maybe if you live in that area, or any other prone to such possible disasters, you live in a state of denial. I have gone through two mild tremors since I have lived in Canada and I wasn't happy about that. Having lived the first 37 years of my life in England I assumed it was a safe area. I was horrified to discover that in fact there have been earthquakes in England, one of which destroyed the Lincoln Cathedral. Way before my time, but....  I assume nowhere is really safe.

Wednesday was exercise class which for some reason I didn't want to go to, however, I am glad I did. Feels much better after. Not many of us there though, unusual. On Good Morning America they showed exercise classes anyone could do, not they couldn't, some of them were on the ground. A lot of us oldsters have difficulty getting on the ground and even more difficulty getting up.

I may have mentioned that I love carrot cake! Couldn't resist this  recipe.

BA’s Best Carrot Cake

This is the only carrot cake recipe you’ll ever need. This is part of BA's Best, a collection of our essential recipes.

Cake
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
½ cup golden raisins (optional)
3 Tbs dark rum (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 lb carrots, peeled, coarsely grated
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp kosher salt
¾ tsp baking soda
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup vegetable oil

Frosting And Assembly
12 oz cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
Generous pinch of kosher salt
4 cups powdered sugar
Candied Carrot Coins (optional)

1. Cake

2. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly coat two 9"-diameter cake pans with nonstick spray. Line bottoms with parchment paper rounds; lightly coat rounds with nonstick spray. If using raisins and rum, heat together in a small saucepan over low just until warm, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit until liquid is absorbed and raisins are plump, 15–20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 8–10 minutes; let cool. Combine carrots and buttermilk in a medium bowl.

4. Whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until pale and thick, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and gradually stream in oil. Add dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with carrot mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with dry ingredients; mix until smooth. Fold in raisins, if using, and walnuts with a rubber spatula. Scrape batter into prepared pans.

5. Bake cakes, rotating pans halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 35–45 minutes. Transfer pans to a wire rack and let cakes cool 10 minutes. Run a knife around sides of cakes and invert onto wire rack; remove parchment. Let cool completely.

6. Frosting And Assembly

7. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla extract and salt. Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in powdered sugar. Increase speed to high and beat frosting until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

8. Place 1 cake, domed side down, on a platter. Spread ¾ cup frosting evenly over top. Place remaining cake, domed side down, on top. Spread top and sides with 1¼ cups frosting and chill 30 minutes to let frosting set. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides, swirling decoratively. Top with Candied Carrot Coins, if desired.

Servings: 12

Source: Bon Appétit

Have a great day
 

Volcanoes, Reading, As We Know It.

I can't help wondering how long we are going to survive. I keep seeing reports on TV shows about all the major volcanoes, or super volcanoes, which could erupt at any time and nobody knows when. If they do erupt, they will cause untold damage to the environment and the ash clouds will cause winter like conditions over large portions of the world. I learned of a new one near Santorini in the Med. Santorini itself is a volcano, but this one which is underwater is way more powerful and way more likely to blow apparently. To quote "Kolumbo is an active submarine volcano in the Aegean Sea, about 8 km northeast of Cape Kolumbo, Santorini island. The largest of a line of about twenty submarine volcanic cones

extending to the northeast from Santorini, it is about 3 km in diameter with a crater 1.5 km across."  I heard about this one in a TV programme on Sunday night. Then, of course, there is one in Yellowstone Park which is classified as a super volcano and would create untold devastation in the Americas. I just  found this map of the predicted Kill Zone for Yellowstone. I think I will move further east although my part of Canada is not in that area, It seems the effects will spread east anyway. And yet they figure life originated in the underwater hot water zones of volcanoes.

I have been reading a lot of Juliet Marillier lately. Particularly the Shadowfell trilogy which is, I think, classified as young adult. I don't fall into that category but I am really enjoying them. Then a friend, Carrie Butler, has just released a trailer of a book which will be coming in December. It is titled As We Know It. Looks like quite a story and the trailer is excellent, Carrie made it herself.

Deep beneath the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles alongside the Pacific Northwest coastline, lies the Cascadia subduction zone—a fault on the verge of unleashing a catastrophic earthquake, thirty times more powerful than the San Andreas. Unfortunately, like most tourists, Elena Cordova is oblivious.

She’s got her own pent-up stress to deal with, a humiliating breakup that’s driven her to end her tenure as a human doormat once and for all. So, when a pickpocket makes off with the last remnant of her relationship, she takes action—only to get trapped with him when disaster strikes.

Now, if either one hopes to survive, they’ll have to get past their initial impressions and work together . . . because in fifteen minutes, half the town will be underwater.

To read more go to Melissa  Maygrove's blog. If the book is as good as the trailer, it should be an awesome story.

Wild Mushroom Quesadillas

You don't have to use wild mushrooms, of course, but if you can get chanterelles — oh man. It takes a bit of time at the stove, but when the quesadilla is done, you have a great handheld food that is,

among other things, very kid friendly.

4 Tbs vegetable oil
1 lb chanterelles, black trumpet or other wild mushrooms (or substitute oyster, crimini or clamshell mushrooms; do not use shiitake), roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup minced yellow onion
4 oz grated Oaxaca or domestic Muenster cheese
4 oz grated panela or aged mozzarella cheese
4 oz grated cotija or Parmesan cheese
? cup finely chopped cilantro leaves
½ tsp dried oregano
pinch of ground coriander
8 8-inch flour or corn tortillas, preferably homemade

1. Place a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. When oil shimmers, add mushrooms and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté until mushrooms release their liquid, liquid evaporates and mushrooms begin to brown, about 10 minutes.

2. Add onions. Sauté, adjusting heat as necessary, until onions are soft and entire mixture is golden brown but not burned, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

3. Using a food processor or a knife, finely chop mushroom-onion mixture, then transfer to a large bowl. Add grated cheeses, cilantro, oregano and coriander. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

4. Place a large nonstick or well-seasoned skillet over medium heat, and add remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. While pan heats, place a large spoonful of mushroom-cheese mixture into center of a tortilla, and fold tortilla in half to make a half-moon. Place filled tortilla in preheated skillet and cook, turning once, until tortilla is nicely browned on both sides and cheese is melted. Repeat to make 8 filled tortillas. Serve immediately.

Servings: 8

Source: New York Times

Have a great day.