Shot Black Bear, Death by Lion, Bowling.

Bit of a hoo ha going on at the moment because police in Newmarket, quite a bit north of here, shot a black bear which people say wasn't necessary as the MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) was on their way. The bear had been hanging around the area all weekend but couldn't be tranquilised untill it was stationary. It was up in a tree and then started to descend so the police shot it. Many people think more should have been done to relocate the animal. I read that 70% of similar occurrences end with the bear being shot. I wonder why they don't give the police tranquilisers in an area like that where bears are likely to be found in towns. If you are interested, there is video here. This was the bear 4 days ago. There are all kinds of protests taking place in Ontario right now.

A bowling friend told me about the bear first, I told her about the woman who was killed in a Safari

park in Africa because she was filming lions with the windows open, a lioness jumped through the window.. How incredibly stupid people are. Reminds me of the guy who got out of his car and approached a pride of lions to take pictures. Guess what, another lion jumped him from behind and his family had the delightful experience of watching him being mauled to death. I cannot believe these people are so stupid. It's not the animal's fault. The tour guide, who was driving, tried to save the woman and was badly mauled. She was an American tourist. This links to the Daily Mail report.

Of course we were bowling on Wednesday and Thursday -not terribly well, our averages went down by 2 points. Have to see if we can get them back up again.

Looking at this recipe, I wonder how many of us keep blocks of parmesan in our kitchens. We tried doing so but found we didn't use it often enough and it ended up being dry and mouldy. If you don't use a lot of parmesan, I recommend you get a good quality ground version and keep it in your freezer. Doesn't look as pretty as shaved parmesan, but..... I could never get really good shavings anyway LOL. Whilst writing this, it reminds me of a pet peeve. The word parmesan has an s in the middle not a g. If you must pronounce this the Italian way you should spell it Parmigiano. Why use the Italian word when the English word is perfectly good.


Asparagus with butter, balsamic and Capers

* 1 bunch asparagus about 250g, woody stems removed
* butter
* 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
* 1 tbsp capers
* 4 slices sourdough bread , toasted
* a few shavings parmesan

1. Steam the asparagus until just tender, about 3-4 minutes. toss with a knob of butter, the balsamic and capers and season well.

2. Pile onto sourdough toast and scatter with a few parmesan shavings.

Source: Olive Magazine

Have a great day
 

Asparagus, Cinco de Mayo, Bowling, Brain Bucket.

Toot the flute, bang the drums, Barrie's Asparagus farm is open - woo hooo, guess where I am going later on. I have been waiting patiently for 12 months, well maybe not that patiently. My first helping will be nicely cooked and dripping with butter. I will worry about calories etc. later. Apologies Tim, I stole your picture. It seems, if you read Tim's Blog, they are selling some other items as well. I will certainly pick up some rhubarb tomorrow. You can also find Tim's mom's recipe for asparagus soup on his blog. You can order this soup from Tim or use the recipe to make your own. Today is also Cinco de Mayo which is a celebration in Mexico. It apparently celebrates their defeat of the French at the Battle of Puebla and is not, as often reported, their Independence Day. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in some odd places, in Canada they have a sky diving celebration and even in Malta people are encouraged to drink Mexican beer. It sounds to me as though the Mexicans celebrate in much the same way as the Spanish celebrate their fiestas which are great fun. I've told you before, when my parents lived in Spain we were invited to celebrate with a local family and it was great fun. Spanish communities contribute all year long to a fund which is used to set up baracas (no idea how this is spelt) where everyone from the community can go and get free drinks and dance on fiesta day. The one we went to served the most lethal sangria I have ever come across. My mother was OK they were giving her brandy. I just came across a sangria recipe made with gin, what a very odd liquor to add to wine. Our bowling yesterday was fun, we had a game of Scotch Pairs which is just each matched pair trying to outdo the rest. Then a normal game with our regular team and finally bowling bingo which our team actually finished although not in time to win, unfortunately. We were then given prize money which was either earned that day or over the year. Matt and I both did quite well here. The caterers were setting up by now so we played a few games of silly things like Matt having to sit on a chair at the end of the alley and bowl, I had to put on oven mitts to bowl, what a fiasco that was, bowling with the wrong hand and so on. Then we all started on the food. We had salads as I had supposed, roast beef (somewhat overdone to our taste but it wasn't bad) and rolled ribs again with mashed potatoes which Matt said were good, I didn't have any, sauerkraut, very sweet baby carrots and gravy plus a selection of desserts. We both took cheesecakes. I decided to treat myself to a glass of wine which went down with the meal very well. By the time I had finished, I was well and truly full. When we came home it was a delightful afternoon and I sat on the balcony in the sun for a while - first time this year although Matt has done so a couple of times. Yesterday there was a segment on GMA about the Brain Bucket, wonderful name, but it is an advancement on MRI and can do a much better and more comprehensive read of our brains. You can see their article at this site and see what this marvellous advance can achieve. It is hoped that it will help with all kinds of brain problems, Alzheimer's (which is my bête noir) being one of them. Today they had another medical segment about robot arms but I can't find the information yet, maybe I can write about it tomorrow. I know one of my readers won't be too happy by the amount of asparagus recipes I will now be publishing. Sorry, but its that time of year. Asparagus with Curry Butter 2 tsp butter, melted 1 tsp curry powder (see Tip) 1/2 tsp lemon juice 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil 1 shallot, finely diced 1 bunch asparagus (about 1 pound), trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces 1 Combine butter, curry powder, lemon juice and salt in a small bowl. 2 Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add asparagus and cook, stirring, until just tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir the curry butter into the asparagus; toss to coat. Servings: 4 Yield: 1/2 cup each Tip: Check the ingredient label on your brand of curry powder: if it has added salt (as some do), you may omit the salt in the recipe or salt to taste. Source: Eating Well Have a great day.