Books and Bowling, BP, New York, Asparagus.

Last night I finished The Infinity Gate by Sarah Douglass. This was the final book in a trilogy called Dark Glass Mountain and was part of a series of ongoing tales by Sarah Douglass featuring the Icarii a race of people with wings. Reading the final paragraphs, she has left herself lots of room for at least one more trilogy. I enjoyed this latest one and will look forward to her next series. I now have another Catherine Asaro romance to read – these are a series of magical stories about a lost continent and I have been enjoying those too. This one is called The Misted Cliffs.

I had a good three games bowling yesterday, and Matt managed to bowl too although on Sunday he had thought he might not be able to. However, he saw his physio therapist again on Monday morning and whatever she did this time seems to have improved matters. He has yet another appointment this morning and I am going with him so we can join a friend for lunch afterwards. I loaned her some of my books which she has now finished. We are going to a place called Cafe 13 in Cambridge, I think I may have been there many years ago, but certainly not recently.

The last I heard from BP was that they were hoping to trap more oil, but whether they have had any success I don’t know. They are now running ads about a department set up specifically to deal with people who have claims for loss of income or other pertinent injuries against BP. A lot of fisherman are employed in clean up duties as are a lot of people on shore. Whether they are paid enough to compensate, I don’t know. This disaster just goes on and on and will continue to do so until they finally manage to stop the gushing oil, if they ever do.

I just heard on the news that the government of New York has averted closure by cutting yet more funding this time to social services and addiction clinics. Good job, first they hit the seniors who have no way of replenishing their income, and now social services – of course they already reduced funding to schools. However, I haven’t heard anything about proposed salary cuts for the inefficient government of New York.

Barrie Bros. sell a pesto which contains asparagus. There is nothing wrong with the pesto, it is delicious, but the asparagus is totally lost. I have been inventing a pesto in my head which I have yet to try out. We shall see, I haven't got long because asparagus season will soon be over.

Here is another asparagus recipe from the Ontario Asparagus Marketing Board. The picture is from Barrie's Farm. Now I have decided to like potato salad (well the one I made the other day) I thought I would try this one.

Ontario Asparagus and Potato Salad

3 cups cut (1-inch/2.5 cm pieces) Ontario asparagus 3 lb new potatoes (unpeeled), scrubbed 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tbsp coarse-grained Dijon mustard 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper 2 roasted red peppers, cut in 1/4-inch (5 mm) dice 1 bunch green onions (white and pale green parts only), cut in 1/4-inch thick slices 1/4 cup fresh dill, finely chopped

Steam asparagus until tender-crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Refresh under cold running water. Set aside. Cut potatoes into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes; steam until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain well and place in large bowl. Whisk together oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper; add about two-thirds to hot potatoes and toss gently to coat well. Let cool to room temperature. Add red peppers, green onions and dill along with remaining dressing; toss gently to mix well. Garnish with chives. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 12 servings

Have a great day.

Ice Cream and Asparagus

I had a delightful evening with my friends last night. We went to Howl at the Moon and all three of us ended up having Hunter’s Schnitzel which was a schnitzel with a mushroom sauce. We had chicken barley soup which came with the meal. All three of us ended up having a doggie bag. Having talked about it earlier, we then decided to go find The Marble Slab Creamery http://www.marbleslab.com/ which is a new (to me at least) ice cream place. One friend had been to the Creamery in her home town. Off we went to where I thought it was, we had to ask a couple of people where exactly it was, we were in the right area and eventually got there. There was a Starbucks almost next door so one of my friends went there whilst two of us picked out our ice creams. I am sure you will not be surprised to hear I had a chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips – it was supposed to have chocolate sprinkles but they didn’t have any so I had Smarties, not the best idea. My friend had a honey ice cream with graham crackers and I’m not sure what else. She had hers in a tub and I had a cone. Mistake, for me, we went outside and my ice cream was melting faster than I could eat it. In a tub that wouldn’t have mattered. I forgot to mention that they take the ice cream and spread it on a metal counter which is presumably refrigerated. Then the fold in your choice of additions a bit like folding dough although done with implements not hands. Quite interesting to watch. It was very enjoyable, but I found trying to eat quickly, the Smarties were a bit much. There was a case full of ice cream cakes there too. They looked delicious.

Earlier in the day, Matt and I had gone to Barrie Bros. Asparagus Farm in Cambridge so I could have my fix – do you realise I haven’t eaten any asparagus since Sunday. I bought myself a small jar of pickled asparagus to try. Tim Barrie told me they recommended serving them chilled so into the fridge they went. I still haven’t eaten any asparagus but I will certainly have some today. This time I actually wandered around their store, they do have some fantastic products there and have recently added organic coffee beans. There are all kinds of soup bases besides the asparagus ones. They have organic tomatoes too. The store was very busy, I would like to have talked to Tim a bit more, but he was obviously unable to with so many people there. I am glad they are doing so well. The picture, which I borrowed from their Facebook page, shows their new sign at the entrance to the farm. Once you get near the store, they have another sign carved into a stone. I hadn’t realised they had been there since 1892. Didn’t realise Tim was that old *g*. I have now met two of his daughters by the way, lovely young ladies. Do visit their page on Facebook, Tim posts news there on a regular basis.

This afternoon we will be playing cards, cribbage. The friend with whom we have been playing cards for several months has now moved to another apartment block in town and doesn’t really like driving in the dark so we figure we will make it afternoons instead.

One of my favourites at this time of year is Asparagus Risotto. This recipe comes from Asparagusrecipes.com and will see me slaving away in the kitchen any time soon.

Asparagus Risotto

Asparagus Recipes

2 lb of asparagus. 1 shallot, chopped finely. 3 ½ oz of vialone rice. 2 oz of butter. 1 cup of dry white wine. 4 tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper.

Break the ends off the asparagus stalks and discard. Cut off the extreme tips and chop the rest of the stalks. Blanch the tips in boiling water. Remove the tips with a slotted spoon and set aside. Cook the stalks in the same water until they go soft. In a blender, puree the stalks with their cooking water to make a thick stock. Add dry white wine, and simmer over a low heat. In a pan, melt half of the butter and cook the shallot until it turns soft. Add the rice to the pan and let it begin to absorb the butter before adding a ladle of the asparagus stock. Keep stirring until it is absorbed. Stir in the tips and add another ladle of stock. Keep adding the stock, one ladle at a time, making certain not to drown the rice, until the rice is al dente (takes 15-20 mins). Serve as desired.

Have a great day.