Email Problems, Narrow Boat, Christmas, National Geographic Live,

What a day was Tuesday. I couldn't send emails and then discovered there were quite a lot of them which hadn't gone out. I called Rogers TechXpert and they worked on it, leaving me a message saying it was fixed. It wasn't I called them back and after some time I got it fixed on both desktop and laptop. I also got them to change the protocols from imap to POP. The imap was giving me all kinds of problems although I had been assured it was the way to go etc. etc. My systems did NOT like it one bit. This meant that for most of Tuesday evening I couldn't use my computers.

I was somewhat surprised today to learn that my cousin and her husband, who are living in New

A Narrow Boat

Zealand, are returning to the UK and have bought a Narrow Boat with which to cruise the canals in England. She sent me pix of the interior, looks pretty good and a nice place to live. My cousin has lived on a boat for a large part of her life when she and her sisters went to live with my parents when they lost their own. I was astounded when I heard this because I thought they were a fixture in NZ, he has children living there. My cousin has now lived in Malta, England, South Africa and New Zealand. She certainly gets around. I am pretty sure some friends of mine own one of these Narrow Boats too. If the weather is nice, not a bad way to live although she tells me they are planning to spend the winters touring Europe in a camper. I wonder how they will find England now, after Brexit?

Just realised today is December 1st. Only 24 more to go. I have bought some chestnuts to make stuffing for the neck of the turkey. Maybe this weekend I will go through the laborious job of cutting, boiling and peeling them. I hope there are enough, quite a few appeared to have bug holes when I was picking them out. Still no sign of the Christmas Pudding I ordered from England. They assure me it will be here before Christmas but I am beginning to wonder. I wish now I had made my own.


Well we have just returned from our local theatre having watched and listened to Brian Skerry the National Geographic underwater photographer. I was absolutely fascinated. Matt less so unfortunately. He showed us pictures which told stories about the oceans - mostly stills but there were a few videos. There was a question and answer session afterwards but Matt wanted to leave so I never got my questions answered. When asked about the most dangerous sea creature he said a salt water crocodile. His comment was if you were in the water with a croc of a certain size, you were definitely on the menu. He talked to us about sharks and told us how many thousands were being killed each year, many of them for shark fin soup. He also talked a lot about seafood farming. The new farms are designed in such a way that either the sea currents, or filter feeding shellfish, can deal with the pollution caused by such masses of fish. I have linked his name with his Facebook Page where you will find many of his stunning pictures. He was asked if he was a vegetarian. He said no although he had tried to be. Said he was extremely fussy about what fish he ate and it's sustainability. There are so many creatures which are on the verge of extinction.

Whilst waiting for the show to begin, we got talking to the man sitting next to Matt. Turned out he was a bass player for the Kitchener Symphony Orchestra. He told us he had spent time in England, playing in Birmingham and has also played at the Albert Hall in London. Interesting guy.

Practically every recipe I come across for carrots adds all kinds of sweetening in one way or another. Carrots do NOT need sweetening in my opinion, they are sweet enough on their own, and this one doesn't do so.

Grated Carrot Salad with Citrus and Pistachios

The sour-bitterness of the grapefruit and blood orange make the carrots taste extra sweet in

comparison in this salad recipe.

¼ cup raw pistachios
1 oro blanco or ruby grapefruit
1 garlic clove, finely grated
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
¼ tsp ground cumin
Kosher salt
12 oz carrots (about 5), peeled, coarsely grated or julienned
1 blood orange, peel and white pith removed, sliced into rounds, quartered
¼ cup cilantro leaves with tender stems, divided
¼ cup parsley leaves with tender stems, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Toast pistachios on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 5–8 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

2. Meanwhile, cut all peel and white pith from oro blanco; discard. Working over a small bowl, cut along sides of membranes to release segments into bowl; discard membranes.

3. Whisk garlic, oil, lime juice, red pepper flakes, and cumin in a medium bowl to combine; season dressing with salt. Add pistachios, carrots, and half of oro blanco and blood orange and toss to combine. Season with salt and let sit until flavors meld, 25–30 minutes.

4. Just before serving, mix in half of cilantro and parsley. Top with remaining herbs and citrus.

Servings: 4

Author: Ludo Lefebvre
Source: Bon Appétit

Have a great day
 

Computers, Thanksgiving Dinner,

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends and readers.

My computer guy was here on Friday. When I first got my desktop he partitioned the very large hard drive into two drives with one large part for data storage etc. I was never happy with that and now have ended up with insufficient room. He is working on giving me more space on the C drive part of the disk. Anyway we were talking about when DOS became Windows 3 and how much I had hated it. I commented he was probably in diapers when that happened, he laughed and assured me he was at school and learning to use it. Now he is a young, married man with at least one kid that I know of. Old, me??? I wish I had learned as much about computers as he knows. I guess somewhere along the line I had the opportunity. I always remember being told by a colleague, years ago, that I would never be any good with computers because of my lack of math. Luckily things changed and first there was DOS and then there was Windows. Hands up if you used DOS. I know Jeffrey Hargett did.

We had our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday as I mentioned. I was puzzling all day about what to do as a starter which wouldn’t load me up with calories. I ended up using some of the pickled asparagus I had bought from Barrie’s Asparagus Farm and crossing it with strips of roasted red peppers which are also pickled. It was very enjoyable, I was surprised Matt liked it as he is not usually enamoured of pickles. In the morning I put an onion, stuck with cloves, into some milk to ‘sweat’ all day and chopped up all the veg I put into my gravy. Onions, mushrooms, celery, herbs.





I also prepared the Brussels Sprouts and Matt did the potatoes, I had changed my mind about doing roast potatoes. Eventually the turkey breast was put into its plastic bag and then into the oven and everything came together fine.







With it we drank a Pinot Grigio which was not the best I had ever tasted, the vintner was The Big House Birdman. Not sure why Matt chose it, but I wasn’t impressed.  We followed the meal with some carrot cake, a tiny piece for me. Sorry I don’t like pumpkin pie. I love Pecan pie but the calories would be murderous. If you haven’t had your Thanksgiving celebration yet, I hope it’s a good one.

Today, of course, is Thanksgiving Day and we are off bowling this afternoon. I don’t know how many of the league will be there, but a number of us are planning to turn up.

I thought these were a good idea, particularly for a crowd. This was from Cooking.com

Frittata Muffins

Contributed By: Karen,
12 Frittatas

This recipe allows you to make frittatas for people who like different items. You can substitute chopped asparagus or artichoke hearts for peppers and you can make a meatless version by cooking vegies in butter. Any cheese works well in this also.

INGREDIENTS
6 Slices Bacon, Fried Crisp
6 Heat and Serve Sausage Patties, Browned and Crumbled
6 Small Mushrooms, Diced
2 Green Onions, thinly sliced, use white and green parts
1/2 Cup finely diced, red, yellow, green, orange peppers
6 Extra Large or Jumbo Eggs
3/4 C Whipping cream
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp pepper
8 oz grated sharp cheddar cheese, divided
Fresh cut fruit

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray muffin tin with non-stick spray or lightly grease.
In a medium skillet, cook the bacon until crisp and drain on paper towel, then cook the sausage until browned, drain and crumble. Reserve 1 tbs of pan drippings.
In the same skillet over medium heat, cook mushrooms for 1 to 2 min in reserved pan drippings from bacon and sausage.
Remove from Skillet and add peppers and cook 2 - 3 min stirring often. Add onion and cook for another minute. Remove from heat.
This can be done the night before and refrigerated until ready to assemble.
To Assemble:
Divide onions, peppers and mushrooms into lightly greased muffin pan. Divide sausage and crumbled bacon into the muffin pan.
In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, cream, salt, pepper and 6 ounces of the cheese. Pour into the muffin pan and sprinkle remaining cheese on each of the muffins.
Bake for 30 minutes or until a sharp knife comes out clean when inserted near the center.
Serve with fresh cut fruit.

Have a great day.