Cats, Wines, Charles Dickens

A friend posted a link on Facebook to an article on The 25 Most Awkward Cat Sleeping Positions. The article and pictures are on Buzz Feed and I thought this was one of the cutest.  I haven’t been owned by a cat in years but I always liked them – Matt on the other hand is not a cat person so cats love him. I have a number of friends who really love cats and some of them appear to have dozens of animals. I remember one friend in NC, their place was literally littered with cats both inside and out. I like cats but I thought this was a bit ridiculous. I think most of them were eventually put down.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go buy a few wines in particular because Vineyards Estates have a Cabernet on sale as it is the end of the vintage. Matt’s new wine cooler now has 10 reds and three whites so that should do us for a while. That reminds me, one of our guests on Saturday looked at the wines in the cooler and figured it would be enough to last us the night. I am somewhat disappointed though, we were looking for a Clos du Val Zinfandel which I mentioned in a blog last year and none of the stores in Ontario has any, and when there is any available in Ontario it will probably be reserved for restaurants. No fair. The girl I spoke to originally about it (Sherry), some time last year, was away for the week on a training course, so hopefully I will be able to find out more next week. We did manage to replace our Rosemount Shiraz which we drank the other night. It’s a wine we very much enjoy. My personal favourite wines are Zinfandels though. We bought a Dancing Bull which is not a bad one and fairly inexpensive. I liked their old label best. Today it’s a plain old browny/red one. I have talked about this before. I do wish they wouldn’t change labels as it makes it so much easier to recognize the one’s you are looking for.

Yesterday there was a lot about Charles Dickens – Google had a picture celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth. On Facebook there was a little animated movie about his life, it mentioned a house he bought called Gads Hill in Higham outside Rochester in Kent, England. The house was later turned into a school and I went there when I was 8 yrs. old. It appears to have become co-ed since I was there. The animation about him mentioned alcoholism, I had never heard of that before, but I do know there was an underground passage from the house to the pub, The Falstaff, across the road. I have just been reading up on Gads Hill and apparently the tunnel was built by Dickens who had a Swiss chalet on the grounds opposite the house. I have no idea when the pub was built.  Rochester itself is full of places which were featured in various books like Satis House in Great Expectations. I went to a Dickens festival there one year where we feasted on salmon and champagne and had excerpts of Great Expectations read to us by Dame Sybil Thorndike a well known British actress. I have mentioned before that the church where I got married was reputedly the site where Pip met the convict: again in Great Expections. It was very likely as the church was close to the river Medway where a lot of convict hulks were moored; old ships which had been converted to prisons. Absolutely dreadful places I believe.

Valentine’s Day is next week so I am being inundated with Valentine recipes, a lot of chocolatey desserts of course, needless to say these appeal to me and I thought the following one looked particularly good. In fact don’t you think it looks absolutely scrumptious?

Bailey's Chocolate Mousse

By Vseward (Chef~V) on February 22, 2007

Photo by Calee

About This Recipe

"Another favorite recipe using Bailey's Irish Cream. Chocolate Mousse is great, but adding a little Bailey's makes it decadent! I've had this recipe for years and can't remember where my friend got it, but I'm glad she shared."

Ingredients

• 16 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• ½ cup Baileys Irish Cream
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons brewed espresso or 4 tablespoons coffee

Sugar syrup

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• ½ cup egg whites ( about 4 eggs)
• 1 quart heavy cream
• ¾ cup sugar

Directions

1. Melt chocolate, Irish cream and espresso over low heat.
2. In separate pan, simmer sugar and water until temperature on a candy thermometer reaches 224 to 230°F., soft ball stage. (Remove from heat at 224°F; mixture will begin to caramelize at 232°F.).
3. Whip egg whites until stiff and glossy. Add sugar syrup to whites and continue to whip about 8 minutes until eggs have increased in volume and mixture has cooled; fold into chocolate mixture.
4. Whip heavy cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Mix with chocolate mixture/eggs/sugar syrup mixture.
5. Pour mousse into molds or serving dish. Allow to set in fridge. Garnish with chocolate shavings and fresh seasonal berries.

Have a great day

Early Days and Nostalgia.

I have just been reading some of my earliest blogs thinking about copying them wholesale for you to read today. Not sure that's such a good idea though. I notice I didn't post a daily recipe in the early days either. My very first blog told you how I had been born in England just before the Second World War (yes I am that old). I didn't mention then that my father had been posted to what was then Rhodesia, to train young men to become pilots for the RAF. He spent three years out there so other than a photograph I had no idea what he looked like but I swore I would recognise him from the photo. I remember going to the station with my mother one day and tugging on her coat whilst she was kissing this strange man in uniform saying "Mummy, mummy, who's this?". I must have been around 4 or 5 when he returned. This pic is not my father, I don't have any pix from that time, but it is the kind of uniform he would have worn. Air Force Blue. I guess in some ways I am lucky I don't remember much about the war years, I wouldn't call them the halcyon days of childhood, but at the same time I only remember being bedded down under the stairs when we heard air raids. Living in Cheshire, we were fairly well away from the operations areas although in fact we were not that far from a large town, Manchester, which was bombed pretty heavily I believe. Looking at pictures, it looks quite a nice town. I really don't remember very much about living in that area, I do have mind pictures of our house, but when I was shown the road where we once lived, it didn't look one bit like the place I remembered. In my day there were fields behind the house, these days of course its all built up and the road is paved which it certainly wasn't then. I was also surprised to discover how hilly the area is and also to see the canal. One of these days I would like to spend more time there to see where I came from. My first real memories were when I was older, after the war and we moved south to Kent. My parents bought a delightful Georgian house in Rochester Kent. It had a big mulberry tree in the back garden (yard) and if you peered carefully through the bushes and trees you could see the River Medway. When we first moved there, there was a factory which built airplanes. However, soon after we arrived, they moved to Ireland so we had the view of the river to ourselves. Rochester was also where a lot of Charles Dickens' novels were set and he lived in a house called Gads Hill which was later turned into a girls' school. (I went there). I don't know how long he lived there as, in recent years I have heard of lots of different places in the UK laying claim to the famous author and never having made a study of his life, I am not sure how long he lived where. Rochester itself was a lovely old town, but these days they have done tacky things to appeal to tourists and we were very disappointed when we visited there a few years ago. The main street is no longer open to traffic; considering it is so narrow, that's probably a good thing. That is the street I fell across getting out of the car once, I mentioned it a day or two back. But when we lived there the town was still a thriving, busy centre with lots of good shops and restaurants along the high street. Not any more. The castle and cathedral are still there and the old Elizabethan buildings which hang over the sidewalks are still there too, but the shops are not the same any longer. Oh well, times change. Being nostalgic makes me think I should give you a recipe for frummerty or something similar, but I don't suppose it would be appreciated. Instead I will give you a recipe from the Asparagus Growers Marketing Board of Ontario. The recipe actually comes from Foodland Ontario. Mediterranean Asparagus Tart 1 frozen 9-inch (23 cm) deep-dish pie shell 3 eggs, well beaten 1 lb (500 g) Ontario asparagus 1/2 cup (125 mL) crumbled feta cheese 1 cup (250 mL) canned 2% evaporated milk 3 tbsp (50 mL) chopped fresh Ontario dill 1/2 tsp (2 mL) grated lemon rind 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt Line pie shell with double layer of foil; bake in 450º F (230º C) oven for 8 minutes. Remove foil and brush with some of the beaten eggs; bake 5 to 7 minutes longer or until lightly browned. Break tough ends from asparagus; steam or cook stalk in large skillet of boiling water for 2 minutes or just until tender-crisp. Rinse under cold running water; drain and pat dry with towel. Cut off 3-inch (8 cm) tips; slice remaining stalks into 1/4-inch (6 mm) pieces and spring 1 cup (250 mL) into baked crust. Sprinkle cheese on top. Arrange asparagus tips pointing outward in spoke-like fashion in shell. Whisk together egg, milk, dill, lemon rind, salt and pepper; pour over asparagus. Bake in 375º F (190º C) oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until puffy and set. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Yield: Serves 6 Have a great day.

Its Not St. Paddy's Yet, Wedding

On Sunday the radio was pumping out Irish tunes, in New York they had a parade. Someone should tell them, St. Patrick's Day is on the 17th, not the 15th. I think the New York Irish tend to be more Irish than they are in Ireland. All over North America people will be eating Irish foods such as corned beef and cabbage, but in Ireland they will be eating the same things they would be eating any other day of the week. It used to really annoy an Irish friend of mind about all the recipe that would be posted to be eaten on St. Patrick's day, in her book it was all nonsense. I found an interesting article here about St. Patrick's Day traditions. There are several good recipes on this site all of which are basically Irish. I was actually married to my first husband on St. Patrick's Day, a very long time ago. It was a beautiful day but cold as charity and my poor cousins, who were my bridesmaids, were wearing short sleeved cotton dresses and were freezing. The bride wasn't feeling terribly warm either. In those days churches were not heated, don't know if they are today in the UK. Looking for a picture of the church, I found several which give me the impression the church was cleaned in recent years. It sure wasn't that colour when I lived in Kent. There is a website devoted to the church click here to read it. The church is reputed to have been the one featured in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - Pip hid from the convict in a churchyard. Today we are bowling in the morning at 10:30 a.m. because it is the beginning of what is called March Break here and there are likely to be dozens of youngsters bowling in the afternoon. Unfortunately it is likely to be the same on Friday, but most of the bowlers couldn't make it in the morning. Corned Beef & Cabbage Source Irish Culture and Customs If it wouldn't be St. Patrick's Day in your house without Corned Beef & Cabbage, here's an authentic recipe from Darina Allen's the Festive Food of Ireland. Even she points out that it's rarely eaten in Ireland and was most likely made popular by immigrants who missed the salted beef of their homeland. Cured beef was a traditional Easter Sunday dinner; the beef killed and preserved before winter could then be eaten after the long Lenten fast. In the truest sense of the word then, this really doesn't qualify as a traditional recipe. But, it has become so closely associated with the Irish and St. Patrick's Day, we'd be remiss not to include it. Ingredients: 4-pound corned beef brisket - 'silverside' if you can get it; many butchers are familiar with the term and can prepare your cut of brisket in this special way. But, do allow them several days to prepare it properly. 3 large carrots, cut into large chunks 6 to 8 small onions, roughly chopped 1 teaspoon powdered English mustard (Coleman's) 1 large spring of fresh thyme and several parsley stalks tied together 1 cabbage Salt and pepper to taste Method 1. Put the corned beef into a large pot with the carrots, onions, mustard powder and herbs. 2. Cover with cold water; bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for 1 hour. From time to time, skim fat from top as it rises. 3. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage and cut into quarters, Add to the pot. * Cook for another one to two hours or until the meat and vegetables are tender. 4. Serve the corned beef cut into slices and surrounded by the vegetables. Serve with a generous amount of potatoes, boiled in their jackets and freshly made mustard. (We use Colman's which is readily available). In addition to the English mustard we also like the following horseradish sauce: Horseradish Sauce 1/2 pt Whipping Cream 2 tablespoons prepared horseradish Whip cream until it stand in peaks. Fold in horseradish. *We prefer our cabbage crispy firm, so, we cook it separately. Cooked quickly in boiling water, it retains its beautiful bright green color. We season it heavily with fresh ground pepper and we don't go easy on the butter! Note: Our dear friend Judith Flynn sent us the following Corned Beef "sauce" which sounds really tasty: Slice the beef and place it on an oven proof serving platter. Mix up 2 tablespoons of (Coleman's English) mustard, 2 tablespoons of catsup and 1/3 cup brown sugar (packed). Spread over the corned beef. If it is a large piece, double the recipe. Put it back in the oven for a bit to warm the sauce. Have a great day.