Coward Punch, Health, Lamb Stew,

People have queried coward punches. Apparently they are similar to sucker punches but likely to happen to people who are totally innocent of anything. The coward punch is just an unexpected attack and totally unprovoked. My Australian blogging friend, Pinky Poinker, who started me off on this tack has a petition running at the moment and his hoping to get enough signatures to make a difference. If you live in Australia, maybe you could go to her site and sign this petition. Wednesday saw the funeral of a young person, Cole Miller, 18, who had been coward punched. A very tragic waste of a young life. Pinky herself is the mother of 5 kids, 4 boys if I remember correctly, all of whom are in the age group where this could happen. Not only that she is a teacher so has seen the Soft Fall used in playgrounds and such. There is a radio broadcast too which she is hoping will draw attention to her petition. I found another petition in Australia and suggested she could link up.

I had a very quiet day on Wednesday not doing much of anything. Sometimes my hip was killing me

and other times I didn't know it was there. Anyway, this evening I go see the doc, I am just hoping the walk from the parking lot to the doctor's door will be clear as I am hobbling along with a cane. I could just do with a fall. They say they do have a wheel chair in the office, but Matt is not really up to going and getting it and then pushing me into the office and they certainly didn't offer to help. However, I am sure you are beginning to get bored with my ailments. So I will shut up for now.

According to the weather forecast we were supposed to have a lot of snow on Wednesday, we didn't, and more snow on Thursday, we shall see. We can't really complain it was so spring like up to the end of last year but we knew we would get it eventually.

When we were last at one of the stores here, Central Fresh Market, we bought some frozen lamb chops. We ate some and were extremely disappointed as they were as tough as old boots. However, I have taken a tip out of Ivy at Happy Whisk's book and am going to turn them into a spicy stew tomorrow. I will chuck them and some neck of lamb that I have, into the crockpot with some veg and a few spices and hope to come up with something tasty. Normally we buy our lamb chops in Costco and they are usually excellent.

These looked interesting so I thought I would share. Their main attribute of course is chocolate. They are, apparently, a Mexican sweet. Of course you could use real cream instead of the Cool Whip.

Chocolate Churros

Kraft

Churros with double the chocolate: in the batter and in the sauce. Make a batch for your next fiesta.

Servings 15 servings, 2 churros each

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
2 Tbs powdered sugar
1 cup water
2 Tbs granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups oil
1 pkg (4 oz) semi sweet chocolate chips
4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. tub) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (Do not thaw.)

Mix 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder and powdered sugar in shallow bowl until blended.

Bring water, granulated sugar, salt and butter to boil in medium saucepan on medium-high heat. Add flour and remaining cocoa powder; cook and stir on low heat 1 min. or until mixture pulls away from side of pan. Remove from heat. Add eggs; beat until blended. Stir in vanilla. Spoon into pastry bag fitted with large star tip.

Heat oil in deep fryer to 350ºF. Pipe dough, in batches, into 4-inch strips into hot oil. Cook 3 min. or until each churro is golden brown on both sides, turning after 1 min. Remove from oil with slotted spoon; drain on paper towels. Add warm churros, 1 at a time, to powdered sugar mixture; toss to evenly coat.

Microwave semi-sweet chocolate and COOL WHIP in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring after each minute. Serve with warm churros.

Variation For cinnamon-sugar coated churros, coat the warm churros with a mixture of 3/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 tsp. Mexican cinnamon instead of the cocoa powder mixture. How to Pipe the Churros Dough When piping the dough, use kitchen shears to cut the dough into the desired-length strips

Have a great day