Canada Day, Fireworks,

I wish all my Canadian friends a Happy Canada Day. Luckily our bowling alley is open and the majority vote of the league was to bowl today. Of course the holiday means we will get fireworks outside our windows for at least 3 days and probably more as they will run into the weekend. Actually on Monday afternoon there was a noise which sounded like a gunshot right outside our windows. (We are on the 5th floor) I am guessing it was actually a firework. As usual fireworks have been on sale for a couple of days or more.

Well, I guess we qualify for a pair of dummies. Matt always goes shopping on Wednesday mornings around 7 a.m. It wasn't til late on Tuesday afternoon that I remembered the store would be closed. We will have to wait til Thursday as Matt refuses to shop in the afternoon. As it is, we were a tad short of bread and he popped down there to get some and said the store was like a zoo. Luckily, apart from the bread, we have plenty of everything else in the house. I can't believe neither of us thought of it before.

This recipe has been posted before, but as I have just made it for Matt and I it occurred to me that you might like to see it again. It is really delicious and quinoa is reputedly very good for you. I've just noticed the author notes call this a winter salad. I assure you it's fine at this time of year too.

Cold Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Feta

2 cups cooked quinoa, chilled (I cook 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup water)
1 small head radicchio, chopped
1 cup cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup cubed feta cheese
1 small red onion, chopped fine
2 Tbs pine nuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Olive oil and vinegar dressing, to serve (I make a full French dressing)

1. Toss cooked quinoa, chopped radicchio, cooked chicken, cubed feta cheese, chopped red onion, pine nuts and parsley together until all ingredients are well distributed.

2. Dress the salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar

Servings: 4

Author: The Nourished Kitchen
Source: WebMD

Author Notes
A nutrient-dense, filling winter salad, quinoa combines with faintly bitter radicchio, chicken and salty feta cheese

Have a great day
 

Barrie’s Asparagus

I was visiting Barrie’s Asparagus Farm's Facebook page and found this charming sketch done by one of their customers.



This was done by Betsy Ackford who is a member of a local group who sketch urban scenes. The following picture is a great one of the "modern farmer", Tim Barrie receiving orders on his phone.



How things have changed. The Facebook site also has pictures of the 17 (I think) piglets which they are raising this summer. I’ve never tried their pork. Although they haven’t announced the date yet, the asparagus won’t be for sale much longer sadly.



I have posted this recipe before, but as this is what we are having for supper tonight, I thought I would share it again.

Cold Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Feta

2 cups cooked quinoa, chilled
1 small head radicchio, chopped
1 cup cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup cubed feta cheese
1 small red onion, chopped fine
2 Tbs pine nuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Olive oil and vinegar dressing, to serve

1. Toss cooked quinoa, chopped radicchio, cooked chicken, cubed feta cheese, chopped red onion, pine nuts and parsley together until all ingredients are well distributed.
2. Dress the salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar

Servings: 4
Author: The Nourished Kitchen
Source: WebMD

Have a great day

Q = Quinoa and Cold Quinoa Salad.

The first thing I learn from Wikipedia is that Quinoa is a species of goosefoot which doesn’t mean much to me. Apparently it is a grain like crop which is grown primarily for its edible seeds. These seeds have only recently started appearing everywhere with lots of recipes for their use, it is  not a true cereal crop but is closely related to beets, spinach and tumbleweeds. Who knew? This food has been around for 4,000 years in the western areas of South America, and we are only just hearing about it? News spreads slowly. The Incas regarded it as a holy crop and considered it staple of their diets. The current spelling was developed by the Spanish from the name kinwa which is actually how it is pronounced. There are many new things appearing in our stores, recently we learned that Chia seeds (sold for Chia Pets) are also very good for us. Why waste it on pets?

This is one of my favourite recipes for Quinoa

Cold Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Feta

Servings: 4

Source
Author: The Nourished Kitchen
Source: WebMD

2 cups cooked quinoa, chilled
1 small head radicchio, chopped
1 cup cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup cubed feta cheese
1 small red onion, chopped fine
2 Tbs pine nuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Olive oil and vinegar dressing, to serve

1. Toss cooked quinoa, chopped radicchio, cooked chicken, cubed feta cheese, chopped red onion, pine nuts and parsley together until all ingredients are well distributed.

2. Dress the salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar

Have a great day

Expensive Car Myths, Help Stop Wildlife Trafficking, Movie.

Another interesting article which was mentioned on Facebook is 6 Car Myths that Cost you Money. The first one was that it is not necessary to change your oil every 3,000 miles, but to check what the manufacturer of your engine says about it. It is worth reading the article, there are a couple that we certainly do, and apparently a lot more follow the rest of these myths, especially, I suppose, older people who have been driving a long time.

This is a fascinating video about shifting rhino to a different habitat in order to conserve them and try and protect them from horn poachers. World Wildlife is begging for donations to help with this fight to preserve these animals along with elephants and tigers – in fact to stop Wildlife Trafficking – if you can give I urge you to do so otherwise we will lose some of the treasures of the earth and our descendants will never be able to enjoy the existence or such wonderful animals.

Moving Rhinos

You can make donations to the World Wildlife Fund on this page.

 I finally got to go bowling again yesterday after my bout with cat allergies. I am delighted to say I did really well with a 3 game total of 514 which is the best I have done in a while especially bearing in mind all the health problems I have had lately. I am patting myself on the back.

Last night we watched The Right Stuff, no ads either, what a great movie. Well what a great subject. We had seen it before but not for a very long time and we both enjoyed it very much. Its one of the sadnesses in my life that my father never really got to see any of this space adventure. Mostly because he was living in Malta on a yacht and they didn’t have TV. We were sailing in Yugoslavia when they first walked on the moon and he didn’t hear anything about it. I think he would have been interested.

We had a Quinoa salad on Thursday night with enough left for Friday. I gave the recipe last year, but if you don’t remember it I have given it below again. We find it quite delicious and very healthy of course. Quinoa is a grain and they sell it in the health food section of our grocery.

Cold Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Feta

By The Nourished Kitchen WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

A nutrient-dense, filling winter salad, quinoa combines with faintly bitter radicchio, chicken and salty feta cheese.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa, chilled

1 small head radicchio, chopped

1 cup cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup cubed feta cheese

1 small red onion, chopped fine

2 tbsp pine nuts

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Olive oil and vinegar dressing, to serve

Instructions

Toss cooked quinoa, chopped radicchio, cooked chicken, cubed feta cheese, chopped red onion, pine nuts and parsley together until all ingredients are well distributed.

Dress the salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar

Total Servings: 4

Have a great weekend

Il Volo, Heat,

I mentioned this group of young men a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday their CD Il Volo arrived and we played it immediately. They really are an incredible trio of kids, yes kids, two at 16 one at 17. Here is the link to the video which was sent to me and where I first discovered them http://tinyurl.com/3jr9xqm

As usual, spring zipped by without even being noticed and the last couple of days we have had high temps and lots of humidity. It was 31°C today and that is warm I promise you (well unless you are some of my Australian friends). We actually had to pop into our garage because the a/c wasn’t doing its job properly and we turned on the a/c in the apartment as well. I heard one woman say she loved this weather and could take it all year, not me mama. I like some warmth but when we get the high humidity as well, no thank you. At least its going to be cooler for the rest of the week.

Today I had to get up at the crack of dawn to go have my diabetic bloodwork done. I cannot eat until after, so I like to go as soon as they open. Wednesday is generally shopping day too. So, busy morning.

I watched a movie again, on TV, which I had seen not too long ago, I enjoyed it. It was called A Good Year and starred Albert Finney and Russell Crowe. It is an excellent movie if you get the chance to see it, mostly set in the South of France on a French vineyard or winery about a guy who is described as an English Prick, who finally turns into Mr. Nice Guy after all. What fascinated me, both times, was the visitation of scorpions into the house, I had no idea scorpions lived in the South of France, I have since Googled and found that they do although their venom is not terribly potent I understand. I have visited several places in southern France and had never heard of them nor, thankfully, ever come across any. They mentioned lavender, I was not quite sure if the lavender was supposed to keep them away or attract them. I think the former.

Quinoa is becoming more and more popular lately, must confess though, that I have never tried it. Here is a recipe using it so now is my opportunity.

Cold Quinoa Salad with Chicken and Feta

By The Nourished Kitchen WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

A nutrient-dense, filling winter salad, quinoa combines with faintly bitter radicchio, chicken and salty feta cheese.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked quinoa, chilled 1 small head radicchio, chopped 1 cup cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces 1/2 cup cubed feta cheese 1 small red onion, chopped fine 2 tbsp pine nuts 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley Olive oil and vinegar dressing, to serve

Instructions

Toss cooked quinoa, chopped radicchio, cooked chicken, cubed feta cheese, chopped red onion, pine nuts and parsley together until all ingredients are well distributed.

Dress the salad with olive oil and red wine vinegar

Total Servings: 4

Have a great day